Discuss.


They are a joke. Ohio St. loses it's entire defense..but gets to be #1 because they are a "traditional powerhouse" or some bullsh*t. There should be no rankings until Week 4 at the very earliest.

A list/link of said rankings would do wonders for the possiblity of a meaningful debate.

http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/polls/coaches

yeah

no one really cares about the rankings till like week 6 anyway

Where is Illinois? I didn't see them.. NOW that is BS!

My beloved Nittany Lions are ranked 19th!?

These rankings are bullshit. We were unranked at the beginning of last season and proved to everybody who the boss was (aside from Texas and USC). Looks like we'll have to do it again.

They seem to forget about how incredible Derrick Williams and Justin King are. And now Paul Posluszny will head the PSU defense and dominate as much as he did last season.

What horrible rankings.

I hate agreeing with Koop, but preseason rankings for college football are a steaming pile of midget dung.

Best example I can think of is a few years back when Auburn ran the table and went undefeated but didn't get a shot at the championship game. They played a tougher schedule than Oklahoma by far and never got a shot at the championship because of preseason rankings making them do to much catch up while Oklahoma got into the championship game with a loss because of them being ranked at the beginning of the year.

Everyone should start off on even footing, and no rankings till at least week 3 or 4.

I agree. And if a sports magazine should happen to prognosticate and publish a preseason ranking, we should ....


Seriously, rankings are basically a mirror of end of the three previous season's standings. And they are MEANINGLESS. Anyone who believes anything else needs their head examined.

I'm a die hard buckeye and i have to agree. The rankings are crap. Penn State should be up there, along with several others.

I'm not sure if we should be #1 or not, but it doesn't really mean anything anyway.

Louisville is going to dismantle West Virginia in Cardinal Stadium this year. We should have won last year, but pissed it away in Blacksburg. Probably a good thing, though...WVU fans are bat-****-crazy, and we might not have made it out alive if we beat them there.

Losing their QB, O-Line, and secondary may have something to do with that. Hey I'm a alum '06 and I don't think they were ranked unfairly. All they gotta do is prove them wrong, preseason rankings mean nothing.

Actually, them being ranked #1 is extremely significant for all the wrong reasons. It gives them a very distinct advantage in the national title hunt just because they are more hyped than other teams. It is bullsh*t at it's best. If they and 2 other teams go undefeated, they are in the national championship game pretty much only because they got more votes in early August. It's retarded.

This is spot on, and I dont know how the people in charge dont realize it. This is pretty much how Auburn got screwed out of playing for the National Championship a couple years ago

So if they and two other teams go undefeated, the team that was ranked #1 pre-season shouldn't get the notch on the others? How do you determine who gets the spots then? Just about any other category is even more subjective than a collective pre-season ranking.



I agree. They should have been in the national championship game.

That is why you don't have rankings until EVERY TEAM has played 3 or 4 or 5 games...and then you can determine who should be #1 at the time. There is not one good reason why Ohio State is ranked #1 while other teams are ranked #2 or #4 or whatever......the Auburn example is a good one, and there are many others.

This surprises you why? The traditional powers ALWAYS get preferential treatment. Every single poll in every single poll is like this. The basketball poll is just as bad where the Dukes and the UNC's of the world get all the pub.

If you had Duke and a school like Southeast Missouri State play identical schedules and both finish with 20 wins and 9 losses (losing to the same teams), it would be a certainty that Duke would be in the top 10 while SEMO might get a vote or two for the Top 25. It works the same way in football. A school like Ohio State will always get the benefit of the doubt over schools without a great football program like Illinois, Kansas, Baylor, etc. It's wrong, it's unfair, and unfortunately it's all we have.

Well I think everyone reading this know the preseason polls don't mean a damn thing. I am a Buckeye fan and honestly hate that they are ranked #1 preseason because I'd rather see them pulling "upsets" if they beat the god teams they play this year (UM, PSU, Texas). Although they lost the whole defense, that offense is gonna score a LOT of points.

watch out for Iowa!

OSU won't be #1 after Sept 30th. Mark my word.

Apples and oranges, basketball and football rankings are not even remotely similar.

They most certainly are and I have already proven why.

First of all in basketball you can lose a game during the week and still retain your spot in the polls, where if you take a loss in football it has a more dramatic effect on your ranking, since most teams only play 11-12 games as opposed to the 30+ they play in college basketball.

Second, college basketball has playoffs, college football does not... which is where preseason rankings provide a very dramatic effect on the bowl game system. Your little podunk MO school just has to beat the other teams in it's conference and it can get a shot at all the big boys in the tournament, weather they are ranked or not. On the otherhand if same school ran the table in football and was unranked in the preseason, they would never see a national title game.

It's apples to oranges because the way the finish the season is completely different, rankings dont exactly decide if you get to keep playing in basketball. In Football they have everything to do with weather or not you can make the BCS.

yeah my spartans got left off too. wtf

West Virginia = National Champions

Well, when you have no defense whatsoever, you're bound to get left off. Seriously, Stanton can't play 22 positions.

im not sure he can play one with the way everyone else plays

Cal with the new spread offense and a load of talent to go with it will shine and if the D can hold up then the PAC-10 is theres.

Please don't bring up the Pac-10 when discussing actual college football. Thank you.

Tennesse didnt think much of Cal.

OMG the Pac-10 is pathetic. Learn to play football. At least you have one good team.

