Alabama Ranked 1st in AP Preseason College Football Poll Yet Again

Defending national champion Alabama leads the 2021 AP Preseason College Football Poll. The Crimson Tide had 47 first place votes, so while Alabama opening at #1 isn’t a surprise, there are five other teams with 1st place votes as well, though they trail the defending champs by quite a bit.

Oklahoma is 2nd and had six first place votes, as did #3 Clemson. Ohio State is 4th, and garnered one 1st place vote, while Georgia completes the top 5. The Bulldogs had three first place votes.

Those schools are no strangers to top 5 rankings, but the next five has some surprises. Texas A & M at #6 isn’t a surprise, but Iowa State (7) and Cincinnati (8) are not regular occupiers of the top 10. Notre Dame is 9th, followed by another surprise in North Carolina at #10.

Number 11 through 15 are Oregon, Wisconsin, Florida, Miami (FL) and USC. LSU is #16, followed by Indiana, another team not often associated with high rankings. Iowa is #18, Penn State is #19 and Washington closes out the top 20.

Texas is #21, followed by two schools emerging on the college football scene, both rivals in the Sun Belt Conference. Coastal Carolina is 22nd, and Louisiana-Lafayette is 23rd. Last year, Coastal was 11-0 in the regular season, losing to Liberty in the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl by three points. Louisiana was 10-1, ending the season with a win in the Servpro First Responder Bowl. The Ragin’ Cajuns only loss last year was 30-27 to Coastal Carolina. Utah and Arizona State round out the Top 25.

The Division I football season begins with five games on August 28th. Let’s hope this season goes smoother than the Covid disrupted 2020 season went, although the Delta Variant could mess things up again.

Here’s highlights from last season’s championship game, where Alabama drubbed Ohio State 52-24: