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.