But how much does that ever happen, or have an impact on the national title game? Sure, early season polls will be affected to some degree. But the previous years bowl game rarely make an impact on this, let alone that this would actually impact the title game. So, while some bowl performance affect the next years polls (if a lot of players are coming back), there are many more important factors that go into preseason polls.

It might actually mean something for Oregon this year in terms of polls, but they lose a ton on defense and offensive line, so most team evaluation will start all over again. On top of this, Oregon will most likely be between 15 and 25 next year. In terms of the national title chase, this won’t really make much of a difference. If USC loses, they’ll still probably be top 5. If they win, they’ll be top 5.

On top of this, because of the nature of bowl games, bad performances can be easily dismissed, while good performances can as well, with the loss of important players.

I also think that the UW example isn’t very good. They didn’t play in a bowl game this year, so while the preseason poll might come into play, their bowl performance obviously wouldn’t. On top of this, moving from the worst team in D1 to top 10 is bound to draw skepticism.

The only main example I can see of polls being significantly affected by bowl performances is the annual OSU crapping the bed in bowl games. But this was only significant because of the two performances in the national title game.

If Penn State and Florida’s positioning are reversed to start the year, I would claim that Penn State would be going to the national championship game based on the polling.

I totally disagree with this. Penn State had a lousy schedule compared to all other one-loss teams. There are a million reasons that Penn State is where it is. Preseason polls are waaaaay down the list.

On top of this, this is a very lousy hypothetical. Instead, lets look at a great example from last year. Which team has probably the most built in advantages over most others? USC. Yet, they started above Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and Alabama, who all ended up with one-loss as well. USC ended up 5th. Alabama started barely ranked and was at #1 most of the season. So, I really think that preseason polls aren’t given that much importance. They obviously did not this year. On top of this, Florida lost to Michigan in the bowl game last year! So apparently bowl games can be dismissed very quickly for voters.

Furthermore, I think it’s incredibly simplistic to say that if this this was higher, they’d be higher now. Teams DO have hurdles to climb. Teams that are perceived as not as talented will have to have a better schedule, and do more on the field. Preseason polls reflect this perceived talent, as do postseason polls. I would say that the polls have absolutely nothing to do with it. Both polls reflect similar feelings in the voters.

From this year, it’s clear that many voters threw out their initial feelings, or else USC would be playing for a national title. Penn State had no claim because they didn’t have any true quality wins, and had the worst schedule of any of the big one-loss teams. USC dropped because of the weakness of the Pac-10 this year. Pollsters are obviously taking schedule and other factors into account.

This is what you should have said, “ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL, If Penn State and Florida’s positioning are reversed to start the year, I would claim that Penn State would be going to the national championship game based on the polling.” Unfortunately, nothing was equal, and rarely is. The better team, in both talent, and in on-field accomplishments, was ranked higher in the end.