Preseason rankings are meaningless in college football, considering how little they resemble the final poll when the dust settles. But what can we actually learn from them?
Since it began in 2014-15, the College Football Playoff has featured just five teams that started the season ranked outside the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
The list is made up of Clemson (preseason No. 12) and Oklahoma (No. 19) in 2015, Washington (No. 14) in 2016, Georgia (No. 15) in 2017 and Notre Dame (No. 12) in 2018. Only the first playoff _ featuring Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon and Florida State _ had four teams with preseason top-10 rankings.
So, generally speaking, the AP voters do a fairly good job at identifying college football's top tier.
But, the chalky inaugural playoff aside, at least one team has far exceeded preseason expectations each year to land in the final four. Here's a look at which team that might be in 2019:
