If you follow college football you probably consume dozens of preseason polls in the weeks and months leading up to the season. Everyone from the AP to local beat writers want to predict how teams within a conference and the league at large stack up against one another. All of this can serve to hype up some match-ups early on.
However ultimately this is a detriment to college football as a whole.
RJ Young is somewhat infamous for his bad college football rankings, and somehow Fox keeps him employed putting out lists this bad. And while I think preseason polls as a whole are bad, this is an extreme example of not even putting in the effort to be honest.
Here are some of my (least) favorite picks of his:
10: Oklahoma
In what universe is an Oklahoma team that went 6-7 and lost to Navy in the armed forces bowl a top ten team in the country? There is zero proof they can be that this year. They can change the narrative, but ranking them this high is a war crime.
25: Colorado
Colorado’s last outing was a less them impressive blowout loss in the Alamo Bowl, and that was with Heisman winner Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders on the roster. Since then they’ve brought in 33 transfers once again overhauling the roster. Kaidon Salter may continue to impress as he did at Liberty, but there are too many unknowns to put them as a top 25 team.
The Big XII Teams between 30 and 60
This block of teams is a total disaster. Baylor down at 44 and below TCU is not warranted yet. OSU and Utah above BYU is silly even with the QB question. The fact that all 5 of these teams fall here and below Houston and Arizona is just a joke. RJ clearly gave up here.
97: Michigan State
Michigan State is not good don’t get me wrong. But there is absolutely nothing that justifies putting them below Marshall who just lost their whole team and coaching staff, or teams like Troy who went 4-8 in the Sun Belt last year!!!
BAN PRESEASON RANKINGS
My point is that while media personalities like RJ should be free to make whatever they want as rankings, the truth is that no one really knows how good or bad teams will be in the season, and setting up certain teams for better or worse rankings at the end of the year before play has even started is silly. RJ and his dumb rankings are one matter, but the AP and Coaches Poll both effect the College Football Playoff Rankings (admitted or not) should not be shooting darts at a board before a snap is played.
In the transfer era especially no one knows what is going to happen and what teams will look like year to year. It is unfairly benefits teams that are expected to be good and under perform (Alabama last year), and unfairly restricts the upwards movements of underdogs (BYU and ASU last year). If a team is predicted out of the rankings and loses a game, they drop far more than a top ten team that loses a game.
When 30 or more players can leave or join a team in a given off-season, its time to move past preseason rankings.