But there aren’t any brackets!

Something to ponder about the ’07 AP preseason poll, per the AJ-C‘s Tony Barnhart:

There is a mini-playoff: Except for Southern Cal, every team in the Top 10 has to play another Top 10 team in the regular season. No. 2 LSU plays two (No. 9 Virginia Tech, No. 6 Florida). No. 3 West Virginia plays No. 10 Louisville. No. 4 Texas plays No. 8 Oklahoma. No. 5 Michigan plays No. 7 Wisconsin. Southern Cal plays No. 12 California, No. 14 UCLA and No. 20 Nebraska.

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You can’t have what I’ve got.

This didn’t get much attention last week:

The NCAA has effectively sealed off D-I to new members – and halted any movement between its subdivisions – for a four-year period, according to an announcement made last week. The decision, which became effective immediately, was approved by the Division I Board of Directors, the highest governance body in Division I comprised of 18 campus presidents and chancellors representing the division’s athletic conferences.

Why, you may ask?  Methinks that the powers-that-be are getting a little uncomfortable with the number of schools wanting a piece of the March Madness pie.

According to a September 2006 report released by the NCAA, 99 institutions have joined D-I since 1976, 44 since 1990 and six since 2000. There are currently 331 D-I schools, and the new rule won’t affect the 23 schools currently in the process of joining the D-I ranks.

And if football goes down a similar path to basketball?  Well, don’t expect easy sailing, even when the moratorium expires.

         …Georgia’s Adams said there’s no way to know right now if D-I membership requirements will change when the four-period ends in August 2011, but DiGiorgio said there’s a possibility they could.

            “We don’t have goals already determined that we want to get to over the four years,” DiGiorgio said. “I think what we want to do is make sure that Division I remains solid, that if there continues to be a migration process that it’s thoughtful and takes the institution’s best interest into account as well as the interest of conferences and the NCAA. That’s a very complex set of relationships.”

            Aside from potential changes in membership requirements, is it possible to foresee what will happen to the D-I landscape at the end of the four-year period?

            No, said Adams.

Envy and jealousy: ESPN and “when narratives collide”

Brian Cook has administered the perfect dose of sarcasm with this post about Ray Ray McElrathbey’s ACL injury.

My favorite part:

… due to familial hijinks, McElrathbey is the guardian of his little brother Farmar, something which was important enough to draw ESPN’s Shelley Smithy away from her permanent job shadowing Pete Carroll…

Talk about your conflict of interest.  Well done, Brian.

Steeleoid, 8/19 edition

Florida vs. LSU:  Last year was the first time both schools were ranked in the Top 10 when facing each other.  The Tigers have won 2 of the last three but has just 4 wins the last 19 games.

4-15!  I’m surprised LSU fans aren’t yelling to move the game out of Jacksonville.

Preseason polls, redux

Per Mark Schlabach at ESPN.com:

More than ever before, a school’s position in the preseason rankings has a bearing on its chances of playing for the national championship at the end of the season. So even the preseason polls, which come out weeks before a game is even played, figure heavily in determining which teams will be ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in early December.

Evidence A: Since 1991, college football’s national championship has come from outside the top 10 of the preseason Associated Press top 25 poll only three times — Oklahoma started 19th in 2000, Ohio State was 13th in 2002 and LSU was 14th in 2003.

Evidence B: During the last 20 seasons, 13 teams have lost a game and still managed to finish the regular season ranked in the top two in the BCS standings or either poll of record. But only one of those teams — LSU in 2003 — was ranked lower than eighth in the preseason poll.

So if your favorite team is beginnig (sic) the 2007 season outside the top 10 in the AP or ESPN/USA Today coaches’ polls, you’d better hope for an undefeated season. Otherwise, your team has a very small chance of winning the national championship.

I’m not sure why this is so hard to understand. And, unless you go to a system that only permits conference champs to be eligible, it would affect a “plus-one” format as much as it does the BCS.