Paul Finebaum calls out AP Voters for Ohio State, Alabama rankings in Preseason Top-25

Paul Finebaum was sure to have his own takes following the release of the Preseason AP Poll on Monday. Some of those came on Tuesday with him raising one team up from the SEC and lowering one team down from the Big Ten.

Finebaum was asked for his biggest takeaway from the debut of the AP Poll while on ‘Get Up’ on Tuesday morning. He knew it wasn’t a surprising take opinion by him, but he still said No. 8 Alabama should have been higher while No. 3 Ohio State should have been lower in the ranking.

“Don’t be too shocked by this, Greeny, but Ohio State is too high. And, Heather, calm down – Alabama is too low,” Finebaum stated.

Finebaum didn’t explain much more when it came to the Crimson Tide, who answered their roster’s biggest question coming into the season yesterday. He just thinks ‘Bama is in contention for the national title and, as such, should be closer to the top-five than towards the back of the top-ten.

“I really think Alabama is a serious national championship contender,” said Finebaum.

With the Buckeyes, though, Finebaum thinks they’re getting too much credit from last season’s title-winning season to this season where a lot of those names are no longer in Columbus, which ESPN’s Heather Dinich agreed with a bit alongside him this morning. He isn’t too worried about it, though, as he has Ohio State falling from that rating early with an opening loss coming for them soon to No. 1 Texas.

“I don’t get Ohio State at all, Greeny. I know they won the national championship last year. That has nothing to do with it,” said Finebaum. “They don’t have the same team and that national championship hangover is going to get to them. So, we’ll see that in about two and a half weeks when Texas gets up there and walks out of that stadium a winner.”

“He’s right that Ohio State has a lot of questions and they’re too high,” Dinich added.

Preseason AP Poll: First Top-25 revealed ahead of 2025 College Football Season

The Preseason AP Poll is here as the Top-25 rankings were revealed on Monday ahead of the upcoming season in college football. That means kickoff is getting even closer with the year set to open across the country by the end of the month.

Without further ado, let’s dive into the AP Poll Top-25 ahead of kickoff:

1. Texas
2. Penn State
3. Ohio State
4. Clemson
5. Georgia
6. Notre Dame
7. Oregon
8. Alabama
9. LSU
10. Miami
11. Arizona State
12. Illinois
13. South Carolina
14. Michigan
15. Florida
16. SMU
17. Kansas State
18. Oklahoma
19. Texas A&M
20. Indiana
21. Ole Miss
22. Iowa State
23. Texas Tech
24. Tennessee
25. Boise State

Others receiving votes: BYU 156, Utah 144, Baylor 132, Louisville 90, Southern Cal 64, Georgia Tech 63, Missouri 33, Tulane 23, Nebraska 23, UNLV 21, Toledo 13, Auburn 10, James Madison 9, Memphis 9, Florida St. 8, Duke 6, Liberty 5, Navy 5, Iowa 5, TCU 4, Pittsburgh 3, Army 2, Colorado 1, Louisiana-Lafayette 1.