The Associated Press preseason college football Top 25 was released this morning, six days before the 2016 season kicks off in Sydney, Australia. A team receives 25 points for each first place vote, 24 for second place and so on through to the 25th team, which receives one point. Clemson had 16 first -place votes and 1,443 points.
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Alabama will start its season at the top of a two major preseason polls. And there are still 12 games to play, so it’s far too early for anyone to be freaking out or crowing about where teams now stand.
In a way, the 2016 season will pick up where 2015 left off: Alabama is No. 1 and Clemson is 2. The Tide has claimed four of the last seven national championships and owns a 98-12 record across the last eight seasons under head coach Nick Saban.
Stanford, Tennesee and Notre Dame fill out the top 10. Michigan State (5), Clemson (12) and Oklahoma (19) joined eventual national champion Alabama (3). Michigan State is No. 12 in the preseason poll.
Coach Brian Kelly said in a statement he made the decision after meeting with the players, reviewing the evidence available to him and talking with team leaders. There are a number of Top 25 match ups; (1) Alabama vs (20) USC, (4) FSU vs (11) Ole Miss, (18) Georgia vs (22) North Carolina, (3) Oklahoma vs (15) Houston.
Tennessee returns 17 starters on offense and defense from a team that finished 9-4 last season, concluded with a 45-6 rout of Northwestern in the Outback Bowl. The most recent AP poll that did not include Alabama is the final one of the 2007 season.
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– No. 10 Notre Dame has its best preseason ranking since 2006 (No. 2). Iowa wasn’t ranked in last year’s preseason poll, and the Hawkeyes were in the committee’s top four heading into the Big Ten title game.
