... And there were 3

[stevo0718]

Aren't all these preseason polls basically meaningless? I mean the real poll, the playoff poll, comes out week 5 or so, right?

They are kinda, but it sets the stage for "who's a good team." It at some level is the basis for all future rankings.

Because South Carolina was a preseason top 10 you could argue this was the genesis of why the SEC West was "so good" last year

USC preseason top 10 comes to play top 25 TAMu. tamu beats the snot out of them. Wow tamu must be awesome now they're #9 and Scar is #14.

Tamu rolls along plays rice and other patsies until they meet up with #12 Miss State. At this point tamu is #6 thanks to scar, gets beat soundly by MSU, now MSU gets street cred and gets ranked #3.....

We can all say preseason doesn't matter, but this is where the self fulfilling SEC prophecy begins...

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

And don't forget. Everyone thought LSU was unbeatable at home. When they got beat, it bumped a team up about 10 spots.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Never feel good about an athlete not being able to compete.

Me too.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

They are kinda, but it sets the stage for "who's a good team." It at some level is the basis for all future rankings.

Because South Carolina was a preseason top 10 you could argue this was the genesis of why the SEC West was "so good" last year

USC preseason top 10 comes to play top 25 TAMu. tamu beats the snot out of them. Wow tamu must be awesome now they're #9 and Scar is #14.

Tamu rolls along plays rice and other patsies until they meet up with #12 Miss State. At this point tamu is #6 thanks to scar, gets beat soundly by MSU, now MSU gets street cred and gets ranked #3.....

We can all say preseason doesn't matter, but this is where the self fulfilling SEC prophecy begins...

Wish I could like this ten more times.
Meanwhile, TCU, Baylor and Michigan State were all playing just as good of football if not better but because they were not playing teams with "padded poll rankings" they get too little love too late to have a shot at the playoffs.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I think you're right in theory. However, voters are lazy and IMHO they rely on these pre and early-season polls to tell them who the good teams are so they don't have to actually go do their homework and watch games.

I think they do their homework but it is not enough. If the national polls are putting certain SEC teams in the top ten then the committee has a steep psychological hurdle to overcome if they want to demote any of those teams. If they could be like a sequestered jury and not have access to media reports I would trust them a lot more. As it is they have to hear the same daily media blitz that we have to hear telling us that the SEC West is better than all the other conferences combined.

 

[Eastman]

They do their homework but they also have their presuppositions as do we. We say that we caught Winston at his best in the ACC Championship game but others may say that our lack of rush was the main factor. Because of their strong recent history and subsequent ESPN investment, they are seen as a cut above. The great thing is that they still have to play the games and no SEC team should write us off as an easy win for the foreseeable future.

 

[deeeznutz]

They are kinda, but it sets the stage for "who's a good team." It at some level is the basis for all future rankings.

Because South Carolina was a preseason top 10 you could argue this was the genesis of why the SEC West was "so good" last year

USC preseason top 10 comes to play top 25 TAMu. tamu beats the snot out of them. Wow tamu must be awesome now they're #9 and Scar is #14.

Tamu rolls along plays rice and other patsies until they meet up with #12 Miss State. At this point tamu is #6 thanks to scar, gets beat soundly by MSU, now MSU gets street cred and gets ranked #3.....

We can all say preseason doesn't matter, but this is where the self fulfilling SEC prophecy begins...

Yup, I was complaining about this right here all year. SEC teams don't have to schedule strong teams out of conference because they get their conference rivals inflated ranking to pull them all up, then a 4-0 OOC record over a bunch of tomato cans to "confirm it". I just wish the media would start taking them to task for their weak scheduling, but unfortunately sports media generally means ESPN, and they aren't gonna piss on their own lunch.