The AP Poll came out this afternoon and Clemson was still entrenched in the number one spot, and by a fairly wide margin. Looking a little closer though, you can see that they received two less 1st place votes this week than they did last week.
Scanning some of the fan pages on social media, it seems that upsets some fans. It shouldn’t. The AP Poll has no bearing on anything that happens on the field anymore. None. Zero. Nada.
These days the AP Poll, and Coaches Poll for that matter, serve just one purpose. To help drive television ratings. The television networks can use the meaningless rankings in an attempt to add hype to games before the CFP rankings come out later in the season.
They also give the talking heads on television and radio something to use to create controversy on their shows. They can use them in an effort to drive up television ratings, or to drive up the number of call ins on a radio show. Or to try and boost reactions on their social media accounts.
Who cares if the team lost two first place votes in a meaningless poll? Who cares if they were even to drop a spot or two? Again, it’s a meaningless poll.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It’s about how you finish, not how you start. The goal is to be number one when the season ends, not to be number one in late September.
AP Poll Top 25
- Clemson (4-0) 55 first place votes
- Alabama (4-0) 6 first place votes
- Georgia (4-0) 1 first place vote
- LSU (4-0)
- Ohio State (4-0)
- Oklahoma (3-0)
- Auburn (4-0)
- Wisconsin (3-0)
- Florida (4-0)
- Notre Dame (2-1)
- Texas (3-1)
- Penn State (3-0)
- Oregon (3-1)
- Iowa (3-0)
- California (4-0)
- Boise State (4-0)
- Washington (3-1)
- Virginia (4-0)
- Utah (3-1)
- Michigan (2-1)
- Southern Cal (3-1)
- Central Florida (3-1)
- Texas A&M (2-2)
- Kansas State (3-0)
- Michigan State (3-1)
I could not care less. The only poll that matters is the final CFP poll. I do care about that one, and history suggests the #1 spot is not the best spot to land on that poll. In the 5 years of playoffs, the team ranked #1 entering the playoffs has lost every single time going 0-5. That may be mere coincidence, or it might be due to that teams predicted win providing motivation for the other team. Last year all we heard was Clemson may get blown out, and Bama was unbeatable. Surely players on both teams heard those predictions. I will be fine with Clemson being ranked #2, #3, or even #4….just want a seat on the ROY bus again.