The 2025 college football season will open with a historic level of parity at the very top of the AP preseason poll.
No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Penn State are separated by just five total points in the voting, marking the closest margin between the top two teams in the preseason rankings since 1998.
The Longhorns received 1,520 total points and 38 first-place votes, while the Nittany Lions earned 1,515 points and 21 first-place votes. The narrow gap signals what many expect to be a tightly contested race for the College Football Playoff’s top seed and, potentially, the national championship.
Such slim margins are rare in the history of the AP preseason poll, which began in 1950. The last time the top two teams were separated by so little was 1998, when Ohio State edged Florida State by a single point in the voting. While the Buckeyes held the preseason edge that year, it was Tennessee who ultimately claimed the national title.
For Texas, the No. 1 ranking marks a return to the sport’s highest preseason perch for the first time since 2010. Penn State’s No. 2 ranking is its highest preseason position since 1994, when the program entered the year as one of the nation’s most loaded rosters under Joe Paterno.
With both teams returning elite talent and coming off double-digit win seasons, the preseason poll reflects just how evenly matched they appear on paper. If both handle their business, the conversation about which program truly deserves the top spot could linger well into the fall.
The 2025 season kicks off August 30, with each team looking to prove its place at the top is no fluke, and history suggests the race could be one of the closest in recent memory.
