AP Top 25 poll: Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia headline college football rankings ahead of 2022 season

The Crimson Tide enter the season at No. 1 with Ohio State and Georgia also receiving first-place votes

By Barrett Sallee

& Shehan Jeyarajah

Aug 15, 2022 at 12:19 pm ET • 1 min read

NCAA Football: CFP National Championship-Georgia vs Alabama

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The 2022 college football season is less than two weeks away, and now we know which title contender enters the season with the coveted No. 1 ranking. The Preseason AP Top 25 was released on Monday with Alabama beginning the season as the top team in the country for the fifth time in the last seven years. The Crimson Tide boast the reigning Heisman Trophy winner in Bryce Young, star EDGE threat Will Anderson Jr. and motivation to get back to the top of the college football world after falling to Georgia in the national title game in January.

Ohio State comes in at No. 2 after missing the College Football Playoff last season. The Buckeyes are led by star quarterback C.J. Stroud and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba -- perhaps the top wide receiver in the country. The biggest question facing coach Ryan Day's squad is on defense, though he poached defensive coordinator Jim Knowles away from Oklahoma State to fix the issues that plagued the team last season.

Defending national champion Georgia, led by quarterback Stetson Bennett IV, enters the season in the No. 3 spot. The key question facing the Bulldogs surrounds its defense, which lost five players in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Coach Kirby Smart has transformed the program into a recruiting power, but that will be tested this year after losing a total of 15 players to the next level. Clemson jumped from No. 14 in the final AP Top 25 of 2022 to No. 4 entering this season, while Notre Dame rounded out the top five.

Here's a look at the full top 25 (first-place votes in parenthesis):