It’s late, but it’s still early.
Yes, I know that all the other way-too-early Top 25s are already out. I’m not the first to cross the finish line, er, whatever it means to have the first way-too-early Top 25 ranking out. I’m not 2nd. Heck, I’m not even 3rd, 4th or 5th.
But a great human once said “if you’re not 1st, you’re last.”
Whoops. Wrong quote.
A great human once said, “I’d rather be right than 1st.”
Consider that my way of saying that the way-too-early Top 25 that you’re about to read and totally agree with will be the best of all the rest.
As a reminder, this ranking is heavily weighted on what the previous season told us, the returning personnel and the transfer portal. I do NOT rank teams based on strength of schedule, nor am I trying to predict end-of-season rankings. I rank them based on where I think they’d be if they stepped onto the field today with the personnel they return.
Here’s my way-too-early Top 25:
The death of an active head coach is never something that you can be fully prepared for, but MSU set itself up well to avoid a step back in the post-Mike Leach era. Having an up-and-coming assistant like Zach Arnett to turn to will help, as will having a starting quarterback like Will Rogers who has 3 years of experience. MSU’s new identity will be on the defensive side of the ball, where Jett Johnson should again lead one of the SEC’s better units.
This ranking is purely out of respect for Luke Fickell. We know the Badgers are on the heels of their worst 3-year stretch in 2 decades. But Fickell has done a tremendous job bringing in Phil Longo to update the outdated passing game, and with Braelon Allen returning to the backfield, there’s hope that Wisconsin can improve immediately with one of the top 10-15 best coaches in the sport.
Wait, didn’t UCLA just lose Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Zach Charbonnet from a team that lost 3 of its final 4 games? Yes. But didn’t UCLA also just add perhaps one of the most important non-quarterback transfer portal additions this cycle with tailback Carson Steele? Also yes. Chip Kelly went to the MAC to get Collin Schlee as his possible DTR replacement, at least until 5-star true freshman Dante Moore is ready. There’s a roster that can stay afloat in the suddenly deep Pac-12.
It would’ve been interesting to see how high UNC would’ve been ranked had Drake Maye finished the year the way he started it. That didn’t happen, though. Maye is still returning as a top-5 quarterback in America, but there are questions about his surroundings. Offensive coordinator Phil Longo is off to Wisconsin, and top targets Josh Downs and Antoine Green are both gone. But a more experienced defense should take some pressure off Maye.
Returning Spencer Rattler and Juice Wells was monumental. The Gamecocks were one of the 10-15 best teams in America in those final 3 games. Shane Beamer’s program suffered some key portal losses with Jaheim Bell, MarShawn Lloyd and Jordan Burch, and it has to improve defending the run. But you know Beamer will get the most from his special teams units and as long as he continues to actively recruit the portal, there’s plenty of reason to suggest the team we saw down the stretch will show up in 2023.
There’s a legitimate Big 12 contender in Lubbock. A defense loaded with super seniors and 9 returning offensive starters are running it back for Joey McGuire’s squad. They looked like a different team down the stretch with former Oregon quarterback Tyler Shough as the starter. The Red Raiders have a chance to build on their best season of the post-Mike Leach era.
The Big 12 champs lost their heart and soul in Deuce Vaughn, but don’t sleep on Chris Klieman’s squad. Will Howard got some meaningful reps for an injured Adrian Martinez, and the Wildcats return 8 offensive starters. There’s enough proven depth in the trenches to think Kansas State can defend its Big 12 title.
Willie Fritz gave us one of the best stories of the year in college football. A historic 10-win improvement included a stunning late comeback against USC in the Cotton Bowl. Now the question is what the encore looks like. Michael Pratt is returning with an experienced offensive line, though replacing top tailback Tyjae Spears will determine if Tulane can deliver another top-20 offense and double-digit wins.
