Pre-schmeason Polls and the BS BCS

So, here we are just a few weeks prior to the kickoff of the college football season, and teams are beginning to get into the routine of things. We’re doing the same thing here at the NBL, so in getting use to the college football routine, I’m sitting here on the couch, early in the morning on Saturday watching Sports Center and reading the news. And the news of the day is the new preseason AP poll and the fact that Boise State is ranked at number 3, and how impressive that is for a non-BCS school.

Let’s be frank here. There are two things that are pissing me off about this: preseason polls and the BCS. Let’s start with this whole preseason poll thing. As most of you know, the NBL couldn’t give two left testicles about preseason polls. We decided a long time ago that we wouldn’t release a poll until at least week 3 of the season, so that we can see how teams will actually play, as opposed to voting based on how we think teams will play. Now, One of the big arguments being made out there in favor of preseason polls, is that they are fun and get fans excited about the upcoming season. Honestly, I think that argument is pretty stupid. There are over 100 teams in college football and preseason polls only mention 25 of them. You really mean to tell me that fans from the dozens of other teams aren’t excited about the start of the season. On top of that, you rarely ever hear of a coaching staff that will get excited about their preseason ranking. If anything, they get annoyed or concerned by them. In many ways, for any teams, it is a bit of a curse to be ranked high during the preseason. I just heard Texas coach Mack Brown talking about how he believed polls are irrelevant. When asked how he felt about his team being ranked 5th in the preseason AP, he responded by saying that team chemistry changes dramatically from day to day prior to the opening kickoff of the season and that you never really know what kind of team you have until your in the 4th quarter and your getting beat by the other team. The NBL philosophy in practice! Polls don’t matter when a lower ranked team is beating you in the 4th quarter. So if Mack Brown is averse to the preseason polls and most other coaches agree with him, why the polls and does it really benefit anyone in the long run?

To answer the 1st question, I think the preseason polls are pretty much for the fans only, and to give sportscasters and college football analysts something to talk about. Yes, it’s a bit cynical, but tell me I’m wrong. I’m a big man. I can handle it. Now, do the polls really benefit anyone. It’s arguable that the only teams it could help are non-BCS teams like Boise State. Even Boise State head coach Chris Peterson has voiced his disapproval of preseason polls in the past, but it is interesting to note that this year he is saying that if pollsters are going to rank them up so high, let’s prove them right. I can see that, especially since it is so tough for these teams to make a BCS bowl game and especially the national championship, being ranked highly at the start of the season could benefit you it that you are not having to unseat higher ranked teams…you just have to keep winning and hold your place. But since the BCS doesn’t list their ranking till later in the season, hopefully when the league is starting to settle, maybe this only reinforces the irrelevance of the preseason polls. Oh well, the age old argument. On a personal note, my Georgia Tech is ranked and Texas A&M isn’t…I dare you to tell me that Randy is much less excited about the upcoming season than I am.

Let’s talk about the BCS a bit as well. I’m not going to change any minds with this one and I’m probably not going to make a lot of friends either, but as much as I can appreciate what they were trying to do for college football by instituting the BCS years back, I desperately hope they figure out a way to remove the conference affiliation. I certainly understand the quality of talent, conference strength and all the other arguments made for not including conferences like the MAC and the Sun Belt, but if I may be blunt, if you make those arguments, you are wrong. Yet again, most coaches that I have heard talk about conference inclusion in the BCS want to see “BCS conference” labels done away with, in favor of an equal footing. Why wouldn’t the BCS do this? Well, that’s too big of a topic to discuss in this article, so another time and place.

In the mean time, although we don’t put much credence in preseason polls, here at the NBL, unofficially, I’m still going to look at them, I’m still going to find satisfaction that Boise State and TCU are ranked pretty high in spite of their conference affiliation, I’m still going to get excited that Georgia Tech is ranked higher than Georgia, and I’m still going to insist that the polls will look very different after about week 3 or 4, so don’t get too comfortable.

Tags: BCS, Boise State, Chris Peterson, college football, conference, Georgia, Georgia Tech, MAC, Mack Brown, ncaa, polls, preseason, Sun Belt, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M