I'm baffled. Help me understand how LSU was ranked higher than UT going into the season?

[Special Ed]

Media pundits are clueless.

And biased.

 

[perico]

Our returning QB stomped Clemson in the Orange Bowl, Hooker was injured. We had no Hyatt or Hooker and have returned the majority of the team plus did fairy well in the portal. Milton put on a show in prime time, not Hooker.

That was one game. Fair or not, Daniels has years of starting experience at both LSU and Arizona State. That's not to say he is a better QB than Milton, but he looked really good in one game. Ricky Clausen looked really good in the Cotton Bowl in 2004... then 2005 happened. Milton is no R. Clausen, but he still had to come into the season and prove it wasn't a fluke or one off.

More importantly to the ranking is our defense coming into the year. Vol fans knew we would be a lot better, but they had to prove it to the voters.

 

[vegasvolfan]

Truly, this is a head scratcher. The Noles played a solid 4 quarter game last night and ran away w the prize in the second half - leaving Coach Kelly in a pretty fowl mood about their performance. We embarrassed the Tigers in Baton Rouge and had a better record in 2022. We beat Clemson handily in the Orange Bowl and LSU beat Purdue in the Cheez It Citrus Bowl - who btw, lost Saturday to Fresno State at HOME on Saturday. How/why did LSU earn/deserve the #5 spot?

I do not have the answer but, have provided a few options as to why the poll voters thought so much more highly of LSU vs UT. If you think it is something other than those options, than please chime in because this one just has me baffled.

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And w a long way to go this season, who knows of these poll prognosticators could be 100% accurate? This is a now question, not a later question. Happy Labor Day Vol Fans!!

I think it had to do with their returning QB and how big of a jump they made during Brian Kelly’s debut season. If we take care of business, it won’t concern us though.

 

[njvols]

Personally I think the narrative surrounding Milton hurts us in the rankings more than anything. Everyone knows he has a cannon, but there are a lot of doubters out there. Listen to how Jessie Palmer called the game, for example. Maybe I’m reading too much into it but it sounded to me like he expects Milton to struggle. It’s gotten to a point where every time he makes a throw that isn’t on target, people talk about his accuracy being a problem. That takes a toll on an individual’s opinion over time.

I like Milton's poise...and I like, at least early, being under the radar, except for legendary status on his arm. Plenty of time to air it out and Milton's going to be upper level SEC QB. If he stays consistent on short passes, and we hit some long gash plays w/ Milton's arm, NFL will have hard time letting him go past top 10 in draft w/ his talent.

 

[dalton_vol]

Truly, this is a head scratcher. The Noles played a solid 4 quarter game last night and ran away w the prize in the second half - leaving Coach Kelly in a pretty fowl mood about their performance. We embarrassed the Tigers in Baton Rouge and had a better record in 2022. We beat Clemson handily in the Orange Bowl and LSU beat Purdue in the Cheez It Citrus Bowl - who btw, lost Saturday to Fresno State at HOME on Saturday. How/why did LSU earn/deserve the #5 spot?

I do not have the answer but, have provided a few options as to why the poll voters thought so much more highly of LSU vs UT. If you think it is something other than those options, than please chime in because this one just has me baffled.

View attachment 575869
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And w a long way to go this season, who knows of these poll prognosticators could be 100% accurate? This is a now question, not a later question. Happy Labor Day Vol Fans!!

the media, espn hypes up certain teams and that influences voters. i guess they thought that lsu made it the sec championship and beat bama. not sure we're even concerning w/ preseason polls.

one would think after all these of following these polls, we would understand that they don't matter. why should we be hoping for some respect from the the media for the pre-season

 

[0nelilreb]

You left off ..most voters don’t even bother keeping up with anything they don’t know . They see Brian Kelly , associate him with touchdown Jesus , read some article about him being paid a bazillion $$$ and decide he had to be the one so natural LSU is one step under Georgia now .

 

[lifeisdeep]

Media pundits are clueless.

They would have to study for months just to work their way up to clueless.

 

[tbh]

I selected the Daniels/Milton explanation, as well as "Other" (which is the voters just love them some corndogs).

 

[EZE]

Who cares? It doesn’t matter where you start. Win your games and it will all take care of itself.

And frankly, it doesn’t hurt to start a little under the radar…like last season.

 

[MiramarVol]

Other: The media likes their coach and brand more for whatever reason.

We got the same lack of respect from the media when we beat FSU in the Championship game. No one had us winning. Then it was said we won because Weinke was out.

 

[allenrikvik]

Preseason polls are useful, but only in tiers or groupings. Easy way to rate: Use last years' final power rating, adjust for returning starters and seniors, then adjust for recruiting ratings. Tennessee comes out in the 8-15, depending on your data sets. If you want to see how 'off' polls can be, watch for two 25 teams to play and the lower ranked team is favored by several points. This is usually at Pac 12 or Big 10 team. I

 

[Delmar]

Hard for me to believe that anyone still thinks like this. Those 15 years are history, becoming more ancient by the week.

As soon as the administration was turned over and a real pro was hired as AD, and Heupel delivered a season like 2022 with the recruiting to back it up, those 15 years ceased to exist except as a bad memory and cautionary tale to those in charge.

