To keep this short and sweet, it doesn't. There is no way that the national rankings in America for collegiate football make any sense. Think about it, how does it make sense to rank football teams before the season even starts? Many say that it's an example of the team from the previous season, but the point I'm trying to make is that how does it make sense to rank a team and analyze them before they even play a single game? That's the reason why Alabama and Clemson are continuously placed at the top with every year.

Think about it, if a team is placed at the top and plays generally weaker teams in their conference, then, of course, they're going to be at the top because they're going to have a relatively good season. This also affects college recruitment as well, as teams that consistently place in the national rankings will continue to have access to the best players and the cycle will continue.

It's also so subjective as well. You're going to tell me that UCF, after an undefeated season in 2017, isn't even in the running for the playoffs? Despite beating Auburn, the same Auburn team that beat Alabama, who, by the way, surprise surprise, won the National Championship that year. Even though Auburn was ranked sixth place, lower than Alabama, and beat them in 2017, it only dropped Alabama to the fourth place spot, which kept them in the playoff running and guess what? No playoffs for Auburn. See what I mean?

But other teams aren't held to the same standard. When number-two Ohio State beat number-three Michigan in 2016, it took Michigan out of the running for the national championship. Given, Ohio State was ranked higher, but they were literally one rank apart. That doesn't make sense to me. When a top team loses to a lower ranked team they drop but are kept in the playoff running, but when two teams closely ranked play each other, one of them is completely taken out of a playoff spot.

This is only my opinion. There's a lot of data that goes into the college football rankings, but from my experiences and from what I've witnessed, this is my reasoning for why the ranking system does not, in any way, makes sense.

But, I'm still excited for football season next year.