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Shocking.. Bearcats aren't close to cracking the top 25.


1: Clemson (15-0)
2: Alabama (14-1)
3: Georgia (11-3)
4: Oklahoma (12-2)
5: Ohio State (13-1)
6: LSU (10-3)
7: Michigan (10-3)
8: Florida (10-3)
9: Notre Dame (12-1)
10: Texas (10-4)
11: Texas A&M (9-4)
12: Washington (10-4)
13: Oregon (9-4)
14: Penn State (9-4)
15: Utah (9-5)
16: Auburn (8-5)
17: Central Florida (12-1)
17: Wisconsin (8-5)
19: Iowa (9-4)
20: Michigan State (7-6)
21: Washington State (11-2)
22: Syracuse (10-3)
23: Stanford (9-4)
24: Iowa State (8-50)
25: Northwestern (9-5)

Dropped Out: No. 11 Kentucky, No. 18 Fresno State, No. 20 Army, No. 21 Utah State, No. 22 West Virginia, No. 23 Cincinnati, No. 24 Boise State, No. 25 Mississippi State.

Others Receiving Votes: Nebraska 152; Boise State 118; Mississippi State 111; Miami (Fla.) 94; Army 91; Kentucky 79; Virginia Tech 64; TCU 63; Southern California 47; Utah State 32; Fresno State 32; Virginia 30; Cincinnati 25; West Virginia 24; Memphis 24; Oklahoma State 20; South Carolina 15; North Carolina State 12; Duke 10; Boston College 5; Appalachian State 4; Baylor 4; Florida State 4; Houston 3; North Texas 3; UCLA 2; Temple 2; Arizona State 2; Minnesota 1; Mississippi 1; Tennessee 1; Troy 1

So we’re 37th. Unrated to start the season again. The record continues: we have never been ranked to start a season. Yet we’ve finish ranked a dozen times or more. Pathetic.

Eh. They're getting votes. They are closer than you think. They'll be in after beating Ohio State.

My Takes:
1) Anything after 15 is whatever
2) Florida and Michigan get there annual top 10 start
3) Good to see UCF at #17 even without their Heisman potential QB
4) Pleasantly surprised to have UC, Memphis, Houston, and Temple all receiving votes already (Thought it would just be us and 1 of Houston/Memphis)

Finally, there can be big swings after week 1. Beat UCLA (Also receiving votes) convincingly and we could be looking at a top 25 in-state match up week 2....possibly even ABC? (Just looked and the game is already scheduled for ABC per google)

Typical bias.

(08-01-2019 11:39 AM)dubcat14 Wrote:  Shocking.. Bearcats aren't close to cracking the top 25.


1: Clemson (15-0)
2: Alabama (14-1)
3: Georgia (11-3)
4: Oklahoma (12-2)
5: Ohio State (13-1)
6: LSU (10-3)
7: Michigan (10-3)
8: Florida (10-3)
9: Notre Dame (12-1)
10: Texas (10-4)
11: Texas A&M (9-4)
12: Washington (10-4)
13: Oregon (9-4)
14: Penn State (9-4)
15: Utah (9-5)
16: Auburn (8-5)
17: Central Florida (12-1)
17: Wisconsin (8-5)
19: Iowa (9-4)
20: Michigan State (7-6)
21: Washington State (11-2)
22: Syracuse (10-3)
23: Stanford (9-4)
24: Iowa State (8-50)
25: Northwestern (9-5)

Dropped Out: No. 11 Kentucky, No. 18 Fresno State, No. 20 Army, No. 21 Utah State, No. 22 West Virginia, No. 23 Cincinnati, No. 24 Boise State, No. 25 Mississippi State.

Others Receiving Votes: Nebraska 152; Boise State 118; Mississippi State 111; Miami (Fla.) 94; Army 91; Kentucky 79; Virginia Tech 64; TCU 63; Southern California 47; Utah State 32; Fresno State 32; Virginia 30; Cincinnati 25; West Virginia 24; Memphis 24; Oklahoma State 20; South Carolina 15; North Carolina State 12; Duke 10; Boston College 5; Appalachian State 4; Baylor 4; Florida State 4; Houston 3; North Texas 3; UCLA 2; Temple 2; Arizona State 2; Minnesota 1; Mississippi 1; Tennessee 1; Troy 1

Yep, that CFP sure has made things interesting.

So VaTech gets beat by us in the Military Bowl, returns fewer starters than we do and we're 30 votes behind them?

It's all about protecting the TV contracts. Voters will keep voting for the P5 programs even if the team has a .500 record. It's all about hyping the tv matchups of 'ranked' teams.

