Preseason rankings are almost *always* a jumbled mess. Regardless of situation, be it roster or recruiting, most AP voters will stash Notre Dame, Texas, Michigan and Miami somewhere in the top-15 based on reputation alone. Sometimes that logic works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Cachet is undeniably a factor to consider, but there are others. How well is a team recruiting? How much production does a team return from last season? What does recent history suggest about what upcoming history a program can produce?
SB Nation’s Bill Connelly factors all that in to his popular S&P+ rankings, and he released his early preseason rankings earlier this week.