The second major college football preseason poll has been released, and the Associated Press has declared the Ohio State Buckeyes are the nation’s best team before the 2015 season begins. Ohio State has been a near-unanimous No. 1 coming into the year, with the Buckeyes receiving 62 out of 64 first-place votes in the Amway coaches poll released in July. The Associated Press took things one step further, giving the defending national champions all 61 first-place votes. Here’s how the entire AP Top 25 preseason poll looks: 2015 AP Top 25 Preseason Poll Rank Team Points First-Place Votes 1 Ohio State 1,525 61 2 TCU 1,428 – 3 Alabama 1,322 – 4 Baylor 1,263 – 5 Michigan State 1,256 – 6 Auburn 1,192 – 7 Oregon 1,156 – 8 USC 1,085 – 9 Georgia 991 – 10 Florida State 959 – 11 Notre Dame 873 – 12 Clemson 862 – 13 UCLA 698 – 14 LSU 675 – 15 Arizona State 605 – 16 Georgia Tech 588 – 17 Mississippi 563 – 18 Arkansas 410 – 19 Oklahoma 394 – 20 Wisconsin 393 – 21 Stanford 347 – 22 Arizona 311 – 23 Boise State 240 – 24 Missouri 219 – 25 Tennessee 114 – Source: AP.org Ohio State’s spot atop the rankings gives the program a rare and historic distinction, per Matt Barnes of NBC 4 in Columbus: This is the first time in the preseason poll’s history that a team has been the unanimous number one team #OSU — Matt Barnes (@Matt_NBC4) August 23, 2015 The Buckeyes have been sneaking up on teams since Urban Meyer took over as head coach. Their undefeated regular season in 2012 was met with skepticism because of a mediocre schedule that didn’t include one win over a team ranked inside the Top 20. Ohio State was undone in 2013 by back-to-back losses at the end of the year against Michigan State and Clemson. Last year, everything came together in surprising fashion because Braxton Miller was injured before the season and J.T. Barrett went down in the regular-season finale against Michigan. Now, the Buckeyes are going to be the hunted team, which isn’t something that has historically worked well for the program, per ESPN College Football: Ohio State has been preseason No. 1 seven times. It has never won the national championship in any of those years. pic.twitter.com/DnNBGlnakl — ESPN CollegeFootball (@ESPNCFB) August 23, 2015 Adding to that, Chris Dufresne of the Los Angeles Times pointed out how long it’s been since a preseason No. 1 won the AP national title: Gunning for you dept: Warning Ohio State: Looks like USC (2004) last preseason AP No.1 to go on to win the AP crown…..it’s hard. …
Continue Reading: Preseason College Football Rankings 2015: Twitter Reacts to AP NCAA Top 25 Poll
