Andy Wittry | NCAA.com | August 19, 2021

College football rankings: Alabama is No. 1 in 2021 preseason AP Top 25 poll

Preseason AP football poll: Breaking down the first 2021 rankings

For the 131th week in school history, reigning national champion Alabama is No. 1 in the AP poll, which leads all FBS programs. The top-ranked Crimson Tide is joined by several familiar names atop the preseason AP Top 25 poll.

No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 3 Clemson, No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Georgia — each of whom has appeared in the College Football Playoff at least once — round out the top five.

Here's the complete preseason AP Top 25 poll.

Preseason AP Top 25 Poll

RANK	school (first-place vOtes)	POINTS	2020 RECORD
1	Alabama (47)	1,548	13-0
2	Oklahoma (6)	1,462	9-2
3	Clemson (6)	1,447	10-2
4	Ohio State (1)	1,393	7-1
5	Georgia (3)	1,364	8-2
6	Texas A&M	1,223	9-1
7	Iowa State	1,160	9-3
8	Cincinnati	1,014	9-1
9	Notre Dame	1,009	10-2
10	North Carolina	999	8-4
11	Oregon	968	4-3
12	Wisconsin	743	4-3
13	Florida	728	8-4
14	Miami	663	8-3
15	USC	660	5-1
16	LSU	631	5-5
17	Indiana	549	6-2
18	Iowa	513	6-2
19	Penn State	456	4-5
20	Washington	449	3-1
21	Texas	350	7-3
22	Coastal Carolina	232	11-1
23	Louisiana	208	10-1
24	Utah	176	3-2
25	Arizona State	125	2-2

Others receiving votes: Oklahoma State 107, Ole Miss 106, TCU 40, Liberty 36, Auburn 32, NC State 14, Michigan 12, Northwestern 8, Boise State 7, Nevada 7, BYU 6, Ball State 6, Houston 5, Boston College 5, UCF 5, West Virginia 3, UAB 2, Army 2, UCLA 2

Most weeks ranked No. 1

Here are the 10 FBS programs that have spent the most weeks ranked No. 1 in the AP poll since 1936, according to collegepollarchive.com.

school	weeks ranked No. 1
Alabama	131
Ohio State	105
Oklahoma	101
Notre Dame	98
USC	91
Florida State	72
Nebraska	70
Miami (FL)	68
Texas	45
Florida	41

Playoff performers peak in poll

Alabama, Oklahoma, Clemson and Ohio State have combined for 20 of the 28 College Football Playoff appearances and six of the seven national championships during the CFP era. Those teams are the top four in the preseason AP poll with Georgia, the national runner-up during the 2017 season, checking in at No. 5.

Texas A&M, which went 9-1 last season and finished at No. 5 in the final College Football Playoff rankings, is the highest-ranked team in the preseason AP poll (No. 6) that has never made the playoff.

Non-conference and early season matchups to watch

No. 3 Clemson and No. 5 Georgia will meet in Charlotte on Saturday, Sept. 4 in a top-five matchup between two College Football Playoff hopefuls.

Here are some other non-confernece and early season games to watch between top 25 teams:

Sept. 4: No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 14 Miami
Sept. 4: No. 17 Indiana at No. 18 Iowa
Sept. 4: No. 19 Penn State at No. 12 Wisconsin
Sept. 4: No. 23 Louisiana at No. 21 Texas
Sept. 11: No. 11 Oregon at No. 4 Ohio State
Sept. 11: No. 18 Iowa at No. 7 Iowa State
Sept. 18: No. 8 Cincinnati at No. 17 Indiana
Oct. 2: No. 8 Cincinnati at No. 9 Notre Dame

Here's how the 2020 preseason poll turned out

Here's how the teams ranked in the 2020 preseason AP Top 25 finished last season.

2020 Preseason rank	Team	Final record	Final 2020 ranking
No. 1	Clemson	10-2	No. 3
No. 2	Ohio State	7-1	No. 2
No. 3	Alabama	13-0	No. 1
No. 4	Georgia	8-2	No. 7
No. 5	Oklahoma	9-2	No. 6
No. 6	LSU	5-5	NR
No. 7	Penn State	4-5	NR
No. 8	Florida	8-4	No. 13
No. 9	Oregon	4-3	NR
No. 10	Notre Dame	10-2	No. 5
No. 11	Auburn	6-5	NR
No. 12	Wisconsin	4-3	NR
No. 13	Texas A&M	9-1	No. 4
No. 14	Texas	7-3	No. 19
No. 15	Oklahoma State	8-3	No. 20
No. 16	Michigan	2-4	NR
No. 17	USC	5-1	No. 21
No. 18	North Carolina	8-4	No. 18
No. 19	Minnesota	3-4	NR
No. 20	Cincinnati	9-1	No. 8
No. 21	UCF	6-4	NR
No. 22	Utah	3-2	NR
No. 23	Iowa State	9-3	No. 9
No. 24	Iowa	6-2	No. 16
No. 25	Tennessee	3-7	NR

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