2024 College Football AP Top 25 Preseason Rankings
Transcript
00:00At the end of yesterday's show we told you it was almost a national holiday the release of the AP top
00:0725 in the preseason ahead of the 2024 college football campaign today our reactions to the rankings
00:15Let's show the poll right here right now to make sure that everybody can see it a little bit tight on that screen
00:21I'll read through the top 10, Georgia number one, Ohio State number two, Oregon number three, Texas number four
00:28Alabama number five, Ole Miss six, Notre Dame seven, Penn State eight, Michigan
00:33The ready national champs checked in at number nine and Florida State rounds out the top ten
00:38We'll dive through each segment of the AP poll here in the preseason
00:42But DRS let's start at the very top the Georgia Bulldogs who won two consecutive national championships
00:49Entering last year but left out of the college football playoff after their first loss in 30 games
00:55To Alabama in the SEC title check in at preseason number one for a second consecutive season
01:03Yep, and here's what you love about this
01:04Let's like let's take a look at the 25 in totality now
01:07Right under the old pretenses of the college football playoff
01:11Which is only four teams or even dating back to let you say just two teams that make it in the old BCS era
01:16We look at Georgia and say to ourselves
01:18Can you imagine a team that beats everybody then loses in their championship game and doesn't actually get into a college football playoff?
01:24Welcome in Georgia. You'll be right back in having some fun
01:26Not playing a meaningless orange bowl against Florida State where you smoke the doors off of Florida State team
01:31That should have gotten in under 12 teams, but didn't get in see that it's already better
01:35And how about this man?
01:36If I would tell you number two versus number three
01:38We're Ohio State in Oregon two of the best football teams in the country and I'd say you know what they're gonna play each other
01:43So one of those teams can't even get in the playoffs despite being one of the best teams in football
01:47Hey, welcome to 2024 the loser that game still gonna make the playoffs
01:51Isn't this already fun to begin with Ben?
01:53Are we already winning and we talked about three teams in the top three where you're not saying that one loss
01:59They can't play for a national championship how ludicrous it used to be that we used to watch that type of sport here. It's fantastic
02:06I told you this many times Ben again
02:08We're through three teams in one segment, and I can't wait for this season to happen because you know why we're gonna see
02:14Unbelievable meaningful football in the month of December something we've never seen before in major college football. I love this already, man
02:22People argued that expansion to the college football playoff would diminish the significance of regular season games
02:29I argue the complete opposite because if you lose a game early in the year
02:34Your season is not done in the 10-year history of the college football playoff that featured only four programs
02:40We never saw a team with multiple losses. That's just two
02:45We never saw a team with multiple losses make it to the CFP
02:50There are going to be plenty more chances in the 12 team format of the college
02:55Football playoff as you look at the top 10 for programs out of the SEC
03:01That's Georgia, Texas, Alabama
03:04Ole Miss and of course in their Texas as well for out of the Big Ten, Ohio State
03:10Oregon Penn State and Michigan the reigning national champs one independent program
03:15That's Notre Dame and around out the top 10 the first ACC team in
03:20Florida State as Georgia found out last year DRS
03:24It is difficult despite the pedigree that comes with being ranked number one in the preseason to win a national
03:32Championship because 18 of the last 20 teams to be ranked number one in the preseason
03:37AP top 25 have failed to win the title only USC in
03:432004 in Alabama in
03:452017 are the exceptions to the rule
03:48But Georgia will enter this year as the preseason
03:52National championship favorites at plus 280 along with the number one ranking alongside the school's name
03:59And also you have to you take that with a grain of salt, right?
