Let's take a poll: Who wants to get rid of preseason college football polls?

The preseason college football coaches' poll is an example of cockeyed, tradition-trumping fairness.

The preseason rankings skew everything in a sport that selects its national-championship contenders, in large part, with guesswork disguised as a popular vote.

Because the USA Today poll released Friday has Florida at No. 1, followed by Texas and Oklahoma, these teams already have a leg up on the competition.

Virginia Tech finds itself in a cozy spot, too, ranked at No. 7, between Ohio State and Penn State.

I'll leave it to people smarter than I am to explain how it is that Tech starts its season a rung below Ohio State and a notch higher than Penn State.

What do the voters/coaches think they know - what do they think they see - when they make a close call like this? Or is somebody out there just throwing darts?

The polls should be harmless fun. But the pre conceived notion of which teams belong in the top 10 has a major impact on how the BCS rankings shake out.

In the past five years, only teams that started the season inside the coaches' top 10 made it to the BCS title game.

Before a game has been played, a pecking order for 2009 already has been established. For the chosen ones, it can translate into a lot of money and prestige.

Not to go all Orrin Hatch, but does this strike anybody as equitable?

Simply put, preseason polls warp perspective. Everything that follows the coaches' poll - all the off-the-cuff media analysis that passes for deep thinking - is filtered through the perceptions created by the premature rankings.

The coaches' poll is combined with the Harris Interactive Poll and computer ratings to determine the best prospects for the BCS title game, but by and large, the formula is a smokescreen.

Computer ratings? They're just soft ware-produced hocus-pocus, aren't they?

The data fed into computers is compiled by humans who in some cases may be just as likely to genuflect at the altar of preseason polls as the average tailgater.

In the USA Today poll, Florida is the overwhelming favorite, receiving 53 of 59 first-place votes cast by coaches... or by assistant athletics directors or by members of the sports information department.

Coaches have ceded their duties this way before - they've admitted as much - so take that into account when considering the efficacy of this major component of the BCS rankings.

It's also likely that at least some of the coaches' votes are compromised because of regional biases, personal agendas or unfamiliarity with teams outside their conferences. Coaches are human, after all. They've got a lot on their minds.

And yet their votes play a pivotal role in determining who gets to compete for the national championship. It's hard to imagine a more ham-handed way of doing things.

Rankings are great conversation starters, but after that, their value is dubious. Polls influence every college sport. But only big-time college football gives them so much weight.

At the very least, the people in charge of these things could try to hold off on the first poll until a few games have been played - say until the end of September. Then, maybe, the beauty contest would at least take on the appearance of fairness.

Imagine a Kentucky Derby in which the betting favorites started the race with a furlong lead. That's what college football is like.

With the release of the coaches' poll, a select few teams are already out in front before most of the field has left the gate.

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com