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The college football season will look plenty different in 2021. The college football power rankings? Not quite as much. Despite new quarterbacks at Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State, those three perennial powers find themselves in the top five. They are joined by Oklahoma and Georgia, which both return quarterbacks in the hopes of winning their first championships of the playoff era.

And then there are teams like Texas A&M, North Carolina and Iowa State, which make the top 10 and are looking to earn a CFP bid for the first time. From the Group of 5, Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina and Louisiana all check in.

Where does your favorite team rank?

Methodology: Thirty-three ESPN college football experts submitted their own top 25s, leading to this consensus list.

2020 record: 13-0, national champions
2021 preseason FPI: 1
Key September games: Sept. 4 vs. Miami; Sept. 18 at Florida

Season outlook: Another year, another championship, another rebuild. Replacing DeVonta Smith, Najee Harris and Mac Jones on offense won’t be easy. Nor will it be easy to recreate the magic of Steve Sarkisian calling plays. But Nick Saban went out and got a former college and pro coach in Bill O’Brien as offensive coordinator. John Metchie is back at receiver, along with veteran running back Brian Robinson. All eyes will be on projected starting quarterback Bryce Young, though. The dynamic former five-star recruit was Jones’ understudy last season and has all the tools to be an all-conference player. How he deals with the learning curve of major college football will go a long way toward determining whether Alabama reloads and competes for another championship. — Alex Scarborough

2020 record: 9-2, Big 12 champions
2021 preseason FPI: 3
Key September game: Sept. 18 vs. Nebraska

Season outlook: The Sooners amped up the excitement level this offseason with designs on joining the SEC in the future, but they have a real opportunity to push for a national-title run this season. The schedule sets up nicely: TCU and Iowa State, which can push the Sooners, visit Norman this year, as does Nebraska for a Game of the Century anniversary celebration. The Texas game, as always, is a key test, but FPI gives the Sooners a 68% chance to win the conference. — Dave Wilson

2020 record: 10-2, ACC champions
2021 preseason FPI: 2
Key September game: Sept. 4 vs. Georgia

Season outlook: Trevor Lawrence is gone. Travis Etienne is gone. For most programs, that would mean a massive reset of expectations. At Clemson, however, there’s surprisingly little concern. QB D.J. Uiagalelei got his feet wet replacing Lawrence for two games last year, and he looked like a future star. Five-star recruit Will Shipley has already turned heads in summer workouts, and Clemson’s backfield appears well-stocked with talent. Then add in a healthy Justyn Ross, an absolutely loaded defensive front and a veteran secondary with a chip on its shoulder and, once again, the Tigers are the odds-on favorites to win the ACC. The bigger question for Clemson fans, however, might be how much bigger they should dream. After two straight seasons ended with blowout losses in the playoff, the narrative surrounding Clemson will be less about its command of the conference and more about how quickly the Tigers can once again hoist a national championship trophy. — David M. Hale

2020 record: 7-2
2021 preseason FPI: 5
Key September game: Sept. 4 vs. Clemson

Season outlook: The Bulldogs are one of the favorites to make the College Football Playoff and win a national championship. Georgia’s offense looked like it was finally reaching its potential toward the end of 2020 with JT Daniels at quarterback, and will be returning eight starters in 2021. Defensively, the Dawgs will have to reload some, but the addition of Tykee Smith and Georgia’s general ability to reload year in and year out could have them back in the playoff for the first time since 2017. And from a scheduling standpoint, the Bulldogs avoid Alabama, Texas A&M, and LSU. — Harry Lyles Jr.

2020 record: 7-1
2021 preseason FPI: 4
Key September game: Sept. 11 vs. Oregon

Season outlook: The Buckeyes are breaking in a new quarterback after starter Justin Fields left for the NFL. All signs point to C.J. Stroud getting the starting nod while battling with Jack Miller and Kyle McCord. The good news for the offense is that the unit is returning receivers Chris Olave, one of the top producing receivers in the country, and Garrett Wilson, along with tight end Jeremy Ruckert, who all led the team in receiving touchdowns in 2020. The coaches are adding in some talented freshmen on offense as well, with running back TreVeyon Henderson and receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. On defense, the Buckeyes need to see improvement from their secondary, a unit that ranked 122 of all FBS programs in pass yards allowed per game. This is still a team that will be in the College Football Playoff discussion, but the Buckeyes will need some new names to step up if they want to win it all.— Tom VanHaaren

2020 record: 8-1
2021 preseason FPI: 6
Key September game: Sept. 11 vs. Colorado

Season outlook: The Aggies are coming off a season in which they appeared built for sustained success, particularly on defense. They’ll have to rebuild up front with four new starters on the offensive line and break in a new QB, but Jimbo Fisher feels good about those positions. ESPN’s FPI gives A&M a greater than 80% chance to win in each of its first five games before Alabama — which handed the Aggies their only loss last season — visits College Station on Nov. 9. — Wilson

