AP writers tab Oklahoma as No. 1 in preseason poll

NEW YORK – Being voted preseason No. 1 is a tradition at Oklahoma, and this season is no different.

The Sooners will start out top-ranked in The Associated Press college football poll for the 10th time, more than any program in the country.

The defending Big 12 champions received 36 of 60 first-place votes and 1,464 points in the Top 25 released Saturday.

Auburn, last season’s national champion, will start the season No. 23, one spot behind where it began in 2010.

If the rankings are any indication, the national title race could be a scramble.

No. 2 Alabama, one of a record eight Southeastern Conference teams in the preseason poll, wasn’t far behind OU, receiving 17 first-place votes and 1,439 points.

No. 3 Oregon got four first-place votes, No. 4 LSU received one and No. 5 Boise State got two.

Florida State was No. 6, the Seminoles’ best preseason ranking since starting the 2004 season at No. 5.

Heisman Trophy favorite Andrew Luck and Stanford were No. 7, matching the best preseason ranking for the Cardinal since 1950, the year of the first AP preseason poll.

Rounding out the top 10 are Oklahoma’s Big 12 rivals, Texas A&M (No. 8) and Oklahoma State (No. 9), and Nebraska (No. 10), in its first season in the Big Ten after leaving the Big 12.

No. 16 Notre Dame is ranked for the first time since early November 2009.

The Pac-12 had three teams in the poll, with No. 25 Southern California joining Oregon and Stanford.