Familiar squad is No. 1 in preseason Top 25 dominated by SEC, Big Ten
Amid major conference realignment, a bigger playoff field and a whole lot of movement on the coaching carousel, the 2024 football season is going to reflect a lot of change. One thing, however, will be the same as last season: Georgia will enter the campaign with the No. 1 ranking in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll.
The Bulldogs, though not defending a national championship this time, were voted first by 46 of the 55 coaches on this season’s panel. They finished third in the final rankings last season after coming up short in the SEC championship game and missing the four-team College Football Playoff field.
Ohio State will open at No. 2. The Buckeyes, favored to return to the top of the expanded Big Ten, picked up seven of the remaining nine first-place nods to land a spot ahead of new fellow conference member Oregon. Texas, a semifinalist last year now representing the SEC, will open at No. 4, picking up a No. 1 vote. It’s the highest starting spot for the Longhorns since 2010. Alabama rounds out the top five, still a lofty position but still the lowest position in the preseason poll for the Crimson Tide since 2009.
TOP 25 RANKING: See the complete preseason US LBM Coaches Poll
Mississippi earns the No. 6 ranking, its highest preseason start since USA TODAY began administering the coaches poll in 1991. Their previous high was in 1970. Notre Dame, the lone independent in the Top 25, begins at No. 7. Defending national champion Michigan received the last No. 1 vote but lands at No. 8 overall, the lowest preseason ranking for the previous year’s champ since 2011 when Auburn opened at No. 19. Penn State and Florida State round out the top 10.
With the exception of the aforementioned Fighting Irish, the four so-called power conferences comprise the entire top 25. The SEC has the most with nine, all in the top 20. That record-tying haul, a first for any conference in the preseason poll, is in part a function of league expansion as the list includes the fourth-ranked Longhorns and fellow newcomer Oklahoma at No. 16. The poll of Sept. 8, 2015, also had nine SEC teams ranked.
The similarly enlarged Big Ten has six ranked squads, with the four in the top 10 joined by No. 23 Southern California and No. 25 Iowa. The Big 12 is next with five teams, but newcomer Utah is the highest of the group at No. 13. The ACC holds down the other four slots in the Top 25.
Washington, the national runner-up from a season ago, is first among other schools receiving votes but becomes the first team since the beginning of the Bowl Championship Series in 1998 to start the season unranked after appearing in the national championship game. Also of note, No member of a Group of Five league cracked the Top 25 for the first time since 2014. Memphis, a projected favorite in the American Athletic Conference, came the closest with 44 poll points.