Your last few words are the reason why our walk in the wilderness should be remembered by everyone. Old cliche for those too young to remember it. “You who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Or something like that. I recall every part of those 15 years and I don’t ever want to see a repeat. Best to remember why and how the mistakes were made by our administration.

 

[Tman44]

I voted other and this is why. There are complete idiots voting in the AP Poll. For instance, the moron Brett McMurphy and others voted Tennessee at 15. You also have A$$ Hat Kentucky homer John Clay voting the Vols at 17. Now, the hottie Jordan Crammer from NC vote us at 7. Reece Davis has us at 8. Idiots from all over the country have us rated very poorly. Click on the link and look for yourselves, I recommend you do. When it comes down to it none of this matters because the Vols will do the talking on the field, and what I have seen so far looks good!

Football Grid View :: College Poll Tracker :: Breaking down college polls every week of the season.

collegepolltracker.com

 

[sami]

Your last few words are the reason why our walk in the wilderness should be remembered by everyone. Old cliche for those too young to remember it. “You who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Or something like that. I recall every part of those 15 years and I don’t ever want to see a repeat. Best to remember why and how the mistakes were made by our administration.

Ha, we're living in the age of leaders who don't learn from history, or even acknowledge it.

I totally agree with what you say, but dwelling on it now, when the proper changes have finally been made and the future is bright just makes no sense to me. Those days are over and done, but we now know the warning signs and hopefully they aren't allowed to ever surface here again.

 

[joevol33]

Wait till LSU comes in still ranked ahead of us after that embarrassing showing. Rankings won't reflect a teams true strength until mid season.

I won't be shocked a bit if that happens

 

[CMcEver]

The same reason Clemson is above UT after getting dominated. Ever seen 2 teams with the same record, but the other team who lost in a H2H is ranked above them? me neither, but there was bama last year.

 

[mudhen]

Other: UT has a gimmick offense that all the other coaches have figured out and will stop.

Do tell....

 

[LWSVOL]

Its just opinions.

AP is made up of sports media who give rankings based on their opinions.

USA poll is for coaches and is made by whomever on staff the head coaches assign to make the picks. Could be a student.

but mainly, just someone's opinion. they might or might not do research

 

[Vol4gzus]

We haven’t been good long enough to get the benefit of the doubt. I’m still in this camp. Cautious optimism. It’s difficult to dismiss 15 years of terrible football with 2 successful seasons.

You are doing the title of a good song by Jethro Tull. "Living in The Past". Or maybe Sam n Dave. "Hold I'm Coming". Some continually look in rear view mirror and never see the end of the tunnel ahead. We have a good coach and staff. The level of talent has improved significantly. Yet some hang onto the 'chicken little' mentality. Debbie n Donnie Downer are they're neighbors and they support each other's negative views. They refuse to sing with Annie bout the sun coming up tomorrow. Glad for positive and realistic influences in my life that don't let me get mired down in the mud of negativity and unhappiness.

 

[volanatic]

Truly, this is a head scratcher. The Noles played a solid 4 quarter game last night and ran away w the prize in the second half - leaving Coach Kelly in a pretty fowl mood about their performance. We embarrassed the Tigers in Baton Rouge and had a better record in 2022. We beat Clemson handily in the Orange Bowl and LSU beat Purdue in the Cheez It Citrus Bowl - who btw, lost Saturday to Fresno State at HOME on Saturday. How/why did LSU earn/deserve the #5 spot?

I do not have the answer but, have provided a few options as to why the poll voters thought so much more highly of LSU vs UT. If you think it is something other than those options, than please chime in because this one just has me baffled.

View attachment 575869
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And w a long way to go this season, who knows of these poll prognosticators could be 100% accurate? This is a now question, not a later question. Happy Labor Day Vol Fans!!

Honestly brother I just let the first 2-3 weeks of rankings go. Everything is a guess. LSU has the pcs to be good. They got curb stomped, and worse so yes by us last year but that doesn’t really necessarily affect what pundits think they’d do this season. They finished strong last year. Honestly I hope they put it together so they can keep Saban out of ATL again with our help obviously. Give you an example, should Colorado get credit for a Top 25 win? Well prolly not cuz TCU got a courtesy Top 25 ranking since they “played” for the NC even though they really didn’t have a fighters chance in that game. But pieces will fall into place over the first few weeks of the season so I just ignore it. Your frustration is understandable but voters will be wrong sometimes. Maybe they’re wrong about the Tigers, maybe the CrimiNoles are just better than everyone thought.

 

[fossilfiction]

Brian Kelly will be a fine 9 win per year coach for them until they fire him.

 

[MeanOrange]

Beat Bama to win the west (after we had lost) and their first game against a ranked FSU. ESPN favors the matchup.

Saban gave away the LSU game when he went for 2 twice. Kicking the extra points would have won the game. FSU was not good last year. LSwho will drop plenty this week.

 

[Other_Guy]

It's lsu and it's tenn.

 

[Vol8188]

LSU had one of the top rated portal classes and lost less players than we did.

 

[87&91ALUM]

I voted for "other". Rankings are crap....they always get these picks wrong. FSU was out for blood and LSU was lost on the playing field. I am glad these chumps keep us down in the rankings early on and hope we are not #1 going into the Bama or UGA game. They will do that...just watch. Don't think these faux gurus of prognosticating aren't making some change on the side with these rankings?