Pre-season Rankings

[GTonTop88]

Thought about this the other day. With the Sec having something like 10 or 12 in the top 25 in the pre-season. Wouldn't it be more fair not to come out with a top 25 until the second or third week? The Sec gets ranked so high that when one loses that they hardly fall any, 5 beats 1 who beat 8 who beat 6 who beat 5. I just feel like if you were to rank everyone in any conference that conference is definitely gonna have an advantage. Yea they have some pretty good teams, and are the best conference. But look at Ole Miss who beat Bama. We played poorly against Ole Miss in the bowl and still could've won that game. Yet they come out as number 8 in the country in the pre-season. Is the Sec really that good or just made out to be?

 

[JazzyD95]

It all stems from the fact that ESPN signed a multiMillion million dollar contract with the SEC. Now that espn has stake in the concernce THey are going to do everything they can do to keep it at "the pinnicle" of college football.
Are some teams in the SEC good? Of course, but they arnt head and shoulders above everyone else.
The media bias makes me ****ing sick, and now I can't even watch sportscenter without screaming at the TV.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

@GTonTop88 you could delay announcing the top 25 but I don't think it would matter. The previous year's results *have* to be included in the next year since there are so few games and with 120+ teams, you have to start with a baseline.

I've got no problem with using last year's results as a starting point and adjusting up and down as the results come in this year. That way a program is rewarded for past performance.

The only way FSU is top 4 is because they were undefeated last year. It's not from quality of play this year considering strength of opponent. In fact, the UNBIASED Football Outsiders has FSU at 10th based on strength of schedule. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/fplus

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

FCS has it correct. Settle it on the field. Most bias is based on past performance anyway. The Oklahomas, ND's, USC's, etc will always get the benefit of the doubt. Kinda like ranking HS kids.

 

[Jay Alexander]

Thought about this the other day. With the Sec having something like 10 or 12 in the top 25 in the pre-season. Wouldn't it be more fair not to come out with a top 25 until the second or third week? The Sec gets ranked so high that when one loses that they hardly fall any, 5 beats 1 who beat 8 who beat 6 who beat 5. I just feel like if you were to rank everyone in any conference that conference is definitely gonna have an advantage. Yea they have some pretty good teams, and are the best conference. But look at Ole Miss who beat Bama. We played poorly against Ole Miss in the bowl and still could've won that game. Yet they come out as number 8 in the country in the pre-season. Is the Sec really that good or just made out to be?

I think CPJ basically said the same thing on the radio show.

Something like its a fixed game because when two ranked teams play each other they flip places in the polls.

 

[jeffgt14]

You can't stop all the polls from ranking teams. There's too much money in ranking teams. If every major poll didn't rank a team then people will go online to jimbobspreseasonrankings.com to see what teams are ranked where because that's the only poll around and will still set this general aura about where teams are ranked prior to the "official" rankings.

 

[DTGT]

The Sec gets ranked so high that when one loses that they hardly fall any, 5 beats 1 who beat 8 who beat 6 who beat 5. I just feel like if you were to rank everyone in any conference that conference is definitely gonna have an advantage.

This is a feature, not a bug.

 

[Minawreck]

@GTonTop88 you could delay announcing the top 25 but I don't think it would matter. The previous year's results *have* to be included in the next year since there are so few games and with 120+ teams, you have to start with a baseline.

I've got no problem with using last year's results as a starting point and adjusting up and down as the results come in this year. That way a program is rewarded for past performance.

The only way FSU is top 4 is because they were undefeated last year. It's not from quality of play this year considering strength of opponent. In fact, the UNBIASED Football Outsiders has FSU at 10th based on strength of schedule. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/fplus

this assumes that choosing the national champion should be more about rewarding the best team according to stats and numbers, versus the team that enjoys the most on-field success during the regular season.

How you determine which teams have had more success is up for debate, but that's what the College football Playoff poll should be doing.

If a baseball team is really lucky in a lot of games, but wins a lot of them they still make the playoffs, even if they're technically worse than a team that gets reall unlucky.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

True, but I'd rather have the National Champ be the one with the best (objective) stats rather than the best PR department.

As we've talked about, even in a CFB playoff of 8 or 16 teams, what you would find is who is playing the best for that stretch of time. At least in baseball/basketball you play series of games to reduce the luck factor.

It should all be about the fun and thrill of competition, these are just student athletes, right?

 

[Minawreck]

I guess what I'm saying is, that an undefeated team should be rewarded for being undefeated. I understand that until we have a way to include all conference champions we need to differentiate between the teams, and advanced stats, eyeball tests, and presumed strength of schedule should definitely factor, but at the end of the day, every postseason is a earned by your win/loss results during the regular season. Not your relative statistical production.

I hope that this attempt at a 4-team playoff ends in such a cluster, that we get what we should have from the start:

16 teams all conference champs, and 6 at-larges. P5 conference champs cannot be road teams in first round.

First Round at home of higher seed.

Shorten season back to 11 games and allow for post season scrimmage scheduling for non-playoff teams prior to bowl season (an option likely not taken by many teams).

Don't talk about length of season when high school kids play like 16 games now if they win state titles.