Should This Year Mark End Of Preseason Associated Press Poll?

Texas, Penn State and Clemson all dropped out of rankings after poor starts despite high preseason expectations

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It's time. It's time for the importance of the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll to end. 

This has been coming for years. The preseason polls, based mostly on hype, recruiting, brand names and perceived coaching quality, have been used to create and sell arguments across conference. The SEC is one of the most consistent offenders, where preseason rankings are used to advance strength of schedule claims, but it's not just them. 

With the 2025 season somehow already nearly halfway over, it's clear that this year's preseason poll was one of the worst.

RELATED: SEC Apologists Already Using AP Preseason Poll To Sell Biased, Inaccurate Arguments

And it's not surprising; NIL, transfer portal turnover, and the focus on strength of schedule created by the College Football Playoff, have compressed gaps between teams. It's created more multi-loss teams, more turnover at the top of the rankings, and made preseason expectations even less important. 

Even a quick look at just the top five in the preseason demonstrates how useless it's become. 

So should we just stop doing it entirely.

Arch Manning of the Texas Longhorns

AUSTIN, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 06: Arch Manning #16 of the Texas Longhorns warms up before the game against the San Jose State Spartans at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on September 06, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

2025 AP Preseason Poll Has Been A Disaster

As a reminder, here's the full list of the preseason top-25 poll.

  1. Texas
  2. Penn State
  3. Ohio State
  4. Clemson
  5. Georgia
  6. Notre Dame
  7. Oregon
  8. Alabama
  9. LSU
  10. Miami (FL)
  11. Arizona State
  12. Illinois
  13. South Carolina
  14. Michigan
  15. Florida
  16. SMU
  17. Kansas State
  18. Oklahoma
  19. Texas A&M
  20. Indiana
  21. Ole Miss
  22. Iowa State
  23. Texas Tech
  24. Tennessee
  25. Boise State

Take a look at the top four. Or even the top six, and you see where the problem is. 

The Texas Longhorns were preseason No. 1, thanks in part to expectations around quarterback Arch Manning and their perceived defensive strength. Head coach Steve Sarkisian had an estimated $35-40 million in NIL budget available to build the most talented roster in the sport. Yes, they had a difficult schedule, but elite teams should win games against other good teams. Instead, the Longhorns are 3-2, following a disappointing loss to the Florida Gators on Saturday. They've now dropped out of the poll entirely.

The Penn State Nittany Lions were one win from playing for a National Championship last season. This was the year, the year that James Franklin's team was supposed to take the leap and finally get over their reputation of not winning big games. Instead, they lost in a home "White Out" to the Oregon Ducks, then suffered one of the biggest upsets in recent college football history to the UCLA Bruins at the Rose Bowl. They're out of this week's poll.

What about the Clemson Tigers? Preseason No. 4, former top quarterback recruit Cade Klubnik, championship-winning coach Dabo Swinney. Playing in an "easier" conference in the ACC. They started 1-3, with losses to LSU, Georgia Tech and Syracuse. They're out of the poll.

Notre Dame dropped out of the poll after losing to the Miami Hurricanes and Texas A&M. Texas Tech, clearly one of the country's best teams, was No. 23. Kansas State, No. 17, is 2-4, and 1-2 in the Big 12. 

Here's why this is a problem, at least early in the season: it creates inaccurate narratives and leads to teams being overrated, or underrated, based on preseason rankings. LSU is one of the best examples; the Tigers jumped into the top-4 based on the win at Clemson. But as Clemson continued to falter, LSU stayed in the top-4. Its win wasn't as impressive as it seemed, but because of the preseason poll and the inability to update findings based on actual results, the Tigers stayed in place. 

Does this matter late in the season? Probably not that much, to be fair. The College Football Playoff poll is what determines the field, and that's created by a committee entirely separate from AP voters. That said, one of the committee's most important criteria for creating their rankings is wins over ranked teams. Do they consider wins over AP ranked teams early in the season in their deliberations? If so, that's a serious problem.

The argument for continuing the poll is that it gives fans something to talk about. It gives teams something to show to their fans. It's not an accurate assessment of team strength. It can be, by accident. But it's not illustrative or necessary. And it can create inaccurate narratives that influence the rest of the season. There's no guarantee that ranking teams in week one will be that much better. But they can't possibly be worse.