Sickos Preseason Poll Explainer 2023

Hello, fellow Sickos Committee members, you likely followed this twitter account and didn’t know what you fully stumbled into. Well, we welcome you to the Sickos Committee and now it’s time to vote for the Sickos Top 25 2023 Preseason Poll!

For many of you, this may be your first time being tasked to vote in a Sickos Committee poll, and you might not know what to do. Well, Sickos Commissioner Escalante has made this poll explainer just for you!

A link to a Google form will be posted on Twitter and here. You will be able to select your Top 10 Sickos Teams for the 2023 College Football Preseason. We typically hold these polls on a monthly basis and will likely do a poll for the beginning of October and November. Finally, our year end poll typically coincides with Conference Championship week.

(We require a Google sign in to try to limit everyone to one ballot and we do NOT collect email addresses.)

You may ask yourself, what is a Sickos team exactly?

Well that’s completely up to you! Keep in mind these are teams YOU want to watch during the season based on whatever deem “unconventionally appealing”.

Is it a team who may have a coach on the hot seat to start the year? A team that hired a new head coach who you don’t think will work out? A team who hired some interesting new coordinators in an attempt to save the head coach’s job? Maybe a team who you think is ranked too high in the AP or Coach’s poll? How about a team who nearly transfer-portaled their entire roster after they hired a new coach? Maybe there is a team who has put a clause into their offensive coordinator’s contract that requires them to score at least 25 points per game? A team who returns their incredible punter? A Power 5 team who may lose to a G5 team or FCS team in the first few weeks of the season? A school who just got a new Athletic Director and you’re not too sure how stable the returning head coach's job is? A team who had a really rough year last year but for some reason kept their head coach? A team who appeared to be making a breakthrough last year but they fired their head coach? A team that hired a head coach or coordinator with an extremely checkered past?   

Now Sickos can mean many things and being a Sickos team isn’t always a bad thing. Here are some possible examples of being a “good” Sickos team.

Is it a team who you think will be unexpectedly good? Is it a plucky G5 team who has played spoiler last year and you think they could do it again? Is it a team who hasn’t been ranked in an incredibly long time but you think they will finally get ranked this year? Is it a team that played in the most one possession games last year and you think they will do it again? Maybe a team who you think will flirt with bowl eligibility? Maybe a team or two who have been left out of all of the conference realignment drama and you think they’ll be on a revenge rampage for 2023? It could be a team who upset many teams unexpectedly but couldn’t win normal games last year? Maybe a team who made a bowl game unexpectedly and you’re really curious if they can do it again this year? 

Or maybe you have random reasons for voting for Sickos teams.

Is it a team who did the weirdest off-season photo shoot? Maybe it’s a team who got in trouble with the NCAA? Maybe a team who bragged about having the only Buc-cee’s in the SEC? Or it could be a team bragging about their Double Decker Wendy’s or a dinosaur outside of a nearby McDonald’s? Maybe you think they have an incredibly weird stadium or dome? Maybe it’s a team who plays an incredibly weird schedule? Maybe it's a team who’s coach got a tattoo after winning the Quick Lane Bowl? Maybe it’s a team who got their coach to get Duke’s Mayo dumped on him? Maybe it's a conference that may not exist in 2024? 

You ultimately get to decide who are your Top 10 Sickos teams based on whatever criteria you use. Since Sickos is incredibly undefinable, the choice is up to you and who you feel has earned your vote.

(Also, if you feel like some team or person is really Sickos in another sport like F1, NASCAR, MLB, NBA, etc, you can submit those choices in your ballot also and we track those categories in others receiving votes.)

Also, we ask you to not be derogatory please, as we will remove those items from the poll and they will not be listed. 

Wherever you place them in the poll, that team would get a corresponding amount of votes:

• 1st place = 10 pts.

• 2nd place = 9 pts.

• 3rd place = 8 pts.

• 4th place = 7 pts.

• 5th place = 6 pts.

• 6th place = 5 pts.

• 7th place = 4 pts.

• 8th place = 3 pts.

• 9th place = 2 pts.

• 10th place = 1 pt.  

We will close the poll on Friday August 18th at 6 pm CT and tabulate the votes.

I’ve linked the poll here The Sickos Committee 2023 Preseason Poll 

We will release the Sickos 2023 Preseason Top 25 Poll on Monday August 21st. 

Thank you for participating and we cannot wait for the results of the poll! 

At the end of the season and we crown a Sickos National Champion, we will do a food drive for the winning city of the Sickos Champion. Last year we raised around $5,500 for a local Iowa City food bank. 

Take an I Voted Sticker when you’re completed!

If you needed inspiration, here was the 2022 End of Season Poll (including the others receiving votes):