Georgia football: Preseason rankings are insanely obnoxious
Some Georgia football fans like preseason rankings, but it seems most do not.
After seeing the newest preseason ESPN FPI rankings, and the way-too-early preseason rankings, this opinion has been forming for a while — it’s time to eliminate these redundant rankings.
While these things provide excellent discussion among college football fans, are these rankings serving any other purpose? Fans will believe they have the best team in college football regardless of their preseason ranking.
The passion and fire that come from fans make college football so unique. Whether their team went 8-4, 6-6, or 5-7, fans find ways to love their team no matter what.
Preseason rankings don’t do much for Georgia football and the rest of the country.
Sure, ranking No.3 on the ESPN FPI isn’t a terrible thing, but how does the defending national champion get put behind a team that didn’t make the playoffs? And before the numbers people come after me, I understand data goes into this specific ranking. At the same time, a lot doesn’t go into it that should.
In the way too early rankings that dropped after the title game, Georgia was still behind Alabama. The Tide is understandable ranked higher because they are the most consistent team in football.
However, would it kill someone to give anyone in the SEC credit other than Alabama?
Tennessee got blatantly disrespected in this newest FPI ranking by getting put behind Florida and out of the top-25. The Vols will be better than the Gators in 2022, and it doesn’t take rocket science to see that.
Yeah, a Georgia football fan said that.
Regardless of what these current rankings say, the opinion of this article isn’t about teams getting the wrong rank. It’s about how preseason rankings are redundant, and college football needs to change.
There is a reason the College Football Playoff committee waits until November to drop their rankings — time explains a lot for a team.
They evaluate so many things, and while some will preach that the committee has a bias toward four teams, they still deserve credit for waiting to see how a team plays throughout the season before ranking them No.1.
No one knows how a team will play until they do. The AP Top-25 poll, coaches poll, ESPN FPI, and every other system should wait at least four weeks before ranking the college football teams. Waiting allows them to see more than just speculating about it.
Sure, these preseason polls give the media and fans things to discuss, but are those important enough when these things are flat-out wrong a lot of times? Also, why have them if Alabama will be No.1 regardless?
If four weeks is too long, wait until everyone plays a conference game to rank the top-25. Preseason rankings don’t matter to teams, so this should change. The playoff rankings matter, but how many preseason No.1 teams win it all outside of Alabama? I doubt it’s many.
dark. Next. Georgia football: 5 players that will have jaw-dropping G-Day performances
Georgia football has had a ton of success recently, so complaining about getting ranked No. 3 seems a bit selfish coming from a Dawg fan, but winning a national championship should mean more if we have these redundant preseason rankings.