Looking Back at Every Athlon Sports' College Football Preseason No. 1
The Athlon Sports top 25 countdown is complete, and Ohio State is in a familiar spot.
The Buckeyes finish the countdown where they ended last season at No. 1, but they’re also Athlon’s preseason No. 1 for the fourth time since our first rankings in 1976. Only three teams have been Athlon’s preseason No. 1 more than Ohio State — Florida State (eight times), USC (six) and Oklahoma (five).
Selecting a preseason No. 1 is no easy task. After all, no one spends a ton of time thinking about the preseason No. 2 or No. 3. The top spot has a special place. The preseason No. 1 is as much a prediction for the future — a national championship — as it is a starting point.
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Does the preseason No. 1 always win the national championship? No. Far from it. Six of our preseason No. 1 teams have won the national title, but many more have come close, falling short by one game or one play. Half of our preseason No. 1 teams have finished in the top five. Only one, Lane Kiffin’s 2012 USC team, fooled everybody by earning preseason No. 1 honors and finishing unranked in the AP poll with a 7-6 record and a loss in the Sun Bowl.
You can’t win them all. Just don’t tell Ohio State.
Year | Athlon Preseason No. 1 | AP Finish, record, bowl result |
2015 |
| |
2014 | No. 5, 13-1, lost Rose Bowl | |
2013 | No. 7, 11-2, lost Sugar Bowl | |
2012 | NR, 7-6, lost Sun Bowl | |
2011 | No. 1, 12-1, won BCS Championship Game | |
2010 | No. 10, 10-3, won Capital One Bowl | |
2009 | No. 3, 13-1, won Sugar Bowl | |
2008 | No. 1, 13-1, won BCS Championship Game | |
2007 | No. 3, 11-2, won Rose Bowl | |
2006 | No. 11, 11-3, lost Fiesta Bowl | |
2005 | No. 2, 12-1, lost Rose Bowl | |
2004 | No. 1, 13-0, won Orange Bowl | |
2003 | No. 3, 12-2, lost Sugar Bowl | |
2002 | No. 21, 9-5, lost Sugar Bowl | |
2001 | No. 3, 10-2, won Orange Bowl | |
2000 | No. 5, 11-2, lost Orange Bowl | |
1999 | No. 1, 12-0, won Sugar Bowl | |
1998 | No. 2, 11-1, won Sugar Bowl | |
1997 | No. 18, 8-4, won Aloha Bowl | |
1996 | No. 9, 10-2, won Citrus Bowl | |
1995 | No. 4, 10-2, won Orange Bowl | |
1994 | No. 6, 10-2, lost Orange Bowl | |
1993 | No. 1, 12-1, won Orange Bowl | |
1992 | No. 4, 10-1-1, won Cotton Bowl | |
1991 | No. 6, 10-2, lost Rose Bowl | |
1990 | No. 4, 10-2, won Blockbuster Bowl | |
1989 | No. 8, 9-2-1, won Rose Bowl | |
1988 | No. 3, 11-1, won Sugar Bowl | |
1987 | No. 3, 11-1, lost Orange Bowl | |
1986 | No. 13, 9-3, lost Cotton Bowl | |
1985 | No. 1, 11-1, won Orange Bowl | |
1984 | No. 14, 9-4, won Liberty Bowl | |
1983 | No. 2, 12-1, lost Orange Bowl | |
1982 | No. 10, 9-3, lost Cotton Bowl | |
1981 | No. 12, 9-3, won Bluebonnet Bowl | |
1980 | No. 15, 9-3, lost Fiesta Bowl | |
1979 | No. 2, 11-0-1, won Rose Bowl | |
1978 | No. 9, 9-3, won Sugar Bowl | |
1977 | No. 7, 10-2, lost Orange Bowl | |
1976 | No. 6, 9-2-1, won Orange Bowl |
