Where Georgia football ranks in preseason US LMB Coaches Poll Top 25
Georgia football will start this season in the same spot where it was a year ago.
The Bulldogs are No. 1 in the preseason US LMB Coaches Poll released Monday.
As Georgia learned last season, that doesn’t guarantee anything.
The Bulldogs were No. 1 in the preseason to start the 2023 season but, after going 12-0 in the regular season, lost to Alabama 27-24 in the SEC championship game and were left out of the four-team playoff. Georgia finished No. 3 in the final poll after clobbering Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
Georgia received 46 of 55 first-place votes in this preseason coaches poll, with Ohio State receiving seven and Texas and Michigan one each.
The playoff is expanded to 12 teams this year and the Bulldogs’ path there is daunting with road games at No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Alabama and No. 6 Ole Miss and a game against No. 14 Clemson in Atlanta and No. 15 Tennessee at home.
Coach Kirby Smart said at the start of preseason practices that his team doesn’t pay attention to expectations.
“You guys are probably more familiar with it than we are in terms of, well, that's the expectation,” he said. “They're going to start the season top five, or they're going to be predicted to win the East or West when it was there, or they're going to be predicted to win the SEC. I've never honestly paid any attention to it, and we don't talk about it as a team. The expectation is we're going to develop and worry about today's day, and we don't think about that.”
Smart is one of 55 coaches voting this season in the poll.
Georgia was also preseason No. 1 in 2008 when it went 10-3 and finished No. 10.
US LBM 2024 preseason college football poll
The US LBM preseason coaches poll Top 25 with team's records from last season in parentheses, total points based on 25 for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in last year’s final poll and first-place votes received.
Rank | School (record) | Points | Last season’s final rank | First-place votes |
1 | Georgia (13-1) | 1,364 | 3 | 46 |
2 | Ohio State (11-2) | 1,302 | 10 | 7 |
3 | Oregon (12-2) | 1,228 | 7 | 0 |
4 | Texas (12-2) | 1,223 | 4 | 1 |
5 | Alabama (12-2) | 1,077 | 5 | 0 |
6 | Mississippi (11-2) | 1,019 | 9 | 0 |
7 | Notre Dame (10-3) | 969 | 14 | 0 |
8 | Michigan (15-0) | 944 | 1 | 1 |
9 | Penn State (10-3) | 889 | 13 | 0 |
10 | Florida State (13-1) | 867 | 6 | 0 |
11 | Missouri (11-2) | 808 | 8 | 0 |
12 | LSU (10-3) | 742 | 12 | 0 |
13 | Utah (8-5) | 665 | NR | 0 |
14 | Clemson (9-4) | 657 | 20 | 0 |
15 | Tennessee (9-4) | 621 | 17 | 0 |
16 | Oklahoma (10-3) | 609 | 15 | 0 |
17 | Kansas State (9-4) | 416 | 19 | 0 |
18 | Oklahoma State (10-4) | 359 | 16 | 0 |
19 | Miami (Fla.) (7-6) | 292 | NR | 0 |
20 | Texas A&M (7-6) | 273 | NR | 0 |
21 | Arizona (10-3) | 230 | 11 | 0 |
22 | North Carolina State (9-4) | 216 | 21 | 0 |
23 | Southern California (8-5) | 199 | NR | 0 |
24 | Kansas (9-4) | 186 | 23 | 0 |
25 | Iowa (10-4) | 148 | 21 | 0 |
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.
The US LBM Board of Coaches for the 2024 season: Tim Albin, Ohio; Major Applewhite, South Alabama; Tim Beck, Coastal Carolina; Mike Bloomgren, Rice; David Braun, Northwestern; Jeff Brohm, Louisville; Fran Brown, Syracuse; Neal Brown, West Virginia; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Jamey Chadwell, Liberty; Bob Chesney, James Madison; Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan; Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech; Spencer Danielson, Boise State; Ryan Day, Ohio State; Kalen DeBoer, Alabama; Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State; Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri; Mike Elko, Texas A&M; Tony Elliott, Virginia; Jedd Fisch, Washington; James Franklin, Penn State; Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame; Willie Fritz, Houston; Alex Golesh, South Florida; Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky; Mike Houston, East Carolina; Butch Jones, Arkansas State; Brent Key, Georgia Tech; GJ Kinne, Texas State; Chris Klieman, Kansas State; Dan Lanning, Oregon; Rhett Lashlee, SMU; Clark Lea, Vanderbilt; Lance Leipold, Kansas; Pete Lembo, Buffalo; Sean Lewis, San Diego State; Mike Locksley, Maryland; Mike MacIntyre, Florida International; Gus Malzahn, Central Florida; Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio); Derek Mason, Middle Tennessee; Joey McGuire, Texas Tech; Bronco Mendenhall, New Mexico; Jeff Monken, Army; Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh; Ken Niumatalolo, San Jose State; Barry Odom, UNLV; Gerad Parker, Troy; Brent Pry, Virginia Tech; Kirby Smart, Georgia; Mark Stoops, Kentucky; Jon Sumrall, Tulane; Lance Taylor, Western Michigan; Jeff Traylor, Texas-San Antonio.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football is No. 1 in preseason US LMB Coaches Poll
