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We’re less than one week removed from the national championship game, and already every national website has released its way-too-early top 25 rankings for the 2016 season (see links in table below).
The current consensus is that Clemson, Alabama and Oklahoma are the frontrunners for the national championship. Bovada odds released Tuesday favor the Tide, Tigers, Sooners and Michigan Wolverines.
Taken from ESPN, CBS, Fox Sports, Athlon Sports and The Sporting News, which only released a Top 20, there are seven different SEC teams showing up in someone’s Top 25.
RELATED: The SDS way-too-early Top 25 for 2015
Four SEC programs rank in the consensus top 12. Based on these polls, Tennessee has a real chance at a preseason top 10 ranking for the first time since 2005.
Auburn, which the media favored to win the SEC prior to the 2015 season, isn’t ranked in any preseason top 25. Neither is Texas A&M after losing both its five-star quarterbacks to transfer, or Mississippi State after losing Dak Prescott.
So perhaps the SEC West, at least top to bottom, finally will not be as menacing.
Tennessee is the only SEC East team ranked in all five of the “way too early” top 25s we sourced.
Early in the 2015 season, a record 10 SEC teams made it into a single Associated Press Top 25 poll. It appears that there is little chance of that feat repeating in 2016. Prior to the season, the SEC should be happy if five teams are ranked.
The conference did just finish 9-2 in the postseason, setting a record for bowl wins by a single conference and winning many of those contests in dominant fashion.
| Team | ESPN | CBS | Fox Sports | Sporting News | Athlon Sports |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clemson | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Alabama | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Oklahoma | 5 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| Michigan | 4 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 7 |
| Baylor | 3 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 10 |
| LSU | 7 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 9 |
| Florida State | 6 | 12 | 2 | 12 | 5 |
| Ohio State | 12 | 5 | 14 | 4 | 4 |
| Notre Dame | 9 | 8 | 16 | 6 | 6 |
| Tennessee | 11 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 8 |
| Houston | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 15 |
| Ole Miss | 13 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 13 |
| Stanford | 8 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 12 |
| Michigan State | 14 | 9 | 13 | 13 | 11 |
| Iowa | 16 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 17 |
| TCU | 19 | 20 | 7 | 20 | 21 |
| Oklahoma State | 22 | 16 | 21 | 15 | 14 |
| Oregon | 18 | 18 | 22 | 17 | 24 |
| USC | 15 | 21 | 17 | — | 16 |
| Washington State | 20 | 25 | — | 16 | 23 |
| Georgia | 23 | 22 | 19 | — | 20 |
| Louisville | 24 | 23 | 23 | — | 22 |
| North Carolina | 17 | — | 20 | — | 18 |
| Washington | 25 | — | 15 | — | 19 |
| Miami | — | 13 | 25 | — | — |
| Arkansas | — | 19 | — | 19 | — |
| UCLA | 21 | — | — | — | — |
| Boise State | — | 24 | — | — | — |
| Utah | — | — | 24 | — | — |
| Florida | — | — | — | — | 25 |
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
