I'm Back: Pac-10 Football Is Better Than SEC Football, Part Four

Let’s take a look at some graphs so that we can understand the exact relationship between the preseason AP poll and the final AP poll.

The following is a graph of how many SEC schools started and ended in each Top 25 position since 2002.  For example, if you take a look at number seven, one SEC team has started the year ranked seventh, while SEC schools have finished number seven in the final AP poll on two separate occasions.

As you can see, there is a clear rightward shift in the final AP poll rankings.  SEC schools start very high in the polls, but oftentimes fall back.

There is a cluster of preseason rankings in the 5-10 positions, but the final rankings cluster around the 13-15 range.  This means the SEC normally falls back from its high preseason positional rankings.

Now let’s take a look at the same graph from the Pac-10.

In this graph, there is a leftward shift towards a team becoming better than its preseason ranking by season’s end.  The Pac-10’s preseason rankings seem to cluster around 11-14, but there is a large cluster of final AP rankings in the Top 10.  The teams that were originally ranked in the teens moved themselves up into the Top 10 by season’s end.

Presumably, these same teams would have been already ranked in the Top 10 preseason had they been in the SEC.

These graphs demonstrate that the preseason poll is biased towards SEC teams.  SEC school oftentimes fall short of preseason expectations and rarely ever come out of nowhere to shock anyone, with the possible exception of Ole Miss in 2003.

This preseason bias leads to SEC fans thinking that their teams are great.  LSU’s community leader, Justin Goar, states, “LSU played eight ranked teams last year.  Eight.  Use whatever rankings you want, but I'm willing to guess without actually looking it up that no Pac-10 team approached that number last year.”

David H. quickly put this issue to rest.  Out of those eight schools, only five of them finished in the top 25 (South Carolina, Kentucky, and Alabama dropped out).  Out of those five ranked schools, Florida got embarrassed by unranked Michigan and Virginia Tech got stomped by Kansas.

The SEC fan’s love affair with claiming they play so many ranked teams is a direct result of the SEC’s high preseason rankings.

Now that it's a clear fact that the SEC is overrated by the media from the beginning of the season, let’s take a look at some of the other preposterous statements made by Brian in his article.

On to Part Five.