NCAA Football: Is it time to move on from early season polls altogether?
Let me start by saying that I truly believe that early-season polls are mostly glamour. The real nuts and bolts of college football polls come to life on Tuesday, November 5th when the college football playoff rankings come out.
However, if we are going to have early-season polls shouldn't they appear to be credible? Obviously nothing is always 100% correct but I feel like this week the AP got it all wrong. The #3 ranked Georgia Bulldogs went on the road to take on SEC foe, The University of Tennessee Volunteers. Not only did Georgia win, but they did so in dominant fashion running the Vols out of their home stadium.
Apparently winning by 29 points on the road against a conference rival isn't enough to hold serve. At least in the eyes of the AP, who's voters moved the Ohio St. Buckeyes into a dead tie with Georgia. A ranking that the Bulldogs have held since the AP released their preseason polls.
This further proves that early-season polls lack the credibility that coaches, players, and fans all deserve. No one puts more into the product that takes the field than coaches and players. But, fans deserve some respect here too. Scores of diehards load their vehicles on Friday night to trek 100's of miles to show support to the team and players they love. Clearly, this boils down to more than just results.
OSU QB, Justin Fields
What I'm left with here is a fashion show. This isn't about the nuts and bolts of a product that shows up and performs whether it's at home against a top 10 team, or against a heated rival on their home turf. This boils down to glamour and that doesn't cut it. Georgia didn't lose. In fact, it wasn't even close. At what point did beating a glorified powder puff team by 45 points make you worthy of sharing a room with a battle-tested power? As we see those times are upon us and there is no reason to be silent about it.
Where does that leave us? I can tell you where it leave me. It leaves me shouting from the rooftops about a flawed system that either needs to be replaced, reworked or merely abandoned. If those involved are actually experts it's time they prove it because the product they're providing simply doesn't pass the eye test!
With that said it's time to put Tennessee behind us as we move on to yet another SEC east rival. See you all in Athens and as always, Go Dawgs!
