2024 College Football AP Preseason Poll: Georgia at No. 1 | CBS Sports

Breaking news here on CBS sports HQ from college football, where Georgia is number one in the AP preseason top 25. For the second year in a row, the Bulldogs received 46 first place votes, outpacing number two Ohio State, which had 15. The first poll reflects the new order in college football, dominated by the expanded SEC and the Big Ten. Each Super conference has four teams in the top ten. New Big Ten member Oregon is third, followed by first year SEC member Texas at four, Alabama comes in at five as it enters its first season under coach Kalen DeBoer. Ole Miss comes in sixth, ahead of Notre Dame and Penn State, and the reigning national champions, Michigan voted ninth defending champs Florida State round out your top ten. Let's discuss with our college football guys. Chip Patterson joining us remotely. And Danny Kanell here in the studio. So Danny Georgia's number one for the second straight year. Give us your surprised face. Yeah exactly. How do I I'd have to fake that. I'd have to win an Oscar for that one. This has been the program which has dominated college football. You know, the only question is could they get their ultimate prize, which was the national championship, which obviously they didn't get last year, losing in the SEC title against Alabama. But boy, this team is hungry to avenge that loss. Carson Beck at SEC Media Days. You could tell he was visibly shaking when he talked about the opportunity to avenge that one. They bring him back. Who's one of the top quarterbacks in the country. They bring back an offensive line which is as good as anybody defensively. They have great front seven on the defensive side of the ball and they've got a great coach in Kirby Smart. They have been the most dominant, dominant team in college football. Oh by the way. You throw in what they did in the bowl game. We don't have to talk about who they played against. But that was a dominant performance in their showcasing how badly this team wants to go out there and add another national title to the resume. It's not a surprise at all that Georgia is where they are sitting atop the preseason poll. Yeah, this is not at all what you want if you're Georgia, right? But why? Why is that? Because no national champion since 2017 has started the year at number one. This is the third time that Georgia has been number one in the preseason AP poll. 2008 no national championship 2023. No national championship in fact, this is going to be a great test of Kirby Smart and the way that he's going to be able to keep this team dialed in on a week in, week out basis, because one of the reasons that we have seen teams that start at number one not be able to win the national championship is because of the intangibles. You get to number one because on paper, you have the most talented roster in the entire country. And I agree because Georgia is my number two team as well. But now that we're starting to get into how does this play out for the Bulldogs, a lot of it is going to be whether or not they can deliver on those five star expectations. There's a great note from our research team in all ten instances of the College Football Playoff, the winner of the national championship resided in the top six in the initial rankings. Here and Oregon comes in at number three. Chip, lot of respect out there. You know we had Kenjon Barner on Friday. He was part of a great team in the early 2010 guys. And he said you know what though, Oregon now is a little more physical, especially in the trenches. Chip, do you agree with that 100%? Some of that has been homegrown. Some of that has come from the transfer portal, either additions that came in last year. You know, you look at a Jordan Burch who came over from South Carolina or even what they were able to get from Michigan State and some other places this past cycle. Dan Lanning understands, you know, from his time as an assistant of how important it is to win at the line of scrimmage. And Oregon's had some great offensive linemen over the years. But to me, it is on that defensive side of the football where like, yeah, you'd have a Kayvon Thibodeaux, you'd have like an edge rusher who would be flashy, but now they've got real substance up the middle of that defense. Some of it is homegrown. Some of it's coming in from the portal. But this is an aggressiveness. This is a physicality. This is an attitude that Dan Lanning is trying to impart onto this Oregon team. Knowing exactly what awaits them in the Big Ten. Because the Big Ten bodies are built different and moving them around like you want to do if you win at the line of scrimmage is going to be tough. I think this is the most talented Oregon roster in Oregon football history, but I also think and agree with Kenjon Barner. This is one of the most physical teams that we've seen at the line of scrimmage in Eugene. I think that is a direct result of Dan Lanning's impact that he's had building this roster. You know, year three now, where all of a sudden we saw it, we saw a program that historically was always about finesse, right. And that goes all the way back to Chip Kelly. When they would go really fast. They had the fancy uniforms, but the reputation they had was a little bit soft. They were fast, but they couldn't go physically toe to toe with the teams. They played against. Dan Lanning, a defensive minded coach, wants to change that, and I had heard all about the Dan Lanning love and how people raved about him and didn't get to experience until we were in Indianapolis at Big Ten Media Days. He