NIU picked 5th in MAC preseason poll: Here’s why coach Thomas Hammock thinks preseason polls are outdated

When the Big 12 announced it would not sponsor a preseason media poll, Northern Illinois University coach Thomas Hammock cheered the decision on social media.

At the team’s media day in Chicago last week, he said the landscape of college football has changed too much to make preseason polls a useful tool.

“You’re looking at teams and they got 50 new guys on the team or 60 new guys on the team,” Hammock said. “How do you know who’s good and who’s not good? This is not the old-school mentality of college football where guys are staying four years in the program.”

Hammock said he also didn’t push for the MAC to discontinue its preseason coaches poll. The league released it Thursday at its media day, with the Huskies slotted fifth in their final season in the conference before heading to the Mountain West.

NIU finished in a tie for sixth place with Toledo last year. The Rockets were picked first in the poll with seven first-place votes. Coaches were not allowed to vote for themselves.

Miami had four first-place votes and was second after losing to Ohio in the MAC title game last year. The Bobcats had the final three first-place votes and were ranked third.

Buffalo, which beat NIU the week after the Huskies made history with their win at Notre Dame, was ranked fourth, just ahead of NIU.

Hammock said so much changes from year to year now, thanks to the transfer portal, and NIL payments and revenue sharing have also complicated things. It all leads to a lot of things that are impossible to know.

“The DNA of the players, the toughness, the mentality, the buy-in, all that culture,” Hammock said. “There’s a lot of factors involved in building a team. So how can you predict who’s going to be good, right?”

Bowling Green, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan and Ball State rounded out the top 10. Akron and newcomer UMass were tied for 11th, and Kent State was slotted last in every coach’s ballot.

NIU plays the top three teams in the poll this year, hosting Miami on Oct. 4 for homecoming, then heading to Ohio on Oct. 18 and Toledo on Nov. 5

The Huskies finished last season 8-5 and won a bowl game for the second straight year.

Fall workouts are scheduled to start July 30 for the team ahead of its Aug. 30 opener against Holy Cross.

The Big 12 in June announced it would eliminate its preseason media poll. Last year, eventual conference champ Arizona State was picked last.

Hammock said he put Ohio and Miami as his top two teams since they reached the title game last year.

“I don’t know what everybody else has, I just know I have a team that’s good enough to compete every single week,” Hammock said. “Now we just have to go out there and put the work in.”