Big Bird! 6 hot reactions to college football's preseason coaches poll | Toppmeyer (2024)

Brace yourself for Greg Sankey to quote “Sesame Street” again.

After Monday’s release of the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll, the SEC commissioner gained more fuel to toot that his conference is unlike the others.

Nine SEC teams are ranked in the coaches’ preseason Top 25. That’s a conference record in the preseason poll, and it speaks to the league’s increasing strength after adding Texas and Oklahoma.

The SEC’s ranked teams are: No. 1 Georgia, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 11 Missouri, No. 12 LSU, No. 15 Tennessee, No. 16 Oklahoma and No. 20 Texas A&M.

Here are six observations from these preseason rankings:

Several SEC fan bases will be disappointed come December

Fans of the SEC’s nine ranked teams will enter the season with playoff aspirations. Strong though the conference is, somebody must lose once games start and these ranked teams start playing each other. Also, the playoff’s design will prevent an SEC-exclusive party.

A minimum of four other conferences will be represented in the playoff. That structure limits the SEC to a maximum of eight qualifiers. The Big Ten, though, surely will supply multiple qualifiers, and perhaps the ACC or Big 12 will grab a second bid. Don’t forget Notre Dame, ranked No. 7.

TOPPMEYER: Ranking SEC coaches gets tough after the obvious: Kirby Smart is No. 1; who's No. 2?

Realistically, the SEC can be expected to qualify four or five teams. Considering nine are ranked in the top 20, widespread angst awaits.

Expectations surge for Kalen DeBoer, Alabama

A few weeks after Alabama hired DeBoer to succeed Nick Saban, I didn’t expect the Crimson Tide’s new coach to make the playoff in his debut season. Alabama’s schedule is rugged, its coaching staff turned over, and talented players like safety Caleb Downs and wide receiver Isaiah Bond transferred.

Since then, perception improved. Expectations elevated.

DeBoer quelled the transfer exodus and clawed back some talent out of the portal. He hit it off with his new roster, quarterback Jalen Milroe, in particular. Suddenly, that daunting schedule looks manageable.

TOPPMEYER: One word tells why I'm believing more in Kalen DeBoer's first Alabama football season

Considering Alabama’s No. 5 ranking, DeBoer’s Year 1 mission is clear: Make the playoff, and contend for a national championship.

How’s that for a short honeymoon?

ACC, Big 12 project as one-bid leagues

If you’re a bubble team from the SEC or Big Ten in need of one of the final at-large playoff bids, you’re rooting hard for the ACC and Big 12 to be one-bid leagues. That’s a fair hope.

No. 10 Florida State and No. 14 Clemson are the ACC’s top playoff contenders. They’ll play in the regular season and perhaps again in the ACC Championship. That conference championship game could become a playoff elimination game.

The Big 12’s top contenders are No. 13 Utah, No. 17 Kansas State and No. 18 Oklahoma State. Qualifying two of those three will be a stretch. Much like the ACC, the Big 12’s conference championship game profiles as a playoff eliminator for the loser.

It’s a 'Super Two' world

The Big Ten, with six ranked teams, is the top threat to the SEC producing the national champion. Specifically, No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Oregon are dangers to Georgia. This poll crystallizes how much the “Super Two” conferences are expected to dominate the inaugural 12-team playoff.

Notre Dame and FSU are the only top-10 teams not from the Big Ten or SEC. Eight or even nine qualifiers from the SEC and Big Ten is possible.

In the Big Ten, some clear tiers emerge. The top tier consists of four teams. No. 23 Southern Cal is the fifth-highest-ranked Big Ten team.

The Big Ten’s top four – Ohio State, Oregon, No. 8 Michigan and No. 9 Oregon – have a safer path to the playoff than, say, No. 12 LSU.

Texas could be the biggest thorn to the Big Ten qualifying four playoff teams. The Longhorns will play at Michigan in Week 2.

Michigan will face USC, Oregon and Ohio State later in the season, so a Week 2 nonconference loss could kneecap the Wolverines – and the Big Ten in the process.

Oklahoma is overrated

Most SEC teams are appropriately rated, but No. 16 seems a touch lofty for the Sooners.

Oklahoma lost three of its final six games last season, and it will have a new starting quarterback after star Dillon Gabriel transferred to Oregon. Also, Jeff Lebby, the architect of OU’s high-powered offense the past two seasons, left to become Mississippi State’s coach. And the SEC handed Oklahoma a brutal schedule as it transitions to its new digs.

Texas A&M is a playoff sleeper

Looking for a playoff sleeper? Try the 20th-ranked Aggies.

If the theory is the talent-rich Aggies underachieved during the Jimbo Fisher era, then first-year coach Mike Elko has an opportunity to overdeliver in Year 1, especially considering how much talent he retained amid the staff changeover.

The schedule breaks nicely for the Aggies. They avoid Georgia, Alabama and Ole Miss. Their toughest games against Texas, Missouri and LSU will be at home.

And if the Aggies are on the playoff bubble, expect Sankey to recycle his Big Bird routine.

Blake Toppmeyeris the USA TODAY Network's SEC Columnist. Email him atBToppmeyer@gannett.comand follow him on Twitter@btoppmeyer.

Also, check out his podcast,SEC Football Unfiltered,and newsletter,SEC Football Unfiltered.Subscribeto read all of his columns.