2020 record: 9-3
2021 preseason FPI: 9
Key September game: Sept. 11 vs. Iowa

Season outlook: One of the most impressive feats from the 2020 college football season was Iowa State’s ability to have its best year in school history during a pandemic. Matt Campbell will have much of the same group looking to run it back in 2021. While this will be the most anticipated season in Iowa State’s history, its biggest challenge to a Big 12 title and a playoff berth will likely be the same that stopped the team in 2020: Spencer Rattler and the Sooners. But the Cyclones split games with the Sooners, and with Brock Purdy and Breece Hall leading the charge, the people of Ames can’t help but feel optimistic, as the Cyclones are legitimate playoff contenders. — Lyles

2020 record: 4-3, Pac-12 champion
2021 preseason FPI: 12
Key September game: Sept. 11 vs. Ohio State

Season outlook: After an impressive freshman season and an abbreviated sophomore one, defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux heads into his junior year with the potential to be the best player in college football. Yes, he’s that good. But the Ducks are so much more than that. Oregon has been a recruiting power the past few years under Mario Cristobal and has built a deep, talented roster on par with some of the best in college football. There will be a new starting quarterback after Tyler Shough transferred to Texas Tech, but it appeared likely that Anthony Brown was going to win the job, regardless, after earning playing time at the end of last season. He figures to improve as the team heads into its second year under coordinator Joe Moorhead. — Kyle Bonagura

2020 record: 10-2
2021 preseason FPI: 8
Key September games: Sept. 5 at Florida State, Sept. 25 vs. Wisconsin

Season outlook: The Irish beat Clemson in the regular season and made it to the College Football Playoff last season, but there is a lot of production to replace from last year’s team. Quarterback Ian Book is gone, the offensive line will have new faces across the board and head coach Brian Kelly has a new defensive coordinator in Marcus Freeman. The staff brought in Wisconsin quarterback transfer Jack Coan, who has a shot at starting for Notre Dame this season while battling with Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner. Having tight end Michael Mayer as a big target will help whoever wins that battle, but there are some big holes to fill. On defense, linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah is gone, but the unit does bring back star safety Kyle Hamilton. How the new faces step into key roles and help early on will be the story of what this Notre Dame team looks like this season. — VanHaaren

2020 record: 8-4
2021 preseason FPI: 14
Key September game: Sept. 3 at Virginia Tech

Season outlook: The state of play in the ACC has been all but etched in stone for the past five years: It’s Clemson and everyone else. But perhaps 2021 is the year a genuine contender to the throne emerges from that “everyone else” category, and no one seems better positioned to do it than North Carolina. On offense, UNC returns arguably the country’s best QB in Sam Howell, along with all five starters on the O-line. On defense, a unit that desperately needed a talent infusion two years ago now has legitimate blue-chip stars ready to contribute, including five-star corner Tony Grimes and five-star end Keeshawn Silver. Even the talent that left appears to have some ready-made replacements, as Tennessee transfer Ty Chandler looks to pick up where 1,000-yard backs Michael Carter and Javonte Williams left off, and slot receiver Josh Downs appears poised to become the next Tar Heels superstar. Of course, UNC also suffered embarrassing losses to FSU and Virginia last year, so rather than focus on reaching Clemson’s elite status, the next big step for the Heels might just be finding some consistency. — Hale

2020 record: 9-1, AAC champions
2021 preseason FPI: 22
Key September game: Sept. 18 at Indiana

Season outlook: The biggest storyline from Cincinnati’s offseason was the departure of defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman. Freeman’s defense helped the Bearcats win an American Athletic Conference title. With Freeman now at Notre Dame, coach Luke Fickell will hope that longtime Michigan State assistant Mike Tressel can keep the Bearcats’ defense playing at the same intensity that helped the team earn an appearance against Georgia in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. Offensively, Desmond Ridder is back at quarterback with a new offensive line, but if the defense performs at a similar level that it did in 2020, the Bearcats should be in for another big season. — Lyles

2020 record: 8-2
2021 preseason FPI: 11
Key September game: Sept. 18 vs. Alabama

Season outlook: Two major questions face the Gators as they head into a new season: How will Emory Jones do as the presumptive starter at quarterback, and how much better will the defense be after a heavily criticized performance a year ago? Let’s start with Jones, who has waited three years for the opportunity to start. Jones is a different player from Kyle Trask — during SEC media days, Mullen noted that Jones had a strong arm and was a “dynamic playmaker” with his feet — so the offense will look different. But what about the defense? With veterans like Zachary Carter, Brenton Cox Jr. and Kaiir Elam returning, the Gators have the pieces in place to put together a far more consistent performance. — Andrea Adelson