04:02Because when the AP poll comes out it doesn't start in week number seven and say like hey
04:06Look at that looks out of last seven teams that were number one in the AP poll won the championship
04:11Why because by week six or seven you pretty much know who's the best football team in the country trending in that direction
04:16Week number one. Nobody's played yet
04:18We don't even get to watch preseason games like in the NFL of who is what you basically turn on your TV
04:23See who's gonna be best. That's why those shake-ups happen because technically Georgia who we think is gonna be great. We don't know
04:29Maybe it's number eight Penn State. That's actually the best team in the country
04:32But they're starting eighth year with the chance to legitimately win a national championship
04:35That's what I think is most fun and also in the past. I talked about it to open the show
04:39It was really unfair where the poll would come out and you'd say again, Georgia and Ohio State
04:44Hey, if you don't lose you're gonna be the best team in the country and play for a championship both of you
04:48but if you take a look at Kansas State at 18 who starts at 18 runs the table gets the number three unbeaten they get
04:54Penalized because they started 18th. Meanwhile, they're not the 18th ranked team in the country when it's all said and done
04:59This is why it's so great that football expands because now you can actually have fun with the poll and say, okay
05:05We can move up here
05:05This is good
05:06As long as you're in the top 12 you have a chance to win a championship when teams again
05:11USC's 23rd in the country. They run the table back in the day
05:14They don't make the championship because there's a chance that they're not gonna be able to climb enough spots to get over Ohio State in
05:19Georgia and quite frankly, let's just say Georgia lost their first game drop the 10 USC won their first game
05:25They move up to 15 as long as Georgia continues to win. They'll still be over USC at that point
05:30Even if they run the table, that's how crazy it is in the sport. Thank goodness
05:34We now have that playoff to throw those nonsense out the window
05:38Yeah, that's kind of true
05:40At least in the first few years of the college football playoff format of four teams
05:44Michigan was the first unranked team way back in
05:482021 to be unranked in the preseason to reach the college football playoff
05:52TCU followed suit the following year making it all the way to the national championship game
05:57But to Donnie's point when you look at the top of this poll pay attention to the top seven, Georgia
06:03Ohio State, Oregon, Texas
06:05Alabama Ole Miss and Notre Dame based on the last 20 years of a national championship
06:12sample size
06:1318 of the 20 national title winners began the year ranked inside the top
06:197 only Florida State and Jameis Winston in 2013 who started the year 11th Cam Newton and Auburn in
06:262010 who started the year ranked
06:28172nd in the country are the exceptions to that rule and to Donnie's point the AP top 25
06:34Although in the preseason and although we get the college football playoff rankings through the eyes of the selection committee
06:40Come November does have a very important weight on a college football season
06:45It sets the standard for what you are expected to do
06:48You are ranked thus a ranked versus ranked matchup carries more significance and magnitude
06:54Than playing an unranked side these rankings do have a direct impact to where you will be throughout a college football
07:02Season, let's look through the rest of the poll as we continue to give you some trends here after number 10
07:08Let's go back to it. So everybody can see please here on this screen, Missouri at 11, Utah
07:13The first big 12 team to check in in the top 25 at number 12 LSU 13
07:19Clemson 14 Tennessee
07:2215 Oklahoma 16, Oklahoma State 17, Kansas State 18
07:26Miami Donnie's Hurricanes at 19 in Texas A&M at 20 from the list of 11 to 20 DRS
07:33What catches your attention?
07:35Well, of course, it's gonna be Miami for me because we don't play great football in Miami anymore
07:39But the fact you have 12 teams that get in there's a legitimate thought process that yeah
07:43Miami can play themselves into a playoff win for the past 15 years
07:46It felt like they had zero chance whatsoever, which again brings more fan bases into the tent and more excitement
07:53Can you book the one thing that we know about the Miami Hurricanes when there's a big game in town?
