The 2007 Pre-season College Football Top 25 Poll - Injustice at it's Finest
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College football is the greatest sport, until the very end of the season and right before the season starts. The very end of the season because everybody is once again reminded how retarded the BCS system and how meaningless the bowls are in the grand scheme of things. Even the bowls are losing meaning because there are so many of them. Then there is the time right before the season starts when the pre-season polls are released. Pre-season polls either give a school a springboard advantage which it did not deserve or an extreme disadvantage because they have to win and count on everybody else losing in order to move up the poll. Because of the bias amongst media and the coaches, some schools' ranking makes no logical sense. Schools should start where they ended the season before, after all, it is the program that makes the players, not the players that make the program. Every year the media and coaches insist on putting the same teams in the top 25 that over promise and under deliver year in and year out. Yet, because they were once good, there is always that gleaming hope that "this year will be the year." Let's take a look at how the pre-season top 25 looks:
1. USC - No surprise here, Pete Carroll just wins regardless of who plays.
2. LSU - Loses starting QB as well as key players on the defensive side of the ball yet moves up from where they ended last year.
3. Florida - No surprise here, first time starter Tim Tebow must prove that he can win.
4. Texas - Up 9 spots from their 2006 finish, still riding on the coat tails of their 2005 National Championship.
5. Michigan - Did anybody else watch the Rose Bowl last year? Just checking.......
6. West Virginia - Jumped 4 spots from last year, even ahead of Louisville, who pasted them last year.
7. Wisconsin - One of only 2 schools that start where they finished.
8. Oklahoma - Loses to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, loses their team MVP, but moves up 3 spots.
9. Virginia Tech - I don't understand this one, up 10 spots from last year. Please don't tell me it's because of the VT massacre this past spring. Indeed that was awful, but let's not coddle the football team.
10. Ohio State - Dropped 8 spots, for reason. Let's see who steps up at QB first.
11. Louisville - Down from #6 at last seasons end, is Bobby Petrino's loss that bad?
12. California - No comment here.
13. Georgia - Once again, the Bulldogs debut in the top 15 after ending the previous season barely in the top 25. Who wants to wager they lose 3 games again??
14. Auburn - Always a solid top 25 selection. Deserved? Yeah, I guess.
15. Tennessee - See Auburn comment.
16. Rutgers - Rutgers has been a no-show when it comes to college football for years, then they have a decent year in 2006 and we expect it to be a norm. Expect them to stay high all season playing in the Big Least Conference.
17. UCLA - UCL eh? They ended last season without a single vote and start the season #17? Please, someone explain this one to me.
18. Penn State - See Auburn comment.
19. Nebraska - Nebraska ended the season #27, they have been the most overrated team for the past 10 years. No matter how many times they start in the top 25, they will never return to their once prominent past.
20. Arkansas - McFadden is the glue that has held this team in the top 25 for the past 3 seasons, expect that to change next year.
21. Florida State - The most underachieving school in college football the last 5 years ladies and gentleman. Bobby Bowden is not the coach he once was.
22. TCU - The second team that starts where they finished. They are the non-BCS darlings, this one is no surprise.
23. Boise State - See TCU comment (about being the non-BCS darlings).
24. Hawaii - The NEW non-BCS darlings.
25. Texas A&M - See Auburn comment.
The BCS rankings are not released until mid-season to better reflect which schools are better.Perhaps all polls should follow the same protocol. The bias in college football makes me sick. I have not mentioned the worst of them all yet, and that is BYU. The Cougars finished last year #15, with their coach winning the Western Region Coach of the Year, their offense ranked #2 in scoring, and their defense #10 in points allowed, yet they start 2007 down 19 spots at #34. TCU, one of the many teams BYU beat last season is 12 spots up. Get a research crew on this one, they will simply find that the Cougars got hosed.
