For the first time in school history, Clemson is No. 1 in the AP Preseason Top 25 college football poll. The Tigers defeated Alabama in the 2019 National Championship game, 44-16. It was the school’s second title in three years.
That was a big reason the Tigers received 52 of the 62 first-place votes. The Crimson Tide got the other 10 top votes. Both programs are 9/4 to win the National Championship, and were also in the same spots in the Coaches Poll.
Though the honor of being the top-ranked team going into the season, which kicks off Aug. 29 against Georgia Tech, is a first for Clemson, head coach Dabo Swinney isn’t particularly impressed with the distinction.
“It just doesn’t matter,” Swinney said Monday after practice about being preseason No. 1. “Unless they bring us a trophy.”
Soft Schedule Criticized
Clemson could easily become the third team to start the preseason poll No. 1 and be at the top every week of the season. The other two teams that accomplished that feat are Florida State in 1999, and USC in 2004. If they stumble and get knocked off the No. 1 spot, they could still become the 12th team to start and finish at No. 1.
AP Top 25 Preseason Poll
Rank Team Conference Votes 2018 Record
1 Clemson ACC 1,540 (52*) 15-0
2 Alabama SEC 1,496 (10*) 14-1
3 Georgia SEC 1,403 11-3
4 Oklahoma Big 12 1,331 12-2
5 Ohio State Big 10 1,261 13-1
6 LSU SEC 1,199 10-3
7 Michigan Big 10 1,164 10-3
8 Florida SEC 1,054 10-3
9 Notre Dame Independent 1,044 12-1
10 Texas Big 12 1,005 10-4
11 Oregon Pac 12 860 9-4
12 Texas A&M SEC 852 9-4
13 Washington Pac 12 786 10-4
14 Utah Pac 12 772 9-5
15 Penn State Big 10 651 9-4
16 Auburn SEC 578 8-5
17 UCF American 410 12-1
18 Mich.State Big 10 377 7-6
19 Wisconsin Big 10 370 8-5
20 Iowa Big 10 330 9-4
21 Iowa State Big 12 302 8-5
22 Syracuse ACC 209 10-3
23 Wash. State Pac 12 200 11-2
24 Nebraska Big 10 154 4-8
25 Stanford Pac 12 141 9-4
*Denotes first-place votes
The Tigers’ schedule has been criticized by some as been way to easy. They only play two teams (No. 12 Texas A&M and No. 22 Syracuse) that are ranked in the top 25.
Swinney bristled recently about the lack of competition, especially in his conference, the ACC.
“There’s no lack of competition in our league,” Swinney said. “There’s a reason we’ve won two out of the last three national championships and it’s not because we don’t play anybody. We’ve played everybody. We’ve played Alabama three times in national championships. We’ve played Ohio State, Oklahoma, we play Texas A&M, we play South Carolina every year. Our league, I think we had 11 bowl teams this year, 10 the year before, 11 the year before that. Our league is incredibly competitive and deep.”
While the strength of the ACC is debatable, Swinney doesn’t have much ground to defend his nonconference schedule. The Tigers play Charlotte, who were 5-7 last year, as well as Wofford, who are in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision.
Alabama, Others Waiting
Both Clemson and Alabama bring back their starting quarterbacks. The Tigers’ Trevor Lawrence, and the Crimson Tide’s Tua Tagovailoa are both the 3/1 favorite to win the Heisman Trophy.
Alabama’s schedule is a little more difficult than Clemson’s. They play three teams in the Top 25, including No. 6 LSU, No. 12 Texas A&M, and No. 16 Auburn.
The rest of the teams in the Top 10 include, No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 5 Ohio State, No. 6 LSU, No. 7 Michigan, No. 8 Florida, No. 9 Notre Dame, and No. 10 Texas.
