The AP Top 25 of the preseason has been released and some tidbits and facts about each team:
– No. 1 Georgia tops the preseason rankings for the third time in school history (2008, 2023).
– Ohio State (No. 2) extended its record of 36 consecutive seasons ranked in the preseason poll.
— No. 3 Oregon has its best preseason ranking since 2014, when it was also No. 3.
— Texas’ preseason ranking of No. 4 is its best since 2009, when it was No. 2.
— No. 5: Alabama’s preseason ranking is its lowest since No. 5 in 2009, although the Crimson Tide extended their record streak of preseason top-five appearances to 16 years.
– No. 6 Ole Miss has its best preseason ranking since 1970, when it finished at No. 5, Archie Manning’s final season as the Rebels’ quarterback.
– No. 7 Notre Dame is ranked in the preseason top 10 for the fifth time in the last six seasons.
— No. 8 Penn State is in the preseason poll for the 50th time, the eighth-most in history behind Ohio State (71), Oklahoma (66), USC (63), Notre Dame (61), Alabama (58), Texas (57) and Michigan (53).
– No. 9 Michigan, where Sherrone Moore is the first Wolverines head coach to have a team ranked in the preseason poll in his debut season since Lloyd Carr in 1995 (No. 14).
– No. 10 Florida State has been in the top 10 in 17 consecutive polls, the fourth-longest streak behind Georgia (50), Michigan (44) and Ohio State (44).
– No. 11 Missouri has its best preseason ranking since starting No. 6 in 2008.
— No. 12 Utah is in the preseason poll for the sixth consecutive year. The Utes had only been ranked in the preseason poll twice in their history (2009, 2004) before 2019.
— No. 13 LSU has finished outside the preseason top 25 only once (2022) since 2001.
– No. 14 Clemson has its worst preseason ranking since 2014 (No. 16) and is outside the top 10 for the first time since 2015 (No. 12).
– No. 15 Tennessee has two consecutive preseason top-15 rankings for the first time since 2003-04.
— No. 16 Oklahoma has appeared in the preseason rankings 24 times in a row, but this is the first time during this streak that the Sooners have started outside the top 10 in two consecutive seasons.
— No. 17 Oklahoma State has started the season unranked and finished ranked in two of the last three seasons (2021 and 2023). In between (2022), they started the season ranked 12th and finished unranked.
— No. 18 Kansas State and No. 22 Kansas are both ranked in the preseason poll for only the second time. The last time was in 1996.
– Miami, No. 19, hasn’t started and finished a season ranked since 2017. This is the Hurricanes’ fifth appearance in the preseason poll in that time.
– No. 20 Texas A&M has now appeared in six consecutive AP preseason polls, but the Aggies have only been ranked once (2020) since 2019.
– Arizona is ranked 21st in the preseason for the first time since 2015.
– No. 22 Kansas is in the preseason poll for the first time since 2009 and only the seventh time in program history.
— No. 23 USC, where coach Lincoln Riley’s seven teams, including the Trojans and Oklahoma, all started the season ranked. Last year’s team was the first to finish unranked.
– No. 24 North Carolina State has its second preseason ranking in three seasons after just six previous appearances.
– Iowa has appeared at No. 25 in five consecutive preseason polls, matching the best streak in program history (1957-61).
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Follow Ralph D. Russo on https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP
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AP College Football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
