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This year especially, the polls should not allow voters to vote until teams play a game

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First off, Pitt seems to have a better handle on being disrespected and not a favorite so if this week they don't move up or drop because of the inclusion of Big 10 and PAC 12 teams that can serve them well in their next game. For Pitt, their schedule will take care of things for Pitt. Meaning, they play enough ranked teams that if they continue to beat them, they will be ranked accordingly.

But.................Oklahoma. LSU. Texas. A&M. These teams either lost or struggled with inferior opponents. I get it, LSU recruits well, but a team that lost 17 starters including the Heisman Trophy winner gets ranked 6th?? No way. It doesn't matter if it is writers or coaches, it is still brand loyalty. Without padded OOC schedules this year, we now see that many of these rankings or just that, brand loyalty which becomes self fulfilled prophecy. The top teams are the top teams because they are ranked as the top teams. The top conferences are the top conferences cause they have the most ranked teams.

Is Mississippi State really good because they beat LSU or is just LSU not that good this year? Voters will not have problem dropping Pitt a couple of spots by inserting Big 10 teams but will they do it to Texas who won a game because of the sheer incompetence of Texas Tech moreso because of Texas's excellence??

This year, you shouldn't rank these teams until they at least play a game.
 
I don’t think it really matters, these voters have been proven to have no clue as to what they’re seeing anyway. Nearly all of them know less than the average fan.
 
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I don’t think it really matters, these voters have been proven to have no clue as to what they’re seeing anyway. Nearly all of them know less than the average fan.
The thing is......YES IT DOES MATTER. Does ESPN scroll show the 33rd ranked team vs th 45th ranked team's score? No. Does ESPN Gameday when they do their picks, do the 27th ranked team vs the 30th? No. They don't. Being ranked matters. This is still a poll driven sport.
 
The big 10 will get 6 teams in the top 25 without playing a game. They are the most over-rated conference year in and year out. I agree if other conferences are playing you should have to play before being rated.
 
The big 10 will get 6 teams in the top 25 without playing a game. They are the most over-rated conference year in and year out. I agree if other conferences are playing you should have to play before being rated.

And then tOSU will sleepwalk through their schedule and we’ll hear what a grinder it was for them week in and week out.
F*** the Fat10
 
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I could care less about rankings until the end of the season when they may actually will matter. Also, I am not very impressed overall by Pitt’s 3-0 start.

I really like the defense, but the offense isn’t going to be good enough for this team to finish in the top 25 by season‘s end given the schedule yet to be played. Just my opinion, however.

Yes, I know it’s early in the season and also haven’t seen the update in his computer rankings based on yesterday’s games— but, we have beaten the Sagarin #57 team (Louisville) and the #73 team (Syracuse) making Pitt #34. That ranking may be fairly reasonable, IMHO.
 
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I could care less about rankings until the end of the season when they may actually will matter. Also, I am not very impressed overall by Pitt’s 3-0 start.

I really like the defense, but the offense isn’t going to be good enough for this team to finish in the top 25 by season‘s end given the schedule yet to be played. Just my opinion, however.

Yes, I know it’s early in the season and also haven’t seen the update in his computer rankings based on yesterday’s games— but, we have beaten the Sagarin #57 team (Louisville) and the #73 team (Syracuse) making Pitt #34. That ranking may be fairly reasonable, IMHO.

He has Pitt at #28, Louisville at #31, and Cuse at #48. That's with 7 B10 and P12 teams who haven't played a game in front of us in the rankings, including OSU as #1 which is ridiculous.

 
He has Pitt at #28, Louisville at #31, and Cuse at #48. That's with 7 B10 and P12 teams who haven't played a game in front of us in the rankings, including OSU as #1 which is ridiculous.

The point I was making is that name brands are just slotted in just because. LSU starts out #6? They lost 17 starters. OU lost alot of players. They went down. Texas hasn't been a factor, they should have went down. But they are Texas. Everybody is raving about Miami, but Louisville put up over 500 yards against them. If it wasn't for that 75 yard run, they would have had less than 200 against us.

Polls matter. Your name and score or game is constantly scrolled on the bottom of the screen. Your games get previewed on all of the pregame shows. Your box score show up on ESPN.com. Your program is front and center. So yes, polls matter.
 
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First off, Pitt seems to have a better handle on being disrespected and not a favorite so if this week they don't move up or drop because of the inclusion of Big 10 and PAC 12 teams that can serve them well in their next game. For Pitt, their schedule will take care of things for Pitt. Meaning, they play enough ranked teams that if they continue to beat them, they will be ranked accordingly.

But.................Oklahoma. LSU. Texas. A&M. These teams either lost or struggled with inferior opponents. I get it, LSU recruits well, but a team that lost 17 starters including the Heisman Trophy winner gets ranked 6th?? No way. It doesn't matter if it is writers or coaches, it is still brand loyalty. Without padded OOC schedules this year, we now see that many of these rankings or just that, brand loyalty which becomes self fulfilled prophecy. The top teams are the top teams because they are ranked as the top teams. The top conferences are the top conferences cause they have the most ranked teams.

