With the 2024 college football season just a few weeks away, preseason polls are being released. Last week, the first Coaches Poll of the year dropped. Now, we have the preseason AP rankings to go along with it. And the AP Poll further suggests that Mississippi State football has a ridiculously tough schedule this fall.
2024 Preseason AP Top-25 poll released
Here's a look at the full AP Top-25 poll as we enter the 2024 college football season. First-place votes are in parentheses, and SEC teams are listed in bold.
1. Georgia (46)
2. Ohio State (15)
3. Oregon (1)
4. Texas
5. Alabama
6. Ole Miss
7. Notre Dame
8. Penn State
9. Michigan
10. Florida State
11. Missouri
12. Utah
13. LSU
14. Clemson
15. Tennessee
16. Oklahoma
17. Oklahoma State
18. Kansas State
19. Miami
20. Texas A&M
21. Arizona
22. Kansas
23. USC
24. NC State
25. Iowa
The SEC dominates with nine teams in the rankings, the most of any conference, and four of the top six. Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, Missouri, LSU, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M all made the Top-20. Fellow SEC programs Kentucky and Auburn also received votes.
AP Poll highlights the brutal schedule awaiting Mississippi State football in 2024
We've talked about this plenty, but the preseason AP Poll is yet another piece of evidence that Mississippi State football was dealt an absolutely treacherous schedule in 2024. State will face six teams ranked in the Top-20 of the AP Poll, including three in the Top-6. As CFB insider Brett McMurphy pointed out, the Bulldogs face all six of those teams during their final eight games of the season with a pair of stretches against three-straight ranked opponents.
*Note, Ole Miss is actually ranked 6th and not 5th as Brett's post says.
Mississippi State plays 6 ranked teams in its final 8 games
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 12, 2024
No. 4 at Texas, Sept. 28
No. 1 at Georgia, Oct 12
No. 20 Texas A&M, Oct 19
Arkansas, Oct. 26
UMass, Nov. 2
No. 15 at Tennessee, Nov 9
No. 11 Missouri, Nov 23
No. 5 at Ole Miss, Nov. 30
Needless to say, those games against Arkansas and UMass in between will be a welcome relief. The schedule also highlights how important it will be for State to get off to a hot start. The Bulldogs open with four winnable games against Eastern Kentucky, Arizona State, Toledo, and Florida.
If MSU wants to go bowling, they'll need to rack up wins in the first four weeks to give themselves any shot at reaching bowl-eligibility. Because if they find themselves in need of wins against their ranked opponents to make a bowl, they could be in trouble.
Of course these are just preseason rankings. It's certainly possible some of State's opponents end up not being Top-25 caliber, which would be ideal. That said, those teams will still probably be big favorites over the Bulldogs regardless of it they're ranked or not.
Hopefully State is up to full-speed under new HC Jeff Lebby so they can get off to that likely needed fast-start when the season kicks off later this month.