A Rant. This is why Polls suck.

[615dawg]

I know that polls have been around forever and it gives the media power and such, but this week's AP Top 25 just begs to be discussed.

Here are a few things that stick out.

1. Alabama is the new #1. Not a problem with this, personally, but they go out and beat Michigan (formerly ranked #8) handily and they are all of a sudden better than USC? In this particular case, Alabama was better to begin with, but the problem here is not Alabama moving to #1. Its that Michigan was #8 and that is the basis in which Alabama moved to #1. Who says that Michigan was that good? We skull dragged them two years ago and they weren't that impressive last year.

2. If I am to believe Bristol, Florida State is the team to beat this year because of their schedule. Why aren't they higher than 6th? And if their schedule is so bad, should they ever be better than 6th? Florida State beat Murray State 69-3 this week. They get Savannah State (84-0 losers to Oklahoma State) this week. How are they getting a pass for paying two FCS teams? Hell, Ole Miss did it a few years ago and they were ripped in the media en route to a Cotton Bowl. Here you have a legitimate candidate for a national champion doing it and I haven't heard anything about it. Here's how the story goes. FSU beats up on FCS teams and ACC teams while everyone above them sans Alabama drops a game at some point. Florida State and Alabama meet for the national championship and Bama wins 45-7 and people ask what happened?

3. Its almost like when the AP poll got to 7, they started grouping teams by conference. 7-8-9 are all SEC teams. 11, 13, 14 and 16 are Big Ten teams while 12 and 15 are ACC teams. 17, 18, 20 and 21 are Big 12 teams.

4. Stanford? Are we rating teams based on graduated players now? Stanford looked like complete **** against San Jose State. Some years that's not enough to stay out of the bottom 25. For them to be in the Top 25 is a joke. Notre Dame and Florida haven't done anything to earn their way in this year, either, but Stanford???

5. The others receiving votes are always fun.
Boise State. Really? They dropped off from 24th to 26th after being exposed as average again?
Tennessee. They beat a mid-tier ACC team by two TDs. The Vols are back to the Peyton Manning days!
Ohio. They beat Penn State in the first of six years of humiliating losses.
Texas State. A first year FBS team beats Houston and gets 10 points in the Top 25 poll. Really?

 

[saltslugs]

1) They smoked the highest ranked team that lost this week and move up (rightfully so). They also won the national championship last year.
2) No team should ever have its schedule considered when it hasn't played many games yet. They haven't played these games, so these games should obviously not be considered.
3) Coincidence and not statistically signficant.
4) Who would you have ranked? You seem to be upset with many teams for being ranked or receiving votes.
5) The Texas State vote is weird, but the others all seem relevant. Everyone has different opinions and it seems reasonable that a few voters would consider each of these teams one of the top 25 teams.

 

[ALdawg.sixpack]

Agree with you on just about all points but at the same time, you have to come up with 25 teams....teams toward the tail-end of those 25 teams will be weaker and have flaws with them and their ranking could be debated.

To me, Boise should still be receiving votes because Michigan State isn't bad and it was a good game. Florida almost lost to BGSU...

Makes you ask questions like this: if #25 team in the country loses to #1 in the country but keeps it really close, shouldn't they stay the same or improve in ranking? Polls are too reliant on win/loss and not enough on the actual game that was played--but it has to be this way because voters can't watch and analyze every single game so they end up looking at scores and voting.

 

[GloryDawg]

I would venture to say the reason the polls suck like they do is most of the voters are in California for somewhere else on the left coast or the old north west such as Ohio. They want their favorite conferences to get reconition and they really hate the SEC. Those voters out number the Southern Voters who will vote for SEC schools. I think those voters in other region who have level heads and keep their personal feelings out of their vote do vote for the best teams and I think the two best are Lsu AND Alabama. Once you get past them it is a tosh up as to who is better. Oregon in my opinion is better then USC and after watching the ACC and Big east they should not have any in the top ten. The Big East should not have anyone in the Top 25 and should lose their BCS automatic bid.

 

[615dawg]

I'm just complaining. Mainly that Ohio and Texas State each got 10 points in the poll and Stanford is ranked. The others aren't a bother to me. Ohio and Texas State will combine for a losing record, and Stanford might be a .500 team.

Whereas a team like Mississippi State might be 6-1 and not ranked. Don't see how? Let me spell it out to you. We beat Auburn, get a little buzz and pick up a few points, but still stay in the 29-30 range. Troy and South Alabama wins don't excite anyone, and Kentucky gets us in at 24. Lose a close one to Tennessee and we're out. MTSU win does not get us back in.