was with us on the set with the cover three guys, and it's like, oh, I get it. He oozes energy, confidence. But there's also that physical mindset that he wants to bring to Oregon. And oh, by the way, they bring a quarterback who's probably the most prolific quarterback returning quarterback in college football, Dillon Gabriel, coming in from Oklahoma, who I think is going to fit seamlessly into the system they were running with Bo Nix, I don't think you'll see any drop off whatsoever. And this team does look like one of the preseason favorites. And it makes total sense. Much like with the Coaches poll, eight of the top ten teams are from two conferences. Number ten comes from the ACC, and that's Florida State. We have Clemson also in that 10 to 9, 11 to 19 range. Danny, how do you feel about where the ACC lies in terms of the pecking order? It's probably accurate. Jeremy I mean, you look at where the conference sits and there's no I mean, this is something that the ACC has been trying to fight this narrative. And it's why a couple sues are suing their way to try to get out of the ACC as they look at the disparity and resources and they say, hey, we can't keep up. Well, there are three programs. Miami is one of them. Clemson and Florida State, who are doing their best to keep up. And they have had success against those programs. But I look early in this season. There's a massive opportunity for the ACC. Florida State last year had LSU early. They were able to get that win, didn't help them in the long run, but Clemson has Georgia, Miami has Florida. You have to split those games. And if you somehow went two and zero, which would be a massive upset for Clemson to beat Georgia as a as a two touchdown underdog that would be something the ACC would love to see come to fruition, but you absolutely cannot go zero and two in those marquee games. Opening weekend of the season with Miami. That game that we've talked a lot about is probably my favorite game of the opening weekend. Miami in Gainesville against the Gators. But I think the ACC is it's positioned themselves where they have three of these teams in the top 15, top 20, where now they've got to go out there and prove to it. Unfortunately, the reality is they're going to have to prove the critics wrong and show that they can hang with the SEC in big Ten. Yeah, these simple minded fans that just want to stop at 25. If we had a top 30 poll, if we had a top 40 poll, or if we had a CBS sports 134, what you would find about the ACC is that the ACC has a really good sort of upper middle class, because even in this AP polling, sure, they've only got less than a handful of teams inside the top 25, but checking in right there at 26 is Louisville. Checking in right there at 27 is Virginia Tech and checking in right there at 29. Is SMU coming off an 11 win season and undefeated conference record on their way out of the Americans? So are they lacking in terms of teams up in the top five, up in the top ten? Yes. But we've got seven teams that are right now in the top 30 of college football. And to me, I think that that speaks to the fact that it is not an extremely top heavy league. They've got their favorites for sure, but that that next group, that next tier where you have everybody from NC state who made it into the poll to SMU, who's just outside of the poll. Some really strong teams and good contenders. That could be a threat to the teams at the top. So and let's get to University of Southern California, which much like Oregon switching from the Pac 12 or what used to be the Pac 12 into the Big Ten. Yet voters are not as bullish on the Trojans as they are on the ducks. Danny, two things right. How do you replace Caleb Williams, and has that defense been repaired or rebuilt or even built? Tommy I think they're yeah, exactly. I think they're actually overrated at 23 based on what they've lost and haven't done anything yet. And I don't see I think this is where you get in the back end and either the coaches or in this instance, the Associated Press, they start voting and you look for a brand that's historically been recognizable. They say, you know what? I feel pretty safe putting them in there. But they were atrocious on the defensive side of the ball. And the one thing that stuck out to me when we talked to Lincoln Riley in Indianapolis was we asked him about the changes on the defensive side of the ball. He he listed off the new defensive coordinator. He listed off the new linebackers coach, a new secondary coach. He didn't name one player. The last time I checked. The coaches aren't the one on the field tackling. I don't think the personnel has been upgraded that much at all. And you talk about the production they lost with Caleb Williams, he bailed them out of a lot of games and a season, which was underwhelming. It could have been way worse if Caleb Williams wasn't there. Miller Moss I know he had the one bowl game six touchdown performance. It was awesome. But can he carry that same type of workload that Caleb Williams did? I need to see it first before I put them in the top 25. Yeah, I think this is the flaw for USC. I you know, probably rightly rated, given everything they lost and the way that they performed last year. But I think that the trajectory and where they could improve is only going up. It could go up if Miller Moss is able to back up that bowl performance with a great grasp and handle of Lincoln Riley's offense, we got headset communication, so that means Lincoln can be in his ear until 15 seconds, telling him exactly where to find Zach Branch for a, you know, 