GEORGIA LOOMS AS TOP DAWG FOR 2023

Just as much a part of college football as the transfer portal and offseason rumors, preseason polls keep the sport in the spotlight and make for some healthy debates. Some are more respected than others, but all are fun to peruse and compare. Most of the polls are a prediction of how the year will shake out, but a few are team strength metrics. Combining all of them makes the consensus fair, providing a cross-section of rankings.

With seemingly everyone and their mother putting out a preseason ranking this seemed to be a good time to collect as many as possible and combine them for an overall projection of what the 2023 season might look like. We have taken nine polls and tallied up the rankings, awarding 25 points for number 1, 24 for number 2, and so on. The individual polls will run after the consensus top 25.

The list will be updated as more rankings come in, and will be updated as close to the start of the regular season (August 27th) as possible.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL 2023 CONSENSUS TOP 25 

1 Georgia (8) 249

2 Michigan 207

3 Ohio State (1) 197

4 Alabama 186

5 LSU 180

6 USC 173

7 Penn State 170

8 Florida State 158

9 Clemson 150

10 Texas 147

11 Notre Dame 130

12 Tennessee 123

13 Washington 120

14 Oregon 114

15 Utah 100

16 Oklahoma 83

17 TCU 57

18 Oregon State 54

19 Kansas State 49

19 Wisconsin 49

21 Texas A&M 42

22 Ole Miss 36

23 North Carolina 22

23 South Carolina 22

25 Florida 20

OTHERS: Tulane 16; Iowa 13; UTSA 13; Texas Tech 11; Kentucky 9; UCLA 9; Arkansas 8; Mississippi State 6; Boise State 5; Pittsburgh 4; Toledo 4; Baylor 3; Memphis 2; Minnesota 2; Troy 1

