You’ve heard our rant about how the recently released preseason college football polls are already intertwined with polictics, but I have yet to tell you why I think these preseason polls are an absolute joke.
As you know, there are two major polls in the world of college football. We have the USA Today Coaches’ poll, which is comprised of 59 head coaches of “bowl subdivision schools” and the AP Top 25 poll, which is
image credit: mrsec.com
comprised of 60 Associated Press (AP) writers. Now, with the recent release of these polls, most people will direct their attention on the USA Today Coaches’ Poll ranking USC at No.1 and the AP poll ranking LSU at No.1, but when you dissect the polls more carefully, you’ll notice something else that should blow your mind.
These two sets of voters (60 AP writers and 59 coaches) managed to rank teams 4-15 in the exact same order. Keep in mind folks that not a single college football game has been played, so what sort of variables and factors could possibly be at play to the extent that a dozen teams were ranked in the same order? Its simply ridiculous and these polls are losing any integrity or validity they had left.
I get the fact USC, Alabama, and LSU got 34-44 votes for first place between the two different polls, but what about the rest of the ballots? You know damn well they were filled out purely on reputation and/or what some joker writer is saying in preseason magazines.
Take a look at the top 15 teams in each poll with first-place votes in parentheses (rankings are from ESPN).
image credit: espn.com
Raju Kansagra
Best article ever!! I think the whole college football system is flawed and the preseason polls is where it all starts…
This is why its more fun to watch the NFL where the only ranking that matters is that of your actual seasonal performance, and at which point, you’re ranking determines your playoff schedule.
When exactly did the AP or Coaches poll have ANY integrity to begin with? Its all a complete joke influenced by one thing and one thing only – $$
I think they need to revamp the way structure the BCS comes out with their ranking. One week you can go from being number one to number five. They need to re do the whole structure and create divisions and a playoff system.
Its all a bunch of bs….its a popularity contest like middle school student counsel
They really should do away with the preseason polls and start ranking teams after 3-4 games have been played. Also, why the heck do we have coaches poll anyway? Do college coaches actually watch other teams play? To my knowledge most coaches are preparing for their next match.
This is exactly why teams like Boise State will ALWAYS have a tougher road ahead than any of the well “branded” teams.
Great article, totally agree. all the comments totally make sense. Division 2 football has a great playoff system. to much corruption.