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This came up in another thread so I started looking into it.  Here it is for 2023:

From my perspective that is remarkably accurate.  The other thing that jumped out at me is that the margins here are razor thin:

Six of the preseason top-10 finished in the top-10 and two more (#12 LSU and #13 PSU) were very close.  Even the other two weren't terrible.  Preseason #9 Clemson finished 9-4 and #20 while preseason #6 USC finished unranked but they were 8-5 and did receive votes in the final poll.  

Razor thin margins:
You might look at Ohio State (dropped seven), LSU (-7), and Clemson (-11) and think that they really sucked compared to preseason expectations but if you look a little deeper we are only really talking about one game or maybe slightly less or slightly more:
Ohio State:
The Buckeyes finished 11-2 and #10 but note that the team that finished #3 also had two losses.  If you traded the win over ND early in the season for the Mizzou loss, Ohio State would have been really close to finishing where they started.  Alternatively, if you took away the loss in The Game and gave tOSU a playoff loss instead they'd have likely finished #2.  

LSU:
The Tigers finished 10-3 and #12 while the team that finished #5 was 12-2 Bama so if you flipped one game LSU would have finished 11-2 and really close to where they started.  

Clemson:
These Tigers finished 9-4 and #20 but flipping one loss to a win makes them 10-3.  Five consecutive teams from #11 to #15 all went 10-3 so Clemson would have been in that group with one more win and that is really close to where they started.  

17 of the preseason top-25 finished ranked with another four receiving votes.  The remaining four are:

• pre-17 TCU finished 5-7
• pre-19 Wisconsin finished 7-6
• pre-21 UNC finished 8-5
• pre-23 aTm finished 7-6

So out of the entire preseason top-25 only TCU finished sub .500 and even they were 5-7 so only barely below .500.  

Here are 2022 and 2021:

I found a more complete compendium a few years back.  As I noted, the top three nearly always end up in the top ten.  FSU was an exception one year.  The next seven usually end up ranked, many in the top ten.  Often one top ten PS team drops out completely.  The next ten is better than random of course, but one sees 40% or so ending unranked.

For this three years, of the 30 teams that were ranked in the three preseason top-10's:

Three won that years' NC:

• #2 M in 2023
• #3 UGA in 2022
• #5 UGA in 2021

17 or 57% finished in the top-10.  

23 or 77% finished ranked.  

25 or 83% finished at least receiving votes.  

26 out of the 30 or 87% finished over .500 the only exceptions being:

• 2022 preseason #6 aTm finished 5-7 
• 2022 preseason #9 OU finished 6-7
• 2022 preseason #10 Baylor finished 6-7
• 2021 preseason #10 UNC finished 6-7

Even the four that finished sub .500 were all close.  None were truly awful as any of them would have been at least .500 with just one more win.  


If you focus in on the top-5's:

• 3 of 15 won the NC.  
• 8 of 15 or 53% finished in the top-5.  
• 11 of 15 or 73% finished in the top-10.  
• All 15 finished ranked with 2022 preseason #5 Notre Dame being the weakest at 9-4 and #18.  

Top-5 teams the last three years by losses:

• 2 went undefeated.  Both NC's.  
• 2 finished with one loss.  Georgia both times, one NC and one just missed CFP.  
• 7 finished with two losses.  
• 3 finished with three losses.  
• 1 finished with four losses.