Hits And Misses Of The AP Preseason Top 25
One of the best days of the college football preseason is when the AP top 25 poll comes out. Mostly just because that means the season is about to start. Preseason polls mean very little in the long run, but for fanatics like myself, it’s something to relish. Polls never seem to get things 100% right, but that’s the fun part.
The AP Top 25
- Clemson
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Oklahoma
- Ohio State
- LSU
- Michigan
- Florida
- Notre Dame
- Texas
- Oregon
- Texas A&M
- Washington
- Utah
- Penn State
- Auburn
- UCF
- Michigan State
- Wisconsin
- Iowa
- Iowa State
- Syracuse
- Washinton State
- Nebraska
- Stanford
Hit: Iowa State Being Ranked
One of the most disrespected teams by the polls every year, the Cyclones sneak into the preseason top 25 for just the second time in program history. Iowa State loses the talents of Hakeem Butler and David Montgomery, but they retain QB Brock Purdy. Most importantly, they have head coach Matt Campbell back at the head of the realm. This program has been on the rise under Campbell, and they are squarely in the mix for the Bi 12 title race.
Miss: Way Too Much Pac-12 Flavor
The Pac 12 is easily the worst power five conference as of late. My mind is made up on that. No debate. I agree with Oregon, Washington, and Utah being in the top 25 but not the others. It pains me to say that because I’m a huge Mike Leech(Washington State) guy and Stanford is so damn consistent. However, neither team will win more than 8 games this year, and there are certainly other teams more deserving(Army).
Hit: Texas At 10
I’m a huge Longhorns fan, but even I understand this team has some question marks. Gone is Lil’Jordan Humphrey. Gone is most of the defense. There could be an argument that many of the defensive starters replaced aren’t as talented as the ones replacing them, but there is no replacement for experience. Texas deserves to be at 10 for now because they simply have a giant question mark on one side of the ball until proven otherwise.
Miss: Oklahoma Ahead Of Ohio State
Hey, maybe it’s the Texas fan in me but Oklahoma has more question marks than Ohio State. Both teams have new transfer QBs and lost a lot of talent to the draft. Oklahoma has a more established head coach, but their defense, well, is questionable to say the least. I think both teams will be around the top 5 most of the season, but Ohio State is just a more complete team as of now.
-Dillon Leary