AP top 25: Who didn't put Georgia at No. 1 in college football rankings?

Georgia is the clear No. 1 team in the preseason college football rankings, but it wasn't a unanimous vote

James Parks | Aug 15, 2023

AP top 25: Who didn't put Georgia at No. 1 in college football rankings? /

As we all expected, defending two-time national champion Georgia is the consensus No. 1 team in the AP top 25 preseason college football rankings, but looking over the polls, the Bulldogs didn't receive every voter's confidence. Three out of the 63 ballots went against Georgia as the top-ranked team in the nation.

Robert Cessna of the Bryan-College Station Eagle (Tex.), Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman (Tex.), and notably Rece Davis, the host of ESPN's flagship program College GameDay, all departed from the consensus view.

Cessna selected Ohio State as the No. 1 team in his rankings, while Bohls and Davis both sided with Michigan as the best team in the nation coming into the 2023 season. All three voted Georgia as the No. 2 team in their polls.

Why vote against Georgia? For Davis, it comes down to one word.

"Quarterback," he said when discussing his ballot with SportsCenter. "And it's not that they don't have talented guys. Carson Beck [is] likely the starter. I was told by someone close to the Georgia program just a couple of days ago that Brock Vandagriff's been really terrific in fall camp. So they've got a couple of talented options. But they're unproven."

But while Georgia sorts out the quarterback position, it will once again lean on what figures to be another loaded defense in addition to what might be Kirby Smart's best offense at his alma mater. The unit returns tight end Brock Bowers and wide receiver Ladd McConkey, and scored two key transfers at wideout: Dominic Lovett and RaRa Thomas, ensuring that either Beck or Vandagriff will have plenty of options.

Plus, the Bulldogs have what looks like one of college football's more favorable schedules.

"It's not unreasonable to think that Georgia is just going to reload," Davis added. "And the schedule suggests that they really only have two games that they can even find a way to give away over the course of the regular season."

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