With the Preseason AP Poll out yesterday, college football is here.  Yay!

With so many teams in Division 1, a preview is very hard.  So, to get ready for the season, we’re gonna do big picture columns.  Previews of conferences, contenders, and storylines heading into the season.  Since there’s a little more than a week till kickoff night, we better get started!

Since we only have four teams in the playoff, that’s who we should care about, right?  I mean, if only four teams get a shot at the National Championship when the time comes, then we should spend the season figuring out who, right?

It’s pretty unfair to the other teams, who know they’re heading for a non-New Years Six bowl game.  Yeah, there’s 34 others bowls (35 if you subtract the National Championship), but the general public doesn’t care.  They care about their team, and the 12 teams who’re playing in the New Years’ Six, because they were good enough to be recognized by the committee.

This discussion can have two paths, and there’s two paths I’ve already made in this column: 1): There’s too many bowls.  2): We need more teams in the playoff.

Those kinda contradict each other.  If we put more teams in the playoff, you re-work the New Years Six, and eliminate say, 2-4 extra bowls games that are invitation only.  That might be the perfect resolution, but remember, there’s a business side to everything.  The NCAA, playoff committee, and ESPN (who has television rights) keep saying they’re sticking with four teams.  ESPN’s already paying a ton of money for the rights, and adding more would ramp up the cost.  Adding two extra playoff games would be a huge money maker for the NCAA, as if they don’t need more.

That’s why I’m so confused about the opposition to an eight team playoff.  It took us one year to realize that eight was needed.  If we go through this again, the NCAA is basically gonna turn into a combination of the NFL and a 14 year girl on Twitter when it comes to running away from their problems.

So what can the disrespected teams do during the season?  Let’s run through some ideas:

Pull of an upset

Getting your team known by the casual college football fan by pulling an upset is the most exciting thing you can do as a team.  How many people knew Appalachian State existed when the upset Michigan in 2007?  I didn’t, then again, I was 7 years old, and thought Arizona and Arizona State were the only two teams that existed in Division 1.

Score an insane amount of points

High scores are more common in college football due to the pace of the game.  Offenses in the NFL are much more systematic and slower, while college teams can play at incredible speeds with funkier formations and schemes.  No one’s gonna score points at this rate, but scoring more than 60 points gets eyes to draw… And can even inspire troll jobs!

Have a player complete an incredible feat

These are just some ideas, but unfortunately, if more teams don’t have a chance to compete for the Playoff, then they won’t get noticed.  Some people just don’t care enough.

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On the AP Poll, which was released yesterday….

The full poll can be found here, and nothing really shocked me yesterday.  Here’s some Quick Hits though:

• Ohio State was ranked No.1, and is the only team to unanimously be ranked No.1 in the Preseason Poll
• Amazing that a team that didn’t make the playoff last season is No.2
• That should tell you something, NCAA
• Auburn and Oregon 6&7 makes sense.  You could flip it and it’d be fine.  Those are two teams that are gonna be entertaining, but may go the opposite direction of their likings.
• LSU at No.14 is a tad high.
• Georgia Tech, I think, got disrespected.  They should be higher.
• Tennessee over Minnesota at No.25?  It’s hard to judge the final spot on the Poll, but I wasn’t sure Tennessee deserved it.

More College Football Preview to come…