Defending national champion Alabama will open the 2021 season in the same position it ended last year – at No. 1.
The Crimson Tide are the favorites to repeat, receiving 47 first-place votes in the Associated Press preseason poll released Monday. Oklahoma is No. 2 with six votes, and Clemson is third, also with six first-places votes. No. 4 Ohio State (one vote) and Georgia (three) round out the top five.
Alabama opens the season Sept. 4 against No. 14 Miami in Atlanta as the Tide seek a seventh national championship under coach Nick Saban.
Clemson and Georgia will meet that day, as well, in Charlotte, N.C.
Texas A&M, Iowa State, Cincinnati, Notre Dame and North Carolina round out the top 10. The Cyclones match their highest national ranking ever. The Aggies and Fighting Irish finished 4-5 in the final poll of 2020.
The poll features five teams each from the Southeastern Conference, Big Ten and Pac-12, three from the Atlantic Coast Conference and three from the Big 12.
The Sun Belt Conference has two teams in the AP Top 25: No. 22 Coastal Carolina and No. 23 Louisiana.
–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)
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