Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, National Defensive Player of the Year Will Anderson Jr. and the Crimson Tide received 54 of 63 first-place votes and 1,566 points in the Top 25 presented by Regions Bank released Monday. Ohio State is No. 2 with six first-place votes (1,506 points) from the media panel, and defending national champion Georgia is third with three first-place votes (1,455 points). Clemson is No. 4. Notre Dame rounds out the top five, setting up an enticing opener at Ohio State on Sept. 3. The Tide’s preseason No. 1 ranking is their seventh in 15 years under coach Nick Saban. Since preseason rankings began in 1950, only Oklahoma at 10 has been No. 1 in the initial poll more often than Alabama. The Crimson Tide started last season No. 1 and finished No. 2 after losing the national championship game to the Southeastern Conference rival Bulldogs. Alabama coach Nick Saban recently called 2021 a rebuilding season for the Tide’s dynasty, which has won six national titles in the last 13 years. He has a point. Young was in his first season as a starter last year, playing behind an inexperienced offensive line. He didn’t stay silent, throwing for 4,872 yards and 47 touchdowns. Anderson was a force on the other end as Alabama entered a back seven with mostly freshmen. The sophomore led the nation in tackles for loss with 33 1/2, 11 1/2 more than No. 2 on the list. Ohio State returns a Heisman Trophy finalist in CJ Stroud, while at Georgia, most of the key players from one of the best college defenses of the past 25 years are now in the NFL. However, quarterback Stetson Bennett and All-America Brock Bowers return to a Bulldogs offense that could be even more explosive in 2022. Texas A&M, which finished last season unranked despite handing Alabama its only regular-season loss, begins this season at No. 6. Defending Pac-12 champion Utah is seventh, the best preseason ranking in school history. Defending Big Ten champion Michigan is the No. 8 seed after making the playoffs for the first time last season. No. 9 Oklahoma is the highest-ranked Big 12 school, one spot ahead of defending champion Baylor. POLL POINTS Alabama has been in the preseason top five in each of the last 14 seasons and in the preseason top three in 13 straight seasons. The Tide’s 31st Preseason Top Five ranking this year is tied with Ohio State for the most in poll history. Converting a preseason No. 1 seed into a national championship has proven difficult throughout history, even for Alabama. The Crimson Tide won the national championship after starting No. 1 just once under Saban and two overall. Since the AP preseason began in 1950, there have been 11 preseason No. 1 teams that also finished the season ranked No. 1. Alabama was the last to do so (2017). RARITIES AND RADIUS — No. 13 North Carolina State is ranked in the preseason for the first time since 2003. The Wolfpack matched its best preseason ranking. He was also 13th in 1975. — No. 17 Pitt is in the preseason rankings for the first time since 2010. — No. 20 Kentucky makes its first appearance in preseason polls since 1978. — No. 22 Wake Forest made the preseason rankings for the first time since 2008. — Ohio State is ranked in the preseason for the 34th consecutive season, breaking a tie with Nebraska (1970-2002) and Penn State (1968-2000) for the longest such streak in poll history. — Texas A&M has the second-best preseason ranking for a team that finished the previous season unranked. Ohio State was No. 3 in the 1972 preseason poll after going unranked at the end of the 1971 season, and Notre Dame also started No. 6 in 1983 after finishing unranked in 1982. How have these teams’ seasons fared? Ohio State went 9-2 and finished the season No. 9. The Irish went 7-5 and were unranked again. SIGNIFICANT LEFT — LSU under new coach Brian Kelly will begin the season unranked for the first time in 2000, the first of Saban’s five seasons as Tigers coach. — Florida and Florida State are both unranked to start the season, which hasn’t happened since 1974. YOUNG Five schools ranked in the preseason poll have coaches entering their first full seasons leading their teams: Notre Dame (Marcus Freeman), Oklahoma (Brent Venables), No. 11 Oregon (Dan Lanning), No. 14 USC (Lincoln Riley) and No. 16 Miami (Mario Cristobal). This is the second time in the last five seasons that five teams with new coaches have been ranked in the preseason, according to research done by Sportradar. It also happened in 2018, but prior to that season, this type of representation in preseason voting for teams with new coaches was rare. You have to go all the way back to 1990, when six schools with coaches entering their first full season appeared in the preseason Top 25, according to Sportradar. This list includes some notable names: Gary Moeller, Michigan; Ken Hatfield, Clemson; Gene Stallings, Alabama; Jack Crowe, Arkansas; Paul Hackett, Pittsburgh; and John Jenkins, Houston. CONFERENCE CALL For the fourth consecutive season, the Southeastern Conference has three teams in the top six. The Atlantic Coast Conference had its best showing in the five-team preseason poll. The ACC has reached that number four previous times. SEC – 6 (Nos. 1, 3, 6, 19, 20, 21). ACC – 5 (Nos. 4, 13, 16, 17, 22). Big Ten – 4 (Nos. 2, 8, 15, 18). Big 12 – 3 (Nos. 9, 10, 12). Pac-12 – 3 (Nos. 7, 11, 14). American – 2 (Nos. 23, 24). Independents – 2 (No. 5, 25).

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