Georgia sits atop preseason Coaches Poll, will play five top-15 teams
The first preseason rankings are out with Monday’s release of the Coaches Poll, and Georgia will begin its 2024 campaign on top. The Bulldogs come in at No. 1 over a top-10 that features a trio of their opponents – Texas (No. 4), Alabama (No. 5) and Ole Miss (No. 6) – with 46 of the 54 votes for the top spot.
Rounding out the top-10 in other positions are Ohio State (No. 2), Oregon (No. 3), Notre Dame (No. 7), Michigan (No. 8), Penn State (No. 9) and Florida State (No. 10).
In total, Georgia will play five teams ranked in the preseason poll, starting with No. 14 Clemson on August 31st. The Bulldogs and Tigers square off in the Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in a battle the pits two programs that have claimed four of the last eight national titles.
No. 15 Tennessee makes the trip to Athens in November, so there’s no telling where the Bulldogs and Volunteers come in when that rolls around. Auburn, Kentucky and Florida all received votes.
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Of course you won’t find Georgia head coach Kirby Smart boasting about the ranking in the top spot. UGA started the season there last year coming off of back-to-back championships in 2021 and 2022. The Bulldogs went 12-0 for a third straight regular season before falling in the SEC Championship Game to Alabama, missing out on the College Football Playoffs as a result. One loss likely won’t keep Georgia out this season with an expanded field of 12 making it, but Smart knows the preseason title means nothing when toe meets leather later this month.
“I don’t feel like we’re familiar with it because we just don’t pay attention to it,” Smart said. “You guys are probably more familiar with it than we are in terms of, like, well that’s the expectation. They’re gonna start the season top 5. Or they’re going to be predicted to win the East or West when it was there. Or they’re going to be predicted to win the SEC. I’ve never honestly paid any attention to it, and we don’t talk about it as a team. So the expectation is we’re going to develop and worry about today’s day, and really, we don’t think about that.”
Georgia continues fall camp this week after getting underway with the work last week. UGA can practice 25 times in total between August 1st and kickoff against Clemson on August 31st.
