2016 college football rankings: Clemson No. 1 in way-too-early consensus

Here’s a top 25 that most of college football media would more or less agree on at the moment, based on a combination of the various 2016 rankings already out there.

It would largely also agree on much of this top 25 in August, after Signing Day, the NFL Draft, quarterback battles, assistant coaching changes, early enrollees, arrests, injuries, suspensions, and bizarre news events alter every team in some way, along with hours and hours of study of each of these teams introducing new arguments for and against everybody.

Think things will change a whole lot between right now and right before week one? For your review is last January’s edition of this same thing, whose top five was Ohio State, TCU, Alabama, Baylor, and Oregon ... bump the Ducks down two spots and move up Michigan State, and you’ve got the AP Poll’s official preseason top five from last August. So yeah, what you’re looking at below is just about the same thing you’ll be looking at eight months from now.

The offseason is pointless, is what I’m saying. Here’s your preseason top 25, pretty much, topped by a team that loses a ton of its defense but returns most of its offense, including emerging superstar Deshaun Watson:

Sources: Bleacher Report, Bovada (odds), Campus Insiders, CBS, ESPN, FOX Sports, Land-Grant Holy Land, NationalChamps.net, SB Nation (top 10), Sporting News (top 20), Sports Illustrated (top five), USA Today, Yahoo! Sports