Preseason rankings is a flawed system. They give somewhat subjective rankings to schools without a game being played. There are numerous examples of schools preseason ranked that end up not going to a bowl game or well out of the top 25. Basketball seems to be a little bit better than football at determining which schools are in the top 25 in a preseason poll.

Anyways, it seems that if you played and beat a school preseason ranked (or ranked when you played them) #5 and they finish the season 3-9, you didn't really play the #5 school in the country. Sure, they were #5 when you played them but they clearly shouldn't have been. I think the CFP has fixed this issue by doing a "new poll" every week, but I am still confused as to why fans attribute these fluid (and false) rankings to their opponents. Do they really believe they played the #5 school in the country or is it just for fun?

Example: Florida St preseason ranked #3. I know they've had injuries and have played a fairly tough schedule up to now. However, they have not played like a team worthy of #3 status. Lost to (then/current) #1/#1 Alabama in Atlanta, lost to NR/#14 North Carolina St at home, lost to #13/#8 Miami at home, and lost to Louisville at home. They beat Duke and Wake Forest on the road. Looking at the rest of their schedule: @ Boston College, vs. Syracuse, @ Clemson, vs. Delaware St, and @ Florida. They could easily lose 2-3 of those which would put them at 5-6 or 4-7 (home game vs UL-Monroe cancelled). That is not a #3 worthy team.

That being said, is it really honest for Alabama fans to say they played the #3 team in the country?

Note: this is not meant to be a knock on the Seminoles.

(10-23-2017 09:20 AM)BePcr07 Wrote:  Preseason rankings is a flawed system. They give somewhat subjective rankings to schools without a game being played. There are numerous examples of schools preseason ranked that end up not going to a bowl game or well out of the top 25. Basketball seems to be a little bit better than football at determining which schools are in the top 25 in a preseason poll.

Anyways, it seems that if you played and beat a school preseason ranked (or ranked when you played them) #5 and they finish the season 3-9, you didn't really play the #5 school in the country. Sure, they were #5 when you played them but they clearly shouldn't have been. I think the CFP has fixed this issue by doing a "new poll" every week, but I am still confused as to why fans attribute these fluid (and false) rankings to their opponents. Do they really believe they played the #5 school in the country or is it just for fun?

Example: Florida St preseason ranked #3. I know they've had injuries and have played a fairly tough schedule up to now. However, they have not played like a team worthy of #3 status. Lost to (then/current) #1/#1 Alabama in Atlanta, lost to NR/#14 North Carolina St at home, lost to #13/#8 Miami at home, and lost to Louisville at home. They beat Duke and Wake Forest on the road. Looking at the rest of their schedule: @ Boston College, vs. Syracuse, @ Clemson, vs. Delaware St, and @ Florida. They could easily lose 2-3 of those which would put them at 5-6 or 4-7 (home game vs UL-Monroe cancelled). That is not a #3 worthy team.

That being said, is it really honest for Alabama fans to say they played the #3 team in the country?

Note: this is not meant to be a knock on the Seminoles.

Really there aren't numerous examples of even top 10 teams that finish well outside the top 25. FSU is a weird case because they lose their QB in the 1st game.

9 of the 12 teams who made the playoffs started the year in the top 6 of the AP poll. And this year has the chance to add 2 or 3 more to that total with Alabama(#1), Ohio St(#2)/Penn St(#6), and Clemson(#5).

Of the 18 teams in the 1st 3 years who started out the preseason in the AP top 6- not only did 9 make the playoffs but another 4 made a NY6 bowl. Only Auburn in 2015 and Oklahoma 2016 didn't finish in the final CFP top 25.

I agree--preseason polls are terribly unreliable and are often the product of just picking brand names based on historical performance. I think this is why in the BCS days and now in the playoff era they wait to release the official rankings until there has been several weeks of play so that we get a real feel for how good everyone is based on their on field performance. With that said, I think it's important for the committee to consider where teams are now, not where they were when you played them except for in extreme cases where you beat a team that has now floundered after losing a star player (this year's Florida St for example).

Pre-season rankings are often flawed, so no, you shouldn't get credit for beating a 'ranked team' unless that team is currently ranked. For example, Notre Dame should get credit for beating ranked Michigan State and USC, because they are currently ranked. But Memphis should not get credit for beating a ranked team in Navy, because Navy is not currently ranked.

If MSU or USC drop from the rankings, then Notre Dame should no longer be regarded as having beaten "ranked" teams, at least not as far as they are concerned.

However, even though I'm no fan of Alabama, there are exceptions. Nobody seriously doubts that FSU would be a much better team had they not lost their QB, probably still ranked. So it doesn't bother me if Alabama is regarded as having beaten a ranked FSU team.

In these kinds of rare cases, where a single dramatic event like the loss of a key player, can be pointed to, an exception should be made to the general rule that you aren't a ranked opponent unless you are currently ranked.

(10-23-2017 10:09 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  Pre-season rankings are often flawed, so no, you shouldn't get credit for beating a 'ranked team' unless that team is currently ranked. For example, Notre Dame should get credit for beating ranked Michigan State and USC, because they are currently ranked. But Memphis should not get credit for beating a ranked team in Navy, because Navy is not currently ranked.

If MSU or USC drop from the rankings, then Notre Dame should no longer be regarded as having beaten "ranked" teams, at least not as far as they are concerned.

However, even though I'm no fan of Alabama, there are exceptions. Nobody seriously doubts that FSU would be a much better team had they not lost their QB, probably still ranked. So it doesn't bother me if Alabama is regarded as having beaten a ranked FSU team.

goes both ways. I mean- when they played Michigan St- MSU wasn't ranked. So ND should get credit right now for beating a ranked team in MSU. Similarly when Georgia beat ND- ND was only #24. Georgia should get far more credit now than they did back then given what ND has done.

(10-23-2017 10:16 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(10-23-2017 10:09 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  Pre-season rankings are often flawed, so no, you shouldn't get credit for beating a 'ranked team' unless that team is currently ranked. For example, Notre Dame should get credit for beating ranked Michigan State and USC, because they are currently ranked. But Memphis should not get credit for beating a ranked team in Navy, because Navy is not currently ranked.

If MSU or USC drop from the rankings, then Notre Dame should no longer be regarded as having beaten "ranked" teams, at least not as far as they are concerned.

However, even though I'm no fan of Alabama, there are exceptions. Nobody seriously doubts that FSU would be a much better team had they not lost their QB, probably still ranked. So it doesn't bother me if Alabama is regarded as having beaten a ranked FSU team.

goes both ways. I mean- when they played Michigan St- MSU wasn't ranked. So ND should get credit right now for beating a ranked team in MSU. Similarly when Georgia beat ND- ND was only #24. Georgia should get far more credit now than they did back then given what ND has done.

Absolutely. IMO, barring a major exceptional situation, like FSU losing their star QB, teams should get credit for whatever the current ranking is. If you play an unranked Auburn and beat them, but they later rise to #10, then the week they are #10, you should at that time get credit for having beaten a #10 team.

It's like Strength of Schedule, it should fluctuate from week to week, depending on whether teams you already played win games or lose game. We can't know what a team's final SOS will be, or what "ranked" teams they played, until the end of the season. All we can say is "as of now ... ".