AP Top 25 poll: Clemson, Ohio State lead the way in preseason college football rankings

The preseason poll looks a little different this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic

By Barrett Sallee

Aug 24, 2020 at 12:14 pm ET • 1 min read

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The preseason AP Top 25 poll was released on Monday, and it has taken on a different look in what will be one of the strangest college football seasons in recent memory. Even though the Big Ten, Pac-12, Mountain West and MAC have chosen to postpone their fall seasons, the Associated Press decided to let voters include teams from those conferences in their initial polls. With that in mind, there wasn't much of a surprise at the top.

Clemson, led by Heisman Trophy candidate Trevor Lawrence, chimed in as the preseason No. 1 team in America for the second straight season. The Tigers are followed by the first team from the Big Ten to be included -- the Ohio State Buckeyes. Even though they won't play this fall, Justin Fields and Co. were widely regarded as one of the top teams in the country prior to the shutdown.

Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma round out the top five, with defending national champion LSU coming in at No. 6.

Cincinnati is the highest-ranked Group of Five team at No. 20, with No. 21 UCF being the only other Group of Five team included in the poll.

Here's the Preseason AP Top 25 poll in its entirety.

1. Clemson (38)
2. Ohio State (21)
3. Alabama (2)
4. Georgia
5. Oklahoma
6. LSU (1)
7. Penn State
8. Florida
9. Oregon
10. Notre Dame
11. Auburn
12. Wisconsin
13. Texas A&M
14. Texas
15. Oklahoma State
16. Michigan
17. USC
18. North Carolina
19. Minnesota
20. Cincinnati
21. UCF
22. Utah
23. Iowa State
24. Iowa
25. Tennessee