The theory behind rankings...

[Saunders]

Somebody posted this question on the Scout big 12 board.

 

"How in the world does NU beat VT up and down the field for 58 minutes, lose, and then drop to 5 spots to 24/25 in the polls. But other teams lose to unranked oppenents, at home, and barely move?

 

Next week, the same VT team destroys world-beaters Miami and rightfully move into the Top 10, but again NU just remains there at 25? More teams lose to unranked oppenents and not much happens to them. These things are getting past annoying.

 

When Nebraska played VT, everyone said VT wasn't very good. When VT beat Miami, VT is awesome. Same team, same location. Anyone who watched the game knows that NU won 75 of 78 plays. So why no recognition of that? They lost, no doubt. Give VT props. But man these polls are terrible. The only chance to move up will be beating OU and Texas. Mizzou, KU, Baylor, TT will all be downplayed as inferior teams."

 

The answer:

 

"It's because bitter, drunken sportswriters vote in the AP poll.

 

A lot of them use last year's poll as a starting point and tweak it a little by moving teams up or down depending on which stars return. Star players are about all bitter drunken sportswriters can wrap their bitter drunken minds around.

 

Tebow, McCoy and Bradford are returning? Good enough for them. They'll rank Florida, Texas and Oklahoma 1,2,3.

 

Never mind whether one of those teams might be thin at DT or TE or FS. That's too complicated.

 

Or they might just go with word association. If a team sounds like a winner they'll be ranked higher than a team that doesn't. That's how bitter drunken sportswriters operate.

 

So Virginia Tech starts off in the preseason poll at 7 and Nebraska starts the poll at 24.

 

Why? Because Virginia Tech finished last year at 15 and Nebraska was among others receiving votes.

 

So how'd they start off this season ranked so much higher than they ended up last year?

 

Because Virginia Tech and Nebraska sound more like a winners than all those mid major interlopers who climb the polls. Take out the Utahs, TCUs and Boise States. Squeeze in the perennial who was missing last year (LSU) and that's how it shakes out.

 

And its that arbitrary poll position that dictates everything from that point on.

 

VT loses (at home) to the team that was arbitrarily selected to be #5 so to the bitter drunken sportswriters it's not that bad and the Hokies only fall to 14 which is still ahead of the Huskers who rise to 22 on the strength of a win.

 

Meanwhile, Miami has jumped from "others receiving votes" to #20 by beating Florida State (the team who finished last year ranked 21st and was therefore arbitrarily selected to start this season as #18).

 

The next week, with wins all around, VT rises to 13 and Nebraska rises to 19 and the stage is set for their battle. But before their battle Miami beat Georgia Tech who had finished last year at 22 and been arbitrarily selected to start the season at #15 and who had risen to #14 before their loss to Miami.

 

Bitter drunken sportswriters are agog with Miami.

 

Meanwhile, Nebraska travels 1100 miles, manhandles the Hokies and loses on a lucky throw.

 

Do the bitter drunken sportswriters care? Hell no. To most of them, it's just a box score. Virginia Tech 16, Nebraska 15.

 

The outcome - Virginia Tech rises to 11 and Nebraska drops to 25.

 

But the big story of the weekend is that Florida State who Miami beat beat the hell out of 7th ranked Brigham Young (in Provo) who beat Oklahoma who the bitter drunken sports writers had arbitrarily selected to be the #3 team in America.

 

Then last week, the unthinkable happened. Virginia Tech thoroughly whipped Miami who had risen to #9 with a bullet.

 

What to make of that?

 

Either Virginia Tech is a helluva team (and by extension, Alabama is a phenomenal team for beating them) or a big house of cards built on preconceived notions comes tumbling down.

 

After all, if Virginia Tech isn't that good then Miami wasn't that good. And if Miami wasn't that good, then Florida State wasn't that good. And if Florida State isn't that good, then Brigham Young wasn't that good. And if Brigham Young wasn't that good then OU wasn' that good. And that just can't be because the bitter drunken sportswriters arbitrarily decided at the first of the year that OU was one of the three best teams in America.

 

So rather than rethink everything, the bitter drunken sportswriters just apply another layer of wow.

 

Wow! We can't believe Virginia Tech beat Miami. Wow! Virginia Tech must be great.

 

Virginia Tech becomes #6. Alabama gains another first place vote. And Nebraska... eh, screw Nebraska. They've done nothing to make the bitter drunken sportswriters question their own logic. So screw the Huskers. They can stay #23.