I truly believe that a healthy Quinn Ewers will be one of the biggest storylines of college football as Arch Manning waits his turn. I’m not sure Ewers was himself post-Alabama injury. Obviously we need to see Texas replace Bijan Robinson, but Steve Sarkisian has 9 returning starters to work with on offense and defensively, Texas had its best season since 2017. Coming off a year in which all 5 losses were by 1 score, a pressure-packed year awaits in Austin.
Is there a more underrated coach in America than Jonathan Smith? You could argue that Smith is the best hire from the post-2017 cycle after leading the Beavers to their best season in 2 decades. He now returns almost that entire offensive line — who had one of the nation’s most consistent rushing attacks — to block for incoming transfer DJ Uiagalelei. Go figure that the former 5-star quarterback is the biggest question mark for an Oregon State team trying to win double-digit games in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history.
Why not more respect for the defending national runners-up, you ask? Well, we know that Max Duggan, Quentin Johnston, Kendre Miller and Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson are all gone. We don’t know how sustainable Sonny Dykes’ Year 1 success will be at a place who exceeded 7 wins for the first time in 5 years. But the Horned Frogs are loading up in the transfer portal, which should keep them in Big 12 contention.
So let’s recap Clemson’s 2022 season. Against the 4 teams that finished in the AP Top 25, it went 1-3 with an average scoring margin of -11. Yuck. You can’t blame that all on DJ Uiagalelei. Cade Klubnik has sky-high expectations, but the bigger question might be on defense, where Myles Murphy and Bryan Bresee will leave a couple of massive holes on that defensive line. The Tigers get the benefit of the doubt for posting 12 consecutive seasons of double-digit wins, but this thing isn’t trending in the right direction.
Folks, the Pac-12 is good. It’s good because it has solid coaching and battle-tested quarterbacks. Oregon, it appears, has both boxes checked with Dan Lanning and the ageless Bo Nix. The 10-win Ducks have a lot of momentum with a nice bowl comeback and an elite recruiting class, but the 2023 squad has to figure out some major offensive line turnover and they’re losing a trio of standouts from a defense who lacked consistency.
I know, I know. Caleb Williams is back. It’s Lincoln Riley. It’s the relentless recruiting of the transfer portal. But we’ve now seen Riley coach 4 different quarterbacks who finished in the top 2 of the Heisman Trophy voting, and all of them had the same postseason result. Then Riley decided to bring back Alex Grinch, who coached consecutive disappointing defenses under Riley (1 at Oklahoma, 1 at USC). If your reason for ranking USC as a top-5 team is based on the offense, you haven’t been paying attention.
The Michael Penix Jr.-Kalen DeBoer combination is money in the bank. That much we know. What we need to see from the Huskies is if they can hang with Utah and USC, and if they can do so with a defense who let up 5.6 yards per play. But DeBoer is quickly establishing himself as one of the nation’s better coaches, and they should continue to recruit the portal well and compete for a Pac-12 title.
I’m skeptical about Joe Milton consistently leading a top-10 team, but I’m not skeptical about Josh Heupel leading a top-10 offense. In fact, he had top-8 offenses in 5 consecutive years. Hence, why Heupel is 46-16 as a head coach. Returning Bru McCoy and Squirrel White will give Heupel a good shot of continuing that streak, though the Vols’ 2023 upside will be determined by whether Tim Banks’ defense can be a bit more consistent.
The Sam Hartman addition is a huge reason I’m willing to put the Irish in the top 10. Pairing that with a Year 2 Marcus Freeman defense seems like an excellent combination, though I do think we need to see a bit more from the play-calling and returning skill-players to assume that Notre Dame is a legit preseason Playoff contender.
On the same day, we found out that Cam Rising AND Brant Kuithe are both returning for 2023. That’s huge for the 2-time defending Pac-12 champions. Kyle Whittingham’s team beat USC twice and absolutely deserves to be ranked ahead of the Trojans … but you can’t put the Utes ahead of Penn State after the post-Rising injury result we saw in the Rose Bowl.