2020 record: 5-1
2021 preseason FPI: 21
Key September game: Sept. 11 vs. Stanford

Season outlook: The Trojans often didn’t look the part last year, but they still went undefeated through the pandemic-shortened regular season before losing the Oregon in the Pac-12 title game. This year, with a more traditional offseason, expectations are as high as they’ve been since Clay Helton took over. That doesn’t say much, of course, but the feeling around Los Angeles is that if this isn’t the season Helton can break through and become nationally relevant, it’s just not going to happen. QB Kedon Slovis has star potential, but the player to know going into the season is receiver Drake London, a potential All-American. — Bonagura

2020 record: 5-5
2021 preseason FPI: 18
Key September game: Sept. 4 at UCLA

Season outlook: Last year was a complete letdown. The wheels came off early, and it took a rally late and a bizarre penalty for a thrown shoe just to finish at .500. Ed Orgeron then went to work, almost entirely remaking his staff, bringing in Daronte Jones to lead the defense and Jake Peetz to run the offense. The latter was a clear move at trying to recapture the magic of Joe Brady’s dynamic 2019 offense. The good news is that Peetz has two good options at quarterback: Myles Brennan, who threw for 11 touchdowns in three games before an injury ended his season, or Max Johnson, the freshman who led LSU to a back-to-back wins to salvage an otherwise lost season. — Scarborough

2020 record: 8-3
2021 preseason FPI: 10
Key September game: Sept. 4 vs. Alabama

Season outlook: Quarterback D’Eriq King has navigated his rehab from another knee injury better than anyone had imagined when he got hurt in the bowl game, and his return has boosted expectations for a program still finding its footing under Manny Diaz. But the Hurricanes also start the season against Alabama, a tough first test that might end up defining the season. Beyond King’s return, there is optimism the defense will fare better with nine starters back, and Diaz is calling the plays again after making defensive-staff changes this past offseason. — Adelson

2020 record: 4-3
2021 preseason FPI: 17
Key September games: Sept. 4 vs. Penn State; Sept. 25 vs. Notre Dame

Season outlook: The Badgers had an odd 2020 season with a lot of disruption from COVID-19. The team played its first game of the season against Illinois on Oct. 31, then saw its next two games canceled and didn’t play again until Nov. 14 at Michigan. That wasn’t conducive to breaking in quarterback Graham Mertz, who started the season completing 20 of 21 passes for 248 yards and 5 touchdowns against the Illini, but finished the season with 4 touchdowns and 5 interceptions in the final six games. Getting some semblance of normalcy and consistency will be key for Mertz and the offense. Having him step into a leadership role will be important, and the Badgers need to come out of the gate in a similar fashion to 2020 with Penn State first on the schedule in 2021. — VanHaaren

2020 record: 6-2
2021 preseason FPI: 27
Key September games: Sept. 4 at Iowa; Sept. 18 vs. Cincinnati

Season outlook: Indiana is typically a basketball school in the country’s most proud basketball state, but last year, nobody could ignore the football Hoosiers. Tom Allen’s team was one of the best stories in what was a difficult 2020 season in college football. The Hoosiers went 6-1 in the regular season, their lone loss a 42-35 contest in Columbus against Ohio State. And had it not been for a rule change, the Hoosiers would have been in the Big Ten title game. In 2021, the Hoosiers will be looking to further prove that the 2020 campaign wasn’t a fluke with 18 of 22 starters coming back. This is the season Indiana tries to exceed any expectation that just about anybody could have for its football program. — Lyles

2020 record: 6-2
2021 preseason FPI: 23
Key September games: Sept. 4 vs. Indiana, Sept. 11 at Iowa State

Season outlook: On offense, Iowa is returning two key pieces in running back Tyler Goodson and quarterback Spencer Petras to provide some consistency this season. The Hawkeyes started the season with two losses but then rattled off six wins to finish. Petras didn’t start out the season the way he wanted with four touchdowns and five interceptions in the first five games. He finished the last two games with five touchdowns and no interceptions, so the team will need him to build off those last two games. Luckily, he will be able to rely on Goodson, who had 762 rush yards in eight games and seven touchdowns on the ground. Goodson should be one of the best backs in the conference and will be running behind center Tyler Linderbaum, one of the best offensive linemen in the Big Ten. Someone else will have to step up in that running back room, though, to help carry the load, as Iowa starts this season with Indiana and at Iowa State as the first two games on the slate. — VanHaaren

