They are 100% unnessecary. Don't get me wrong, I like to pick up issues of Athlon Sports and Street and Sniths and check out Ohio State and the rest of the Big Ten (I have decided to turn down my hate for Michigan to a severe dislike for the sake of the conference). But really, how many times has  the preseason #1 actually won the title?  I believe it was once, Florida State went wire-to-wire in 1993 (correct me if I am wrong). This year, the preseason looked like this:

1. USC (now 11)

2. LSU (now 1)

3. West Virginia (now 5)

4. Texas (now 12)

5. Michigan (now 23)

My point is, everyone was annointing USC as the automatic champions, without ever even seeing them step on the field. Oregon was somewhere in "others recieving votes" and dismissed in the Pac-10 behind USC, Cal, and UCLA. Some will say that this is just an example of how unpredictable college football is. I say this is why we need to wait until week 2 to release the first rankings. Not only in football, but also in basketball. Micigan State, USC, Ohio State, and Kentucky all lost to cupcakes. That f*cked up the top 25 before the preseason tournaments are over. I say wait until the tourneys are over to put the rankings out for hoops. That's all I wanted to say, just wait before annointing champs.