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September 8, 2010

Briefly on Polls

Filed under: Football,Media,Polls — Chas @ 1:15 pm

Because I don’t really care.

Yes, Pitt dropped out of the polls. From 15th in preseason polls to unranked. Who didn’t see it coming? Polls are of questionable value, other than extra attention. Preseason and the first few weeks even more so.

A preseason poll is little more than a guesstimate of how good you think a team is. Pitt lost and even if it was to a good team on the road, it is still a loss and most teams outside of the top-10 that lost that way would fall out of the rankings.

You can complain about teams beating up on 1-AA moving up in the rankings, but there is no real reason to take them out. It’s really just reshuffling some deck chairs in the early going. Trying to feel out things.

Pitt took a shot early.

B is for Bravado. Pitt, Virginia Tech, and LSU, stand up with pride. Your teams lost* this weekend, but unlike 92% of college football you actually chose to play someone, and for that you will likely be punished by voters throughout the season for your loss. Pitt went to the nasty and underrated environment in Utah and nearly pulled out a win on the road with a first-time starting QB. That is impressive, but consider they did this with Dave Wannstedt in charge of a few key strategic decisions, too, which really is impressive.

While I still have doubts about the decision to open with a difficult game. Especially with Coach Wannstedt’s NFL mentality, that seems to need a warm-up game, it was a little risk-taking. Something most of us wish he’d do more of on the field. If Pitt had won, they would have been just in or outside the top-10 and everyone would be proclaiming Pitt the lock to win the Big East.

What strikes me as comical is seeing other writers complain about when it happens — whether directly or less so.

Everyone who has ever criticized the Penn State football team for starting each season against a weakling such as Youngstown State, Coastal Carolina or Akron got their answer today.

Why do the Nittany Lions welcome the Florida Internationals of the world every year in Week 1? Simply put: To avoid ending up like Pitt in Week 2.

Pittsburgh, favored to win the Big East Conference, was bounced from its No. 15 ranking for having the temerity to lose to Utah last Thursday. Never mind that Utah is a perennial Bowl Championship Series buster (en route to a major conference next season), that Pitt was playing on the road or that the loss came in overtime. A loss is a loss, and that loss left the Panthers unranked when the poll was released.

This is how the college football world rewards ambition…

They are right to point out that so many football writers complain about the lack of scheduling good teams — especially early and on the road — but then kill them in the polls when if they lose.

They are all part of the same group. They all do it when they are voting. And they all rationalize it in similar styles.

All that said, if Pitt wants to be in the rankings, then mop-up New Hampshire and take care of business at home against Miami.





You said it, until they stop complaining and actually reward teams win or lose by taking on a serious non-con opponent vs. cupcake city this will never get resolved. And until they do finally start voting that way, bring on the cupcakes!

Comment by Brian 09.08.10 @ 2:51 pm

This is why the first poll shouldn’t take place till week 6. Granted we did not look like one of the 25 best teams in America last week.

Comment by Pabs 09.08.10 @ 4:44 pm

Let me get this straight. Pitt who was #15 lost in Overtime 24-27 to #24 Utah who had won 17 in a row at home over 3 years and dropped out of the Top 25.
How does that happen?, you drop more than 10 spots in the rankings.
I can see that if they got trounced, but they didn’t. They had a chance to win at the end of regulation. I can assure you had the #15 team been a Big 10 team or an SEC team or even a Pac 10 team, that team would NOT have dropped out of the Top 25. Media bias stinks.

Comment by carolinapanther 09.08.10 @ 5:30 pm

The only polls that matter are in Nov Dec and Jan. If Pitt merits it, they will rise to a proper level. Sure, they may be a spot or two below a big name school with the same record, but it really doesn’t matter unless it prevents them from the MNC.

I watched ESPNU yesterday. The one guy mentioned how disaapointing the BE was last week. The next guy started complaining about how all biggies played cupcakes, and a few actually struggled …. without even associating the previous comment with his.

