Every August, we do the exact same dance. The preseason AP Top 25 drops, and the college football world loses its collective mind. Fans spend weeks arguing over whether Notre Dame or Oregon deserves the number four spot. Local beat writers treat the rankings like sacred texts. It is a massive waste of time and energy. The expanded 12-team playoff did not just change the postseason format. It completely destroyed the relevance of preseason polling.
Stop Looking At The Preseason Top 25: Why The Expanded Playoff Killed Polling
Continuing to debate preseason rankings is a crutch for lazy media. When four teams made the playoff, August bias actually mattered. A high preseason rank kept a one-loss team in the hunt because the margin for error was non-existent. Today, that mathematical advantage is completely dead. We are living in a new era, but we are still arguing about outdated metrics.
The Brand Name Bias
Preseason polls are not based on actual football. They are based entirely on helmet logos. Voters look at Ohio State, Texas, and Georgia, and they automatically slot them at the top. They assume historical success guarantees current dominance. This creates a dangerous illusion for the sport. It artificially inflates the resumes of traditional powers while heavily punishing late-blooming rosters that actually peak in November.
Consider how the bias snowballs. If an SEC team ranked fifth beats an SEC team ranked eighth in week two, they get rewarded for a “top ten win.” But what if that eighth-ranked team finishes the year 7-5? The winner still coasts on the resume boost of a victory that was entirely manufactured by preseason speculation.
The expanded playoff committee demands on-field merit. The committee uses advanced data, strength of record, and schedule metrics. Yet the preseason polls still traffic in pure guesswork. We are letting sportswriters who have not watched a single practice dictate the national narrative.
The Postseason Elephant In The Room
We must address the elephant in the room: December is the only month that matters now. You do not need a preseason ranking to earn a playoff bid in the modern era. You just need to win your football games.
Look at the current 12-team landscape. A team ranked 25th in August can drop two games early in the year. Under the old system, their season was over by October. Now, that same team can catch fire, run the table in November, and comfortably secure an at-large bid. The playoff committee does not care where an Associated Press voter ranked you three months ago. They care how you are playing when the temperature drops.
A Marketing Tool, Not A Metric
So why do we still have the AP Top 25? Because television networks need a graphic to put in the corner of your screen.
Preseason polls exist solely to generate television ratings. They are a marketing tool. A matchup labeled “No. 3 vs. No. 8” sells more advertising inventory than an unranked game. It is a financial necessity for the broadcasters, but it is an analytical disaster for the fans.
We have to stop treating these numbers as a measure of quality. They are a measure of brand awareness. The 12-team playoff killed the AP Poll by rendering its gatekeeping power obsolete. It is time the media finally buries it and starts analyzing the sport based on actual results, not August assumptions.
