Let's flip that.
Take away the labels and notice something odd about the other teams in the top 10... there aren't many wins among them over currently ranked teams.
Pitt is a good team that slipped but will likely end up a 9 or maybe even 10 win team when its all said and done.... and ranked. UF got what they needed today and solidified the improvements on O they showed against UT. Napier did something really smart and played a TON of youth today on D trying to build depth.
So check everyone else out if "who UT has beaten" is the case. Bama's wins do not include a currently ranked team. #4 Michigan has not played anyone who has been ranked at any point during the season. UGA beat Oregon who is ranked 12 but no one else. Clemson is the exception with wins over Wake and NCSU.
I agree entirely.
We all know that pre-season polls reflect mostly last year's teams and their accomplishments. There may be a bit of tweaking here and there for what we saw in spring games, key roster changes, and what the coaches are saying about their new squads, but it's mostly based on previous years. Reputation, in other words.
And early season polls cary the momentum of the pre-season polls. And mid-season polls take the momentum of the early season. And so on.
UGa and Bama and Ohio State are #1, #2, and #3 because of reputation. Michigan is up there because of reputation. USCw is there because a very good coach moved there, and name brand (not even last year's accomplishments, but name brand).
We benefit from that, too. If we were Middle Tennessee State U, and won all the exact same games as we have, we wouldn't be ranked at all. Maybe #23 or so. But because we're Tennessee, and it's really starting to look like we may be heading back to being the championship program we were before, we get the benefit of our prior reputation. Name brand.
I'm okay with that. It actually is usually true. Ohio State probably is really really good, even if they haven't had to prove it yet. Even with days like Saturday for UGa, they probably are a very good team. It works out. Common sense rules.
My only problem in all of this, ALL of the complexity and imprecision of the ranking systems, is when a fellow Vol can't accept that our team is doing well. They won't accept good; they demand perfect. They can't see the beauty for the blemish. They can't put our weakness on pass defense into the context of a whole team, and see that, yes, you can in fact win a helluva lot of football games in spite of that imperfection. When everything else is so good, you can work around the bad bits in most situations.
Not all situations, no. We won't win a national title this year. But one year at a time. Titles are coming. This year is about climbing the ladder. Climbing it as far as we can, as fast as we can, so that next year we're poised to take the next set of steps.
I wish our self-hating fellow Vols fans could understand that.
Go Vols!