Preseason top-25 for the 2021-22 college football season

#13: Oregon Ducks (10-2)

Behold, the Pac-12 Conference champions for 2021! Some people actually went as far as implying that the Pac could end up representing one or more of the top-10 spots, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves here.

The Oregon Ducks have cemented themselves as a perennial contender on the Pacific Coast, and are even coming off of a conference crown from last season. They will have those same fortunes again, but practically nothing beyond that.

#12: Cincinnati Bearcats (10-2)

Easily being the highest-ranked Group of 5 team next season, the Cincinnati Bearcats will spend another year sitting atop their usual competition.

However, that does not mean that there will be zero roadblocks in their path to relevance. A couple of names on their upcoming schedule include Indiana and Notre Dame. Ouch.

Because of that might await them, it would be appropriate to give them some wiggle room with a loss here and there, and that is exactly what I did by declaring them a 10-2 team heading into their postseason challenges.

#11: Florida Gators (9-3)

Florida proved to be one of the grittiest teams in the Southeastern Conference in 2020, but the atmosphere has changed some since then.

The Gators had a dangerous offense that accounted for most of their success; the bulk of it has moved on to the NFL. As for opponents, Alabama and Georgia are both visually better than they are. Stick another loss in there and you’ve got a strong Florida team and nothing more, but their strength of schedule will keep them within striking distance of the top-10 threshold.