College football rankings: Georgia repeats at No. 1 as SEC, Big Ten dominate top of Preseason

August has arrived, which means the 2024 college football season is just around the corner. Fall camps are underway across the country, and before you know it, we will be kicking off the season in Dublin, Ireland, during Week 0 before the full Week 1 slate takes center stage the final week of the month.

 

No preseason ritual gets the conversation going quite like the first set of rankings, and as we begin a new season for the CBS Sports 134, the teams at the top are unsurprisingly familiar. Each week we will rank every FBS team — now at 134; welcome, Kennesaw State — but the starting point for this year’s

rankings includes many of the same teams that finished in top spots at the end of 2023. Twelve of the top 14 teams in the first CBS Sports 134 were in the top 14 in the final rankings last season, though there has been some significant shake-up among the group.

Georgia, Texas and Alabama all finished last season in the top five of the CBS Sports 134 and begin 2024 with the same status, though it’s the Bulldogs moving up four spots to No. 1 while No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Alabama are each up one spot from their finishing positions from a year ago. No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Oregon are poised to be the top challengers to Georgia for the top spot, as each are preparing to enter the fall with a new quarterback, loads of transfer portal talent and expectations of taking the Big Ten away from three-time

reigning champion Michigan.

 

Speaking of the Wolverines, the exodus of 13 NFL Draft picks, legendary coach Jim Harbaugh and a notable collection of staffers has Michigan starting the year down at No. 9, solidly near the top of the rankings but fourth among Big Ten teams. The Big Ten and SEC have a stronghold on the real estate at the top of the rankings to start the year,

occupying every spot in the top 12 except for No. 8 Notre Dame and No. 10 Utah.

The Utes are one of the teams we’ve identified as making notable moves in the rankings from end of 2023 to the 2024 preseason, jumping up 22 spots from where Kyle Whittingham’s squad finished after an injury-riddled 8-5 campaign last season. For more on the notable moves in the rankings as we turn the page to a new season,