Cross off another milestone for Clemson, college football’s newest superpower.
For the first time, the defending national champion Tigers are No. 1 in The Associated Press preseason Top 25. The Tigers won the program’s second national title in three seasons behind freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence in January. Clemson now can claim equal standing with Alabama at the top of the sport.
The Crimson Tide, coming off a 44-16 loss to Clemson in the College Football Playoff championship, is No. 2. Clemson received 52 first-place votes and Alabama received the other 10 from the media. Clemson snaps a record-tying string of three straight years in which Alabama was preseason No. 1.
Georgia, Alabama’s Southeastern Conference rival, is No. 3, followed by No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 5 Ohio State.
Clemson’s rise under coach Dabo Swinney has been uncommon in college football. The school won the national championship in 1981, but mostly it had resided on a tier well below the traditional national powers. Clemson football was usually good and sometimes excellent, but never this.
Last season’s championship made Clemson just the 12th school with at least three AP titles since the poll started in 1936.
The Tigers enter 2019 with a 15-game winning streak and eight straight double-digit victory seasons. Since 2015, when they lost the national championship game to Alabama, the Tigers are 55-4.
Nick Saban’s Alabama dynasty, with five national titles in a 10-year span, has finally met its match. The Tide is also 55-4 in the last four seasons.
Clemson and Alabama have split the last four national championships, played in the last four playoffs and are poised to make it five straight. This will be the third time since 2016 the Tigers and Tide have started the season Nos. 1 and 2 in the Top 25. Beginning with 2015, when Alabama and Clemson occupied the top two spots in the last four AP polls of the season, the Tide and Tigers have been Nos. 1 and 2 in some order 22 times.
Last year’s Clemson team was highlighted by a defensive line that had three starters selected in the first round of the NFL draft, and a fourth taken in round four.
The Tigers have some rebuilding to do on that side of the ball, but recent history suggests reinforcements are ready. This year Lawrence and the offense will be the headliner. The first freshman quarterback in more than three decades to lead a team to a national championship, Lawrence will be joined by star receivers Tee Higgins (12 touchdowns) and Justyn Ross (nine touchdowns) and game-breaking running back Travis Etienne (8.1 yards per carry).
Alabama returns quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, and an array of weapons, too. As a new season starts, college football fans best be prepared for Tide vs. Tigers V.
The Top 25
1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Georgia
4. Oklahoma
5. Ohio St.
6. LSU
7. Michigan
8. Florida
9. Notre Dame
10. Texas
11. Oregon
12. Texas A&M
13. Washington
14. Utah
15. Penn St.
16. Auburn
17. UCF
18. Michigan St.
19. Wisconsin
20. Iowa
21. Iowa St.
22. Syracuse
23. Washington St.
24. Nebraska
25. Stanford
Others receiving votes: Missouri 117, Army 94, Mississippi St. 87, Miami 70, Northwestern 63, TCU 57, Virginia 44, Boise St. 38, Cincinnati 16, South Carolina 15, Virginia Tech 12, Fresno St. 8, Utah St. 8, Minnesota 7, Memphis 6, Appalachian St. 5, UAB 3, West Virginia 3, Oklahoma St. 3, Arizona St. 3, Arizona 1, Southern Cal 1.
