Why is one team ranked higher than another?

[toonman]

As the end of the district games approaches and the play-offs are in sight, how do we know which teams have what it takes to go all the way. This forum generates considerable discussions regarding ‘this team’ and ‘that team’. Many fans, of course, are loyal to their team and of course believe their team will go all the way.

It seems that just because a team goes unbeaten in district, this is not necessarily an indicator of future play-off success – perhaps because of a weak district. Then again because a team has lost one or two games this should not necessarily rule them out of going all the way. ET for example if they lose to Irving Mac, will have 2 losses, but will still be considered a team capable of going to the State Championship game.

Many of the unbeaten teams rest starters in the second half – so margin of victory is not always an accurate indicator. Why is Longview considered #3 in the AP Poll – is Vondrell Magee the reason?, tough district?, unbeaten? Or is it the perception that Longview has a well balanced offense and defense, by sports writers who are more knowledgeable than the average fan. Or is Lufkin’s #3 ranking because they are perceived to have the best defense in 5A. Or Spring Westfield #2 because they are also defending state champions and are undefeated.

What actually separates the teams in the ranking; is it total yards or completion percentage, perhaps lack of turnovers, scoring efficiency on possessions, ability to shut down the opponents.

There are many polls, both nationally and in Texas. So what makes one school seem a certainty for a deep run in the play-offs and other teams given no chance. So why is SLC or Longview or Lufkin is deemed more likely to win state than Berkner or Hays Consolidated or FB Marshall – all of who are unbeaten. Why are teams in a tough? divisions, where loses have occurred not considered to be contenders; such as Midland or Tyler John Tyler or San Marcos

What do the contributors to the AP Polls know that we do not. Why should SLC be ranked #1 – is it because SLC are the current champs and are unbeaten – but is SLC any better than Cove who are ranked #7 - if so why, or the other Carroll – Corpus Christie Carroll who are unbeaten and who are not been ranked in the AP Top 10 or in this website’s Top 25.

There must be some tangible measurement that makes SLC #1 in both the AP and 5ATX polls, Longview ranked #3 and 5 in these polls, while Corpus Christie Carroll is not even ranked in either poll. The AP Poll Writers must have some knowledge of these teams and see something that makes one unbeaten team better than another. Or is it pure guesswork and the fans that post the most get the highest rankings. (this last statement is joke). Any comments.

[Jtate862003]

All i can say is i go with 5atexasfootball.com rankings b4 i go by the ap poll rankings...these guys here on this site have it goin on

[KT2000]

The deal with the AP poll is that various writers around the state are polled on their top 10 (not sure how many vote) and they have a point system that generates the rankings once they get the votes in.

On this site, champ and I talk about every team in a given week's rankings after all of the games are played on Sunday and evaluate the various performances. From there, we start to determine who should move up/move down. We don't use any formulas (I stink at math) or anything like that.

We like to use logic based on the information we've gathered this year and previous years and piece the rankings together from there. We rank who we think the best 25 teams are regardless of city, region, district, etc. If we felt like the best 25 teams were in Dallas then we'd have a top 25 of just Dallas teams and not think twice about it.

Our rankings represent the collective opinion of champ and myself. Personally, I don't value that above any of yalls opinion. The only difference is that we have a way to publish it on the web.

Obviously, we follow HS football pretty closely so we consider ourselves pretty well educated on all parts of the state. We've developed many good contacts around the state who can tell us about their own team, or other teams they've seen. So, we feel very confident about what we come up with.

It's fun to reason through it every Sunday. Sometimes we throw down over a disagreement (he wants Longview top five, I want United South), but like the other brother 84chill says..."life's tough, get a helmet." :D

[ruffshod]

Rankings are what they are; opinions, and not always indicative what actually happens on the field. However, they can be a good indicator of how good a team is at that particular time. But alot of times rankings are somewhat based on what has done in the past as wel as the present. See Notre Dame. But we the fans have alot of fun with them as you can see.

[BigArab]

Any real pollster knows that Longview has more than McGee. They've got a good turnover ratio going on. Something like +15. I think it mainly comes from multi-threat offense and overall team speed and agressiveness, though.

[zippy]

For one part, why a 8-0 team is lower than others (even team that have been beat) If you look last year, 12-0 San Benito came into the Alamodome and faced a 10-2 SV team. San Benito was ranked below SV at the time, and for good reason, SV beat them 51-0. It could have been 72-0. Area has a ton to do with the good rankings. In some parts of the state, teams will lose, 1, maybe 2 games, but still have a very good chance to win state. These L's are against very good teams. Some of the Vally teams come into the playoffs 12-0, and lose to a 7-4 team by a lot. Strengh of schedule has to be used.


As the end of the district games approaches and the play-offs are in sight, how do we know which teams have what it takes to go all the way. This forum generates considerable discussions regarding ‘this team’ and ‘that team’. Many fans, of course, are loyal to their team and of course believe their team will go all the way.

