If you exclude teams that are likely to play some games eventually, you're going to have a lot more quirkiness later.
Remember, this is a "poll" (which is opinion), not standings (which is mathematical).

For example, if Clemson and Alabama, for whatever reason, had yet to play a game - according to your logic you would have teams like Liberty ahead of them. That just sounds silly, as it's unlikely Liberty would be better than those teams.

I do agree a team must play a certain amount of games to qualify for the final poll, but I see no reason a team can't be "predictively" placed in the polls in the interim.

[Post edited by jesuisvtguy at 11/02/2020 08:17AM]