Missouri football finished last season as a consensus top-10 team in the national polls. But the Tigers, by a narrow margin, won’t begin 2024 as one.

Mizzou is the No. 11-ranked team in the preseason US LMB Coaches Poll, which was released Monday morning. The Tigers received 808 voting points in the poll, which places them fifth among Southeastern Conference teams.

Georgia is the preseason No. 1 team in the coaches poll, receiving 46 first-place votes from the group of 55 college football coaches voting this season. The other SEC teams ahead of Missouri are Texas (No. 4); Alabama (No. 5); and Mississippi (No. 6).

In total, nine SEC schools are among the top 25 — the most it has ever had in the preseason coaches poll and its highest total at any point since September 2015 — with LSU coming in one spot behind Missouri at No. 12. Rounding out the SEC schools represented are Tennessee (No. 15); Oklahoma (No. 16); and Texas A&M (No. 20).

Four Big Ten teams are ranked ahead of Mizzou in the preseason poll, with Ohio State and Oregon at No. 2 and 3, respectively, and Michigan (No. 8) and Penn State (No. 9) also taking top-10 spots.

Notre Dame clocked in at No. 7 on the poll, and Florida State is the first team ahead of Mizzou at No. 10. The Seminoles had 59 more voting points than Missouri. Twenty-five points are awarded for first-place votes, 24 points for second-place votes, and so on until No. 25, which receives one point per vote.

Missouri’s ranking, if it manages to hold onto that spot throughout the season, would be enough to earn it a berth into the first iteration of the expanded, 12-team College Football Playoff.

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The Tigers appear to have a favorable schedule in 2024, with just three top-25 teams in the coaches poll — Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas A&M — on their regular-season schedule this year.

Mizzou returns a significant portion of its breakout offense from 2023, when the Tigers went 11-2 and defeated Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, including quarterback Brady Cook and wide receiver Luther Burden III.

Most of the Tigers’ biggest unknowns come on defense, where they lost 10 significant contributors to either the NFL or graduation and had to replace outgoing defensive coordinator Blake Baker, who took the same role at LSU, with Corey Batoon from South Alabama.

The Tigers have both a top-20 transfer portal class and 2024 recruiting class joining the team this season. Missouri reported for fall camp on July 28 and wrapped up its first week of practices on Sunday.

Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz is among the coaches who are voting in the poll. In total, seven SEC coaches are listed as voters.

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Here is the full US LMB Coaches Poll top 25

Dropped out: No. 2 Washington (14-1); No. 18 Louisville (10-4); No. 24 SMU (11-3); No. 25 West Virginia (9-4).

Others receiving votes: Washington (14-1) 123; Louisville (10-4) 95; Virginia Tech (7-6) 64; SMU (11-3) 47; Memphis (10-3) 44; Boise State (8-6) 30; Auburn (6-7) 25; West Virginia (9-4) 22; Wisconsin (7-6) 17; Iowa State (7-6) 15; Liberty (13-1) 15; Kentucky (7-6) 12; Florida (5-7) 11; South Carolina (5-7) 10; North Carolina (8-5) 6; Maryland (8-5) 5; UNLV (9-5) 5; Central Florida (6-7) 4; Texas Tech (7-6) 4; Texas-San Antonio (9-4) 3; Appalachian State (9-5) 2; Colorado (4-8) 2; Nebraska (5-7) 2; Texas State (8-5) 2; Tulane (11-3) 2; Air Force (9-4) 1; James Madison (11-2) 1; Miami (Ohio) (11-3) 1; Syracuse (6-7) 1; Troy (11-3) 1.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri football just misses out on top-10 ranking in coaches poll