Yes.
In terms of hyping games and getting better TV spots, polls and rankings matter.
And better recruiting for long term success. And a better opportunity to be ranked higher next year when it will matter.
All "would rather be under-ranked to motivate the team" logic should have been abandoned in 2004.
Asinine that Ole Miss gets put in for beating Southeast Missouri State 31-3. A team that lost to Southeast Louisiana 45-7 last week. That and squeaking out a win against Vandy.
Yet we get not one lousy vote for last week beating the team that knocked off USC, and this week snapping the 2nd longest winning streak in the FBS in a 38-9 route. A team that won their conference championship, and their bowl game.
That's just one ridiculous team. I could keep going.
Six ranked teams are .500 right now. Bowling Green got a vote and we didn't. Northern Illinois got a vote and we didn't. The coach's poll is even worse.
I concur about ESPN pretending this game didn't exist, which is surprising considering the mountain of storylines they could have made hay with. Half our staff coaching there last year. The Dyer thing. Tuberville started his coaching career their. Cam's head coach at Blinn went to Arkansas State.
Yet, when I was stuck at a wedding in the middle of nowhere and couldn't even get reception on my cell phone to check the score, me and some guys snuck into the basement of the house down the road from the reception to try to at least catch the score. Not only could we not find the game on one of the 30+ sports channels they had there, our score never once ran across the ticker.
Fuck the world.