The media used to be pretty bad at picking the national champion. Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney have made that job pretty easy of late, though.
Those two are expected to do battle once again, as Clemson and Alabama will begin 2019 how they finished 2018. The Tigers and Crimson Tide topped the 2019 preseason AP poll, released Monday.
In fact, the entire top five matches the Coaches' preseason top-5, with the three programs nipping at Clemson and Alabama's heels coming in at Nos. 3, 4 and 5.
Clemson's nod at No. 1 ends Alabama's streak of three straight seasons as the AP's preseason No. 1, but continues the Tide's streak to 11 straight seasons beginning inside the AP top-5. Ohio State, meanwhile, begins the year inside the AP top-6 for the seventh consecutive season.
The full top 25:
1. Clemson -- 1,540 total points
2. Alabama -- 1,496
3. Georgia -- 1,403
4. Oklahoma -- 1,331
5. Ohio State -- 1,261
6. LSU -- 1,199
7. Michigan -- 1,164
8. Florida -- 1,054
9. Notre Dame -- 1,044
10. Texas -- 1,005
11. Oregon -- 860
12. Texas A&M -- 852
13. Washington -- 786
14. Utah -- 772
15. Penn State -- 651
16. Auburn -- 578
17. UCF -- 410
18. Michigan State -- 377
19. Wisconsin -- 370
20. Iowa -- 330
21. Iowa State -- 302
22. Syracuse -- 209
23. Washington State -- 200
24. Nebraska -- 154
25. Stanford -- 141
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.