2020 record: 3-1
2021 preseason FPI: 25
Key September game: Sept. 11 at Michigan

Season outlook: Few teams saw their seasons interrupted by the pandemic to the degree that Washington did last year. The Huskies never left Seattle, won the Pac-12 North and then weren’t able to take part in the conference title game. Left tackle Jaxson Kirkland and tight end Cade Otton were left wanting more, and both put the NFL on hold for a chance to finish their college careers with something more memorable. Keep an eye on cornerback Trent McDuffie, who has looked like a future NFL player since he seamlessly stepped into a prominent role as a true freshman. — Bonagura

2020 record: 4-5
2021 preseason FPI: 13
Key September games: Sept. 4 at Wisconsin, Sept. 18 vs. Auburn

Season outlook: It was a wild ride at running back for Penn State, with injuries and some bad luck that whittled down the depth. This season, Noah Cain and Devyn Ford are healthy, and the staff added John Lovett from Baylor to go along with Keyvone Lee and Caziah Holmes. If everyone can stay healthy, that group should be a strength for the offense and new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. The running backs and wide receiver Jahan Dotson will need to chip in as much as possible for quarterback Sean Clifford, who has had an up-and-down college career. On defense, the Nittany Lions are replacing linebacker Micah Parsons, Odafe Oweh and Shaka Toney, who are all off to the NFL. Who steps up in their places as a leader and in terms of production will be two of the bigger questions heading into fall camp. — VanHaaren

2020 record: 7-3
2021 preseason FPI: 7
Key September game: Sept. 4 vs. Louisiana

Season outlook: No pressure, Steve Sarkisian. The Horns plucked Sark from Alabama to bring a little SEC ball to Austin, then announced they’re headed back that way in however many years. In the meantime, the Longhorns have to contend with a loaded Sooners team, hostile Big 12 fans at every stop, tough road trips to TCU (7-2 against Texas since joining the conference) and Iowa State, and at another bitter old rival in Arkansas. Oh, and that Louisiana team in Week 1 has the most returning production of any team in the country — and beat Iowa State in Ames in last year’s season opener. — Wilson

2020 record: 11-1
2021 preseason FPI: 60
Key September game: Sept. 18 at Buffalo

Season outlook: There might not have been a more entertaining team in college football last season than the Chanticleers. From the teal field to the fast-paced style of offense, they had it all, including the best game of the year when they beat BYU. And outside of defensive end Emmanuel Johnson and running back CJ Marable, every starter is back. That includes quarterback Grayson McCall, who in his first year starting as a sophomore scored a combined 33 touchdowns while throwing just three interceptions. With a manageable schedule — the only Power 5 opponent is Kansas in Week 2 — don’t be surprised if Coastal is once again the talk of college football. — Scarborough

2020 record: 10-1
2021 preseason FPI: 59
Key September game: Sept. 4 at Texas

Season outlook: As the world continues to ask what’s keeping Billy Napier in Lafayette, he keeps building one of the top Group of 5 programs in college football, winners of 10 games in back-to-back seasons. If not for a loss to Coastal Carolina, the Ragin’ Cajuns would have ended last season undefeated. And incredibly, some 20 starters are back, including fifth-year quarterback Levi Lewis, who threw for 2,274 yards last year. But pay attention to this team, especially early, as it incorporates a bunch of new faces on the coaching staff, including three new assistants on defense. — Scarborough

2020 record: 5-5
2021 preseason FPI: 20
Key September game: Sept. 6 vs. Louisville

Lane Kiffin’s second year in Oxford should be a step above what the Rebels did in 2020. Despite a 5-5 record, they capped off the season with a win over No. 7 Indiana in the Outback Bowl. In 2021, they’ll return eight starters on offense, including QB Matt Corral, and added Western Kentucky transfer WR Jahcour Pearson, who Kiffin will hope can make up for the loss of Elijah Moore. It’ll be a tough season per usual in the SEC West, but the Rebels have the tools to compete in every game. — Lyles

2020 record: 5-5
2021 preseason FPI: 29
Key September game: Sept. 18 vs. BYU

Season outlook: The Sun Devils return 21 starters from a team that was supposed to be good last year but really just never got out of first gear thanks, at least in part, to a COVID-19 outbreak. At Pac-12 media day, coach Herm Edwards and quarterback Jayden Daniels maintained that the ongoing NCAA investigation into conduct by the coaching staff relating to violations of COVID-19 protocols and recruiting rules won’t affect the team on the field. Heading into his junior year, Daniels has a chance to be special and one of the faces of the conference. — Bonagura

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The U is back … in the Bottom 10

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The U is back ... in the Bottom 10

Inspirational thought of the week:

(Cole Trickle drives his mangled Chevy Lumina into the pit stall)

Buck Bretherton: “Well, how about that? Something we don’t have to fix!”

