Voters should stop playing musical chairs with polls
10/16/2007
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Is it even an honor anymore for programs to be ranked in the top five of any college football standings? I only ask because the achievement is starting to mean less and less to us fans.
College football voters (not only the ones who do the BCS standings) must be in utter disarray after what has transpired over the past three weeks of the college football season. Every time they move a team up in the rankings, another upset occurs and voters have to admit they made a mistake (well, not actually admit it, but each new poll essentially is an admission that the previous one was wrong).
In this season’s preseason polls, voters had Michigan tabbed as the fifth best team in the nation. Then little ol’ Appalachian State came to town and proved the Wolverines shouldn’t have been anywhere near the top five with such a dismal defense.
“No problem,” said the voters. “We’ve got more teams to replace Michigan.” So Florida and Oklahoma moved into the top five.
After a few weeks of teams playing cupcake programs, another wave of upsets destroyed the voters’ standings. Oklahoma lost to unranked Colorado, Florida was upset by Auburn (another unranked team), and West Virginia dropped a tough game on the road against #18 South Florida.
“No problem,” said the voters. “We’ve got more teams to replace Oklahoma, Florida and West Virginia.” So California, Ohio State, Wisconsin, South Florida, Boston College and Kentucky all moved into the top 10.
Wisconsin couldn’t even hold onto its #5 ranking for one week, as it fell to Illinois on the road. A week later, the Badgers were absolutely destroyed by Penn State, proving their top five ranking was just as underserved as Michigan’s had been.
Photo by Bill Moore, © Bullz-Eye.com
“No problem,” said the voters. “We’ve got more teams to replace Wisconsin.” So Ohio State, Cal, Boston College and South Florida all moved up a spot and into the top five.
Following the theme of previous weeks, more upsets occurred this past weekend. #1 LSU lost a thrilling overtime game to Kentucky and #2 Cal was embarrassed at home by Oregon State.
For the last time, I promise: “No problem,” said the voters. “We’ve got more teams to replace LSU and Cal.” So Ohio State, South Florida and Boston College moved into the top three spots. Furthermore, Oklahoma jumped back into the top five, and more programs like South Carolina, Oregon and Kentucky have begun to creep up the standings as well.
Are voters actually trying to determine what the top 25 teams are anymore? College football standings have turned into a glorified excuse to play musical chairs with teams. One team falls, another one jumps up. Two teams up, two teams down.
Nobody is going to argue that, in general, the college football voting system is a joke. In an effort to make it less of a joke, however, why don’t voters wait six or seven weeks before releasing the first poll? After six weeks, the dust has settled a bit, and the season starts to take shape. By that point, upsets will have definitely occurred and voters would have a better understanding of which programs are better than others, and which teams are flukes.
Ohio State deserves all the praise in the world for getting back to #1 after being shredded in the national championship game by Florida and losing six offensive players to the NFL. However, are they the nation’s clear-cut best team or is it just their turn on the merry-go-round?
Is South Florida the second best team in the country? This season has certainly proved anything can happen, but it’s a stretch to believe USF can beat LSU, Oklahoma and USC. Don’t think that’s a fair way to assess things? Well, according to college football voters, USF is the second best team in college football, so that means they should be able to beat everyone else in the top 10 except Ohio State, right? Why else have rankings if not to paint a clear picture of who can beat whom?
What happens if Ohio State, South Florida and Boston College all lose this weekend (which is a possibility given their respective opponents)? So Oklahoma becomes the top team again, assuming they beat Iowa State? Do the voters force themselves to have selective amnesia and forget the Sooners lost to Colorado?
I guess since Oklahoma was upset towards the beginning of the year, it’s okay for them to use the rest of the season to sneak back into the hearts of voters. Of course, if Ohio State loses to archrival Michigan at the end of the year, they’ll have no more games to redeem themselves. Voters award teams for getting their upsets out of the way early and really, is that the best way to rank teams?
If college football voters waited six or seven weeks into the season before releasing their first poll, every program would have played at least two cupcake teams and two to three conference games. Releasing a poll before teams even hit the field is meaningless. All they’re really doing is ranking teams based on how many starters they’re returning.
Preseason polls aren’t an accurate assessment of which teams are better than others, so why even have them? Why even have rankings until after every team has played a legitimate opponent or has faced a tough road challenge? If the polls are supposed to be an assessment of which 25 teams are the best in the country, how can voters make an accurate assessment without more information? Without sounding like I’m sticking up for voters, how are they supposed to rank teams without more on-field proof?
At this point in the season, every team has played at least six games. If the first poll were released this week, Oklahoma, LSU, USC and Cal would all be in similar one-loss situations. Ohio State, South Florida and Boston College are the top undefeated teams in the nation, right? Well, how do they compare to the top one-loss teams? That’s what voters should be basing their rankings on – not this cockamamie, whichever-team-doesn’t-lose-moves-up-in-the-rankings nonsense. This isn’t survivor.
It’s not my job to rank the top 25 teams in the nation. I don’t get paid to follow every college football team with a magnifying glass to determine who can beat whom. However, I do know that ranking teams solely on upsets and records isn’t going to tell fans which teams are better than others. It’s a flawed system and a poor way to do things. But really, what else is new in college football?
Questions or comments? Send them to astalter@bullz-eye.com.