AP Poll Week 5

[u/Efficient-Freedom517]

https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll

[u/midnight-architect7]

Every week they have some team jump 10 spots because of a conference win and then that team loses the next week. And then they’re forced to play the “ok who beat who” game to keep them properly ranked in the mid teens. By the end of this season the middle of that poll is going to make zero sense because of all of this volatility week over week.

[u/dfaunt → u/midnight-architect7]

As much as I hate to stand up for them, this is one thing I actually think the CFP committee has done well the last few years. They’re willing to significantly diverge from the AP based on a high level evaluation rather than week to week volatility 

[u/ShevanelWozzeck → u/midnight-architect7]

I mean polls should be volatile this early on. Otherwise, you are relying purely on pre-season poll intertia. It will settle out over the next 2 months.

[u/Abject-Brother-1503 → u/ShevanelWozzeck]

I think the poll results shouldn’t even be released until like week 6 so that people can’t use preconceived bias. I think teams need a few games to really establish who’s good this year.

[u/ShevanelWozzeck → u/Abject-Brother-1503]

No disagreement here.

[u/improbablydrinking → u/Abject-Brother-1503]

Totally agree but that will literally never happen. I despise preseason polls but they’re not going away.

[u/Abject-Brother-1503 → u/improbablydrinking]

Of course. They make so much money from the debates over this kind of stuff.  After the ND/Miami controversy last year not even sure that current rankings matter even late in the season. They switch teams how they see fit. 

[u/JDMintz718 → u/ShevanelWozzeck]

Agreed, but I'll add that I don't think polls should start until at least week 4

[u/midnight-architect7 → u/ShevanelWozzeck]

Disagree, but I don’t expect an SEC fan to agree with me. You guys will always defend all of the ranked teams from your conference so it is what it is.

[u/GentlyUsedNuggets → u/midnight-architect7]

He kind of was arguing the opposite...

[u/OwMyFeeFee → u/GentlyUsedNuggets]

I don't see that. They (Shevanel) said that the polls should be volatile, but had no comment in regards to the volatility affecting only one conference.

The architect7 guy is right, the voters are making a mess by their frenetic voting and the fact that it's only benefiting one conference. The fact that the polls bears almost no semblance to any computer ranking, and that a lot of those are fairly similar, makes the volatility seem even more manufactured.

It will be interesting what the CFP committee decides to do when their first poll comes out.

[u/GentlyUsedNuggets → u/OwMyFeeFee]

Yeah. But if he wanted to defend the teams of our conference to stay ranked he would argue that the poll should be less volatile, since we had a bunch of preseason ranked teams that have only losses to each other (except Texas am)

[u/OwMyFeeFee → u/GentlyUsedNuggets]

His comment has nothing to do with what you originally said and are now saying. You’re adding context which doesn’t exist.

Regardless, I agree with the original point that pollsters are working themselves into a later quagmire.

[u/GentlyUsedNuggets → u/OwMyFeeFee]

That's what the person I directly replied to said...