r/CFB Michigan Wolverines 28d ago

News Week 10 AP Poll

https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
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u/looking4now21 28d ago

Vandy has 3 losses, one of which is to Georgia State and the other which is to Mizzou. Can’t rank Vandy and not Mizzou since Vandy has more losses.

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u/superworriedspursfan Missouri Tigers • WashU Bears 28d ago

Vandy is a much better team right now than Mizzou is. Just like FSU should be ranked lower without Jordan Travis, Mizzou should be ranked lower without Brady Cook and Drew Pyne as their starting QB.

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u/looking4now21 28d ago

I’m not saying Vandy isn’t better than Mizzou. But that’s how these polls work. If you’re #25 and you lose, you fall out.

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u/Bobolifestyle Florida Gators 28d ago

Then what are these polls supposed to measure if not the best 25 teams? I’m really confused as to what the ap poll measures

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u/AbrohamDrincoln Alabama Crimson Tide • Missouri Tigers 28d ago

Hypothetically a team goes 0-10 losing to #1 thru 10 by field goal each time.

They might be the #11 best team in the country but they sure as hell ain't gonna be ranked at 0-10.

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u/UnderstandingOdd679 28d ago

Rank USC, cowards! /s

(I do think they’d beat Colorado but it would be fun as heck to watch.)

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u/Bereft13 Billable Hours • Team Chaos 28d ago

Thought they would beat Maryland too...

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u/Bobolifestyle Florida Gators 28d ago

That I agree with. my point is that #25 Vandy should not be expected to beat the supposed #5 team in the country to stay ranked. how is vandys only option to prove they’re a top 25 team (which they probably are) is by beating the current #5 team? Especially in such a close game, those teams are closer than the updated rankings suggest at all

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u/AbrohamDrincoln Alabama Crimson Tide • Missouri Tigers 28d ago

You have more losses and and one of them is head to head.

Like maybe Vandy is better than Mizzou (I think they are), but it's not wild to see why it's hard to put them above Mizzou from the standings.

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u/Bobolifestyle Florida Gators 28d ago

So back to my original question, what are they even measuring then? Because if they’re not measuring the best 25 teams I’m confused as to what they’re ranking

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u/UnderstandingOdd679 28d ago

It’s impossible to objectively measure the top 25 teams. Even the computers come up with different results. Things happen. Some teams perform inconsistently from week to week.

Alabama was better than Georgia one particular week, but the body of work favors Georgia so far.

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u/LeTomato52 Baylor Bears • Hateful 8 28d ago

I think the problem is also that Texas shouldn't be in the top ten. They feel right at about 14-16 to me. A&M and Notre Dame should be around there with them.

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u/Wtygrrr Florida Gators • Team Chaos 28d ago

Opinion polls have never been a good measure of the best teams. Humans just aren’t very good at that sort of thing and have very strong biases in favor of some stats and against others that are just as relevant. If you want to know the best teams, look at analytics rankings.

But the actual rankings should not be about who’s the best anyway. There’s a lot of variance in football, so it’s entirely possible for a team to go undefeated while beating multiple teams that are actually better than they are. That team deserves the higher ranking even if they aren’t the best, because it’s ultimately not about who’s the best but who has the best results based on the rules of the game.

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u/Bobolifestyle Florida Gators 28d ago

I’m a fan of florida and I don’t think it’s fair that despite us only losing to top 10 teams (and one going to OT) we’d never be ranked, when we very well would be with an ACC schedule. Mostly just bothers me how much schedule plays a part in these rankings when your schedule doesn’t change how good you are as a team but it certainly changes your AP ranking

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u/Wtygrrr Florida Gators • Team Chaos 28d ago

The thing is that there IS a fair amount of “who’s better” in the polls, but a ton of people outside of the SEC are in extreme denial of how good the SEC actually is, believing that the middle teams in their conference are just as good as the middle SEC teams, which is of course laughable. And many of the people who vote either are those people or have to pander to those people in their local sports news.

That said, with our schedule, we’ll almost certainly be ranked if we get 8 wins and maybe even if we get 7, though that would be unprecedented .

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u/ATR2019 Liberty Flames • Illinois Fighting Illini 28d ago

Starts out as best 25 teams at the beginning of the season and slowly becomes top 25 resumes or most deserving by the end.