Coaches Poll top 25: Georgia takes No. 1 as SEC, Big Ten crowd top 10 in preseason college football rankings

Eight of the top 10 teams in the preseason Coaches Poll play in either the Big Ten or SEC

By Will Backus

Aug 5, 2024 at 12:06 pm ET • 1 min read

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The 2024 college football season is just under three weeks away. So as the anticipation builds, annual preseason rankings are arriving to get us all more amped up for the campaign ahead. It should come as no surprise that Georgia occupied the top spot for a second consecutive year in Monday's Coaches Poll, which opened the deluge of top 25s to come in the next few weeks.

The Bulldogs won back-to-back national championships from 2021-22 but missed out on the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2020 last season thanks to an SEC Championship Game loss against Alabama. Georgia is a heavy favorite return to the SEC mountaintop ... and go even further than that.

Ohio State isn't far behind, however. Thanks to a massive offseason filled with major coaching changes and one of the nation's best transfer portal hauls, the Buckeyes have received plenty of hype as national title contenders.

They're one of a few Big Ten teams that debuted in the top 10. Newcomer Oregon landed at No. 3, while Michigan and Penn State came in in at Nos. 8 and 9, respectively, rounding out a nice showing for the new-look Big Ten. The Big Ten's four teams in the top matched the SEC for most among all conferences, further underscoring the current power dynamics in college football.

Here's the full Coaches Poll top 25 from the 69 coaches who vote (first-place votes in parentheses).