Preseason Hype - College Football

by Chris Bibey
2006-08-04

With only a month left before the college football season gets underway, the hype is as high as it has ever been. Going into the 2006 season there are some teams that are expected to win big, some that are expected lose big, and many more that will sneak up on people. But just like always the media is making themselves look like absolute experts in this area.

The fact of the matter is that college football is very hard to predict. Sure, you can guess that USC is going to have a good season; don’t they every year? At the same time, you can probably pick out a couple of teams that will not perform up to expectations. But when it comes down to picking the eventual national champion I have no clue on why the “major media” even tries to act like they know what is going to happen. Year in and year out these so called experts make predictions that are never even close. You would think that after a while they would learn their lesson, but it does not appear that this will ever happen.

Take for example the 2005 West Virginia Mountaineers. Before the season the media talked about a weak schedule and a disappointing 2004 campaign. They were right in this aspect to a certain extent, but like usual it was blown out of proportion. The Mountaineers ended with a record of 11-1, capped off by a Sugar Bowl victory over the University of Georgia. And by the way the majority of these people also predicted that Georgia would pound the Mountaineers. I bet they felt pretty small when West Virginia jumped out to a quick 28-0 lead.

There is no sense in trying to change the system though. These experts will always act like they know everything, when in all actuality they are just like any other fan.