Nebraska Tops AP Preseason Football Poll

Aug. 6 -- Nebraska unseated defending national champion Florida State as the nation’s top-ranked football team in the preseason, while Notre Dame failed to make the top 25 for the first time in 14 years.

The Associated Press Top 25 preseason college football poll was released Saturday, and Nebraska coach Frank Solich was clearly pleased that his Cornhuskers will start the season on top for the sixth time since 1950, when the AP released its first preseason poll.

“We appreciate the fact that enough people think so highly ofour program to put us at No. 1,” Solich said. “We finished verystrongly at the end of last year and felt we could play with anyonein the country. How it all plays out this year, we’ll see.”

Earning the coveted top spot is a somewhat ominous note for Nebraska fans, however: The Cornhuskers have won four AP national titles since then, butnone in years they started No. 1.

One of the Closest Votes

Coming off a strong 12-1 season and No. 3 final ranking, thedefending Big 12 champion Huskers received 36 first-place votes and1,732 points from the 71 sports writers and broadcasters on the APpanel.

The Seminoles, 12-0 last season and the first team to be rankedNo. 1 from start to finish, collected 29 first-place votes and1,720 points. The 12-point difference is one of the closest — thetightest preseason poll was 1994 when Florida edged Notre Dame bytwo points.

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden wanted the top spot for onereason — ”to see how long we could go wire-to-wire and keep itgoing.

“It’s nice to be No. 2, though. You want to stay visible,” he said. “If you’re in the Top 10, you’re visible. Other than that, it really doesn’t matter until January.”

Where’s Notre Dame?

Conspicuous by its absence is Notre Dame, unranked in thepreseason poll for the first time since 1986.

Notre Dame was 5-7 last season, and coach Bob Davie understandswhy the Irish are not in the rankings.