The Associated Press became the final major media service to come out with its 2015 preseason college football top 25 when it released its annual preseason rankings on Sunday.
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The AP Top 25 preseason poll has been released and LSU will start the season at No. 14. Alabama ranked No. 3 in the poll, followed by Baylor and Michigan State. It’s the 27th straight year that the scarlet and gray has been ranked in the top 25 preseason poll by the AP.
Ohio State, meanwhile, has not set off on a season with such outsized hopes since 1969 – and even the reigning champions Woody Hayes considered his finest team could not match this kind of buildup. According to Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News, this was the first time since the AP began a preseason poll (1950) that one of Florida, Texas or Nebraska didn’t make it.
Notre Dame opens at No. 11 in the poll, their highest ranking since they were the No. 2 team in the second week of the 2006 season.
Auburn is sixth, then Oregon, USC, Georgia and Florida State. Will their historic start be too much pressure on their quest to repeat as national champions this season?
Ohio State returns seven starters on both offense and defense, and will have two-time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Braxton Miller moving to H-Back/receiver from quarterback. Yep, just a typical college football preseason. The Ducks can prove all of the doubters (haterz?) wrong early in the season, as they travel to East Lansing to face the #5 ranked Spartans on a Saturday night showdown on ABC. Neither team ended up finishing the year as the No. 1 team in the nation.
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However, the successful handling of a tough schedule, the quick rise to the top and the returning Heisman contender apparently don’t impress the voters. SEC rival Florida also received votes for the Top 25.
