I understand the criticism aimed at the polls. Especially the preseason polls. What I find odd is the indignancy aimed at the pollsters with whom we disagree. I doubt our votes, while certainly different, would more accurately reflect a ranking that deserves publication. The AP and Coaches polls are made up of people with a lot more information about the teams than any of us possess. I know, if we disagree it's because those pollsters are biased or worse. On the basketball side, Rothstein and Goodman see triple the number of games I see. And I am, at times, obsessive about basketball. Their votes would be based on a lot more knowledge of the teams tthan would mine.
I believe FSU should have been in the CFP because they won all their games and played in one of the top conferences. Texas and Alabama also played in top conferences, but they did not win all their games. I think the top teams have to lose on the field before they're eliminated from the championship playoff. Votes, even from the most knowledgeable people, should not be enough.
Now, the questionn of whether I think FSU was actually better than Bama or Texas is different. That is what the CFP selection committee said was the deciding factor. I do not think polling was a factor except that all the teams being considered were in the top group.
Speaking just for me, I'm not so indignant with pollsters as with the concept of a preseason poll and how it informs what comes after. It sets certain teams and conferences up to bulk up program standing and SOS which then feeds narratives about conferences. It's manifestly harder to win your way into the top 10 than to be granted that status in the preseason. However, once there, it is difficult to lose your way out.
Say a team like Bama would be granted a top 5 status in the preseason (preposterous though it may sound). Then suppose that team has scheduled a first-half schedule that contains only two legit teams (preposterous though it may sound). Say those teams are Texas and Ole Miss, who themselves are ranked outside the top 10, and suppose Bama loses to one but beats all the rest and starts off 6-1 having split games against its ranked opponents. How far would that team have dropped at week 8 where they were 6-1?
Well, we have an example (I jest), it's Alabama 2023, and they dropped to #11 in the AP poll and #8 in the Coaches Poll (tied with the Texas team that beat them earlier in the season, incidentally, but now with a loss as well). To Bama's credit, they won 5 games in a row after starting 1-1. However, 1-score wins over A&M and Arky were very unconvincing. Then they ripped off 4 good wins before laying a stinker at Auburn and escaping with the W, and then beating UGAg, who themselves underwhelmed most of the season against a fairly easy schedule.
But that's Bama, kind of a special case... I mean, Saban thinks they deserve the treatment they get. What about others? LSU started at #5 (finished 9-3), USC at #6 (7-5), Clemson at # 9 (8-4), Tennessee at #12 (8-4), Utah at # 14 (8-4), K State at #16 (8-4), TCU at #17 (5-7), and TAMU at #23 (7-5).
Other SECheat teams getting votes in that preseason poll? USCe (5-7) [73 votes - #27], Arkansas (4-8) [22 - #30], Kentucky (7-5) [14 - #33], Auburn (6-6) [7 - #37], MSU (5-7) and Florida (5-7) [4 - #40]. Twelve SECheat teams in all got votes in the preseason poll, yet only 6 won 8 games or more. It happens year after year.
My solution? Don't even have a poll until October 1 has passed. Then you have a chance of getting it right. However, as you and many others have said, those early polls gin up clicks and viewers for those "compelling" early season games - like TCU Colorado. Ha!
