Wacky Polls
Sunday, September 10, 2006 at 02:01PM The AP and Coaches polls are out already.
As detailed in this space earlier this year, having the polls published on Sunday, a quick turnover from Saturday's games, is a bad idea. I'd rather voters have time to gather more information on every game played, every team playing both within and without the top 25.
The delay can only help. It gives voters an extra moment to reflect and make a more sober decision.
What's wrong with this week's polls? Plenty.
---Confusion with the contenders. USC is second in one poll, fourth in the other. Notre Dame is second in one poll, third in another. Auburn is third in one poll, fourth in another. This is a nitpick but the USC gap is puzzling after voters have until now been reliably consistent in their view of the Trojans. One week of not playing and suddenly voters start dancing around with them. Strange.
---Too harsh with Texas. The Longhorns didn't look great last night, but they looked better than the eigth place ranking given to them. That game was very close until the fourth quarter when Ohio State finally pulled away.
---Florida State!? Maybe that game was played so late and the opponent was low profile enough that most voters didn't even check the scores. The Seminoles were two very fortunate fourth-quarter interceptions away from losing to a terrible Troy team. They can't run the ball. Their on field chemistry is terrible. The offensive coordinator's picture is next to the world nepotism in the dictionary. Bad. Bad. Bad. I was shocked they remained in the top ten after a pathetic win against Miami. How they're still there after this weekend is disgusting. This is a huge red flag.
---Clemson/Boston College. Well, which is it? Clemson came into this one ranked in the late teens and played fairly well. They couldn't quite bury Boston College and the gutty Eagles took advantage of the opportunity to push the game to overtime and benefited from a rare missed extra point that provided their winning margin. Suddenly B.C. surges in the polls and Clemson drops out. That doesn't make much sense to me, given that they played equally well in this game and Clemson remains a very good team. I'd have both in the top 25 or just call it a bad day for Clemson if anything and keep them in the top 25 and perhaps Boston College as well.
I don't know what to ascribe the bad voting to. Perhaps it's "asleep at the wheel" syndrome, weary coaches and voters literally mailing their ballots in without much reflection. I know I'm exhausted after tracking so many games yesterday and am not in a good position to make a definitive vote on any particular team.
Imagine the strain for a coach who probably saw only a handful of games, if that? Or a writer who had to watch a game, gather his quotes and publish anywhere from one to three stories on deadline and yet have a ballot submitted sometime this morning?
The idea of releasing the polls on Sunday so far is a disaster and will hopefully be amended for next season.
Some pride needs to be taken in the process.
Reader Comments (3)
It is disgusting that a team with a loss is in the top 10 this early in the season. I don't care who they lost to, because quite frankly we don't really know how good Ohio State is yet.
One good thing coming up is this weekend's slate of games. Using your Top Teams 2006 list most all of the contenders will be in games they can easily lose. USC plays Nebraska, Auburn hosts LSU, Notre Dame hosts Michigan, Florida at Tennessee, Louisville vs. Miami, Oklahoma at Oregon, heck even West Virginia hosts a BCS conference team in Maryland.
We'll know a lot more after this weekend. Until then, the polls don't really have meaning until they determine the first BCS poll.
Determining the rank of the top teams gets a lot easier down the road as well. If you stay unbeaten and keep winning you usually stick around. Also, lets face it, the polls only determine the championship game participants. After that, they're meaningless themselves.