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Here we are in the middle of August and college football polls are popping up all over the country. How can you have polls come out when some teams have not even started and others have just started practicing? It is crazy to be ranking teams this early.  The players change from year to year. Every year new freshmen join teams and juniors and seniors leave teams. This can make a huge difference in how teams play.  In some cases, teams may return players who do not play as well as they did the year before.  It can and has caused big problems with rankings in the past. Every year there are teams who are ranked where they should not be. Furthermore, there are teams that are not ranked at all who may be better then they first appear. It is true they may be good; they may even play great. But, can we hold off a bit before ranking teams when they have not even played a game yet?  When we rank teams this early it can really affect how their season ends, in some cases costing them a chance to play in one of the BCS games or even the National Championship.

We can go back to just last year to see why we don’t need polls this early. A preseason poll last year had Michigan ranked #24 in the country and also had Utah unranked. Both of these rankings were way off the mark. Michigan did not even finish above five hundred last year.   They lost to Toledo in the “Big House” for gosh sakes. We all saw what Utah did last year. They went undefeated and beat a pretty good Alabama team in the BCS Sugar Bowl. What would have happened if Utah would have been ranked in the top fifteen when the preseason polls were posted? They may have been afforded a better chance to play in the National Championship. They would not have had to move up in the polls as far if they had been ranked in the first polls, that we do know. It would be fairer for the voters to wait a few weeks and have the polls come out after week four.

Even the polls contradict themselves. Take the BCS poll for example.  Why don’t they come out with that poll now? They don’t because they want to see how well teams play and how good they are. The pollsters are basing their vote on what they have seen a team do on the field. Wow!  What a concept. Another question that is brought up frequently is, are they voting on where the teams are now at the beginning  of the season or are they basing their rankings on where they feel the teams might be when the season ends.?  It just does not make any darn sense. If it is where they are now the “Who cares” in the title even becomes more of a factor. It just does not matter till you see them play. Even when the BCS rankings came out for the first time last year, the undefeated Utah team was only was ranked # 11 in the standings. The funny thing was that Alabama, the team they blew out 31-17, was ranked second in the same standings. Just like on your rear view mirror the warning is very similar, “Teams on paper may be better than they appear”.

Even though teams may have many of their players coming back, it does not mean they will be a better team. In 2006, Ohio State had many of their players returning, including quarterback and future Heisman Trophy winner, Troy Smith. Many people thought they would go back to the National Championship undefeated and win like they did in 2002. They went back to the championship game but were blown out by Florida. Ohio State was ranked number #1 in the preseason poll and Florida was ranked #7. Unfortunately, I rest my case.

There are many examples of teams being ranked in the wrong spot. It would take the same amount of time and words to write an “A” quality college thesis.  We don’t have the time or energy to research all of that. This year, with what Ohio State lost after last year, I think number #6 might be a little generous. That’s just it though, we don’t know; it is just too early to evaluate teams. Let teams play and see what they can do. Since we are not yet able to determine who is number one or two on the field in a playoff, we at least need to make sure teams are ranked properly so that the two best teams play for the National Championship. We first need to them let them play, let them play.

Tags: bcs, bcs national championship game, florida gators football, michigan football, ohio state football, utah football