After a loss, almost any loss, it seems like you fall a certain number of spots regardless of where you were in the polls. So if you start ranked in the top 5, you're a lot more likely to wind up there at the end of a one-loss season. A team that starts unranked, then loses only one game, allows a lot of folks to say, "See, I knew they weren't that good; they lost that one game."
Look at Alabama. Of their five national titles under Saban, only one of them was an undefeated season. High preseason rankings and lots of benefit of the doubt have helped that happen.
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Agree x 2
Last edited: Feb 17, 2019