2022 Preseason USA Today Sports UFCA Coaches Poll Rank Team Points (No. 1 votes) 1 Alabama 1634 (54) 2 Ohio State 1564 (5) 3 Georgia 1542 (6) 4 Clemson 1356 5 Notre Dame 1284 6 Michigan 1232 7 Texas A&M 1219 8 Utah 1134 9 Oklahoma 1027 10 Baylor 891 11 Oklahoma State 859 12 Oregon 734 13 N.C. State 726 14 Michigan State 711 15 USC 602 16 Pitt 450 17 Miami 433 18 Texas 383 19 Wake Forest 381 20 Wisconsin 369 21 Kentucky 353 22 Cincinnati 339 23 Arkansas 334 24 Ole Miss 327 25 Houston 257 Others receiving votes: Iowa 248; Penn State 246; Tennessee 163; Brigham Young 152; Louisiana State 143; Auburn 98; Central Florida 55; North Carolina 34; San Diego State 25; Fresno State 21; Mississippi State 19; Florida 17; Utah State 12; Air Force 12; UCLA 10; Boise State 10; Appalachian State 10; Minnesota 6; South Carolina 5; Kansas State 4; Iowa State 3; Army 3; UL Lafayette 2; Southern Methodist 2; Purdue 2; Oregon State 2; Coastal Carolina 2; Texas-San Antonio 1; Louisville 1; Florida State 1.
A&M's weeks 2-6 are App State, Miami, n. Arkansas, at Mississippi State, and at Alabama. That appears to be the obvious pick to me. Baylor goes to BYU in week 2, at Iowa State in week 4, and Oklahoma State in week 5. That could be trouble. And who knows how Freeman and Venables will do as first time head coaches.
Texas has literally never been the "easy answer" for this particular question. UT did start 2010 at No. 5 and finish 5-7, but that was coming off 2008-09, when they went 25-2. They lost Colt and a lot of talent off the 2009 team, but still wouldn't have been an "easy answer" given their success in the 2000s. Since 2011, UT has started in the AP Top 10 once, at No. 10, when they were coming off a No. 9 finish.
Inclined to pick A&M but I'm sure Jimbo's going to go deep on miami. Assume it's ND with all that change
That's why I picked TAM. Just assume they're going to get earholed a couple times before the leaves fall.
I would probably wager that OSU will start 4-0, but they do have ND and Wisconsin in their first 4 games.