each team's schedule and who they played, how they did and how those teams did two or three teams downstream. The early season polls only help teams that are in there. I've seen teams start in the top 5, lose their first 2 or 3 games and be in the top 30 still and with their first win (at 1-2 or 1-3) they already end up close to the top25. So why does that matter? Bowls, bowls, bowls and recruits. So they finish 8-4 and they get hyped for only losing one or two more games against their tough conference foes and end up going to a much better bowl game than most or all G5 teams. The system is rigged 100% in favor of the Power conferences. There is no other way to explain how in the past the MWC was better in the beginning of the year (OOC games) and had a higher power rating than the P10 or the BE. a week after the first conference games begin the MWC is a distant 7th in power rankings behind the BE who was just about always #6 and was considered a Power conference (Miami was their perennial power before it went to ACC and killed the BE).