With the AP Top 25 Poll dropping on Monday afternoon, we know have our guiding light for the upcoming college football season! While the Coaches Poll came out last week, everybody and their brother trusts the AP more, or at least up until the College Football Playoff Selection Committee decides to make a mess of it all once again... In the meantime, there are big discussions to have.
The best part in all this is the games will have to be played. So if you feel your favorite team is being slept on a bit, there is time to make up some headway. That being said, there is always some level of baked-in bias with these preseason polls. A team who starts out with a high ranking may get the benefit of the doubt more so than teams ranked further down the list, or not even part of the top 25...
Without further ado, here is the Preseason AP Top 25 Poll ahead of the 2025 college football season.
Preseason AP Top 25 Poll ahead of 2025 college football season
- Texas Longhorns: 1,552 points (25 first-place votes)
- Penn State Nittany Lions: 1,547 points (23 first-place votes)
- Ohio State Buckeyes: 1,472 points (11 first-place votes)
- Clemson Tigers: 1,398 points (4 first-place votes)
- Georgia Bulldogs: 1,331 points (1 first-place vote)
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish: 1,325 points
- Oregon Ducks: 1,236 points (1 first-place vote)
- Alabama Crimson Tide: 1,179 points
- LSU Tigers: 1,174 points
- Miami Hurricanes: 889 points
- Arizona State Sun Devils: 791 points
- Illinois Fighting Illini: 713 points
- South Carolina Gamecocks: 667 points
- Michigan Wolverines: 662 points
- Florida Gators: 626 points
- SMU Mustangs: 565 points
- Kansas State Wildcats: 512 points
- Oklahoma Sooners: 463 points
- Texas A&M Aggies: 434 points
- Indiana Hoosiers: 423 points
- Ole Miss Rebels: 380 points
- Iowa State Cyclones: 309 points
- Texas Tech Red Raiders: 274 points
- Tennessee Volunteers: 192 points
- Boise State Broncos: 191 points
For reference, here is every other team that received at least one vote from the Associated Press.
- BYU Cougars: 156 points
- Utah Utes: 144 points
- Louisville Cardinals: 90 points
- USC Trojans: 64 points
- Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: 63 points
- Missouri Tigers: 33 points
- Tulane Green Wave: 23 points
- Nebraska Cornhuskers: 23 points
- UNLV Rebels: 21 points
- Toledo Rockets: 13 points
- Auburn Tigers: 10 points
- James Madison Dukes: 9 points
- Memphis Tigers: 9 points
- Florida State Seminoles: 8 points
- Duke Blue Devils: 6 points
- Liberty Flames: 5 points
- Navy Midshipmen: 5 points
- Iowa Hawkeyes: 5 points
- TCU Horned Frogs: 4 points
- Pittsburgh Panthers: 3 points
- Army Black Knights: 2 points
- Colorado Buffaloes: 1 point
- Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns: 1 point
Now that we have all this information, here is where the AP was too hot, and too cold, from the jump.
No. 18 is too high for the Oklahoma Sooners
Admittedly, it was pretty odd to not see Oklahoma ranked inside of the top 25 in the Preseason Coaches Poll. While there are a lot of moving pieces coming in on offense in the form of Ben Arbuckle as its star coordinator, John Mateer at quarterback and Jaydn Ott at running back, perhaps Brent Venables is losing a ton of respect among his peers? Oklahoma at No. 18 is a recipe for disaster...
This is a team that is at-best a fringe contender in the SEC. Again, they may have enough firepower to prove so many of its doubters wrong. The problem is they have arguably the hardest schedule in the country, along with Florida. What this No. 18 ranking is telling me is the Associated Press are believing in the power of the blue-blood's helmet, firmly feeling this team is going to go around 9-3 this season.
I have this as a 7-5 team, but only because their record is so tough. They should be ranked in the 20s.
