Utah football in “Receiving Votes” in Preseason AP Poll

The final preseason poll is now out, as the AP Poll was announced today. Just like the Coaches Poll, Utah is just outside of the poll Top 25 and would be sitting at No. 28, if it went out that far. The Pac-12 is well represented in this opening poll, with Washington at No. 6m Stanford at No. 13, USC at No. 15 and Oregon at No. 24. Check out the full poll below:

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Georgia
4. Wisconsin
5. Ohio State
6. Washington
7. Oklahoma
8. Miami
9. Auburn
10. Penn State
11. Michigan State
12. Notre Dame
13. Stanford
14. Michigan
15. USC
16. TCU
17. WVU
18. Mississippi State
19. Florida State
20. Virginia Tech
21. UCF
22. Boise State
23. Texas
24. Oregon
25. LSU

Others receiving votes:South Carolina 96, Florida 68, Utah 60, Oklahoma St. 51, FAU 38, Arizona 28, NC State 22, Texas A&M 21, Boston College 18, Northwestern 13, Kansas St. 10, Iowa St. 8, Houston 6, Memphis 3, Troy 2, Iowa 2, Kentucky 1, Arkansas St. 1, Fresno St. 1.

Washington is the Pac-12’s best shot at the College Football Playoff based off of this first poll, which lines up with everything else we’ve seen. I’m still not sold on Oregon, and I think Stanford and USC have some questions marks, but so does almost everyone else around the country. Texas is ranked, for some reason. I will never understand the “Texas is back” talk until it actually happens. Alabama leading the pack isn’t a surprise, but I wonder if the QB battle may hurt them a bit internally. The Utes may very well be ranked by the time they match up with Washington, which is going to be a huge early matchup in the league, and it’s going to be great.

What are some of your thoughts on this first AP Poll?