A look at the four major way-too-early Top 25 college football rankings
Where should TCU football be ranked in the preseason polls? We’ve got plenty of time to argue that before those polls and rankings start coming out this summer.
In the meantime, a few outlets have released their “way-too-early” rankings, which gives us a good excuse to start arguing early. Why wait until August?
Texas and Texas A&M are both given some respect despite coming off 7-6 seasons. The Longhorns are given a ranking of No. 22 or better by Sports Illustrated, ESPN and Yahoo Sports. The Aggies are ranked No. 24 by CBS Sports and No. 25 by S.I. TCU, which finished 9th in the final Associated Top 25, was ranked 16th by ESPN and 18th by S.I. but ignored by CBS and Yahoo.
The four major “early rankings” have three different No. 1 teams. Defending champions Alabama was given the top spot by CBS and Yahoo and No. 2 by ESPN and S.I. Georgia is S.I.’s No. 1. Clemson was the top choice of ESPN. Oklahoma, which finished 4th in the final AP poll, was ranked 4th by ESPN but No. 8 by the others. Undefeated Central Florida, which had some fun with a mock national championship earlier this month, despite finishing 6th in the final poll, wasn’t exactly given the boost of confidence from these early rankings. UCF’s highest ranking was No. 15. Nine teams left out of the final Top 25, are listed in at least one of the early rankings, including Florida State and Michigan, which appear in all four early rankings.
Early 2018 CFB composite rankings
2017 AP Final Ranking | 2017 record | ESPN | S.I. | CBS Sports | Yahoo Sports |
1. Alabama | 13-1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
2. Georgia | 13-2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
3. Oklahoma | 12-2 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
4. Clemson | 12-2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
5. Ohio State | 12-2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
6. Central Florida | 13-0 | 21 | 15 | 20 | 15 |
7. Wisconsin | 13-1 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 |
8. Penn State | 11-2 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 7 |
9. TCU | 11-3 | 16 | 18 | NA | NA |
10. Auburn | 10-4 | 13 | 5 | 15 | 9 |
11. Notre Dame | 10-3 | 20 | 13 | 10 | 22 |
12. USC | 11-3 | 18 | 11 | 13 | 14 |
13. Miami | 10-3 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 |
14. Oklahoma State | 10-3 | NA | NA | 23 | 13 |
15. Michigan State | 10-3 | 9 | 12 | 5 | 12 |
16. Washington | 10-3 | 7 | 16 | 17 | 6 |
17. Northwestern | 10-3 | NA | NA | NA | NA |
18. LSU | 9-4 | 23 | 14 | 18 | 18 |
19. Mississippi State | 9-4 | 19 | NA | NA | 16 |
20. Stanford | 9-5 | 12 | 17 | 12 | 11 |
21. South Florida | 10-2 | NA | NA | NA | NA |
22. Boise State | 11-3 | 17 | 24 | 19 | NA |
23. NC State | 9-4 | NA | NA | NA | 23 |
24. Virginia Tech | 9-4 | 15 | 10 | 11 | 20 |
25. Memphis | 10-3 | NA | 20 | NA | NA |
NR South Carolina | 9-4 | 25 | 21 | 22 | NA |
NR Texas | 7-6 | 24 | 22 | NA | 25 |
NR Florida State | 7-6 | 22 | 19 | 16 | 21 |
NR Michigan | 8-5 | 14 | 23 | 14 | 17 |
NR West Virginia | 7-6 | 10 | NA | NA | 19 |
NR Texas A&M | 7-6 | NA | 25 | 24 | NA |
NR Iowa State | 8-5 | NA | NA | 25 | NA |
NR Purdue | 7-6 | NA | NA | 21 | NA |
NR Oregon | 7-6 | NA | NA | NA | 24 |
Stefan Stevenson: 817-390-7760, @StevensonFWST
This story was originally published January 17, 2018 at 4:32 PM with the headline "A look at the four major way-too-early Top 25 college football rankings."