Can we get rid of the biggest thing ruining college sports?

The case against preseason college football polls

They’re great for clicks. Terrible for context and ruin the game.

Preseason college football polls have long been a staple of the sport’s chaotic tradition—but with every passing year, their flaws grow more apparent. Coaches haven’t seen fall practices. Media voters are leaning on reputation. And yet these rankings shape everything from early narratives to eventual College Football Playoff debates.

Kentucky knows the downside well. In 2021, the Wildcats started unranked, then went 6–0 and climbed into the Top 15 before finishing 10–3. In 2023, they started in some preseason Top 25s… and stumbled to 7–6 after an uneven finish. In 2024, they were left off most ballots—and finished 4–8, proving the voters right for the wrong reasons.

The problem is deeper than Kentucky. It is a cautionary tale for every team that is not a traditional power looking to burst in the playoff scene.

A preseason ranking can create false expectations or limit opportunity. Teams that lose early but start ranked get more benefit of the doubt than late-blooming unranked squads. The system favors name brands over nuance. And hype over real substance.

Want proof? Since 2010, at least two teams ranked in the AP preseason Top 10 have finished unranked every year.

Meanwhile, programs like Kentucky, Boise State, or even rising squads like Arizona have to scratch and claw just to crack the rankings midseason—often without any margin for error the bigger teams enjoy.

Polls are fun conversation starters. They’re not accurate barometers of team strength in August. And with the expanded College Football Playoff now in play, it’s time the sport considered delaying official rankings until October—after some actual football has been played.

Until then, fans should treat preseason polls like preseason weather forecasts: occasionally useful, usually wrong, and never worth betting the house on.