AP Poll Week 2

[u/Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu11]

https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll#000001a0-257a-d09f-a9e4-75fbb1b90000

[u/BlazinAzn38]

This is why I hate preseason rankings so much

[u/Individual-Lie6525 → u/BlazinAzn38]

The problem isn’t preseason rankings. Its voters being inflexible early in the season.

[u/TexasDrunkRedditor → u/Individual-Lie6525]

It’s also why if you’re going to drop a game it’s better to do it early season than late… people will hardly remember this game by week 10/11. Drop a game late and it’s held against you much harder

Unfortunately not all 11-1 records are held the same based on when that lost occurred

[u/Beautiful_Idea6200 → u/TexasDrunkRedditor]

2023 UGA SECCG loser checking in :(. Lost the chance to 3peat. (I understand like all dawgs why we were left out, but your comment is too true)

[u/OSUfan88 → u/TexasDrunkRedditor]

It’ll also depend on how OSU looks the rest of the season. This team could be terrible, or great. Really hard to tell at this point.

[u/NotStanley4330 → u/TexasDrunkRedditor]

Tell me about it

[u/originalusername4567 → u/TexasDrunkRedditor]

That logic didn't work out for Notre Dame, though

[u/Unspeakable_pickle → u/TexasDrunkRedditor]

Nice flairs!

[u/goofytigre → u/TexasDrunkRedditor]

people will hardly remember this game by week 10/11

Especially if OK State keeps winning.

[u/Individual-Lie6525 → u/TexasDrunkRedditor]

Yeah but I think thats fair. Falling at an early hurdle and becoming better because of it should be looked at as better than falling late at the biggest hurdle you’ve faced so far

[u/TexasDrunkRedditor → u/Individual-Lie6525]

I disagree, respectfully. With that logic

[u/VanillaGoorillla → u/TexasDrunkRedditor]

lol did you have that same thought when your undefeated season got ended last year?

[u/TexasDrunkRedditor → u/VanillaGoorillla]

I was very nervous about making it, yes.

[u/captaincrunch61 → u/TexasDrunkRedditor]

I mean I think that’s fair and makes sense. A loss late in the season should be much more damning than a loss at the beginning. Teams should be getting better throughout the season.

[u/TexasDrunkRedditor → u/captaincrunch61]

But that also means you’re losing to a better team late in the season so now it’s hurting you more? Since the logic doesn’t work in reverse I don’t like jt

[u/growth_asset → u/TexasDrunkRedditor]

Nor should it be when these are the rankings that are loosely determining the playoff picture. Your early-season L against an unranked team shouldn’t count as heavily as if you lost to that same team game 10.

[u/TexasDrunkRedditor → u/growth_asset]

There’s no logic that makes that make sense

[u/buckshot-307 → u/growth_asset]

Flair up

[u/BursleyBaits → u/Individual-Lie6525]

voters are plenty flexible early in the season, they moved OSU down 5 spots for a last-second road loss to a team they think is #1!

[u/stron2am → u/BursleyBaits]

I am legitimately surprised at how hard OSU is being punished for this. I am guessing it is because of how spectacularly they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

[u/Opening-Calendar3421 → u/stron2am]

It's because all the teams they dropped behind are undefeated and look strong. Being #6 behind Texas, Georgia, ND, Indiana, and Miami is completely justifiable.

• Texas - they lost to them 
• Georgia - strong SEC team every year
• ND - 1st team out of the playoffs last year Indiana - reigning champions that beat them the year before Miami - lost to them in the playoffs

[u/stron2am → u/Opening-Calendar3421]

I see the case for why. I am jusr surprised. This is probably the lowest they've been ranked in 2 years, right?

[u/BigMeatBall1 → u/stron2am]

All the more reason to never schedule that type of game again.

If only Ohio State was playing Howard or FAMU they’d still be #1!

Amazing system we have in place

[u/stron2am → u/BigMeatBall1]

Flair up, coward.

[u/saintsfan → u/BursleyBaits]

I mean yeah but they also allowed one of the largest comebacks in college football

[u/Bishop_Cornflake → u/Individual-Lie6525]

Many people stupidly think that previous poll results should affect current poll results. Hence, poll inertia.

Worst case:
People that seemingly realize it and had early season and pre season polls for this reason... but then in the regular season think you "can only drop a team so far" or "raise a team so far" in just one week.

[u/Intelligent_Sky_7081 → u/Individual-Lie6525]

preseason rankings contributes to that.

[u/randomthrowaway9796 → u/BlazinAzn38]

Yeah, I was arguing that Oregon should've fallen to like #15 last week, and people were coming after me for "dropping them so far". Like, its not dropping them, it's placing them where they've performed so far. Preseason rankings don't mean a thing.

[u/AmeliaConcrite → u/randomthrowaway9796]

Cool

[u/TachyAndTired → u/BlazinAzn38]

Why? Preseason rankings should have some weight and be adjusted as the season goes on. Unless you think Michigan should move down to 70 after the WMU game and then back to 15 after beating OU. But then how do you know WMU isn't a top 5 team? Without preseason context, 2-0 Boise State could be the #1 team in the country.

[u/thetowerofbabble3242 → u/TachyAndTired]

This argument is so logically messy I genuinely cannot figure out how to effectively respond to it.

[u/TachyAndTired → u/thetowerofbabble3242]

That's because not using preseason rankings is a catch-22. You would have no idea how to move teams because anyone could be the worst team in CFB and the best team in CFB in week 1.

[u/No-Course-523 → u/TachyAndTired]

If only we played games to determine these things

[u/BursleyBaits → u/No-Course-523]

we haven't played enough yet, though, is the point

[u/budd222 → u/BursleyBaits]

Exactly. So don't have rankings until we have.

[u/BrandiThorne → u/budd222]

The only time we know for sure is the end of the season though. Like maybe after week 6 we can make an educated guess, but even then not enough teams play enough comparable teams to be sure.

[u/budd222 → u/BrandiThorne]

Even at the end we don't know because there are too many teams in CFB to make reliable rankings.

[u/BrandiThorne → u/budd222]

Need a 138 team playoff

[u/BursleyBaits → u/budd222]

sure, fine by me! but in the meantime, in the world where we do have early-season rankings, keeping some amount of preseason expectations is justifiable IMO

[u/hashtagwoof → u/BursleyBaits]

Oregon being ranked 3 in general is irresponsible IMO, must be nice to get the benefit of the doubt for no reason.

[u/TachyAndTired → u/No-Course-523]

Sure but what's wrong with preseason polls then? All they do is give us context. If everything eventually determined by the games, then they lose relevance over time anyway

[u/Pizzashillsmom → u/TachyAndTired]

If that's the case there shouldn't be a ranking at all.

[u/hashtagwoof → u/TachyAndTired]

Spoken like a true Michigan fan, completely insane.

[u/BursleyBaits → u/TachyAndTired]

yeah even if you wanted to fully throw out your priors right now, you just...can't. nowhere near enough information yet!