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Notre Dame

Behind The Ballot: Inside the numbers that helped shape an AP Top 25 projection

Eric Hansenby: Eric Hansen08/10/25EHansenND
Steve Sarkisian, James Franklin, Ryan Day, Marcus Freeman
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, Penn State's James Franklin, Ohio State's Ryan Day and Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman are all expected to have teams ranked high in the AP preseason poll.

With the AP Preseason Top 25 college football poll dropping on Monday comes the debut Sunday of my weekly Behind The Ballot column. As one of the 66 voters on the panel, I will share my ballot, some of the backstory that went into it and key poll tidbits and stats each week throughout the season.