80 yard touchdown. And defensively, I do agree that, you know, there is nowhere to go but up. But I think that everything we've heard from fall camp coming out of Los Angeles, it is that they are not starting over that they are really building on what was a lot of positive work in spring practice, that there's something about the mentality that you have to have to be able to play for D'anton Lynn. And that is kind of been our criticism. It's not that they don't have talented players according to their recruiting rankings, it's that they miss wide open tackles, their form, their fundamentals. Like those are the things that we can see when we're watching these games. And so if they're going to be able to tighten up on those fundamentals, then those athletes that have always been athletes, if they can get better at being able to bring that physicality, that toughness and not making those kind of mistakes that lead to explosive plays. I think they can go up. I'm not ready to put them up inside the top 15 or so, but I do think that that is where they could be if they take those steps forward. Rightly rated for now. But again, I think this is the flaw for Lincoln Riley's team this year. Crazy that a team in the top 25. We're talking about fundamentals in terms of tackling and stuff like that with them. But okay, let's let's look at overrated underrated and let's start with overrated. Danny, who do you have in this in this top 25. Top ten. Maybe that's overrated I looked at Notre Dame. I think there are two high sitting up here in the top ten. I think this is a lot of people looking at their schedule and projecting where they should be. At the end of the season. They have a three game schedule that they have to play on the road at College Station, home against Florida State, and then on the road against USC. They will be heavily favored in almost every other game. And I'm not completely sold on a quarterback who's coming off a major injury. Injury and Riley Leonard playing behind a now a backup left tackle because they lost their starting left tackle after losing Joe Ault to the NFL draft. I need to see it more and before I believe it. So I have Notre Dame as the most overrated team in the top ten. Yeah, I agree with you, Danny. This should not be a look at the schedule and figure out where I think you're going to end up. I think a preseason ranking should be a starting point based on who you are on paper and what you have done previously. I'm going to look at Ole Miss. I think they're too high. I think they should be closer to ten than they are to five. As they're sitting there at number six, I would take a Penn State team over them. I would take another Big Ten team over them. I just think that the rebels, when they have played the best teams in the country, an Alabama or a Georgia, they've gotten outclassed. You know, the only two ranked wins in the regular season last year were against Tulane with the backup quarterback and then a 55 to 49 shootout against LSU. I'm doing their win totals on the cover three podcast right now. I think Ole Miss is going to have an awesome win total. That probably gets them in the top ten at the end of the year, but that doesn't mean I'm going to slot you up there at the beginning of the season just because you have an easy schedule. It's not a strength of schedule rankings. This is a preseason top 25, so I got Ole Miss closer to ten than five. So let's keep the conversation going. Going from overrated to underrated. Chip I'm going to give you first word you selected a program three straight College Football Playoff appearances. Oh, and by the way, the reigning national champs. Yeah I'm sorry. Did Michigan lose every player that's going to the NFL. Because Will Johnson is going to be at the top of a lot of draft boards. Oh, he's still Ann Arbor Mason Graham Kenneth Grant Donovan Edwards I'm telling you, Michigan has been producing pros year after year after year. We're 13 NFL draft picks. Significant Absolutely. I'm not picking Michigan to win the big Ten for a fourth consecutive year, but to have them down at number nine, which is the lowest for a reigning champion since 2011, I think is disrespectful to the player development that they has been there. A lot of it under Sharon Moore's guidance. So I think they're still going to be awesome at the line of scrimmage. I think they still have some of the best players in America, and I think they've got an identity and a pedigree that is worth respecting a little bit more than the AP poll is. I put Michigan closer to Alabama in that five six spot, not down there at the edge of the top ten. I went with the team out of the big 12 in Kansas State, who won the big 12 title a couple of years ago. Chris Klieman has built a consistent winner there at Kansas State and oh, by the way, the quarterback at Ohio State now, Will Howard, who was at Kansas State, apparently wasn't good enough to beat out Avery Johnson, who was supposed to be an absolute blazer. But he also can throw the football. I think this is a perennial power that doesn't get the edge of a big blue blood in brand. That's why they fall a little bit through the cracks. But I think they're going to be one of the top teams at the end of the season when it matters the most. Okay, the first of many conversations about a college football season that nearly upon us, Danny Kanell, Chip Patterso, gents certainly appreciate all part of the cover three podcast, but Elliott, Tom Fornelli, as DK mentioned, they were at Big Ten Media Days in full force summer school days. As we get ready for fall camp and a