Missing the College Football Playoff did little to hurt Georgia's standing in the eyes of coaches around the sport.

The Bulldogs led the way in the preseason Coaches Poll ahead of the 2024 campaign, collecting 46 first-place votes. Ohio State, Oregon, Texas and Alabama rounded out the top five.

Preseason Coaches Poll

1. Georgia 
2. Ohio State 
3. Oregon 
4. Texas 
5. Alabama 
6. Ole Miss 
7. Notre Dame 
8. Michigan 
9. Penn State 
10. Florida State 
11. Missouri 
12. LSU 
13. Utah 
14. Clemson 
15. Tennessee 
16. Oklahoma 
17. Kansas State 
18. Oklahoma State 
19. Miami 
20. Texas A&M 
21. Arizona 
22. North Carolina State 
23. USC 
24. Kansas 
25. Iowa

Georgia returns leading passer Carson Beck, who threw for 3,941 yards, 24 touchdowns and six interceptions in his first year as the starter. Safety Malaki Starks anchors the Bulldogs defense after totaling 52 tackles, three interceptions and seven pass breakups.

Still, this year's national title race feels more open than it has been in a little while even with plenty of the usual suspects hovering in and around the top 10.

The two participants from last year's championship, Michigan and Washington, both had to replace their head coaches and saw numerous stars move on to the NFL. Florida State, the only other team to finish unbeaten in the regular season, had a similar talent exodus.

Alabama is embarking on a new era with legendary head coach Nick Saban gone. Kalen DeBoer has the unenviable task of maintaining a program whose fans consider any year without a CFP title game appearance to be a disappointment.

The effects from another round of realignment will be felt as well. Texas and Oklahoma now have a more difficult road to the 12-playoff out of the SEC. The additions of Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington bolstered the depth in the Big Ten.

Even Georgia isn't a shoo-in to run the table given it plays Clemson in its opener and has road trips against Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss ahead.

There's no question the new 12-team format for the playoff will remove some of the usual drama from the regular season. The stakes simply aren't as high from week to week when a power conference team can afford to suffer one or even two defeats and remain in the national championship conversation. Missouri, Penn State and Ole Miss all would've qualified for the CFP with a pair of losses in 2023 based on the final rankings.

Having said that, it will be interesting to see how much the bar success shifts now that qualifying for the playoff on its own is no longer an achievement on its own for the traditional blue bloods. Conversely, earning a top-12 berth is the minimum expectation for schools in the next tier down since the barrier for CFP entry is lower.

Ohio State and Ole Miss represent opposite ends of the spectrum.

As others have argued before, Ryan Day is probably the most embattled coach with a career .875 winning percentage in college football history. Between hiring Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator and signing safety Caleb Downs, running back Quinshon Judkins and quarterback Will Howard out of the transfer portal, anything short of a semifinals appearance might be enough to push him out the door.

The Rebels have likewise loaded up through the portal, sitting first in 247Sports' team rankings. The sting of losing Judkins was canceled out by landing defensive lineman Walter Nolen, edge-rusher Princely Umanmielen and wide receiver Antwane Wells Jr. among others. While head coach Lane Kiffin isn't facing a make-or-break year in terms of his job security, failing to get Ole Miss into the playoff will lead some to wonder if he can ever make it happen.

The new season kicks off with Week 0 on Aug. 24 and the first full week of action gets underway on Aug. 29.