Another round of preseason college football rankings? Hang on, this isn’t your garden-variety team salad here. We’ve seen the future and can assure you that if this list doesn’t perfectly match the end-of-season rankings, it will at least anger a few fan bases. On to the preseason USA TODAY College Football Coaches Poll rankings!
1. Georgia
What to know: That (relatively) soft Bulldogs schedule last year? It’s not so kind this time around.
What to know: Ross Bjork’s in town, which means Ryan Day’s next buyout might match the GDP of a small country.
What to know: The Longhorns christened their official entry into the SEC with a Texas-sized party on July 1, complete with everything from fireworks to a Ferris wheel. But an SEC schedule can end any party pretty quick.
What to know: Nick Saban goes from the sidelines to the ESPN “College GameDay” set. And Kalen DeBoer steps into an unfillable void.
More: Watch wide receiver Ryan Williams at Alabama football’s second day of fall practice
What to know: Maryland will have to travel 2,818 miles for a Big Ten conference game at Oregon on Nov. 9. That’s more miles than the Ducks‘ yards rushing last season. What are we doing here?
What to know: Jaxson Dart is back for a third season as the starting quarterback, and this time, with Lane Kiffin’s latest transfer haul, it’s playoff or bust.
What to know: The year is 2049. TV networks have boiled college football coverage down to three contracts. The SEC and its 32 teams. The Big Ten and its 36. And Notre Dame’s deal.
More: Get ready for Notre Dame football with its 2024 roster
8. Florida State
What to know: Between all the players that bailed after last year’s playoff snub and all those who transferred in, the Semi-knowns will still be good, if not easy to recognize.
What to know: Michigan’s 11 offensive starters for the CFP title win over Washington are now scattered in 10 different places. And only one of them − tight end Colston Loveland − is still in Ann Arbor.
What to know: Good news for the Tigers − basketball season’s over.
What to know: Nobody should be happier about the 12-team playoff field than James Franklin, who’s won 11 games five times at PSU without ever cracking the four-team field.
12. Clemson
What to know: Transfers out: 12. Transfers in: zero. And Dabo Swinney is still willing to die on this hill.
What to know: With Texas joining the SEC, the question is already being asked: Which is the real UT? Tennessee was founded in 1794, Texas in 1883. End of argument.
14. Utah
What to know: Defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley has been named coach-in-waiting behind 64-year-old Kyle Whittingham. History says it’s a risky idea. West Virginia says it’s a terrible, awful, wretched idea.
What to know: If you like to root for backups who stick it out without transferring, get behind Tigers QB Garrett Nussmeier.
16. North Carolina State
What to know: Transfer QB Grayson McCall threw for 10,000 yards at Coastal Carolina without landing on the radar for the 2025 NFL draft. If ACC exposure can’t do it, the UFL is calling.
What to know: The OU offensive line will be a patchwork of transfers and youngsters, which is a recipe for disaster in the SEC. Say a prayer for first-year starting QB Jackson Arnold.
18. Miami
What to know: We learned in April that UM forked over $22.7 million to coach Mario Cristobal in 2022, accounting for both total compensation and the $9 million buyout he owed Oregon. Works out to $4.54 million per win that year.
What to know: There’s not a top-20 opponent on this water slide of a KSU schedule.
20. USC
What to know: If we had the Trojans at No.1, we’d be talking about fight songs.
21. Oklahoma State
What to know: The Pokes’ opening foe, FCS defending champ South Dakota State, will be shooting for a 30th straight win in Stillwater.
22. Texas A&M
What to know: The Aggies are finally rid of the Jimbo Fisher era. Addition by $76 million subtraction.
23. SMU
What to know: The calamity that is conference realignment managed to make this Dallas school the geographic center of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
What to know: Cardinals QB Tyler Shough uses Bengay and puts his teeth in a glass of water at night. OK, he’s not that old. But college football’s seventh-year old man, set to turn 25 in September, was a high school senior way back in 2017!
What to know: Cincinnati jumped from 4-8 to 11-2 in Luke Fickell’s first two years there. The Camp Randall rowdies are ready for their year-two leap now.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: College football preseason Top 25: Dawgs on top, Longhorns at No. 3
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