The AP released its preseason poll on Monday with Georgia taking the No. 1 spot, with 60 of a possible 63 first place votes. This is the 2nd time the Bulldogs have been ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll.
The other time was in 2008, a season Georgia went 10-3 and won the Capital One Bowl against Michigan State. Georgia is the 3rd SEC team to be ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll multiple times.
AP Preseason Poll Fun Facts
Let me be perfectly clear here. This poll and the Coaches Poll have no influence on “The Real Top 25” college football poll that I release every Monday during the season. But for entertainment purposes, some pretty cool stuff here.
This is the 74th preseason AP Poll. The first preseason poll was in 1950.
Each of the last 9 years, the preseason AP No. 1 has finished in the AP Top-5, but only 1 of those teams were No. 1 in the final poll – Alabama in 2017. Prior to 2017, the last preseason AP No. 1 to finish the season ranked first was USC in 2004.
In total, 11 teams have been the preseason AP No. 1 and finished the season in the same position. Since 2000, that has only happened twice with 2004 USC and 2017 Alabama.
Since 1980, 5 teams that were preseason No. 1 finished the season No. 1 in the AP Poll. In addition, since the AP Preseason Poll debuted in 1950, 2 schools have gone wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team: USC in 2004 and Florida State in 1999.
How do preseason rankings correlate with teams that eventually make the College Football Playoff?
In the CFP era (since 2014), 61% (22/36) of the eventual CFP teams were preseason top 5 and 81% (29/36) were top 10.
Georgia will look to avoid becoming the 3rd team to be ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll fail to reach the CFP, as 2022 Alabama and 2015 Ohio St. did.
In 2021, Michigan became the first team to not be ranked in the preseason AP Poll and reach the College Football Playoff. In 2022, TCU became the 2nd.
Each of the 9 national champions in the Playoff era (since 2014) were ranked in the Top 10 of the pr Poll; the lowest preseason rank of a national champion over that span was No. 6 by LSU in 2019.
The last time a team won the national title after being ranked outside the Top 10 in the preseason AP Poll was Florida State in 2013 (No. 11).
WHO IS THIS YEAR’S TCU?
A team that was unranked in the preseason poll has reached the CFP in each of the last 2 seasons (2021 Michigan and 2022 TCU). Will 2023 be a 3rd straight season to feature a team to do that?
Consider Texas A&M. The Aggies received the most votes of any unranked team (101), and are ranked 19th in the preseason FPI poll.
Lets take a closer look at the AP’s Top 5 below.
(1) Georgia
Georgia is the AP preseason No. 1 for the 2nd time in program history – they were also No. 1 in 2008. That teamwent 10-3 and finished 13th.
Georgia is the 32nd team to be the preseason No. 1 as the defending champions and first since Alabama in 2021. Three of those teams went on to repeat after being ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll as the defending champion
Georgia Bulldogs fans celebrate after defeating the TCU Horned Frogs in the College Football Playoff National Championship game at SoFi Stadium on January 09, 2023 in Inglewood, California. Georgia defeated TCU 65-7. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
(2) Michigan
Michigan is ranked top 2 in preseason for 1st time since 1991 – they have failed to win the national title in any of the previous instances that they were ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in preseason.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the Michigan Wolverines holds the Big Ten Championship trophy after a win over the Purdue Boilermakers at Lucas Oil Stadium on December 04, 2022 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
(3) Ohio State
This is the 35th straight season Ohio State has been ranked in the preseason AP Poll, by far the longest active streak. Each of the top 4 streaks were extended with this year’s preseason poll.
The Big Ten lands 2 schools in the preseason top-5 for the 1st time since 2018 when it featured 4 Wisconsin and 5 Ohio State.
Quarterback Kyle McCord #6 of the Ohio State Buckeyes drops back to pass during the Spring Game at Ohio Stadium on April 15, 2023 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images)
(4) Alabama
Alabama’s No. 4 preseason ranking is its lowest preseason ranking since starting No. 5 in 2009. The Tide would end up winning the national title that season.
Both 3 Ohio State and 4 Alabama are ranked in the top 5 in the preseason poll again. Oklahoma is the only school with more since the preseason poll began in 1950.
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
(5) LSU
The SEC has 3 teams in the preseason AP top 5 (Georgia, Alabama and LSU). This is the 2nd time a conference lands 3 members inside the top 5 since the preseason poll began in 1950, joining the Big 12 in 2001.
2023 SEC: (1) Georgia, (4) Alabama & (5) LSU
2001 Big 12: (3) Oklahoma, (4) Nebraska & (5) Texas
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