Is Mississippi State really good because they beat LSU or is just LSU not that good this year? Voters will not have problem dropping Pitt a couple of spots by inserting Big 10 teams but will they do it to Texas who won a game because of the sheer incompetence of Texas Tech moreso because of Texas's excellence??

This year, you shouldn't rank these teams until they at least play a game.

A million percent agree. I know that polls don't matter and are for "amusement purposes only." But I don't see how you can vote for a 0-0 OSU or PSU team, teams who haven't play and MAY NEVER PLAY over any 3-0 team. That is insane.
 
I could care less about rankings until the end of the season when they may actually will matter. Also, I am not very impressed overall by Pitt’s 3-0 start.

I really like the defense, but the offense isn’t going to be good enough for this team to finish in the top 25 by season‘s end given the schedule yet to be played. Just my opinion, however.

Yes, I know it’s early in the season and also haven’t seen the update in his computer rankings based on yesterday’s games— but, we have beaten the Sagarin #57 team (Louisville) and the #73 team (Syracuse) making Pitt #34. That ranking may be fairly reasonable, IMHO.
So before the game yesterday Louisville was #57?

Today after another loss L'ville is #31. And Syracuse is #48. PITT is now #28.

Miami has beaten #66 UAB, #31 Louisville and #55 FSU. He has them at #12.

In between are a bunch of teams who haven't played a game. He has 5 teams in the TOP 10 who are 0-0.

It's all ridiculous.
 
LOL! For a minute there, I was thinking you were referring to a proposal of no voting in the general election at the polls or by mail/absentee until the debates are over. My bad.
 
First off, Pitt seems to have a better handle on being disrespected and not a favorite so if this week they don't move up or drop because of the inclusion of Big 10 and PAC 12 teams that can serve them well in their next game. For Pitt, their schedule will take care of things for Pitt. Meaning, they play enough ranked teams that if they continue to beat them, they will be ranked accordingly.

But.................Oklahoma. LSU. Texas. A&M. These teams either lost or struggled with inferior opponents. I get it, LSU recruits well, but a team that lost 17 starters including the Heisman Trophy winner gets ranked 6th?? No way. It doesn't matter if it is writers or coaches, it is still brand loyalty. Without padded OOC schedules this year, we now see that many of these rankings or just that, brand loyalty which becomes self fulfilled prophecy. The top teams are the top teams because they are ranked as the top teams. The top conferences are the top conferences cause they have the most ranked teams.

Is Mississippi State really good because they beat LSU or is just LSU not that good this year? Voters will not have problem dropping Pitt a couple of spots by inserting Big 10 teams but will they do it to Texas who won a game because of the sheer incompetence of Texas Tech moreso because of Texas's excellence??

This year, you shouldn't rank these teams until they at least play a game.
Your argument applies every year. Maybe this year it’s a little worse with conference teams starting play at different times but by the same token, it’s somewhat better without the run of mostly meaningless lopsided OOC matchups.

Every year, initially rankings will be heavily biased towards the popular big name schools or brand loyalty as you call it. Every year, initial rankings are meaningless unless you care about your team name scrolling across the bottom ribbon on ESPN. And every year, the rankings will eventually sort themselves out based on on-field performance, except for the inevitable debate about who makes the playoffs.@, which will continue until expanded so that every power 5 conference winner automatically gets a seat at the table.
 
Your argument applies every year. Maybe this year it’s a little worse with conference teams starting play at different times but by the same token, it’s somewhat better without the run of mostly meaningless lopsided OOC matchups.

Every year, initially rankings will be heavily biased towards the popular big name schools or brand loyalty as you call it. Every year, initial rankings are meaningless unless you care about your team name scrolling across the bottom ribbon on ESPN. And every year, the rankings will eventually sort themselves out based on on-field performance, except for the inevitable debate about who makes the playoffs.@, which will continue until expanded so that every power 5 conference winner automatically gets a seat at the table.

True about initial and early computer rankings. Until most teams have played 5-6 games, the computer rankings, like Sagarin‘s, won’t be very accurate.
 
I feel like mid season rankings this year are as irrelevant and pointless as it gets. You have two conferences who haven’t even played a game yet and other programs who are canceling and re scheduling games due to virus breakouts.


Best to wait until November to even reference any kind of rankings.
 
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The thing is......YES IT DOES MATTER. Does ESPN scroll show the 33rd ranked team vs th 45th ranked team's score? No. Does ESPN Gameday when they do their picks, do the 27th ranked team vs the 30th? No. They don't. Being ranked matters. This is still a poll driven sport.
No it is not poll driven it's popularity driven. Florida state is horrible but was highly rated this year until they played a game.
And common sense says you can't rank a team tha hasn't played higher than
an a 3-0 team. You don't know what they have or how they will play.
This is done out of popularity. It's the same as the high school vote of most popular, most likrly to exceed, etc.And D1 college football is the only sport to do that.
Espn game day goes to the popular sports not necessarily the best games.it's where they get the highest ratings and most ad money. Pitt and Miami could both be undefeated and ranked but game day will go to Columbus to see Ohio state vs Purdue or baton rogue for LSU and Vanderbilt.
 
College football rankings in week 3-8 are for fans to have something to read while they are working at their jobs on a Tuesday and on the toilet. Nothing more.
 
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