AP poll to be released around 2

#10
#10
Reading some of the articles by college football writers the past several weeks, it doesn't seem like the Vols will be ranked to start the season. That's fair imo
 
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#13
#13
My guess is the Vols clock in around 22. The beauty is these polls really are meaningless now. Now I really will be interested in who is ranked #1 though....
 
#15
#15
jacksr said:
so who cares? the first few weeks of polls are totally meaningless until they play some games.
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Untrue.

Wildly inaccurate in places, yes. Meaningless, no.

It doesn't matter how you define "meaningful," a pre-season poll isn't much different from a poll taken in early November. A few examples to prove the point:

"Meaningful = pertinent to the playoffs" -- by this definition, the AP and Coaches' polls have only one value: to inform and influence the decisions of the playoff committee. And they can start doing that pre-season just as well as at any other time. The committee members are smart enough to realize that they don't know it all...that it's worth checking out what others (e.g., sportswriters and coaches) are thinking. And that's what the AP and USAT polls give them. So yeah, they're paying attention from pre-season on, or in other words, the polls are influencing their thought processes from pre-season on.

"Meaningful = important to fans" -- there are plenty of fans who like to parrot the phrase, "pre-season polls are meaningless," which they undoubtedly heard from their fathers or older brothers or some dude on TV. But there are even more fans who check out those pre-season polls and take pride (or angst) from the presence (or absence) of their favorite teams. That pride (or angst) is equally meaningful to those fans in August and November.

"Meaningful = important in life" -- none of college football is important in life, except to those who make a living off of it. In that sense, a poll in August is absolutely meaningless. But so is one in November. Food on the table, health, safety and security, well-being are all important...in that framework, football is a pastime, something you do for fun when all the important stuff is taken care of.

"Meaningful = accurate" -- there's no guarantee that the polls gain accuracy as the year progresses. Teams are constantly changing--losing players here, gaining a surge in effectiveness there. What you saw three weeks ago isn't necessarily true today. The Ohio State team that lost to the Hokies isn't the team that beat Oregon. The Tennessee team that struggled against Vandy isn't the same team that beat Kentucky by 35. These are college kids, mercurial as can be. They can show up like gangbusters one game, only to mail it in the following week, then show up again a week later. The variables are countless...the permutations off combining all those variables practically infinite. Every poll is a best guess, the November one no less than the pre-season one.

So you see, it really doesn't matter how you define "meaningful" and "meaningless" ... pre-season polls are pretty much like all the other polls. They're a way of seeing what others think of your team and the teams around it.

I think we'll be #22 when it comes out in about 4 1/2 hours.
 
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#16
#16
VFL-82-JP said:
Untrue.

Wildly inaccurate in places, yes. Meaningless, no.

It doesn't matter how you define "meaningful," a pre-season poll isn't much different from a poll taken in early November. A few examples to prove the point:

"Meaningful = pertinent to the playoffs" -- by this definition, the AP and Coaches' polls have only one value: to inform and influence the decisions of the playoff committee. And they can start doing that pre-season just as well as at any other time. The committee members are smart enough to realize that they don't know it all...that it's worth checking out what others (e.g., sportswriters and coaches) are thinking. And that's what the AP and USAT polls give them. So yeah, they're paying attention from pre-season on, or in other words, the polls are influencing their thought processes from pre-season on.

"Meaningful = important to fans" -- there are plenty of fans who like to parrot the phrase, "pre-season polls are meaningless," which they undoubtedly heard from their fathers or older brothers or some dude on TV. But there are even more fans who check out those pre-season polls and take pride (or angst) from the presence (or absence) of their favorite teams. That pride (or angst) is equally meaningful to those fans in August and November.

"Meaningful = important in life" -- none of college football is important in life, except to those who make a living off of it. In that sense, a poll in August is absolutely meaningless. But so is one in November. Food on the table, health, safety and security, well-being are all important...in that framework, football is a pastime, something you do for fun when all the important stuff is taken care of.

So you see, it really doesn't matter how you define "meaningful" and "meaningless" ... pre-season polls are pretty much like all the other polls. They're a way of seeing what others think of your team and the teams around it.

I think we'll be #22 when it comes out in about 4 1/2 hours.
Click to expand...

Wow you really put a lot of thought in that post. I still stay with my thought that they are meaningless though.
 
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#18
#18
BuckeyeNate said:
My guess is the Vols clock in around 22. The beauty is these polls really are meaningless now. Now I really will be interested in who is ranked #1 though....
Click to expand...

You prove your second sentence false with your third sentence.

If the poll were truly meaningless to you, you wouldn't be interested at all in what it said.
 
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#20
#20
VFL-82-JP said:
You prove your second sentence false with your third sentence.

If the poll were truly meaningless to you, you wouldn't be interested at all in what it said.
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It was a joke based on OSU being #1. I get why they do it but again in means nothing.
 
#22
#22
I'm going with 24. Because I just topped the cars gas tank off with $24 in petrol. Makes perfect sense to me.
 
#25
#25
really havent done anything to be ranked at all. But if we are, i hope its #25. Its alot more fun to move up.
 
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