Sean Clifford is finally out of eligibility, which has Penn State fans fired up because it means former 5-star recruit Drew Allar is up next. The Lions’ backfield is loaded with Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen both back after standout true freshmen seasons. But defensively, Penn State has a major to fill in the secondary with Joey Porter Jr. and Ji’Ayer Brown off to the NFL. Manny Diaz should lead another top-20 unit, though his group will be defined by improvements made against Michigan and Ohio State.
It’s remarkable to think that Brian Kelly took an LSU team who had less than 40 scholarship players in last year’s bowl game, and it turned it into the SEC West champs with a 10-win season in Year 1. He did that with true freshmen tackles, a transfer portal quarterback and a true freshman sensation linebacker in Harold Perkins. Those guys, along with possible preseason All-SEC receiver Malik Nabers, will be the Year 2 foundation.
The ultimate good vibes team this offseason finished the year as well as Seminole fans could’ve asked for. A 10-win season with 3 losses by an average of 6 points suggests that Mike Norvell has FSU in its best place of the post-Jameis Winston era. That’s right. Even better than 2017. Jordan Travis’ return coupled with the top transfer portal class, headlined by former South Carolina tight end Jaheim Bell,, should have FSU fans feeling plenty optimistic heading into 2023.
The CJ Stroud era is over, but the Buckeyes are still loaded at wideout with Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka back to work with former 5-star recruit Kyle McCord. And even if Ryan Day transitions out of calling plays, we should pencil the Buckeyes in for a top-5 offense. The questions will be on defense, where the Buckeyes fell apart down the stretch of 2022 after Jim Knowles looked like a worthy upgrade at DC. The good news is that with Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau back, the Buckeyes should have some game-wreckers in the trenches. The bad news is that Ohio State is suddenly in a “need to prove it against Michigan” year to get more respect than the Wolverines.
The Blake Corum return was massive to pair alongside a developing JJ McCarthy, and it’s worth remembering a year after having a ton of personnel turnover, Michigan still went 13-0 en route to the Playoff, which was no small feat. So why not have the Wolverines at No. 2? Well, when was the last time we saw Michigan beat a non-Big Ten team on the big stage? The 2019 Notre Dame game? Maybe the 2017 opener against a Florida team who was about to be in free fall? That’s the issue. You can’t say Michigan’s ceiling is top-2 worthy when it hasn’t won a bowl game since 2015.
Yep, I’m well aware that Bryce Young and Will Anderson are gone. But a team who does nothing but win double-digit games and sign top-3 classes with the best coach of all time gets the nod over Michigan and Ohio State, neither of whom have shown with their current coaches that they can hang with Alabama or Georgia. Alabama, meanwhile, hasn’t lost to a non-SEC team since Clemson in the 2018 season. Dallas Turner and Kool-Aid McKinstry will headline a new-look Alabama defense that somewhat quietly finished No. 4 nationally in yards/play allowed. The Tide aren’t going anywhere.
I mean, the team that lost 15 players to the NFL Draft and just did that is going to get the benefit of the doubt until further notice. There’s a talented quarterback room with Carson Beck, Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton, and we know that Georgia will still have plenty of backfield options, as well as a passing game led by returners Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey and AD Mitchell, as well as established incoming SEC receivers Dominic Lovett and Rara Thomas. And defensively, yes, you have to replace Nolan Smith, Kelee Ringo, Christopher Smith and Jalen Carter but after losing 8 defensive players to the NFL Draft the previous year and posting a top-5 unit, I wouldn’t assume some massive regression is in the cards. The Dawgs deserve that top spot.
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Regarding SEC teams: If an SEC school goes 8-4 and win their bowl game, they will finish ranked. So which team not on this list could win 8 reg season games?
I believe TAM will have a bounce back year. Say 8-4 or maybe 9-3. Getting Scumbag Petrino was huge although as a Falcons fan I wouldn't pi ss on him if he was on fire
Also I expect Ole Miss to reach 8 wins again.
I hope I'm wrong but I don't see MSU in Top 25. It will be a difficult season imo.6 or 7 wins
Look again. MSU was listed at 25.
