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Georgia sits atop preseason AP Poll for first time in 15 years

Palmber-Thombsby:Palmer Thombs•08/14/23•

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(Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

A week after opening at No. 1 in the country in the USA Today Coaches Poll, the Georgia Bulldogs are back at it again. In the first edition of the AP Poll, announced on Monday, Kirby Smart’s crew is unsurprisingly on top.

It’s the highest preseason ranking for Georgia since 2008, the only other time the Bulldogs were voted No. 1 to start a season. That team, with Matthew Stafford returning at quarterback and high hopes coming off of a strong finish to the 2007 season, dropped from the top spot after their opener and finished No. 13 with a 10-3 record.

Georgia leads the way in a top 10 that also features SEC squads Alabama (No.4) and LSU (No. 5). Tennessee is the next highest ranked team from the conference coming in at No. 12 followed by Ole Miss (No. 22) and Texas A&M (No. 23).

In between the Bulldogs and the SEC West’s Crimson Tide and Tigers are a pair of Big Ten foes – and opponents Georgia has played on its way to the National Championship Game in each of the past two years. Michigan comes in at No. 2 while Ohio State is No. 3.

USC (No. 6), Penn State (No. 7), Florida State (No. 8), Clemson (No. 9) and Washington (No. 10) round out the top 10, representing the Pac-12 and ACC as well. The Big 12’s highest ranked team, Texas, comes in at No. 11.

It’s the 42nd time in program history that Georgia has been ranked in the preseason poll and the 38th time the Bulldogs have been in the No. 1 spot. Georgia was on top for 13 of 16 weeks last season, including every one from October 9th on, plus nine of the 16 in 2021. Prior to 2021, the last time the Bulldogs held the top spot was in the 2008 preseason poll.

Georgia opens it season on September 2nd at home against UT-Martin. It’s a bit of a change from the past two years when the Bulldogs started things off against ranked opponents: No. 3 Clemson in 2021 and No. 11 Oregon in 2022. Kirby Smart says that hasn’t changed the way Georgia has gone about preparing for the season though.

“I don’t sense any difference because we never talk about that,” Smart said on Saturday after Georgia’s first scrimmage of the fall. “Whether we play Clemson, Oregon, the National Championship Game first, we don’t talk about it. We just try to get better for us because we know that we have multiple games to play after that. I know that’s a big deal to people that say offseason and all that, but the kids aren’t thinking about that. They’re thinking about, ‘How can I lift today? How can I workout today? How do I scrimmage today?’ Today was about playing Georgia, and you’re not going to play too many teams better than Georgia so let’s go play Georgia. Let’s worry about that and not who our opponent is. Does that concern me? No, because I don’t really worry about who we’re playing until nine days out.”

The rest of Georgia’s schedule isn’t all too considerably tougher. While the Bulldogs will play back to back games against teams ranked in the preseason poll (No. 22 Ole Miss – November 11, No. 12 Tennessee – November 18), they do not have any other ranked opponents on the schedule. South Carolina, Kentucky, Auburn and Florida are in the “Others Receiving Votes” category.

Full Rankings

  1. Georgia
  2. Michigan
  3. Ohio State
  4. Alabama
  5. LSU
  6. USC
  7. Penn State
  8. Florida State
  9. Clemson
  10. Washington
  11. Texas
  12. Tennessee
  13. Notre Dame
  14. Utah
  15. Oregon
  16. Kansas State
  17. TCU
  18. Oregon State
  19. Wisconsin
  20. Oklahoma
  21. North Carolina
  22. Ole Miss
  23. Texas A&M
  24. Tulane
  25. Iowa

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