As expected, Georgia is No. 1 in the first AP Top 25 college football poll of the new season, which was released at noon on Monday.
The Bulldogs have won the last two national championships, going 29-2 over the last two seasons.
Georgia received 60 of 63 first-place votes from the national voting panel of media members, with No. 2 Michigan picking up two first-place votes. No. 3 Ohio State also received a first-place vote.
Following those three, Georgia’s SEC rival Alabama comes in at fourth with another SEC team, LSU, rounding out the top five. LSU landed its best preseason ranking since 2016.
Alabama’s preseason No. 4 ranking is the Crimson Tide’s lowest since 2009.
Southern California is at No. 6 followed by Penn State with ACC rivals Florida State and Clemson at Nos. 8 and 9. Washington rounds out the top 10.
The preseason ranking is Florida State’s first since 2018. It’s the first time since 2017 they’ve been ranked among the top 10 in the preseason.
The only other ACC team to join the Seminoles and Tigers in the preseason top 25 is North Carolina, which starts at No. 21.
Three other ACC teams — Pittsburgh, Duke and NC State — received votes but did not crack the top 25. Pitt finished with 16 poll points while Duke had four and the Wolfpack one.
The SEC leads the way with six teams in the top 25, followed by the Big Ten with five.
Latest AP poll football rankings
|
Rk. |
Team |
|
1 |
Georgia |
|
2 |
Michigan |
|
3 |
Ohio State |
|
4 |
Alabama |
|
5 |
LSU |
|
6 |
USC |
|
7 |
Penn State |
|
8 |
Florida State |
|
9 |
Clemson |
|
10 |
Washington |
|
11. |
Texas |
|
12 |
Tennessee |
|
13 |
Notre Dame |
|
14 |
Utah |
|
15 |
Oregon |
|
16 |
Kansas State |
|
17 |
TCU |
|
18 |
Oregon State |
|
19 |
Wisconsin |
|
20 |
Oklahoma |
|
21 |
North Carolina |
|
22 |
Mississippi |
|
23 |
Texas A&M |
|
24 |
Tulane |
|
25 |
Iowa |
Steve Wiseman’s latest AP Top 25 ballot
After a one-year reprieve, the task of assessing the nation’s top 25 college football teams before any of them have played an actual game returns.
A year ago, I dodged this duty because I was added to the nationwide voting panel just in time for week 1 due to another voter dropping off the rolls. So I was able to start voting only after teams had played real games.
No such luck this summer, as the task is to assess teams based on who they have back, who they’ve added and who they’ve lost from last season.
The top of the ballot is easy. Georgia returns plenty of talent from last season’s squad that won a second consecutive national championship.
After that comes another SEC talent factory, Alabama, followed by Ohio State and Michigan from the Big Ten and Southern Cal, which has last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, Caleb Williams, back at quarterback.
Florida State has so much talent back, with quarterback Jordan Travis leading the way, I was tempted to have them at No. 6. But Brian Kelly’s LSU team is primed to compete with Georgia and Alabama for the SEC title with Jayden Daniels at quarterback and likely SEC defensive player of the year, Harold Perkins, at linebacker.
So the Tigers are No. 6 with Penn State, stocked with a strong running game, at No. 7 with the Seminoles at No. 8 as my top ACC team.
Two-time defending Pac-12 champion Utah and Washington round out my top 10.
Clemson starts the next 10, ahead of Oregon, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Notre Dame.
Why are the Clemson Tigers where they are? I picked Clemson to win the ACC, with Florida State second on my ACC ballot last month. I believe the Tigers will be better than the Seminoles when the season ends. But, for now, on paper, Florida State looks better.
That said, I like Clemson more than the four teams behind them. Yes, I realize the Orange Bowl result was a one-sided Tennessee win. But that was last season.
Ok, moving on to the bottom of the top 20, with Texas at No. 16 and Oklahoma at No. 20. Both are underachieving would-be super powers. Brent Venables’ first season as Sooners coach did not go well. He’s got some proving to do.
So I have Texas, Kansas State, Oregon State and Mississippi ahead of Oklahoma.
The bottom five is and always will be an exercise in searching for the least-flawed resumes. This being the preseason, when there are no resumes, it’s even more challenging to fill out the end of the ballot.
Texas A&M, coming off a 5-7 season, is at No. 21 because the Aggies are loaded with talent and, though he’s a flawed human being, new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino can draw up schemes and get points.
Tulane, UCLA, TCU and North Carolina round it out this week.
I anticipate many changes when it comes time for a second ballot after games are played.
| Rk. | Team |
| 1 | Georgia |
| 2 | Alabama |
| 3 | Ohio State |
| 4 | Michigan |
| 5 | USC |
| 6 | LSU |
| 7 | Penn State |
| 8 | Florida State |
| 9 | Utah |
| 10 | Washington |
| 11 | Clemson |
| 12 |
Oregon |
| 13 | Tennessee |
| 14 | Wisconsin |
| 15 | Notre Dame |
| 16 |
Texas |
| 17 | Kansas State |
| 18 | Oregon State |
| 19 | Mississippi |
| 20 | Oklahoma |
| 21 | Texas A&M |
| 22 | Tulane |
| 23 | UCLA |
| 24 |
TCU |
| 25 | North Carolina |
This story was originally published August 14, 2023, 12:04 PM.
Steve Wiseman has covered Duke athletics since 2010 for the Durham Herald-Sun and Raleigh News & Observer. In the Associated Press Sports Editors national contest, he’s placed in the top 10 in beat writing in 2019, 2021 and 2022, breaking news in 2019 and explanatory writing in 2018. Previously, Steve worked for The State (Columbia, SC), Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, S.C.), The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.), Charlotte Observer and Hickory (NC) Daily Record covering beats including the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints, University of South Carolina athletics and the S.C. General Assembly. He’s won numerous state-level press association awards. Steve graduated from Illinois State University in 1989.
