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?
Read the rest of this entry »