Last season ended with Florida State at the top of the poll. While there are no free trips to Disney World for the team, it does land the top spot in the first poll of this season.
While FSU might have brought a title to the ACC, the conference had just one other team in the poll. Both the Big 10 and Big 12 bring three teams in to the opening poll.
The Pac-12 has the second most teams in the poll with six. Notre Dame is the only independent in the poll.
Finally, the biggest winner is the SEC. The top conference in America places 10 teams in this first poll. Two of those 10 include the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State.
Eight teams that were not ranked at the end of last season enter the poll. Teams dropping out of the poll are UFC Knights, Louisville Cardinals, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Duke Blue Devils, Northern Illinois Huskies, Fresno State Bulldogs and Vanderbilt Commodores.
It is always hard to round out the Top 25 and instead of adding Texas, North Carolina and underachieving Nebraska, I added Missouri, Florida and MSU. There are no wrong answers when filling out a Top 25 when you get past the Top 15 teams.
Rank / Team / 2013 record / 2013 final rank
1 Florida State 14-0 1
2 Alabama 11-2 10
3 Auburn 12-2 4
4 Oklahoma 11-2 6
5 Michigan State 13-1 2
6 UCLA 10-3 16
7 Ohio State 12-2 13
8 South Carolina 11-2 3
9 Oregon 11-2 14
10 Georgia 8-5 NR
11 Stanford 11-3 9
12 Baylor 11-2 12
13 LSU 10-3 11
14 Wisconsin 9-4 NR
15 Texas A&M 9-4 15
16 Notre Dame 9-4 NR
17 Mississippi 8-5 NR
18 Clemson 11-2 8
19 USC Trojans 10-4 19
20 Kansas State 8-5 NR
21 Arizona State 10-4 24
22 Missouri 12-2 5
23 Washington 9-4 NR
24 Mississippi State 7-6 NR
25 Florida 4-8 NR