I’m pretty much ok with the top 25 as a whole. But I doubt the BIG10 will put 2 teams in the playoffs again. The question is which team will replace one of those two. Not Florida St. and as much as I’d like to say LSU will be the team, I don’t believe they’ll do it in year 2 of the Kelly tenure…maybe (probably?) in year 3. Something is telling me that ‘23 will be the season a PAC12 team cracks the playoffs, only to see the fate of TCU.
Lol I see the rankings. I should have said I have my doubts.,.
Nutz, I understood what you wrote. Then again, I had an excellent English teacher in junior high.
"nor am I trying to predict end-of-season rankings."
your 8-4 theory doesn't hold much water.
uga finished 10-3 in '15 and finished ranked #24 in coaches and unranked in ap. and honestly, that team is very likely the worst 10-win team in sec history.
I agree about 2015 . that was the worst ranked team ever. But if you did the research you would know that a 9-4 bowl winning SEC team has failed to make the final Top 25 less only 2 or 3 times since 2006. Never has a 10 win SEC school been left out of both polls.
For 9-3 teams losing their bowl game to finish 9-4 its a different story.Often they fall out of final poll.
So my prediction theory is: Which team can finish 8-4 to have a chance to be ranked by winning their bowl game?
Good take Uncle.
Why is FSU the new media CFB darling? FSU barely defeated 6-6 Oklahoma in its bowl game. IMO, FSU will lose its opening game to LSU.
Utah is not the best team in what will be a deep Pac-12; Pac-12, in its last season as-is. Pac will come down to Oregon, USC or UW. I expect 1 of these 3 to make the final 4 and play in the 2023/24 Rose Bowl.
1 huge question? Is Stroud going to return to Ohio State?
UGA with its schedule is a lock for the SEC champ game. Georgia finish ranked #1 and play in the Sugar Bowl.
It's tough to count Utah out with Rising coming back. Who they are with him and without him is night and day. Whittingham is still the best coach in that conference as well. I'd say they deserve the benefit of the doubt for now, but the PAC-12 is probably the deepest it has been since the early 2010s when Oregon and Stanford were perennial national title contenders with UCLA and USC having good seasons in that period as well.
The word is that Rising's knee injury in the Rose Bowl was really bad. Utes play 2 P5 teams OOC next season. Florida in SLC and at Baylor. Plus, Utah plays at SC in the regular season.
Agree about Whittingham. But DeBoer at UW did a great job in 2022, has an amazing record and has most of his key players back. UW has an on the radar OOC game at Michigan State. UW does have to play at tSC but gets Oregon and Utah in Seattle.
Just when the Pac-12 seems to be turning it around sleazeball Kevin Warren steals the LA teams before he sneaks off into the night.
The Pacific Conference post Pete Carroll cannot have nice things.
PS - With Freeze and Petrino back in the SEC please do not hire Pruitt to replace Gold.
Stroud will go in the 1st round of this NFL draft. He’d be a fool to return to OSU next year.
He could be the first pick in the draft if he comes back and shows the wheels from the Peach Bowl were not a fluke.
He has reasons to come back.
IN general I agree; however, with the right NIL deal and injury insurance?
I expect Buckeyes boosters will step up with a whole lot of NIL cash.
The Wisconsin cheese brains will NOT sniff the Top 25! Why? They lost the greatest QB in the history of their program: Mertz!
Meanwhile, the prognosticators continue to underestimate the impact Another Fine Mertz will have on the Gator program. Let’s be real. With a generational talent like Mertz at the helm, the Gators win the national title as he Mertzes all over the nation!
Meeeeeeeertz!
I love it! MrTruth is the kind of swamp lizard lover I can get behind. So who replaces Napier? Let's be honest, no coach lasts more than 3 years at UF without a Natty. Which means you guys have up to 22 more months until you hire someone else. Who's the guy that finally puts out the decade long dumpster fire and brings relevance back to one of the Nation's most storied programs?
