The AP Top 25 preseason poll is finally here, a clear signal that college football is mere weeks away. Preseason polls are, of course, primarily a way to drum up interest and chatter around the sport as it is set to return. But it also provides important historical framing for the ebbs and flows of a program. The last few years of week-to-week AP polls tell a very good story about Indiana’s furious rise under Curt Cignetti, for example.
Even with the rapidly shifting rosters around the sport, the teams that made last year’s 12-team Collerge Football Playoff field receive a fair amount of respect in this year’s inaugural poll. Indiana, coming off of an incredible 16-0 national championship run, comes in at No. 6—one place above the team it beat in the title game, Miami.
