College Football Rankings 2020: Projected preseason Top 25 sans Pac-12, Big Ten

23. Appalachian State Mountaineers

• Where they were ranked in the 2019 preseason: 41st (5 points)
• Where they were ranked at the end of 2019: 19th (466 points)
• Where they were in our way-too-early Top 25: unranked
• Where they ranked in the preseason Coaches Poll: 35th (31 points)

Is this the season where Appalachian State finally breaks through and tops the Group of Five race for the automatic New Year’s Six bid? With the MAC and the Mountain West out of the equation — not to mention a dozen total teams that received more votes than the Mountaineers in the preseason Coaches Poll — the path is wide open for the defending Sun Belt champions to open the year ranked in the AP Top 25.

Of course, to reach that milestone App State will need to do so by improving its winning percentage for the third straight year under their third different head coach. With longtime leader Scott Satterfield now at Louisville and 2019 coach Eliah Drinkwitz parlaying a 12-1 campaign into  the Missouri gig, the job now falls to Mountaineers alumnus Shawn Clark to keep the engine running smoothly in Boone.

Clark was already on Appalachian State’s staff, making the transition less awkward as they seek out a fifth consecutive Sun Belt crown and the perfect record that would put them in the discussion. They also boast one of the 10 most experienced offenses in the country, though the defense lost almost half of last year’s production.

For a Sun Belt team to reach the New Year’s Six, it will probably take perfection. App State needs more than anything to focus on finishing perfect in league play this year, after slipping at least once each season of their recent run of dominance.