Yes, it would be three and out if Napier has started hot and then fallen off, like McElwain and Mullen.
But this is a true rebuild. He'll get more time.
Napier has fired up the afterburners on The Mertzmobile and will ride the thundering war machine to college football glory in 2023! Then in 2024? Same Gator Time, same Gator Glory!
Mertz, Mertz, Mertz, Mertz!!!
Go Gators!!!!!
lol love it.
mrtruth, I saw on a different post that you stated Kentucky missed out on Mertz and had to settle for Leary. Mertz was always a bad backup plan. In four years he has 38 TDs and 26 Ints. In four years Leary has 62 TDs and 16 Ints. Who settled? Looking forward to seeing the gators in Lexington. The gators will leave having lost 3 straight to the Cats.
I think he was being sarcastic. He’s not very high on Meetz from reading the posts…
You think? You guys up there in the commonwealth don’t get a whole lot of exposure to satire, do you?
Mertz is an insurance policy against Miller getting injured again. He will be given a chance to win the starting job in spring, but he doesn’t know the playbook.
As to Leary, he will do better than what UK had at QB last year, but so will the Gators. You can bet Miller won’t miss wide open WR’s and give the game away to the Cats, the way Deer-in-the-Headlights AR did last year.
It should be a good game.
StlGator, I think it's less about satire than the PSD Cats fans have from decades of disappointment lol... I never take the Florida game for granted. Too much talent and tradition. It should be a good game this year. Watching Miller in the bowl game, I thought he looked pretty good at times. Certainly for a guy who hadn't taken many college snaps to that point. I think it will be a good QB battle in Gainesville this season!
Cats Fan, all you need to know about Miller is that he nearly had a 60% completion rate and threw no INTs in Las Vegas, even though he had zero running game behind him and spent most of the afternoon running for his life. The Gator OL went to watch the Cirque du Soleil show instead of playing in that game.
Mertz may give Miller some competition this spring, but if he continues to force passes into coverage as he did in WI, he’ll be riding the pines when the season opens up in Salt Lake City.
Have Mertzy. Is this the same guy that played mediocre at best ball in the B1G.
Wisconsin and Fickell upgraded at QB by bringing in the kid from SMU and new OC that will 'modernize' the Wisconsin O for the first time since Alvarez was the coach.
Not sure the C.J. Stroud era is over.
should he return, i'm not sure if that'd be more shocking or silly
I don't know any details. But NIL money to stay might be pretty significate. If he comes out next year, he probably would be the 1st QB selected.
i keep forgetting about NIL and its reach on today's game/players.....and the future of college athletics as we once knew it. what a game-changer.
I have heard from several of the talking heads that some of the players may be making more from NIL than they would getting a rookie salary in the NFL.
Not likely for someone picked as high as Stroud is likely to go though
There is a world of difference in 1st overall money and mid 1st money.
If he comes back and puts his Peach Bowl mobility on tape next year, he is 1st overall material.
The big NIL money doesn’t touch top of the 1st round money. NFL rookie contracts are guaranteed for 4-5 years. NIL deals are good for one year at that point. Long term, take the NFL money and run. There’s no comparison.
Players who stay in college for another season are looking to improve their draft stock. All NIL has to do then is make that year worth a little more than the multi-year rookie contract they might get as a day 2 draftee.
The only rare exceptions to that rule are guys playing on a loaded team that might win the NC next season. I suppose OSU could fit that profile.
I heard on a sports talk show today that he may be getting a ridiculous sum of NIL if he comes back (so ridiculous I'm not gonna even repeat it) so if he does end up coming back and then has a long a illustrious career (financially as well as athletically) then the difference in that NIL money and the first year NFL money won't be as big of a deal. Sucks that it always comes down to money. I'd love to see someone come back for the love of the (college) game. And if NIL helps keep players in college for another year, then that is a win for the college game, in my opinion...
