Clemson ranked No. 1 in final AP Top 25 |
| - Tuesday, January 8, 2019, 2:06 AM |
Clemson picked up all 61 first-place votes for the first time this season and continued a remarkable trend under Dabo Swinney in the final AP Top 25 early Tuesday morning.
The Tigers became the first team in the modern era of college football to complete a 15-0 season by dominating previous No. 1 Alabama, 44-16, in Santa Clara, California's National Championship Game on Monday. Clemson under Swinney has matched or surpassed its preseason ranking, which was tied a school-best at No. 2 this season, each each of the last eight seasons now. The season followed a similar path to 2016 when the Tigers were preseason No. 2 to Alabama but came out on top by season's end. The new ranking is the first time the Tigers have been No. 1 since entering the 2017 playoffs as the top team. The opponent closest to knocking Clemson off this season finished No. 15, in Syracuse, the only other ACC representative in the final top 25. AP Top 25 - 1/7 1. Clemson (61) 2. Alabama 3. Ohio State 4. Oklahoma 5. Notre Dame 6. LSU 7. Georgia 7. Florida 9. Texas 10. Washington State 11. UCF 12. Kentucky 13. Washington 14. Michigan 15. Syracuse 16. Texas A&M 17. Penn State 18. Fresno State 19. Army 20. West Virginia 21. Northwestern 22. Utah State 23. Boise State 24. Cincinnati 25. Iowa Eight years on a row Clemson has finished at least equal to its preseason ranking in AP and Coaches poll. No one else has done that in history of the poll. Preseason rankings began in 1950.
