Greg McElroy predicts which Top 10 teams could finish the season unranked

In 18 of the last 20 years, a preseason top-10 team from the AP poll has finished unranked. With Monday’s 2024 rankings released on Monday, people have been discussing who the victim could be this year. ESPN’s Greg McElroy gave two candidates, beginning with the reigning national champions.

Quarterback is definitely a question for Michigan after JJ McCarthy left for the NFL. No official starter has been named but Alex Orji is the presumed guy. Orji will likely be the most athletic player on the field at any time but his throwing ability is being doubted.

Combine Orji potentially struggling with a tough schedule and McElroy sees a world where Michigan becomes the first national champion to be unranked since LSU in 2020.

“What if Alex Orji makes mistakes throwing the football? What if the offense sputters and has some turnover woes? What if that happens? And you look at Michigan’s schedule, they could, in theory, be an 8-4 football team,” McElroy said.

“Schedule is brutal, and if they can’t get the quarterback right for whatever reason, you telling me they couldn’t play their way out of the top 25? It absolutely could happen.”

McElroy then headed to the Florida panhandle for his next team, having similar concerns about Florida State and their quarterback issue.

DJ Uiagalelei is in his fifth year of college football after playing for Clemson and Oregon State. His tenure out West was a whole lot better than what was produced against ACC competition. McElroy wonders how the Seminoles would be affected by Uiagalelei’s potential struggles when going up against that competition again.

“We look at Florida State and we’re banking a lot of DJ Uiagalelei,” McElroy said. “DJ Uiagalelei has a great year last year, really nice year… There’s a lot to like how DJ Uiagalelei has progressed but last time we saw him play in the ACC, it wasn’t pretty. It was far from it… You’re putting a lot on his shoulders and there’s a lot of unproven weapons on the perimeter.”

Florida State was on the verge of making the College Football Playoff last season, being jumped by Alabama in the final rankings. Head coach Mike Norvell surely has his team hungry to have a great 2024 season and ready to content for a spot in the 12-team edition.

But in McElroy’s eyes, there is a world where everything goes wrong for them.