There is no more fundamental truth in sports that where you finish is more important than where you start.
Beginning the college football season outside the US LBM preseason college football Top 25 in no way shape or form indicates a team is doomed to failure for the upcoming campaign. Indeed, it can often serve as a rallying cry.
Preseason polls, as we point out every year at this time, are by their very nature speculative ventures. Even so, there are a few curious omissions from the rankings that should have been recognized by voters.
Here are five teams with the best chance to overcome being snubbed in the initial balloting.
Washington
We get it. Everything is different in Seattle. The coach is gone, most of the key contributors are in NFL training camps, and the Huskies are in a new conference with a lot of depth and a lot of travel requirements. We should further clarify that the Huskies weren’t ‘snubbed’ per se by the voters. Washington did appear on most ballots, picked as high as No. 5 in some cases. But they’re also the first team to play in a national title game and also being unranked in the following preseason. An omission that should give them some motivation in the Big Ten.
Even so, starting unranked for the second-place finisher in the just completed season is unprecedented. Washington will probably have a number in front of its name at some point this season. Jedd Fisch, the new man in charge at U-Dub after bringing Arizona back to respectability, has a bit more infrastructure in place at this job. Last year’s offense will be impossible to match, but the arrival of veteran QB Will Rogers from Mississippi State will help.
Virginia Tech
The Hokies have a good chance to emerge from what looks to be a crowded middle of the pack in the expanded ACC. The defense should again be among the best in the conference, and just a few more points and fewer mistakes from the offense should translate into more victories. The optimism entering Brent Pry’s third season starts with QB Kyron Drones, who emerged in the second half of last season in leading Tech to five wins in its last seven games. But he’s one of almost an entire starting lineup that returns and will be boosted by some key transfers.
West Virginia
Neal Brown’s chair was mighty warm at this time a year ago. Now on the heels of a 9-4 campaign that finished on a three-game winning streak including a bowl victory, the Mountaineers enter 2024 as a possible dark-horse contender in the expanded Big 12. There’s depth and experience on both sides of the ball, and veteran QB Garrett Greene is a good leader on and off the field. The running game boast two options in Jahiem White and CJ Donaldson to test teams. The defense addressed concerns in the secondary and looks to be capable of slowing down offenses.
Memphis
There were no Group of Five team is ranked in the initial poll. That will almost certainly change as the season unfolds, with one non-power conference champ guaranteed a seat at the 12-team playoff table. The winner of the American Athletic Conference, despite defections over the last couple of years, at least figures to have its eventual winner in that discussion, and the Tigers seem to be in the best position to be that team. Seth Henigan is back to quarterback what should again be a high-octane attack, and the defense got a talent infusion with LB Elijah Herring of Tennessee among the key additions.
Boise State
The Broncos could also be in the best-of-the-rest mix by season’s end. The defending Mountain West champs closed strong in 2023 and have a legit superstar in camp in the person of RB Ashton Jeanty, who rushed for 1,347 yards and added 569 receiving yard last year and has most of his offensive line returning. The offense got further boosted with the addition of QB Malachi Nelson from Southern California, a rare elite recruit to play on the team’s distinguished blue turf. The defense boasts standout DL Ahmed Hassanein and LB Andrew Simpson and should again be stingy.