We are weeks away from the start of the NCAA Football season, and things have kicked off as the Associated Press just came out with its preseason rankings. The top is loaded with a close grouping of powerhouse schools, as the rest of the list provides a series of question marks. As we are mired heavily in the NIL era, those will likely not be answered sufficiently until weeks later.
For the first time in the school’s history, the University of Texas sits atop the preseason list. The Longhorns narrowly edged out Penn State, and the defending champions, Ohio State, came in at third. This marks the 37th consecutive year that the Buckeyes begin the season as a ranked school, easily the longest streak, ahead of Oklahoma, which has 26 years running as the Sooners land at #18 to start off the year.
The poll sees quite a bit of concentrated strength with the reduction of the power conferences down to just four (the PAC-12 is straining to reestablish itself next season). The SEC placed 10 schools in the preseason rankings, with four of those in the top 10. The Big-10 has six schools ranked overall, followed by the Big-12 with four, and the ACC with three. The other schools would be independent Notre Dame, and the Ashton Jaenty-less Boise State Broncos as the lone entrant from the Mountain West.
Last year’s surprise teams were placed highly, as Arizona State followed its great run with an 11th-place ranking, and right behind them is Illinois, as it looks to remain a factor. Also seen is Southern Methodist as the team hit the preseason poll for the first time in 40 years at #16, following its playoff run.
While always a practice in speculation, this year the preseason rankings have a heavy feeling of a crapshoot. Much of that has to do with the highly active transfer portal each season, but adding to the guesswork is the opening schedule.
Things kick off with a light schedule on August 23 (Iowa State at Kansas State is the lone top-25 matchup), but the full schedule opens up on Labor Day weekend, with promises of upheaval at the top. That week, three different games are played matching up top-10 teams. Texas goes to Columbus to face the Buckeyes at Noon on the 30th, LSU and Clemson go at it at 7:30 PM, and the next day, the Fighting Irish travel to Miami, where former Georgia Bulldog Carson Beck is now throwing for the Hurricanes.
Two of the early favorites in the Heisman watch are a pair of Tigers squaring off that first week. Quarterbacks Garret Nussmeier (LSU) and Cade Klubnik (Clemson) are thought to be at the top of the list of contenders. WR Jerimiah Smith at Ohio State is another threat. Arch Manning is a consideration for some, but this being his first full year at Texas means it could be a touch premature.
As for who will be the breakout schools this year, outside the rankings but going to become the underdogs of the playoffs, like SMU or the Sun Devils of last year, that is a wild guess. UNLV has a chance of surprising people. Many are waiting to see if QB Dylan Raiola can guide Nebraska to reclaim its glamour. For a real dark horse, there is Syracuse, with a pair of blue-chip QBs on a team that was successful last year in the ACC, but has a tough early schedule to prove itself.
As has been the case in NCAA football for a couple of years now, this is a setup that defies anyone coming across as an expert. The roster rotations each season mean that building a lasting program is rare, but also building a successful one can happen in a year, so it might not be until October that we have a good feel for what schools can do. But we will be covering it on the regular, starting in two weeks.
Until then, get your tailgating gear loaded up.
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