On Monday the Associated Press released the preseason version of its Top 25 College Football Poll. Every year this marks the moment it all starts to get real. Although the AP Poll no longer has any actual impact on the season, thanks to the College Football Playoff rankings that began during the 2014 season (time flies), it will act as a placeholder until said rankings drop in early November.
For now it is one helluva conversation driver.
The rankings are notoriously innaccurate, but you won’t find any info regarding that here. I have actually been appalled by the amount of articles I’ve read this week with extensive breakdowns on where teams finish the season in the rankings compared to where they started. These anecdotal stats only recap what has happened in previous seasons and are not at all predictive as to what might happen next. All they really prove is how little we know going into any given season and how biased our innitial predictions typically are.
With that said, here are my biased and relatively uninformed takes on the meaningless rankings I just described!
Yup.
Alabama is number one.
This is the ranking that I agree with the most, by far. The Crimson Tide (#1) is once again the cream of the crop in college football and I beleive the gap is wider this year than most people are acknowledging. The question marks up front and at receiver are real, but the talent everywhere else is overwhelming. The offense is led by a rare returning Heisman winning quarterback in Bryce Young. After thowing 47 touchdowns but ultimately falling short in the CFP Championship, Young returns for his junior season on a mission. Reports out of camp are that his businesslike mentality is that of a seasoned professional. He knows what needs to be done and I don’t doubt one bit that he has what it takes to make it happen.
Georgia Tech transfer running back Jahmyr Gibbs will bring some much needed explosiveness in the run game while also being a heavy contributor as a receiver. I (and many others) think he is a sneaky Heisman candidate himself. Even with an already shaky offensive line that also lost its best player in first round tackle Evan Neal, the Bama offense looks plenty strong enough to bring another title to T-town.
Oh, and the defense is even better. This year’s unit has a serious chance to challenge that of any in team history. Will Anderson Jr. is the best player in college football and is coming off a monster season. The Bronko Nagurski award winner had an astonishing 101 total tackles, 31 for a loss, and 17.5 sacks. With the added attention he will surely get those numbers could easily regress, but that will only open the door for his edge rushing counterpart Dallas Turner to shine. The 6’4″ 240lb. sophomore had an impressive 8.5 sacks as a freshman and is poised for a breakout of his own. The secondary has some holes to fill, but adding LSU tranfer corner Eli Ricks opposite of high upside Kool-Aid McKinstry was a nice move. DeMarrco Hellams and Jordan Battle are as solid as it gets on the back end, giving renowned DB coach Nick Saban a group he should be able to depend on when he needs them most.
That’s right… they have that guy too. Saban called last year’s SEC championship and CFP runner-up season a “rebuiding year” and if you know anything about the man, how could you not believe him? The Tide will roll in 2022.
Okay.
The two and three spots in this years ranking are pretty non-descript if you ask me. Ohio State and Georgia are the consensus in these positions and I don’t have any qualms, although my lack of enthusiasm here is partially why I’m so bullish on Bama.
The Buckeyes (#2) boast arguably the most explosive offiense in the country. Led by the three-headed Heisman contending monster of C.J. Stroud, TreVeyon Henderson, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, they will put up huge scoring numbers. The bigger questions lie on the other side of the ball. With a defense that allowed more yards per game last season than Nebraska, they brought in Oklahoma State Defensive Coordinator Jim Knowles. Knowles ran one of the elite units in the country over the past two seasons, but did so on the strength of an unusually talented and experienced secondary. There is obviously plenty of talent on the Buckeye’s roster, but how long it takes for them to adjust to Knowles scheme will be crucial. I was cool on Ohio State all offseason, but have come around a bit lately simply based on the idea that the high-octane offense will be too much for teams to handle. They seem to be ranked properly.
Georgia (#3) in the three spot almost seems like a default ranking. The defending champions had eight players drafted from their legendary 2022 defense. Even with the outstanding roster that has been built through an excellent recruiting run over the last three years, it will be nearly impossible to replicate the success they had. Jalen Carter is a beast who I absolutely love (as a former big boy I tend to gravitate towards havoc-wreaking DTs), and Nolan Smith will provide some stability at linebacker. Even so, one has to wonder how the defense will hold up to the lofty expectations that have been set. I am quite possibly the last person who has yet to come around on Stetson Bennett. Yes, I saw how great he was. Maybe (probably) I’m an idiot, but I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’m a little more skeptical of this ranking than OSU’s, although I do beleive in what Kirby Smart has built in Athens so I won’t bet against him.
IDK.
