There’s nothing like preseason poll season.

It’s when we decide who deserves to start where based on a season that hasn’t happened. It’s perhaps the most college football thing ever.

But by “we,” I’m not referring to myself as an Associated Press poll voter. That I am not. I am, however, someone had plenty of reactions to the first AP poll of the season.

Here were my 3 biggest SEC takeaways.

1. Georgia benefits from Ohio State’s turmoil

We don’t know Urban Meyer’s future at Ohio State. What we do know was that when the Coaches Poll came out a couple weeks ago, votes were in before Meyer went on administrative leave and OSU came in at No. 3 just ahead of Georgia. With that situation in limbo, the AP votes weren’t quote as bullish on the Buckeyes.

In pushed Georgia to the No. 3 spot.

I thought there was a pretty good chance of that happening, simply because moving up a team that just played for a national championship isn’t a hard thing to do. Despite all of the turnover the Dawgs had on defense, the way Kirby Smart has been recruiting combined with the young skill players (Jake Fromm and D’Andre Swift) made them an easier pick for that No. 3 spot than Ohio State.

The Buckeyes are still a question mark, and you can bet some voters had no idea how high to rank them. Georgia and Wisconsin were the teams that stood to benefit the most from that.

2. Not enough Mississippi State love, obviously

I projected the Bulldogs to start around No. 17 in the AP poll. That, however, was a projection. If I had a ballot, Joe Moorhead’s squad would have been around No. 12. Instead, they are No. 18, a good distance behind No. 9 Auburn.

Maybe some of that has to do with Nick Fitzgerald’s health. Perhaps some want to see what Moorhead can do in the SEC. There’s also the chance that a team with one winning record in conference play in the 21st century isn’t exactly a media darling yet. It’s rare to see a team start in the top 15 with that kind of history, or lack thereof.

Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

But this is the SEC team that returns the highest percentage of its production, and also added one of the game’s best offensive minds. MSU returns 2 All-America candidates on defense and a handful of other All-SEC hopefuls on that side of the ball. That’s from a team that won 9 games last year.

The media buzz is starting to grow with MSU. But a No. 18 ranking says that not everyone is all in on the Bulldogs just yet.

3. LSU barely in, South Carolina and Florida barely out

What I don’t like is sometimes how teams get ranked based on their strength of schedule. That shouldn’t happen. Voters slot teams based on where they think they’ll finish instead of where they think they deserve to start. I’m admittedly sometimes guilty of that.

LSU might have gotten a little bit of that kind of treatment. Starting at No. 25 is LSU’s worst preseason ranking since it started the 2000 season outside of the Top 25. That just happens to coincide with what might be the Tigers’ toughest schedule in recent memory.

I would have had no problem leaving LSU outside of the Top 25, simply for the fact that the offense is a complete mystery. A new coordinator with a new quarterback, a new featured back and a new go-to receiver have many people skeptical. But we do know that the defense has loads of talent with Dave Aranda calling the shots. Perhaps that averaged out and resulted in the on-the-fence ranking.

I wasn’t surprised to see South Carolina leading the “also receiving votes” category. South Carolina could have easily started in the Top 25 given how much it returns on both sides of the ball from a 9-win team. The way the Gamecocks finished the year with Bryan McClendon running the offense against Michigan suggested bigger things are ahead.

The decision to not have them in the Top 25 could have something to do with the fact that they haven’t cracked the poll since early in the 2014 season. With having that Georgia game in Week 2, some will perhaps wait to see just how good South Carolina is before penciling the program into the Top 25.

As for Florida’s unofficial No. 27 ranking, that’s a reflection of just how awful voters think Jim McElwain was. With an extremely similar roster, many voters believe a 4-win team deserved to start in the Top 25, despite no personnel additions at quarterback. Interesting.

And one other thing…

This is unreal.

I’d say Nick Saban has this coaching thing figured out.