From The Athletic (probably the best pub out there currently - if you don't have a subscription, you should, before it goes under or reverts to AI).
For those of you who can't access, here's the Top 5.
1 Georgia
2 Alabama
3 Oregon
4 tOSU
5 Texas
Out of the old P12 Utah comes in at 11 and Arizona at 13.
In our new conference Michigan is 6, Washington is 7, PSU is 18 and Iowa comes in at 22. No USC. With 6 ranked teams it shows how much stronger our new conference is. SEC has 8.
I still think USC should be ranked, maybe 17th-22nd or so? And Washington is way too high for everyone they are losing. I could see UW not ranked to start the season, to be honest, until we figure out if Fisch tossing is still a thing or not in Seattle. (And after 3-4 years in Seattle unless he experiences similar success to Petersen or DeBoer, I expect it to be a thing. It's clear expectations in Montlake are that much higher now, as they should be.)
How is UW #7? Lost their QB, O-line, top WRs, new staff and system. The defense lost some good players too and wasn't great to begin with.
UW is in a rebuilding year. Not a Top 25 team, much less a Top 10 team.
Preseason rankings are always fun but not really much of a predictor of future success, in my opinion. Especially in the portal era where players can take their talent to a new school within two shakes of a dogs tail. Usually the rankings are based on the previous year results. Heck, a lot of rosters won't be set until well after spring practices. I think USC will be better than people think. And the schedule may turn out to be not as tough with Michigan and UW losing so much.
Riley will have those cavemen DC's on their heels. It's not so much that I'm a glass is full kind of guy, it's more that the glass is really small.
Ps I had the best salmon sandwich at that fish market in Seattle. Took pics of my boys on Rachel the Pig that's there in the background of your photo. It's one Rachel I declined to mount myself.
6 ranked B1G teams out of 18 is no big deal.
The Pac-12 had 6 ranked teams most of 2023.