Jim Caltagirone

Last season, 13 teams that were not ranked in the Associated Press preseason poll made their way into the final rankings.

Which begs the question, “Which teams are this year’s Top-25 sleepers?”

The prospects of several high-profile teams that were unranked entering the season will be monitored with particular national interest.

The media illumination of head coaches Deion Sanders of Colorado and Bill Belichick of North Carolina distracts from the unknown quality of their teams.

Florida State and Oklahoma State are attempting to rebound from 2-10 and 3-9 seasons, respectively.

The pressure is mounting on USC head coach Lincoln Riley, who was hired to lead the Trojans to the College Football Playoff, not second-tier bowl games. A third consecutive season outside the final AP poll could initiate sustained howls for Riley’s job.

Nebraska has not been ranked in the final AP Poll since the 2012 season. The Huskers are past due.

Finally, never bet against one of the service academies landing in the final poll. Army was ranked No. 21 last year.

Fading tradition

In polls of media covering their respective conferences, Penn State, Texas and Clemson were voted preseason favorites to win the Big Ten, SEC and ACC championships.

The Big 12 Conference did not conduct a preseason media poll to forecast a champion.

“With the transfer portal and with roster management and what goes on as you build that roster, no one knows what they really have,” said conference commissioner Brett Yormark. “They know what they have on paper, but it hasn’t played out. And that was the case with Arizona State last year. So, I don’t know if it’s a trend or not but certainly it’s the right thing for the Big 12 and I’m glad we did it.”

Arizona State was picked to place last in the Big 12 last year but finished in a four-way tie for first in the regular-season standings and won the conference championship game.

Try and top that

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney used a portion of his allotted time at ACC Football Kickoff to boast about his program’s across-the-board consistency.

He opened by noting that Clemson is one of only four programs in the history of college football to post 14 consecutive nine-plus win seasons. The others are Nebraska, Florida State and Alabama.

Swinney then turned the focus to academics, remarking that Clemson football has been ranked in the top 10 academically 13 of the past 14 years, and is the only program to place in the top 25 in football and academics 14 years in a row. Finally, he remarked that Clemson ranks first in retention of players over the last three years.

“We’re not perfect, but we’re incredibly consistent,” Swinney said. “That’s because we’re purpose driven and we’re relationship driven. I think our program reflects that purpose in everything, in every aspect.”

Irony of ironies

It took three decades for SMU football to return to a consistent level of competitive respectability after the program was hit with the NCAA’s “death penalty” for payments to players in 1987.

So, the evolution of the revenue-sharing era, in which schools are permitted to provide direct financial benefits to student-athletes, must be especially exasperating to Mustang boosters.

A website that openly encourages donors to provide funds that will be funneled directly to student-athletes would have been introduced as evidence to the NCAA Committee on Infractions not that long ago.

Today, the open solicitation of funds that can be filtered through the schools to the student-athletes in all sports is a vital part of the new framework for the business of college sports, as SMU officials have observed.

You can regard this distribution of revenue as progress or hypocrisy. It certainly qualifies as both.

Passport required

With 11 percent of student-athletes in the Big 12 hailing from foreign countries, the conference is striving to maintain significant global outreach by scheduling games in multiple sports at international sites.

“Just from a recruitment standpoint, it makes sense to carry that flag outside of the domestic marketplace,” Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said.

Kansas State and Iowa State opened the Big 12 football schedule last Saturday in Dublin, Ireland, and the Baylor women’s basketball team will begin play in Paris in November.

Notable

– In a concession to the difficulty of filling out a schedule as the only two members of a conference that is awaiting expansion in 2026, Oregon State and Washington State of the Pac-12 will play a home-and-home series this season.

– As members of the former eight-team Pacific Coast Conference, the two schools also played twice during the 1945 season with Washington State winning both games.

– In an article published on ESPN’s college football webpages, Penn State was selected as the team with the easiest Power 4 nonconference schedule.

“It’s Penn State by a mile, or about as long as it takes to get to Happy Valley from just about any major airport,” Chris Low wrote. “This should be James Franklin’s best and most balanced team, but one that will be untested when it rolls into Big Ten play against Oregon at home Sept. 27.”

– The lineup for the “guarantee games” at Beaver Stadium during the first three weeks of the season consists of Nevada, Florida International and Villanova.

– Reportedly, more than 3,000 Bowl Subdivision players entered the transfer portal last spring, which averages out to approximately 22 players per team.

Quotable

“A guy that’s been on a team three years, that’s playing well and earned it on the field should make more than a guy coming in the door. I think that’s a proper way to do business. Right now, common sense is not prevailing in college football.”

— North Carolina State head coach Dave Doeren on his philosophy regarding compensation for players

“So the rivalry — all these rivalries mean a great deal to me. They mean a great deal to anybody who cares about college football. Yes, I mean, do I want to play the game? Hell, yeah, I want to play the game. Absolutely. It’s one of the reasons I came here.”

— USC head coach Lincoln Riley on his interest in extending the series with Notre Dame, which has been contested annually since 1926, except during the war

years of 1943-45

“So I love the resilience of our football team. These guys are better when they’ve been punched in the face.”

— Illinois head coach Bret Bielema on his team’s preference to play with a chip on its shoulder rather than embrace the high expectations set by fans and media for this season

“I know there are questions about our progress, expectations, and how well we’re performing in this conference. That’s totally fair. We’re here to earn respect, not demand it. However, I can tell you this. My team is ready. They’re confident. They’re prepared, and they’re hungry to show up and show out and redefine what UCLA football can be.”

— UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster on his team’s anticipated improvement in year two of his tenure

Jim Caltagirone, a former member of Penn State’s sports information department, comments on the national scene for Gameday. He can be reached at jimclion4ever@gmail.com