‘Hey, Look At Us!’ Say AP, Coaches Polls

For whatever reason or reasons, there are those involved in college football – coaches, media analysts, fans – who insist that the traditional college football polls are irrelevant. Well then, so is, let’s say, Rutgers. That’s right. Rutgers isn’t going to be in any championship picture, and we could have named several dozen other teams.

But the polls that begin with a preseason prediction and carry through the season and are voted on by journalists and broadcast personalities (in the case of the nation’s oldest and most respected Associated Press poll) and major college football coaches or their appointed minions (the Coaches Poll, of course) are relevant in that they provide the fodder of conversation for college football fans for over three months.

And then, today, they really do become irrelevant because of the power – which is not the same as competence – of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee making its final determinations.

Insofar as relevance to Alabama fans, the CFP has the Crimson Tide the No. 1 seed and playing No. 4 seed Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 29 and has the other “bracket” the semifinal meeting of No. 2 Clemson against No. 3 Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl.

Which leaves little of interest on Dec. 2, but there is this:

For weeks, Alabama has received all but one of the coaches poll votes as the number one team in the nation. This week, though, Clemson has doubled its number of first place votes as Alabama received 62 of the 64.

The Crimson Tide of Coach Nick Saban was, however, unanimous number one in the AP poll.

Also of interest, neither the Coaches Poll or the AP Poll had to fly the voters from around the country to the Grapevine resort destination outside of Dallas to come up with the exact same first four teams as did the CFP.

All three polls had Alabama first, Clemson second, Notre Dame third, and Oklahoma fourth.

The AP and Coaches Poll were exactly the same through the first 11 spots and had 24 of the same teams with only minor deviations all the way through. The Coaches Poll had Utah State, while the AP had Missouri as the only differences in their top 25.

Here’s a look at this week’s traditional polls.

Associated Press Poll with record, points, and first place votes in parenthesis:

1. Alabama 13-0 1,525 (61)
2. Clemson 13-0 1,460
3. Notre Dame 12-0 1,405
4. Oklahoma 12-1 1,327
5. Ohio State 12-1 1,254
6. Georgia 11-2 1,247
7. Central Florida 12-0 1,158
8. Michigan 10-2 1,076
9. Washington 10-3 1,076
10. Florida 9-3 894
11. LSU 9-3 847
12. Washington State 10-2 845
13. Penn State 9-3 773
14. Texas 9-4 763
15. West Virginia 8-3 694
16. Kentucky 9-3 639
17. Syracuse 9-3 516
18. Mississippi State 8-4 375
19. Fresno State 11-2 373
20. Utah 9-4 362
21. Texas A&M 8-4 359
22. Army 9-2 209
23. Boise State 10-3 144
24. Missouri 8-4 133
25. Iowa State 8-4 110

Others receiving votes: Northwestern 109, Utah State 86, NC State 54, Cincinnati 39, Stanford 28, Appalachian State 19, UAB 4, Iowa 4, Oregon 1, Troy 1 Dropped from rankings: Northwestern 21

Coaches Poll with record, points, and first place votes in parenthesis:

1. Alabama 13-0 1,598 (62)
2. Clemson 13-0 1,538
3. Notre Dame 12-0 1,460
4. Oklahoma 12-1 1,375
5. Ohio State 12-1 1,326
6. Georgia 11-2 1,316
7. Central Florida 12-0 1,218
8. Michigan 10-2 1,122
9. Washington 10-3 1,046
10. Florida 9-3 976
11. LSU 9-3 899
12. Penn State 9-3 889
13. Washington State 10-2 856
14. Texas 9-4 776
15. Kentucky 9-3 696
16. West Virginia 8-3 683
17. Syracuse 9-3 505
18. Mississippi State 8-4 501
19. Utah 9-4 411
20. Texas A&M 8-4 388
21. Fresno State 11-2 357
22. Northwestern 8-5 159
23. Utah State 10-2 125
24. Boise State 10-3 122
25. Army 9-2 114

Others receiving votes: Iowa State 87, NC State 63, Cincinnati 62, Missouri 61, Appalachian State 32, Iowa 19, Stanford 9, Oregon 5, UAB 4, Buffalo 1, Georgia Southern 1.