Longtime Alabama coach Nick Saban recently announced his retirement, which rocked the college football landscape and the rankings. This will go on for months until it becomes evident how Kalen DeBoer’s hire and Saban’s exit affect the Crimson Tide’s direction. In light of Saban’s retirement and the movements made through the transfer site, college football pundit J.D. PicKell listed his top 12 teams for the next campaign. It’s obvious why he goes 12 deep: 12 teams will compete in the next College Football Playoff.
As the second-best team in the country, Ohio State is ranked No. 2, only behind Georgia. Given that Jim Harbaugh departed Michigan to join the NFL, the Buckeyes could be the favorites to win the Big Ten. Here are PicKell’s rankings:
1. The state of Georgia 2. The University of Ohio 3. Texas; 4. Oregon Ole Miss No. 5 from Michigan 7. The state of Alabama 8. University of Pennsylvania
Notre Dame (9)
10. The Missouri
11. The University of Florida
12. Utah
Due to the loss of their head coaches, Alabama and Michigan both seem to be falling a little short on the list. Washington, who recently competed for a national championship before losing its coach to Alabama, is completely absent. For some reason, the Longhorns are the only squad from the College Football Playoffs with a head coach returning in 2024.
The top five on the list, which most surveys consider to be the best five in the nation, ought to remain mostly stable. Penn State looks excessively high for a program that hasn’t had much success in a long time. According to On3 rankings, the Buckeyes rank No. 2 in the Big Ten and No. 4 in the class of 2024. That will undoubtedly be beneficial as long as the top 25 rankings persist in the preseason.
