Alabama is ranked No. 1, Georgia No. 5 and five SEC teams in the top 10 in the Associated Press’ preseason college football poll released Saturday.
Alabama, the two-time defending national champion, received 58 of the 60 first-place votes. Georgia and Ohio State got one first-place vote each.
Ohio State is ranked No. 2 in the poll, followed by No. 3 Oregon and No. 4 Stanford.
Following Georgia, SEC members South Carolina and Texas A&M are ranked sixth and seventh, respectively. Florida is No. 10, giving the SEC half of the top 10 spots.
Clemson, Georgia’s season-opening opponent, is ranked No. 8 and Louisville No. 9.
A sixth SEC team, LSU, is No. 12. That means Georgia will play three teams among the top dozen in the first month of the season — at Clemson on Aug. 31 and at home against South Carolina on Sept. 7 and LSU on Sept. 28.
Georgia Tech is not in the Top 25 but received six points in the voting, ranking 38th.
The first-place vote for Georgia was cast by Glenn Guilbeau of Gannett Louisiana newspapers. He voted Alabama No. 2.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PRESEASON POLL
The Top 25 teams in the preseason AP poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, 2012 record, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and last season’s final ranking:
1. Alabama (58) 13-1 1,498 1
2. Ohio St. (1) 12-0 1,365 3
3. Oregon 12-1 1,335 2
4. Stanford 12-2 1,294 7
5. Georgia (1) 12-2 1,249 t5
6. South Carolina 11-2 1,154 8
7. Texas A&M 11-2 1,104 t5
8. Clemson 11-2 1,083 11
9. Louisville 11-2 1,042 13
10. Florida 11-2 894 9
11. Florida St. 12-2 845 10
12. LSU 10-3 802 14
13. Oklahoma St. 8-5 755 NR
14. Notre Dame 12-1 748 4
15. Texas 9-4 677 19
16. Oklahoma 10-3 579 15
17. Michigan 8-5 531 24
18. Nebraska 10-4 382 25
19. Boise St. 11-2 328 18
20. TCU 7-6 323 NR
21. UCLA 9-5 286 NR
22. Northwestern 10-3 199 NR
23. Wisconsin 8-6 185 NR
24. Southern Cal 7-6 134 NR
25. Oregon St. 9-4 129 20
Others receiving votes: Michigan St. 95, Baylor 92, Virginia Tech 86, Miami 85, Arizona St. 53, Kansas St. 43, Fresno St. 36, Vanderbilt 19, Washington 17, N. Illinois 16, Mississippi 11, Utah St. 8, Georgia Tech 6, Arizona 3, Cincinnati 3, North Carolina 3, Penn St. 2, BYU 1.
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