UGA begins three-peat quest at No. 1 in AP poll
Georgia will begin its drive for an unprecedented college football championship three-peat as the No. 1 team in The Associated Press preseason Top 25.
The Bulldogs received 60 of 63 first-place votes in the poll released Monday to easily outpoint No. 2 Michigan, which received two first-place votes and has its best preseason ranking since being No. 2 in 1991. The Wolverines’ Big Ten rival, Ohio State, is No. 3 with one first-place vote.
Two more Southeastern Conference teams join Georgia in the top five. Alabama is No. 4, the Crimson Tide’s lowest preseason ranking in more than a decade, and LSU starts at No. 5, its best preseason ranking since 2016.
The Bulldogs have won the past two national titles while going 29-2, but this will be only the second time in program history they have been preseason No. 1. The first was in 2008.
Georgia started the 2021 season No. 5, before going on to win its first national title since 1980. The Bulldogs followed up with a perfect season in 2022 after being preseason No. 3.
The Bulldogs have had 25 players drafted by NFL teams the past two years, including quarterback Stetson Bennett and All-America defensive tackle Jalen Carter this April. Coach Kirby Smart has built a program to rival Nick Saban’s Alabama dynasty, so voters are now giving Georgia the Crimson Tide treatment.
Alabama had been preseason No. 1 each of the past two seasons, and five of the previous seven. Clemson was preseason No. 1 in the other two seasons, making Georgia the first team other than the Tide or Tigers to be preseason No. 1 since Ohio State in 2015.
Alabama is also the last team to win back-to-back major college football national championships, doing so in 2011 and ’12.
No team has won three straight national titles during the AP poll era, which dates to 1936. For the record, Minnesota, the first official AP champion, was retroactively crowned champion for the 1934 and ’35 seasons by a couple of organizations.
Coach Bernie Bierman’s Gophers from long ago are the closest thing major college football has to a three-peater.
“We have not addressed that with them,” Smart said during SEC media days of chasing college football history. “We’ve certainly looked at some three-peat scenarios of teams like the [Chicago] Bulls and different sports teams that they might actually know about. No offense to the Minnesota 1935 team, but I don’t know if it’s going to resonate with my audience.”
The Bulldogs are reloading on the defensive front and at quarterback, but do not lack for stars. Tight end Brock Bowers is one of the nation’s best players; linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson was a second-team All-American; and center Sedrick Van Pran anchors one of the country’s most talented offensive lines.
Rounding out the top 10 is USC at No. 6, which is the Trojans’ best preseason ranking since 2017, followed by Penn State, Florida State, Clemson and Washington.
The Seminoles are back in the preseason rankings for the first time since 2018, and in the top 10 for the first time since 2017.
STARTING ON TOP, STAYING ON TOP
Beware, ‘Dawgs.
Since the AP preseason poll started in 1950, 11 teams that started No. 1 also finished No. 1. Only two of those have occurred since 2000: Southern California in 2004 and Alabama in 2017.
“The threat for us is complacency,” Smart said. “The first thing you have to do is acknowledge that it’s a threat. Like if you acknowledge the complacency is a threat, it’s the first step towards stomping it out.”
TIDE’S OUT … OF THE TOP THREE
For most schools, a preseason No. 4 ranking would feel pretty good.
For Alabama, it feels like a sign of decline. The last time the Crimson Tide had a lower preseason ranking was 2009. That was Year 3 for Saban in Tuscaloosa, and Alabama went on to win the first of six national championships during his unprecedented run.
This preseason poll is the first since 2015 in which the Tide did not receive at least one first-place vote.
The Tide did run its record streak of top-five preseason rankings to 15. Next best in poll history is 11 for Florida State in 1990-2000. Ohio State has had 11 top-five preseason rankings since 2009.
CONFERENCE CALL
Over the past three years, schools have been redrawing the conference maps.
This year, the Big 12 has four new members, the American Athletic Conference has six and Conference USA has four.
The really flashy moves come in 2024.
This season will be the last with Texas and Oklahoma in the Big 12 (before moving to the SEC) and maybe the last with a Pac-12 at all. USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington will play in the Big Ten next year while Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah move to the Big 12 as major college football moves toward sprawling super conferences.
Heading into this season the breakdown by conference of teams in the Top 25:
SEC — 6 (Nos. 1, 4, 5, 12, 22, 23).
Big Ten — 5 (Nos. 2, 3, 7, 19, 25).
Pac-12 — 5 (Nos. 6, 10, 14, 15, 18).
Big 12 — 4 (Nos. 11, 16, 17, 20).
ACC — 3 (Nos. 8, 9, 21).
American Athletic — 1 (No. 24).
Independent — 1 (No. 13).
If sorted by next season’s conference alignment the breakdown looks like this:
SEC — 8 (Nos. 1, 4, 5, 11, 12, 20, 22, 23).
Big Ten — 8 (Nos. 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 15, 19, 25).