 

[dawgs.sixpack]

there's no anti-sec conspiracy. did you look at the preseason polls? what was there? 7 or 8 sec teams in it? and another 2 or 3 receiving votes?

face it, outside of bama and tenn, the rest of the sec did not perform all that well. hell, we looked as good as anyone else, but it's impossible to really say if that was us or jackson st. lsu, arkansas, and uga all struggled for a half or so before pulling away from overmatched opponents. south carolina and vandy looked like a cripple fight. auburn could throw the ball against a D that gave up 70 in their last outing and their D looked like swiss cheese. kentucky got curb stomped by their rival. missouri kicked the **** out of se louisiana or whatever, but much like us, it's impossible to tell much from that kinda matchup where you clearly just dominate and scoreboard. florida still hasn't figured out how to play offense in the post-tebow era. ole miss trailed central arkansas at the half before pulling away.

all in all, it was a pretty weak weekend for the sec. obviously things change, teams improve, etc., but for now, the sec just didn't look all that good over the weekend top to bottom. yet still the sec dominates the polls.

 

[dawgs.sixpack]

I'm just complaining. Mainly that Ohio and Texas State each got 10 points in the poll and Stanford is ranked. The others aren't a bother to me. Ohio and Texas State will combine for a losing record, and Stanford might be a .500 team.

just a fyi, a lot of people projected ohio at a potential BCS buster. they won 10 games last year and returned most of their team. they could easily run the table.

and stanford did struggle, however, VT lost to james madison a year or 2 ago and still went on to win 10 games, so sometimes weird things happen. it's not like stanford is now doomed to a 5-7 season, they'll go back and improve and could still be plenty fine.

 

[saltslugs]

No way we're unranked at 6-1. Mainly because we'd be top 15 prior to the Tennessee game. Take a look at Vandy's 2008 season for example. Started 5-0 with a ho-hum schedule and earned a top-15 ranking. Then, they loss to a dreadful MSU team and were still ranked.

Also, I very much disagree with your stance on Ohio. They'll win, at a minimum, 9 games. Stanford and Texas State? You might be right...

 

[stinkfoot]

WVU cancelled on FSU a few months ago. *

I know that polls have been around forever and it gives the media power and such, but this week's AP Top 25 just begs to be discussed.

Here are a few things that stick out.

1. Alabama is the new #1. Not a problem with this, personally, but they go out and beat Michigan (formerly ranked # handily and they are all of a sudden better than USC? In this particular case, Alabama was better to begin with, but the problem here is not Alabama moving to #1. Its that Michigan was #8 and that is the basis in which Alabama moved to #1. Who says that Michigan was that good? We skull dragged them two years ago and they weren't that impressive last year.

2. If I am to believe Bristol, Florida State is the team to beat this year because of their schedule. Why aren't they higher than 6th? And if their schedule is so bad, should they ever be better than 6th? Florida State beat Murray State 69-3 this week. They get Savannah State (84-0 losers to Oklahoma State) this week. How are they getting a pass for paying two FCS teams? Hell, Ole Miss did it a few years ago and they were ripped in the media en route to a Cotton Bowl. Here you have a legitimate candidate for a national champion doing it and I haven't heard anything about it. Here's how the story goes. FSU beats up on FCS teams and ACC teams while everyone above them sans Alabama drops a game at some point. Florida State and Alabama meet for the national championship and Bama wins 45-7 and people ask what happened?

3. Its almost like when the AP poll got to 7, they started grouping teams by conference. 7-8-9 are all SEC teams. 11, 13, 14 and 16 are Big Ten teams while 12 and 15 are ACC teams. 17, 18, 20 and 21 are Big 12 teams.

4. Stanford? Are we rating teams based on graduated players now? Stanford looked like complete **** against San Jose State. Some years that's not enough to stay out of the bottom 25. For them to be in the Top 25 is a joke. Notre Dame and Florida haven't done anything to earn their way in this year, either, but Stanford

5. The others receiving votes are always fun.
Boise State. Really? They dropped off from 24th to 26th after being exposed as average again?
Tennessee. They beat a mid-tier ACC team by two TDs. The Vols are back to the Peyton Manning days!
Ohio. They beat Penn State in the first of six years of humiliating losses.
Texas State. A first year FBS team beats Houston and gets 10 points in the Top 25 poll. Really?

asdfasdf

 

[GloryDawg]

I am not going to argue your points but you will not convince me that the voters out side the South don't try every way they can not to vote SEC.

 

[VegasDawg13]

I so disagree with your first point. The fact that the voters reconsidered based on what they saw is a great thing. It used to be a huge problem when voters would refuse to drop someone because they hadn't lost. All that does is give more importance to your own personal preseason ranking than what is actually happening on the field.

Boise State traveled halfway across the country and lost a close game to a more highly ranked opponent on their home field. I don't think they should have dropped at all. And you're complaining they dropped out of the polls?

All your complaints are about teams being ranked too high. You realize it's a top 25, right? Not just a random number of notable teams.