Preseason polls are built on guesswork, reputation and a little bit of faith, and this year’s AP Top 25 gave Georgia a strange bit of history: the two-time defending SEC champion didn’t get a single preseason No. 1 vote.
That’s not the only wrinkle. No SEC team drew a first-place vote at all. Ohio State led the way with 40, followed by Oregon with 14, Indiana with 8, Notre Dame with 6 and Miami with 1.
Those ballots always tell a story, even before a snap is played. They also expose where individual voters see the market differently than the crowd. After comparing his own preseason ballot to the final AP preseason rankings, Mike Griffith found a handful of teams he viewed much differently than the consensus.
Washington was one of the biggest examples. Griffith slotted the Huskies at No. 24, while the AP preseason ranking placed them at No.
- That still wasn’t especially high in one sense, because seven voters left Washington off their ballots entirely.
The Huskies did not finish in last season’s AP Top 25, but Demond Williams Jr. is back at quarterback and third-year coach Jedd Fisch has established his culture. The schedule could also help early, with a path that looks good for a 4-0 start.
Washington should have a chance to climb into the mid-teens before its Oct. 3 trip to USC. After that, the final stretch brings home games against Indiana and a trip to Oregon.
Ole Miss was another team Griffith viewed more cautiously than the poll did. He had the Rebels at No. 15, while the AP preseason ranking put them at No.
- Griffith said he has questions about Pete Golding as a head coach, even though Golding kept the momentum Lane Kiffin built heading into the College Football Playoffs last season.
One voter left Ole Miss off the ballot entirely, while another placed the Rebels at No. 18.
The opener against Louisville will matter, and so will a Sept. 19 home game against LSU.
Michigan also landed lower on Griffith’s list than in the AP ranking. He had the Wolverines at No. 21, matching where they finished last season in the AP poll.
The offseason brought plenty of turmoil, with drama involving former head coach Sherrone Moore and a scramble that ended with 66-year-old former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham taking over. Even so, only one AP voter had Michigan lower than 21st, and one other voter matched Griffith’s spot exactly.
The Wolverines get a chance to alter that view when they host Oklahoma on Sept. 12.
On the other side of the ledger, Auburn stood out as a team Griffith had higher than the poll consensus. He ranked the Tigers No. 25, but they were only 43rd among vote-getting teams.
That gap becomes less dramatic when stacked against the rest of the field: Clemson was the 26th-highest vote-getter with 112 points, followed by Florida with 51, Boise State with 43 and Arizona in 29th with 32. TCU sat 30th with 11 points, while Navy and South Carolina each had 10.
Ten more schools finished with single-digit totals.
Auburn’s case comes from what the program showed last season. The Tigers lost six of seven games by single digits, and that close-call profile seems to be doing some of the work in the preseason ranking.
Griffith said the Tigers could change perception fast with home games against Florida on Sept. 19 and Vanderbilt on Sept. 26, plus a road trip to Tennessee. The road game at Georgia on Oct. 17 and the home date with LSU on Oct. 24 could swing the other way just as quickly.
Only one other pollster had Auburn on a Top 25 ballot, placing the Tigers at No. 23.
Florida was another team Griffith liked more than the wider field. He put the Gators at No. 18, while they checked in 27th among vote-getting teams.
Only 14 of the 69 AP voters had Florida in their Top 25, though that could shift after a 2-0 start. Griffith said it was hard not to be bullish after meeting coach Jon Sumrall, and he added that those familiar with offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner would likely feel better about Florida’s chances to rise.
Clemson got a modest boost on Griffith’s ballot as well. He had the Tigers at No. 19, a +7 difference from the AP preseason ranking.
Dabo Swinney’s team is opening a season outside the Top 25 for the first time since 2011, and the opener at LSU does not look friendly. Still, Griffith pointed to the Oct. 3 home game against Miami as a chance for Clemson to get back into the national conversation.
Miami, after all, opens with Stanford, Florida A&M, Wake Forest and Central Michigan.
Griffith’s full preseason Top 25 ballot ran this way: Notre Dame, Texas, Oregon, Georgia, Ohio State, Indiana, Miami, LSU, Alabama, BYU, Texas A&M, USC, Oklahoma, Penn State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Florida, Clemson, SMU, Michigan, Iowa, Louisville, Washington and Auburn.
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