Reply #10: The polls, unfortunately . . .

[gratuitous]

Hold a disproportionate sway over the BCS rankings. "Hold on there, gratuitous," I hear folks saying, "What about strength of schedule?" Well, the "strength" of any team's particular schedule is determined by . . . the polls.

For example, this week, Oregon is ranked No. 10 in the AP poll, but No. 15 in the CNN/USA Today poll. Michigan is ranked behind Oregon in the AP, but ahead of them in the CNN/USA Today. So, where would a victory over Oregon place a team? Depending on which poll you favored, you're either beating a Top 10 team (big points) or a mere Top 15 team (good points, but fewer). Naturally, if Oregon continues to win, their ranking in both polls will slowly converge, but what if Washington State beats the Ducks this week? How significant would that victory be for the Cougars?

And what to make of a team that is ranked high in the pre-season polls, doesn't lose and so maintains its ranking, and then ultimately loses to a big rival? Did the big rival actually beat the Number 3 team, or was that lofty ranking the happy result of a pre-season vote coupled with a soft schedule? And what are we to say about that team should it lose two or three games? It was never worthy of that high ranking? The big rival's victory merely exposed them as pretenders instead of contenders? Should the big rival get the big bump for knocking off the highly ranked team, but subsequent victors get a smaller bump because of the prior loss?

It's so difficult to say over the course of a season who's truly hot and who's not. Clearly one of the best teams in the nation at the end of last year was USC, but because of a couple of stumbles earlier in the year, they were shut out of national championship consideration. It's time and past time for a true Division I national championship played on the field by the best 8, 12 or 16 teams.