Heres a look at what the preseason rankings were last year and what the teams finished as. Johnny Ginter's article http://www.elevenwarriors.com/college-football/2014/05/35530/way-too-ear... inspired me to research this. Just proves how idiotic preseason polls are.
Preseason | Postseason |
1. Alabama | 7. |
2. Ohio State | 12. |
3. Oregon | 9. |
4. Stanford | 11. |
5. Georgia | NR. |
6. South Carolina | 4. |
7. Texas A&M | 18. |
8. Clemson | 8. |
9. Louisville | 15. |
10. Florida | NR. |
11. Florida State | 1. |
12. LSU | 14. |
13. Oklahoma State | 17. |
14. Notre Dame | 20. |
15. Texas | NR. |
16. Oklahoma | 6. |
17. *ichigan | NR. |
18. Nebraska | NR. |
19. Boise State | NR. |
20. TCU | NR. |
21. UCLA | 16, |
22. Northwestern | NR. |
23. Wisconsin | 22. |
24. USC | 19. |
25 Oregon State | NR. |
Others that finished ranked but were unranked to start the season were:
2. Auburn |
3. Michigan State |
5. Missouri |
10. UCF |
13. Baylor |
21. Arizona State |
23. Duke |
24. Vanderbilt |
25. Washington |
- One team from the preseason top 10 finished in the final top 5, that being South Carolina.
- No team that began the season in the top five finished the season in the top six.
- Four Teams from the preseason top 10 finished in the final top 10.
- Nine teams from the preseason top 25 finished the season unranked.
- 3 of the post season top five teams began the season unranked.
- 4 of the post season top ten began the season unranked.
Unfortunately preseason polls influence how teams are ranked through out the season and can help a team jump through the polls when they beat an overrated team early in the season (see Clemson vs. Georgia game). One can hope that the playoff committee will not take any of these rankings into consideration when they publish their first poll this season. The media can have their fun by creating their own polls but the selection committees need to stay away.