Big 12 — 3 (Nos. 14, 16, 17).
ACC — 3 (Nos. 8, 9, 21).
Pac-12 — 1 (No. 18 — counts Oregon State as a Pac-12 team).
American Athletic — 1 (No. 24)
Independent — 1 (No. 13).
The 2025 MLB All-Star Home Run Derby is fast approaching — and the field is starting to take shape.
Braves hometown hero Ronald Acuna Jr. become the first player to commit to the event, which will be held at Truist Park in Atlanta on July 14 (8 p.m. ET on ESPN). He has since been followed by MLB home run leader Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, James Wood of the Washington Nationals and Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins.
As the entrants are announced, we’ll add them to the running list below — and break down their chances at taking home this year’s Derby prize.
Full All-Star Game coverage: How to watch, schedule, rosters, more
2025 home runs: 9 | Longest: 467 feet
Why he could win: Acuna has been crushing it since he returned to the lineup May 23 after knee surgery. Indeed, his numbers are even better than during his MVP season in 2023. It should help that he’ll be hitting in front of his home fans in Atlanta: Todd Frazier in Cincinnati in 2015 and Bryce Harper with the Nationals in 2018 rode the loud support to Derby titles. Acuna’s raw power should also translate well to the Derby: Among players with at least 500 at-bats since 2023, he has the longest average home run distance in the majors.
Why he might not: Will he run into Pete Alonso again? Acuna competed in the 2019 and 2022 contests, losing both times to Alonso by a single home run (in the semifinals in 2019 and in the first round in 2022). The home-field advantage can also perhaps be a detriment if a player gets too hyped up in the first round. See Julio Rodriguez in Seattle in 2023, when he had a monster first with 41 home runs but then tired out in the second round.
2025 home runs: 35 | Longest: 440 feet
Why he could win: It’s the season of Cal! The Mariners’ catcher is having one of the greatest slugging first halves in MLB history, with 32 home runs, as he’s been crushing mistakes all season . His easy raw power might be tailor-made for the Derby — he ranks in the 87th percentile in average exit velocity and delivers the ball, on average, at the optimal home run launch angle of 23 degrees. His calm demeanor might also be perfect for the contest as he won’t get too amped up.
Why he might not: He’s a catcher — and one who has carried a heavy workload, playing in all but one game this season. This contest is as much about stamina as anything, and whether Raleigh can carry his power through three rounds would be a concern. No catcher has ever won the Derby, with only Ivan Rodriguez back in 2005 even reaching the finals.
2025 home runs: 23 | Longest: 451 feet
Why he could win: He’s big, he’s strong, he’s young, he’s awesome, he might or might not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. This is the perfect opportunity for Wood to show his talent on the national stage, and he wouldn’t be the first young player to star in the Derby. He ranks in the 97th percentile in average exit velocity and 99th percentile in hard-hit rate, so he can still muscle the ball out in BP even if he slightly mishits it. His long arms might be viewed as a detriment, but remember the similarly tall Aaron Judge won in 2017.
Why he might not: His natural swing isn’t a pure uppercut — he has a pretty low average launch angle of just 6.2 degrees — so we’ll see how that plays in a rapid-fire session. In real games, his power is primarily to the opposite field, but in a Home Run Derby you can get more cheapies pulling the ball down the line.
2025 home runs: 20 | Longest: 479 feet
Why he can win: Buxton’s raw power remains as impressive as nearly any hitter in the game. He crushed a 479-foot home run earlier this season and has four others of at least 425 feet. Indeed, his “no doubter” percentage — home runs that would be out of all 30 parks based on distance — is 75%, the highest in the majors among players with more than a dozen home runs. His bat speed ranks in the 89th percentile. In other words, two tools that could translate to a BP lightning show.
Why he won’t: Buxton is 31 and the Home Run Derby feels a little more like a younger man’s competition. Teoscar Hernandez did win last year at age 31, but before that, the last winner older than 29 was David Ortiz in 2010, and that was under much different rules than are used now.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Pittsburgh Pirates are back on the board after Tommy Pham‘s two-run home run in the third inning at Kansas City on Monday night ended a 30-inning scoreless streak.
The Pirates had been shut out in all three games at Seattle during their previous series.
However, they tallied another loss against the Royals, losing 9-3.
The scoreless streak included Sunday’s 1-0 loss to the Mariners in which Pittsburgh ace Paul Skenes threw 10 strikeouts in five scoreless innings before the Pirates gave up a run in the bottom of the sixth.
Before beginning this nine-game trip with the sweep by the Mariners, the Pirates had blanked the St. Louis Cardinals in three consecutive home games. Their streak of playing in six straight shutouts matched the longest in major league history.
Pham, a 12-year veteran who is in his first season with the Pirates, bookended the scoreless skid with RBIs. He drove in a seventh-inning run with a groundout Wednesday during the 5-0 victory over the Cardinals.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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