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Mack Brown expresses why the College Football Playoff rankings are the only poll he addresses

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater•09/22/22•

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Rich von Biberstein | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Everyone has their opinion of the AP Poll, especially at this point of the year. Even with a few weeks of results in the books, plenty of it is still based upon preseason thought. That’s why coaches like North Carolina’s Mack Brown couldn’t care less about polls or rankings until the playoff rankings come out towards the end of the season.

Brown was disinterested when discussing the Tar Heels getting votes in this week’s AP Poll. He tells his team it doesn’t matter because UNC was ranked highly to start 2021 and those in Chapel Hill still remember how that went.

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“What I’ve told the team, and I really believe this, is polls do not matter until the College Football Playoff poll comes out. All the stuff we talk about in preseason? We have no clue what we’re talking about when we’re saying ‘this team is ranked No. 6’,” said Brown. “Just like us last year. We weren’t the eighth best team in the country, but we were for a month.”

UNC warranted a ranked spot this week with a 3-0 start and a Top-10 offense in 2022. With that said, they’d still be well outside the Top-4 that really matter come season’s end. That’s all Mack Brown is interested in at this point of the year. Considering the guessing game that preseason and early season rankings can be, he’ll wait to see where his team is ranked in the poll he believes actually holds value.

“I don’t talk about or even look at polls until the College Football Playoff comes out. Not until the middle or later part of October. That’s when we have enough valid information to start picking teams. We’re just picking them now for fun,” said Brown. “Let’s make sure that there’s valid reasons that we’re picking pains before we start picking.”

North Carolina will very likely join the Top-25 if they were to knock off Notre Dame this weekend. However, that still only puts them within the best teams in the country. If they want a ranking that really matters, they’ll have to keep winning and making their case until the playoff’s first ranking comes out on November 1st.