Preseason College Football Rankings 2015: Analyzing Key Selections from Polls

After winning the national championship a year ago by beating Alabama and Oregon in the first College Football Playoff, the Ohio State Buckeyes are starting the 2015 college football season just where they finished it—at the top of the Associated Press poll.

With a pair of quarterbacks like Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett, that wasn't a big surprise. However, the fact that they are on top and received all 61 of the first-place votes is a surprise. No team had ever been a unanimous choice in the first poll of the year, per SportsCenter.

"

Ohio State is 1st unanimous preseason No. 1 in AP college football poll. Buckeyes got all 61 first-place votes. pic.twitter.com/pRI3YjmgUy

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 23, 2015"

It is also the eighth time in Ohio State's history that it has been at the top of the preseason poll. But that's where the good news stops for Urban Meyer's team. None of the previous Buckeye teams that started at the top of the poll finished there at the conclusion of the season.

TCU is the No. 2 selection in the AP poll. If this sounds a bit unusual, that's because it is. The Horned Frogs have never been ranked this high in their history, according to TCU Magazine. They are joined in the elite part of the poll by Big 12 conference mate Baylor. The Bears are in the No. 4 spot, and that's the highest ranking they have ever achieved in the preseason poll, according to SB Nation.

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

The third-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide are once again highly respected across the poll, but not quite as much as they had been in previous years. The No. 3 ranking is the lowest Nick Saban's team has been ranked since 2009, per Paul Myerberg of USA Today.

"

This is the first time since 2009 that Alabama hasn't been ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the preseason AP poll.

— Paul Myerberg (@PaulMyerberg) August 23, 2015"

Alabama leads the way for the still-powerful Southeastern Conference. Auburn is ranked sixth, Georgia is ranked ninth and five other SEC teams are also in the Top 25.

Michigan State has been one of the most consistent teams in the nation during the last two years and has been ranked in the Top Five at the end of both seasons. However, the Spartans are not used to starting off in an advantageous position. They are the No. 5 team in the poll, and that's the highest they have been ranked at the start of the year since 1967, according to the Detroit Free Press' Joe Rexrode.

The Spartans were the third-ranked team going into that season, but it turned out to be a disastrous one for Duffy Daugherty's team. The Spartans dropped their opener 37-7 to Houston and were 3-7 that year.

Jimbo Fisher's Florida State team is ranked 10th in the AP poll, and it is the highest-rated Atlantic Coast Conference team in the poll. The Seminoles don't have a lot of company, as 12th-rated Clemson is the only other ACC team to make the Top 25. Florida State had 95 percent of the first-place votes in last year's preseason poll.

"

Florida State opens preseason at No. 10 in AP poll. Highest-ranked in ACC: https://t.co/aOVtCuQfdH pic.twitter.com/Ob35APXrT5

— Warchant.com (@Warchant) August 23, 2015"

Seventh-ranked Oregon and eighth-ranked USC are the highest-rated Pac-12 teams in the poll. However, the Pac-12 is well-represented, as the Ducks and Trojans are joined by UCLA, Arizona State, Stanford and Arizona in the poll.