As expected, Florida was a near-unanimous choice as the preseason No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25. The Gators were followed by Texas, Oklahoma, Southern Cal and Alabama.

Illinois, coming off a 5-7 season, received 105 points and was just outside the Top 25 at No. 27.

Florida is the most overwhelming preseason No. 1 in the history of the AP poll, which goes back to 1950. Florida received 58 of the 60 first-place votes, or 96.7 percent. Texas got the other first-place votes.

The previous highest percentage of first-place votes in the AP preseason poll was 95.4 percent for Southern Cal in 2007. The Trojans failed to win the title that year.

Here is the poll:

    Record    Pts    Pvs
 1. Florida (58)    13-1    1,498    1
 2. Texas (2)    12-1    1,424    4
 3. Oklahoma    12-2    1,370    5
 4. Southern Cal    12-1    1,313    3
 5. Alabama    12-2    1,156    6
 6. Ohio St.    10-3    1,113    9
 7. Virginia Tech    10-4    1,054    15
 8. Mississippi    9-4    1,047    14
 9. Oklahoma St.    9-4    989    16
 9. Penn St.    11-2    989    8
11. LSU    8-5    914    —
12. California    9-4    746    —
13. Georgia    10-3    714    13
14. Boise St.    12-1    659    11
15. Georgia Tech    9-4    593    22
16. Oregon    10-3    587    10
17. TCU    11-2    521    7
18. Florida St.    9-4    307    21
19. Utah    13-0    289    2
20. BYU    10-3    267    25
21. North Carolina    8-5    261    —
22. Iowa    9-4    229    20
23. Notre Dame    7-6    225    —
24. Nebraska    9-4    207    —
25. Kansas    8-5    134    —
Others receiving votes: Oregon St. 122, Illinois 105, Pittsburgh 103, Michigan St. 100, Rutgers 83, Texas Tech 76, West Virginia 57, Cincinnati 44, Clemson 42, Miami 40, East Carolina 30, Tennessee 15, Arizona 13, N.C. State 10, Boston College 9, Auburn 7, Cent. Michigan 7, UCLA 7, Northwestern 5, Missouri 3, South Florida 3, Southern Miss. 3, Vanderbilt 3, South Carolina 2, Arkansas 1, Houston 1, Nevada 1, Troy 1, Tulsa 1.