Q: Can you explain to me why ESPN is involved in polling when it comes to ranking college football teams? I think polls are ridiculous. They never reflect the way the teams are playing in the current season. It's mostly a ranking of the same 20 or so big-time schools that everybody agrees have good football programs.
Richard Hurtz -- Holden, MA

Dan Patrick: Well, I wouldn't pick just on our poll. All polls bother me. But they are a form of hype that probably won't go away any time soon. Polls are a way of separating all of the games each week, a way of saying, "You might want to check this game out."

Now the hard-core college football fan does not need to be told that Tennessee-Florida will probably be a good game, but the casual sports fan might say, "This game is between the fourth-ranked team and the ninth-ranked team. This may be good." So he tunes in or at least seeks out the result and maybe a fan is born. There -- I found something nice to say about polls. But don't look for any more.

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I don't think there should be a preseason poll. How can you rank teams that haven't played a down? But if there has to be one, just start with the last poll from the previous season and take it from there. ”

I don't think there should be a preseason poll. How can you rank teams that haven't played a down? This year there are many examples of teams that were improperly ranked. Penn State and Alabama were clearly overrated and Notre Dame and UCLA were woefully undervalued.

"The experts" had Alabama ranked third this year and, no offense to the Tide, but that team had no business being ranked that high. And UCLA proved it but quick.

Yet because of the preseason rankings, the poll after that game slid 'Bama down and moved UCLA up -- but 'Bama was still ranked ahead of UCLA, to whom it had just lost! Ridiculous. But if there has to be a preseason poll, for the all-important hype, just start with the last poll from the previous season and take it from there.

Another problem with preseason polls is that if you start high, all you have to do is play respectably and you will be rewarded, especially if you are in a conference that is historically respected by the pollsters. We almost predetermine our bowls with these early rankings. The teams that start out high usually end up high, unless they just implode.

Right now, the BCS determines our national champion in a rather inexact way, that messy conglomeration of polls. I say if we are not going to have a true national championship game that is determined by a playoff, at least fix the way we select those two final teams.

The first poll should be at midseason and would reflect games played rather than the opinions of "the experts." This way would not be perfect, but at least the value of your in-season performance would increase.