Let’s be honest. The 2023 college football season felt like a fever dream. Between the constant realignment rumors and the looming transition to a 12-team playoff, every single week of the 2023 CFB AP Poll carried a level of weight that felt almost suffocating. It was the final year of the four-team era. One loss didn't just hurt; it was often a death sentence. Except, of course, when it wasn't.
Michigan eventually climbed the mountain, but the path there was jagged. If you look back at the preseason rankings, the AP voters actually had a decent handle on things, which is rare. They had Georgia at number one, Michigan at two, and Ohio State at three. They weren't wrong about the talent. They just couldn't have predicted the sign-stealing scandals, the season-ending injuries to star quarterbacks, or the absolute robbery that happened in Tallahassee.
How the 2023 CFB AP Poll Framed the Season
Polls are weird. They aren't just lists; they're narratives. When the Associated Press released the preseason rankings in August 2023, the vibe was "Georgia vs. The World." The Bulldogs were coming off back-to-back titles. They had 60 first-place votes. It looked like a foregone conclusion.
But then September happened.
Texas went into Tuscaloosa in Week 2 and beat Alabama. That single game threw the 2023 CFB AP Poll into a blender. Alabama dropped to number 10, their lowest ranking in years at that point. It was a signal. The dynasty was showing cracks, even if Nick Saban eventually patched them up enough to win the SEC.
People forget how much the AP voters struggled with Florida State. The Seminoles started at number eight. By mid-season, they were a fixture in the top four. They were winning. They were dominant. Then Jordan Travis went down against North Alabama. The poll became a battlefield of "eye test" vs. "resume." It’s kinda crazy looking back at how the voters tried to balance a team's talent without its leader against a team like Alabama that was getting better every week.
The Michigan Ascent and the Big Ten Grudge Match
Michigan was the story. Love them or hate them, the Wolverines turned the 2023 CFB AP Poll into their own personal "us against the world" manifesto. They hovered at number two for what felt like an eternity, trailing Georgia.
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The pressure cooker peaked in November. Michigan had to face Penn State and Ohio State while Jim Harbaugh was serving a suspension. When they beat Ohio State—who was ranked number two at the time in some circles—the shift was permanent. They took the top spot and never looked back.
Ohio State’s fall was fascinating to watch in the rankings. They were consistently top-three. Their defense was statistically elite. But the AP voters, much like the fans, could see the offensive limitations with Kyle McCord at the helm compared to the CJ Stroud era. When they lost "The Game," they plummeted to number seven. It was a brutal reminder that in the 2023 season, being "very good" was the same as being "nowhere."
Washington: The Team the Polls Ignored Too Long
If there’s one thing the 2023 CFB AP Poll got wrong for a long time, it was the Pac-12. Specifically, the Washington Huskies.
Michael Penix Jr. was playing out of his mind. Kalen DeBoer had that team humming. Yet, in the early weeks, they were stuck behind teams like USC because, frankly, Lincoln Riley and Caleb Williams were more "marketable."
It took a thriller against Oregon in October for the voters to finally wake up. Washington jumped to number five. Even then, they were often treated as an underdog. Every week, people expected them to drop a game to an inferior opponent. They didn't. They just kept winning one-score games. By the time the final regular-season poll came out, they were number two, but it felt like the voters were doing it begrudgingly.
The SEC Monopoly Breakup
For years, the SEC dominated the top five. 2023 was different.
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Georgia stayed at number one for 12 consecutive weeks. They were a machine. But when they lost to Alabama in the SEC Championship, the 2023 CFB AP Poll had a minor meltdown. For the first time in the history of the College Football Playoff, the SEC was at risk of being left out.
The final regular-season AP Top 5 looked like this:
- Michigan (unanimous)
- Washington
- Texas
- Florida State
- Alabama
Texas being at three was the kicker. Their head-to-head win over Alabama in September was the "trump card" that the AP voters—and eventually the selection committee—couldn't ignore. It created a ripple effect. Florida State was at four in the AP poll, but the Committee famously bumped them, creating the greatest controversy in the sport's modern history.
Why 2023 Was a Statistical Outlier
Usually, the AP Poll experiences "Poll Inertia." This is the idea that if you start high, you stay high unless you lose. In 2023, we saw some massive jumps and falls.
Oregon is a great example. They lost twice, both times to Washington, and both times by three points. Usually, two losses would boot you out of the top ten. But the AP voters were so impressed by Bo Nix and the Ducks' advanced metrics that they kept Oregon ranked ahead of several one-loss teams for much of the season.
Then you had the "Prime Effect." Colorado jumped into the top 20 after beating TCU. It was a massive overreaction by the voters, driven by hype. Within three weeks, they were unranked and stayed there. It was a cautionary tale about why we shouldn't rank teams based on vibes in September.
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Real-World Impact: The Final Rankings
When the dust settled after the National Championship, the final 2023 CFB AP Poll reflected a season of Big Ten and Pac-12 dominance—a weird irony considering the Pac-12 was essentially dissolving as the trophies were being handed out.
Michigan finished at a deserving number one. Washington sat at two. Texas and Alabama followed. But look at Georgia. They finished at number four in the final AP poll despite not even making the playoff. They absolutely demolished Florida State in the Orange Bowl, which led many voters to basically say, "Yeah, we probably should have had them in the top four all along."
This creates a weird legacy for the 2023 rankings. We have a team (FSU) that was ranked in the top four nearly all season, went undefeated, and ended up finishing outside the top five in the final poll because of a bowl game where half their roster didn't play. It highlights the inherent flaws in a subjective voting system.
Actionable Insights for Future Poll Tracking
If you’re looking at these historic polls to understand how 2024 and 2025 will play out, keep a few things in mind. The AP poll still matters for prestige, but its influence on the actual playoff is waning now that we have a 12-team field.
- Watch the "Loss Columns" over rankings: In 2023, the number of losses was more important than who those losses were against, until the very end.
- Early season "Blue Blood" bias is real: Teams like Alabama and Ohio State will always get the benefit of the doubt in the first six weeks. If you're betting or tracking, look for the "under-ranked" undefeated teams in October (like Washington was).
- The "Eye Test" vs. "Resume" debate never ends: 2023 proved that even if you win every game, the AP voters might still drop you if you don't look "dominant" enough after an injury.
To truly understand the 2023 season, you have to look at the week-by-week movement. It wasn't just about who was #1; it was about how the middle of the pack—teams like Missouri, Ole Miss, and Arizona—slowly climbed into the top ten, proving that the gap between the "elites" and the rest of the Power Five was closing faster than we thought.
The final AP poll of 2023 serves as a historical marker. It was the end of an era. The last time a 13-0 record could be debated. The last time the Rose Bowl was a "traditional" semifinal. And the last time we saw the Pac-12 at the pinnacle of the rankings.
If you want to dig deeper into specific box scores that influenced these shifts, checking the historical archives of the AP top 25 provides a week-by-week breakdown of how individual ballots were cast, which often reveals regional biases that are still prevalent today. Keep an eye on the "Others Receiving Votes" section in early 2024 polls; that's where the next Washington or Missouri usually hides.
Next Steps for Reference:
- Compare the final 2023 AP Top 25 against the final College Football Playoff rankings to see where the human voters differed from the committee.
- Research the "sign-stealing" timeline to see exactly which week Michigan's AP point total began to fluctuate based on off-field news.
- Review the 2024 preseason AP poll to see which 2023 "overachievers" (like Arizona or Kansas) maintained their respect in the eyes of the media.