Defending national champion Alabama landed the top spot on the AP Top 25 preseason poll, it was announced on Monday. The Crimson Tide pulled in 42 first-place votes to pull away for the top spot in the first AP top 25 of the 2018 college football season.
This is the third consecutive season Alabama will start the year ranked on top of the AP preseason Top 25, marking just the second time in AP poll history a team has accomplished that feat.
Two College Football Playoff participants from last season follow Alabama. No. 2 Clemson received 18 first-place votes and No. 3 Georgia finished in third place in the preseason poll with no first-place votes. Big Ten favorites came next with No. 4 Wisconsin picking up one first-place vote and Ohio State checking in at No. 5. The rest of the top 10 consisted of No. 6 Washington, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 8 Miami, No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Penn State.
Last year’s Group of Five representative in the New Years Six lineup, UCF, was ranked No. 21 in the preseason poll, followed by Mountain West Conference favorite Boise State.
Here is the full preseason AP Top 25 for the 2018 season;
- Alabama (42 first-place votes)
- Clemson (18)
- Georgia
- Wisconsin (1)
- Ohio State
- Washington
- Oklahoma
- Miami
- Auburn
- Penn State
- Michigan State
- Notre Dame
- Stanford
- Michigan
- USC
- TCU
- West Virginia
- Mississippi State
- Florida State
- Virginia Tech
- UCF
- Boise State
- Texas
- Oregon
- LSU