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Preseason AP Poll Features Six SEC Teams

Just like with the Coaches' Poll, the SEC has a half dozen teams in the AP Poll.

By David Wunderlich
Kelly Lambert-USA TODAY Sports

The 2013 preseason AP Poll is out, and the customary six SEC teams are in it. Here is the top 10:

  1. Alabama (58 first place votes)
  2. Ohio State (1)
  3. Oregon
  4. Stanford
  5. Georgia (1)
  6. South Carolina
  7. Texas A&M
  8. Clemson
  9. Louisville
  10. Florida

As is customary for this time of year, there isn't a huge difference between the scribes' poll and the Coaches' poll.

Also as is the custom these days, Alabama tops the poll by a healthy margin. A historic margin, actually:

East division favorite Georgia comes in as the next conference team, with South Carolina right on the Bulldogs' heels. The writers are not discounting the Aggies too much more than the coaches are given the distractions and uncertainty surrounding the allegations made about Johnny Manziel and autographs.

Florida edged into the top just like it did with the Coaches' Poll, while LSU is hanging out in the teens at No. 12, just like in the other poll.

The top SEC team in the others receiving votes section is Vanderbilt, which, if you continue out the poll numbers, ends up as No. 33. The only other conference team receiving votes is Ole Miss at No. 36. By comparison, Ole Miss was ahead of Vandy in the others receiving votes in the Coaches' Poll, while Mississippi State, Arkansas, and Tennessee at least received a vote.

The AP Poll, of course, doesn't have much importance outside of the national championship it awards at the end of the year. However, it's at least a bit better than the Coaches' Poll given its lack of obvious conflict of interest, and the ballots are open for inspection.

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