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Clemson, the new superpower of college football, must be crossed.
For the first time, the reigning National Champion Tigers feature in the Top 25 of the Associated Press preseason, presented by Regions Bank, after winning the program's second national title in three seasons behind quarterback Trevor Lawrence in January . Clemson can now claim to be on a par with Alabama at the top of the sport.
The Crimson Tide, who lost 44 to 16 against Clemson in the College Football Playoff championship, is No. 2. Clemson got 52 first-place votes and Alabama received the other 10 media. Clemson takes a record three consecutive years in which Alabama was No. 1 in the pre-season.
Georgia, rival of the Southeastern Conference of Alabama, ranks third, followed by No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 5 Ohio State.
The rise of Clemson under coach Dabo Swinney has been rare in college football. The school won the national championship in 1980, but most of the time it resided at a level well below traditional national powers. Clemson football was generally good and sometimes excellent, but never that.
Last season's championship made Clemson only the 12th school with at least three AP titles since the start of the poll in 1936.
The Tigers enter 2019 with a series of 15 consecutive victories and eight consecutive seasons of double-digit wins. Since 2015, when they lost the national championship game against Alabama, the Tigers are 55-4.
The dynasty of Nick Saban in Alabama, who has won five national titles in ten years, has finally succeeded his match. The tide is also 55-4 in the last four seasons.
Clemson and Alabama have split the last four national championships, played in the last four series and are preparing to make five in a row. This will be the third time since 2016 that the Tigers and Tide started season # 1 and # 2 in the Top 25. Starting in 2015, when Alabama and Clemson were in first place in the last four AP polls of the season, the Tide and Tigers were our 1 and 2 in the order 22 times.
Last year's Clemson team was marked by a defensive line: three starters were selected in the first round of the NFL draft and a fourth in the fourth round.
The Tigers are struggling to rebuild themselves on this side of the ball, but recent history suggests that reinforcements are ready. This year, Lawrence and the offensive will be the headliners. First rookie for more than three decades leading a team to a national championship, Lawrence will be joined by star receivers Tee Higgins (12 touchdowns) and Justyn Ross (nine touchdowns) and attacking midfielder Travis Etienne (8.1 yards per carry ).
Alabama makes quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, finalist of the Heisman Trophy, as well as a panoply of weapons. As the new season begins, university football fans will be better prepared to face Tide vs. Tigers V.
The Top 25 is sponsored by Regions Bank this season, the first time the survey was sponsored.
SURVEY POINTS
We are # 1!
Clemson is the 23rd team to be No. 1 in the pre-season and the first for the first time since Georgia in 2008. The Tigers will attempt to become the 12th team to start No. 1 and finish No. 1 since the beginning of the season. pre-season poll in 1950. Alabama in 2017 was the last to do it. Only two teams were ranked No. 1: the State of Florida in 1999 and Southern California in 2004. Alabama has now been No. 2 for the start of the season nine times, tied with Oklahoma. for the most in the AP survey history. Many teams (11) took the starting n ° 2 and won the title of n ° 1.
Buckeyes consistent
Ohio State is ranked in the preseason for the 31st consecutive season (1989-2019), the third best all-time series behind only Penn State (34, 1968-2002) and Nebraska (33, 1970-2002) ). The Buckeyes were ranked in 66 of the 70 pre-season polls, most schools. The Buckeyes were not ranked in 1966-1967, 1979 and 1988.
Difficult draw
No. 12, Texas A & M and South Carolina will each play the top three pre-season. Only three times before, one team had all three of the top three pre-season:
– In 1968, Northwestern faced Purdue, USC and Notre Dame and led 0-3.
– In 1972, Minnesota faced Nebraska, Colorado and Ohio State and led 0-3.
– In 1975, Missouri faced off against Oklahoma, Alabama and Michigan and went 1-2, beating No. 2 Alabama to open the season.
Make a moment
– The No. 14 Utah is a regular in the standings for almost five seasons, but the Utes have not been ranked in the preseason since 2011, when they started the 19th. It was the season after the team of coach Kyle Whittingham remained undefeated. In 2014, 2015 and 2015, the Utes finished the season after being ranked unclassified.
– No. 21 Iowa State makes its second appearance in the pre-season poll. Cyclones were No. 20 in 1978.
– No. 22 Syracuse is in the top 25 pre-season for the first time since 1998, while the Orange was No. 17.
– Nebraska No. 24 has not been ranked in pre-season since 2014, the longest drought since 1955-1959. The standings also finish a series of 32 consecutive polls in which Nebraska has not been ranked, dating back to the last of the 2016 season. It is also the longest series of unclassified teams that the Huskers have since the late 50s.
Conference call
Big Ten – 7
SEC – 6
Pac 12 – 5
Big 12 – 3
ACC – 2
American – 1
Independent – 1
Ranked against ranked
The first week of the season with a full calendar of matches is lacking.
No. 16, Auburn, faces No. 11 Oregon at the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas. This is the only game of the first week with two ranked teams. The first Top 25 of the regular season will appear on September 3rd, Tuesday after Labor Day. The rest of the regular season standings will be published on Sunday.
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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at https://podcastone.com/AP-Top-25-College-Football-Podcast
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More AP University Football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
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