First AP poll released; why is Texas ranked?

To little surprise Alabama is No. 1 in the first Associated Press poll released Monday.

The Crimson Tide are 99 points ahead of second-place Ohio State, a large margin. Florida State, who will open the season against Bama in Atlanta on Sept. 2, is No. 3 and USC is fourth, just ahead of defending national champion Clemson.

Rounding out the top 10 teams are Penn State, Oklahoma, Washington, Wisconsin and Oklahoma State.

Curious about where the next SEC team is? Well, there haven’t been two SEC teams in the Top 10 since 2015 when Ole Miss was 10th (and, of course, Alabama was No. 1).

The next SEC team is in the second 10, which is dominated by the league.

In order, Michigan is 11th, then Auburn, LSU, Stanford and Georgia is No. 15. Bobby Petrino’s Louisville team is 16th, then Florida, Miami, South Florida and Kansas State rounds out the first 20 teams.

The final five teams, in order, are Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Texas, Washington State and Tennessee.

Whoa, WHAT?

Texas is No. 23. For those wondering, the Longhorns were also No. 23 in the Coaches Poll, too.

Apparently voters are banking on Tom Herman turning around things in Austin in a hurry. Last year, Texas finished 5-7, losing the last three games of the season.

Kentucky and Texas A&M were the only other SEC teams that received votes, garnering three each.