Well, to be fair, we were preseason #2, so its not like that stopped people from thinking we'd be a great team. LSU definitely reloads now, and we can feel confident that our team won't have any true weaknesses. However it remains to be seen if we'll be a great team, or just a good team. We'll have a better idea after the Spring Game, at which point I expect to see some media members jumping on the bandwagon.
It will partially depend on the health of our LB's, but I think our DBs are going to impress people, and I expect RP to be back & look impressive. Since these are the two primary concerns for next year, I expect several media members to start pimping our team, although our schedule will still probably hold us back from a high preseason ranking.
We have discussed this before, but why do you feel rankings are determinded by SOS? Preseason rankings are based on how good teams are perceived to be coming into the season, not how they will end up the season based on their schedule. I fail to agree with this mentality. If LSU and Perrilloux are on the same page by the time the preseason rankings come around, I assure you we will be ranked no lower than 5th.
The human element to voting has its positives and negatives. The voters are not really supposed to base their ranking on the schedule but everyone does it because voters, especially the ones tied to the media, want to best predict what they ranking will look like at the end of the year. We all do it here when we discuss rankings no matter if it is preseason or not. If I were I voting I would look down the schedule and ask myself if this team is good enough to beat UGA, @AU, UA, @UF, etc...
That's what I thought too- preseason rankings were about picking who'd be college football's national champion at the end of the season.
Isl, is right that it isn't supposed to be that way but many individual voters think that way when making out their ballots.
Lost me now. Then what are preseason polls supposed to convey? Example, comparing last year's preseason AP Poll to the final AP- were they supposed to be telling us, for example, Texas is the "Perceived" #3 team in the Nation "coming into the season" but we don't expect them to be in the Top 10 when the final standings come out? OR, Oklahoma is #10 but we think they'll end up higher at the EOY. 2007 Preseason AP 1/ Southern Cal 2/ Louisiana State 3/ Texas 4/ Michigan 5/ West Virginia 6/ Florida 7/ Wisconsin 8/ Virginia Tech 9/ Louisville 10/ Oklahoma 2007 Final AP 1/ Louisiana State 2/ Georgia 3/ Southern Cal 4/ Missouri 5/ Ohio State 6/ West Virginia 7/ Wisconsin 8/ Oklahoma 9/ Virginia Tech 10/ Boston College And if that is true, and I know you said that is how it's done, even though it's "not supposed to be", I'm wondering, theoretically speaking, at what point in the season does it "Switch over" to being about which team IS the best? Like. . . third week, etc. Help me out here brutha. That's what I'm talking about- of course they do, that's what it is, a preseason prediction. :wink:
Preseason rankings are supposed to show how good of a team is coming back this year based on last year's results, returning players, recruiting impact players, coaching, etc... which I think all voters use. I am in agreement with your thought and think that voters do base their results on who they think will be the best because they want to be right and that is why I believe that all voters use future schedules and predictions to give teams higher/lower rankings. That is also why I do not see a switch over because each voter is set on their ways from the beginning Now I am confused.:hihi: But you get my drift. However, it would be interesting to see the voting guidelines given to voters. I am not positive but I do not think predicting the outcome is the one or the main factor in preseason polls.
As you can see, this is why there is confusion, why some argue there should be no preseason poll all together, and the AP and other polls are so ambigous. How do you vote on performance in the preseason? http://www.fanblogs.com/ap_poll/005412.php
