Ohio State ended the 2014 season by making history as the first-ever champion of the College Football Playoff. Heading into its defense of the crown, the Buckeyes added a little additional history for good measure.
The Associated Press released its preseason poll Sunday afternoon, and the Buckeyes were a unanimous No. 1 according to the 61 voters. That marks the first time in the history of the AP poll, which was first released in 1950, that a team has entered a season as a unanimous No. 1.
OSU will also be trying to join USC (2004) and Florida State (1999) as the only teams to finish the season No. 1 after starting it in the same spot.
A distant second is TCU, which came in 97 points (1,525 to 1,428) behind OSU. There was a significant gap between Nos. 2 and 3 as well, with Alabama’s 1,322 points 106 behind TCU. The Tide, incidentally, will enter a season neither No. 1 nor No. 2 for the first time since 2009, Nick Saban’s third year in Tuscaloosa -- they were fifth that year. That year, though, the Tide went on to win its first of three BCS titles under Saban following that season.
The rest of the Top 10 is rounded out, from Nos. 4-10, by Baylor, Michigan State, Auburn, Oregon, USC, Georgia and Florida State.
The SEC led the way with (a way too high a number of) eight teams in the preseason poll, followed by the Pac-12 with six. The ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten were next with three apiece.
Not only did the SEC land eight in the Top 25, but Mississippi State and Texas A&M were 26th and 27th in the voting, meaning the voters, as a group, feel that 10 of the top 27 teams in college football reside in that conference. Old sports writer habits die hard, I guess.
Anyway, below is the complete AP Top 25 preseason poll.