With two of the best players in the country leading the way -- and a championship-game loss as motivation -- Alabama is No.
The Alabama football team received 54 of 63 first-place votes and 1,566 points in the Top 25 presented by Regions Bank.
Georgia is third with three first-place votes and Ohio State is second with six first-place votes. There is a new entrant to the top five. Notre Dame will open against Ohio State in September.
It is the seventh time in 15 years that the Tide has been ranked preseason top. Alabama has been in the top spot in the initial poll more times than any other team.
After losing the national championship game to Georgia, the Tide finished second in the rankings.
The Tide dynasty has won six national titles over the last 13 years. He has something to say.
Young was a starter for the first time in his career last year. He threw for over 5,000 yards and over 50 touchdown.
Anderson was a force on the other side of the ball. The sophomore was the leader in tackles for loss with 33 1/2.
Most of the key players from one of the best college defenses of the last 25 years are now in the National Football League. Even though the quarterback and the All-America tight end are gone, the offense could still be even more potent in the future.
Texas A&M was unranked despite handing Alabama its only regular-season loss.
Utah is the best ranked school in the preseason. The Michigan team made the playoffs for the first time in their history last year.
Oklahoma is the highest ranked school in the Big 12.
There are poll points.
Alabama has been in the preseason top five in each of the last 14 years. The Tide's 31st preseason top-five ranking is tied with Ohio State for the most ever.
It has been difficult for Alabama to turn preseason No. 1 into a national title.
The Tide won the national championship after starting the top spot just once and twice in the past.
There have been 11 preseason top ranked teams since 1950. Alabama was the final state to do it.
For the first time in a decade, North Carolina State is in the preseason. They matched their best ranking. In 1975, they were 13th.
Pitt is in the preseason for the first time in five years.
Kentucky is in the preseason polls for the first time in 38 years.
Wake Forest was ranked in the preseason for the first time in six years.
Ohio State broke a tie with Nebraska and Penn State for the longest streak of being ranked in the preseason.
Texas A&M finished the previous season unranked but is ranked second in the preseason. After being unranked at the end of the 1971 season, Ohio State was ranked third in the 1972 preseason poll while Notre Dame was ranked sixth.
The seasons worked out for those teams. The team went 9-2 and finished with a 9-2 record. The Irish were unranked for the second time.
Notable left outs.
It will be the first time since 2000 that LSU will start the season unranked.
It is the first time since 1974 that Florida and Florida State are not ranked to start the season.
There are new people.
Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, USC, and Miami are all ranked in the preseason and have head coaches who are new to the job.
Five teams with new coaches were ranked in the preseason for the second year in a row. The preseason poll for teams with new coaches used to be rare before the season started.
You have to go back to 1990 when six schools with new coaches appeared in the preseason Top 25. Gary Moeller, Michigan; Gene Stallings, Alabama; Jack Crowe, Arkansas; and Paul Hackett, Pittsburgh, are some of the notable names on that list.
There is a conference call.
The SEC has three teams in the top six for the fourth year in a row
The conference had five teams in the preseason poll. The conference has reached that number before.
The SEC has 6.
The conference has five: 4, 13, 16, 17, and 22.
The Big Ten has four teams.
The Big 12 has three numbers.
The Pac-12 has three.
The American was the second one.
There are two independents.
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