Stewart Mandel, the Athletic's, take on the polls (following #36 Fresno State as an underrated/under-positioned team:

NR Cincinnati. And the Bearcats were even farther out, at 38th, despite winning 11 games and finishing 23rd last season. And this one is truly baffling. Cincy was actually a young team last season that started a freshman QB, Desmond Ridder. He’s back, as are star RB Michael Warren II and seven starters from the nation’s No. 13 scoring defense.


...at least we're not the only ones acknowledging how skewed the polls are and it doesn't feel like local bias. Like was mentioned though, a lot of movement can happen after the first week..

(08-01-2019 01:48 PM)dubcat14 Wrote:  Stewart Mandel, the Athletic's, take on the polls (following #36 Fresno State as an underrated/under-positioned team:

NR Cincinnati. And the Bearcats were even farther out, at 38th, despite winning 11 games and finishing 23rd last season. And this one is truly baffling. Cincy was actually a young team last season that started a freshman QB, Desmond Ridder. He’s back, as are star RB Michael Warren II and seven starters from the nation’s No. 13 scoring defense.


...at least we're not the only ones acknowledging how skewed the polls are and it doesn't feel like local bias. Like was mentioned though, a lot of movement can happen after the first week..

Excellent quote--thanks for finding and sharing.

Somehow, I get the impression that Fickell and company just take a snub like this and keep working harder; recruiting and developing talent to produce results that can't be ignored much longer if this season goes as planned.

Getting ranked won't require beating OSU; take care of business this season, knock off UCLA and UCF at home and climb that top 25 ladder. Several on that list are riding on the coattails of their long established brand names, only.

Preseason polls...meh. Heck, we're ranked higher than West Virginia, Okie St., South Carolina, NC State, Dook, Boston College, Baylor, Florida St., UCLA, Zona St., Minnesota, Ole Miss, Tennessee. Just win the conference chip man and we'll go from there.

(08-01-2019 01:48 PM)dubcat14 Wrote:  Stewart Mandel, the Athletic's, take on the polls (following #36 Fresno State as an underrated/under-positioned team:

NR Cincinnati. And the Bearcats were even farther out, at 38th, despite winning 11 games and finishing 23rd last season. And this one is truly baffling. Cincy was actually a young team last season that started a freshman QB, Desmond Ridder. He’s back, as are star RB Michael Warren II and seven starters from the nation’s No. 13 scoring defense.


...at least we're not the only ones acknowledging how skewed the polls are and it doesn't feel like local bias. Like was mentioned though, a lot of movement can happen after the first week..

Snub might be extra motivation for the team. I am sure the staff will use it. Frankly, I figured these polls are about team brands and making sure certain conferences are represented. Sprinkle in a non-Cartel team to make it look objective.

Golly, there are a lot of 4-6 loss teams in there.

(08-01-2019 06:32 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  Preseason polls...meh. Heck, we're ranked higher than West Virginia, Okie St., South Carolina, NC State, Dook, Boston College, Baylor, Florida St., UCLA, Zona St., Minnesota, Ole Miss, Tennessee. Just win the conference chip man and we'll go from there.

This.

Also agree with the line about anything after 15 is kinda just whatevs.

We gotta put up a dub on UCLA for sure, and then keep the OSU game close.

Assuming we do those things....we're in a good position





mc

(08-02-2019 12:22 PM)marcuscan Wrote:  

(08-01-2019 06:32 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  Preseason polls...meh. Heck, we're ranked higher than West Virginia, Okie St., South Carolina, NC State, Dook, Boston College, Baylor, Florida St., UCLA, Zona St., Minnesota, Ole Miss, Tennessee. Just win the conference chip man and we'll go from there.

This.

Also agree with the line about anything after 15 is kinda just whatevs.

We gotta put up a dub on UCLA for sure, and then keep the OSU game close.

Assuming we do those things....we're in a good position

mc

Yep.

We CANNOT look past UCLA. I don't care that it's a home game and Chip Kelly is still building his team. Look at the improvement Coach Fick made in Year 2. I'm not going to label this game a MUST WIN but damn it will hurt otherwise. I hope the Nip is packed in and fired up for a nationally televised night game.

27 Days to Kickoff!!!

(08-01-2019 01:25 PM)DJBEARCAT Wrote:  It's all about protecting the TV contracts. Voters will keep voting for the P5 programs even if the team has a .500 record. It's all about hyping the tv matchups of 'ranked' teams.

Exactly! It’s a corrupt system. Gives certain teams ‘ranked’ games. Same corrupt reason UCF couldn’t climb the polls in 2017, and conference mates Houston/Memphis/USF wouldn’t get respected at the polls that year either to keep UCF from having top15 wins to justify keeping them out. It’s become a popularity contest driven by tv contracts.

Luckily we’ll benefit from this if we win game one against UCLA since those that control this stuff would love osu to have a top 25 win early on. If we played anybody but osu week 2 we wouldn’t hit top25 that early in the season.