By: Chris Randles
NCAA AP Poll is Rigged
NCAA College Football is one of the biggest sports in America right now. Almost everybody watches the games or knows how much it means to people. So, when the AP poll and the Coaches polls (rankings of the schools) are released every Sunday, there is usually an uproar because of schools being lower or higher than they really should be. The rankings are based on three main elements: number of wins, margin of victory, and strength of schedule. They release a preseason poll which is based off the last season, but most sports analysts will tell you that those are all just educated guesses because usually half of the schools listed in the preseason poll fall out of the top 25 by the end of the season. Four major teams have fallen out of the top ten already, and two of them aren’t even ranked anymore. That shows how the preseason polls aren’t an accurate assessment of the upcoming season.
Another thing that isn’t right with the AP poll is that they don’t give teams with undefeated records the same opportunity as teams that are well known. Georgia and Ohio State are ranked above UCF even though they both have lost a game, while UCF is still undefeated. They do that because they say that their strength of schedule is bad. However, Alabama’s strength of schedule rating is 0.882 while UCF’s is 0.94, resulting in UCF being ranked 9 while Alabama sits at the top. If the strength of schedule is truly the deciding factor, then LSU should be ranked higher than 4 because they have the 6th hardest schedule in the nation according to sbnation.com. Additionally, LSU’s only loss was to an 11 seed Florida which was a close game. They are the only team in the country to beat three teams in the top 8, and they also have an opportunity to take down the number one seed. Overall the poll is not based on purely football, it’s based on conferences, big schools, and previous seasons. The NCAA loves to shake up the polls and create controversy because it gets people talking and increases their viewers.