We are now less than two weeks way from the start of the 2022 college football season and the preseason polls are out, including the new AP Poll, which has Alabama leading the way at No. 1, Ohio State coming in at No. 2, and defending champion Georgia dropping in the No. 3 spot.
One person who seems a bit upset by the polls is ESPN and SEC Network commentator Paul Finebaum. Finebaum seems to think that what happened last year doesn’t matter to most pollsters.
“(The top four) is going to change very quickly… in the very first weekend of the season, Ohio State and Notre Dame,” he said. “Somebody is going to be taking a pretty good fall. Other than that, this is as predictable as it gets and it’s now to the point that it doesn’t really matter what you did the previous year. If you’re Clemson or if you have a big name like Southern Cal, you’re going to be ranked high. Clemson had a bad year by their standards. They went 10-3 and didn’t make the playoffs, but they’re right back in contention this year. And I think all the arguments that there’s not enough teams in contention are being proven true by this fall.”
Instant reaction from @finebaum on the @AP_Top25 preseason poll. CFB is so close! pic.twitter.com/CkiFY5QWc8
— Matt Barrie (@MattBarrie) August 15, 2022
He may be right. Despite winning the national championship last year, Georgia is not the No. 1 team in the country coming into this season. Many would argue that until they are knocked off, they should be the No. 1 team, but that’s not how it works.
Preseason polls are based on which teams are considered the best in the country and, but as Finebaum said himself, most of the polls change within the first few weeks of the season anyway.