 

And that's how it works. Every single year.

 

Fortunately by season's end, all of these little compensations and over reactions wash out."

 

Best explanation I've heard.

[Dan_F_30]

 

"It's because bitter, drunken sportswriters vote in the AP poll.

 

 

 

When I read this part it reminded me that I wanted to check out kansascity.com to see if Mike DeArmond has posted anything.....

[VA Husker Fan]

Of course we dropped just as many slots in the bitter, drunken coaches poll.

 

The AP writers at least had enough credibility to remove themselves from the BCS rankings, to avoid a conflict of interest. Or maybe to not disrupt Happy Hour.

[Ringer02]

They need to just do away with the preseason rankings entirely, just wait for week 6 for the bcs polls

[clone]

WIN...

 

and the polls will take care of themselves.

 

LOSE...

 

and it doesn't matter anyway.

[I See Red People]

[admo]

That was awesome saunders

[TheHuskerPilot]

[CU Sucks]

Perfect.

[junior4949]

The preseason polls mean very little. I believe there's already been 9 top 10 teams beaten. Things to note. USC while playing good enough to beat Ohio State isn't a great team. They started a true freshman QB. Even Frazier stumbled against lowly Iowa State his true freshman year. OU replaced 4 OL. If there's no blocking up front, it doesn't matter if you've got superman back there at QB. LSU may have talent, but they sure aren't playing like a top 10 team. Even without Tebow, I think Florida puts them in their place. Boise State at #5? Even their coach can't figure out how they're that high. As the season progresses, more and more questions will be answered. I'd be willing to bet that at least one of the teams playing in the NC game is at least a one loss team.

[knapplc]

The preseason polls mean very little. I believe there's already been 9 top 10 teams beaten. Things to note. USC while playing good enough to beat Ohio State isn't a great team. They started a true freshman QB. Even Frazier stumbled against lowly Iowa State his true freshman year. OU replaced 4 OL. If there's no blocking up front, it doesn't matter if you've got superman back there at QB. LSU may have talent, but they sure aren't playing like a top 10 team. Even without Tebow, I think Florida puts them in their place. Boise State at #5? Even their coach can't figure out how they're that high. As the season progresses, more and more questions will be answered. I'd be willing to bet that at least one of the teams playing in the NC game is at least a one loss team.

All very true. And I think at least one team having a loss in the MNC game will become the norm rather than the exception soon. Mandated parity has arrived, and the days of the undefeated teams are nearly over.

[funhusker]

Are you sure it is the sportswriters that are bitter?

 

Maybe getting drunk would aid in relaxation:)

[junior4949]

The preseason polls mean very little. I believe there's already been 9 top 10 teams beaten. Things to note. USC while playing good enough to beat Ohio State isn't a great team. They started a true freshman QB. Even Frazier stumbled against lowly Iowa State his true freshman year. OU replaced 4 OL. If there's no blocking up front, it doesn't matter if you've got superman back there at QB. LSU may have talent, but they sure aren't playing like a top 10 team. Even without Tebow, I think Florida puts them in their place. Boise State at #5? Even their coach can't figure out how they're that high. As the season progresses, more and more questions will be answered. I'd be willing to bet that at least one of the teams playing in the NC game is at least a one loss team.

All very true. And I think at least one team having a loss in the MNC game will become the norm rather than the exception soon. Mandated parity has arrived, and the days of the undefeated teams are nearly over.

 

 

I have a theory with regards to parity. It seems each and every year players transfer out of schools like USC, Florida, OU, etc. because highly regarded recruits come in and players that were once highly regarded recruits themselves fall down the depth chart. This year, we almost lost Okafor because of this. The good/great teams still stockpile talent especially at the skill positions. My theory about parity is that college coaching staffs have become like NFL coaching staffs. I think maybe Snyder and Spurrier started this nearly 15 years ago. Snyder and KState had the best D. Spurrier gets lit up by us. He goes and picks off Snyder's DCoordinator. It seems like this almost started a new "era" in college football. Pete Carroll came in with a fire, but he has stumbled somewhat the past few years. He's went through multiple OCoordinators because they keep getting picked off. Even Texas went and picked off a DCoordinator, and then had to name him as the head coach in the waiting for fear he'll leave. Stoops at OU has had trouble keeping assistants. Their D hasn't been the same since brother Mike was picked off by Arizona. Back before all of this parity talk began, how much lateral movement was there within staffs? How many coordinators did Switzer get picked off? Joe Pa? TO?