UCLA receives highest preseason AP poll ranking since 1998

Ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press poll, UCLA will start the season with its highest preseason ranking since 1998.

Pegged as a dark horse candidate for the inaugural College Football Playoff, the Bruins matched the hype heaved on them 16 years ago, when voters also slotted them in as the country’s seventh-best team. They finished the year ranked No. 8 in the final AP poll, and were undefeated until season-ending losses at Miami and to Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl Game.

UCLA is ranked above USC — slotted at No. 15 — in the preseason poll for the second year in a row. Last season, UCLA opened at No. 21 while the Trojans were No. 24. The crosstown rivals finished the year ranked 16th and 19th.

Florida State is ranked No. 1, and received all but three first-place votes. Those went to Alabama, Oregon and Oklahoma, ranked second, third and fourth, respectively.

See the full Associated Press preseason poll below:

1. Florida State (57) 1,496
2. Alabama (1) 1,361
3. Oregon (1) 1,334
4. Oklahoma (1) 1,324
5. Ohio State 1,207
6. Auburn 1,198
7. UCLA 1,106
8. Michigan State 1,080
9. South Carolina 1,015
10. Baylor 966
11. Stanford 885
12. Georgia 843
13. LSU 776
14. Wisconsin 637
15. USC 626
16. Clemson 536
17. Notre Dame 445
18. Mississippi 424
19. Arizona State 357
20. Kansas State 242
21. Texas A&M 238
22. Nebraska 226
23. North Carolina 194
24. Missouri 134
25. Washington 130