The Associated Press has released its preseason Top 25 poll. Defending champion Clemson is No. 1, followed by Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Ohio State. This looks like a top-five pulled from last year, or the year before, as four of those programs have gotten quite comfortable up there.
There are a few interesting nuggets like USC finding itself outside the rankings for the first preseason since 2001, and neither Miami or Florida State making the cut — the first time they’ve both been unranked since the beginning of the 1977 season. Twenty-four of the 25 teams were ranked at some point last year with Nebraska being the sole exception.
But none of this is important. What’s best to keep in mind at times like these is that the poll, as always, is biased against your favorite team. Not only that, the media responsible intentionally inflate your rival’s rankings — which is disgusting because they don’t do things the Right Way like your team does.
Case in point: Michigan is No. 7. Have these people not been paying attention to the Jim Harbaugh experience? When has putting them in the top-10 turned out to have been wise in retrospect? And Michigan State at No. 18? Come on. That’s a playoff contender if I’ve ever seen one. How much disrespect can one fanbase take?
Now, don’t ask me how it’s possible that this is true for every person out there. It seems like for every slight there’d be an equal over-rating. But somehow it just is. Don’t believe me? Visit any college football message board.
The proof is in the posting.
The first poll is obviously worth getting worked up about because so little can change in the course of a 13- or 14-game season, as are all subsequent polls, and anything a pundit dares to say that isn’t overwhelmingly positive.
So glad this sport is back.
