No. 1 Alabama topped AP Top 25 preseason football for the 9th time; Ohio, Georgia, Clemson, Notre Dame make the top 5

With two of the country’s best players leading the way – and a losing title match as motivation – Alabama 1 in the Associated Press’ pre-season college football poll for the second consecutive season and the ninth overall.

Defending Champion Heisman Trophy Bryce YoungNational Defensive Player of the Year Will Anderson Jr. and Crimson Tide received 54 of 63 votes in first place and 1,566 points in the Top 25 presented by Regions Bank on Monday.

Ohio State 2nd with six first place votes (1,506 points) from the media panel, and the defending national champion Georgia ranked third with three first-place votes (1,455 points). Clemson is number 4. Notre Dame overtakes the top five, setting up a compelling opening at Ohio State on September 3.

Tide’s pre-season No. 1 spot is their seventh in 15 years under coach Nick Saban. Since the pre-season rankings began in 1950, only Oklahoma, with 10 appearances, has been #1 in the original poll more often than Alabama.

The Crimson Tide started last season at #1 and finished #2 after losing a national championship game to Southeast Conference rival Bulldogs.

Saban recently called 2021 a rebuilding season for his Tide reign, which has won six national titles over the past 13 years. He has a point. Young was in his first season as a starter last year, playing behind an inexperienced attack. He was unfazed, throwing 4,872 yards and 47 touchdowns.

Anderson was a force on the other side of the ball as Alabama broke seventh back with mostly fresh starts. The sophomore leads the nation in losing points with 33.5, 11.5 more than the 2nd place on the list.

Ohio State brings home a Heisman Trophy finalist in the quarterfinals in CJ Stroud, while in Georgia, most of the key players from one of the college’s best defenses of the past 25 years are now in the NFL. However, the midfielder Stetson Bennett and the tight end of the whole of America Brock Bowers A return to Bulldogs offense could be even more explosive in 2022.

Texas A&MThe team finished last season underrepresented despite letting Alabama lose its only game of the season, starting this season in 6th place.

Defend the Champion Pac-12 Utah ranked seventh, the best pre-season ranking in school history. Defend the Big Ten Champion Michigan 8th place after reaching the playoffs for the first time last season.

Number 9 Oklahoma is the highest ranked Big 12 school, one level above the defending champion Baylor.

POLL POINTS

Alabama has been in the top five pre-season for the past 14 seasons and has made the top three pre-season for 13 consecutive games. Tide’s top five ratings ahead of this year’s 31st season matched Ohio State for the highest ranking in poll history.

Turning a pre-season No. 1 into a national championship has proven difficult throughout history, even for Alabama.

The Crimson Tide has gone on to win the national championship after starting at number 1 only once under Saban and twice overall.

Since the AP pre-season poll began in 1950, 11 pre-season No 1 teams have also finished the season in the top spot. Alabama is the last place to do that (2017).

RARITIES AND STREAKS

• Number 13 State of North Carolina ranked in the pre-season poll for the first time since 2003. Wolfpack matched their best pre-season ranking; they also ranked 13th in 1975.

• No.17 Pitt in the pre-season rankings for the first time since 2010.

• Number 20 Kentucky is appearing in its first pre-season poll since 1978.

• No. 22 Wake Forest topping the pre-season rankings for the first time since 2008.

• Ohio State ranked before the 34th consecutive season, qualifying Nebraska (1970-2002) and Penn State (1968-2000) for the longest such period in poll history.

• Texas A&M has the second-best pre-season ranking for a team that finished last season without a ranking. Ohio State finished 3rd in the 1972 pre-season vote after failing to rank at the end of the 1971 season, and Notre Dame started in 6th place in 1983 after finishing the 1982 season.

How’s the season going for those teams? Ohio State won 9-2 and finished the season in 9th place. The Irish won 7-5 and dropped again.

LEFT-OUT NOTES

• LSU with new coach Brian Kelly will start the underrated season for the first time since 2000, the first of Saban’s five seasons as the Tigers coach.

• Florida and State of Florida both were underrated at the start of the season, something that hasn’t happened since 1974.

NEWBIES

Five schools ranked in the pre-season poll have a head coach starting their first season at the helm of their team: Notre Dame (Marcus Freeman), Oklahoma (Brent Venables), No. 11 Oregon (Dan Lanning), number 14 USC (Lincoln Riley) and number 16 Miami (Mario Cristobal).

According to research by Sportradar, this is the second time in the past five seasons that five teams with new coaches have been ranked in the previous league. It also happened in 2018, but before that season, that kind of representation in the pre-season poll for teams with new coaches was a rarity.

You have to go back to 1990, when six schools with coaches entered their first season, appearing in the Top 25 ahead of the season, according to Sportradar. That list includes some notable names: Gary Moeller, Michigan; Ken Hatfield, Clemson; Gene Stallings, Alabama; Jack Crowe, Arkansas; Paul Hackett, Pittsburgh; and John Jenkins, Houston.

CONFERENCE CALL

For the fourth consecutive season, the SEC has three teams in the top six.

The Atlantic Coast Conference matched its best performance in a pre-season poll with five teams. The ACC has reached that number four times before.

SEC – 6 (No. 1, 3, 6, 19, 20, 21).

ACC – 5 (No. 4, 13, 16, 17, 22).

Big Ten – 4 (Numbers 2, 8, 15, 18).

Big 12 – 3 (Number 9, 10, 12).

Pac-12 – 3 (No. 7, 11, 14).

America – 2 (No. 23, 24).

Independence – 2 (No. 5, 25).