Alabama, Clemson top preseason AP Top 25 poll

Defending champion Alabama leads the 2018 preseason edition of the AP Top 25 rankings, which were released Monday. This is the fifth time in Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban’s tenure with the school that it has earned the preseason No. 1 ranking.

Alabama earned 1,505 points to take the top spot ahead of Clemson and Georgia, the other two finalists in the last two national championship games. Wisconsin and Ohio State round out the top five to represent the Big Ten, which hasn’t had a national champion since the Buckeyes in 2014.

The Crimson Tide have been a staple at or near the top of the AP preseason rankings for the past decade. They’ve been in the top two in eight of the past nine years, and the only year when they weren’t, they came in third. Expectations are high at Alabama every year under Saban, and 2018 will be no different even if there are some potential signs of vulnerability.

The first-place votes were largely stacked toward Alabama (42) and Clemson (18), although one voter put Wisconsin at No. 1. Last year’s runner-up, Georgia, didn’t receive any first-place votes.

The Big Ten has a total of five schools included in the rankings, with Penn State, Michigan State and Michigan joining the Buckeyes and Badgers.

Here’s the full preseason AP Top 25 poll. The first game involving a ranked team will be Thursday, Aug. 30, when No. 21 UCF takes on UConn at 6 p.m. CT.

2018 Preseason AP Top 25

1. Alabama – 1,505 (42)
2. Clemson – 1,476 (18)
3. Georgia – 1,350
4. Wisconsin – 1,271 (1)
5. Ohio State – 1,256
6. Washington – 1,215
7. Oklahoma – 1,173
8. Miami (Fla.) – 1,027
9. Auburn – 1,013
10. Penn State – 1,012
11. Michigan State – 877
12. Notre Dame – 804
13. Stanford – 778
14. Michigan – 773
15. USC – 543
16. TCU – 533
17. West Virginia – 511
18. Mississippi State – 450
19. Florida State – 384
20. Virginia Tech – 351
21. UCF – 312
22. Boise State – 292
23. Texas – 216
24. Oregon – 148
25. LSU – 106