The first Associated Press Top 25 ranking ahead of an unusual 2020 season that was released on Monday, unofficially calls for the start of college football with broken openers starting later this month. According to the AP, poll voters were asked to “consider all Division I teams when filling out their ballot papers”, so the demand for pre-season includes teams from conferences that have decided not to play this fall.
After games start, voters will only rank teams that are scheduled to play, causing a major shift from what we are used to seeing each week.
The decisions of the Big Ten and Pac-12 to suspend all bankruptcy sports earlier this month were devastated nationally due to timing, with many saying it was too early to make an all-out call to end football. Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren was met with a petition from Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields and protests from parents outside the Big Ten headquarters, but the decision is final.
“The pre-season interview has always been a speculative ranking of teams based on last year’s results and knowledge of the teams’ new makeup,” said Michael Giarrusso, AP’s global sports editor, in a story published on Sunday . “This year we think it’s essential to give all teams and all their fans a snapshot of what the Top 25 would have been like to open the season.”
With national title frontrunners out and several offseason momentum estimates in the Top 10, here’s a look at the full pre-season interview from the AP:
