Back to poll results >>

steelcitygator Ballot for 2021 Preseason

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Aug. 23, 2021, 5:50 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Due note I throw out my preseason rankings for Week 1 rankings so this is mostly looking at last year with a bit of coaching trust/returning production factor.  A couple honorable mentions 30. Ball State (I assume someone new will be this years designated good MAC team) 29. San Jose State (Just not a lot to go off of for the West Coast conferences last year.  They seem set up well though) 28. LSU (I think people are overrating their rebound potential and 2019 was closer to lightning in a bottle than repeatable) 27. Ole Miss (Should be top 25 team but need to prove it first) 26. Oregon (see San Jose State or USC comment)

Rank Team Reason
1 Alabama Crimson Tide I actually like Oklahoma more right now but Nick Saban is coming off a national championship with a team that had an argument as one of the best ever.  I prefer to give last years NC as preseason #1 anyway.
2 Oklahoma Sooners Finished the year as one of the best in the nation and returns a bunch.  Defense finally looked like it's put together and we all assume they will figure out the offensive side of the ball.  Is this the year they finally not just make the playoffs but win a game?
3 Georgia Bulldogs Reminder that the last 4 games included teams like Mississippi State.  Defense will be amazing but at this point if you trust Kirby to truly change without a UGA tag your putting the cart before the horse.
4 Clemson Tigers They lose a lot of talent including a multi-year starter/prodigal son at QB, the nations best DC got duped in the playoffs, and they lose a bunch of production.  That said, Dabo and Co. have been good a while.  Hard to give the teams below any greater leeway.
5 Ohio State Buckeyes Ryan Day seems to be setting up to keep the ball rolling but this will be his first real test with more of his own recruits earning playing time and a bunch of good players to replace.  They should be really good of course.
6 Cincinnati Bearcats I'm a staunch "bowl games are bad predictors" person so I don't overly weigh them (especially with all the opt-outs last year).  They will be really good and should get a retooling ND and probably overrated Indiana.  One of several intriguing G5 storylines this year.
7 Iowa State Cyclones Awesome returning players and staff.  Split with Oklahoma and most losses were close games to ranked teams (+ a very good ULL team).  Things are set up for them to be on a great run this year, will they be able to handle the expectations?
8 Texas A&M Aggies The main dropping in their rankings is the players they will have to replace.  Wouldn't be surprised if Jimbo and crew take those highly ranked recruits and build a team that could compete for a playoff spot again.
9 Liberty Flames A team that might not be well liked but could be VERY good.  Malik Willis could be a darkhorse Heisman candidate and Hugh Freeze is a really good coach.  Biggest issue could be the schedule being lower quality this year (Ole Miss and ULL are the most marque game) could limit their upward mobility this year.
10 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Coastal will be in a similar boat this year except their only P5 game is Kansas.  Plenty they can prove within the resurgent Sun Belt though.  If you get a chance, watch this team.  One of the more intriguing offenses I have watched the past few years.
11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish The biggest thing is the turnover, bottom 5 returning production.  While they recruit well, I wouldn't consider it in automatic reload territory.  Certainly Brian Kelly has earned some leeway but I think their rebuilding year is closer to 15-20 than top 10.
12 North Carolina Tar Heels Consistency.  That's the question this team will face.  Offense can put up gaudy numbers and defense isn't bad by any means but can they keep that level week to week and reach that ACC contender as some are projecting.  Talent that Mack Brown has been bringing in finally taking the main roles.
13 Florida Gators While lots of offensive talent is gone, Dan Mullen is one of those people I just trust to get an offense going, especially after getting to train a QB over 3 years.  The defense took a step back but I think it's more weird talent transition year mixed with COVID install issues.  I expect them to be closer to Grantham's first two D's (Top 10 or 20 SP+ ranking).
14 Miami Hurricanes Defense will be some level of good I'm sure, the big questions will be offensive.  Is King able to stay healthy?  How much help will he get around him?
15 Indiana Hoosiers Tough call with Indiana but there were so many close wins you wonder if they will be able to really keep that up or fall a bit closer to the one-score game average of 50/50 W/L ratio.
16 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Big game to start the year traveling to Texas, tough start for Sark.  Outside that, they'll be expected to be a cream of the crop Sun Belt team and some big match-ups versus Liberty and possible SB-CG opponent Coastal Carolina to end the year.  Napier has done a hell of a job to build, now we really start seeing how he can sustain.
17 Iowa Hawkeyes Iowa finished the year so damn strong.  A lot of the teams who played less than full schedule's are getting drug down a bit from less data points to go off of.  Iowa is always solid, the question really is whether this will be one of those pushing for the West years or not.
18 Oklahoma State Cowboys Oklahoma State edged out Iowa State and basically lost every other tough game they came across outside the bowl game against Miami.  Will they be able to ramp up to winning those games and being in the tier of Oklahoma/Iowa State in Big 12 title game challengers.
19 Wisconsin Badgers I feel about Wisconsin in a lot of the ways I do Penn State, last year probably wasn't as bad as it seemed.  Should be competing for the West again but hard to put them too high with that uncertainty over what last year really represented.
20 Texas Longhorns A shiny new coach with super high expectations is in Texas once again.  I feel they have a few more issues than some and tough early games could make this a bit of a tampered down year results wise while Sark and staff get their systems and culture established.
21 Penn State Nittany Lions Like I said in Wisconsin, what did last year really mean?  This team feels like it goes so much by Clifford, who should be helped by a new OC hire with an amazing track record.  I really think losing that questionable call to Indiana and not keeping pace with Ohio State + losing their defensive stalwart/best overall player really derailed them.  Still outplayed Nebraska despite losing.  Interesting team, that's for sure.
22 BYU Cougars They probably aren't a top 25 team at the end of this season after what they lost from last season but certainly deserve to still make it onto the preseason Top 25 based off last seasons accomplishments.
23 Northwestern Wildcats Should Northwestern be higher than some of the other Big 10 teams just above them based off 2020 accomplishments? Yes.  But this programs path has been good season crunched by a pretty bad season and an average season so until they can prove they can be a top team in the B10 West multiple years in a row they will get dinged.
24 NC State Wolfpack I'm pretty high on the Wolfpack and think they will be about here by the end of the year with what they got back and past success a ~9 win season should be ahead.  Really the Pac-12's lack of games is holding back more being ranked and allowed NC State to sneak on here.
25 USC Trojans Return a lot, especially offensive weapons.  Coaching staff remains a question but they were probably the best team when looking at the entirety of the Pac-12's sprint through the season last year.  That league is a bit tough to look at just because of that lack of data points.

Back to poll results >>