Clemson ranked No. 2 in Phil Steele's preseason rankings

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College Football 'guru' Phil Steele is back with another edition of his 350-page preseason magazine and that comes with his preseason rankings.

Defending champions Clemson was ranked No. 2 in the rankings behind Alabama.

"The last couple years, they've had a close call during the regular season but it doesn't look like they will have any this year. The biggest area of concern is special teams, but they had my 109th-ranked unit last year and won the title game by 28 (points). It looks like we're headed for Alabama-Clemson Round Five — the tiebreaker!"

Steele thinks that Alabama will be motivated by their last title loss to Clemson.

"When I look at Alabama, I see their defense being stronger than last year with six starters back," Steele said on WNSP-FM 105.5. "They only lost five draft picks this year. That’s light for that side of the ball. “You have to look at 44-16. That is going to be a highly motivating factor for Alabama."

Steele's Top 25:

1 Alabama, 2 Clemson, 3 Michigan, 4 Georgia, 5 Oklahoma, 6 Ohio State, 7 LSU, 8 Utah, 9 Notre Dame, 10 Florida, 11 Texas, 12 Oregon, 13 Michigan State, 14 TCU, 15 Miami, 16 Washington, 17 Texas A&M, 18 Auburn, 19 Nebraska, 20 Penn State, 21 Iowa State, 22 Stanford, 23 Iowa, 24 Mississippi State, 25 Virginia Tech

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