Ohio Sports Betting
College Football Champions: Where Did the Past Quarter-Century Champions Start in Preseason Polls?

College Football Champions: Where Did the Past Quarter-Century Champions Start in Preseason Polls?

July 8, 2025 04:50pm

Fact Checked by Jim Tomlin

After pulling off the school’s first College Football Playoff title in a decade, the Ohio State Buckeyes football team will try to repeat this fall.

With that in mind, BetOhio.com pulled data from the past 25 years’ worth of CFB champions to see where they ranked in preseason Associated Press polling the season they won it all.

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Where Do CFB Champions Start?

Preseason Poll	Percent of Champions
2nd	35%
5th	15%
3rd	12%
1st	8%
6th	4%
7th	4%
8th	4%
11th	4%
13th	4%
14th	4%
19th	4%
22nd	4%

BetOhio.com will offer the best Ohio sports betting promotions plus more college football coverage as the season approaches. This data covers 26 teams in 25 seasons (there were two teams that split the 2003 national title).

Dating to 2000, the lowest-ranked team to win at least a share of the national championship at season’s end was Auburn in 2010. Those Tigers started the season ranked 22nd in AP poll before surging to a BCS title on the back of quarterback Cam Newton’s Heisman Trophy season.

Only five teams since 2000 have won it all in CFB after starting the season ranked 10th or lower in the preseason AP poll. Florida State in 2013 (11th), Ohio State in 2002 (13th), LSU in 2003 (14th) and Oklahoma in 2000 (19th) joining that Tigers team from 2010 in taking a long climb to the top.

Ohio sports betting apps now have preseason odds for national and conference championships for the upcoming season, plus point spreads and moneylines on selected games. More odds will be available as games draw closer.

Overall, the preseason position in the polls that netted the most champions at year’s end was the No. 2 spot. Nine teams – Miami in 2001, Texas in 2005, LSU in 2007, Alabama in 2011 and 2012, Clemson in 2016 and 2018, Michigan in 2023 and Ohio State in 2024 – hoisted the hardware after starting the season in that spot.

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CFP Era National Champions

Year	Team	Preseason Poll
2024	Ohio State	2nd
2023	Michigan	2nd
2022	Georgia	3rd
2021	Georgia	5th
2020	Alabama	3rd
2019	LSU	6th
2018	Clemson	2nd
2017	Alabama	1st
2016	Clemson	2nd
2015	Alabama	3rd
2014	Ohio State	5th

Since the dawn of the CFP in 2014, the average ranking of the team that won it all at season’s end was 3.1, with the lowest being LSU in 2019 (6th) and two winners starting the season at No. 5 (Ohio State in 2014 and Georgia in 2021).

The past two CFP winners have started the year at No. 2 in the polls – archrivals Michigan and Ohio State, respectively. Georgia in 2022 and Clemson in 2016 and 2018 were No. 3 in the preseason top 25, speaking to the value that comes from beginning the year on high ground in the rankings. This could be a trend worth remembering for Ohio sports betting.

BCS Era National Champions

Year	Team	Preseason Poll
2013	Florida State	11th
2012	Alabama	2nd
2011	Alabama	2nd
2010	Auburn	22nd
2009	Alabama	5th
2008	Florida	5th
2007	LSU	2nd
2006	Florida	7th
2005	Texas	2nd
2004	USC	1st
2003	LSU	14th
2003	USC	8th
2002	Ohio State	13th
2001	Miami	2nd
2000	Oklahoma	19th

While the past 11 years have largely followed the preseason poll, the same cannot be said of the Bowl Championship Series era from 2000 through 2013. That span, well before Ohio college football betting was legal and regulated, netted five champions that started the season ranked outside the top 10 and 10 schools that won at least one title during that stretch.

When you include the 2003 season that had the lone split title this century (with LSU winning the BCS championship and USC taking home the AP title), the first 11 seasons of the 21st century were wild and wacky, especially compared with the top-heavy nature of the CFP era from 2014 onward.

Overall, the BCS era from 2000 through 2013 had a higher average preseason ranking (7.7) than the CFP era (3.1), illustrating just how concentrated the balance of power has gotten.

At DraftKings Ohio Sportsbook, the Buckeyes top the list of CFB champion futures at +500 odds as of July 8, followed by Texas (+550), Georgia (+700), Penn State (+750), Oregon (+950) and Clemson (+1100).

USA Today photo by Kirby Lee

Author

Christopher Boan

Christopher Boan writes for BetOhio.com and has been covering sports and sports betting for more than seven years, with experience at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.

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