It’s that magical time of year.

You know what I mean. Poll season.

The first Associated Press Top 25 of 2021 came out Monday, and buddy, it was something.

OK, so you can basically apply those first 4 sentences to any preseason poll that has ever existed. I’ll stop with the clichés and get into some takeaways that are totally not cliché:

1. Alabama at No. 1 was ________.

Expected, but different from how I would’ve voted. I get that putting the defending national champs at No. 1 overall for the following season is a pretty standard practice. To be honest, it should be. Nick Saban has shown that he can overcome roster and coaching turnover like few in sports.

I had the Tide at No. 3 because in a day and age where offense is king, there are questions galore with that Tide offense. It has a new leader in Bill O’Brien, who will have massive shoes to fill after Steve Sarkisian led the 2 most prolific offenses in school history. Bryce Young hasn’t started a college game, which isn’t to say that’s why Alabama should be ranked lower, but I’d argue we need to see it first before we assume he’s going to lead a top-3 offense in America.

That’s the thing with Alabama. Everything on offense feels like a question mark.

Besides just O’Brien and Young, what about Brian Robinson finally becoming a workhorse back in Year 5? What about John Metchie stepping into that No. 1 role and carrying on what Alabama’s 4 first-round receivers did? Is there a steady No. 2 option to complement Metchie? Can Evan Neal still be an anchor moving to left tackle? Can Jahleel Billingsley get out of the doghouse and become the breakout star many assumed he’d be?

That’s a ton of questions for a preseason No. 1. I had Clemson on that line because of all the talent that returns for Brent Venables’ defense, and because DJ Uiagalelei looked up for the task of replacing Trevor Lawrence.

But I get it. It’s expected, and I won’t hate on anyone for putting Alabama at No. 1, though it is worth noting that 2017 was the last time a preseason No. 1 actually won it all (it was Alabama).

2. I don’t think you can rank Oklahoma above Clemson and Georgia yet

And that’s coming from someone who believes the Sooners are better equipped to win a Playoff game than any team Lincoln Riley has had. You can credit Alex Grinch and the potential of that much-improved defense for that.

Still, though. We watched Oklahoma lose all 4 Playoff games, 3 of which weren’t particularly close. Were those different teams? Sure. That’s why the Sooners got the benefit of the doubt at No. 2. But I also watched Oklahoma with Heisman Trophy-winning, No. 1 overall picks struggle mightily against those teams.

Oklahoma had an excellent offseason by adding transfers like Mike Woods, Eric Gray, Key Lawrence and others. Combine that with the finish to last year’s season and it’s not difficult to see why the Sooners, who return the possible No. 1 overall pick in QB Spencer Rattler, got that type of love.

I still need to see it on the big stage before I definitively say that Oklahoma is worthy of starting No. 2 ahead of teams like Georgia and Clemson.

3. Don’t sleep on that Cincinnati ranking, fans of Power 5 Playoff contenders

I predicted after spring that I thought Cincinnati would become the first Group of 5 team to make the Playoff. Why? It’s significant where the Bearcats are starting and the schedule that awaits.

Well, Luke Fickell’s squad is starting at No. 8 in the AP Top 25. And who is on the schedule? No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 17 Indiana. On the road. In consecutive games.

Yep. That’s significant.

If a Group of 5 team is ever going to make the 4-team Playoff, it will need a 2-year run to set it up. By virtue of going toe to toe with Georgia in last year’s Peach Bowl and also returning 3 national stars with Desmond Ridder, Myjai Sanders and Sauce Gardner, that foundation is in place.

Don’t reference UCF’s Playoff denial with Cincinnati because the highest that team started in the AP Poll was No. 17. The last time a Group of 5 team started in the top 10 was … 2013 Louisville in its lone year in the AAC. That was pre-Playoff … and obviously before Louisville jumped to the ACC.

Even 2016 Houston only started at No. 15, but it jumped to No. 6 after beating Baker Mayfield’s Oklahoma squad in a neutral-site opener. The Playoff path existed. Tom Herman’s team just messed it up by losing 3 regular-season games.

Cincinnati became a lot more interesting by getting that kind of preseason love.

4. Ole Miss and Liberty got snubbed

I’m not just saying that because I’m secretly rooting for a battle of top-15 teams when Hugh Freeze returns to Oxford in November. But to not have either team in the preseason Top 25 is absurd.

Yes, part of my reasoning is the fact that both teams return one of the top quarterbacks in college football. Matt Corral and Malik Willis are on that level after what they did in their respective seasons in 2020. It’s not just that, though.

Ole Miss has weapons galore with Jerrion Ealy, Dontario Drummond, Braylon Sanders and John Rhys Plumlee. Can the defense, which returns the vast majority of last year’s production, flirt with mediocrity with a full season of Otis Reese? Well, it can’t be worse than last year, and that group was still enough to beat a top-15 Indiana team in the Outback Bowl.

As for Liberty, that group beat national darling Coastal Carolina in the Cure Bowl to clinch a 10-1 record. That team beat Virginia Tech and Syracuse on the road, and the lone blemish was a 1-point loss to NC State. Not only did Freeze stick around, but so did 90% of last year’s production.

Yet somehow, an Arizona State team that is losing coaches left and right because of an embarrassing recruiting scandal is a preseason Top 25 team? I don’t buy that, nor do I buy the notion that Utah is worthy of that type of consideration when there’s next to nothing still there from that loaded 2019 team, and last year was a lost 3-2 season.

The good news for Ole Miss? At No. 27 unofficially (second in receiving votes), it’ll get into the Top 25 if it beats Louisville in the opener. The good news for Liberty, which was No. 29 unofficially, it’ll also get there … if it runs the table going into that showdown against Ole Miss.

5. The preseason conference supremacy title goes to the SEC, Big Ten and … Pac-12?!?

Yep. They each have 5 teams in the Top 25. Wild.

Here was the conference-by-conference breakdown:

  • SEC: 5
  • Big Ten: 5
  • Pac-12: 5
  • ACC: 3
  • Big 12: 3
  • Sun Belt: 2
  • AAC: 1
  • Independent: 1

(See my previous takeaway for why the Pac-12 should have only had 3 teams in the preseason poll.)

Does that mean the Big Ten and Pac-12 are suddenly equal to the SEC? I’d argue the SEC’s 11 national championships in the past 15 years answer that question, or the fact that the SEC has more than twice as many Playoff wins (11) than the Big Ten and Pac-12 combined (4) tells that story.

But hey, that’s the fun of the preseason poll. Let the Pac-12 have this.