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AP Poll: Alabama #3, Auburn #11 to begin college football season

The Associated Press has released its preseason rankings of college football’s best teams, and Alabama is ranked No. 3 followed by Auburn at No. 11.

The Clemson Tigers are ranked first, followed by Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma in the top five.

The preseason rankings will be the last version to include teams like Ohio State (#2), Penn State (#7) and Oregon (#9), due to the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences canceling the fall seasons of their football teams due to coronavirus concerns.

The removal of the teams with canceled seasons would move Alabama to the No. 2 spot and Auburn to No. 8.

The Associated Press poll is conducted among “a panel of 62 sports writers and broadcasters from around the country” who vote weekly, according to its website.

The full rankings, per the Associated Press, with number of first place votes in parentheses:

Teams not playing this fall in italics.

1 Clemson (38)
2 Ohio State (21)
3 Alabama  (2)
4 Georgia
5 Oklahoma
6 LSU (1)
7 Penn State
8 Florida
9 Oregon 
10 Notre Dame
11 Auburn
12 Wisconsin
13 Texas A&M
14 Texas
15 Oklahoma State
16 Michigan 
17 USC
18 North Carolina
19 Minnesota
20 Cincinnati
21 UCF
22 Utah
23 Iowa State
24 Iowa
25 Tennessee

Conferences canceling their seasons leaves 76 FBS programs eligible for inclusion in the AP poll.

In additional college football news, the College Football Playoff Management Committee announced new dates for its rankings of the teams.

The first official CFP rankings will come out on Tuesday, November 17 and a new edition will be put forward each Tuesday until Sunday, December 20 when the four selections will be announced.

The Rose Bowl and Allstate Sugar Bowl will be the two semifinal games to be played on January 1, 2021.

The championship game will be played Monday, January 11.

Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95

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