No. 5 is too low for the Georgia Bulldogs
My bias may be showing, but how can the Associated Press have Georgia ranked at No. 5? This team has been a playoff-caliber team every year since 2017. In fact, Georgia has not lost a home game since before COVID in 2019. Surely, head coach Kirby Smart is using this No. 5 overall ranking as a motivating factor to prove the rest of the college football world wrong. I would have had them at No. 3.
This just feels like the AP voters not trusting Gunner Stockton and what he is about at quarterback. That may be totally justifiable, but we all know Georgia is going to win with defense and a powerful running game. This recipe for success has worked from one generation after another. Georgia should be ranked inside the top seven as a College Football Playoff lock, but the No. 5 ranking is a bit harsh.
I do not know if I could definitely put both Clemson and Penn State ahead of the Dawgs right now...
No. 17 is too high for the Kansas State Wildcats
Kansas State coming in at No. 17 may seem fine to most people, but I am dubious of the Wildcats being Arizona State's most formidable challenger in the Big 12 this fall. I may be higher on Utah than most, but I like Iowa State's chances of winning Farmageddon over them in Dublin. K-State may be able to rack up one win after another, but they have one of the weakest schedules in Power Four.
For as much as I respect Chris Klieman as a head coach, I am still not convinced about Avery Johnson at quarterback. He is far too erratic for my taste. He may have been a mega talent coming out of high school, but Johnson needs to be exponentially better for K-State to approach serious playoff consideration, in my estimation. I feel that 2026 is going to be the season where it all clicks.
If we swapped K-State with Farmageddon rival Iowa State at No. 22, I would have no problem with it.
No. 3 is too low for the Ohio State Buckeyes
The amount of disrespect being thrown Ohio State's way is just absurd. We are talking about the defending College Football Playoff National Champions, folks! Ranked ahead of the are Texas at No. 1 and Penn State at No. 2, two teams the Buckeyes beat in decisive fashion last year. Ohio State owns Penn State, and I am not so sure Texas is going to come out of The Horseshoe with a Week 1 victory.
If I had a ballot, I would have had Ohio State at No. 1, Texas at No. 2, Georgia at No. 3, Clemson at No. 4, Penn State at No. 5. Notre Dame at No. 6 and Oregon at No. 7 to rattle off my grouping of playoff locks. Those are the right seven teams, but the order is up for debate. I just think that Ohio State's reloading efforts are still more daunting than Penn State peaking, maybe Texas being propped up?
This is probably all about Will Howard turning pro and Jim Knowles leaving for Penn State in January.
No. 15 is too high for the Florida Gators
As is the case with Oklahoma coming in at No. 18, No. 15 is way too high for the Florida Gators. For as much as I believe Florida can hang with anyone they face this season, they will play one of the hardest schedules in the country. They have dates at LSU and Ole Miss, as well as a home game vs. Texas and the delightful neutral-site affair with rival Georgia down in Jacksonville. Are they winning any of them?
Florida also has two other incredibly challenging games on the schedule at Miami and Texas A&M. While I like the Gators' chances of winning in Miami Gardens and College Station, this is at best a 9-3 team. The team may be rallying behind head coach Billy Napier, but their saving grace in second-year starting quarterback D.J. Lagway was banged up last year and has missed time during fall camp, too.
Florida should be ranked, but I probably would not have the Gators any higher than No. 17 or No. 18.
No. 21 is too low for the Ole Miss Rebels
I am getting dangerously high on the Ole Miss Rebels ahead of this season. Lane Kiffin's team may have lost so much talent to the NFL, but he is a great coach who knows how to recruit by way of the transfer portal. The other thing working for them is one of the easiest schedules in the SEC, relatively speaking. They do not even play a Power Four team in the non-conference, just Tulane and Wazzu...
This all comes down to first-year starter Austin Simmons being as good as when Jaxson Dart took over at quarterback a few seasons ago. While I do not think they are going to beat Magnolia Bowl rival LSU or beat Georgia Between the Hedges in Athens, they can win the rest of their games. This includes victories of a ranked Oklahoma team and a playoff contender by the name of South Carolina.
Ole Miss should be ranked in the high teens, as the Rebels have a 10-2 ceiling, but only an 8-4 floor.