I've been writing updates on Tennessee and the SEC for
Fanblogs.com. A couple of weeks ago, there creators of the site worked out a deal with ESPN from some cross-promotion. Part of the deal was for the authors to come up with questions that might be put to
Lee Corso of College GameDay for his weekly column. Here was my question:
"Coach, I'd love to hear your take on the rankings. Specifically, do you think preseason rankings do a disservice to some teams by underrating or not including them or overrating others? Should we wait until the first of October for the first polls to come out so we can have a better indicator of who the top 25 teams in the nation really are based on performance on the field instead of reputation going into the season?"
OK, I don't remember putting the world "coach" in there to start things off, but that's not the point here. The point is that
Corso answered my question in his weekly column.
"That’s seven questions into one. Let’s start with the first one. The reason the preseason polls are there is because of the media. The media and the college football fans can’t wait to start talking about their teams in the beginning of September. No coach wants a preseason poll because it puts unrealistic expectations on their team, but the media want it. They got to have it. The coaches don’t want it. The fans do, and that’s why they have it. The way I look at this poll, I think that Auburn is the best football team in the nation. I voted them No. 1. I think USC is second, Oklahoma third, Miami fourth and Florida State fifth. It didn’t come out like that, but don’t be surprised, at the end of the year, if old Auburn doesn’t sneak in there
And it was the first question he answered. I feel almost famous and special.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 10/22/2004 11:19:00 AM |
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