College football is getting underway and we finally have an updated full slate of college football rankings. Both the Coaches Poll and the Preseason AP Top 25 came out this month, and we know have updated rankings as we approach the first week of action.

College football rankings: The Preseason Coaches Poll

The coaches poll came out earlier this month as follows:

  1. Clemson
  2. Alabama
  3. Georgia
  4. Oklahoma
  5. Ohio State
  6. LSU
  7. Michigan
  8. Florida
  9. Notre Dame
  10. Texas
  11. Texas A&M
  12. Washington
  13. Oregon
  14. Penn State
  15. Utah
  16. Auburn
  17. Wisconsin
  18. UCF
  19. Iowa
  20. Michigan State
  21. Washington State
  22. Syracuse
  23. Stanford
  24. Iowa State
  25. Northwestern

College football rankings: The AP Top 25

Just this week, the preseason AP Poll came out as follows:

  1. Clemson
  2. Alabama
  3. Georgia
  4. Oklahoma
  5. Ohio State
  6. LSU
  7. Michigan
  8. Florida
  9. Notre Dame
  10. Texas
  11. Oregon
  12. Texas A&M
  13. Washington
  14. Utah
  15. Penn State
  16. Auburn
  17. UCF
  18. Michigan State
  19. Wisconsin
  20. Iowa
  21. Iowa State
  22. Syracuse
  23. Washington State
  24. Nebraska
  25. Stanford

College football rankings reactions

As you can see, there was quite a bit of similarity between the coaches and AP polls. In fact, the top tens are identical. There are 5 SEC teams in the top 12 of the AP poll, so once again the Southeastern Conference is making its mark in the college football rankings.

However, one SEC program with potentially a major slight was Kentucky. Despite winning ten wins in 2018, Kentucky didn’t not just make the AP top 25, but the Cats didn’t receive a single vote. Ouch.

There were also a few minor differences between the two polls. Nebraska cracked the top 25 in the AP poll but not the coaches poll. Northwestern cracked the top 25 in the coaches poll, but not the AP poll.

You can get more thoughtful reaction to the college football preseason rankings here.

Week Zero and Week One Schedule

Let’s look at all of the top 25 matchups as we go into kickoff for the season.

During the opening “Week zero” weekend, No. 8 Florida will take on Miami in Orlando on Saturday night.

Then, as we get into the early parts of week one, there are a number of Thursday night games to get us started. First, No. 1 Clemson takes on Georgia Tech. We are also treated to no. 17 UCF taking on Florida A&M, no. 12 Texas A&M vs. Texas State and no. 14 Utah taking on BYU.

On Friday night, we’ll see no. 18 Michigan State vs. Tulsa and no. 19 Wisconsin vs. South Florida.

Then when we finally get to the first full day of a college football Saturday, we have a number of great matchups featuring the ranked teams. No. 21 Iowa State will take on UNI, no. 24 Nebraska faces off against South Alabama, no. 5 Ohio State plays FAU, no. 13 Washington plays Eastern Washington, no. 15 Penn State plays Idaho, no. 2 Alabama plays Duke, no. 25 Stanford plays Northwestern, no. 22 Syracuse will take on Liberty, no. 20 Iowa plays Miami of Ohio, no. 7 Michigan plays Middle Tennessee, no. 3 Georgia has an SEC matchup right away vs. Vanderbilt, no. 16 Auburn plays no. 11 Oregon, no. 6 LSU vs. Georgia Southern, no. 10 Texas plays Louisiana Tech and no. 23 Washington State plays New Mexico State.

Then, on Sunday we’ll get no. 4 Oklahoma takes on Houston and finally, on Monday night, no. 9 Notre Dame plays Louisville.

The major ranked matchup that will have a big impact on next week’s college football rankings is no. 11 Oregon vs. no. 16 Auburn. The two teams will square off at 7:30 p.m. eastern on Saturday, August 31 in Arlington, TX. The game will be on ABC. After the week zero matchup of Florida-Miami, the Auburn-Oregon matchup will be a major focus of the college football world.

When will the next college football rankings be released?

Most assume that the two major polls, the coaches poll and the AP top 25 will not be re-released after the week zero matchups. That means we will likely need to wait until Tuesday, September 3rd before we get the next edition of the college football rankings. This is because the Notre Dame-Louisville game does not occur until Monday night (Sep. 2).

Starting the following week, we anticipate the poll releases to resume the usual schedule of Sunday afternoon release.