NCAA Football Preseason Rankings 2024: Expert Reactions to Coaches Poll Top 25

The first poll of the 2024 college football season is here.

Georgia earned the top overall spot in the US LBM Coaches Poll on Monday, receiving 46 of the 55 first-place votes. Ohio State was the only other team to receive multiple first-place selections and comes in at No. 2.

No. 4 Texas and No. 8 Michigan received the remaining first-place selections.

Here is a look at how the entire Top 25 played out:

1. Georgia 
2. Ohio State 
3. Oregon 
4. Texas 
5. Alabama 
6. Ole Miss 
7. Notre Dame 
8. Michigan 
9. Penn State 
10. Florida State 
11. Missouri 
12. LSU 
13. Utah 
14. Clemson 
15. Tennessee 
16. Oklahoma 
17. Kansas State 
18. Oklahoma State 
19. Miami 
20. Texas A&M 
21. Arizona 
22. North Carolina State 
23. USC 
24. Kansas 
25. Iowa

The SEC and Big Ten were the runaway winners of the Coaches' Poll, as the two megaconferences hold 15 of the Top 25 spots. The SEC leads the way with nine Top 25 teams, including four teams in the Top 10. The Big Ten also has four teams in the Top 10 but is a little top heavy, with the conference having a gap between No. 9 Penn State and No. 23 USC.

The top-heavy nature of the polls made life miserable for the Group of Five, which features no teams inside the Top 25.

If the polls prove accurate, that could spell bad news for the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff. The five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed to qualify for the CFP, meaning the Mountain West, American Athletic Conference, Sun Belt, Mid-American Conference or Conference USA will wind up with a playoff team.

Odds are one team emerges over the course of the season. That said, there is a reasonable chance a two- or three-loss Group of Five team winds up sneaking into the playoffs and getting run out of the building while a better team from a power conference sits at home.

For now, it's clear the coaches don't have much faith in the non-traditional powers.