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The college football season starts up in less than two weeks, which means #PollSZN is upon us. Last week, Penn State came in ranked No. 20 in the Coaches Poll. Today, the Nittany Lions opened the season with the No. 19 ranking from the AP Poll.
No. 1 Alabama tops the preseason AP Top 25 while Oklahoma, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia round out the top five. Cincinnati, Iowa State and North Carolina all make the top 10.
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) August 16, 2021
Full poll presented by @askRegions: https://t.co/7dTTUiSC1j pic.twitter.com/lQS5VIjDcU
Like the Coaches Poll, it’s the usual suspects up at the top. Alabama comes in at No. 1 while Oklahoma, Clemson, Ohio State, and Georgia follow. And just like in the Coaches Poll, three other Big Ten programs join Penn State and Ohio State on the Top 25: Wisconsin (No. 12), Indiana (No. 17), and Iowa No. 18).
Like we said last week when Penn State was ranked No. 20: this seems pretty fair. One of the more difficult parts of projecting the college football season this year is that so many teams are returning experience and starters thanks to the NCAA allowing seniors an extra year of eligibility. That whole “returning starters” thing is usually pretty important in the preseason polls, so with so many teams returning the bulk of their starters, things are a little bit murkier than usual.