The Associated Press began its college football poll on October 19, 1936 which makes it the longest-running poll awarding national titles at the end of the season. All this history of providing weekly Top 25 NCAA College Football rankings makes the AP Poll credible and for the most part reliable. Reliable is a big word. It invokes a sense of dependability and trust. Over the last several years, I have grown not to trust or rely too heavily on the rankings. It’s not just the AP Poll, but in my opinion, most polls don’t provide an unbiased view. It’s like there is an underlying initiative to sway public opinion. Call it intuition or delusion, but it’s the way I’m wired. Let’s review the pre-season AP Poll shall we? There were eight SEC teams in the pre-season AP Top 25 poll.
No. 3 Alabama, No. 6 Auburn, No. 9 Georgia, No. 14 LSU, No. 17 Ole Miss, No. 18 Arkansas, No. 24 Missouri and No. 25 Tennessee.
What does this tell you? The SEC is the best conference, right? The consensus certainly was the case after the first week of college football (where no one plays anyone), the SEC went 12-1 prompting the voters to place a record ten SEC teams in the Top 25.
No. 2 Alabama, No. 6 Auburn , No. 10 Georgia, No. 14 LSU, No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 17 Ole Miss, No. 18 Arkansas, No. 21 Missouri, No.23 Tennessee, and No. 25 Mississippi State.
News flash, there are only fourteen teams in the entire conference! Is the SEC really that dominant? Fast forward to Week 3 where Auburn almost loses to Jacksonville State 27-20 and Arkansas loses to Toledo 16-12. What?????? That’s CRAAAAZY! Not Really. Week 4 of the college football season now has six teams ranked in the Top 25 after Texas Tech handed Arkansas another stunning defeat losing 35-24. I guess what I’m saying is, these losses should not be much of a shock based on the trend of overrated SEC teams.
Do you remember what happened in the bowl games last year? Here, let me remind you guys: Ole Miss lost to TCU 42-3, Miss St. lost to Georgia Tech 49-34, Alabama lost to Ohio St. 42-35, Auburn lost to Wisconsin 34-31 and LSU lost to Notre Dame 31-28.
This is after a record year for Mississippi State and Mississippi who are perennial lower tier conference teams and NEVER ranked in the top ten. The overrated and bias continues…..with Ole Miss jumping THIRTEEN spots to #3, tied with TCU, the team who absolutely destroyed them in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl last year. Look, I know they beat Alabama…..at their home. No question Alabama has been dominant but this isn’t the same team five or six years ago. Let’s start with the simple fact of they don’t even have a quarterback. I’m simply trying to point out the glaring misconceptions of the conference. It’s almost like its taboo speaking out against the SEC; especially now they have their own network and are pumped up by the media. All is not lost SEC fans. The SEC still has six teams ranked in the Top 25.
No. 3 Ole Miss, No. 7 Georgia, No. 8 LSU, No. 12 Alabama, No. 14 Texas A&M and No. 25 Missouri.
Will this last? Only time will tell. However, the verdict is still out on Texas A&M. I’m not quite sure they are a top 15 team. Missouri struggled to only beat Connecticut 9-6 last week……..AT HOME. This is not a different Connecticut Huskies team who barely beat Villanova 22-15 and Army 22-17. It’s the same team. Granted, Missouri did fall four spots (previously No. 21) due to the unconvincing win. The AP Poll did punish them but not enough to remove an SEC team from the Top 25. If there is not a bias, there certainly is a pattern to rewarding an entire conference except for the fact Arkansas and Auburn are no longer in the AP Top 25. They clearly don’t deserve it.
The Pac-12 has six teams in the Top 25. The Big Ten has four teams ranked in the Top 25. My job isn’t to decide which teams should be ranked in the Top 25. My job is to drive home a point by pointing out the glaring prejudice towards other conferences. Why can’t Iowa, Temple or Memphis get any love? Why not Toledo? In prior years, other “Big Boy” conferences have been as good, if not better than the SEC in my opinion. I just hope more people open there eyes and acknowledge there are quality schools outside the southeast. Let’s see what this week and this year brings, not just for the SEC but the rest of College Football.
