The preseason coaches poll was released on Monday. Let’s pause before we fan outrage and say that “polls don’t matter.” You are reading this article; you are validating that they matter. If someone says otherwise, ignore them and move on. We have waited too long to debate things that matter. Ok, now back to the poll. Georgia and the rest of the SEC are well-represented in the poll. Here is a closer look at key numbers and figures in the preseason coaches poll. Hint: it still just means more.
Preseason Coaches Poll by the Numbers
- 1: Georgia earned the top spot in the rankings. Earning the most first-place votes (46) of any team.
- 3: Georgia, Texas(4), and Alabama (5) helped round out the top five. Ohio State and Oregon were the two other non-SEC teams in the top 5.
- 4: Ole Miss came in at #6, giving the SEC four teams in the Top 10. The Big Ten also had four teams in the Top 10 in the coaches poll, with Michigan coming in at #8 and Penn State at #9.
- 9: The SEC had nine teams to make the Top 25. Missouri (11), LSU (12), Tennessee (15), Oklahoma (16), and Texas A&M (20) were the final number. The Big Ten had six teams in the coaches poll, good for second best.
- 10: Flordia State was the highest-ranked ACC team on the list, coming in at #10. Technically, Notre Dame (7) was ranked higher, but I don’t think we are counting them in the ACC. The ACC had four teams in the Top 25. Clemson (14), Miami (19), and NC State (22) joined FSU. The ACC was just behind one conference for the 3rd spot…
- 13: Utah is the highest-ranked Big 12 team. The Big 12 had five teams in the Top 25. Kansas State (17), Oklahoma (18), Arizona (21), and Kansas (24) joined the Utes on the list. Brett Yormark was right; the Big 12 is the 3rd best conference heading into 2024.,
- 0: Teams ranked that are not in the new “Power 4” conferences. Memphis, Boise State, Liberty, UNLV, UTSA, Tulane, Texas State, Appalachian State, Troy, Miami (OH), James Madison, and Air Force received at least one vote.
Preseason Coaches Poll and the College Football Playoff
We have a long season ahead of us. Most teams will play 12 games, and those that qualify for a conference championship will play 13. The highest-ranked conference champions will earn a bye in the first round of the playoff. The SEC and Big Ten seemingly have a lock on at least two of those byes.
The number of ACC and Big 12 teams in the middle and back half of the Top 25 shows that those conferences are on watch to get bypassed by a red-hot Group of Five teams. The parody in the Big 12 makes them a likely candidate to be on the outside looking in when the committee makes its final selections in December. For now, we have more fodder for banter. If you don’t like your team’s ranking, we can give them the words of Al Davis. “Just win, baby.” That is the only thing that will silence the nay-sayers.
Preseason Coaches Poll: Dawgs on Top
A Challenging Road Ahead
After battling complacency and a relatively easy schedule in 2023, Georgia’s schedule has leveled up in 2024. Georgia opens the season playing Clemson in a neutral site game. The Tigers will need a respectable showing to keep them in the conversation for a playoff bid and not fall too far down the polls if they lose to Georgia.
As we highlighted earlier this summer, Georgia will face a challenging road schedule. In September, Georgia travels to Alabama (5) to exercise some demons against the Tide. The Bulldogs lock horns with Texas when they travel to Austin in October. That game could be one of the season’s highest-rated and most anticipated games. In November, they #HeadToTheSip to take on Lane Kiffin and the Rebels. Each game presents potential pitfalls but will provide Smart with more than enough to keep the Bulldogs focused.
Georgia will face only one ranked team from the preseason coaches’ poll when it plays Tennessee in November. Auburn did not make the Top 25 but did receive votes and could be ranked when the Bulldogs welcome them for Homecoming in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry in early October. Georgia’s home schedule is a big reason why the SEC needs to move to a nine-game conference schedule and away from neutral site games.
Kirby Smart’s Heater
Smart and the Bulldogs are quite a heater. With Nick (Saban) in Tuscaloosa now retired. Very few coaches and teams can claim that they have defeated the Bulldogs. Here are a few dates to help illustrate their dominance.
- 11/7/2020: The last football coach to beat Smart and Georiga, other than Saban, was Dan Mullen in the 2020 Cocktail Party. Mullen is now sipping daiquiris on the beach and is an ESPN analyst.
- 10/12/2019: The Gamecocks were the last team to defeat Smart and Georgia between the hedges. The Bulldogs made a comedy of errors and mistakes and fell to South Carolina in double overtime that day. Current defensive analyst Will “Boom” Muschamp was the head coach of South Carolina at the time.
- 1/2/2019: Tom Herman (FAU) is the last active coach in college football to defeat Smart and Georgia. Herman and the Longhorns defeated the Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl in 2019. And no, Sam Ehlinger, Texas, wasn’t back then either.
- 11/17/2017: Gus Malzhan is the last active FBS coach to defeat Smart and Georgia in an SEC game since. Auburn “whipped the dog crap” out of Georgia on the Plains, but Smart got the last laugh in Atlanta a couple of short months later. Malzhan is no longer in the SEC but in the Big 12 at UCF.
