Hello again. It’s me, the new guy.You know, we met last week. I appreciate the warm reception I was given and am looking forward to some lighthearted banter and occasionally mean-spirited venom spewing (looking at you, gatortrey).

Well, I guess I should get on with the reason Sparty broke the bank to bring me in (other than my NASCAR and pro bass fishing expertise of course). Among the random posts and comments I’ll be dropping on this beautiful on-line community, I will have a weekly contribution as well. In the spirit of the blogging world and the propensity for blindly complaining about anything, and sometimes everything, we’ll call it “Get Off My Lawn.”I’ll have a few topics (usually sports-related, but maybe sometimes not) to discuss/rant about and said rants may or may not be well thought out.Feel free to agree, discuss, disagree, and/or ridicule me. Also, if you have any suggestions about things that piss you off that you’d like me to look into, please feel free to email me in care of our fearless leader and I will consider your perceived slight.

Volume 1: College Football Polls
Here are the college football polls that are relevant towards determining the National Champion along with their respective release date:

USAToday Coaches Top 25 Poll – released August 1.

AP Top 25 Poll – released August 16.

Harris Interactive – will be released approximately September 22 (approximation based on first HICFB 2007 poll released on September 23).

Bowl Championship Series – will be released October 19.

Polls have the unique ability to unite, polarize, appease, and offend simultaneously, especially college football and basketball polls.  The polls are great for generating interest and conversation about not only the ranked items, but also the establishment responsible for the rankings.  For college football (CFB) there are countless polls and rankings from almost every sports medium, including the personal opinions of the consumers taking in the medium.  For example, our friend Mr. Big Lead is in the process of counting down his CFB top 10 as we speak and the commenters never fail to discuss his rankings and provide their own. All of this opinion and analysis takes place every summer before the first kickoff is recorded and prior to talent and level of play being adequately tested against a competitor not living in the same dorms.  The discussion is entertaining and many times brings out the ridiculous homerisms many of us carry inside us towards our favorite team.

However, I’m here to complain about what I view as a major problem with the polls – the four listed above are released well before they should be, the AP Poll was released 12 days before the first game while the USA Today Coaches Poll was released 15 days prior to that, and can result in an advantage, or disadvantage, for a particular team. What could these rankings possibly be based on?  Likely the same characteristics we fans judge teams with: the finish to the previous season (likely a bowl game performance), depth/experience of returning players, talent of new recruits, coaching…  My point is that all of these characteristics are even more subjective than judging a team’s performance and ranking it in an appropriate slot after an actual game.
Let’s look at the highlights of some previously overrated teams real quick:

2005 Tennessee – Ranked #3 Preseason; 5-6 Final Record; lost, at home, to Vanderbilt; Finished season unranked.

2007 Michigan – Ranked #5 Preseason; 9-4 Final Record; lost, at home, to Appalachian State; ranked #32 prior to bowl game, finished season #18

Now, some previously underrated teams:

2004 Auburn – Ranked #17 Preseason; 13-0 Final Record; finished season #2 and were not invited to play in the Orange Bowl for the BCS National Championship.  Instead, Oklahoma (ranked #2 preseason) was run through by USC (ranked #1 preseason).

2003 USC – Ranked #8 Preseason; 12-1 Final Record; finished season #2 in BCS but named AP National Champion after not being invited to play in the Sugar Bowl for the BCS National Championship.  Instead Oklahoma (ranked #1 preseason) lost to LSU (ranked #14 preseason).

So, what does all this junk mean?  To me, it means that 2005 Tennessee, 2007 Michigan, 2004 Auburn, and 2003 USC are recent examples of preseason polls affecting another teams ability to prove themselves worthy of National Championship consideration.

Now, I don’t like to complain about things when I haven’t considered a solution.  So here’s my solution.  Release the AP, USAToday, and HICFB polls in late October when teams have been adequately tested by both non-conference and conference foes.  By waiting to release the polls, the ranking organizations can review performance, evaluate injuries, and compare the results to the strength of the remaining schedule to allow all teams to start at a relatively similar level.  Then, in late November, release the BCS standings.  The only way the BCS standings can be improved is to win games.  A team cannot reschedule tougher teams in the middle of a season to boost its schedule strength to elevate voters’ perception of it so why release the BCS poll so early when all it can do is indirectly influence the voters in the subjective polls?

I’m not saying get rid of all preseason or even early season analysis/rankings/polls, solely the ones that count.  Push them back until teams can be evaluated adequately and the rankings cannot hinder a team’s shot at greatness.

That’s crystal clear, right?

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