ATHLON

1 Georgia

2 Michigan

3 Alabama

4 USC

5 Ohio State

6 LSU

7 Florida State

8 Penn State

9 Washington

10 Utah

11 Texas

12 Clemson

13 Oregon

14 Notre Dame

15 Tennessee

16 Oklahoma

17 Wisconsin

18 Kansas State

19 Oregon State

20 Texas A&M

21 Ole Miss

22 Tulane

23 TCU

24 UCLA

25 North Carolina

JOE BROBACK

1 Georgia

2 USC

3 Michigan

4 Florida State

5 Penn State

6 LSU

7 Washington

8 Ohio State

9 Tennessee

10 Clemson

11 Texas

12 Alabama

13 Oregon

14 Notre Dame

15 Utah

16 North Carolina

17 Oklahoma

18 Oregon State

19 TCU

20 Tulane

21 Boise State

22 Ole Miss

23 Kansas State

24 Memphis

25 Troy

COLLEGE FOOTBALL FOCUS

1 Georgia

2 Michigan

3 LSU

4 Florida State

5 USC

6 Ohio State

7 Alabama

8 Penn State

9 Notre Dame

10 Clemson

11 Washington

12 Texas

13 Oregon State

14 Oklahoma

15 South Carolina

16 Oregon

17 Tennessee

18 UTSA

19 Texas Tech

20 Utah

21 Wisconsin

22 Kansas State

23 Ole Miss

24 Tulane

25 North Carolina

ESPN FPI

1 Ohio State

2 Georgia

3 Alabama

4 LSU

5 Texas

6 Michigan

7 USC

8 Clemson

9 Notre Dame

10 Penn State

11 Oklahoma

12 Tennessee

13 Oregon

14 Florida State

15 Utah

16 Ole Miss

17 TCU

18 Florida

19 Texas A&M

20 Wisconsin

21 Washington

22 Texas Tech

23 Baylor

24 Oregon State

25 North Carolina

LINDY'S

1 Georgia

2 Michigan

3 Ohio State

4 Alabama

5 LSU

6 Florida State

7 Washington

8 Penn State

9 Texas

10 USC

11 Clemson

12 Notre Dame

13 Tennessee

14 Kansas State

15 Utah

16 TCU

17 Oregon State

18 Oregon

19 Wisconsin

20 Ole Miss

21 Oklahoma

22 Iowa

23 UTSA

24 South Carolina

25 Tulane

PRO FOOTBALL FOCUS

1 Georgia

2 Alabama

3 Ohio State

4 Michigan

5 Texas

6 Clemson

7 Penn State

8 LSU

9 Tennessee

10 USC

11 Notre Dame

12 Oregon

13 Oklahoma

14 Florida State

15 Utah

16 TCU

17 Kansas State

18 Arkansas

19 Kentucky

20 Florida

21 Washington

22 South Carolina

23 Mississippi State

24 Minnesota

25 Pittsburgh

SP+

1 Georgia

2 Ohio State

3 Michigan

4 Alabama

5 Penn State

6 Tennessee

7 LSU

8 Oregon

9 Texas

10 USC

11 Florida State

12 Clemson

13 Utah

14 Oklahoma

15 Notre Dame

16 Washington

17 Texas A&M

18 Ole Miss

19 TCU

20 Florida

21 UCLA

22 Kansas State

23 Mississippi State

24 Kentucky

25 Wisconsin

PHIL STEELE

1 Georgia

2 Clemson

3 Michigan

4 Alabama

5 Ohio State

6 Penn State

7 USC

8 Florida State

9 LSU

10 Notre Dame

11 Texas

12 Texas A&M

13 Wisconsin

14 Washington

15 Oregon

16 Utah

17 Iowa

18 Oregon State

19 Tennessee

20 Oklahoma

21 North Carolina

22 Toledo

23 Pittsburgh

24 UTSA

25 TCU

THE SPORTING NEWS

1 Georgia

2 Michigan

3 Alabama

4 Ohio State

5 LSU

6 USC

7 Penn State

8 Washington

9 Florida State

10 Notre Dame

11 Tennessee

12 Oregon

13 Clemson

14 Texas

15 Utah

16 TCU

17 Kansas State

18 Wisconsin

19 Oregon State

20 Texas A&M

21 South Carolina

22 North Carolina

23 Tulane

24 UCLA

25 Oklahoma

 

 

 

 

  

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Yeah, the calendar says it's June, but if you know me you know that I am always thinking about college football. The season gets underway in late August, so for now people are looking for ways to get their fix.

 Here is a perfect solution -- check out my 2023 College Football Preview. It's something that has been worked on since April, and is something that brings me great pride. Sure, it's light on pictures and graphics, but that was an intentional decision as it was more important to provide quality information. 

 The preview is a digital download and is available below. The hope is that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed working on it. By all means, provide whatever feedback you feel is necessary -- things you like, things you would cut, things you want to see more of. This is the first foray I've taken into the world of preview magazines, so there is bound to be some missteps along the way.

 There are more exciting things happening for me in the coming weeks and months, which I will share more about very soon.

 In the meantime, check out the preview.

College Football Focus Season Preview 2023

 

Ranking Power 5 Football Schedules for 2023

 

Schedules have been released for the 2023 college football season, which means it's time to rank the non-conference slates -- the only aspect a team truly controls. I usually ding a team for scheduling FCS foes, but it is becoming so pervasive that it's pointless to harp on it too much. Scheduling more P5 teams is a huge plus, though.

When choosing best non-conference game, a matchup can only be used once. So even though it includes teams from two Power 5 leagues, it will only be mentioned once. So don't be angry if it's listed in one place but not another. 

Of course, once the season begins all of this will change. The schedule that looked intimidating will turn out to be a dud, while the one that was laughed at will suddenly look formidable.

Here is a breakdown of all of the Power 5 conference non-league schedules:

                                                         ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE

It's apparent that the league feels Notre Dame is a de facto member, even though it went back to its Independent status after the COVID season of 2020. Five ACC squads will play the Fighting Irish in 2023, including 2022 Irish victim Clemson. Tennessee, Texas A&M, Florida, South Carolina and Cincinnati dot ACC schedules, which on the whole are not terrible. UConn appears on three ACC slates, while Old Dominion will face a pair of league teams.

 

Kudos to Florida State, which has LSU and Florida as bookends on its schedule, and a home contest against Southern Miss that may not be the cakewalk everyone expects.

