04/20/24
September 16, 2010
Coaches Wanted to Kill Preseason Football Poll: College football coaches had agreed to kill the preseason football poll last year but USA Today talked them out of it, the newspaper's deputy managing editor Jim Welch told Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports. Coaches wanted to wait for the first poll until a month in the season, eliminating the ranking of teams that hadn't proven anything on the field yet. "We don't view that as a good idea," Welch said.
Coaches could essentially invalidate the first few polls of every season by ranking the MAC and Sunbelt in alphabetical order.
posted by Aardhart at 09:31 AM on September 16, 2010
"It helps shape our coverage, and it helps fans size up the field."I think that sums up a lot that's wrong with the American newspaper business in general: the idea of having to make judgements after the fact scares the shit out of them.
What's the financial deal with the coaches' poll, anyway? Is there some contractual obligation that requires them to fill in a ballot?
posted by etagloh at 02:19 PM on September 16, 2010
It helps shape our coverage, and it helps fans size up the field
Give me a break. Any legitimate fan can figure out which games are "must watch" week in and week out.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 06:55 PM on September 16, 2010
The problem isn't that there is a preseason poll. The problem is that the best teams in the country are decided by polls at all.