There comes a point when pollsters have to start acknowledging the present season for what it is, and no longer rely on preconceived notions of what teams ought to look like or what they did last season.
For that reason, we have to point out the disappointments of the year: Michigan and Michigan State fielding some remarkably suspect secondaries; Wisconsin falling even further behind the rest of the Big 10; Iowa stuck in a nepotistic hell of its own creation; Clemson’s defense not living up to its billing, practically the entire Group of 5 underperforming the mark this year; Baylor unable to reload (as we predicted).