AP Releases Top 25 Poll for Week 1 of 2019 College Football Season
By Sean Facey
It's officially college football season, folks.
With the Week 1 Saturday kickoff looming, the Associated Press has released the Top 25 poll for 2019, so let's take a look at how things have shaped up.
BREAKING: Clemson ranked No. 1 in preseason AP Top 25 for first time; Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, Ohio State round out the top five in the poll, presented by @askRegions: https://t.co/DWCBw9xytP pic.twitter.com/vwevmx9hfy
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) August 19, 2019
The top for spots come as no surprise. Clemson occupies the No. 1 spot after their undefeated season last year, followed by Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma respectively.
Coming in at No. 5 are the Ohio State Buckeyes, who slipped slightly from their No. 3 finish in 2019. Joining them in the top 10 spots are Louisiana State, Michigan, Florida, Notre Dame and Texas. The Fighting Irish fell particularly hard after finishing fifth last year.
Thanks to a strong recruiting class, the Texas A&M Aggies managed to come in at No. 12 to start the year.
Texas A&M is #12 in the AP Preseason Poll.
— TexAgs (@TexAgs) August 19, 2019
1. Clemson
2. Bama
3. UGA
4. OU
5. Ohio St
6. LSU
7. Michigan
8. Florida
9. Notre Dame
10. tu
11. Oregon
12. Texas A&M ?
13. UW
14. Utah
15. PSU
16. Auburn
17. UCF
18. MSU
19. Wisc
20. Iowa
21. ISU
22. ‘Cuse
23. WSU
24. Neb
25. Stan pic.twitter.com/9fMF2ROc4N
Fresh off of an undefeated season of their own, the UCF Knights come in at No. 17. They trail a couple of programs that didn't even finish ranked last year in Oregon (11) and Auburn (16).
Led by the ever-zany Mike Leach, No. 23 Washington State will have to prove itself once again if they are to match their No. 10 finish from last season. They rank ahead of No. 24 Nebraska and No. 25 Stanford.
#WSU opens at No. 23 in the preseason @AP_Top25 poll. It's just the fourth time in poll history the Cougars opened the season ranked (2017, 2002, 1952). pic.twitter.com/FXHbuuee5W
— Theo Lawson (@TheoLawson_SR) August 19, 2019
This poll has been a longtime coming ever since Clemson's crushing victory over the Crimson Tide back in January, and now we're off the races.