It seems that just because a team goes unbeaten in district, this is not necessarily an indicator of future play-off success – perhaps because of a weak district. Then again because a team has lost one or two games this should not necessarily rule them out of going all the way. ET for example if they lose to Irving Mac, will have 2 losses, but will still be considered a team capable of going to the State Championship game.

Many of the unbeaten teams rest starters in the second half – so margin of victory is not always an accurate indicator. Why is Longview considered #3 in the AP Poll – is Vondrell Magee the reason?, tough district?, unbeaten? Or is it the perception that Longview has a well balanced offense and defense, by sports writers who are more knowledgeable than the average fan. Or is Lufkin’s #3 ranking because they are perceived to have the best defense in 5A. Or Spring Westfield #2 because they are also defending state champions and are undefeated.

What actually separates the teams in the ranking; is it total yards or completion percentage, perhaps lack of turnovers, scoring efficiency on possessions, ability to shut down the opponents.

There are many polls, both nationally and in Texas. So what makes one school seem a certainty for a deep run in the play-offs and other teams given no chance. So why is SLC or Longview or Lufkin is deemed more likely to win state than Berkner or Hays Consolidated or FB Marshall – all of who are unbeaten. Why are teams in a tough? divisions, where loses have occurred not considered to be contenders; such as Midland or Tyler John Tyler or San Marcos

What do the contributors to the AP Polls know that we do not. Why should SLC be ranked #1 – is it because SLC are the current champs and are unbeaten – but is SLC any better than Cove who are ranked #7 - if so why, or the other Carroll – Corpus Christie Carroll who are unbeaten and who are not been ranked in the AP Top 10 or in this website’s Top 25.

There must be some tangible measurement that makes SLC #1 in both the AP and 5ATX polls, Longview ranked #3 and 5 in these polls, while Corpus Christie Carroll is not even ranked in either poll. The AP Poll Writers must have some knowledge of these teams and see something that makes one unbeaten team better than another. Or is it pure guesswork and the fans that post the most get the highest rankings. (this last statement is joke). Any comments.

[drgnbkr]

Um..one team is ranked higher than the others because...their record & history says that they are better in the minds of the voters, that they are better than the other teams.....their playoff record, when it really, really, counts....is better...thats why they rank teams higher than other teams.... :rolleyes:

[PurpleNation]

Um..one team is ranked higher than the others because...their record & history says that they are better in the minds of the voters, that they are better than the other teams.....their playoff record, when it really, really, counts....is better...thats why they rank teams higher than other teams.... :rolleyes:


Dito plus you can also look at the Quality athletes. Would you want a 6'3 215lbs Greg McElroy leading the way who has proven that he can be a successful player. Or that 5'8 185 QB from lets say San Benito(Just an example) who is not a bad football player but you know that there is not much potential. Knowing the Quality players are a big deal I would say.

[toonman]

Thank you fellow posters. I like KT 2000's overview of how this website does the rankings. But like the Dow Jones - Is history and records of the past; an indicator of future performance? I do not know, but today it does seem to count if you look at SLC and Spring Westfield. I appreciate the feedback.

[BAMF cowboy]

As far as rankings go, I'd say a reputation takes you a long way. This doesn't apply as much to playoffs as it does for say preseason rankings, but your team 'prestige' is a big factor. For example, this year Tyler were in the state top 10, coming off a state championship season, expected to make another run. I don't think anyone could've predicted what happened to them, but why were they in the top ten. Maybe people thought about it and legitamately thought that they were contenders? The point I'm trying to make is that no one expected a state championship team (this one at least) to make a drastic turn for the worse in one season. It happens in college football too. Weren't Michigan a top 5 team this year? Where are they now, I think they have something like 3 losses?

Excuse my rambling, this wasn't well organized, but my point is a team's reputation has a lot to do with their consistent top 10 rankings. That is the reason you'll always see SLC, Lufkin, Longview etc. because everyone knows the name...everyone always know they are a very competative and dominant program. For all we know, undeffeated Plano could beat these teams, but for now the 'powerhouses' are continued to be ranked over them simply because of their reputation.

Alright...rant over

[Humblefied]

It's really alot of what the BSC and college football is going through. Numbers can say alot, but when it comes to it there is nothing like having the human poll to decide to moves up or down. It's like the Texas vs. OSU game this past week. The comp. looks at the numbers, but humans can see that the bad side was Texas was down in first half, but good side how they were up and just destroyed OSU in the second. (I don't mean to make this a debate about college football)

[planocat05]

So i guess to sum it all up the main purpose of the polls is to weed out the pretenders after that its pretty much a toss up. Nobody can really say when it gets down to the top teams who will win can they? PLano could beat SLC if they wanted it more or SLC could just destroy them....who knows untill they play each other right? Im a firm believer that any team could be any other team on any given friday night.
but I guess polls also give people like us ammo in our forum debates too :D