By Jim Quist – It’s become more of a nuisance in college football than a true guide of what to expect for the season. Frankly, that’s how I feel about rankings prior to kick-off. Sure, the ‘Way-Too-Early’ top 25 projections are a fun exercise. It’s a good way to stir up fanbases but we all know they’re more about clicks when published way back in May or June.
For years I’ve argued that until week three of a season no one has a clue just how good or bad a team truly might be. Many years ago, before NIL and the Transfer Portal, sports media had access to Spring practice and games, Summer camp and daily practice right up until kickoff. Then coaches started limiting said. More and more players were transferring. The overlords of sports media cut back on their staffs. It all added up to voters who live in a bubble, rarely go to games outside of select conferences or even spend 12 plus hours on a Saturday flipping through coverage to do their due diligence.
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With each college football preview we do at ACC Nation it’s convincing me more and more early polls are superb marketing tools but horribly unjust, especially with extended playoffs as part of the picture.
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So now we have a situation where we can’t see the forest for the trees. More succinctly put, we don’t understand or appreciate a larger situation because only a few parts are being considered. That’s some real muck we’ve walked into and it’s of our own making.
With most teams having a mile long list of players coming from the Transfer Portal and, let’s be honest, questionable NIL deals (you don’t always get what you pay for), coaching personnel completely flipped along with schemes annually, high profile managers and sports media writers getting whacked like jungle vines in an Indiana Jones movie does anyone have a good grip on what a team actually brings to the field? Anybody? Anybody?
This isn’t meant to disparage anyone who is voting (well, maybe a few) for the college football top 25. Just look at the weekly tabulations and you’ll begin to see trends that reveal the folks who aren’t really putting their best efforts into it. If you follow college football on social media outlet X you’ve probably noticed some of these voters being called out over the years as well they should be. Oh, and did you ever notice how similar the two most popular top 25’s are to each other? Don’t get me started. I don’t want a popularity contest, I want an accurate reflection of how college football teams are playing. More objective than subjective.
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Look, it can be done. When looking at the multitude of college football awards that I have voted on over the years it has always been as objective as possible. I take hours to do research on the players, look at stats and view video. Yes, it’s work but I always walked away with a sense of pride that I did right by players, their teams and the fans.
In the meantime, maybe we should take these early polls with a grain of salt. Wait until week three or thereafter to decide if your team deserves No. 15 or No. 5 and you can say it with confidence. Then instead of a top 5 team that takes an early loss and tumbling 15-20 spots in the poll we’ll have a team at No. 18 losing a close one only dropping a few notches.
I guess we all know that if something makes sense then we’re probably asking too much.
