Polls: Who can you trust?

[slycat]

The 2009 season is off to a great start. The debate over who is the best team in the country is heating up more and more each week. Between the 3 major polls (AGS, Coaches, and TSN) there are 6 different teams with first place votes.

While Richmond is the consensus pick between the 3 polls, one has to wonder if this is based on this year’s performance, or if voters picked Richmond in the preseason and left them there.

I would like to see all polls wait until after week 5 of the season to start their voting. I think you would find the number one votes more equally spread out across teams like Villanova, Montana, Richmond, William and Mary, Northern Iowa and New Hampshire.

http://www.championshipsubdivision.com/blog/

[Hoyadestroya85]

:steady clap:

[BDKJMU]

None of them. Ignore them now. Start paying attention to them in about a month.

[wideright82]

http://www.championshipsubdivision.com/blog/


Glad to see the Blog up and running. Should be a great addition to the FCS information out there.

[aceinthehole]

http://www.championshipsubdivision.com/blog/

Excellent post!!!

[TexasTerror]

Two points that I like...


Outside of Weber State and Cal Poly being too high, I dont have too many complaints. Every poll can be debated, but the AGS poll seems the most balanced at this point in time.


The best thing about the polls is that they aren’t that important. We’re lucky enough to have a playoff system in place, and starting next year an extra 4 teams will get to join in. If you take care of business in your conference, you’re in, whether you’re ranked or not.

Love the playoffs!

And Winston Salem State got votes in the TSN poll? I'll have to look into that. If true, that's an absolute joke. Some of these hometown voters need to actually get a clear look at what it is they are seeing...

[wideright82]

Two points that I like...





Love the playoffs!

And Winston Salem State got votes in the TSN poll? I'll have to look into that. If true, that's an absolute joke. Some of these hometown voters need to actually get a clear look at what it is they are seeing...



Winston-Salem 16........ that is SHOCKING! xoopsx

[Big Al]

As goofy as some of the polls are right now, I don't think they're anywhere near as goofy as the BCS polls right now. Thank goodness we don't count on the polls to help determine the champion.

[FCS_pwns_FBS]

AGS...

The TSN and Coaches polls have too many questionable teams in the ORV category. Not saying those are bad, just that AGS has been better.

[danefan]

Great blog! Completely agree with most of it. Especially about the fact that most voters aren't comparing resumes on a week-to-week basis, but are instead just sliding teams up and down.

That's what makes it so difficult to break into the top 25 from the outside.

[OL FU]

He also made an interesting comment as to polls starting later in the season. That is also a good reason that it is difficult to debate where most teams should be ranked this early anyway. While clearly you can point out teams that don't belong (Jacksonville) it is hard to debate teams that have won all the games they should based on strength of schedule. Some teams play tough early schedules some teams play tough later schedules.

[danefan]

He also made an interesting comment as to polls starting later in the season. That is also a good reason that it is difficult to debate where most teams should be ranked this early anyway. While clearly you can point out teams that don't belong (Jacksonville) it is hard to debate teams that have won all the games they should based on strength of schedule. Some teams play tough early schedules some teams play tough later schedules.

I agree completely. What are the chances the AGS would push back the poll voting a week or two next year?

[89Hen]

Some teams play tough early schedules some teams play tough later schedules.
Which means pushing the polls back a few weeks won't solve all your problems.

Not only do teams face easier and tougher schedules, the majority of I-A games are front loaded. How do you rank a team that has lost to two I-A's and maybe beaten a lesser team?

[WestCoastAggie]

Polls are objective and their is a belief by some that many coaches & media professional that vote, use the polls to get their team name out there. For instance, the people who voted for Winston-Salem probably cover HBCU sports and want to get their name in the press.

Not saying it's wrong or right (although we need to find a more objective way to rank teams for the playoffs to spread the spaces for more Conference Winners).

[OL FU]

Which means pushing the polls back a few weeks won't solve all your problems.

Not only do teams face easier and tougher schedules, the majority of I-A games are front loaded. How do you rank a team that has lost to two I-A's and maybe beaten a lesser team?

I don't think the polls should be pushed back. People simply need to understand the difficulty of early polling and take that into considerationxthumbsupx

[89Hen]

Not saying it's wrong or right
I will. It's wrong. xnodx

[slycat]

Which means pushing the polls back a few weeks won't solve all your problems.

Not only do teams face easier and tougher schedules, the majority of I-A games are front loaded. How do you rank a team that has lost to two I-A's and maybe beaten a lesser team?

I agree but its better then nothing.

Problem is preseason polls generate interest and thus they are made.

I'm glad CS.com has a poll coming out after week 5. It will be interesting to see how it compares.

[McNeese75]

I agree but its better then nothing.

Problem is preseason polls generate interest and thus they are made.

I'm glad CS.com has a poll coming out after week 5. It will be interesting to see how it compares.

I bet it will look a lot like the other three main polls at that time.

[BDKJMU]

Which means pushing the polls back a few weeks won't solve all your problems.

Not only do teams face easier and tougher schedules, the majority of I-A games are front loaded. How do you rank a team that has lost to two I-A's and maybe beaten a lesser team?

Pushing them back till the mid point of the season, after week 6 (mid Oct) would solve some of these problems, or at least be a major improvement.

If there were no polls now (until mid Oct), it wouldn't hurt a thing. It wouldn't change a thing as far as the game go. The games would have been going on the last 4 weeks just as they have been. They would go on the next 2 weeks the same as they will be with the polls.

I've yet to hear a valid reason to have pre season polls or polls in Sept, and I don't think anyone can give one...

[slycat]

Pushing them back till the mid point of the season, after week 6 (mid Oct) would solve most of these problems...

If there were no polls now (until mid Oct), it wouldn't hurt a thing. It wouldn't change a thing as far as the game go. The games would have been going on the last 4 weeks just as they have been. They would go on the next 2 weeks the same as they will be with the polls.

I've yet to hear a valid reason to have pre season polls or polls in Sept...

Generates off season and early season discussion. Which creates hits for websites and sells newspapers. It all comes down to money and interest.

[BDKJMU]

Generates off season and early season discussion. Which creates hits for websites and sells newspapers. It all comes down to money and interest.

The games generate discussion. Not polls...

[4th and What?]

The games generate discussion. Not polls...

I disagree. Games generate discussion of the teams you are actually paying attention to, i.e. CAA homers pay attention to CAA games. Following and for the first time voting in a poll initiates discussion and forces me to follow conferences and teams that I would not normally follow. I have enjoyed this immensely and I don't think I would of done this if not for the polls.

I understand the argument though that the polls are really crap prior to week 5/week 6. My poll changed drastically last week, and I am guessing will continue to next.