College Football 2013: Comparing All Preseason Rankings and Picks
Hope is plentiful during the college football offseason. Every practice is great. Every signing class brings promise. Most players are injury-free and improving.
Just as healthy and vibrant is offseason debate. Who’s No. 1? Who is the preseason conference favorite? Who is headed for a fall?
Athlon Sports is proud to be part of your offseason preparation with our national and regional preview annuals. We understand we’re not the only game in town.
Everyone has opinions, and we figured we would provide a quick snapshot of how things are shaking out in those top 25 rankings, months before the season starts.
A few picks lined up across the board — Alabama is a unanimous preseason No. 1 — but a handful of top-25 and conference champion predictions varied wildly.
Now that all publications are on newsstands, we wanted to see how Athlon compared to preseason rankings and picks for other major publications. We looked at rankings for Lindy's, The Sporting News (TSN), USA Today (USAT) and Phil Steele.
If you're the kind of person who buys every preseason magazine or just the ones that rank your favorite team the highest, here's your guide to the guides for 2013 college football.
2013 PRESEASON TOP 25 RANKINGS
Lindy's | TSN# | USAT# | Steele% | Coaches# | AP# | SI# | |
1. Alabama | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
2. Ohio State | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
3. Oregon | 4 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
4. Georgia | 6 | 12 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 12 |
5. South Carolina | 9 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 6 |
6. Clemson | 7 | 9 | 8 | 15 | 8 | 8 | 10 |
7. Stanford | 3 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
8. Notre Dame* | 14 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 11 | 14 | 8 |
9. Texas A&M | 5 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 3 |
10. Louisville | 10 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 7 |
11. Boise State | 17 | 15 | 6 | 33 | 19 | 19 | 20 |
12. LSU | 8 | 16 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 12 | 14 |
13. Florida | 12 | 4 | 10 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 9 |
14. Michigan | 16 | 13 | 15 | 24 | 17 | 17 | 18 |
15. Florida State | 13 | 18 | 17 | 3 | 12 | 11 | 13 |
16. Oklahoma State | 11 | 6 | 19 | 8 | 14 | 13 | -- |
17. Oklahoma | 15 | 19 | -- | 19 | 16 | 16 | 19 |
18. Texas | 18 | 14 | 13 | 4 | 15 | 15 | 11 |
19. Wisconsin | 26 | 24 | -- | 20 | 23 | 23 | -- |
20. TCU | 22 | -- | 16 | 21 | 20 | 20 | 16 |
21. Nebraska | 21 | 21 | 9 | 16 | 18 | 18 | -- |
22. Fresno State | 33 | -- | 22 | 22 | -- | -- | -- |
23. Arizona State | 37 | -- | -- | 27 | -- | -- | -- |
24. Northwestern | 28 | -- | -- | 32 | 22 | 22 | 22 |
25. Oregon State | 31 | 23 | -- | 29 | 25 | 25 | -- |
Other notables: |
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26. USC | 25 | -- | -- | 6 | 24 | 24 | -- |
27. UCLA | 23 | 20 | -- | -- | 21 | 21 | 21 |
28. Vanderbilt | 32 | -- | -- | 48 | -- | -- | 23 |
29. Miami | 24 | 22 | -- | 25 | -- | -- | -- |
30. Virginia Tech | 38 | -- | -- | 12 | -- | -- | 25 |
31. Kansas State | 36 | -- | 24 | 39 | -- | -- | -- |
32. Michigan State | 20 | -- | -- | 23 | -- | -- | 15 |
33. Ole Miss | 29 | 25 | -- | 28 | -- | -- | -- |
36. Baylor | 19 | 17 | -- | 36 | -- | -- | 17 |
44. Northern Illinois | 27 | -- | 23 | 26 | -- | -- | 24 |
50. Tulsa | 57 | -- | 25 | 36 | -- | -- | -- |
*Notre Dame was ranked No. 8 in Athlon's preseason magazine but moved to No. 10 in an updated ranking following the departure of starting quarterback Everett Golson.
# Published a top 25 only.
%Derived from Phil Steele's Preseason Top 40.
2013 CONFERENCE PRESEASON PICKS
*Indicates conference title game winner
| Lindy's | TSN | USAT | Steele | Media picks | |
ACC Atlantic | Clemson* | Clemson | Clemson | Clemson* | Florida State | Clemson* |
ACC Coastal | Miami | Miami | Miami | Virginia Tech | Virginia Tech | Miami |
Louisville | Louisville | Louisville | Louisville | Louisville | Louisville | |
Oklahoma St. | Oklahoma St. | Oklahoma St. | Texas | Texas | Oklahoma St. | |
Big Ten Leaders | Ohio State* | Ohio State | Ohio State | Ohio State* | Ohio State | Ohio State* |
Big Ten Legends | Michigan | Michigan | Michigan | Nebraska | Nebraska | Michigan |
C-USA East | Marshall | East Carolina | East Carolina | East Carolina | Marshall | East Carolina |
C-USA West | Tulsa* | Tulsa | Tulsa | Tulsa* | Tulsa | Tulsa |
MAC East | Bowling Green | Ohio | Bowling Green | Ohio | Bowling Green | Ohio |
MAC West | Northern Ill.* | Northern Ill. | Northern Ill. | Northern Ill.* | Northern Ill. | Northern Ill.* |
MW Mountain | Boise State* | Boise State | Boise State | Boise State* | Boise State | Boise State |
MW West | Fresno State | Fresno State | Fresno State | Fresno State | Fresno State | Fresno State |
Pac-12 North | Oregon* | Stanford | Stanford | Stanford* | Oregon | Oregon |
Pac-12 South | Arizona State | UCLA | UCLA | UCLA | USC | UCLA |
SEC East | Georgia | Georgia | South Carolina | Georgia | Georgia | Georgia |
SEC West | Alabama* | Alabama | Alabama | Alabama* | Alabama | Alabama |
UL Lafayette | ULM | Western Ky. | UL Lafayette | UL Lafayette | ULL/ULM (tie) |
Related College Football Content
Athlon Sports' 2013 All-America Team
Which Schools are Most Likely to Win Their First Heisman?
College Football's All-Freshman Team for 2013
College Football's Best Coaches Under 40
How Heisman Voting Has Changed
College Football 2013 Team Rankings: No. 1-125
