People have been saying this for a long time, but preseason polls are bad for football. Yes, they cook in a narrative that you have to fight with the entire season, but more than that, they are just bad at gauging a team's abilities before a game is played.
Look at the preseason Top 25 from this year. If I've bolded the team, it's because they aren't in the top 25 at season's end.
| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama |
| 2 | Clemson |
| 3 | Georgia |
| 4 | Wisconsin |
| 5 | Ohio State |
| 6 | Washington |
| 7 | Oklahoma |
| 8 | Miami |
| 9 | Auburn |
| 10 | Penn State |
| 11 | Michigan State |
| 12 | Notre Dame |
| 13 | Stanford |
| 14 | Michigan |
| 15 | USC |
| 16 | TCU |
| 17 | West Virginia |
| 18 | Mississippi State |
| 19 | Florida State |
| 20 | Virginia Tech |
| 21 | UCF |
| 22 | Boise State |
| 23 | Texas |
| 24 | Oregon |
| 25 | LSU |
11 of the "media-voted" top 25 teams in the preseason ended up unranked by season's end. 3 of the top 10.
Wait until midseason, at least, after week 6/7 to rank teams.
