The defending national champion Florida State Seminoles sit atop The Associated Press preseason college football poll and will begin the season with the nation’s top ranking for the sixth time in school history. Led by Heismann Trophy winning quarterback Jameis Winston, the Seminoles begin the year No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time since 1999 when they became the first college football team in history to hold the top ranking from beginning of the season until the very end.
The Seminoles dominated the preseason poll racking up 57 of the 60 first place votes compared to one first place vote apiece for No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Oregon and No.4 Oklahoma. Ohio State rounds out the top five.
Photo: The Florida State offensive line, wide receivers and quarterback Jameis Winson (#5) before last year’s BCS Championship Game at the Rose Bowl against Auburn
Photo source: Instagram
There are some slight differences in the top five in the AP poll (which was released Sunday) compared to the USA Today Coaches Poll which was released a couple of weeks ago. Florida State and Alabama are the top two teams in each poll but rankings 3, 4 and 5 are different. In the coaches poll, Oklahoma, Oregon and Auburn sit at 3, 4 and 5 while Oregon, Oklahoma and Ohio State are 3, 4 and 5 in the AP.
Rounding out the remainder of the top ten in the AP poll includes Auburn (No. 6), UCLA (No. 7), Michigan State (No. 8), South Carolina (No. 9) and Baylor (No. 10).
This season marks a new beginning for college football as the Bowl Championship Series is being replaced by the new College Football Playoff system. At the end of the regular season, a selection committee will choose the four teams who will participate in the playoff series which will be the first of any sort for the top division in college football.
Despite the fact that Florida State (an ACC school) was No. 1, the SEC dominated the rest of the poll. As mentioned, Alabama, Auburn and South Carolina are No. 2 No. 6 and No. 9 respectively followed by No. 12 Georgia, No. 13 LSU, No. 18 Ole Miss, No. 21 Texas A&M and No. 24 Missouri.