By The Associated Press
Clemson is the preseason No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25, a poll featuring nine Big Ten and Pac-12 teams that gives a glimpse at what has already been taken by the pandemic from an uncertain college football season.
Ohio State (1,504 points) was a close No. 2 behind Trevor Lawrence and Clemson (1,520), which starts atop the rankings for the second straight season. The Tigers beat the Buckeyes in a thrilling College Football Playoff semifinal last season.
Alabama is No. 3, Southeastern Conference rival Georgia is No. 4 and defending Big 12 champion Oklahoma is No. 5. Defending national champion LSU is No. 6.
The 85th edition of the AP rankings will be like none before.
When the season starts — if the season starts — the Buckeyes and 53 other Bowl Subdivision teams will no longer be eligible for inclusion in the Top 25 because they have postponed their seasons to the spring.
The Big Ten, where Ohio State and No. 7 Penn State play, and the Pac-12, home to No. 9 Oregon, canceled their fall sports seasosn because of concerns about the coronavirus. The Mid-American and Mountain West conferences have also said they will try to play spring football.
The SEC, Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12, American Athletic, Conference USA and Sun Belt are forging ahead with fall sports, with changes: The three remaining Power Five conferences, the SEC, ACC, and Big 12, have eliminated all or most nonconference games and delayed the start of their seasons from one to three weeks.
All Division I teams were eligible for the preseason AP Top 25, but after the season starts, only teams scheduled to play in the fall are eligible. That leaves 76 FBS teams from which to choose.
If a spring season is played, the AP will consider doing rankings for those teams, too.
CONFERENCE CALL
The Southeastern Conference, as usual, leads the way with seven teams in the Top 25, including six of the first 13 teams.
The Big Ten is next with six, but when the regular season starts No. 6 Penn State, No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 16 Michigan, No. 19 Minnesota and No. 24 Iowa will no longer be eligible for votes. Same goes for No. 9 Oregon, No. 17 USC and No. 22 Utah of the Pac-12.
SEC — 7 (Nos. 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 25).
Big Ten — 6 (Nos. 2, 7, 12, 16, 19, 24).
Big 12 — 4 (Nos. 5, 14, 15, 23).
ACC — 3 (Nos. 1, 10, 18).
Pac-12 — 3 (Nos. 9, 17, 22).
American — 2 (Nos. 20, 21).
The complete preseason AP Top 25 poll can be seen below. First-place votes are in parentheses.
1. Clemson (38)
2. Ohio State (21)
3. Alabama (2)
4. Georgia
5. Oklahoma (2)
6. LSU (1)
7. Penn State
8. Florida
9. Oregon
10. Notre Dame
11. Auburn
12. Wisconsin
13. Texas A&M
14. Texas
15. Oklahoma State
16. Michigan
17. USC
18. North Carolina
19. Minnesota
20. Cincinnati
21. UCF
22. Utah
23. Iowa State
24. Iowa
25. Tennessee