Athlon Sports recently released its list of the top-25 college football teams going into the 2020 football season, saying the list specifically represents where they think these teams will finish the season.
From Athlon:
This is not a preseason ranking of teams going into the season. Instead, this ranking takes into account where we project teams to finish after the national championship in January
The SEC is represented six times. Alabama is at No. 2 behind projected national champion Clemson. LSU is at No. 8, Texas A&M No. 11 and Auburn at No. 13.
Most notably, Georgia, the three-time SEC East defending champion, is ranked at No. 7, behind Florida at No. 6.
Athlon Sports stated its reason for putting the Gators ahead of the Bulldogs, even though Florida hasn’t won in Jacksonville in three years, is because of the SEC crossover games and staff continuity.
“Georgia has an edge in overall roster talent,” Athlon Sports wrote. “But the Gators have a small advantage in crossover play (at home versus LSU compared to at Alabama for the Bulldogs) and coach Dan Mullen’s team has more continuity in staff and scheme.”
I suppose Athlon Sports has a point, a Joe Burrow-less LSU at home won’t be as tough as Alabama in Tuscaloosa. However, the SEC East runs through Jacksonville and Georgia has held the keys for the last three years.
And as far as continuity goes, the Bulldogs came into the 2019 season with a new offensive coordinator and still took care of business in Jacksonville.
Georgia and Florida meet this year on Halloween from TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida.
Here is Athlon Sports’ projected top-10 teams in college football for 2020:
Athlon Sports’ 2020 Projected top-10
#1 Clemson
#2 Alabama
#3 Ohio State
#4 Oklahoma
#5 Penn State
#6 Florida
#7 Georgia
#8 LSU
#9 Notre Dame
#10 Oregon