Well, I was a little worried about Auburn being ranked so high in preseason polls. We typically underwhelm when that happens, but last night was pretty impressive...even if it was WSU.

Oh, and I won a 4-team parlay for the first time. Vanderbilt, UCLA, Rutgers, and UAB all came through on their spreads.

sort of agree but not entirely. preseason rankings add interest to the early games. the "experts" are somewhat accurate in their initial assessment.

I believe it is something of a curse to be voted #1. You end up with everyone gunning for you until you eventually stumble.

what happened to auburn is due to a lack of a college playoff not so much the preseason poll ranking

There's nothing wrong with preseason rankings as long as the people who make them are flexible and willing to adjust as the season goes on. The problem arises when they stubbornly stick to their preseason rankings at all costs.

I usually do Top 25 rankings for college football just for my own amusement throughout the season, and I'm not afraid to change them if I change my mind on a team. Last year, it seemed like I was swtiching Texas and USC at #1 every other week toward the end of the season.

When I do my rankings, I try to base them on performance throughout the season only, so I don't do my "official" rankings until after all the teams have played a few games (as suggested here). However, I usually do some preseason rankings for fun as well. This year, I had LSU #1 in the preseason, but if I did rankings this week, I wouldn't hesitate to move them behind Ohio State and USC after how good they looked in Week 1. As long as you're not afraid to move the teams around, preseason rankings become a helpful aid for the fans rather than a long-lasting criterion.

Finally, I do love me some sports betting as well, and I'm already 13-6 this year, so here are my best picks for Week 2:

SMU -4.5 at North Texas: The Sun Belt is worse than you think. Trust me, this should be a blowout.

Auburn -19.5 at Mississippi State: Auburn's a legitimate Top Ten team with an explosive offense taking on one of the most embarrasing teams in any BCS conference. Covering 3 TDS should be easy.

No mention of my #1 ND
never cared for their football program but, this year might be my bandwagon jumping year.

Playboy magazine releases their own ranking every year and are often very accurate, might wanna check out their rankings.
i believe they picked ND as #2 this year.

yeah...they looked impressive against GTech

The preseason rankings mean virtually nothing. The people with votes sit down at the beginning of the year and look at a teams schedule and decide if it is favorable or not, returning starters, team strength the year before, recruiting class etc are all factored in. Since the BCS was created, seldom has a team with one loss made the championship game and in all but 1 case, they did not win. So the question preseason is who is most likely to run the table.

For arguements sake, lets look at why the polls would choose a team like Ohio State over the field:

Lets say for arguments sake there are 10 teams that have a real chance at winning the national championship:

Ohio State - Will be replacing many players on defense, all but one key player on offense returns, possible losses at Texas, at Iowa, vs Mich, vs Penn St. Texas will have a QB with one game vs N Texas under his belt, by midseason for Iowa and Penn St. will outclass those opponents and new defense will no longer be new. Mich at home, rivalry game OSU has had the better of them in recent years especially at home.

Texas- Ohio State Week 2 with new QB. Winner of this game last year obv won the nat'l champ. Has an additional tough BIG12 champ game should they win the South.

Florida- Plays against tough competition in the SEC, has added difficulty of SEC champ game.

Notre Dame- first 4 games are unlikely to go unbeaten, USC looms in California. Lost to OSU in Fiesta bowl last year handily. They return a potent offense, defense much improved, Charlie Weis, etc.

USC- Loses 3 NFL caliber players on offense, new QB, Cal, ND.

Auburn- See Florida

LSU- See Florida

Florida State- Tough ACC to navigate, and program has been down over the past couple years.

West Virginia- Big East, Louisville(not so bad now), talented team, with little or no competition, should they go unbeaten along with 2 other teams, unlikely they make the BCS champ, and rightfully so, they play no one.

Michigan- ND, OSU, Mich St, Iowa, been underachievers of late.

All of this points to a favorable schedule for OSU against quality opponents that they will likely defeat. They will be underdogs in Texas, but not by much and favorites in the rest of their games. Voters give them the edge against Texas due to Texas young QB and the fact Vince Young won the game last year. The winner of the OSU Texas game will likely make the national championship. Should no one else go undefeated, is possible the loser makes the championship as well. Based on their conference strengths and the likelihood they will run the table.

Hence, OSU #1, ND#2, Texas #3, Auburn most likely to run table in SEC #4.

Basically whoever wins OSU Texas game is one piece of the puzzle. Barring any major upset.

If ND can win out, their schedule would give them the nod for the other spot.

If ND loses, then If Auburn runs the table they would get in.

If Auburn loses, USC gets in if they can beat ND and run table.

If all have 1 loss, is likely loser of OSU Texas game would get in with their only loss coming to the only undefeated team, setting up that rematch.

Bottom line, if there wasnt a preseason poll, 90% of America would have no idea who had a chance to win. There will be about 20 undefeated teams after 5 games. Then everyone of those teams would argue they deserve to be #1, and etc etc, when it is very possible teams like ND OSU or Texas with one loss SHOULD be ranked higher than 16-17 of those undefeated teams. There will never be a playoff system like everyone wants because of the revenue it would cost the bowls and their sponsors. Quit griping, watch the games cause you love it, hope and pray your team makes a run at it, and bi.tch n moan when they get snubbed for some team that probably is better than them gets in ahead of them.

They gotta change the playoff format.
I really don't think a 65 team bracket like basketball is all that unrealistic.
Why do you think that football programs stand to lose more money with that format?
Do the basketball programs generate less revenue during the National Tournament?