(Crew chief Harry Hogge walks over and kicks a dent into the side of the car Bretherton is looking at)

Harry Hogge: “I don’t want you to get spoiled, Buck.”

— “Days of Thunder”

Here at Bottom 10 Headquarters, located behind the footlocker on the “College GameDay” bus where Nick Saban keeps his secret stash of “Anchor Down” Vanderbilt football apparel, we are beginning to worry that perhaps those of you who visit these rankings, as the kids say, “on the regular” might be like those who benefited from Saban’s time in Tuscaloosa. You’re getting a little spoiled.

Just two weeks ago, we had an all-time majestically meh Pillow Fight of the Week of the Year Mega Bowl matchup between UMess and State of Kent, winners of a lot of the most recent Bottom 10 titles. (We tried to look up exactly how many, but someone spilled Yoo-hoo on the archival floppy disk.) Then, this past week, we had the Sam Houston Bearkats kutting it up with UTEPid. Now the stage is set for a third consecutive PFOWY, as Georgia State Not Southern hosts the South Alabama Redundancies. And, as you will read in the words ahead, this is just the tip of a season-sinking iceberg of not-big games coming, as the spotter on the Titanic shouted way too late, “Right ahead!”

So, for all the talk about Power Autonomous Haughty Four conference realignment, in-conference scheduling, CFP committee résumé reading and the headliner showdowns that all of the above seem to bring with them, how about some props for the same happening down here with us? And by props, I totally mean rubber chickens, whoopee cushions and one of those Groucho Marx plastic-nose-on-the-glasses things.

With apologies to former Wichita State wide receiver Mike Proppe, former Drake tight end Hal Proppe, USC DB Prophet Brown and Steve Harvey, here are the post-Week 8 Bottom 10 rankings.

The Minuetmen continued their Backtion in #MACtion schedule, playing a former fellow Bottom 10 anchor, the Buffalo Bulls Not Bills. With 59 seconds remaining, the Amherst Amblers hauled in an interception that seemed to ice a 21-20 win. As the ESPN Analytics Ouija board said they had a 90.9% chance of victory, UMass players proceeded to demonstratively wave goodbye and do faux snow angels in celebration, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. After a three-and-out followed by a punt, the Minuetmen surrendered a four-play, 50-yard, 22-second TD drive to lose in the closing seconds, their lead turning out to be as real as that snow.


The bad news? The Bearkats lost the Pillow Fight of the Week of the Year Episode II: Attack of the Groans to UTEPid 35-17. The good news? If they don’t tell anyone it happened, no one is likely to ever know, because the crowd they played in front of was so small it would have saved time in the pregame to have had the PA announcer introduce the people in the stands to the starting lineups instead of the starting lineups to the people in the stands.


What a stretch for the Beavs. They finally won a game, beating the Lafayette Leopards, current leaders of the Patriot League. After a week versus the Fightin’ Bye of Open Date U, they will play the first of their in-season home-and-home double feature against Washington State, with whom they are currently tied for first in the 2Pac. Then they host Sam Houston State in the Pillow Fight of the Week of the Year Episode IV: A New Dope.


The Minors won their second game of the season, but their boat remains mired in the Bottom 4 because Pillow Fight victories over other teams in the Bottom 4 come with trophies made of lead. Plus, that pickax of theirs is always accidentally punching holes in the boat.


Ah, the rites of autumn. You can set your clock to their inevitability. The cool dip of the evening temperatures. The changing colors of the leaves. Suburban moms mainlining pumpkin spice. The Miami Hurricanes interrupting their latest “We’re back!” campaign with a midseason loss that lands them in the Coveted Fifth Spot. And the fans of those Canes not understanding what the Coveted Fifth Spot is despite the fact that they are here every year and thus raise Cane by filling my social media timelines with strings of cuss words stronger than Cuban coffee.


The Woof Pack keeps losing close games, the latest being their two-point defeat at the paws of New Mexico. But you know what they say. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. And atomic bomb tests, which happened about 300 miles east of Reno. Feels pretty close to us.


Much like we should all keep a safe distance between ourselves and atomic bomb testing, the Blew Raiders have a built-in buffer between Murfreesboro and the Bottom 5 in the form of Novada, whom they edged by the closest of margins, 14-13 way back in Week 3. But their Nov. 22 visit from Sam Houston does have the makings of a possible boundary-smashing Pillow Fight of the Week of the Year Episode VII: The Farce Awakens.


Meanwhile, the Pillow Fight of the Week of the Year Y’all Edition was won by Georgia Southern Not State over Georgia State Not Southern. I made a joke last week that the loser would have to change their name from GSU to GUS but was angrily informed that this game already has a GUS in the form of the Georgia Southern Eagles mascot named, yes, Gus. The nastiest letter I received wasn’t signed, but it was covered in white feathers.


