Alabama Athletics
Alabama Ranked No. 1 in First AP Poll of the College Football Season
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Associated Press released the first poll of the 2021 college football season, and the reigning national champions sit atop the rankings heading into the regular season.
Alabama finished the 2020 season with a convincing win to Ohio State in the final of the College Football Playoff and, once again in a familiar spot, the Crimson Tide will begin the 2021 campaign as the top-ranked team in the country.
Under head coach Nick Saban, Alabama has been ranked in the Top 25 of the AP Poll for 212 consecutive weeks, breaking the long since passed program record of 71 straight appearances under former coach Gene Stallings during the mid-1990s.
Since 2008, according to College Football Archive, the Crimson Tide has spent time as a team ranked in the top ten 96.2 percent of the time. Ohio State has the second-best mark during the same stretch with 76.4 percent.
Alabama has also been ranked in the top five of the AP Poll over 85 percent of the time in its run of 12-plus seasons near the top of the sport.
Its number one national ranking has been a constant, too, with the Nick Saban-led Tide atop the AP Poll at some point of every season since 2008, his second as head coach of Alabama. The 13-year count is the longest in the history of the poll era.
While at Alabama, Saban has coached the top-ranked team in 86 games, 65 more games than Clemson's Dabo Swinney who holds the second-highest mark among active head coaches.
Entering the 2020 season, the Crimson Tide was ranked third before its undefeated run to the program's 18th national championship.
Below is the complete list of the AP Poll Top 25.
Initial 2021 AP Poll
Rank, Team, First Place Votes, Points
1 Alabama (47) 1548
2 Oklahoma (6) 1462
3 Clemson (6) 1447
4 Ohio State (1) 1393
5 Georgia (3) 1364
6 Texas A&M 1223
7 Iowa State 1160
8 Cincinnati 1014
9 Notre Dame 1009
10 North Carolina 999
11 Oregon 968
12 Wisconsin 743
13 Florida 728
14 Miami 663
15 USC 660
16 LSU 631
17 Indiana 549
18 Iowa 513
19 Penn State 456
20 Washington 449
21 Texas 350
22 Coastal Carolina 232
23 UL Lafayette 208
24 Utah 176
25 Arizona State 125
