ESPN releases final preseason SP+ Top 25 ahead of 2023 college football season

Football is less than a week away, folks, so it’s time to take one last look at some preseason projections.

Recently, ESPN released its SP+ rankings for the 2023 season, a metric that measures teams based on recruiting talent, returning talent from the previous season, and recent program history. For instance, last season, Georgia, Alabama and Michigan topped the chart at 1-2-3 by the end of the year. You won’t see much change at the very top this year and the list includes most of your usual suspects.

So, to see where your favorite school falls in the SP+ preseason top-25, go ahead and check it out:

1. Georgia — 29.2

No surprise here as the Bulldogs are hot off two straight national champions and reloaded to try for No. 3 this winter. With strong units up front on both sides, plus a dominant defense and their best skill talent yet under Kirby, they’re favorites to win it all again. And an easy schedule by SEC standards helps too.

The questions come at two key spots on offense: quarterback and offensive coordinator. The brains who engineered a pair of Georgia’s best offenses under Smart — Stetson Bennett at QB, Todd Monken at OC — are each gone to the NFL. And, while their replacements are more than capable, the uncertainty at those key spots shouldn’t be overlooked.

2. Ohio State — 29.0

For the Buckeyes, all eyes are on that receiving corps as 1,200-yard wideout and Chad Ochocinco’s lock for the 2023 Heisman, Marvin Harrison Jr., returns alongside his partner in crime, 1,100-yard receiver Emeka Egbuka. They could be the best two WRs in college football and they share a locker room.

Elsewhere, OSU is strong also at running back, where they get back three guys who went for 500+ yards each and combined for 2,010 total yards in Miyan Williams, TreVeyon Henderson and Dallan Hayden. They also have some rising stars on the defensive line and a true leader of the defense in middle linebacker Tommy Eichenberg.

3. Michigan — 28.6

Only two of the top eight teams on the list return their starting quarterbacks and Michigan is one of them. If you want a reason to believe it’s finally the Wolverines’ year, look no further than JJ McCarthy.

With him and Corum running the offense behind a top-rated offensive line, plus a defense that’s nipping at the Dawgs’ heels, Michigan has what it takes to be favored to win the whole thing. They’re capable. Now, they just need to get over that next semifinal hump and advance to the College Football Playoff title game.

4. Alabama — 28.1

It’s a rare year in the last 15 when Alabama doesn’t open the year as either the first- or second-ranked team in the country. Instead, they’re all the way down at fourth thanks to a boatload of questions on the offense. Who is even going to start at QB? Is the skill talent good enough? How about all those offensive line replacements?

For once, the Crimson Tide and Nick Saban don’t have all the answers and are looking at a QB situation that could get quite messy. Will the next Bryce Young emerge? Only time will tell, but in the meantime, quarterback remains a huge question mark at Alabama. Nick Saban remains a safe bet, but it’ll be interesting to see how he is able to maximize this season’s group.

5. LSU — 23.3

The Tigers are nipping at the Tide’s heels on the 2023 rankings after surprising them with an overtime win a year ago to grab a stranglehold over the SEC West. Off that team, star quarterback Jayden Daniels returns, along with his favorite target in 1,000-yard receiver Malik Nabers. LSU also gets its top five rushers, including Daniels, all back, and adds Notre Dame starter and 800-yard ball carrier in ’22, Logan Diggs, to run behind an OL that gets four starters back. Yep, this offense is loaded.

But the defense ain’t bad, either. Harold Perkins gets all the headlines as a rising sophomore who recorded 72 tackles and 7.5 sacks during his true freshman season. Perkins and Sai’vion Jones make for a nasty 1-2 pass rush duo, while upperclassmen like Greg Brooks and Major Burns man the defensive backfield. This definitely feels like a club that can knock off ‘Bama and win the West once again.

6. Penn State — 23.2

No more exciting running back duo exists than the rising sophomore 1-2 punch of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. Those guys burst onto the scene a year ago as Singleton totaled more than 1,000 yards while Allen crossed the 800-yard mark while running behind a line that could be even stronger in ’23.

Defensively, Chop Robinson and Abdul Carter will scare the bejesus out of most opposing quarterbacks, while the corner combo of Kevin King and Johnny Dixon will man the skies in pass defense. The Nittany Lions are loaded up across the board, but like most of these top clubs, their hopes lie with a new, young and unproven QB.

7. Clemson — 22.9

Clemson missed the College Football Playoff the last two years, but ESPN is predicting the Tigers will leap back into the mix in 2023. There awaits some real challengers in the ACC this time around in Florida State and North Carolina. However, the advantage in overall roster talent lies with Clemson.

They have a deep offensive line that will be stellar, plus got their leading rusher (Will Shipley) and receiver (Antonio Williams) back for a young but talented QB (Cade Klubnik) that should provide more consistency than they got from the position a year ago. And then on defense, the front seven ought to be great once again, especially with Tyler Davis, Jeremiah Trotter and Barrett Carter all back, in addition to a fabulous CB duo of Nate Wiggins and Sheridan Jones in the secondary.

8. Tennessee — 22.4

Joe Milton is the big man on campus and the player garnering all the attention as he tries to step in for a truly great college QB in Hendon Hooker. Without draft picks Darnell Wright and Jalin Hyatt to help him out, the Vols need to find new playmaking stars on offense around Milton.

With Bru McCoy and Squirrel White at wide receiver, UT has plenty of talent, but it’d be unreasonable to expect another Biletnikoff winner. Nor would it be reasonable to expect Milton to match numbers with Hooker. That said, Tennessee still has the talent to put up a ton of points offensively, and will be coupled by a stouter and more experienced defense this season.

9. Texas — 22.2

In year two, Steve Sarkisian returned Texas to relevancy with a top-25 finish in the final rankings plus an 8-5 record and a 49-0 beatdown of rival Oklahoma. Now, those aren’t numbers the Longhorns strive for, but on the heels of three prior seasons of eight wins or less, you can call it a success … for now.

If Texas were to start stacking eight-win seasons, fans would eventually call for an upgrade. So while it was a fine mark for the 2022 year and Sarkisian’s second overall, the expectation is that he improves on that finish in the next couple of years. With an SP+ rating in the top ten, this club ought to be in the thick of the Big 12 title hunt.

10. USC — 20.9

While they narrowly missed the College Football Playoff thanks to a pesky Utah squad, the inaugural run for Lincoln Riley in SoCal was a rousing success. Now, he has a Heisman winning quarterback, Caleb Williams, returning to another loaded offense while the defense still has plenty of questions to answer.

The Trojans are likely to once again post some of the best offensive numbers in the country, if not the best. Also, as we mentioned earlier, USC has a returning QB in a year where many top clubs don’t, and that sort of experience could prove a difference-maker as we get later into the season.

11-25 rankings

11. Notre Dame
12. Florida State
13. Oregon
14. Utah
15. Oklahoma
16. Texas A&M
17. Washington
18. Ole Miss
19. Wisconsin
20. Kansas State
21. TCU
22. Iowa
23. Florida
24. Kentucky
25. North Carolina

There you have it, the 25 best teams in the nation per ESPN’s SP+ formula. It must be pretty accurate, too, since their list isn’t far off from the actual preseason AP Poll, and that top ten is nearly the exact same group. For once, the math and the media agree.