BEST NON-CONFERENCE GAME

Notre Dame at Clemson

SNEAKY GOOD NON-CONFERENCE GAME

James Madison at Virginia

UNDERACHIEVERS NON-CONFERENCE GAME

Texas A&M at Miami

BRAINIAC NON-CONFERENCE GAME

Northwestern at Duke

 

1 FLORIDA STATE: vs LSU/Southern Miss/North Alabama/Florida

2 NORTH CAROLINA: vs South Carolina/Appalachian State/Minnesota/Campbell

3 PITTSBURGH: Wofford/Cincinnati/at West Virginia/at Notre Dame

4 CLEMSON: Charleston Southern/Florida Atlantic/Notre Dame/South Carolina

5 VIRGINIA: v Tennessee/James Madison/at Maryland/William & Mary

6 GEORGIA TECH: South Carolina State/at Ole Miss/Bowling Green/Georgia

7 LOUISVILLE: Murray State/vs Indiana/Notre Dame/Kentucky

8 VIRGINIA TECH: Old Dominion/Purdue/at Rutgers/at Marshall

9 MIAMI: Miami Ohio/Texas A&M/Bethune-Cookman/at Temple

10 WAKE FOREST: Elon/Vanderbilt/at Old Dominion/at Notre Dame

11 NC STATE: at UConn/Notre Dame/VMI/Marshall

12 DUKE: Lafayette/Northwestern/at UConn/Notre Dame

13 SYRACUSE: Colgate/Western Michigan/at Purdue/Army

14 BOSTON COLLEGE: Northern Illinois/Holy Cross/at Army/UConn

 

 

BIG TEN

Quite often the poster child of exemplary non-league scheduling, the Big Ten this year has really dumbed things down. Seven teams have scheduled FCS opponents, one has zero Power 5 foes and just one faces two teams from a Power 5 league. Bravo, Big Ten -- you've stopped pretending that you at least wanted to be challenged in the early portion of the season. Now it's simply a walkthrough.

BEST NON-CONFERENCE GAME

Ohio State at Notre Dame

SNEAKY GOOD NON-CONFERENCE GAME

Eastern Michigan at Minnesota

REALLY A BIG 12 NON-CONFERENCE GAME

Nebraska at Colorado

RIVALRY RENEWED NON-CONFERENCE GAME

West Virgina at Penn State (played every season from 1947-1992, but not since).

 

1 PURDUE: at Virginia Tech/Syracuse/Fresno State

2 MINNESOTA: Eastern Michigan/at North Carolina/Louisiana

3 IOWA: Utah State/at Iowa State/Western Michigan

4 WISCONSIN: Buffalo/at Washington State/Georgia Southern

5 OHIO STATE: Youngstown State/Western Kentucky/at Notre Dame

6 MICHIGAN STATE: Central Michigan/Richmond/Washington

7 NEBRASKA: at Colorado/Northern Illinois/Louisiana Tech

8 ILLINOIS: Toledo/at Kansas/Florida Atlantic

9 MICHIGAN: E Carolina/UNLV/Bowling Green

10 PENN STATE: West Virginia/Delaware/UMass

11 MARYLAND: Towson/Charlotte/Virginia

12 RUTGERS: Temple/Virginia Tech/Wagner

13 INDIANA: Indiana State/vs Louisville/Akron

14 NORTHWESTERN: UTEP/at Duke/Howard

 

BIG 12

Much like the Big Ten, the Big 12 isn't doing much to strain itself during the non-league portion of the schedule. Only two teams aren't facing an FCS foe, and many aren't even leaving their home state in September. There is the marquee matchup of Texas at Alabama, and a couple of other intriguing contests (Utah at Baylor, Colorado at TCU and West Virginia at Penn State and home to Pitt), but there aren't a whole lot of "wow, that's a doozy!" occasions on the 2023 slate.

Bonus points to new member Houston, which plays only in-state non-league games, and soon-to-be-departing staple Oklahoma, which makes the grueling two hour drive to Tulsa but otherwise has the comforts of home early in the season. Nice job, guys.

 

BEST NON-CONFERENCE GAME

Texas at Alabama

SNEAKY GOOD NON-CONFERENCE GAME 

Troy at Kansas State

BIG 8 REVISITED NON CONFERENCE GAME

SMU at Oklahoma

DO WE GET POINTS FOR THIS FLIGHT? NON-CONFERENCE GAME

UCF at Boise State

1 TEXAS: Rice/at Alabama/Wyoming

2 WEST VIRGINIA: at Penn State/Duquesne/Pittsburgh

3 BAYLOR: Texas State/Utah/Long Island

4 TEXAS TECH: at Wyoming/Oregon/Tarleton State

5 OKLAHOMA: Arkansas State/SMU/at Tulsa

6 TCU: Colorado/Nicholls/SMU

7 IOWA STATE: Northern Iowa/Iowa/at Ohio

8 KANSAS STATE: SE Missouri/Troy/at Missouri

9 CINCINNATI: Eastern Kentucky/at Pittsburgh/Miami Ohio

10 UCF: Kent State/at Boise State/Villanova

11 KANSAS: Missouri State/Illinois/at Nevada

12 HOUSTON: UTSA/at Rice/Sam Houston

13 OKLAHOMA STATE: Central Arkansas/at Arizona State/South Alabama

14 BRIGHAM YOUNG: Sam Houston/Southern Utah/at Arkansas

 

 

PAC-12

If the Pac-12 is going away -- and that looks to be the case given the panic that has set in among admins trying frantically to get a television deal -- at least it will go down swinging. 