Our second-favorite red, white and blue team named USA returns to these rankings just in time for its matchup with Georgia State Not Southern, a meeting of the last-place teams in each division of the Fun Belt, aka the Pillow Fight of the Week of the Year Episode V: The Empire Looks Wack.


In my mind I can see this one resident of Massachusetts who had his heart broken by the Red Sox to start the MLB postseason … so he decided to go to the UConn-Boston College game to clear his head, only to watch the Eagles get run over by the Artist Formerly Known As U-Can’t … but then had the thought, “Hey, I can make it out to Amherst for the second half!” and started waving bye with 0:59 remaining when he thought UMass was going to win and watched the Minuetmen blow it … so, when he finally got home to Southie, and after his dog bit him, he made himself feel better by opening a six-pack of Sam Adams and going on the new ESPN App to watch the replay of Bill Belichick’s Tar Holes losing to Cal by fumbling the ball at the goal line late in the fourth quarter.

Waiting list: Northern Ill-ugh-noise, State of Kent, EMU Emus, Oklahoma State No Pokes, Charlotte 1-and-6ers, Wisconsin Bad-gers, Akronmonious, UNC Chapel Bill, the USC-Notre Dame series ending.

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‘This didn’t happen overnight’: Why the Mariners are built to be back after a crushing ALCS loss

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'This didn't happen overnight': Why the Mariners are built to be back after a crushing ALCS loss

Seattle Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo was being interviewed in the clubhouse following the team’s Game 7 loss in the American League Championship Series to the Toronto Blue Jays when, suddenly, in the background, you can hear an anguished scream.

Mariners’ fans understand heartbreak — they can relate to that scream.

For most of the 49-season existence of the Mariners, fans of the club relied on hope: hope for the first winning season, hope the franchise didn’t relocate, hope of making the playoffs for the first time, hope to end a 20-year playoff drought. Hope for a World Series. And with one crack of the bat on Monday night, that hope was crushed.

It didn’t start out that way, though. The Mariners won the first two games of the ALCS on the road in Toronto — and teams that won the first two on the road in a best-of-seven series had gone 26-3 in MLB history (excluding 2020).

After dropping the first two games in Seattle, they won a dramatic Game 5 on Eugenio Suarez‘s grand slam to take a 3-2 series lead. The winner of Game 5, when a series was tied, had gone on to win a best-of-seven series 69% of the time in MLB history.

The Mariners went on to lose Game 6, playing about as sloppy a game as you can play, and then lost Game 7 on George Springer‘s three-run home run in the seventh inning — only the second come-from-behind home run while trailing by multiple runs in a winner-take-all game in playoff history (Pete Alonso hit the first last year for the New York Mets).

That’s a lot of qualifiers, but it hammers home the despair: That was an especially difficult defeat, eight outs away from the franchise’s first ever World Series, a moment Seattle sports fans will forever remember, alongside not giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch in Super Bowl XLIX. The Mariners remain the only one of the 30 franchises never to play in a Fall Classic.

The pain will linger. Soon enough, however, thoughts will turn to 2026, as they must — and Seattle is well-positioned not only for next season, but for the long term.


While the Mariners have just two playoff appearances in the past five seasons, they’re one of the most stable organizations in the sport, one of just six with winning records every season since 2021 and seventh in wins in that span. They have a strong farm system that features eight players ranked in Kiley McDaniel’s August top 100 prospects update, including shortstop Colt Emerson, the No. 7 prospect, and pitcher Kade Anderson, the No. 3 pick in the 2025 MLB draft, who ranks No. 16.

The Mariners also have a stable group of core players: Of the 17 who were worth at least 0.8 WAR in 2025 — MVP candidate Cal Raleigh led the way with 7.3 — all except free agent Josh Naylor and second baseman/DH Jorge Polanco are already signed to new contracts or remain under team control (Polanco has a $7 million player option that he will likely opt out from).

Both remain good fits in the lineup after strong 2025 campaigns, especially Naylor. Other than a couple of solid years from Ty France in 2021-22, first base has been a revolving door — and a problem — for the Mariners ever since John Olerud was traded more than 20 years ago. Re-signing Naylor, in part because he also provides some much-needed contact skills in a strikeout-heavy lineup, feels imperative.

