The Preseason AP Poll Is Out and College Football Is Back
We're so back. The least meaningful, yet most analyzed poll of the year is here as we are in the final week without college football until January 2025. I can almost taste it.
In terms of this year's Week 1 AP Poll, there really isn't anything too surprising. The top five is made up of the teams that will be battling it out atop the new-look SEC and Big Ten with the only real question mark there being Alabama under Kalen DeBoer. I'd be shocked if any one of the other four teams was not in the College Football Playoff.
After that, though, we start to get to the real interesting teams of 2024. Is Ole Miss really going to be that good? What does Michigan look like under Sherrone Moore and with Alex Orji at quarterback? Does DJ Uiagalelei look like he did at Clemson or Oregon State now at his third stop in Tallahassee?
The most fascinating teams to me this season are those four SEC teams bunched up from 11-16. All four of those teams expect to be battling it out for the last one or two of the conference's College Football Playoff spots and somebody is obviously going to end up disappointed. I'm not sure I'm buying Missouri having back-to-back big years — though the Tigers' schedule sets up pretty nicely — but I'm not buying the LSU and Garrett Nussmeier hype without seeing him play yet, either. I think Tennessee has the highest ceiling of that group if Nico Iamaleava plays like Josh Heupel and Co. are expecting him to and Oklahoma is the biggest wild card in the SEC.
In that last group of teams, the two teams I'm watching the most are Kansas State and NC State. The Wildcats have the second-best odds to win the Big 12 behind new starting quarterback Avery Johnson and the Wolfpack will line up behind Grayson McCall previously of Coastal Carolina. The two teams only face a combined five opponents ranked in the preseason AP Poll and if NC State in particular finds a way to beat Tennessee in Week Two, the Wolfpack could be poised for a really nice season.
Clear your schedules for the next 15 Saturdays because we are back, baby.