Poll Watch: How Will The AP Top 25 Differ From the Coaches Poll?
By J.P. Scott
The first Amway Coaches Poll of the 2018 college football season was released this past week. How different will the AP Top 25 look later in the month?
Like pretty much every college football writer around the country, I spend the better part of a half hour hitting refresh on my computer Thursday afternoon, waiting for USA Today to publish the first Amway Coaches Poll of the season.
It was late, but there were very few big surprises.
One of those few surprises was how high the coaches had Notre Dame at No. 11. Given what we know the team lost from a personnel standpoint, combined with all that we’ve read since the end of last season, I thought the Irish would be lower.
Apparently the coaches aren’t buying into a sharp drop-off for Notre Dame in 2018.
I also found it interesting that the coaches had Michigan lower than Notre Dame. Between the Shea Patterson hype and returning the bulk of what many national writers and pundits have called one of the nation’s best defenses, I was expecting to see the Wolverines higher than the Irish — possibly in the top ten.
It also makes you look at the line for the Michigan-Notre Dame game and rethink what the wise guys in Vegas have been saying. Even though the game is at Notre Dame, the Wolverines are favored across the board.
Something tells me that when the first AP Top 25 rankings come out on August 21st, Michigan and Notre Dame will be flip-flopped. The media treats both programs different than the coaches do. They have more bias, and their loyalty often is to a region or conference. The coaches, on the other hand, are loyal to their programs and their friends.
In addition to the Wolverines being ranked ahead of Notre Dame in the AP Top 25, don’t be surprised to see other 2018 Irish foes like Stanford and Southern Cal ahead of the Irish.
Next. Irish Jump In ESPN Power Poll. dark
At the end of the day, you want to think what happens on the field is all that matters. We have seen, however, that where you start in the preseason polls can drive the narrative, set the tone and contribute greatly to where you finish the season — regardless of what actually happens on the field.