07:57Hardrock is the place to be if they're hosting a playoff game at a hard rock in December
08:02That means football's back in Miami. It's a big show place here. That's what you get excited for
08:06But again, it's the same teams that we take a look at on a year-to-year basis and rightfully
08:10So they remember when the NIL air opened up like hey, if you have fan bases that are willing to pay up
08:14This is really gonna shake up college football. Look at that top 20 which shakeups in college football
08:19We actually haven't because kids are now getting paid now. Hey look Alabama, even the playing field. They even lose Nick Saban
08:25There's still top five and absolutely doing damage on the recruiting trail
08:28So the old guys are still gonna be up there in the top of the race here, and I love that
08:33No, but trust me. Oh, we like new teams in it. You don't like Liberty in the top 25
08:37Nobody wants to see Liberty in the college football playoff
08:39We want to see the old heads the bluebloods rock in this party, and that's what we're gonna get
08:46It's just incorrect first and foremost and Liberty
08:49Although not ranked in the AP top 25 in the preseason has a great opportunity now with the new format of the college football playoff
08:57I thought you would have read that in your preseason magazine, Alabama
09:00in fact ranks outside of the top four in the AP preseason poll for the first time since
09:072009 a long time ago
09:11Despite the crimson tide checking in at fifth in the country plenty more around the AP top 25
09:19Some more rankings reactions around the AP top 25
09:23The preseason poll is now out in front of a 2024 college football campaign
09:28Let's list off the final five teams that we did not mention at the bottom of the poll with some more trends
09:34You need to pay attention to Donnie asked for some newcomers because the old heads are all there
09:39How about Arizona being ranked in the top 25 in the preseason for the first time since?
09:452015 Kansas ranked in the preseason AP poll for the first time since
09:512009 USC number 23 NC State 24th in
09:55Iowa rounds out the preseason AP top 25 at number 25 for the second consecutive
10:02Year, all right now to some of the trends that you need to know Donnie
10:06We talked about the top seven being the teams to pay attention to in the national championship race
10:12How about just correlate any odds to the top ten national championship odds on the FanDuel?
10:18Sportsbook Georgia is the favorite at plus 280 Georgia ranks number one, Ohio State number two
10:25second best price to win a title
10:27Oregon number three third best price to win a title, Texas number four fourth best number to win a national championship
10:35Alabama and Ole Miss five and six
10:38fourteen to one
10:39Fourteen to one in both spots
10:42LSU really is the only change up from the AP top ten to what we see here on the national
10:48Title list eighteen to one on the Bayou Bengals that right there tied for the seventh best number alongside Notre Dame
10:55But LSU the only team listed here in the top ten of the national championship
11:00Prices that ranks outside of the top ten in the AP preseason poll LSU checks in at number 13 in the country
11:08It's kind of interesting to see because with the changes of the actual conferences, right?
11:12It's like a Georgia and Ohio State fantastic SEC and the big ten, but then you see Oregon
11:17Hey, look at out the Pac-12 involved only to realize that Ohio State to Oregon three. They're now two big ten teams
11:23Hey, look, Texas gonna represent the big twelve is number four. No, they're gonna represent the SEC
11:27So one in four Alabama Ole Miss LSU SEC
11:31So some of these top dominant teams here and this is what you like to though
11:34Because if you are a team that's looking to go into a power conference
11:38This is what I always joked about like why would you want to fight tooth and nail to get to the SEC?
11:42I understand the payday at the end of the season
11:45But you can also have big paydays for your university
11:48If you have a great football team that continuously just makes the playoffs you get more advertising revenue a bigger
11:53National stage so when you say to yourself
11:55Well, why in the heck would Oregon want to go to the big ten and now have to play better football teams?
11:59Well now there's 12 teams in there and there's more money and a legitimate chance to make it into the final numbers
12:04It's the same thing. We took like, Oklahoma. Just stay in the big twelve at this point
12:07Why would you want to go anywhere at this point?
