FanPost

Kentucky Football: Preseason Polls are Always Wrong

Jack Marion

In an earlier post we showed how teams have made major strides from the end of one season to the end of the next season with respect to their win/loss record - turnarounds. Unarguable results that show dramatic turnarounds are possible (see Dumb and Dumber); granted we didn't make a detailed analysis into the whys and wherefores of the turnaround. Hell, I might turn up something that would counter the argument; and we certainly can't have that.

So in my ever so relentless pursuit of spinning headlines into positives for Kentucky football, now I cast aspersions on preseason polls. Last week AP released its preseason poll and, as expected by everyone on earth, Kentucky was not mentioned. So how accurate are these preseason polls with standing at the end of the season? Especially for teams that were shunned in the preseason?

Starting with last year and working backwards I looked at the Final AP poll for each year and found teams ranked in the Top 20 that had no votes in the preseason poll. None. Zilch. I went back as far as the '07 season when Kentucky received a single vote. It's been seven years since Kentucky even got a mention in the preseason poll - depressing.

But let's look past that and see that there is hope, the path has been blazed by many. The following are the teams that have risen from preseason obscurity to achieve a Top 20 position by the end of the season and the rank they reached.

2013: Auburn (2), UCF (10)

2012: Utah State (16), Northwestern (17)

2011: Baylor (13), Kansas State 15)

2010: Nevada (11), Michigan State (14), Mississippi State (15)

2009: Wisconsin (16)

2008: TCU (7), Mississippi (14), Oklahoma State (16), Oregon State (18), Iowa (20)

2007: Kansas (7), BYU (14), Cincinnati (17), Illinois (20)

At least it happens every year and except for the anomalies like Auburn ('13), TCU ('08) and Kansas ('07) those breaking into the top twenty fell in the 15th to 20th places.

I'd take that. Go Cats!