America is obsessed with polls. Whether who the most attractive woman in the world is or who is the best team in college football.
(Katy Perry hands down. We don’t need a poll to state that.)
We are so obsessed with knowing who the best, there are polls before the season even starts.
Now that we are heading into week seven of college football, let’s take a look at the preseason top 25 poll compared to where it is now. After all, the only poll that counts comes out on Sunday. The BCS rankings will be released over the weekend. I’ve long been a supporter of not having a poll until the midway part of the season.
Preseason No. 1 USC is now No. 11 after losing to Stanford for the fourth straight season. Alabama was No. 2 when the season started and is now No. 1. LSU and Oklahoma were third and fourth respectively. They’ve both already lost.
So, three of the top four teams have already been beaten before they played seven games.
Of the preseason top 10, seven teams have already lost this season. Preseason No. 8 Michigan has lost twice and fell all the way out of the poll until this week. The Wolverines are No. 25. Arkansas, as we all know, has lost four times through the first half of the season after starting the season No. 10. In all, the seven schools have lost a combined 11 games.
Arkansas is by the biggest drop from any of the top 25 schools. Michigan crawled back into the poll after an early loss. Both Wisconsin and Michigan State have both lost a pair of games already.
Florida makes the biggest jump up as it started No. 23 and is currently ranked No. 4. Largely in part because of the league it plays in but that’s just my opinion.
Just four teams that started in the top 10 are still there. (Alabama, LSU, Oregon and South Carolina)
Notre Dame was 26th in points received in the preseason poll and is currently No. 7. Oregon State is currently No. 10 after not receiving a vote in the preseason poll. Schools like Houston, Louisiana Tech and Northern Illinois all received at least one point in the preseason poll. Rutgers is No. 20 and also did not receive a vote.
So what does all this mean?
It means we don’t know anything. There shouldn’t be a poll released before the season starts. Maybe we should let a game or six be played before we start saying who is the best, or the 25th best in college football.
All these numbers will change in two days anyway.
