Stupid but interesting chart

[Dinsdale]

http://preseason.stassen.com/over-under/all-teams.html


Huge shock to see the most overrated teams listed at the bottom... just huge, I tells ya.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Yeah, ND dead last. Shocking.

[The Seer]

when you rarely start the season ranked and even more rarely in the top 10, it's hard to drop many places in the rankings

Which reinforces the notion of rankings prior to game 1 being played as complete folly.

[Van]

And the crazy thing is, even though absolutely no one disagrees that it's totally stupid to have preseason rankings, we still have them. Everyone acknowledges that the very idea is simply ludicrous. The shitty thing is the fact that those preseason rankings go such a long way in determining the ease or difficulty of each team to rise or fall on the BCS totem poll.

I hate to do this, but take ND, for example. Right now they're not on anyone's radar. They're not even included in the AP's Top 25, and they barely squeaked into the coaches' Top 25. Because of this, they begin the season severely behind the eight ball. Conversely, what if no polls came out until Week Six had been completed, and what if ND somehow managed to start off 6-0? (Oh shut up. Just work with me here.) With wins over Michigan, Michigan St and Stanford (especially if Michigan were to beat Bama, Michigan St were to beat Boise St, and Stanford were to beat USC) they'd enter that initial poll with a solid Top 10 ranking. They would have nowhere near as many teams to leapfrog just to get there, and their road to a top ranking would justly be much easier.

Flip it, and take a look at USC or Bama. Because they start the season with such high rankings, they could lose early and still only fall to a spot that's higher than ND's even after those six games. Their road to a top ranking remains much easier.

It really is pure folly.

[Dinsdale]

USC should be ranked around 5th or 6th right now, not as high as they are

While I also think preseason polls are nothing more than messageboard fodder (or they should be), the only issue I have with USC's lofty ranking is their depth/injury situation doesn't bode well for season-long attrition, which could be a problem.

But as far as who looks toughest right out of the gate, I like USC as much as any team (homerism aside... which I won't make a habit of).

I think LSU might have been given a hair too much love in the polls (:shocker:). Seems like they lost more than they gained.

OU lost 3 conference games last year... maybe a little lofty in the rankings. But they do return a lot, so I won't bitch too much.

How many years do we get to laugh at UGA's precipitous drop from their annual enigmatic ranking before the SECSECSEC tools stop doing it? Yeah, I realize they have a QB and some serious LB's, but 6???? For real?

But are the pollsters transgressions/ball-sucking og UGA any worse than the annual gigglefest that is Texas' preseason ranking? 15? For a team that was a JONful of plays away from sucking huge dick last year, 15 seems a little lofty. Did Earl Cambell and Ricky Williams find some eligibility?

[Van]

Those preseason rankings also affect teams a little further down in the Top 25, thus artificially inflating the SOS and thus the rankings going forward of certain teams from a certain conference, making their road to a top ranking particularly fucking easy.

[Dinsdale]

Those preseason rankings also affect teams a little further down in the Top 25, thus artificially inflating the SOS and thus the rankings going forward of certain teams from a certain conference, making their road to a top ranking particularly fucking easy.

Shut your meatgrinder -- they have DEPTH at QB.


Why do I get the feeling that neomeme is going to be a gift that keeps giving?

[Dinsdale]

UGA = Kal Eastern

[Van]

Dins, nonsensical ranking or not, it will be nigh on impossible for Georgia to fall from that #6 spot considering their laughably easy schedule. All they have to do is beat Missouri and their season becomes a year-long coronation on the way to an inevitable SEC East title. They will arrive at the SEC CCG thoroughly untested yet with an insanely high ranking, giving a huge boost to the SEC West team that slaughters them in the Georgia Dome.

Arkansas last year, much? They played two good teams the entire season. They got their asses kicked in both games. They ended up at number five or something.

It is to barf.

[Terry in Crapchester]

UGA = Kal Eastern

Not exactly. Georgia at least warrants a little respect.

[Van]

Georgia boasts Herschel Walker. Cal counters with that hot javelin chick.

That's about it.

[Carson]

Georgia has actually won a national championship in the modern era.

[Bizzarofelice]

preseason rankings means a 8-4 team with a high preseason ranking will get a much better bowl than an 8-4 team with a diferent schedule. not down. especialy with the half-ass rankings dropped. ND? Texas? A & M?

[The Seer]

Dins, nonsensical ranking or not, it will be nigh on impossible for Georgia to fall from that #6 spot considering their laughably easy schedule. All they have to do is beat Missouri and their season becomes a year-long coronation on the way to an inevitable SEC East title. They will arrive at the SEC CCG thoroughly untested yet with an insanely high ranking, giving a huge boost to the SEC West team that slaughters them in the Georgia Dome.

Arkansas last year, much? They played two good teams the entire season. They got their asses kicked in both games. They ended up at number five or something.

It is to barf.

[M2]

USCs depth, or lack of, is horrible.

Which is exactly why... U$C has a ZERO chance of winning a MNC this year.


It's really going to start getting ugly next year and for maybe 5 to 6 more years after that.


But not Notre Dame ugly.

[M Club]

UGA = Kal Eastern

Not exactly. Georgia at least warrants a little respect.

UGA = Southern Notre Dame

[Shoalzie]

Nice link, Dins...great fodder for the anti-preseason poll crowd. I absolutely cringe at seeing Michigan being a preseason top 10 this year...I don't see it. They're being set up to be called overrated all season.

I'd like to see this sort of comparison done using the polls after Week 4 or 5 of the season when we have some actual games to digest. The preaseason polls are basically fodder for talking points leading into the season and artificial numbers to throw in front of teams to hype up early season TV games. Honestly, do you need to throw numbers in front of Michigan and Alabama to justify hype?

[Terry in Crapchester]

preseason rankings means a 8-4 team with a high preseason ranking will get a much better bowl than an 8-4 team with a diferent schedule. not down. especialy with the half-ass rankings dropped. ND? Texas? A & M?

For independents, preseason rankings don't mean shit* when it comes to bowl bids. ND's bowl options are as follows:

1. BCS (must go at least 10-2 for this).
2. Pinstripe Bowl (only if Big XII is unable to fill its bowl slot allotments).
3. Any other bowl which has at least one slot open due to a conference's failure to fill its allotted slots.

It also had the Russell Athletic Bowl open on a once-in-four years basis, but burned that possibility last year.

* The only way preseason rankings come into play is if ND finishes 10-2 and is on the cusp of selection for a BCS bowl. If that were to happen this year, I would think ND's relatively difficult schedule might trump a relatively low preseason ranking and get them in.

[Left Seater]

Boise State has been to Georgia multiple times, Georgia has yet to display the testicles to make a return trip to Boise.

And Boise State lacks the testicles to refuse to play UGA without a home and home deal. Bottom line, they need the cash.

[Van]

Georgia did not leave the south to play a scheduled game in 60 years.

Arizona is in the southern tier of states, isn't it?

His point was that sixty years had gone by before Georgia finally ventured beyond the South with that trip to Arizona.

[Van]

They only made that trip a couple/few years ago. It's not like it's ancient history that Georgia never left the South. For that matter, Florida is currently working on a similar string, and I don't think they're some sort of lone SEC holdout either.

"The SEC is afraid of planes!" is one meme you won't be spinning out of anytime soon. It largely remains fact.

[M2]

In some text books they call the SEC... Dixie.