(To the tune of Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett…) “I don’t know the reason, polls come out in preseason, When nothing is sure with a playoff this new. The Committee decides, to keep seven at-large alive How? Well, we fans aren’t given a clue. Wasting away again in the off-season, A football fan lookin’ for somethin’ to do. Some people claim ...

 

2024: Do A Plethora of Preseason Polls Properly Predict the...

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“I don’t know the reason, polls come out in preseason, When nothing is sure with a playoff this new. The Committee decides, to keep seven...

Great read Jon! I have always believed no polls should be posted till after game 5 of the season. Too many times have I seen top 25 teams upset in non-conference games opening the season.

 

These pre-season polls are great eye candy and nothing more.

Edited July 8, 20241 yr by TXDuck

Pre-season AND early season polls are fan fodder.  Gives something to "cuss and discuss" when nothing of substance is really actually happening.

 

Agreed that any polls before weeks 5-6 are simply for "positioning" to give the illusion of top 25, early season, matchups.  Only skews higher  rankings for the conferences that have more teams initially ranked, than may be actually deserving of said rankings.  (Thinking of Tennessee in the BCS ERA, initially ranked top 5 and finished with like 5 losses).

 

Anyway!  Look how high the Ducks are ranked in ALL these polls!  Must mean a Natty is inevitable THIS YEAR!  Makes us feel good as Duck fans butttt sitting here on the 8th of July they all are meaningless speculation.

 

Gotta have something to talk about in the 24 hour sports news cycle, right?

 

Go Ducksters!

Great ponderings Jon!  Thanks for laying out those possibilities.  Too many for this poor soul to contemplate.

 

We can only hope that strength of schedule will be included in a committees decision, and a true seeding by by results on the field occurs.

 

Thanks again Jon!

Jon, you are the MAN, and thanks for all the research for our benefit!

Great comments. And thanks to my Editor for excellent editing.

 

Polls for the obvious reason, $, are not going away. I used a gambling site to set the field as these folks do have dollars at risk. Gambling sites have to set odds for many teams not just to make the 12-team Playoff but to win a conference title in the P4 and the G5. As the season progresses odds will be adjusted. 

 

For the polls not published to entice people to waste their wages, one wonders why polls need to consist of more than a top 12 and the highest-ranked G5 team if not ranked in the top 12. ESPN will not allow this to happen as ESPN is paying large sums of money to broadcast the playoff. However, CBS and friends also pay a lot of money to broadcast the NCAA Basketball Tournament and the CBB Committee puts out only one ranking before the field is set and announced. 

 

After having FSU ranked in the top 4 for the final six weeks of the season, the Committee jumping Alabama up to the 4 seed and dropping the Seminoles to the 5 seed and out of the Playoff, just increased the pain for FSU and the ACC; one of the reasons FSU is trying to escape the ACC. The difference of course is that the NCAA is the host of the tournament and not ESPN. The Chairman of the Playoff Committee, Michigan AD Warde Manuel, is going to have his hands full. 

 

Make no mistake, the SEC has earned the privilege of being CFB's leader of the pack (not the Pac-2.) To the victor rightfully goes the spoils. But when I see nine SEC teams ranked in the top 25, more than half of the conference, I again question why the polls go 25 deep. (And also why the SEC plays 98 and not 9 conference games but that's another issue.)  One thing I am comfortable saying with certainty is that many of the players on SEC teams ranked in the top 25 out of eligibility by time with a team or by choice going early to the NFL will not be playing in non-playoff extraneous bowl games. 

 

It is going to be an exciting year with many more teams involved in the playoff mix than we have had before; including, of course, OBD!😍😍😍

Edited July 8, 20241 yr by Jon Joseph