 

Numerous league teams have taken it upon themselves to schedule premier out of conference matchups, so there will be plenty of chances for attention in 2023. Three teams have even decided to schedule only FBS teams, which is a victory itself. Utah and USC will be tested this season, and Coach Prime will also have time in the spotlight as his Buffs face CFP participant TCU right out of the box.

 

BEST NON-CONFERENCE GAME

USC at Notre Dame

SNEAKY GOOD NON-CONFERENCE GAME

Arizona at Mississippi State

WE AREN'T THE HOME TEAM? NON-CONFERENCE GAME

Cal at North Texas

AM I IN THE RIGHT LOCKER ROOM? NON-CONFERENCE GAME

Sacramento State at Stanford (Cards first-year coach Troy Taylor came from Sac State)

 

1 UTAH: Florida/at Baylor/Weber State

2 USC: San Jose State/Nevada/at Notre Dame

3 COLORADO: at TCU/Nebraska/Colorado State

4 WASHINGTON: Boise State/Tulsa/at Michigan State

5 UCLA: Coastal Carolina/at San Diego State/North Carolina Central

6 OREGON STATE: at San Jose State/UC Davis/San Diego State

7 ARIZONA STATE: Southern Utah/Oklahoma State/Fresno State

8 ARIZONA: Northern Arizona/at Mississippi State/UTEP

9 STANFORD: at Hawaii/Sacramento State/Notre Dame

10 OREGON: Portland State/at Texas Tech/Hawaii

11 WASHINGTON STATE: at Colorado State/Wisconsin/Northern Colorado

12 CALIFORNIA: at North Texas/Auburn/Idaho

SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE

While there definitely are some intriguing matchups in the SEC, most of it is the usual lower-rung cannon fodder that dots schedules each season. The obligatory FCS game -- almost always late in the season -- is still there, and there seems to be even more detail paid to putting Group of Five teams that finished near the bottom of their conference on the slate.

 

Special mention goes to Auburn, which has UMass, maybe THE worst team in FBS, Cal, which won four games last season and may not be much better this season, and New Mexico State, which is perennially bad but had a resurgence under Jerry Kill and won seven games in 2022. At least their FCS foe, Samford, was a top 10 team.

 

BEST NON-CONFERENCE GAME

LSU vs Florida State

SNEAKY GOOD NON-CONFERENCE GAME 

Ole Miss at Tulane

HEATED RIVALRY NON-CONFERENCE GAME

Kansas State at Missouri

LET'S SCHEDULE A NOON KICKOFF NON-CONFERENCE GAME

Hawaii at Vanderbilt

1 FLORIDA: at Utah/McNeese/Charlotte/Florida State

2 SOUTH CAROLINA: vs North Carolina/Furman/Jacksonville State/Clemson

3 MISSOURI: South Dakota/Middle Tennessee/Kansas State/vs Memphis

4 LSU: vs Florida State/Grambling State/Army/Georgia State

5 ALABAMA: Middle Tennessee/Texas/at South Florida/Chattanooga

6 MISSISSIPPI STATE: SE Louisiana/Arizona/Western Michigan/Southern Miss

7 TENNESSEE: vs Virginia/Austin Peay/UTSA/UConn

8 OLE MISS: Mercer/at Tulane/Georgia Tech/Louisiana-Monroe

9 GEORGIA: UT-Martin/Ball State/UAB/Georgia Tech

10 VANDERBILT: Hawaii/Alabama A&M/at Wake Forest/at UNLV

11 KENTUCKY: Ball State/Eastern Kentucky/Akron/at Louisville

12 ARKANSAS: Western Carolina/Kent State/Brigham Young/FIU

13 TEXAS A&M: New Mexico/at Miami/Louisiana-Monroe/Abilene Christian

14 AUBURN: UMass/at Cal/Samford/New Mexico State