There have been plenty of polls this offseason predicting which teams would be the best for the 2016 season. Now we have the official Associated Press Top 25 to start us off just two weekends before the season starts on Sept 3.
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There's certainly some regulars at the top like Alabama, Clemson, LSU and Ohio State, but there are also some surprises early on the list like Tennessee, Michigan and TCU. We can only wait and see if the voters got it right, but until then we can all debate the point until that first weekend in September.
Here's the ranking in its entirety:
- Alabama
- Clemson
- Oklahoma
- Florida State
- LSU
- Ohio State
- Michigan
- Stanford
- Tennessee
- Notre Dame
- Ole Miss
- Michigan State
- TCU
- Washington
- Houston
- UCLA
- Iowa
- Georgia
- Louisville
- USC
- Oklahoma State
- North Carolina
- Baylor
- Oregon
- Florida
RELATED: Former BCS computer poll releases 2016 preseason rankings
Naturally, some of these teams will find themselves on the outside looking in by the end of the season and we should have some teams outperform expectations and end up in these rankings. Of course, the only rankings that truly matter at the end of the season are the ones the College Football Playoff Committee releases as they decide who goes to the playoffs.
If you want a reminder of how last season's rankings finished up you can find those here.