The Athletic has strong reasons why it put Georgia ahead of Texas in its final 2024 rankings
Coaches bemoan the fact that preseason rankings don’t matter. They’re largely right. But that doesn’t mean those rankings are wrong. The Athletic posted its final college football rankings for the 2024 season, and they mostly nailed the top six spots. Ohio State, Oregon, Notre Dame, Texas and Georgia were all among The Athletic’s preseason top […]
Coaches bemoan the fact that preseason rankings don’t matter. They’re largely right. But that doesn’t mean those rankings are wrong.
The Athletic posted its final college football rankings for the 2024 season, and they mostly nailed the top six spots. Ohio State, Oregon, Notre Dame, Texas and Georgia were all among The Athletic’s preseason top seven picks, and they all finished in the top six.
The Buckeyes were a preseason No. 6, according to The Athletic, and won the College Football Playoffs. Oregon, Notre Dame, Penn State and Georgia were second through fifth, respectively.
But what about Texas?
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Everybody had high hopes for the Longhorns going into the 2024 season, even though they were moving into the rugged SEC. Quarterback Quinn Ewers and a sizzling defense led the Horns to the SEC championship game and the CFP semifinals for a second straight year.
Still, Texas finished sixth in The Athletic’s final rankings, just behind No. 5 Georgia.
On the field, the Bulldogs didn’t make it to the final four. However, The Athletic gave Georgia the upper hand over Texas due to two victories — one during the regular season and another in the SEC title game.
“Immediately, I realized how difficult this exercise would be when I concluded Oregon should be No. 2,” The Athletic’s Chris Vannini wrote about the rankings. “I had Notre Dame here initially, as the final AP Top 25 did. But as I went back through, the Oregon case was fairly simple on paper. Oregon has a win over Ohio State, unlike Notre Dame. It has four top-15 wins in total and has the fewest losses, none of which came against Northern Illinois.
“The 41-21 Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State may ultimately be how people remember this Oregon team, but the regular season still matters, to me at least.”
The two teams nobody saw coming? Arizona State and Indiana.
The Sun Devils were picked to finish dead last in the Big 12 by most observers. Instead, coach Kenny Dillingham’s club won the league title and earned a first-round bye in the CFP.
Texas wound up beating Arizona State in the Peach Bowl on the strength of two touchdown throws by Ewers and an overtime interception by Andrew Mukuba.
Indiana shocked the Big Ten under coach Curt Cignetti. Ohio State had no problem shutting down Indiana when they met. Still, the Hoosiers were a complete rags-to-riches story that was embraced nationally.
ASU started 89th in The Athletic’s preseason poll and finished seventh. Indiana was picked 81st in the preseason; the Hoosiers finished 10th.
