Georgia Tops Preseason AP Top 25, Ohio State Follows in Second Place

Georgia has claimed the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press Top 25 preseason college football poll for the second consecutive year as the dawn of the superconference era unfolds. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Big Ten are notably dominating the rankings, with both conferences having multiple teams in the top ten.

The Bulldogs garnered 46 first-place votes and totalled 1,532 points in the poll, released on Monday. This places Georgia ahead of No. 2 Ohio State, which received 15 first-place votes and 1,490 points.

Oregon, now a member of the Big Ten, ranks third with one first-place vote from the panel of 62 sports media members who cover college football. Texas, joining Georgia in the SEC this season, comes in at No. 4.

Both the Big Ten and SEC have four teams represented in the top ten. The shifting landscape of conference realignment has reduced what was once the Power Five to just four major conferences, with the Pac-12 sustaining significant losses, now leaving only two schools in the conference. Currently, the Big Ten comprises 18 teams, while the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) holds 17, and the SEC and Big 12 each have 16 teams.

This tumultuous realignment prompted an unprecedented preseason poll featuring only four represented conferences: the SEC leads with nine ranked teams, the Big Ten has six, the Big 12 has five, and the ACC four.

Alabama kicks off the season at No. 5, marking the first time the team is without coach Nick Saban since 2006. Additionally, Mississippi ranks sixth, contributing to the SEC holding half of the top six spots in the preseason rankings.

Independent Notre Dame stands as the highest-ranked team outside of the SEC and Big Ten, positioned at No. 7. The Big Ten claims additional spots in the top ten with Penn State at No. 8 and Michigan at No. 9, bringing the total to four Big Ten teams among the top ten. Florida State from the ACC rounds out the top ten at No. 10.

The Wolverines, who were last season’s national champions, have seen a significant turnover, losing coach Jim Harbaugh, quarterback J.J. McCarthy, and 12 other players to the NFL draft this past April. This transition marked Michigan’s lowest preseason ranking as a defending national champion since 2011, when Auburn started at No. 23 following Cam Newton’s departure.

Washington, which faced Michigan in the College Football Playoff championship game, has experienced an even steeper decline. With the departure of their head coach, star quarterback, and many talented players to the NFL and transfer portal, Washington is now notable for being the first team to appear in the College Football Playoff and start the next season unranked.

Georgia began the previous season ranked No. 1 while pursuing a record third consecutive national championship. Under coach Kirby Smart, the Bulldogs maintained their top ranking throughout the regular season, ultimately falling short by losing the SEC title game to Alabama, which kept them out of the four-team playoff.

Smart acknowledged the new challenges facing his team this year at SEC media days, stating, “We don’t have a chip on our shoulder in terms of people trying to use that as motivation. I’ve never used a failure from the previous year as motivation and never used the success of a previous year as motivation; we won’t do that this year.” He emphasized the need to reinvent themselves to stay competitive.

This season presents an expansion of playoff opportunities, moving from four to 12 teams, allowing for greater margin of error.

The Bulldogs have an impressive 42-2 record over the past three seasons and have once again built a strong, competitive team. Leading the charge is quarterback Carson Beck, an experienced fifth-year player who completed 72% of his passes last year, recording 24 touchdowns against only six interceptions.

Smart hailed Beck as a vital leader and prime example of resilience in the current landscape of college football. The trend of teams starting the season ranked No. 1 and finishing as champions has happened infrequently. Over the past eight seasons, Alabama has notably accomplished this multiple times, along with Clemson holding the top preseason ranking in 2019 and 2020.

Georgia now aims to become only the 12th team since the poll’s inception in 1950 to maintain a No. 1 ranking from the start to the finish of the season, a feat last achieved by Alabama in 2017.

Source: Associated Press