Preseason polls and early-season rankings are two of the most dangerous aspects of college football.
They create an enormous amount of buzz and provoke plenty of speculation, which is fun for fans, but they can be scary to coaches. Polls are wrong so often they put unrealistic expectations on a team, leading fans, boosters and these become less and less patient.
Look at Clemson. The Tigers were pegged as a top-10 team in every major poll, but didn't look like they belonged in the rankings at all during a 34-10 loss to Alabama. They have since dropped out of the top 25 in the AP poll, and coach Tommy Bowden is facing enormous pressure to turn the season around.
Clemson fans - and many others around the country - saw the Tigers as national title contenders. Why? Because the polls said so. When it came time to line up, it was clear the voters got it wrong.
That can be a cancer in the locker room as well.
I've always been annoyed at the way coaches downplay their teams' rankings, but it makes more sense to me now. When players start believing their own hype, it can have negative results, and that puts the coaches in a bind.
It takes a lot for me to admit the BCS has something right, but I have to give credit where it's due. The BCS doesn't release its standings until Oct. 12 this year, by which time all the major teams will have played some legit competition.
The Harris Poll won't come out until Sept. 23, at least allowing for a few more weeks to gauge how good teams really are.
That way, we don't end up with a sub-par Ohio State team in the top five right away or a West Virginia squad in the top 10 that can't even handle my East Carolina Pirates.
There's no doubt the polls are important, as they factor into the BCS and can even influence recruiting, but let's make teams earn those spots instead of just doling them out based on nothing because it's a tradition.
As far as earning a ranking goes, no one has done it better than East Carolina this season. (Not to toot my own horn here, but it's rare that I get a chance to do this.)
The Pirates knocked off No. 17 Virginia Tech and No. 8 West Virginia to take the 14th best ranking in this week's AP Poll, but what made those wins impressive were the inaccurate polls that overrated both of their opponents.
In ECU's case, the polls do what they should - reflect the Pirates' performance, not just take a stab at where they'll finish. One good week doesn't warrant a ratings boost either. It's all about performance over a period of time.
UF, now ranked No. 4, didn't play a top-five team for most of its win against a Miami team that doesn't have an offense, but a win over Tennessee in two weeks would cement it for me because the Gators would have a few good wins behind them.
Teams that haven't played any stiff competition have their rankings simply because voters think they'll be good. They haven't done anything to earn that spot other than have some good players, a decent previous season or a high-profile coach.
The only way to tell where a team fits into the national landscape is by watching them play, and since it usually takes a few weeks for them to get into tough conference schedules, that's when the rankings should come out.
But it helps hype up games for TV, which means more money, so it's unlikely we'll see it change any time soon. The only thing that can be done is to not pay attention to them, realize they're flawed and don't get too starry-eyed if the system arbitrarily chooses your team as the next big thing.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go vote in the UWIRE college football poll.
