FSU football: More proof preseason polls show MAJOR SEC/B1G bias

If you're a fan of FSU football or another school not in the SEC, you've experienced blatant SEC bias over the years. FSU was a victim first-hand last season, getting left out of the College Football Playoff so the SEC could have a team in, although they lost in the regular season, and FSU was unbeaten. Have you ever wondered how the SEC always has so many ranked teams? It starts in the preseason with the media and AP voters. The preseason voters place SEC teams and other B1G brands among the top 25, and most of these teams play cupcake schedules in the first few weeks of the season to pad their records so when they lose, they won't get dropped as far in the rankings. A prime example was Texas A&M, who finished 2022 going 5-7 but started the 2023 season with a No. 23 ranking. They didn't play a ranked team until their sixth game and finished 7-6 and outside the top 25. Guess who appears on a recent list showing MAJOR SEC bias?

Some "brands" get preferential treatment, and I can understand that because FSU shared some of that in the late Bowden years, although they were not great teams. However, that was only a handful of years, and FSU still made bowl games every year. The ACC only had two teams on the list. Why Miami continues to get preferential treatment, I'll never know, considering they have only won 10 games once since 2003. However, look at the SEC/B1G with 11 of the 22 teams listed and 51.1 percent of the total times this happened. This is why I have been an advocate against preseason polls. Here's another example. Michigan didn't play a ranked opponent (Penn St.) until week 10 last season, but the media never questioned their schedule because they placed them in the top two preseason. Penn St. hadn't beaten anyone good when they played Michigan, so see how this works. It's another clear reason FSU will leave the ACC within the next two years. The blatant bias is crazy, and those teams continue to get the lion's share of TV revenue.