Clemson is the press season no. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25, an interview with nine Big Ten and Pac-12 teams that takes a look at what the coronavirus pandemic has already taken from an uncertain college football season.
Ohio State (1,504 points) was a close no. 2 behind Trevor Lawrence and Clemson (1,520), who top the rankings for the second straight season. The Tigers defeated the Buckeyes in an exciting semi-final College Football Playoff 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 no other before.
As the season begins – as the season begins – the Buckeyes and 53 other Bowl Subdivision teams will no longer be eligible for inclusion in the Top 25 as they have postponed their seasons to the spring.
The Big Ten, where Ohio State and No. 7 Penn State play, and the Pac-12, at home against No. 9 Oregon, canceled their bankruptcy seasons due to 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 pushing ahead with fall sports, with changes. The three remaining Power 5 conferences, the SEC, ACC, and Big 12, have eliminated all or most of the nonconferences games and delayed the start of their seasons from one to three weeks.
Wiped out of the college football schedule this year was a host of enticing non-conference matchups: Ohio State in Oregon; No. 10 Notre Dame vs. Now. 12 Wisconsin on Lambeau field in Green Bay; No. 14 Texas at LSU; No. 17 Southern California vs. Alabama in Arlington, Texas; and No. 11 Auburn vs. No. 18 North Carolina in Atlanta.
For now, big conference games like Ohio State-Michigan and Washington-Washington State could still be made in the spring.
All teams I teams were eligible for the AP-25 for press season, but after the start of the season only teams are scheduled to play in the fall. That leaves 76 FBS teams to choose from.
If a spring season is played, the AP will also consider doing ranking for those teams.
BACK TO BACK
Clemson had never been press number 1 until last season, and is starting there again. It is the eighth time since the pre-season interview began in 1950 that a team of precision no. 2 is two straight seasons. Alabama had preseason no. 1 west from 2016 to 2018, a three-year run.
The Tigers finished No. 2 last season after losing the championship game to LSU, and snapped up a remarkable nine-season run in which Clemson finished with the same or better rankings as it began. That included the last five seasons in which Clemson was better than his rank for press season, finishing twice as no. 1 after the beginning of no. 2.
The ACC Tigers, who also welcome back as starvis Travis Etienne, standout offensive tackle Jackson Carman and solid defensive tackle Tyler Davis, will attempt the 12th precision no. 1 to become no. 1 to end. -Wire as no. 1: Florida State in 1999 and USC in 2004.
PROTECTIVE CHAMPS
LSU is the first defending national champion to start next season outside the top five since Auburn in 2011 (post-Cam Newton, the Tigers were ranked No. 23 in the preseason poll). LSU also lost a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and no. 1 total NFL draft pick, Joe Burrow.
Myles Brennan is the new QB for the Tigers, who had 14 players in the final draft, including five in the first round. There’s a lot of talent back with All-America receiver Ja’Marr Chase, cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. and nose tackle Tyler Shelvin.
The Tigers will try to become the first back-to-back national champions since Alabama in 2011 and ’12.
FANCY SEE YOU HERE
• No. 18 North Carolina is ranked in the press season for the first time since 2016.
• No. 19 Cincinnati makes its first appearance in the AP preseason poll. The Bearcats have finished each of the last two seasons.
• No. 20 Minnesota makes its first appearance of the preseason poll since 2004. The Gophers were one of last season’s surprise teams, and unranked and finished at no. 10, her best finish since 1962.
STONE
Ohio State extended the longest active streak of preseason top 25 appearances with 32, followed by Oklahoma with 21, LSU with 20, Georgia with 19, Alabama with 13 and Clemson with nine.
STRONG SECOND
The 21 votes of the Buckeyes’ first place in the Top 25 of the presidency were mostly by a no-no. 1 team since Ohio State in 2008, when it also had 21 and one was behind Georgia top-rank. Florida, that was no. 5 in the poll of the pre-season 2008 with five votes in the first place, won that year the national title.
TELEPHONE MEETING
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 begins, no. 6 Penn State, no. 12 Wisconsin, no. 16 Michigan, No. 19 Minnesota and No. 24 Iowa is no longer eligible to vote. The same goes for No. 9 Oregon, No. 17 USC and No. 22 Utah of the Pac-12.
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SEC: 7 (Nos. 3, 4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 25).
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Big Ten: 6 (Nos. 2, 7, 12, 16, 19, 24).
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Size 12: 4 (Nos. 5, 14, 15, 23).
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ACC: 3 (Nos. 1, 10, 18).
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Pac-12: 3 (Nu. 9, 17, 22).
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American: 2 (Nos. 20, 21).
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