It’s not an old team either. Polanco (31), J.P. Crawford (30) and Randy Arozarena (30) are the only regulars older than 28 years old, while Luis Castillo (32) is the only starting pitcher older than 28. Castillo is signed for two more seasons while the other rotation members are also under control for at least two more years — Logan Gilbert (2027), George Kirby (2028) and Bryan Woo and Bryce Miller (2029). Having that kind of potential stability in the rotation is an enviable position — with Anderson likely to move fast through the minors and Ryan Sloan, a second-round pick out of high school in 2024 and now No. 43 in ESPN’s prospect rankings, flashing top-of-the-rotation stuff in his first minor league season and also capable of a quick rise to the majors.

The foundation for the team’s current success can be traced back to the 2018-19 offseason. Jerry Dipoto, the president of baseball operations, took over the top job for the Mariners after the 2015 season. They had winning seasons in 2016 and 2018, but after the second one, Dipoto was worried about the future of the organization.

“We were just coming off an 89-win season,” he told ESPN during the ALCS. “At the end of the regular season, I’ll sit down with our owners and talk through what the plan is for the year ahead. I thought the right thing to do after visiting with our front office group was just to reboot. We were a little too old, we were a little too top-heavy, and we had very little in the way of prospect capital. We weren’t going to be able to continue to beat that engine and sustain a competitive, championship-level team.”

The front office produces a flowchart of the organization each year that maps out the next six seasons, trying to estimate what those six years will look like. It didn’t look good, so the Mariners committed to a rebuild. It began with Crawford, acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies for Jean Segura (after the Phillies had first asked for Edwin Diaz, who was instead traded to the Mets), and he’s been the team’s starting shortstop ever since.

Seattle also watched Julio Rodriguez, signed as a 16-year-old in 2017, flourish and develop into an immediate star as a 21-year-old rookie in 2022. His inability to lay off sliders low and away — like the final pitch of the 2025 season — can certainly be frustrating, but he’s had two 30-30 seasons by age 24 while averaging 5.7 WAR. His 6.8 WAR in 2025 ranked fourth among AL position players.

That he’s turned into a potential Gold Glove center fielder (he’s a finalist for the award this season) is just an added bonus.

“We all thought that he was going to wind up being a corner man,” Dipoto said. “And, you know, between the ages of 19 and 21, he leaned out, turned into athletic Adonis, and unbeknownst to us, coordinated with his agent, Ulises Cabrera, and invested in an Olympic running coach. He came to spring training in 2022, and he said, ‘You think I can play center field?’ Because he made it a goal of his to be a center fielder.”

Rodriguez not only impresses on the field, but off as well, with Dipoto speaking highly of his star player’s focus, how he wants to be great and how he has studied the careers of great athletes.

“When Julio is in a quiet space, he’s a deep thinker,” Dipoto said. “He is focused on becoming as great as he can become.”

Maybe there’s even more to come — especially if Rodriguez can learn to lay off those sliders.


Along the way, with Dipoto at the helm, the Mariners were drafting pitchers — and doing a great job of developing them. In 2018, they drafted Gilbert in the first round. In 2019, it was Kirby in the first round. Miller was a fourth-round pick in 2021 while Woo was a sixth-rounder that year. They acquired closer Andres Munoz and setup man Matt Brash in two separate trades with the San Diego Padres on the same day in 2020, giving up nobody of major consequence in either deal.

Dipoto credits Scott Hunter, his scouting director since 2016, and Hunter’s staff, as well as Justin Hollander, who is now the team’s general manager. It’s rare to find rotation stalwarts such as Miller and Woo at that point in the draft — let alone two high-leverage relievers in one day.

“Every player that’s been acquired in a trade or drafted was acquired while we were here, and that makes it really special,” Dipoto said. “This didn’t happen overnight. We’ve bumped our head, we’ve stubbed our toe, we’ve put our foot in our mouth. Literally. And you learn.

“To see J.P. Crawford out there since 2019. He’s the rock. To see Julio, who we signed as a 16-year-old, standing out in center field, doing things that really are on a Hall of Fame trajectory. To see Cal Raleigh, who we drafted and developed, go out there and have maybe the best catcher season in history. To see a starting rotation that is 80 percent homegrown.”

Dipoto first signed Crawford to a long-term deal in 2022, then Rodriguez later that same summer and Raleigh before this season. With J-Rod and Raleigh signed through at least 2031, the offensive foundation in Seattle is there, with that group of prospects on the way.

The ultimate key for 2026 sits with the rotation — it struggled in the ALCS with a 6.37 ERA and averaged less than four innings per start. Its collective WAR took a big dip from 2024:

Baseball-Reference
2025: 7.8 (19th)
2024: 11.7 (10th)

FanGraphs
2025: 11.0 (14th)
2024: 14.9 (fourth)

Some of the decline can be attributed to injuries — Gilbert, Kirby and Miller each missed significant time with them — but note the home/road splits in ERA for Seattle’s starters over the past two seasons:

2025
Home: 3.30
Road: 4.67

2024
Home: 2.74
Road: 4.05

Given the quick hooks manager Dan Wilson deployed throughout the postseason, it seemed he didn’t exactly trust his starters to go deep either (Woo, the best starter in the regular season, wasn’t at full strength and pitched only out of the bullpen in the ALCS).

It makes you wonder: Does this team need an ace? Perhaps one like Tarik Skubal, who is entering his final year with the Detroit Tigers before free agency and will see trade speculation follow him all winter if the Tigers don’t sign him to an extension. The Mariners have the prospects and the pitching depth to at least make a serious inquiry into Skubal.

Emerson is likely to take over at third base in 2025 and will eventually replace Crawford at shortstop in 2027 after Crawford’s deal runs out. That means letting the popular Suarez, the third baseman who the Mariners traded for at the deadline this year, leave as a free agent. Second baseman Cole Young (No. 57 on the preseason top 100 prospect list) played 77 games as a rookie this season and will get another shot after starting well before slumping to a final line of .211/.302/.305. He hit just four home runs, but he’s only 22 years old and there might be more power to come (“You should see his BP sessions,” Dipoto said). Rookie catcher Harry Ford, No. 65 in the August update, should take over the backup duties behind Raleigh after a strong showing at Triple-A, perhaps letting Raleigh take a few more DH at-bats and rest those legs after playing all but three regular-season games for Seattle in 2025.

Everyone around the team says that the oft-mentioned good vibes with the Mariners were the real deal, with a clubhouse that got along and a good-natured group of players. The ALCS defeat was disappointing, but the Mariners will be back.

“Players come here and they fall in love,” Dipoto said. “They fall in love with the environment. It’s a beautiful ballpark. It’s the clubhouse. It’s the camaraderie. It’s the 25 teammates. That’s an awesome thing that’s been happening here for a number of years.”

The foundation has been set. Now the organization just needs to figure out how to go one — or, preferably, two — steps further.

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Rising son: Gators task Spurrier Jr. to help QB

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Rising son: Gators task Spurrier Jr. to help QB

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators are turning to Steve Spurrier to help fix the team’s floundering offense.

Steve Spurrier Jr., anyway.

Interim coach Billy Gonzales said Wednesday the younger Spurrier, who was hired as an offensive analyst earlier this year, will be more involved with quarterback DJ Lagway when the Gators (3-4, 2-2 SEC) play No. 5 Georgia (6-1, 4-1) in Jacksonville on Nov. 1.

Gonzales will have tight ends coach/offensive coordinator Russ Callaway organize the offense alongside quarterbacks coach Ryan O’Hara in the booth. O’Hara will be on the headset calling plays to Lagway.

Spurrier, meanwhile, will be on the sideline working directly with the sophomore quarterback.

“What we’re trying to do right now is tweak a couple things so we can put our players in a better situation to go out and make plays and perform at a higher level,” said Gonzales, named the interim after Billy Napier was fired Sunday. “We all understand that’s what we need to do. So that’s the No. 1 goal for us as a coaching staff right now.”

Napier was dismissed, in large part, because he failed to get Florida’s offense on track in his four seasons. The Gators totaled a combined 50 points in losses to South Florida, LSU, Miami and Texas A&M this fall, and they rank 15th in the league in scoring.

Facing the Bulldogs without Napier could show how much of a hindrance he was to an offense that believes it has enough talent to compete in the SEC. Gonzales has made it clear he wants to open things up more and get the ball down the field to receivers.

Spurrier is a part of the plan. The 54-year-old son of a Hall of Fame player and coach who is a living legend in Gainesville, Spurrier spent the past two years at Tulsa. He also worked at Mississippi State (2020-22), Washington State (2018-19), Western Kentucky (2017) and Oklahoma (2016). Before that, he spent a decade working under his famous father at South Carolina (2005-15).

“Whenever you’re around one of the greatest offensive minds in history, it’s obviously going to rub off on you as well,” Gonzales said. “He’s been involved, but now he’s going to have more of a role because he’s going to be down there on the field with the quarterback looking in his eyes and getting a chance to talk to him and review the film that’s being relayed.

“It’s going to put us in a great situation to help DJ and the quarterbacks perform on the football field.”

Lagway has thrown for 1,513 yards, with nine touchdowns and nine interceptions, this season while playing behind a shaky offensive line. He has looked better of late as he moves closer to fully recovering from a derailed offseason that included core-muscle surgery, nagging shoulder pain and a strained calf muscle.

“It’s been a long journey, and I’m thankful for the good and the bad,” Lagway said. “God doesn’t make any mistakes. I’m just excited to see where my journey continues and how I can continue to get better.”

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