Rankings this early in the season are meaningless right?
Wrong. The rankings have an effect on perception and momentum. Early rankings impact the playoff race regardless of the playoff pool size.
Every year I am annoyed by early season rankings, especially after a ranked team loses an early game.
My proposal is baking in a couple of qualifiers to the polls to introduce a little more parity to the system.
Rule #1:
No team with a loss can be ranked ahead of a team without a loss
Rule #2:
No team can be ranked ahead of a team it has lost to unless that team has more Ls in the L column.
Rule #3:
Voters vote for a top 25 with no qualifiers on who they rank. A computer model ranks teams 25-134.
Rule #4:
After the model and votes are in the teams are ranked in accordance with rules 1-3.
Some might argue that teams should be ranked based on how talented the teams are. This argument makes sense to a degree but if the polls have any impact on the playoffs then in fact the rankings should be a reflection of results as opposed to measure of talent.
The playoffs have expanded such that they are more akin to the Basketball tournament, teams need to Win to get in.
Wrong. The rankings have an effect on perception and momentum. Early rankings impact the playoff race regardless of the playoff pool size.
Every year I am annoyed by early season rankings, especially after a ranked team loses an early game.
My proposal is baking in a couple of qualifiers to the polls to introduce a little more parity to the system.
Rule #1:
No team with a loss can be ranked ahead of a team without a loss
Rule #2:
No team can be ranked ahead of a team it has lost to unless that team has more Ls in the L column.
Rule #3:
Voters vote for a top 25 with no qualifiers on who they rank. A computer model ranks teams 25-134.
Rule #4:
After the model and votes are in the teams are ranked in accordance with rules 1-3.
Some might argue that teams should be ranked based on how talented the teams are. This argument makes sense to a degree but if the polls have any impact on the playoffs then in fact the rankings should be a reflection of results as opposed to measure of talent.
The playoffs have expanded such that they are more akin to the Basketball tournament, teams need to Win to get in.