Cumulative Top 25 Preseason Rankings filled with SEC football teams

With the 2024 college football season just weeks away, fans have little interest in 'another' preseason ranking. 247Sports has done us a favor and provided an exception. Using preseason rankings from "ESPN, The Athletic, USA Today, Athlon Sports, Lindy's, and Fox", along with 247Sports and CBS Sports, a Cumulative Top 25 has been created.

Wisely, 247 used a simple calculation, assigning 25 points for a No. 1 ranking, scaling down to a single point for a No. 25 ranking. A perfect score would be 200 points. No team gained a perfect score, but the Georgia Bulldogs came close at 197 points.

Nine SEC football teams earned a Top 25 ranking. The full Top 25 list is provided below. The SEC teams not making it are Kentucky, Auburn, South Carolina, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt.

Below the list of Top 25 football teams, the SEC's nine ranked teams are compared based on games against other ranked teams. There is a wide range of challenges among the nine SEC football teams.

Cumulative Preseason Top 25

• 1) Georgia Bulldogs - 197 points

• 2) Ohio State Buckeyes - 194 points

• 3) Texas Longhorns - 181 points

• 4) Oregon Ducks - 180 points

• 5) Ole Miss Rebels - 161 points

• 6) Alabama Crimson Tide - 158 points

• 7) Notre Dame Fighting Irish - 141 points

• 8) Missouri Tigers - 140 points

• 9) Michigan Wolverines - 130 points

• 10) Penn State Nittany Lions - 124 points

• 11) LSU Bengal Tigers - 112 points

• 12) Florida State Seminoles - 95 points

• 13) Utah Utes - 91 points

• 14) Oklahoma Sooners - 87 points

• 15) Clemson Tigers - 84 points

• 16) Tennessee Vols - 79 points

• 17) Miami Hurricanes - 68 points

• 18) Kansas State Wildcats - 59 points

• 19) Oklahoma State Cowboys - 45 points

• 20) North Carolina State Wolfpack - 37 points

• 21) Kansas Jayhawks - 34 points

• 22) Arizona Wildcats - 32 points

• 23) Texas A&M Aggies - 30 points

• 24) USC Trojans - 25 points

• 25) Louisville Cardinals - 18 points

According to 247, the Kentucky Wildcats "just missed" the Top 25 cut.

SEC Football Schedule Gauntlets

The toughest SEC challenges begin with the Sooners. Oklahoma plays six ranked teams, five of which are ranked in the top 11. Three of the five are road games. Georgia plays five ranked teams, three of which are in the top six, and all three are road games. Alabama plays five ranked teams (three in the top 11), including three road games. LSU plays five ranked teams, with one being a road game.

Texas plays four ranked teams with two being road games. Tennessee plays four ranked teams, with two being road games. Texas A&M plays four teams ranked in the top 11; all in College Station.

Missouri plays three ranked teams, with two being road games. Ole Miss plays three ranked teams, with just one being a road game.

A simple prediction is for a few SEC teams road games are going to be pivotal - and brutal.