Preseason AP Top 25 Poll revealed ahead of 2022 college football season

Jonathan Wagner

College football season is rapidly approaching. With just a couple of weeks remaining before the year gets underway, preseason rankings are beginning to be unveiled. Last week, the preseason Coaches Poll was unveiled. On Monday, the official preseason AP Top 25 Poll was also released.

Last year, the final AP Top 25 ended with Georgia – the national champions – sitting on top. Alabama, Michigan, Cincinnati and Baylor rounded out the top five. But plenty has changed across the country since the conclusion of last season, and there are a few new teams that are included in this year’s initial rankings as a result.

This offseason was one like no other. In every way, it felt like a free-for-all with many prominent coaches and players switching teams. The transfer portal was a giant piece of the puzzle, and it completely changed the landscape across the nation for many teams and conferences.

And then there is, for the second consecutive offseason, conference realignment. USC and UCLA are soon to be headed to the Big Ten, joining the latest wave of changes to occur over the last year.

All that said, it’s almost time to see what these teams are made of on the field. Week 0 begins on Saturday, August 27 before Week 1 gets underway the following Thursday. With a new preseason AP Top 25, expectations are certainly rising for a few teams. Now they get the chance to prove that they are worthy of their rankings.

Preseason AP Top 25 Poll

Alabama (54 first place votes)
Ohio State (6)
Georgia (3)
Clemson
Notre Dame
Texas A&M
Utah
Michigan
Oklahoma
Baylor
Oregon
Oklahoma State
NC State
USC
Michigan State
Miami
Pittsburgh
Wisconsin
Arkansas
Kentucky
Ole Miss
Wake Forest
Cincinnati
Houston
BYU

The SEC leads the way with six teams included in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll, though the ACC sits just behind with five. Then, the Big Ten has four teams mentioned while the Big 12 and Pac-12 each have three. There are also two teams from the AAC.

Multiple teams finished just outside the initial Top 25. Four teams had at least 160 points in voting: Tennessee (180), Texas (164), Iowa (163), and Penn State (160).