Sunday, November 4, 2012

Why The Coaches Poll Is Poop

Awesome and crazy weekend for college football. None more exciting of course than....San Diego State's win on the blue turf over Boise State!!!!
Also, wild finishes in the Notre Dame-Pitt game, huge scores in the Oregon-USC game and a game I'm sure no one cared about in Alabama's last minute come from behind victory over LSU in Death Valley.

There was not much change at the top. Even though a couple games were close, the top 4 teams beat who they were supposed to, and there weren't any major upsets. Except the Aztecs defying the odds and delivering the Broncos to one of their very few loses on their home field.

But it's easy to get the rankings right at the top when the top teams win. But it's the rest of the rankings that concerns me and why the Coaches Poll is ridiculous. Here's a few examples:

1. Boise State - They were somehow ranked 14 last week. Which, if anyone has seen or knows anything about this team this year, they should not have been ranked so high. They are struggling and trying to re-build. I know if a team keeps winning they usually rise in the polls, but this team was barely getting by and it finally showed in the loss to SDSU. So it begs the question, why is Boise State still ranked at all?

2. How did Louisiana-Monroe get 4 votes? - ULM was on the fringe of getting any votes. They've been winning over their Sun Belt compatriots, teams like 2-7 Florida Atlantic and 2-7 South Alabama. To be fair, the Sun Belt seems better than normal with already 4 bowl eligible teams so far in the league. But they just lost to Louisiana-Lafayette. So, if ULM was on the fringe as is, and they lost, who is still ranking the War Hawks in their rankings? Is there 1 coach ranking them 22nd, or are there four coaches ranking them 25th? I would love to see these coaches individual rankings. Because these are supposed to be the brilliant college football minds, so they must be seeing things in all the free time they have to watch all the games happening.

3. Who has seen enough of Middle Tennessee? - These guys have a decent team this year. But here's some highlights from the year so far. They lost 45-3 to Miss State. Their other FBS lost was to Louisiana-Monroe, a team that obviously should still be getting votes. Oh and the only FCS loss they have of the year, a loss to McNeese State of the Southland Conference. McNeese State must be the best FCS school in the country. Nope, not even in their conference, they're currently in 5th place in the Southland Conference. Who is giving Middle Tennessee votes in their rankings?

4. Another Odd Choice for a Team receiving votes - Tulsa has been having a decent year. They had a pretty good few years under coach Todd Graham, and now it seems like Bill Blankenship is keeping that going. But they haven't been having a year where they should be ranked in the Top 25. Their most impressive win was over Fresno State. This week they played Arkansas close, but lost. Who is still giving them 4 votes after a loss to Arkansas? Are other C-USA coaches giving them the votes? Is there a problem with that? Is that bias or does that mean, the other C-USA coaches can see things other people can't? Either way that's not an accurate picture, and proof that the Coach's Poll is extremely flawed.

I don't know if it's confirmed or not if the Coach's Poll will continue after the BCS changes, but that selection committee can't seem to come soon enough.

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