Poll Squabbles

I didn't plan on addressing the college football poll topic this year, but with the recent cheeseburger bickering from Charlie Weis and the constant 'the media hates us' whining from ND fans, I could no longer resist.

Look college football fans (this includes you, too, Domers), once and for all, the polls are not an objective science and they consist of multiples flaws that can only be matched by a John L. Smith led team. The basic principle that an extraordinary amount fans fail to comprehend as they watch their team experience the roller coaster ranking ride year in and year out, is that when you start the season off with a preseason poll, your team is open for constant ranking corrections.

Any system that ranks its outputs (teams in this case), before objective analysis (the playing of games), takes place, is bound to have serious miscalculations.

For argument sake, let's take two teams to fit our example - Michigan & Notre Dame. The Irish went into the 2006 season with a # 2 ranking and have done little to justify that ranking. Meanwhile, Michigan came into the 2006 season with a #14 and as earned its way to a most recent #2 rank.

The big thing Irish fans don't realize is just because they lost in week 3 of season, it does not mean the ranking correction takes place following that game and as long as Notre Dame wins from that point on it has the 'right' to that spot or higher in the polls.

Its quite the opposite. Look at it this way. Imagine each college football week is similar to public corporations posting quarterly earnings. Analysts expect an EPS (earning per share) of x and if the company surprises Wall Street in either direction, the stock could very well experience some correction.

It is not different in college football. Each week analysts learn a little more about your team, as well as the teams chasing or that are ahead of your team. And each week these analysts must soak in what they saw and re-distribute the rankings based on the current market conditions.

It is not the fault of the analysts that following Michigan's domination of Notre Dame that the Irish barely escaped a Michigan State team, which is now laughable in the market landscape that voters must use as their guide when ranking teams each week. It is also not the fault of the analysts that the Irish have not played a worthy opponent since the Michigan debacle and will not do so until they butt heads with USC later this year. During this time, other teams are able to show their stuff against more formidable foes, causing fluctuations in the rankings.

Notre Dame fans will suggest that its not fair for a team with a 'Bye' week to jump the Irish after a last second win against UCLA. But keep in mind, when voters put a team at a particular ranking, they set an expectation for that team. I highly doubt that the expectation they put on Notre Dame's ranking prior to the UCLA was for the Irish to pull out a last second win at home.

Thus, a market correction followed that knocked Notre Dame down in some polls.

It really is simple logic for those fans who are not obsessed with the 'media against us' theory.

Until college football gets it right and rids the foolish preseason polls, which set expectations before any precedent is provided, we can look forward to similar occurrences each year. At worse, if college football must have these ridiculous preseason polls that set fans into a frenzy when their team is rewarded or slighted by a ranking, then at least provide us a playoff so the matter can be settled on the field.

Until then fans, accept the crazy logic and operation, which is what college football is today. And be consistent with your ranking complaints.

I sure didn't see many Notre Dame fans, nor Charlie for that matter, complain when the Irish were ranked #2 to start the season for no applicable reason, at all. I mean, in two years time, Notre Dame has failed to beat a Top 25 team, yet they are still ranked in the Top 10.

Not that's something to squabble about.

DP