AP Releases Annual College Football Preseason Poll: Alabama Lands At No. 1; Ohio State, Georgia, Texas A&M Also In Top 10

Nick Saban Alabama — Head coach Nick Saban has guided Alabama to three national championships over the last four years. Reuters

It’s that time of year again. The Associated Press has unveiled its annual preseason AP Top 25 Poll results, ranking the top college-football teams expected to be competing for the national championship.

Alabama tops the preseason college-football poll. The Crimson Tide is coming off a 13-1 season in which it captured its third national title in four years. Ohio State is the runner-up, after ranking 18^th in the preseason poll last year. The Southeastern Conference is making a typically strong showing this year with six SEC teams ranked in the top 25, including Alabama, Georgia at No. 5, South Carolina at No. 6, Texas A&M at No. 7, Florida at No. 10 and LSU at No. 12.

The Big Ten Conference is also well-represented in AP preseason poll this year. In addition to Ohio State, Michigan is No. 17, Nebraska is No. 18, Northwestern is No. 22and Wisconsin is No. 23.

In the Pacific-12 Conference, Oregon and Stanford are each in the top five, with UCLA, USC and Oregon State also making the top 25.

Meanwhile, for the first time since the preseason poll’s inception in 1934, the Big 12 Conference does not have a team in the top 10, according to ESPN. Oklahoma State is the highest-ranked Big 12 team at No. 13, followed by Texas at No. 15, Oklahoma at No. 16 and TCU at No. 20.

See the full AP preseason college-football poll ranking below:

1. Alabama

2. Ohio State

3. Oregon

4. Stanford

5. Georgia

6. South Carolina

7. Texas A&M

8. Clemson

9. Louisville

10. Florida

11. Florida State