Cincinnati is getting sort of a 2-year earned ranking and they're riding high on that Notre Dame win. Wake hasn't "earned" it yet in probably a lot of pundits' minds.
Agreed. It will be interesting to see how this year effects the preseason ranking going into next year. If we finish with 10 wins, bring back almost the whole offense and most of the defense, and are predicted to finish in the bottom half of the division again, I won't even know what to say.