Athlon Sports Preseason Top 25

Athlon Sports has released their 2014 preseason Top 25 rankings.  This summer's #1 team is the Florida State Seminoles, which Athlon picks to win a second consecutive national championship.  However, Florida State's road to a second championship will be more difficult since the 2014 season features the inaugural College Football Playoff, a system in which the top four teams will play in a three-game series to determine a National Champion.  Unlike the defunct Bowl Championship Series, which relied on computer rankings and polls to determine the two teams that would play for the championship, the new College Football Playoff will rely on a selection committee to determine the four participants.  As for the rest of the teams on Athlon's Top 25, one-third of them are from the SEC, with Alabama filling the #2 spot as the highest ranked team from that conference.  Auburn, Georgia, and South Carolina take up the #5, #8, and #9 positions respectively in the top 10.  The PAC-12, which was a very competitive conference in 2013, has six teams in Athlon's Top 25, with Oregon at #6 and UCLA at #7.  USC, a team that has been in preseason top ten polls in past years, occupies the #14 spot.  The BIG XII and The Big Ten each have four teams on this list, while the ACC only has two teams.  Notre Dame, the only independent on this poll, has the #13 position.  Teams ranked below #25 can be found on Athlon's main college football website.  Enjoy the weekend, everybody!!  The 2014 season starts in approximately three months. 


ATHLON SPORTS PRESEASON TOP 25

RANK	TEAM	CONFERENCE
#1	FLORIDA STATE	ACC
#2	ALABAMA	SEC
#3	OHIO STATE	Big Ten
#4	OKLAHOMA	BIG XII
#5	AUBURN	SEC
#6	OREGON	PAC-12
#7	UCLA	PAC-12
#8	GEORGIA	SEC
#9	SOUTH CAROLINA	SEC
#10	BAYLOR	BIG XII
#11	MICHIGAN STATE	Big Ten
#12	STANFORD	PAC-12
#13	NOTRE DAME	INDEPENDENT
#14	USC	PAC-12
#15	WISCONSIN	Big Ten
#16	ARIZONA STATE	PAC-12
#17	TEXAS	BIG XII
#18	OLE MISS	SEC
#19	LOUISIANA STATE	SEC
#20	KANSAS STATE	BIG XII
#21	CLEMSON	ACC
#22	PENN STATE	Big Ten
#23	FLORIDA	SEC
#24	WASHINGTON	PAC-12
#25	MISSOURI	SEC