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The 2020 college football season will look different than we could have ever imagined thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped the Associated Press from continuing to rank the field.
Following another busy weekend, the AP Top 25 Poll for Week 9 was released.
The top teams in the country, Clemson and Alabama, retained their top spots.
Some of the biggest surprises, meanwhile, include Liberty cracking the top 25 for the first time in history and Penn State dropping out of the poll for the first time since 2016
Where does your favorite team stand entering the upcoming week in the eyes of the Associated Press voters?
The preseason AP Top 25 poll can be seen below.
AP Top 25 College Football Rankings — Week 9
- Clemson
- Alabama
- Ohio State
- Notre Dame
- Georgia
- Cincinnati
- Texas A&M
- Florida
- Brigham Young
- Wisconsin
- Miami
- Oregon
- Indiana
- Oklahoma State
- Coastal Carolina
- Marshall
- Iowa State
- SMU
- Oklahoma
- USC
- Boise State
- Texas
- Michigan
- Auburn
- Liberty
Others receiving votes: Northwestern 106, Louisiana-Lafayette 101, North Carolina 92, Penn State 87, Tulsa 73, Army 57, Kansas State 51, West Virginia 44, Utah 44, Washington 21, Purdue 15, Virginia Tech 11, San Diego State 8, Arizona State 7, Appalachian State 6, Wake Forest 5, Michigan State 4, California 3
The Associated Press rankings carry more weight than polls like the Coaches Poll and FWAA Poll, as they are part of the deciding factor on which teams reach the College Football Playoff. The Coaches Poll, which is not part of the College Football Playoff selection committee’s formula to determine the four teams that will compete for the College Football Playoff National Championship, is voted on by 65 FBS head coaches.
Longtime college football writers who vote in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll include Ben Jones, Bill Landis, Brett McMurphy, Brian Howell, Rece Davis, Rob Long, Robert Gagliardi, Steve Layman, Steve Virgen, Tom Murphy, and Tony Parks.
The Associated Press began its college football poll on Oct. 19, 1936, and it is now the longest-running poll of those that award national titles at the end of the season. The preseason poll was started in 1950. A panel of 62 sports writers and broadcasters from around the country votes on the poll weekly.
