PRESEASON POLLS DON’T MEAN ANYTHING, SO STOP CRYING!

By mhblatt • August 24, 2007

Mitchell Blatt

Uptight, Overly Serious Sports Writers Should Stop Complaining About How “Unfair” The Preseason Polls Are
You can get through the college football season without hearing it a few billion times. The BCS system, based not on playoffs, but on voting, is unfair. (That may be so, but that is a subject for a future post.) Another incessant talking point thrown out by writers with inflatted egos who want to sound smart is that the preseason college football polls are unfair because they give a team a rank before they even start playing. However, the voters have 12 games to watch each team play and adjust their votes accordingly. Releasing a poll prior to the season does nothing to change the results of the poll at the end of the season. Or so it would seem. However, people like Stweart Mandel think differently. Mandel, author of the book so important to our country’s future, Bowls, Polls, and Tattered Souls, says that the teams ranked the highest in the preseason will get the benefit of the doubt in the final poll. For example, if USC, Ohio State, and LSU were to all finish the season undefeated, USC would play LSU in the championship just because LSU was ranked higher. While it is probably true that LSU would play USC in that situation, the reasoning is flawed. LSU would get the call over Ohio State because LSU is perceived to be better than OSU. The fact that they were ranked higher in the preseason poll is simply a symptom of that fact, not the cause. The polls reveal opinion; they don’t create it. If there were no preseason poll, the voters wouldn’t suddenly decide not to rank the teams in their minds. They wouldn’t simply lose their interest in football. One of the most popular pastimes of the American sports fan is projecting what will happen, who will be best. In any sport, the two best teams should square off in the championship. This is exactly what each college football voter tries to do with their votes. Usually, it goes to undefeated teams, but if there is ever a debate, it should come down to who is the best team. Because the system relies on voting, it goes to whoever the voters think is best. When looking at LSU and OSU, it is obvious why LSU is expected to be better. If OSU shows they are better in the regular season, they will likely move ahead of LSU, but if both teams play equally well, the higher ranking should go to the one that looks better on paper. That’s college football for you.

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