Now I will admit that I do belong to a camp that wonders each year what the practical purpose of a preseason poll is, but I, just like every other college football fan who has been counting down the Saturday's since March, was elated to see the release of the preseason AP Top 25 Poll on Monday afternoon. Although the poll itself didn't differ all that much from the well-established consensus of all of the mock pollsters out there, there still were a few notable surprises worth going over.
Surprise #1 – Oregon edges out Texas for #3
In fairness, this one could've gone either way, and in my own informal preseason poll, I would have the Ducks ahead of the Longhorns as well. But I was moderately surprised to see that in their first year in the SEC, the Longhorns weren't getting quite as much love as the Ducks are in their first season in the Big Ten. And consider, it's not as if Oregon had more success than Texas last year (Texas made the College Football Playoff where Oregon was sent to the Fiesta Bowl) or returns more starters from last year's team (Texas brings back 13 starters from 2023 compared to 11 from Oregon). Shoot, the Longhorns don't even need to be concerned with integrating an incoming transfer at quarterback, like Oregon needs to do with former Oklahoma Sooners standout Dillon Gabriel.
Even with everything in flux, Oregon was just one of three teams to receive a first place vote in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll. Voters are betting on the foundation that Dan Lanning has established in Eugene, seemingly unafraid that the Big Ten will pose bigger problems than the Pac-12 has.
Surprise #2 – Washington misses out despite 2023 CFP appearance
Yes, Washington underwent a complete program overhaul after making the National Championship Game last year. Out went their head coach, their Heisman runner-up quarterback, their top three wide receivers, multiple offensive linemen and a half dozen other starters who were part of a truly special Huskies season. But for Washington to not even crack the preseason Top 25, it meant that history was made… the Huskies have officially become the first team to reach the CFP and be unranked the following season.
Following in the footsteps of Kalen DeBoer, Jedd Fisch — coming to Washington after a remarkable season with Arizona last year — will be tasked with keeping the Huskies competitive as they, like Oregon, get used to life in the Big Ten. Fisch may turn out to be one hell of a football coach, and Washington has a favorable enough early season schedule to start hot. Don't be surprised if the Huskies are not only ranked, but undefeated, when they host Michigan in a National Championship Game rematch on October 5th.
Surprise #3 – Group of 5 left out entirely from Top 25
With the new College Football Playoff format going into effect this fall, we know that at least one Group of 5 school — teams from the AAC, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt — will get the opportunity to play in the 12 Team Playoff. However, that doesn't mean that team will at any point be ranked inside the Top 25. A school like, say, Boise State, Liberty, Memphis, or Appalachian State, could go the entire season without being ranked by the Associated Press, yet still make the College Football Playoff.
Most seasons, I don't expect that to be the case. Even this year, I would be surprised if any of the four schools that I mentioned above had a cup of coffee as a top 25 team in the country. Boise State and Liberty, in particular, are two teams I've got my eye on.
Take a long look at Boise State's schedule, and you'll see that the only likely loss is in an early season road game at Oregon. What happens if Boise State runs the slate the rest of the way? If they go into the postseason as Mountain West champions with a 12-1 record — with their only loss to a Playoff-bound Oregon Ducks squad — the Broncos should be in good shape to make the field of 12… unless Liberty, who like last year plays a cake schedule in 2024, runs the gauntlet and is a perfect 13-0 heading into bowl season. Then we could very well be looking at a situation where a ranked Group of 5 conference champion is left out, which would result in even more yelling that a 12-team Playoff isn't good enough.
Surprise #4 – SEC's dominance nears all-time AP Poll record
To see the SEC represented more than any other conference is hardly a surprise, but with nine teams in the 2024 preseason Top 25, the SEC is only one school shy of the record that they set in early September of the 2015 season. The additions of Texas and Oklahoma have only strengthened the SEC's reputation as the best conference in college football, but even without the recent Big 12 exodus, the SEC would still have seven schools in the top 25, including six who enter the season with legitimate hopes of making the College Football Playoff.
Surprise #5 – Muddled messes atop ACC, Big 12 will be fun to watch unfold
I suppose that this is less of a surprising outcome than it is an giddy proclamation regarding the state of the ACC and Big 12. Within the hierarchy of college football, the SEC and Big Ten clearly occupy the top two spots, but the week to week unpredictability of the ACC and Big 12 could make their conference title races even more fun to watch than those of the SEC and Big Ten, and what makes this even more exciting is that these two leagues may only get one bid a piece into the new 12-team College Football Playoff, so we could be getting do-or-die games every week.
In the ACC, only Florida State cracks the top ten, while Clemson (14th), Miami FL (19th) and NC State (24th) all start the season in the top 25. Don't sleep on Virginia Tech, Louisville or new ACC addition SMU though. Even Syracuse, under new head coach Fran Brown, should be frisky this year.
All five teams from the Big 12 who were ranked in the Top 25 sit somewhere between 12th (Utah) and 22nd (Kansas). Oklahoma State (17th), Kansas State (18th), and Arizona (21st) all enter the season with hopes of winning the new look Big 12, as do Iowa State and West Virginia, a pair of schools from the middle tier of the Big 12 who could contend for a conference title if all things broke right. Shoot, even Colorado got a preseason AP Top 25 vote.
(Wait, what?)
Surprise #6 – Coach Prime, Colorado got a vote
That's right. One voter just couldn't help but get sucked into the allure of Coach Prime, Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, completely overlooking the fact that as was the case last year, the Colorado Buffaloes have gaping holes all across their roster.
Here's what I'll say – if Colorado is ranked in the year-end AP Top 25 Poll, I'll wear a Deion Sanders-style cowboy hat each and every Saturday of the college football season for as long as Coach Prime is coaching at Colorado.
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