(01-12-2018 09:17 PM)wleakr Wrote:  

(01-12-2018 08:26 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(01-12-2018 07:10 PM)wleakr Wrote:  ^^^^ Exactly this. In addition to the entertainment value of the ranking process, the other reason (and a good one) is the G5 piece. We have already seen races for that spot where the teams in contention were in the high teens to twenty-something.

My premise is that the G5 representative is one of the 12 teams selected by the committee, and it doesn't matter whether they are ranked #12 or #25 (or worse).

My point also is what difference does it make whether a G5 team knows at any given time what the committee is thinking? Will it change who they will play the rest of the season? Will it change how they will play? Those questions are equally true of all other teams considered by the committee for one of the NY6 slots.

The BCS didn't find it necessary or useful to rank teams below #15, IIRC.

I repeat. The only reasons for the current process are to provide fodder for talking heads, and generate controversy.

All the BCS rankings I've seen were 1-25.

By your logic, there may as well be no polls, including AP & Coaches. For any sport, not just college football.

Teams want to know where they stand in relation to each other. And so do most fans. And it could make a difference in what a team does or what opposing teams do.

When you are that top school (P5 or G5), every team you face wants to take you down a peg and prove you're overrated.

You can't know that without some type of published information. You can't assume, especially for G5, that if you're undefeated you are the top team. The Western Michigan/AAC debate is a prime example. It all eventually worked out, but without the poll, there was no way of knowing how these teams stacked or who was favored.

Even speaking about the "why" in this thread is demonstrating the entertainment value of the polls.

There is nothing in my logic that suggests there be no polls. The CFP rankings are superfluous because there are existing polls that do the same thing. And I'm not suggesting the selection committee wouldn't rank teams for the purpose of completing their assigned mission. All I'm suggesting is that it isn't necessary to tell anybody outside that committee in what order the teams they consider to be the best were ranked.

When Memphis played UCF in the AAC CCG, do you really think they would have played differently or harder if they thought they were ranked ahead of UCF when the game started? And would it have made a difference if Memphis had won that nail biter if UCF were the higher ranked team? After all, Memphis would have gone to the NY6 bowl even if they were ranked lower than UCF in the final poll.