AP Preseason Poll Released, Bama at #1

With the calendar itching to flip to September to mark the beginning of the 2016 college football season, the Associated Press was kind enough to release its preseason poll in order to give us all something to chew on and hold us over.

As last year’s edition that saw Ohio State become the first unanimous preseason No. 1 in the poll’s history only to miss the College Football Playoff showcased, the summer thoughts of 61 sportswriters doesn’t always amount to much for the actual season.Still, these polls do provide an interesting look at the high or low regard that some programs are placed in and could have ramifications for some lower-ranked teams throughout the season because they have a taller mountain to climb.

Here are some rapid reactions from the 2016 AP preseason poll.

We’re No. 1

Alabama being firmly at the top of the poll with more than half of the first-place votes comes as no real shocker, as the Crimson Tide are coming off a dominant national championship performance and, as always, boast one of the deepest pools of talent in the nation.Clemson and Oklahoma receiving a good number of top votes isn’t too surprising either, but the other four with a parenthesis by their names are interesting.

Florida State received four first-place votes despite an extremely underwhelming 2015 season in which it limped past some weaker teams before being upset at Georgia Tech and then lit up by talented teams Clemson and Houston (with one quality win at Florida sandwiched in there).

The Seminoles will have a lot of inexperience at quarterback, though they will lean more heavily on running back Dalvin Cook. Still, it’s hard to see them being better than Alabama, Clemson or Oklahoma.

Then we get to the trio of one-votes, each more head-scratching than the last. LSU, Ohio State and Michigan are all very talented, yet very flawed teams. Picking any one of them to go the Playoff would fall on the bolder side, let alone holding them in high enough regard to consider one to be the top team in the country without playing a game. Maybe one of those three voters will end up looking very smart, but those stood out as pretty shocking.