TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) - The defending National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide were ranked No. 2 behind LSU in the preseason Coaches Poll, and now find themselves ranked No. 2 behind Southern Cal in the preseason AP Poll.
The preseason AP Top 25 Poll was released on Saturday, and puts the Trojans at the top, followed by the Tide and LSU. The Tigers are No. 3 in the AP Poll, compared to No. 1 in the Coaches Poll, likely reflecting the departure of defensive back and return specialist Tyrann Mathieu.
Georgia (No. 6), South Carolina (No. 9) and Arkansas (No. 10) were the other Southeastern Conference teams cracking the preseason Top 10. The Florida Gators (No. 23) are the only other SEC team ranked in the preseason Top 25.
Eleven of the 14 SEC teams received at least one vote in the poll - Ole Miss, Kentucky and Vanderbilt were the three teams not receiving any votes in the preseason poll.
Mississippi State received one vote, putting them in a tie for 41st in the rankings.
COMPLETE PRESEASON AP TOP 25 POLL (First Place Votes in Parentheses)
1USC (25)
2Alabama (17)
3LSU (16)
4Oklahoma (1)
5Oregon
6Georgia
7Florida State
8Michigan (1)
9South Carolina
10Arkansas
11West Virginia
12Wisconsin
13Michigan State
14Clemson
15Texas
16Virginia Tech
17Nebraska
18Ohio State
19Oklahoma State
20TCU
21Stanford
22Kansas State
23Florida
24Boise State
25Louisville
Others receiving votes: Notre Dame 83, Washington 55, Auburn 53, North Carolina 32, Utah 30, Georgia Tech 25, Brigham Young 22, Tennessee 15, South Florida 11, Baylor 9, Texas A&M 5, UCF 4, Missouri 3, North Carolina State 3, Cincinnati 3, Houston 1, Louisiana Tech 1, Mississippi State 1, Northern Illinois 1.
