College Football Rankings: 5 biggest surprises from the preseason Coaches Poll

Let's take a look at some of the biggest surprises with regard to the first Coaches Poll of the 2023 college football season.

College football is right around the corner, which means we have some rankings to dissect, alright.

The USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll was released on Monday. While the usual suspects of Georgia, Michigan, Alabama and Ohio State were all ranked inside of the top five, the placement of other teams were certainly surprising. Of course, it will all sort itself out on the field in the coming weeks. But for now, we have some arguments to have. Let's see what all the coaches got wrong…

Here are the five biggest surprises we have from the preseason Coaches Poll released on Monday.

College Football Rankings: 5 biggest surprises from initial 2023 Coaches Poll

Here is the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll heading into the 2023 college football season.

1. Georgia Bulldogs
2. Michigan Wolverines
3. Alabama Crimson Tide
4. Ohio State Buckeyes
5. LSU Tigers
6. USC Trojans
7. Penn State Nittany Lions
8. Florida State Seminoles
9. Clemson Tigers
10. Tennessee Volunteers
11. Washington Huskies
12. Texas Longhorns
13. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
14. Utah Utes
15. Oregon Ducks
16. TCU Horned Frogs
17. Kansas State Wildcats
18. Oregon State Beavers
19. Oklahoma Sooners
20. North Carolina Tar Heels
21. Wisconsin Badgers
22. Ole Miss Rebels
23. Tulane Green Wave
24. Texas Tech Red Raiders
25. Texas A&M Aggies

Now let's dive into a few pleasant surprises, as well as ones that left us scratching our heads…

5. Coaches still seem to be mesmerized by Sonny Dykes' TCU Hypnotoad trance

Last year was a helluva year for Sonny Dykes in his first season leading TCU, but it was also last year… Nobody saw the Horned Frogs winning 13 games, much less playing for a national championship. While I expect for Dykes to continue to build with his metroplex blueprint, TCU is almost certainly going to be pulling back. To be ranked No. 16 makes sense, but that is too high.

Clearly, Dykes has the respect of his colleagues, as his team's ranking is therefore justified in that. After all, this is the Coaches Poll. What I am really interested in is seeing what the Associated Press thinks about this year's TCU team. Should they be ranked inside of the top 25 based on last year's successes? Totally, but the 2023 Horned Frogs might only be a seven-win team this season.

A return trip to Arlington may be the watermark for what this year's TCU team is really capable of.

4. Is USC really better than Penn State, Florida State and Clemson?

While I have no issues about USC being ranked inside of the top 10, are the Trojans really better than three teams they are ranked ahead of in the Penn State Nittany Lions, the Florida State Seminoles and the Clemson Tigers? If I had to pick one team to make the College Football Playoff among these four, I would take the winner of Clemson/Florida over USC, and maybe Penn State.

Caleb Williams is an outstanding quarterback, but why should I trust an Alex Grinch defense when I know it will never hold up when it counts? Manny Diaz has been a huge asset to James Franklin's staff, so the Nittany Lions could be good enough to win the Big Ten if Drew Allar is as advertised. As far as the potential ACC winner between Clemson and Florida State, that team should be elite.

All four of these teams will play in New Year's Six bowls, but USC loses to all three head-to-head.

3. Once again, it is Georgia and everybody else, as they have widened the gap

It really does feel like Georgia vs. the field again this season. Could the Dawgs pull off an unprecedented three-peat? That sounds patently insane, but who else are you taking? You may like other elite teams like Alabama, Michigan or Ohio State, as well as up-and-comers like Florida State and LSU, but we just have to accept that Georgia will be making the College Football Playoff.

For the Dawgs to have over 100 more votes than second-place Michigan, it really speaks volumes. Frankly, I think the smart money would be on them to meet in the national title bout, as the Wolverines should be as good as they have ever been. What makes UGA's No. 1 ranking such a surprise is that nobody has a ton of confidence in truly identifying a No. 2 … outside of Michigan.

If the Wolverines were to knock down college football's Goliath, they need to win a CFP game first.

2. Texas not being ranked inside of the top 10 just doesn't feel right optically

It was slightly disappointing to not see Steve Sarkisian's Texas Longhorns ranked inside of the top 10. I might be more bullish on them this year than most, but isn't this a team capable of going 11-1, winning the Big 12 and making the College Football Playoff as a No. 3 or No. 4 seed? My thoughts are that this ever-so-slight slight of Texas has everything to do with their head coach…

With that in mind, this is an especially critical year for Sarkisian at the helm of Texas. Although an 8-4 season in year three will not get him fired, it would cast doubt in the eyes of many that he is capable of leading Texas into the SEC. If he wants to prove everyone wrong, he must break his perceived 8-4 glass ceiling and get this team to something around a 10-2 performer this season.

Texas is more likely to make the playoff over higher-ranked teams like Tennessee and Washington.

1. Why on god's green earth is Florida almost cracking the top 25 at No. 28???

I understand Florida is an SEC blue-blood and a major college football brand, but the Gators shouldn't be anywhere close to a top-25 team. Though they did not crack the top 25, they were the third-highest team receiving votes, in the same neighborhood as Iowa, South Carolina, UTSA and Pittsburgh. All four of these teams have played considerably better the last two years over UF.

No, this is not an indictment on Billy Napier, but rather the athletic department as a whole. Florida should continually be fielding a top-15 team, challenging Georgia every year down in Jacksonville for divisional, and going forward, conference supremacy. I could be proven wrong, but they are at-best a fifth-place team in the SEC East that will duking it out with Missouri and Vanderbilt in 2023.

Florida being ranked right behind South Carolina and ahead of Kentucky makes next to no sense…