If you’re mad that USC is ranked too low, join the club — it’s a large one
USC came in at No. 15 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll. The Trojans were ranked behind Oregon and Utah. For most analysts, that poll ranking seemed low, at least in relationship to Oregon. Fans will naturally get upset at rankings, but there’s a bigger point to make about the rankings themselves.
Our friend Mark Rogers, at The Voice of College Football, made several highly important and illuminating points about the mechanics of rankings themselves. He explained how the structure and flow of the rankings creates an uneven playing field and prevents teams from being freshly and objectively evaluated on their raw merits each week.
This is part of why the very notion of a preseason poll doesn’t make any sense at all. It immediately creates the idea that certain teams are better than others, even though no games have been played. Teams at the front of the line get the benefit of the doubt over teams in the middle of the line or the back of the line.
Subscribe to, like, and share Mark Rogers’ USC channel and his other YouTube channels at The Voice of College Football:
List
Complete Pac-12 football game predictions for 2022
