USC Football unranked in the AP Preseason Top 25

If you were expecting to see the USC Trojans on the Pre-season AP Top 25 then don’t get your hopes up. The Trojans were left out of the inaugural 2019 AP Poll early Monday morning. This marks the first time since 2001 that the team will enter the season unranked.

USC only received one vote from the associated press, tying them with the Arizona Wildcats for the lowest amount of votes in the AP Poll.

The result does not come as a surprise. USC is coming off a horrific 2018 season where the team went 5-7 and failed to reach bowl eligibility for the first time since 2000. During that stretch the team dropped five of the last six games. The Trojans have loads of questions coming into the 2019 season on top of a tough schedule.

The Pac-12 conference currently has five teams ranked in the AP Top 25 polls. The third most in the FBS. The Oregon Ducks come in as the highest ranked team in the Pac-12 in the preseason polls at No. 11. Defending Pac-12 Champion Washington is ranked below the Ducks at No. 13 with the Utah Utes right under them at No. 14. No. 23 Washington State and No. 25 Stanford sneaks into the lower half of the AP Polls. Arizona State and Arizona received votes along with USC. While the Pac-12 North is well represented in the preseason polls, Utah is the only ranked team from the Pac-12 south.

The Trojans play a total of five teams that are ranked in AP Polls. No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 11 Oregon, No. 13 Washington, No. 14 Utah, and No. 25 Stanford. If you want a sense of how tough the schedule is for USC then look no further than the first few games of the season. Stanford, Utah, Washington, and Notre Dame face the Trojans within those first few weeks of the season with Oregon appearing in the back half of the schedule on Nov 2nd. We’ll have an idea of the team moving forward following the first six games of the season.

The defending national champions Clemson Tigers will enter the season a top the AP Polls for the first time in program history. National runner up Alabama appear at No. 2 with the Georgia Bulldogs at No. 3. Oklahoma and Ohio State round out the top 5 with the Sooners at No. 4 and Buckeyes at No. 5.