AP Top 25: Georgia on top, followed by Ohio State, Oregon in preseason poll

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Are Michigan and Alabama the biggest threats to the Big Ten and SEC powerhouses? Michigan & Ohio State in Joel Klatt’s preseason top 10 Best of Big Noon Conversations Season 2

Georgia is No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 preseason college football poll for the second straight year, and the superconference era begins with the SEC and the Big Ten dominating the top 10 of the rankings.

The Bulldogs received 46 first-place votes and 1,532 points in the Top 25 released Monday, as the SEC powerhouse finished comfortably ahead of No. 2 Ohio State (15 first-place votes and 1,490 points) of the Big Ten.

New Big Ten member Oregon is No. 3, receiving one first-place vote from the panel of 62 media members who cover college football. Texas, which joins Georgia in the SEC this season, was fourth.

The Big Ten and the SEC each have four teams in the top 10.

Conference realignment has reduced the Power 5 to the Power 4, with the Pac-12 whittled to just two schools. The Big Ten now has 18 schools. The ACC has 17 football teams, and the SEC and the Big 12 each have 16.

Are Michigan and Alabama the biggest threats to the Big Ten and SEC powerhouses?

All the movement created an unprecedented preseason poll with just four conferences represented: The SEC leads with nine ranked teams. The Big Ten has six, the Big 12 has five and the ACC has four.

Alabama, in its first season without coach Nick Saban since 2006, starts No. 5. No. 6 Ole Miss gives the SEC half the top preseason top six.

Independent Notre Dame is the highest ranked team from outside the SEC and the Big Ten at No. 7.

No. 8 Penn State and No. 9 Michigan give the Big Ten four top-10 teams. Florida State from the ACC is No. 10.

The defending national champion Wolverines said goodbye to coach Jim Harbaugh, quarterback J.J. McCarthy and 12 other players who were selected in the 2024 NFL Draft. All that attrition led to Michigan receiving the lowest preseason ranking for a defending national champion since 2011, when Auburn was No. 23 after the departure of Cam Newton.

Before that, the last time a defending national champion was ranked worse than No. 7 in the following preseason poll was Colorado at No. 13 in 1991.

Michigan & Ohio State in Joel Klatt’s preseason top 10

Washington, which lost to Michigan in the College Football Playoff National Championship, took an even bigger fall after losing its head coach (Kalen DeBoer replaced Saban at Alabama), star quarterback and a mountain of talent to the draft and transfer portal. The Huskies are the first team to reach the CFP and be unranked the following season.

Georgia started last season at No. 1 in pursuit of a record third straight national championship. Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs stayed there the whole regular season, and then missed the four-team playoff by losing the SEC title game to Alabama.

“We’re dealing with new challenges this year,” Smart said at SEC media days. “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. That’s not who we are. We want to recreate ourselves to stay in the best light we can.”

There will be more room for error this season with the playoff expanding from four to 12 teams.

The Bulldogs are 42-2 over the last three seasons and loaded again. Quarterback Carson Beck leads the offense and edge rusher Mykel Williams is in line to be the next defensive star at Georgia.

Best of Big Noon Conversations Season 2

Beck is a rarity in college football these days, a star quarterback in his fifth season with the same school who waited three years to become a starter. Beck completed 72% of his passes last year, with 24 touchdowns and six interceptions.

“He is a great elder for us and great example of resiliency in college football,” Smart said.

Repeating as preseason No. 1 is a recent trend. Going back eight seasons, Alabama had separate streaks of three (2016-18) and two (2021-22) years as preseason No. 1. Clemson was top-ranked in the 2019 and ’20 preseason rankings.

Georgia will try to become the 12th team since the AP preseason poll started in 1950 to start No. 1 and finish No. 1. The last was Alabama in 2017.

Here’s the full top 25:

1. Georgia (46 first-place votes)
2. Ohio State (15 first-place votes)
3. Oregon (One first-place vote)
4. Texas
5. Alabama
6. Ole Miss
7. Notre Dame
8. Penn State
9. Michigan
10. Florida State
11. Missouri
12. Utah
13. LSU
14. Clemson
15. Tennessee
16. Oklahoma
17. Oklahoma State
18. Kansas State
19. Miami (Fla.)
20. Texas A&M
21. Arizona
22. Kansas
23. USC
24. North Carolina State
25. Iowa