12:09Well, the changes that are made from these other conferences you can make money now
12:13It didn't make sense to me top two top four get in stay in the easiest conference
12:17You can possibly be with a legitimate chance to make it in so at least now
12:20We're seeing these teams head into the big conferences and saying okay
12:23We can probably afford two losses now as opposed to zero and still have a chance to play for the championship
12:28Which is all you can ask for that's what I like to see
12:31But it still is interesting to see that top five and be like, oh look at the old conferences
12:35They used to be in only realizing now. We're more condensed into the same conferences
12:39four out of the SEC in the top ten four out of the big ten the independent program that is Notre Dame in
12:46ACC, Florida State rounding out the top ten
12:49You can see how heavily skewed it is by the numbers, of course conference realignment
12:54Don't for done for only one reason that's the economic engine that is TV revenue in college football
13:00Oregon was making just over 30 million dollars if that in the PAC 12
13:04They are set to make more than 70 million dollars based on TV revenue now in the big ten
13:09Here is the top 25 by the numbers the SEC has nine teams by far the most
13:15Texas A&M rounds out the list from the SEC they check in at number 20
13:21So all nine schools out of the southeastern conference in the top 20
13:25A&M though has now been ranked in the preseason top 25 for the last six seasons in a row
13:31For the previous five years under Jimbo Fisher. They ended the year unranked now
13:36It's Mike Elko at the helm in college station
13:39the big ten has six teams that includes USC and Iowa rounding out the top 25 at 23 and
13:4625 and Donnie here's one that really stands out to me despite not having a team ranked inside the top 12 or inside the top
13:5410 excuse me, Utah at number 12 leads off the big 12 and they have five
14:01Programs there it speaks a little bit to the depth in the quality of the big 12 conference
14:06which will be a fascinating conference championship race this year, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Arizona and
14:13Kansas those other four teams along with Utah who leads the conference in the rankings
14:18Yeah, when you see a couple those top teams leave other teams have to fill in here and then claim their stake
14:23So yes now we're a top 10 top 15 program deservedly
14:26So we'll see a play out in the football field
14:28but now you can see that path a little bit clearer to a big 12 title a little bit more parity and also more money at
14:34the end of that rainbow because more teams have a legitimate chance now to make that college football playoff and get a piece of that pie
14:39For the conference, so it's wins all the way around. Nothing was better than expansion here getting to 12 teams
14:46It's just a shame that it took so long to get here college football is gonna be a much better sport
14:51Because many teams are in it and I'll just leave you with this on that end of it like imagine in the NFL Ben
14:56Thursday night football banner ceremony in Kansas City the Baltimore Ravens come to town on
15:02Banner night game number one Baltimore wins
15:05Why even watch Kansas City Chiefs football the rest of the season because they can't play in the Super Bowl how crazy that would be
15:10That was us for so so long in college football
15:13Now we're gonna get that
15:15Professional feel where your fan base can cheer along all season long with a legitimate chance to make it into the playoffs
15:21That's all you can ask for. That's all you can ask for
15:25Absolutely. So Michigan, Texas week number two a marquee matchup between two top ten teams in the big house
15:31The loser of that game in previous seasons had no wiggle room the rest of the year
15:37Could they go on a run to a conference championship for sure, but now the wiggle room is there which adds
15:43Significance to games throughout the entirety of the regular season. Not just a spotlight in
15:50One place. Let's look at the conference odds
15:53We will continue to do so on the other side of the break Clemson checks in at 14th in the country
16:00They have only won one of the last three ACC
16:04Championships after a span of winning six in a row up until the 2021
16:09Season and despite Davo Sweeney and Clemson losing four conference games a year ago
16:14They still check in at number 14
16:17They have been ranked in the preseason AP poll for the last 11 consecutive seasons
16:21They have finished the previous 10 years also ranked despite the disaster that is happening in Clemson, South Carolina
16:29Second best price before the state remains the favorite plenty more around the conference odds up next and what it means for the college
16:36Football playoff here on the early line the preseason a people is out and it's a new era in college football in
16:432024 no longer the power 5 as we say goodbye to the pack 12
16:48It's a power for a top college football in the ACC for the state a 3 to 1 favorite to win a conference title
16:56Clemson second best price both teams ranked inside the top 15
17:00FSU 10 Clemson at number 14
17:03Nationally the two top teams you see out of the big 10 ranked second and third, Ohio State ranked in the top 5 for the 8th
17:11consecutive preseason poll at number 2
17:144 of those 8 years Oregon its first year in the big 10
17:18Checks in at number 3 in the AP poll
17:20Utah the highest ranked big 12 team at number 12 in the country K State
17:26Inside the top 20 as well the youths the favorites plus 3 20 K State at 4 to 1
17:32Georgia the number one team in the country the favorite to win the SEC at a plus 170 number
17:38Texas less than $2 behind the Longhorns number 4 nationally second best price to win the Southeastern Conference Championship
17:45Let me ask you this question too
17:47Because again just reading up on teams entering into the season talking about the top 25 who can actually win the conferences
17:52But so many times in the past like you looked at each division per the conference itself
17:57Can you update the people been on the conferences themselves?
