Athlon Sports has released its preseason top 25 team rankings for this upcoming season and it guarantees that one team will fall out of the race —- at least for the next week —- as Alabama and Florida State play each other to start the season. Whoever loses the game in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff is likely out of the top four schools and thus out of the College Football Playoffs, at least for the next couple weeks.
RELATED: CFB expert's latest top 25 completely disrespects one team that should be a title contender
Alabama and FSU have been in the top five and top ten at the very worst for all of the top 25 lists that have been released. So this one having both in the top four should make the matchup much more intriguing —- as if it needed a reason —- even though both teams are expected to compete for another national title this year. It's the first game between the two schools since 2007 and that game was vacated because of an academic scandal that took place under former coach Bobby Bowden.
Here are the full rankings:
- Alabama
- Ohio State
- Florida State
- Washington
- USC
- Penn State
- Clemson
- Oklahoma
- Auburn
- Michigan
- LSU
- Wisconsin
- Texas
- Oklahoma State
- Georgia
- Florida
- Stanford
- Louisville
- Tennessee
- Notre Dame
- Oregon
- Kansas State
- Miami
- USF
- Virginia Tech