Comment by wbb 09.08.10 @ 5:41 pm

Actually the pre-season polls are doing their job as I type. Every complaint registered is publicity. It creates a buzz.

I think wbb is spot on…who cares. Really the only thing that happened last Thursday was confirm something we already knew going into the game.

Pitt had no chance of winning the National Championship. The loss only made what was known “official”.

DaveD

Comment by DaveD 09.08.10 @ 5:47 pm

I’m trying to get this straight. If State Penn loses a close game at Alabama they are going to drop totally out of the polls, more than 10 spots below where they are now? Right?

Comment by IronManEE68 09.08.10 @ 9:00 pm

I get to chime in with this epithet every year….sometimes twice in a year.
WIN YOUR GAMES AND THE POLLS WILL TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES!!

There…feel better…thank you…

Comment by Dan 72 09.08.10 @ 9:43 pm

Thank you Dan. You win the BCS by being ranked. Also of note, Pitt has the 6th toughest schedule according to Sagarin Ratings. If you look at the top 10 their schedules are nearly all in the VERY high double digits (i.e. 88) ato well over 100 (i.e OSU, Alabama, PSU….). So apparently having a poor SOS doesnt really matter in the polls. Why the hell is Pitt scheduling the 6th toughest schedule? So we can get out of the gates with an opening day loss?!

Comment by Pitt It Is 09.08.10 @ 11:00 pm

The pollsters looked at our coaching history and decided it is immutable.

Comment by steve 09.09.10 @ 6:32 am

The only concern that Pittsters should be focused on right now is trouncing New Hampshire on our home turf on Saturday. Way too much hand wringing about bad coaching going on. I wouldn’t take Wanny’s job for a ten million dollars a year. ANY loss has him portrayed as the dumbest guy in the game by some Pitt fans, very tough crowd. The best example of that was last year on our final drive against Cincy, even scoring a TD in the final two minutes to take the lead isn’t good enough because there is still too much time on the clock, weird. Yea, I know, Kelly engineered a victory in the last few seconds, but come on, that is the defense’s job to take care of, like they did at the end of our bowl game. All that I’m bitchin about is that in my opinion Wanny has done a great job at Pitt. They are revelant on the national scene again and fun to watch, even when they lose! (Although heart breaking). I’m giving The Stache some love and will continue to do so for as long as keeps Pitt’s football program in the hunt for the conference title annually. Hail to Pitt beat NH.

Comment by Dr Tom 09.09.10 @ 7:28 am

Well, this week the scheduling can work in our favor.

Kick the crap out of New Hampshire, and have a couple ranked teams lose, and we’re right back in the top 25.

It all evens out I guess.

Is there any way whatsoever to watch this game?

Comment by Jimbo Covert's my Dad 09.09.10 @ 9:22 am

Off topic, but have any season ticket holders tried to buy extra game tickets this year? We wanted one extra ticket for the NH game. The ticket costs $30, then the ticket office wanted a $15 “processing fee” on top of that!! That’s half the price of the ticket!! Is that right??! How can they possibly hope to increase ticket sales this way??

Comment by jcpitt 09.09.10 @ 9:32 am

Jimbo, it’ll be on ESPN3.com

Comment by steve 09.09.10 @ 9:36 am

JCPITT: Just get it at the gate, or in the lot, I have a feeling there will be a few available!!

Comment by Dan 09.09.10 @ 9:44 am

Good thread here. The loyal Pitt fans will focus on what’s ahead rather than what happened last week. Let’s face it, they could have easily gotten their asses kicked at Utah, but they stood up as a team when it counted and lost by about one foot – the distance between the OT interception and a completion.

Win the games they should. Win the Big East. And win a friggin’ BCS bowl game for a change and the perception of Pitt and the Big East will change in the minds of the pollsters.

Comment by TampaT 09.09.10 @ 9:47 am

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