Preseason AP Top 25 Poll revealed ahead of 2022 college football season
College football season is rapidly approaching. With just a couple of weeks remaining before the year gets underway, preseason rankings are beginning to be unveiled. Last week, the preseason Coaches Poll was unveiled. On Monday, the official preseason AP Top 25 Poll was also released.
Last year, the final AP Top 25 ended with Georgia – the national champions – sitting on top. Alabama, Michigan, Cincinnati and Baylor rounded out the top five. But plenty has changed across the country since the conclusion of last season, and there are a few new teams that are included in this year’s initial rankings as a result.
This offseason was one like no other. In every way, it felt like a free-for-all with many prominent coaches and players switching teams. The transfer portal was a giant piece of the puzzle, and it completely changed the landscape across the nation for many teams and conferences.
And then there is, for the second consecutive offseason, conference realignment. USC and UCLA are soon to be headed to the Big Ten, joining the latest wave of changes to occur over the last year.
Top 10
- 1Breaking
Ohio State Champs
Ninth National Title for Buckeyes
- 2Hot
Kirk Herbstreit chokes up
ESPN star overcome with emotion
- 3
Al Golden
Notre Dame DC on the move?
- 4New
The Shoe
OSU fans try to break into stadium
- 5
Psychotic Obsession
Desmond Howard shades OSU fans
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
All that said, it’s almost time to see what these teams are made of on the field. Week 0 begins on Saturday, August 27 before Week 1 gets underway the following Thursday. With a new preseason AP Top 25, expectations are certainly rising for a few teams. Now they get the chance to prove that they are worthy of their rankings.
Preseason AP Top 25 Poll
- Alabama (54 first place votes)
- Ohio State (6)
- Georgia (3)
- Clemson
- Notre Dame
- Texas A&M
- Utah
- Michigan
- Oklahoma
- Baylor
- Oregon
- Oklahoma State
- NC State
- USC
- Michigan State
- Miami
- Pittsburgh
- Wisconsin
- Arkansas
- Kentucky
- Ole Miss
- Wake Forest
- Cincinnati
- Houston
- BYU
The SEC leads the way with six teams included in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll, though the ACC sits just behind with five. Then, the Big Ten has four teams mentioned while the Big 12 and Pac-12 each have three. There are also two teams from the AAC.
Multiple teams finished just outside the initial Top 25. Four teams had at least 160 points in voting: Tennessee (180), Texas (164), Iowa (163), and Penn State (160).