Any else thankful for preseason rankings and the way they spike conversations across college football? There are some coaches coming out of Week 1 who would likely preferred not having the little number beside their teams’ names judging by their performance in anticipated debuts.
We’re expecting major changes across the national polls after a wealth of results, including a couple SEC teams quickly falling from the ranks of the elites — at least early.
Using the preseason AP Top 25 as a guide, here’s a glance at teams everyone whiffed on exiting college football’s opening weekend with a couple matchups left to be played in Atlanta, Miami and Chapel Hill.
Y’all shoveled dirt on Mike Norvell’s grave far too early in Tallahassee. The Seminoles find quite the transfer portal gem in Tommy Castellanos at quarterback, who directed Gus Malzhan’s offense with precision in Saturday’s decisive win over Alabama, the program’s first over a ranked opponent in two years.
Tommy Castellanos backs up talk in FSU’s stunner over No. 8 Alabama: ‘We heard everything everybody said’
Cody Nagel
Nowhere to be found in various early polls, Florida State appears to have plugged personnel holes at various spots defensively and has a unit under first-year coordinator Tony White that could give the rest of the ACC massive issues this season. With Castellanos leading more than three dozen new contributors for the Seminoles, there’s another contender behind Clemson in the conference.
No. 8 Alabama Crimson Tide
Nobody envisioned “buyout” and “Kalen DeBoer” in the same sentence after the opener, but here we are. That’s how bad it got for the Crimson Tide at Florida State after stratospheric levels of hype coming into Year 2 for a new staff at the SEC elite proved to be a bit overstated. Alabama has the talent of a top-10 team, but execution and play looked like a group that could struggle to get to eight wins this fall unless major corrections are made.
The Crimson Tide haven’t yet played up to the standard of excellence left by Nick Saban and it could take awhile before that level of success returns — if it ever does.
Was it supposed to look that easy for Josh Heupel’s new quarterback and that nightmarish for ex-Vols signal caller Nico Iamaleava in his debut at UCLA?
A few hours prior to Iamaleava running for his life behind a faulty offensive line during a 33-point loss to Utah, Tennessee lit up the scoreboard inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta against Syracuse. Joey Aguilar’s 247-yard, three-touchdown start is a great sign for an offense many were concerned about coming in without Iamaleava and Dylan Sampson leading. Tennessee looked closer to a top-15 team than where the Vols landed according to preseason voters.
Ah, so that’s what replacing a 2,600-yard, 29-touchdown Heisman finalist looks like for a Group of Six program without another star player in succession. There wasn’t a clear-cut, unanimous choice to represent the Group of Six in the playoff from national media, but Boise State was the squad was the preseason fave on most ballots — not anymore.
The Broncos still have to play Notre Dame this season and the schedule isn’t sexy enough in the Mountain West to warrant playoff billing if they finish 11-2 with a conference title unless there’s mass chaos elsewhere.
South Florida upsets Boise State: CFP race gets major shakeup as Group of Six favorite is blown out in Week 1
David Cobb
Maybe Boise State is vastly overvalued and USF will come back down to earth against Florida next week. The answer’s likely somewhere in the middle for a team from the American that provided Alex Golesh with his first ranked win as coach on Thursday night in Tampa.
Byrum Brown’s a talented quarterback and he threw 26 touchdown passes in 2023, but USF was overlooked a bit coming into this campaign since he was returning from a season-ending injury. The Bulls appear to be a valid choice for contending status in the American along with Tulane, Memphis and Navy.
The Tigers made it easy to pile it on in the preseason. Hugh Freeze’s convoluted offensive play-calling system with multiple coaches on different downs took the cake, but Auburn’s claiming of multiple national championships in years past seemed like the fog machine designed to inevitably block out a season-opening loss. It didn’t happen, however.
Death, taxes, and Auburn running the football? New QB Jackson Arnold looks to have the script down pat
Shehan Jeyarajah
Auburn torched Baylor on the road after eclipsing 300 yards on the ground. Few coaches faced as much pressure as Freeze in Week 1 and his Tigers deserve to be ranked after showing out.
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