Phil Steele Drops His AP Preseason Top 10 Prediction

It may be a while until college football season begins, but we might already know which teams will make up the AP preseason top 10.

Phil Steele released his annual college football preseason AP poll top 10 prediction six months in advance. In the past four years, Steele has perfectly predicted which teams will make up AP’s preseason top 10, and he's only missed on five teams in the past 13 years.

Instead of creating his own top 10, Steele attempts to predict how AP voters will assemble the preseason poll every year.

Here is Steele’s AP preseason prediction for the 2022 season:

1. Alabama

2. Georgia

3. Ohio State

4. Clemson

5. Texas A&M

6. Notre Dame

7. Michigan

8. Utah

9. Oklahoma

10. Oregon

Steele remains high on last year’s National Championship participants, putting them first and second in the poll. 

He also thinks Michigan will stay strong after a College Football Playoff appearance. Cincinnati, however, is not on Steele’s top-10 list despite an undefeated regular season last year.

Ohio State and Clemson return to the top after relatively down years last season, while Texas A&M rounds out the top five. 

Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Oregon also join the top 10 despite hiring new coaches for 2022, and Steele thinks Utah will take advantage of last year’s Rose Bowl appearance.

In six months, when the AP releases its preseason poll, there is a very good chance these will be the ten teams at the top.