1. If Cam Rising and Brant Kuithe are both returning for 2023, the Gators' first game next season could be ugly.
2. C.J. Stroud has not yet declared for the NFL Draft
3. No famous human ever said either one of those two things. However, John Maynard Keynes did say, "I would rather be vaguely right than precisely wrong."
4. Georgia spring practice at the quarterback position will be interesting.
My pastor when it come to marriage. You can be happily married or you can be right. You can’t be both. That was a valuable lesson.
Both Rising and Kuithe are returning. How will Rising respond from a serious knee injury?
We’ll find out come September, but they can do wonders with knee surgery and rehab these days. However, I believe in addition by subtraction.
The Gators beat Utah last season. The Gator QB won’t be as erratic and the Gator D will be much improved come next season. I’m expecting another Gator W.
It will be tougher in their stadium but we should still have a size, speed and strength advantage. We shall see.
SLC is a very tough place to play. I say little in the way of size and speed advantage when UF played Oregon State in Las Vegas.
When UF played Oregon State in Las Vegas, the OL forgot to show up. As a result, the Gator running game disappeared and Miller spent the game running for his life.
The fallout of that debacle was that two starters on that OL jumped into the portal the next week and have already been replaced. Next season, the Gator OL won’t be taking any days off.
Dale Earnhardt did say, “Second place just first loser.”
2, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9 make no sense. But I see from catching heat TCU isn't to be found in the top ten. So, let's just go with Saban's personal coaching poll vote for the top five minus the TCU? lol. So we have no idea who the OC or DC will be for Bama, let alone the QB but oh, let's put them at #2. Name me another team that's ever been in that situation that has or should be ranked 2nd if this poll were to come to fruition? LSU at number 6, and TN 10th? LSU may take a step forward next season. TN already has and it included an absolute trouncing of LSU at LSU.
Agree on Tennessee at 10…that is way too high.
Their likely starter has a pretty long track record of not being as good as the dude he is replacing. And that defense…ouch. Probably a regression for the Vols in 23
Defense can't possibly be worse than it is right now.
You say that until you watch the front 7 fall apart without Jeremy Banks. Your front 7 was halfway decent last year. This year, running against that UT defense will be like slicing hot butter.
Jeremy Banks was MASSIVELY overrated. Didn't do much of anything productive.
And btw, we were top 3 in the SEC in run defense and top 25 in the FBS.
Not sayin Milton can’t do well, but it feels like a lot of Vol fans think he’ll pick up right where Hendon left off. I’ll wait and see.
Milton was the guy. 2 years ago until he wasn’t and Hooker got his shot. Hopefully Milton’s deep accuracy has improved since the first Pitt game.
I’m very much in wait and see mode with UT. High ceiling, but also low floor.
After seeing Milton in the Vanderbilt game, with the new starters at WR, and the Clemson game I think Heupel can develop him into a good QB. Maybe great. But even if he is just good, we should be ok. We held Vandy to 0 and Clemson to 14. I think the D will be improved..
Not even laughing at that swiss cheese logic. If you are trying to justify an opinion and your reasoning example includes how well you did against Vandy, you are grasping for straws
Rare time where I actually agree with you.
He was not playing well in that Vandy game.
He kept overthrowing ppl.
I think LSU continues to improve under Kelly and easily defeats a wayyyyyy overrated FSU in the opening game.
I think Garret Riley at Clemson puts the Tigers back in the ACC driver's seat.
The Pac-12 rankings are screwed up. A Pac-12 team, SC, OR or UW will be in the running for next season's playoff.
Simpson by all accounts is a great passer who should be a fine replacement for Bryce Young. We've been blessed to have Tua / Bryce back-to-back, but I don't believe Simpson's performance will result in a steep drop-off from those two's production.
Golding leaving is a massive positive for Alabama. His defenses were scorched in big games annually. I don't know if we're going to live up to that ranking, but I'd sooner put us there than towards the back of the top ten.
Golding leaving is positive, but unless he is replaced with someone who does a good job, it doesn't matter. Saban's last few DC have been questionable, so it is no guarantee the position improves, even with Golding gone.
