ATHENS – They’re only opinions, but it’s the consensus of both the writers and the coaches that the Georgia Bulldogs remain the top team in college football.
The Associated Press poll, released at lunchtime Monday, had the Bulldogs ranked as the preseason No. 1 team heading into the 2023 season. Last week, Georgia claimed the top spot in the USA Today coaches’ poll. More importantly, UGA ended the last two seasons ranked No. 1 in the nation as College Football Playoff champions.
It will be only the second time in school history that the Bulldogs have opened a season as the nation’s consensus No. 1 team. The last time they did it was 2008. But Georgia lost that distinction by the end of Week 1 without losing a game. The Bulldogs that season would drop three games finished 13th and 10th, respectively, in the writers’ and coaches’ polls.
In the playoff era, the CFP rankings are the only one that matters. Decided by a selection committee of experts, those don’t come out until the end of October each year. Georgia spent the first two weeks of the 2017 CFP rankings at No. 1, only to fall to No. 3 by selection Sunday and No. 2 after losing to Alabama in the title game.
The Bulldogs spent five of six weeks at No. 1 both the 2021 and the 2022 CFP rankings. The opinion polls mirrored those rankings both years.
Big Ten teams Michigan, with two, and Ohio State, with one, were the only other two teams to receive first-place votes from the 63 poll participants. Alabama will open the season as the SEC’s next-highest-ranked team at No. 4. LSU was fifth.
Credit: Sarah K. Spencer/AJC
Georgia returns 16 starters from the 2022 team, which went 15-0 to make the Bulldogs the first back-to-back national champions since Alabama in 2012. Georgia is attempting to become the first team in the poll era to win three national championships in a row this season. Minnesota was the last two do it in 1936, which was the first year the AP poll was instituted.
Georgia has finished No. 1 in the final AP poll only one other time in history. That was in 1980 when the Bulldogs finished 12-0. But the AP didn’t rank teams after the bowl games until the 1970s. Georgia claims a national title in 1942 due to its consensus status among several polls of the day. The 1927 and 1946 teams both finished the season undefeated and received national championship recognition in the Boand, Poling and Williamson polls. The 1968 Bulldogs, which finished undefeated with two ties (8-0-2 overall) were crowned championships by the Litkenhous poll.
AP PRESEASON POLL
1. Georgia (60 first-place votes) 1,572 points
2. Michigan (2) 1,490
3. Ohio State (1) 1,400
4. Alabama 1,398
5. LSU 1,296
6. Southern California 1,245
7. Penn State 1,177
8. Florida State 1,147
9. Clemson 1,032
10. Washington 977
11. Texas 882
12. Tennessee 868
13. Notre Dame 863
14. Utah 811
15. Oregon 732
16. Kansas State 501
17. TCU 416
18. Oregon State 406
19. Wisconsin 386
20. Oklahoma 296
21. North Carolina 292
22. Ole Miss 281
23. Texas A&M 227
24. Tulane 224
25. Iowa 131
Others receiving votes: Texas Tech 101, South Carolina 73, UCLA 66, UTSA 64, Arkansas 22, Boise State 17, Pittsburgh 16, Kentucky 14, Louisville 10, Troy 10, Kansas 10, Auburn 7, Minnesota 6, Toledo 4, Duke 4, Mississippi State 4, Florida 4, Illinois 3, Baylor 3, Coastal Carolina 3, South Alabama 1, NC State 1, James Madison 1, Liberty 1.
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