Defending national champion Georgia leads preseason poll

Georgia is starting the 2023 season where it left off.

The Bulldogs are No. 1 in the preseason AP poll ahead of Michigan and Ohio State. The Bulldogs got 60 of 63 first-place votes. Michigan got two and Ohio State got one.

All three teams made the College Football Playoff a season ago. Georgia beat Ohio State in a semifinal while TCU took down Michigan. The Bulldogs then demolished TCU in the national title game to win back-to-back national titles. If Georgia wins the national title for a third consecutive season, the Bulldogs will be the first team since Minnesota in the 1930s to three-peat.

TCU is ranked at No. 17 in the poll after losing many key contributors on offense from its playoff team of a year ago.

Alabama and LSU round out the top five while USC is at No. 6 and Penn State is at No. 7. Florida State is the top-ranked ACC team at No. 8 and Clemson is at No. 9 ahead of Washington.

Monday marks the first time Georgia has been ranked atop a preseason AP top 25 since 2008. Alabama was the top team before the 2022 season with 54 first-place votes. This year, the Crimson Tide didn’t receive a single vote atop the poll.

The top seven teams in the poll will all be members of either the SEC or Big Ten next season and 10 of the top 12 teams in the poll are all either current or future members of either league. The SEC and Big Ten each have three current members ranked in the top 10 while the SEC has six teams ranked and the Big Ten has five.

There are five Pac-12 teams ranked as well as Utah is at No. 14 and Oregon is one spot behind. Oregon State — a team without a much of a conference after the moves of Pac-12 teams to the Big 12 and Big Ten next season — is at No. 18.

Preseason AP Top 25

1. Georgia

2. Michigan

3. Ohio State

4. Alabama

5. LSU

6. USC

7. Penn State

8. Florida State

9. Clemson

10. Washington

11. Texas

12. Tennessee

13. Notre Dame

14. Utah

15. Oregon

16. Kansas State

17. TCU

18. Oregon State

19. Wisconsin

20. Oklahoma

21. North Carolina

22. Ole Miss

23. Texas A&M

24. Tulane

25. Iowa