The 2017 college football preseason AP Top 25 Poll has just been released. And for the second year in a row Alabama is the No. 1 team in the nation.
While Clemson, the reigning National Champion, is at No. 5. This is the first time since 2012 that the reigning champion is not No.1.
But there are even bigger takeaways and storylines from the AP Preseason Poll release.
3. Balance of Power
It looks the AP Poll has finally started to show more diversity in the polls. The SEC still has the most teams in the top 25, with six. Alabama is No. 1, Auburn at 12, LSU at 13, UGA at 15, Florida at 17 and Tennessee at 25.
The SEC West teams are fairly ranked, but many really question why the East teams are ranked so high. The East has been ranked the worst Power Five division in the nation last year, but we see three in Top 25. Florida and Tennessee are probably not even going to be ranked in the top 25 after their Week 1 matchups.
The ACC has five teams in the Top 25. Florida State is the highest ranked ACC team at No. 3, then Clemson at No. 5, Louisville at No. 16, Miami at No. 18 and Virginia Tech at No. 21. The ACC brings back two of the most important hardwares in the nations, the National Championship and the Heisman. Many will question why Louisville is ranked at No. 16.
Yes, Lamar Jackson won the Heisman, but down the stretch the Cardinals seemed to fizzle out losing their last three games. But besides that the ACC is well represented in the AP Poll.
The Big 12 is tied with the ACC with second most teams in the top 25. Oklahoma is ranked at No. 7, Oklahoma State at No. 10, Kansas State at No. 20, WVU at No. 22 and Texas at No. 23. Yes, you read that right. Texas is somehow in the top 25 after a 5-7 record. How? Only one reason why, their name is Texas. Tom Herman does replace Charlie Strong as the head coach in Austin.
The Longhorns also recruited well this year. But how can Texas be in the top 25? There are many teams that deserve a spot in the top 25 more than Texas, like NC State, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Mississippi State and many others. The addition of Texas is a little surprising to many.
The Big Ten only has four teams in the Top 25, but they have the highest average ranking inside the 25. Ohio State is No. 2, Penn State is No. 6, Wisconsin is No. 9 and Michigan is No. 11. All but one of these teams actually won their bowl games.
The Buckeyes got blown off the field by Clemson, after many questioned them being in the Playoffs to being with. While Michigan and Penn State lost in close games. Wisconsin was the only team out of these four to win the bowl game. Maybe, the Big 10 is a little overrated?
The Pac-12 also has four teams in the top 25. USC is No. 4, Washington is No. 8, Stanford is No. 14 and Washington State is No. 24. The Pac-12 seems too be well ranked. The Trojans and Huskies have two of the premier quarterbacks in the nation, with Sam Darnold and Jake Browning. Stanford will always be in the preseason poll as long as they have David Shaw at the helm and a decent quarterback. The Cougars of Washington State could easily play their way into a Pac-12 championship.
The only Group of Five team ranked is the Charlie Strong’s USF Bulls at 19.