College football rankings 2023: Georgia leads charge for 3-peat, Michigan, Alabama close behind
Georgia won’t be going anywhere in the 2023 college football rankings with Michigan, Alabama, Florida State and more topping the way-too-early Top 25.
Coming into the 2022 season, the Georgia Bulldogs were celebrating the program’s first title since 1980. But the preseason college football rankings didn’t have them as the favorites to repeat. They came in at No. 3 in the AP Top 25 behind Alabama and Ohio State.
Fast-forward to early January and the Dawgs are No. 1 again. After narrowly escaping the Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff semifinal Peach Bowl, Georgia dominated TCU in the National Championship Game to hoist the trophy for the second consecutive year. How does a three-peat sound, though?
It’s never too early to take a peak into next season, the 2023 college football season. Yes, there are still transfers and commitments to take place, in addition to some NFL Draft decisions. But based on what we know right now after the conclusion of this past season and with the Dawgs on top again, here’s a look at our way-too-early 2023 college football rankings.
Table of Contents
- Introduction: Talented Power 5 question marks and the Lane Train
- Page 2: Will Boomer Sooner bounce back? What’s next for Hypnotoad?
- Page 3: The Mullet, DJU and DJU’s old friends
- Page 4: Pac-12 stalwarts round out the Top 10
- Page 5: Vol Magic and the Fam-uh-lee ride again
- Page 6: Ryan Day’s next chapter and the reigning Heisman winner’s encore
- Page 7: Bama and a blue blood crack the Top 4
- Page 8: Georgia’s back and Harbaugh (maybe) is its biggest challenger
College football rankings 2023, way-too-early Top 25: No. 25-21
25. UTSA Roadrunners
We really need to stop sleeping on the Roadrunners and it’ll be hard to do so going into the 2023 season. Frank Harris is coming back to UTSA and will lead an offense that barely missed a beat after losing Sincere McCormick from their 2021 run. They’ll be in the AAC, which will raise the level of competition, but they have the goods to compete right away.
24. UCLA Bruins
It’s going to be a much different UCLA team than the one we saw in 2022 but Chip Kelly has a strong group of transfers incoming to replace Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Zach Charbonnet. Collin Schlee and Ethan Garbers come in at QB alongside 5-star newcomer Dante Moore and Ball State star Carson Steele will bolster the run game. Now it’s just about plugging up the holes in a leaky defense.
23. Wisconsin Badgers
Because it’s not been proven, I couldn’t put the Badgers higher than this, but I’m excited about the potential of Wisconsin with Luke Fickell arriving. Hiring Phil Longo as the offensive coordinator should be a boom for Braelon Allen and either Tanner Mordecai or Nick Evers, two transfer quarterbacks incoming, on offense. And Fickell’s prowess as a defense-builder should help Wisconsin compete to win the Big Ten West in the head coach’s first Power-5 season.
22. South Carolina Gamecocks
South Carolina was one of the most difficult teams to place for the 2023 season. It appears Spencer Rattler will return to Columbia but Shane Beamer’s team will lose some key weapons. With that being said, the Gamecocks started to find their identity late in the year and I suspect Rattler and Beamer will team up to build on that.
21. Ole Miss Rebels
Yes, I can already hear people ready to tell me that the Lane Train went off the rails violently late in the year by losing five of the final six games. But Ole Miss brings back Jaxson Dart and Quinshon Judkins while Kiffin has been active in the transfer portal again. Not only can they win eight games again, but they can be better in the 2023 season with those two leading the offense.