In theory polling is an exercise that should be done for the purpose of fun and creating talking points within the college football fan community. In reality it is a system which is responsible for deciding who plays in the National Championship game. In theory last weeks poll should have little to no effect on the entries for this weeks poll. In reality most pollsters are unable to do anything but look at records and last weeks ranking and adjust accordingly. By far the worst poll in college football is the coaches poll. Its meant to be a poll voted on by those that know the game the best, the coaches that are there week in and week out on saturday. In reality the poll is voted on by the some assistant in the coaching staff that is not important enough to be too busy to fill out the ballot. And thus you get garbage like this weeks poll which has zero logic other than the inability of folks to strip away their initial preseason assumptions.
Example #1: Penn State vs. Iowa, Penn State has beat nobody this season. Iowa just went into Happy Valley and defeated the Nittany Lions to remain unbeaten. Penn State is ranked 13th and Iowa is ranked 17th. Makes sense.
Example #2: South Carolina vs. Ole Miss, South Carolina beat the snot out of Jevan Snead and forced him to go 7-21. Both teams sit with 1 loss, with the Cocks loss coming by a few points to UGA. Ole Miss has beaten two cupcakes. Ole Miss is ranked and South Carolina is no where to be found. Logical.
Example #3: Houston vs. Okie State Houston is undefeated, beat Okie State on the road and beat Texas Tech. The Cowboys lost to Houston and beat UGA. So it makes sense that Okie State is ranked 3 spots ahead of the Cougars.
You can go on and on with illogical rankings in the coaches poll as long as your hearts content. But we'll leave it at 3 solid examples and move onto my preliminary rankings for week 4.
 | ||
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | |
| 2 | Houston |  2 |
| 3 | Boise State | 2 |
| 4 | Virginia Tech | 5 |
| 5 | Iowa | |
| 6 | Cincinnati | |
| 7 | Florida | |
| 8 | LSU |  5 |
| 9 | Miami (Florida) | 7 |
| 10 | Michigan | |
| 11 | UCLA | 3 |
| 12 | Southern Cal | 3 |
| 13 | Brigham Young | 3 |
| 14 | Auburn | 4 |
| 15 | Texas | 3 |
| 16 | Oregon | |
| 17 | Georgia | 4 |
| 18 | South Carolina | |
| 19 | Oklahoma State | 1 |
| 20 | Georgia Tech | 2 |
| 21 | Missouri | 4 |
| 22 | Ohio State | |
| 23 | South Florida | |
| 24 | TCU | |
| 25 | California | 14 |
Last week's ballot
Dropped Out: Florida State (#13), Washington (#14), North Carolina (#19), West Virginia (#23), Mississippi (#24), Penn State (#25).
Dropped Out: Florida State (#13), Washington (#14), North Carolina (#19), West Virginia (#23), Mississippi (#24), Penn State (#25).
Again these are preliminary and will probably change some come the official rankings tomorrow or wednesday. Please yell at me if I messed something up like the coaches I scolded above.
Oh and just for shits and giggles, please someone explain to me why PSU is #13 and Ole Miss is #18, when A) They both have beat nobody, B) Ole Miss was deemed better by the pollsters the previous weeks, and C) Ole Miss lost on the road by less points to a team likely of similar quality.
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