Predicting the 2023 college football preseason AP Poll Top 25

5. LSU

4. Alabama

3. Ohio State

2. Michigan

1. Georgia

Here is my predicted top five of the preseason AP Poll, and it has a distinct SEC and Big Ten flavor. Three SEC and two Big Ten teams populate my preseason top five. Year #1 for Brian Kelly in Baton Rouge went about as well as hoped for (outside of actually making the CFP). Jayden Daniels looked like a star, LSU took down Alabama, and the Tigers made it to the SEC championship. While LSU will hope for a better record than 10-4, it’s impossible to understate how much of a success last year was plus how sky-high the expectations are this year. With Daniels returning with a ton of talent around him (such as Malik Nabers), and LSU also bringing back defensive star Harold Perkins the expectation is national title this year for LSU.

Next up is our sixth SEC team on the list in the aforementioned Alabama Crimson Tide. As with Clemson, an 11-2 season with a Sugar Bowl victory being a failure of a season for Alabama shows just how absurdly consistently great they have been. As you will see with several of the teams left on our list, the biggest deciding factor in whether the Tide win it all this year might come down to their QB situation as they try to replace Bryce Young. Who out of Jalen Milroe, Ty Simpson, or Tyler Buchner will win the job, and will they play well enough? Ohio State will also have a question at QB as they look to replace CJ Stroud (although we have a clearer picture here with Kyle McCord the favorite to win the OSU job). The Buckeyes fell in the CFP semi’s in heartbreaking fashion to the eventual national champs in Georgia, which will leave a salty taste in their mouths heading into 2023. Can Ohio State finally get back over the hump and win their first national title since the inaugural CFP in 2014?

My predicted preseason #2 team is probably the last team that will want the answer to that previous question to be yes – Ohio State’s biggest rivals (and the team that has beaten them two years in a row), Michigan. The Wolverines also lost in the CFP semi’s in 2022 to TCU, but for Michigan it was their second straight semifinal loss (after losing to Georgia in 2021). With JJ McCarthy now fully “the guy” at QB and not having to look over his shoulders at all times (with Cade McNamara transferring to Iowa), the Wolverines have a lot of reasons to believe that they finally can win it all this year. Michigan also got massive news this offseason as superstar running back Blake Corum announced he was returning for his senior year in 2023 (although he won’t be 100% heading into the year coming off an ACL injury late last season).

Finally, my predicted preseason #1 overall team is the team that has finished the last two seasons #1 in the back-to-back defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs. As with Ohio State and Alabama, Georgia has some questions at QB (with either Carson Beck or Brock Vandagriff having to replace Stetson Bennett). However, Georgia remains immensely talented on both sides of the ball. While we have not seen a three-peat in CFB since the mid-1930’s (Minnesota), that is the expectation this year for Georgia. Can the Dawgs do it or will one of Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama, or LSU dethrone them? Or will one of our trendy Pac-12 teams make a push? What about one of the other four SEC teams mentioned in my predicted top 25? Someone else? We’ll have to wait and see.