San Diego State finished the 2016 season ranked 25th in the final Associated Press college football poll. They’ll have some work to do to get a number next to their name in 2017.
The Aztecs showed up in the “Others Receiving Votes” section of the AP poll with nine total votes, which would put them ranked 36th and tied with UCLA and their superstar quarterback Josh Rosen.
Alabama is the unsurprising #1 team in the nation, followed by Ohio State, Florida State, USC and Clemson. The best chance for the Aztecs to make the rest of the nation sit up and take notice comes in Week 3 when they host the 14th-ranked Stanford Cardinal.
Outside of that and a road game against Arizona State the week before the schedule is soft. If the Aztecs can beat their Pac-12 foes they have a very good chance to run the table, go 13-0, and earn a spot in a big-time bowl game.
The only team from a non-Power 5 conference to show up in the Top-25 is South Florida. The Bulls play in the American Athletic Conference. The full rankings look like this:
Preseason AP Top-25
1 Alabama
2 Ohio State
3 Florida State
4 USC
5 Clemson
6 Penn State
7 Oklahoma
8 Washington
9 Wisconsin
10 Oklahoma St.
11 Michigan
12 Auburn
13 LSU
14 Stanford
15 Georgia
16 Louisville
17 Florida
18 Miami (FL)
19 South Florida
20 Kansas St.
21 Virginia Tech
22 West Virginia
23 Texas
24 Washington St.
25 Tennessee
Others receiving votes: TCU 98, Utah 85, Notre Dame 65, Boise St. 37, NC State 26, Northwestern 25, Pittsburgh 23, Oregon 21, Houston 19, Colorado 18, UCLA 9, San Diego St. 9, BYU 5, Appalachian St. 4, Nebraska 4, Tulsa 4, Kentucky 3, Texas A&M 3, Michigan St. 1
