I disagree. Look at Syracuse. Everyone is saying that Purdue’s loss to the Orange hurts us because Syracuse isn’t ranked and has been mediocre at best the past decade or so. But what if Purdue is good, but Syracuse is really good? Because they weren’t ranked to start the season, it’s going to take 6-8 weeks of them going undefeated before people realize they’re good and should be ranked. The opposite goes for teams like Notre Dame and Texas A&M. Because both were highly ranked to start the season, there’s a perception they’re better than they actually are and will continue to get votes even with a bad loss (or two). So, while current rankings “don’t matter,” they absolute do…unless you go undefeated, that is.
