Preseason College Football Rankings 2017: Twitter Reacts to AP NCAA Top 25 Poll

A new season of college football continues to inch closer and closer and today, the 2017 Associated Press' preseason Top 25 Poll was released to the delight and disappointment of many fans and teams. 

To no one's surprise, Alabama is No. 1 in the AP's Poll, followed by Ohio State and Florida State to round out the top three.

Here is the AP's complete preseason Top 25 followed by reactions to the poll:

2017 College Football Preseason Top 25

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Florida State
4. USC
5. Clemson
6. Penn State
7. Oklahoma
8. Washington
9. Wisconsin
10. Oklahoma State
11. Michigan
12. Auburn
13. LSU
14. Stanford
15. Georgia
16. Louisville
17. Florida
18. Miami (Fla.)
19. South Florida
20. Kansas State
21. Virginia Tech
22. West Virginia
23. Texas
24. Washington State
25. Tennessee

Reaction

There are a lot of takeaways from this year's poll, so let's start at the top with the Crimson Tide. For the second straight season, Nick Saban's team has been selected as the AP's preseason No. 1 team, and there is much to debate as to why that is.

With returning starters on offense, such as second-year quarterback Jalen Hurts and wrecking ball Bo Scarbrough in the backfield, Alabama have retooled its team and have a lot of youth and depth going into this season, including Najee Harris as a compliment back to Scarbrough, one of the nation's best running back prospects in recent years.

For Saban, being in the No. 1 slot before the season kicks off is nothing new, according to ESPN Stats & Info:

With the Buckeyes and Seminoles rounding out the top three, it's a surprise to see Clemson ranked at No. 5, despite being the defending national champions.

In fact, the Tigers didn't receive one preseason vote for the No. 1 spot, per WCIV's Daren Stoltzfus:

While Clemson fans might feel a bit slighted at the omission, the loss of Deshaun Watson under center is a big one and it's difficult to justify the Tigers as the best team in the country before we even see how they play without him.

Aside from the usual suspects in college football, there are a lot of other teams that are getting love this year in the AP's preseason poll, including the Miami Hurricanes, the first time they've been ranked in the preseason since 2010, per Matt Porter of The Palm Beach Post:

The Wisconsin Badgers, one of the more consistent top programs in the country, also received some love from the Poll, ranked No. 9 in the country, per Benjamin Worgull of Scout.com:

But more so than Wisconsin and Miami, the most surprising team ranked in the Top 25 in this year's preseason poll has to be the Texas Longhorns, who find themselves ranked No. 23, ahead of the likes of Washington State and Tennessee.

After finishing 6-7 last year, it is a bit surprising for Texas to receive so much hype heading into the new season. 

Christopher Fore wasn't too pleased with the Longhorns ranking, either:

At the end of the day, preseason polls mean little. As the new season of college football fast approaches, many programs will be using this year's AP Preseason Poll as bulletin board material.

It's safe to say that college football is back.