College Football Polls Suck

Stop Already...

Is there a reason that we have to have preseason college football polls? And for that matter, why do we have to have polls each week of the college football season? Is there some sort of rule that says that Sportswriters and/or coaches know something that we don't? Is there some magic criteria or prerequisite that says "Team A" is going to be the national champion? Or that "Team B" is the #1 Team after 1 week?

Who's da' man?

So. After 1 week, can you say who the best team in all of the land is? Apparently the Associated Press and the Coaches can. They've decided that this week, it will be Southern Cal. Last week it was Georgia.

This is what the alleged top 5 look like:

1) Southern Cal

2) Georgia

3)Ohio State

4) Oklahoma

5) Florida

The results are from both polls. I'm not saying that there is anything conspiritorial here, but what I'm saying is how the hell do you know? Granted Southern Cal opened with Virginia as opposed to Georgia opening with Georgia Southern, but both teams won easily.

Creating Problems...

The reason I bring this up is these early polls create problems later in the year. If you aren't in the Top 10 before the season starts, you've got almost no chance of winning the National Championship. Even if you run the table, you won't be able to pass one of the national powerhouse teams who are always ranked high whether they are good or not. Every couple of years, this becomes an issue (see Auburn circa 2003) and it will continue to be one.

Is the BCS Right?

There aren't a lot of things involving the Bowl Championship series that I agree with, but there is one. That is they don't put out a "Poll" until week 6. At that point you have an idea of what people have. I mean the "Pre-season Pundits" had Clemson as the 9th best team this year. If anyone saw there performance against Alabama (I was there), then you know how untrue that was.

Maybe one day they will all figure it out. But then again, the boosters and the fans all live and die by the polls, so maybe nothing will happen. Either way, it's unfair to the teams, it's a burden that they don't need before the season starts.