Anyone else think the polls are a total joke?

[sherepower]

Noway. Not this year. I would see a score like 17-7 Alabama.

 

[pantherzooh2p]

Noway. Not this year. I would see a score like 17-7 Alabama.

You are highly overestimating our competition this year and the disparity of talent levels on both teams.

 

[ncyajleel]

They are just a popularity contest and nothing more. This is what you get when you have polls, voted by coaches and sports writers. Get rid of polls and let the conference champions make the playoffs. If Notre Dame doesn't want to join a conference because they are greedy, that is their problem. They can collect all the money they want, just are not eligible for a national championship. The problem is we have teams that want everything both ways, and we give it to them. If you want to have polls for fun, then have at it like the pro leagues have power rankings. They are for fun and mean absolutely nothing.
Say what you want about the playoff system, but it still depends on polls and anything that depends on them is a complete joke.

 

[Pittx9]

If Notre Dame doesn't want to join a conference because they are greedy, that is their problem. They can collect all the money they want, just are not eligible for a national championship.

Totally agree. Notre Dame ripped Pitt for ruining the Big East. If they would've just became a full member instead of this semi-member nonsense, the conference would still be here. Pick a conference or don't receive any of the benefits of being in one.

 

[ncyajleel]

Of course they ripped Pitt when they left. They were afraid no other conference would give them the same deal as the BE and they would be forced to join one fully.

Totally agree. Notre Dame ripped Pitt for ruining the Big East. If they would've just became a full member instead of this semi-member nonsense, the conference would still be here. Pick a conference or don't receive any of the benefits of being in one.

 

[OriginalEther]

The polls are a joke, mainly because reputation and previous years results factor in, if Pitt stunned everybody and went 11-1, they'd be ranked behind a 9-3 Alabama probably. Sure you could argue strength of schedule and league,

Possible but Not likely.
In 2009, while receiving votes most weeks, Pitt didn't appear in the AP poll until Week 7, in which they were 6-1.
At their highest point - Week 12 - they were 9-1 and ranked #8, behind 6 undefeated teams and 10-1 Georgia Tech. Pitt was ahead of both 10-2 Ohio State and 10-2 Penn State. (The coaches did have Pitt behind Ohio State)

Now, the one difference between that Pitt team and this years Pitt team is that the 2009 team still had the memory of beating the 2007 WVU team in people's minds. This Pitt squad has no such victory yet.

Thats why i laugh at folks who say perception means nothing. Yet, in college football. It means almost as much as wins and losses.
People look at rank recruiting classes. To base their perception on how good certain programs are..........right or wrong. It is the case

Agree on the first part. No way on the 2nd.

Lets be honest if a 9-3 Bama team played an 11-1 Pitt team this year, Bama would probably be favored by 25 and cover.

Uh no. A hypothetical Peach Bowl matchup between the two - assuming Pitt did finish the regular season with that record (and lost a competitive ACC Title game) would probably place Bama at around 10 point favorites.

For a reference, the largest point spread in last year's bowls was 14 (Stanford over Maryland).