6 SEC teams ranked in 'Way-Too-Early' Top 25 for 2020 from Athlon Sports
While LSU and Clemson are preparing for the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, the rest of college football is looking toward the future.
With that in mind, Athlon Sports released its “Way-Too-Early Top 25 College Football Rankings” for 2020 on Thursday, giving an idea of how the top teams in the country could stack up at the beginning of next season. And it’s not surprising to see some of the same teams at the top.
Clemson is ranked No. 1 as it will return quarterback Trevor Lawrence next season, while LSU, which will lose Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Joe Burrow, is ranked No. 4. The Tigers aren’t the highest SEC team on the list, as Alabama comes in at No. 3.
The Crimson Tide will lose quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and some other key players, but Mac Jones gained experience at the end of the 2019 season and could play well in his first full season as a starter. Plus, the Tide will return several strong defensive players, including linebacker Dylan Moses, who opted to return for his senior season after missing all of 2019 due to injury.
Here are the full rankings (SEC teams in bold):
- Clemson
- Ohio State
- Alabama
- LSU
- Oklahoma
- Penn State
- Florida
- Georgia
- Notre Dame
- Wisconsin
- Oregon
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Texas
- Texas A&M
- Auburn
- Cincinnati
- Boise State
- Oklahoma State
- Virginia Tech
- Iowa
- North Carolina
- Iowa State
- Memphis
- Baylor
This is freaking hilarious. Why is OU #5? They’ll have a new unproven QB, and their defense sucks. Boise State? Cincinnati, Iowa State? Lmao come on, who did they beat to even be ranked? Go ahead and knock Oregon down considering they only beat Utah and USC who now arent even ranked. They deserve to be #11 by beating Wisconsin by 1 point who only beat 2 average ranked teams themselves? Lmao! How is VA-Tech even still on this list? They lost to Boston College, Duke, and Kentucky but they’re #20? Who makes this list?
Why are you ranting about a preseason top 25? Why are you ranting about a preseason top 25 in January? It’s silly, no one knows who’s playing on any team next season right now between injuries and transfers. Relax…it will be ok.
Right? Who gets this emotional over a “way too early” pre-season rankings?
I’m not ranting, and I’m not emotional. Yes, it’s a pre-season rankings, but it’s still hilarious at how rediculous it is. That’s all I was pointing out. Is UT ranked? No
Will we be? Probably not, so why would I be emotional? The off-season is starting guys, and so are speculations hence this article. Lol
Dabo probably isn’t happy. Relax. win some games,get ranked. You play in a good conference with a good SOS. All you gotta do is win.
“Why is OU #5”
Lincoln Riley
While I’ve not even come close to thinking about rankings, I think putting UGA somewhere between 6-10 seems right. I guess.
Love how UK is going to fly under the radar into next season with the deepest and most talented team they’ve ever had on paper.
No you don’t.
Leave it to UK to be relevant for 2 seasons so they start talking like they’ll actually be taken seriously in football. Lmao!
I mean, it is the dEcAdE of the vOls?!?!?! so why even bother showing up.
UK has been much better than the Vols lately.
Florida should be top 5, at least until Mullen takes an NFL job. A&M should be top 10.
Yup.
Nope.
A&M shouldn’t be in the top 25 until they win a meaningful game.
I usually get Athlon and a couple of other preseason mags every year; and it’s most fun at the end of the season looking back at them to see how far off they were! I think Athlon picks the obvious top ten and just guesses the rest. They are definitely the worst prognosticators.
I will never understand the need for preseason rankings. College football teams shouldn’t be ranked until they have played half their season. BTW, college football needs to go to a 16 team playoff system.
Preseason rankings create interest. They will never go away. I hope we never ever go to a 16 team playoff.
Yeah 16 is way too many. This year even no one was going to compete outside the top 3. At most I would like to see a 6 team playoff where 1 & 2 get a bye while the bottom 4 play for 3 & 4 spots. But we would have to address the long layoff between games. It’s ridiculous
I could live with that. This year was a fluke. They moved the games around and things didn’t go as planned. By the time they went back to considering the 9th, New Orleans was short of rooms. Poor planning on the part of college football.