Are Preseason Rankings Too Reflective Of The Previous Year?

     We see it happen every year.  Teams that have successful seasons seem to automatically be highly ranked the next year. Take a gander at this year's preseason top 5 from the USA Today Poll: 1. Florida, 2. Texas, 3. Oklahoma, 4. USC, 5. Alabama.

       Thus far in the season, Florida is looking like someone will knock them off soon, Texas has played poorly at times despite not facing serious competition, Oklahoma lost to BYU, USC lost to Washington, but Alabama, however, has been playing like a championship team.

     However, the interesting thing is that last year's final top 5 looked like this: 1. Florida, 2. Utah, 3. USC, 4. Texas, 5. Oklahoma with Alabama sitting at no. 6.

     The pollsters should realize that things change from season to season, and whoever wins the national title or is playing the best at the end of a season doesn't mean they'll do the same during the next season.

     Now I know Tebow and the entire defense is coming back for the Florida Gators, but if one looks beneath the surface, he'll see that they lost the most explosive player in college football, Percy Harvin, and another very good, underrated WR in Louis Murphy.  These guys were Tebow's top targets and are irreplaceable.

    Conferences can also toughen and weaken from year to year.  Does anyone remember who was ranked no. 1 last year? It was Georgia.  Georgia was crushed in losses to Alabama and Florida, two teams that "experts" were saying Georgia would effortlessly put away in the preseason.   

     Hopefully, when next year's polls come out, no-one will thoughtlessly vote for a team because of a level of success this year.  Instead, they should take a close hard look at each team and think outside the box.