AP Top 25 Poll Preseason Prediction, College Football Rankings 2024

AP Top 25 Preseason Prediction 2024

In an expanded College Football Playoff era the preseason college football AP Poll might mean just a wee bit more than it did before.

No, the College Football Playoff committee types don't care about the other polls - at least they're not supposed to - but of course the national perception of the teams makes a little bit of difference.

Last year's preseason AP Top 25 Poll had Georgia 1, Michigan 2, Ohio State 3, and Alabama 4, but there were a few big misfires - USC at 6 and TCU at 17 were unfortunate. Washington was a respectable preseason 10 and Texas was 11.

The goal here in the early part of summer with the preseason AP Top 25 Poll is to try getting it close and think like the voters do. This might be way too loose, but over the years 1) AP voters tend to build off the trends and momentum of the year before. 2) They like to go with teams with a quarterback they sort of know, and 3) there's always someone new in the mix late.

How close were we last year with our projection of what it might be? We got Georgia (1), Michigan (2), and Tulane (24) right on. We were one spot off on Ohio State (AP preseason 3), Alabama (4), LSU (5), USC (6), Penn State (7), Florida State (8), Utah (14), Kansas State (16), North Carolina (21), and Texas Tech (26).

Below isn't the actual 2024 Preseason AP Top 25 Poll. It's our prediction of what this might be, and we'll change and tweak it come August.

25 Kansas

2023 AP Preseason Ranking T35, Final: 23

24 Miami

2023 AP Preseason Ranking NR, Final: NR

23 Kansas State

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 16, Final: 18

22 NC State

2023 AP Preseason Ranking T46, Final: 21

21 Oklahoma State

2023 AP Preseason Ranking NR, Final: 16

20 Iowa

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 25, Final: 24

19 USC

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 6, Final: NR

18 Arizona

2023 AP Preseason Ranking NR, Final: 11

17 Washington

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 10, Final: 2

16 Clemson

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 9, Final: 20

15 Utah

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 14, Final: NR

14 Oklahoma

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 20, Final: 15

13 Missouri

2023 AP Preseason Ranking NR, Final: 8

12 Tennessee

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 12, Final: 17

11 LSU

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 5, Final: 12

10 Penn State

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 7, Final: 13

9 Florida State

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 8, Final: T6

8 Michigan

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 2, Final: 1

7 Notre Dame

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 13, Final: 14

6 Ole Miss

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 22, Final: 9

5 Alabama

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 4, Final: 5

4 Oregon

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 15, Final: T6

3 Texas

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 11, Final: 3

2 Ohio State

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 3, Final: 10

1 Georgia

2023 AP Preseason Ranking 1, Final: 4

Predicted Preseason AP Poll Also Receiving Votes: (in order of how close they should be) Texas A&M, Louisville, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Boise State, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Liberty, North Carolina, Nebraska, Auburn, Iowa State, Minnesota