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College Football Rankings: 5 biggest surprises from the preseason Coaches Poll

By John Buhler

Lincoln Riley, USC Trojans. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Lincoln Riley, USC Trojans. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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Sonny Dykes, TCU Horned Frogs
Sonny Dykes, TCU Horned Frogs. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images) /

Let’s take a look at some of the biggest surprises with regard to the first Coaches Poll of the 2023 college football season.

College football is right around the corner, which means we have some rankings to dissect, alright.

The USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll was released on Monday. While the usual suspects of Georgia, Michigan, Alabama and Ohio State were all ranked inside of the top five, the placement of other teams were certainly surprising. Of course, it will all sort itself out on the field in the coming weeks. But for now, we have some arguments to have. Let’s see what all the coaches got wrong…

Here are the five biggest surprises we have from the preseason Coaches Poll released on Monday.

College Football Rankings: 5 biggest surprises from initial 2023 Coaches Poll

Here is the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll heading into the 2023 college football season.

  1. Georgia Bulldogs
  2. Michigan Wolverines
  3. Alabama Crimson Tide
  4. Ohio State Buckeyes
  5. LSU Tigers
  6. USC Trojans
  7. Penn State Nittany Lions
  8. Florida State Seminoles
  9. Clemson Tigers
  10. Tennessee Volunteers
  11. Washington Huskies
  12. Texas Longhorns
  13. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
  14. Utah Utes
  15. Oregon Ducks
  16. TCU Horned Frogs
  17. Kansas State Wildcats
  18. Oregon State Beavers
  19. Oklahoma Sooners
  20. North Carolina Tar Heels
  21. Wisconsin Badgers
  22. Ole Miss Rebels
  23. Tulane Green Wave
  24. Texas Tech Red Raiders
  25. Texas A&M Aggies

Now let’s dive into a few pleasant surprises, as well as ones that left us scratching our heads…

5. Coaches still seem to be mesmerized by Sonny Dykes’ TCU Hypnotoad trance

Last year was a helluva year for Sonny Dykes in his first season leading TCU, but it was also last year… Nobody saw the Horned Frogs winning 13 games, much less playing for a national championship. While I expect for Dykes to continue to build with his metroplex blueprint, TCU is almost certainly going to be pulling back. To be ranked No. 16 makes sense, but that is too high.

Clearly, Dykes has the respect of his colleagues, as his team’s ranking is therefore justified in that. After all, this is the Coaches Poll. What I am really interested in is seeing what the Associated Press thinks about this year’s TCU team. Should they be ranked inside of the top 25 based on last year’s successes? Totally, but the 2023 Horned Frogs might only be a seven-win team this season.

A return trip to Arlington may be the watermark for what this year’s TCU team is really capable of.

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