17:59Because it's not like in the past that I think in a lot of these where you win the East or win the West the legends
18:04Of the leaders or whatever. It wasn't a big 10. How does that actually work now?
18:07It's just the top two teams and some of these conferences playing the championship and what happens if they don't play each other at that
18:12Point where it's like, well, what are the tiebreakers almost crazy at the power conference level?
18:17There are no longer divisions in any of the league. So it's the two best win percentages in
18:24Conference action they will play for a conference championship and try to earn
18:28What are those automatic bids to the college football playoff?
18:31Of course in the new 12 team era
18:34five automatic births for the five highest ranked conference champs based on the
18:39Preseason poll and what we know out of the college football playoff selection committee the four power conference champions
18:45More than likely will have a seat at the table being the four highest ranked conference champs
18:51Which leaves room for the highest ranked group of five champion like a Liberty out of conference
18:58USA potentially a team out of the AAC like Memphis Boise State the champions of the Mountain West
19:05They were receiving votes in the preseason AP top 25. So that's the format now DRS on a conference to conference
19:14Situation divisions are gone at least at the power level
19:17Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see how it does come down the stretch
19:20Usually the cream does rise to the top. But again with the expanded playoff, it's sort of lessens that impact
19:25It's like hey, look we got a raw deal. We can't win the Big Ten championship outright
19:29But how about this? We're slotted in the tenth overall seed now in the college football playoff
19:34So you do get some of those bonus because you can imagine that to an undefeated team in the Big Ten who doesn't get to
19:39Play for the championship therefore is left out of the national championship picture how crazy that would be
19:43So things are working their way into form here just again because we have the expanded playoff
19:48Even if you don't get that
19:49Hey
19:49we want to win the Big Ten first the ultimate prize is the national championship and you can still go there even if you have a
19:55Great season to get phased out of that title game
19:58Multiple routes now because although the selection committee of the CFP never really stuck to a certain criteria
20:05It was pretty easy to see based on sample size
20:08Prior to last year in the four-team history of the college football playoff
20:13If you were a one loss power five conference champion
20:17You were more than likely going to make it to the college football playoff now
20:21There are so many different avenues with the seven at-large bids as well
20:25So not only what it will mean from a team and program perspective, but the individual races
20:31for a Heisman
20:33Trophy there was a pedigree based on what we knew in the 10-year history of the four-team format of the college football
20:39Playoff lead your team to a conference championship or a CFP
20:45Appearance now, there's so many more opportunities to be a part of the college football playoff field
20:50Oregon's Dylan Gabriel who last year was at Oklahoma enters this year as the Heisman Trophy favorite DRS
20:57It's the first time in the last three years of college football that we do not have a returning Heisman Trophy
21:04Winner Bryce young two years ago. Kayla Williams a season ago
21:08Yeah, look at the parody out there, right?
21:107 to 1 plus 7 50 10 to 1 14 to 1 14 to 1 14 to 1 14 to 1
21:14How about that?
21:15So I should have a pretty exciting finish and also again, usually it's the best team and the best player you lose a game early
21:22Maybe you don't factor so well into the Heisman
21:24You can't have that like the end of the season when you're having at the downtown athletic club
21:27These teams are going to be in the playoffs
21:29You still are gonna have those big game environments that you can play on a week-to-week basis
21:33Which basically you can get your Heisman moment multiple times been in a single season
21:38DRS from the odds perspective in college football. It's always about a path
21:43You can really lay out a path and correlate odds to it
21:46Now there seems to be plenty more pathways with all the changes in the adaptations
21:52We have to make this year in college foot