Heisman Hype and Pre-Season Rankings: Is There Anything More Pointless?

So I was on ESPN today and I was looking at their rankings of the Heisman hopefuls for this season after week three, and lo and behold, Tim Tebow is still on the top of their list.

Now I have nothing against Tim Tebow, and he deserved the Heisman over everyone who played college football last season. But does that still give him a free pass to be at the top of the list for ESPN?

He's only played two games, while most of the other candidates have played three, but his numbers still aren't as impressive as the others on the list, particularly Sam Bradford and Chase Daniel.

Tebow has 393 yards and three touchdowns with a 61 percent completion rating, while rushing for 92 yards and zero touchdowns thus far. 

Chase Daniel has run for half as many yards as Tebow, but he has over twice as many passing yards and three times as many touchdowns.

Also, his passing percentage is over 10 points higher. His numbers are 973 yards for 10 touchdowns and a passing completion rate of 72.2% with 58 yards on the ground.

Sam Bradford has passed for almost 100 yards less than Daniels but has thrown two more touchdowns. His numbers are 882 yards and 12 touchdowns with a 79 percent completion rate.

Even being the defending Heisman winner, Tebow has not shown he is anywhere close to being a Heisman candidate yet.

That doesn't mean he can't still put on a clinic with the remaining games and regain his crown, but I feel like a lot of people would like to jump to the conclusion that he will have no trouble retaining it.

The same can be said of the pre-season rankings. Every year, they are meaningless once the first ball is snapped.

Look at Georgia, who started in the first spot, they have already slipped to third despite winning their first three games along with USC and Oklahoma. 

The polls are based on performance on the field, and therefore the existence of a pre-season poll is completely idiosyncratic, and the same could be said of the Heisman hopefuls.

Frankly, these things come from the average fan's voracious appetite for lists as a way to compare and posture themselves with other fans in the great pissing contest that is watching college football. 

And shamefully, I eat it up too...