USA Today Poll is a joke

September 27 2009, 11:52am

I’m not the first to call college football rankings a joke, but I thought I’d take a minute to call out the Week 5 USA Today Poll. I am a Duck fan too, so it’s worth noting my affiliation and that it is why the rankings have me upset. The Ducks just manhandled Cal. Cal was ranked #6 in the nation. Last week, the Ducks beat Utah who were ranked #18 in the nation. Two weeks in a row we beat ranked teams, one of which was a top ten team. Yet, after the impressive performance by both our offense and defense, the USA Today Poll has us ranked #25. Here are some of the teams ranked ahead of us:

24 Nebraska – They have played 4 games so far. Three of their games were against nobody opponents: Florida Atlantic, Arkansas State, and Louisiana-Lafayette; and of course they won those games. Then they played a good team, #13 Virginia Tech and they lost. How do they deserve to be ranked above a team that has won against two ranked teams (one in the top 10) and their only loss is to the now #5 team in the nation by a respectable 11 point margin?

21 BYU – BYU isn’t a total sham, but if you look at the facts; they don’t deserve to be ahead of the Ducks. They have a win against Oklahoma, who was ranked #3 at the time. But, Oklahoma hasn’t played anyone good yet either. Oklahoma has won against Idaho State and Tulsa. Boring. They lost to BYU. BYU has won against nobody teams too like Colorado State and Tulane. When they played a good team, Florida State, they lost. Their only respectable win was against a team that hasn’t played anyone respectable. Not worthy of a higher ranking than the Ducks.

18 Mississippi – Another joke ranking. Last week these guys were rated #5 in the county. Who have they played? The pattern of nobody teams: Memphis and Southeastern Louisiana. When they played a good team, South Carolina, they lost. Get them out of this lofty ranking so we can have respectable polls. South Carolina deserves to be ranked above these guys for beating them head to head and from having matching records.

14 Georgia – Georgia has played some named teams. None of them have been ranked, but at least they are from programs that do well year after year. I won’t rip too hard on them, but I will say they haven’t won against any ranked opponents yet and their margins of victory are really slim. Georgia probably isn’t too overrated, but they haven’t earned a spot above the Ducks who have beaten two ranked teams.

13 Penn State – Perhaps the most undeserving ranking of the group, Penn State has really not earned their high position. Playing little sisters of the poor teams like Akron, Syracuse, and Temple earned these guys a #4 in the nation ranking coming into yesterday’s game against unranked Iowa. Iowa decidedly beat the overrated Nittany Lions and exposed them for what they are: another Big Ten team that gets the love of the polls because of memories from when the Big Ten mattered. The Big Ten has done shit in a decade. The Pac 10, on the other hand, consistently beats them head to head and kills them in bowl games. Sigh.

12 Oklahoma State – Rice and Grambling State are not strong opponents, so beating them is expected. Beating Georgia is note worthy, unless you see how unproven Georgia is as well (see my commentary above). Yet, when they play a good team, Houston, they lost. However, that undefeated Houston team is ranked 3 spots below the Cowboys at #15. WTF!!?! How does this even make sense?!

I could probably go on, but I think any rational person sees my point. Few of the top ranked teams have played decent opponents. When they have, they’ve lost. Where do those prevailing opponents sit in the polls? Below the loser. Disgusting bias and the pollsters should be ashamed of themselves. Teams that deserve higher rankings (in no particular order): Oregon Ducks, Houston Cougars, South Carolina Gamecocks, Michigan, Georgia Tech, and South Florida. Teams that should be ranked lower (other than the ones I mentioned above): Oklahoma and Ohio State.