Alabama will learn that adjusting to a new coordinator has usually been a problem for most teams. However, finding an upgrade over Golding shouldn’t be difficult for Saban unless there is serious doubt among viable candidates about Saban’s longevity. It could be as short as a year.
I guess by your logic South Carolina should be rated higher than TN. They took a step forward and absolutely trounced TN this year.
You Tennessee fans just can’t let go of the win over LSU. Y’all won and won big! There I said it. BUT, I also have to say thank you. That game was the best thing that happened to LSU last season. It was a wake up call. It woke up a sleeping Tiger. If LSU had played Tennessee after that wake up call, I can guarantee you one thing…it would not have been a blow out. Who would have won that game? We’ll never know. LSU might have won, Tennessee might have won. But it would not have been the blow out we saw. So again, thank you Tennessee!
BTW, it’s kind of funny that y’all don’t say much about the S. Carolina game.
I forgot to say one thing. The 2022 season has ZERO bearing on the 2023 season. So LSU rightfully being ranked above Tennessee has nothing to do with last year’s Tennessee win over LSU.
A quick glance at the 247 Talent Composite puts LSU in the Top 10 and UT on the fringe of Top25 with Auburn, S.Carolina, Ole Miss, Arky, and UK. That's about right.
???????
Tennessee is ranked No. 10???
We get that you hate Tennessee. But at least TRY to be credible if you try to speak facts.
Yeah, this seems pretty reasonable for the most part. Might put corndogs and viles a little higher. Super interested to see what ACC looks like next year: UNC, FSU, and Clemson might be formidable (not sure about top 5 tho)
Where's Floriduh? I would've thought Sunbelt Billy would have them contending for an SEC Title by now. That's what all the 'turds were saying by this time last year.
Hmmm. No? Maybe not?
Georgia is obviously #1 until someone beats them. They’ve earned it regardless of whatever this years NFL Draft haul turns out to be.
FSU may be a bit high.
USC seems a bit low.
USC is lower in other polls. I tend to agree with you but I suspect it's based on Riley pulling the transfers in to spots on OL/DL. He's doing it right now. We've pulled a lot of starters from various teams to bulk up. We'll see though. People forget how hard it is to win a Natty. Took UGA 41 years to get back to one. Bama made it look easy.
I simply cannot believe that Riley did not fire Grinch?
With Grinch it will always be a suspect D and a terrific O.
Also, being in LA and heading to the B1G and finishing behind the Ducks in recruiting is not a good look.
Looking forward to SC playing in Eugene this season. Perhaps for the final time?
Everyone at USC and around the nation felt Riley should fire him. That said—Grinch was given a terrible defense with a few holes patched. He was not given a great group of players. It’s much more difficult to create an average defense than it is to create a superior offense. It takes time and only with that I do excuse Grinch.
The bowl game was the worst they played. But I think more credit should be given to Tulane. They came in with a solid offense that tore up Kansas State (Big 12 Champ) and once they found their bearings they wanted it more than USC.
Grinch should get two more years. If no improvement is seen next year then he should be on the firing line.
I think you could easily replace MSU with Ole Miss. I expect the offense to suffer, and it already wasn’t elite.
I don't think the offense will suffer with our new OC. I think it will be different and better.
No Texas A&M? Seriously? I'm a Dawg fan and appreciate the respect, but aTm is being slept on. They'll be legit in 23
No. No they won't.
I think they'll be a solid 10-2 next year. Anything less and jimbo is left on the tarmac.
Expect Jimbo on the tarmac. 8 wins is their ceiling (as always)
Or at least next to his motorcycle after broodying out?
I don't see it. They'll be better than they were this past season but I don't think they'll be ranked.
They will be at least in the top 15 at the end of 2023. You really shouldn't comment on things, like football, that you don't have a clue about, young lady.
If A&M is not a whole lot better a whole lot of NIL money will have been flushed down the commode.