There are two pockets of the rankings featuring teams that I just can’t get a feel for:
4-7 – Clemson, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, & Utah.
Outside of Alabama, the Clemson Tigers (#4) have been the most dominant program in the country over the last ten years. They have continued to recriut at an elite level and therefore have a top notch roster, yet for some reason I can’t shake the feeling that their time has passed. Dabo Swinney’s shtick seems to have worn off a bit and highly toubted quarterback DJ Uiagalelei was downright awful in his first full season as the starter. Defensive whiz Brent Venables is now the head coach at Oklahoma, so they will be depending on the high end talent on that side of the ball more than ever. In the end it will all come down to Uiagalelei. Admittedly I was drooling over him when he took over briefly for injured Trevor Lawrence in 2020 and was extremely high on him entering last season. If he can return to form Clemson should be fine. If not, who knows?
Notre Dame (#5) is the punchline of this years rankings. ESPN/SEC media mogul Paul Finebaum even went as far as to call it “a joke” that the Irish are ranked this high. I tend to agree as they are relatively unproven, and even though Marcus Freeman is having an outstanding first year of recruiting, he is still a very young and inexperienced head coach. I don’t remember the last time I liked a Notre Dame quarterback as much as I like Tyler Buchner, but there are probably too many question marks to justify a number five preseason ranking.
I can’t really explain why, but I’m just not a fan of Jimbo Fisher. Maybe it’s because my favorite pro team once drafted Christian Ponder in the first round, or maybe it’s just something about his face. Regardless of how I feel, the kids seem to love him. Texas A&M (#6) has continued to recruit at the very highest level, bringing in yet another elite class this year with arguably the best defensive line haul in history, headlined by #1 overall recruit Walter Nolen. The problem is that they will be depending on that haul, and trusting 18 year old big boys to go up agains 22 and 23 year old hogs is a big risk. Add the still undecided quarterback competition and I’m just not feeling it. I hope I’m wrong. I actually like the program historically and genuinely feel that their tremendous fanbase deserves a real winner.
Admittedly, I don’t know much about Utah (#7). I didn’t really watch any west coast football last year (something I’m very excited to change this year). The early temperature of the Utes ranking is that it’s too low. Kyle Whittingham has built a strong program that transitioned quite smoothly into Power 5 life. They had easily the strongest defense in the Pac 12 last year and are led on offense by the one-two punch of stud quarterback Cameron Rising and 6’2″ 238lb. star running back Tavion Thomas. I look forward to getting to know this team better in 2022 and based on what I’ve read, feel like this ranking is actually pretty fair.
14-16 – USC & Miami (More on #15 in part 2)
Two legacy programs struggling to regain steam, both in destination locations with exciting new head coaches. USC (#14) and Miami (#16) are probably the two most intruiging teams to me this year. They are doing it differently. Former Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley is using the new transfer rules to his advantage, looking to fast track the rebuild in Los Angeles. He has brought in numerous new faces who will look to make an immediate impact.Most notably is sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams who followed Riley from Oklahoma. Williams took over mid-season for struggling Spencer Rattler (now at the other USC) and had an outstanding run before fading down the stretch. Throw in Biletnikoff winner Jordan Addison (Pitt) and another stud receiveer in Mario Williams (Oklahoma), as well as plug and play running back Travis Dye (Oregon) and the Trojan’s offense is suddenly stacked. Linebackers Shane Lee (Alabama) and Eric Gentry (Arizona State) round out a loaded marquee of transfers. Riley has one of the more exciting teams in the coutnry.
Former Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal is taking a bigger picture approach in returning to his alma mater Miami (#16). He started by putting an added emphasis on the offseason strenth and conditioning program lead by Aaron Feld, whom he brought with him from Eugene. Early reports are that it is paying off tremedously. He continued the turnaround by going on a very nice recruiting run in recent months, specifically at offensive line. Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke came on strong as a sophomore last year with just under 3000 yards and a solid 25/6 TD to INT ratio. He enteres 2022 with a lot of hype and will need to live up to it for the Canes to take the next step.
As someone who is fascinated with program building, I tend to favor the approach being taken in Coral Gables. I really think Cristobal is the guy to bring the Hurricanes back to glory, but it may take a couple years for it to come to fruition. Both teams should be very exciting and fun to watch in 2022, but USC has more immediate upside.
I got a little too wordy here with the top end of the rankings. That just means there will be more content! I’ll split this up into two parts and follow up later in the week with the overrated, underrated, wild card, and honorable mention teams. You can also expect a re-watch breakdown of the first college football game I can remember, likely either Sunday or Monday.
Thanks for reading!
Superior CFB 