Preseason Polling: Voters got it wrong when it comes to Arkansas

Preseason polling is tricky and often unreliable. Good teams are inevitably left out while some teams that end up proving undeserving are included. In my opinion, Arkansas (along with a couple of other SEC teams) falls into the “left out” category in 2023.

Hogs left out?

Arkansas isn’t ranked in either of the major polls (USA Today Coaches and Associated Press). Meanwhile, Tulane is ranked in both polls. I’m no rocket scientist, but something’s got to give here. Arkansas, Mississippi State, and South Carolina would each be favored by at least two or three touchdowns if they were to open the season against Tulane. Something just isn’t right.

Georgia, Alabama, and LSU are in the top 10 of both polls, which is unsurprising. Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M are ranked in both polls, which (again) does not shock me in the slightest.

Texas and Oklahoma are also ranked in both polls. Other notables include USC, Florida State, and Notre Dame. What do these five programs have in common? Storied history. That’s the catch with preseason polling: teams with rich history receive the benefit of the doubt from the coaches and media alike. Am I saying these teams don’t deserve to be ranked? Not necessarily, but they surely don’t deserve to be ranked where they are based largely on a name (which is often the case in the preseason for some of these teams).

Being frank, I believe it is plain silly to neglect ranking the Hogs right now, but it doesn’t matter much. Like I said, preseason polling is tricky and unreliable. After a few weeks the polls will be a more accurate representation of who the best teams are in college football. It might be a wise idea to refrain from officially ranking teams until a couple of games have been played. That being said, below I’ll present my version of the top 25 teams in college football heading into the season. This is not based on history or names. It’s based on how these teams have improved (or regressed) over the course of the offseason when compared with one another.

The Ranking

1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. Alabama
4. LSU
5. Tennessee
6. Clemson
7. Michigan
8. Oregon
9. TCU
10. Penn State
11. South Carolina
12. Washington
13. Arkansas
14. Notre Dame
15. Texas A&M
16. Florida State
17. USC
18. Kansas State
19. Ole Miss
20. Texas
21. N.C. State
22. Illinois
23. Kentucky
24. Mississippi State
25. Texas Tech

The season starts soon, and it’s going to be fun watching teams ahead of the Hogs (and other SEC squads) trend downward during the first few weeks. Preseason polling doesn’t matter, but rest assured that this season is going to be a great one to watch all around the world of college football.