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College football's Way-Too-Early Top 25 for 2023
The 2022 college football season may have just ended, but Mark Schlabach already has a top 25 for next year.
ESPN released their (extremely) preseason top 25 for next year shortly after the title game ended. To nobody’s surprise, the two-time defending champs are #1, followed by #2 Ohio State, #3 Michigan, and #4 Florida State.
What are your thoughts on the 2023 season? Where does Tech stand? What kind of season will we put together? Who are your CFP top 4? Will the ACC be shut out of the playoff again?
I think the top 4 in no particular order for next year will be Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, and USC. The first 3 are losing their starting QBs, but have more than enough firepower to go 12-0 or 11-1 against their schedules. UGA’s schedule is a literally cakewalk this time. The only reasonably tough game they’ll have will be @Tennessee, and they just lost maybe the best QB in the country this year. Bama will have to play Texas, LSU, and Tennessee at home, as well as Texas A&M, and Auburn on the road. A much tougher schedule than UGA, but after this year I think Saban and the Tide come out as hungry as ever, ready to show everyone they’re still top dogs. Ohio State has lost 2 years in a row to Michigan to lose the Big 10 East, but they’re far too talented to lose again IMO. They’ll lose Stroud who was an incredible QB, but they a 5-star and a 4-star QB waiting in the wings to take over with that explosive talent around them. USC returns the Heisman winning QB and adds even more talent through the portal. I think they finish 11-1 because they do play a pretty tough schedule @Oregon and @Notre Dame along with hosting Washington, Utah, and UCLA. But they’ll win the PAC 12 at 12-1.
I think the ACC goes another year without a playoff team. Clemson’s defense was torn apart by both Tennessee and South Carolina, and Klubnik is not a Trevor Lawrence/Deshaun Watson type QB talent, not yet anyway. Losing both Venables and Tony Elliot might lead to the demise of Clemson as a powerhouse contender. I do think ESPN got it right by throwing FSU into the mix. I believe they’re going to be the best team in the ACC next year. They return Jordan Travis along with 15 other starters from a team that played extremely well down the stretch. They have to play @Florida, @Clemson, home vs. Miami, and a neutral site against LSU. They probably go 2-2 through that stretch to finish the year 10-2 but good enough to make it to the ACC title. Probably against either Clemson or UNC.
As for Tech, there are only 2 games I don’t think we have a real shot in this year, @Clemson and vs. Georgia. But every other game seems very winnable to me. There are 3 more I think we’ll be a pretty heavy underdog in, @Miami, @Ole Miss, and vs. UNC. Louisville in the Benz, @Wake, and @UVA are probably the next toughest tier of games, but Louisville is going through a transition and we get them in game 1. Wake is losing maybe their best QB ever, and UVA is coming off a terrible season under a first year coach.
If everything clicks I think we could absolutely get to 10-2, but not very likely. 9-3 or 8-4 would be great seasons and I definitely think we have potential to get to one of those numbers. Ole Miss, Miami, and UNC don’t particularly scare me. They’re better on paper, but we have a point to prove against Ole Miss, and I don’t think HCBK will let the boys forget what happened in 2022 when we go to the Grove this year. Miami seems to always under achieve, but playing on the road is tougher, even if there’s nothing special about their atmosphere. We’ve had UNCs number lately. I imagine Mack probably reminds his guys about that, but we get them at home, without hopefully a good showing and good home field advantage.
I think 6-6 should be the floor of this team, so a C grade. Anything less than that gets an F, barring some super wild attrition nobody is counting on right now. 7-5 would be a B. 8-4 an A, 9-3 or better is an A+
