ESPN’s Mark Schlabach posted an updated, post-Signing Day way-too-early top 25 Monday morning with a familiar takeaway:
The SEC, despite its poor showing in bowl season, will still be college football’s deepest conference. Eight SEC teams are ranked in Schlabach’s top 25: No. 4 Alabama, No. 8 Georgia, No. 12 Auburn, No. 14 Ole Miss, No. 16 LSU, No. 20 Tennessee, No. 22 Arkansas and No. 24 Mizzou.
Ohio State undoubtedly returns college football’s best team, while No. 2 TCU and No. 5 Baylor will bring back 16 and 17 starters, respectively. But the Big Ten and Big 12 only have three teams ranked in this early top 25, which should be a little concerning as college football’s power continues to skew toward the Southeast and West.
The one thing to note with this February look at the SEC: With only two teams in the top 10 (No. 4 Alabama and No. 8 Georgia), there could be plenty of movement in and out of the top 25 once the rankings start matter -- which, as we found out last year, may not actually be late October or even late November.
And unfortunately, we’re still what, eight and a half months away from the first College Football Playoff ranking and having actual rankings to talk about? Sigh.