Fact - we were 8-5 last season. 8-5 teams rarely end the season ranked. 8-5 teams unless are returning a ton do not start the next season ranked. We lost a ton of NFL talent, and we do not traditionally reload that quickly, so why should we have been ranked?
Fact - the murderer's row of opponents you love to highlight were a combined 27-48 last year. The FBS ones we played this year are a combined 3-5 so far, of those 3 wins, Missouri beat Eastern Michigan and an FCS team. Eastern Michigan might as well be an FCS team, and the FCS team Missouri destroyed is one of the worst FCS teams you can schedule. There is a decent chance Missouri does not win a conference game this year, and its tough to peg where BYU will end up as they have played a tough schedule but 1-3 is never impressive regardless of schedule.
Fact - we started 3-0 last year blew the Sun Belt Champ and Maryland's doors off and proceeded to end the season a very average 8-5 and justifiably unranked.
Like it or not we are where we should be and until we knock off a big opponent, we dont deserve "hype". If we beat KSU we should then be ranked but we should not get any play from the national media who's job is to focus on contenders. If we beat KSU, a big time IF considering DH's track record against Snyder, it still only shows that we can handle our business, it does not vault us into the national title race, atleast not in the eye's of the media. Obviously my hope and our fanbase's hope is that we somehow end up in the playoff, but you cant expect that out of this team until they start knocking off team's with some teeth. It is also better for this team's mental state if they stay under the radar. How many times has WVU laid an egg after a huge win? Lets keep the team humble and not start buying tickets to the playoff games based off of wins against mediocre competition.
If you dont like preseason rankings, you're watching the wrong sport. College football is the biggest clownshow of sports in the entire world in terms of how it is run. The media is a player in who advances to the title, most teams do not even control their own destiny starting from game 1, but the rankings draw ratings and interest, so they will stay. Dont like it, dont watch it.