Georgia tops college football AP preseason poll for second year in a row

By Sam Joseph, CNN

(CNN) — The Georgia Bulldogs have been selected as the No. 1 college football team in the annual Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll for the second season running.

Georgia received 46 of 62 first-place votes and 1,532 points to comfortably top the poll ahead of the Ohio State Buckeyes, who received 15 first-place votes. The Oregon Ducks were third with one first-place vote.

The Bulldogs are fresh off a 13-1 campaign which culminated in a 63-3 domination of Florida State in the Orange Bowl. They were seeking a record third straight national title in 2023 and remained at No. 1 for the entirety of the regular season, before being defeated by Alabama in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship game. They were subsequently not selected for that year’s College Football Playoff.

Georgia is led on offense by quarterback Carson Beck and the loaded defense is highlighted by edge rusher Mykel Williams, linebacker Smael Mondon Jr. and consensus All-American safety Malaki Starks. Three-time SEC coach of the year Kirby Smart leads the team from the sideline.

Its place atop the AP rankings reflects the coaches poll conducted last week, which also placed the Bulldogs as the top team in the nation.

The AP poll also tells the story of wider conference realignment in college sports. Several schools have switched conferences in a massive shake-up the status quo. Among other changes, the SEC and Big 12 conferences now each have 16 members, the Big Ten has 18 and the Pac-12 has been nearly wiped out, left with only two schools.

No. 4 Texas joins Georgia in the SEC for this season, while Oregon is now a Big Ten member alongside Ohio State. The only teams in the top 10 outside of these two conferences are the independent Notre Dame and the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Florida State.

The moves have created a unique preseason list where only four conferences – the Big 12 has five teams in the Top 25 – are represented.

There are other talking points from the poll, such as reigning national champion Michigan falling from top spot at the end of last season to No. 9 after head coach Jim Harbaugh left for the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers and 12 of its players – including starting quarterback JJ McCarthy – were drafted into the league.

Alabama remains at No. 5 as it heads into its first season without Nick Saban at the helm since 2006.

Washington, Michigan’s opponent in the national championship game, has seen a dramatic fall outside of the Top 25 after head coach Kalen DeBoer left to replace Saban at Alabama while several key players left for the NFL, including QB Michael Penix Jr. and wide receiver Rome Odunze, who were selected eighth and ninth overall respectively.

Full preseason AP Top 25

1. Georgia

2. Ohio State

3. Oregon

4. Texas

5. Alabama

6. Ole Miss

7. Notre Dame

8. Penn State

9. Michigan

10. Florida State

11. Missouri

12. Utah

13. LSU

14. Clemson

15. Tennessee

16. Oklahoma

17. Oklahoma State

18. Kansas State

19. Miami

20. Texas A&M

21. Arizona

22. Kansas

23. USC

24. North Carolina State

25. Iowa

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