These Rankings are Pathetic.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Explain this.

1. Florida loses to an unranked team, West Virginia (who the media pounds down our throats as being legitimate) loses to a ranked team and WVU falls 3 times as hard as Florida.

2. Texas and Oklahoma both lose to unranked teams and OU falls to 10 while UT falls to 19?

3. You think Wisconsin is good enough to rank them 6th in the nation, yet unranked Illinois is 3 point favorites.

Rationalize that for me, please.

[fortheglory]

What I don't get....

Wisconsin loses to an unranked team that they were underdogs against, i.e. they weren't SUPPOSED to win the game. It's on the Road against a decent team (who is now ranked 18th in the AP and 19th in the Coaches...)

Wisconsin drops from #5 to:
#15 in the Coaches
#19 in the AP


Southern California, on the other hand, loses to a team they were a 41 point favorite over.....AT HOME. They just take a slight bump:

USC drops from #2 to:
#10 in the AP
#7 in the Coaches....

So the Coaches poll punishes Wisky 10 spots, but USC only 5? And the AP isn't much better, dropping Wisky by an unheard of Fourteen but USC only deserves to drop eight?

Honestly, is a PAC-10 Schedule better than a Big Ten Schedule? And should Wisconsin be thrown to the dogs like this? Don't forget, these are the same pollsters that dropped Michigan from #5 to out of the rankings, and this is a similar loss.

Very hypocritical, and these guys shouldn't be allowed to vote; the Big Ten is the Conference that the Media loves to hate.

[ham55]

Everyone thinks Wisconsin is a bad team, who got lucky to this point. Everyone thinks USC just hit a bump and will recover.

Illinois is the one that's getting really screwed around here. It took them to Week 6 to get ranked, and their 1 loss is to a team that is ranked in the top 15, and just pounded a Nebraska team that was at one point ranked as high as 12th.

[ham55]

AND...

How can Tennessee beat Georgia, and still be ranked behind them. After handing the 'dawgs their **** 35-14, they're clearly not the better team so the rankings should reflect that.

[Weapon X]

Where do you want Illinois to be ranked then? Top 10? Its fine where they are at. They were an unranked team all year with one loss, now they are number 18 and 19. They moved up 7 spots, thats where they deserve to be at. There are still alot of good teams ahead of them, that have very good wins as well. Do you guys want 5-1 Indiana ranked as well? And what does that say about Wisky when you are number 5 in the nation and you are an underdog to an unranked opponant. It means you stink or are overrated or both. People have been waiting for this team to loss all year. TAE even said he didn't think they were any good and that they were overrated. It should be no surprise that they fell that far. They had the nations longest winning streak and were undefeated and still no one liked them. Coaches didn't, fans didn't, and Vegas didn't. These rankings are definitely not a perfect, but there is really not to much complaining to do right now, especially with 6 games left. This looks like it would be a great year for a plus 1 or some kind of playoff system.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Wisconsin should have been 17th all season.

Illinois is probably the best team I have seen yet. Yes, I said it. I have seen this team play 3 games and they are for real. They're a top ten team THIS SEASON, where no one is really standing out.

Michigan loses to a team that is better than Stanford and goes from 5 to honorable mention. USC loses to a team at home when they are supposed to win by 41 points. They drop 9 spots? How can you even justify this? Texas lost to a very good K-state team and dropped tremendously. What a joke.

Back to USC... there's many teams in the Pac-10 who can legitimately beat USC. They are now set to play their 6 toughest opponents in 6 consecutive weeks. Oregon and Cal will definitely spread that defense, and this is a defense who has played terribly all season. I am serious here, folks... this USC team can lose 3-4 more games. Don't be surprised when it happens. They honestly are not very good. This is what happens when you lose coaches are often as USC does.

...which, strangely enough, is a testament to how good of a program they have!

[Weapon X]

That may be so about Illinois, but you can't expect a team that was 2-10 last year and has 1 lost and has been unranked all year to just suddenly jump 15 spots into the top 10, especially when their big win is against a team most outlets find overrated. If Illinois is that good, they will be in the top 10 when it matters. At this point they are exactly where they should be. I have no problem with what happened to Michigan earlier this year. They have been beaten down badly in their last 5 or so bowl games, they can't beat their biggest rival, they never win big games anymore, they greatly underachieve as a program, and then they open up the season losing to a bowl subdivision team. I would drop them too. USC wins their bowl games, they beat ranked opponents, they have tons of talent and great coaching, I would definitely keep them around the top 10. These rankings are just reflections of how the coaches and media feel about different conferences right now. They are up on the SEC and Pac 10 and down on the ACC and Big 10.

[The Ancient Enemy]

Why does previous success matter in 2007? This is how teams get shafted, Weapon X.

[Weapon X]

Program prestige and past successes has always played a key role in the ranking system and every major college program has benefitted from it one time or another. Penn St, ND, Florida St, Tenn, Oklahoma, USC, Michigan, etc. They have all benefitted from it. Im not saying its right, but Im just trying to rationalize the rankings. Why do you think you see a team like Tennesse, who has struggled this year, get a win verses a ranked opponent and they are immediately put into the top 25. Meanwhile, a team like Rutgers and Illinois has to earn their way in with multiple wins. Their progression is slower and with good reason. Then you have coaches like Tressel, who last year doesn't feel like putting in a vote all of a sudden, so he lets some assistant do it and Im sure he is not the only coach who has ever done that. I agree its extremely flawed. You yourself always like Florida State to be somewhere in the top 25. Why, because they are Florida State and they have prestige and past successes. Movement is volitile right now anyways, its hard to complain about it from week to week. The cream always rises to the top and teams usually get situated where they belong by the end of the year. If USC isn't for real, then they will lose another game and they will drop. They have tests coming up and these rankings are certainly not set in stone.

[The Ancient Enemy]

I put FSU in there because they make adjustments. It doesn't get much better than going out and stealing Fischer, Trickett, and re-hiring Amato. Any team should do well with that staff.