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Phil Steele releases his projected AP Top 25 Poll, Ohio State in position to repeat

By Patrick Schmidt

Jan 12, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer celebrates with the college football championship trophy after beating the Oregon Ducks in the 2015 CFP National Championship Game at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 12, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer celebrates with the college football championship trophy after beating the Oregon Ducks in the 2015 CFP National Championship Game at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /
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College football guru Phil Steele released his projected AP Top 25 on Monday and he has the defending champion Ohio State Buckeyes occupying the top spot.

Spring football officially wrapped up last weekend with Oregon and Hawaii playing their spring games so now all the FBS programs are off until fall camps begin later this year.

Now that we’ve seen a glimpse of what to expect from teams for the upcoming season, veteran college football analyst Phil Steele released his projected AP Top 25 on Monday and to the surprise of no one, the Ohio State Buckeyes take the No. 1 spot.

Ohio State returns most of its roster that won the College Football Playoff National Championship Game over Oregon last year and should be even better this year with their former top recruits gaining more experience.

Rounding out his top five are TCU, which was shutout of the College Football Playoff after they won by 52 points in their last regular season game but somehow dropped from No. 3 to No. 6 in the minds of the playoff committee, because I guess they needed to win by 152 points or something. But in reality, the lack of a conference championship game hurt the Horned Frogs.

Alabama comes in at No. 3 and is hoping for another shot at the Buckeyes after Ohio State knocked them out in the semifinals of the Playoff but have questions at quarterback for the second straight offseason. Baylor is No. 4 but have to find out who replaces quarterback Bryce Petty who finished in the top-10 of the Heisman vote the last two years.

But the toughest quarterback to replace is Marcus Mariota where Oregon has a handful of options to succeed the Heisman Trophy winner, including FCS superstar Vernon Adams who is enrolling this fall after transferring from Eastern Washington.

Here’s the rest of Steele’s predicted preseason AP Top 25 Poll.

1. Ohio State

2. TCU

3. Alabama

4. Baylor

5. Oregon

6. Michigan State

7. USC

8. Florida State

9. Auburn

10. Georgia

11. UCLA

12. Ole Miss

13. Notre Dame

14. LSU

15. Clemson

16. Arizona State

17. Georgia Tech

18. Wisconsin

19. Missouri

20. Arkansas

21. Mississippi State

22. Oklahoma

23. Boise State

24. Tennessee

25. Stanford

As for some surprises inside Steele’s projected top 25, the Arkansas Razorbacks are No. 20 despite winning two SEC games in the first two years under head coach Bret Bielema, but the Hogs are trending in the right direction after finishing the 2014 season strong. But a top-20 ranking? That seems a little lofty, especially when you consider they’re ranked one spot ahead of Mississippi State who was ranked No. 1 for a month last year and return the SEC’s top quarterback, Dak Prescott.

And how about the Tennessee Volunteers at No. 24?

The Vols went 7-6 last year and won the TaxSlayer.com Bowl against Iowa in convincing fashion and have a wealth of young talent after a pair of outstanding recruiting classes the last two years and have a quarterback in Joshua Dobbs who could be this year’s version of Prescott and lead his team from the middle class to the penthouse.

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