Alabama tops AP preseason poll
August 22, 2017 by admin
Filed under Choosing Lingerie
For the second straight year, Alabama will start the college football season as the top-ranked team.
AP poll release offers a prelude to playoff race
The selection committee ignores the AP preseason poll. But we don’t. A clear-cut CFP contender will be in an early hole with several early top-10 matchups.
Why Clemson will miss the 2017 CFP
Clemson enters the season having to replace a ton of talent, particularly on offense, and a bumpy transition could keep the defending champ from returning to the College Football Playoff.
The Tide received 52 of 61 first-place votes from the media panel and 1,513 points in the poll released Monday. Alabama is coming off a last-second loss in the national championship game that left it No. 2 to Clemson in the final Top 25 of 2016.
Alabama is the No. 1 team in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 for the sixth time in history and fourth time under coach Nick Saban. The Tide’s streak of nine straight top-five preseason rankings is second only to Florida State, which had a run of 11 straight seasons starting in the top-five under former coach Bobby Bowden.
Ohio State is ranked second, receiving three first-place votes and 1,414 points. The Buckeyes are No. 2 in the preseason poll for the eighth time, one behind Oklahoma for most times starting the season second. Ohio State also extended the longest current streak of years appearing in the preseason Top 25 to 29. Penn State has the record at 34 from 1968-2002.
Saban’s program has become the surest thing in sports these days. The Tide does not always win the national championship — just half the time over the last eight years — but is always in contention. Since 2008, only once has Alabama lost more than one game before bowl season.
The one bit of bad news for Alabama? The Tide has failed to win the national championship the three previous times it was preseason No. 1 under Saban. The last team to start and finish No. 1 was USC in 2004, and the Trojans were ranked No. 1 the following season — the last team to do it before this year.
Also receiving top votes were No. 3 Florida State (four) and No. 4 USC (two) which finished last season on a nine-game winning streak. Alabama opens the season against the Seminoles in Atlanta on Sept. 2, just the fourth opener involving top-five teams and the first pitting teams ranked in the top three.
Defending national champion Clemson starts the season ranked fifth. Penn State, Oklahoma, Washington, Wisconsin and Oklahoma State round out the top 10.
Alabama is the only Southeastern Conference team in the top 10, but the SEC still leads the way with six teams in the Top 25. Auburn is No. 12 and LSU is right behind at 13. SEC East rivals Georgia (No. 15) and Florida (No. 17) follow and Tennessee is No. 25.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
