AP Top 25

This will be a different sort of college football season. That won't stop the Associated Press from ranking the best college football teams. Some of the ranked teams will be playing this season. Some won't. The AP is doing their thing and ranking them all. Here's their Top 25.
(first place votes in parentheses)

1.   Clemson (38)
2.   Ohio State (21)
3.   Alabama (2)
4.   Georgia
5.   Oklahoma
6.   LSU (1)
7.   Penn State
8.   Florida
9.   Oregon
10. Notre Dame
11. Auburn
12. Wisconsin
13. Texas A&M
14. Texas
15. Oklahoma State
16. Michigan
17. USC
18. North Carolina
19. Minnesota
20. Cincinnati
21. Central Florida
22. Utah
23. Iowa State
24. Iowa
25. Tennessee

***

Despite residing in some of hottest COVID spots in the nation, the SEC, ACC, Big 12, American Athletic, Conference USA and Sun Belt are bulling ahead with football-playing plans.

The Big Ten, Pac-12, Mid-American and Mountain West conferences have decided to sit out the 2020 college football season. If it's considered a questionable thing to have 30-50 thousand students on campus maybe they shouldn't have about 100 of their fellow students play football on that same campus.

So, the following teams currently residing in the AP Top 25 won't be playing football.

2.   Ohio State
7.   Penn State
9.   Oregon
12. Wisconsin
16. Michigan
17. USC
19. Minnesota
22. Utah
24. Iowa

Who knows? Maybe the conference and college decision-makers that decided to sit out the 2020 college football season change their minds in the coming weeks. If this country continues with it's half-ass effort in dealing with a global pandemic, that possibility is remote. It'll be interesting to see how long the non-playing football teams hang with the teams that are playing football.

I was really looking forward to Cal football this season. The Golden Bears have improved each season since Justin Wilcox was hired as head coach. This is the best I've felt about the program since the first half of the Jeff Tedford years. This year was going to be a fun one. This AP poll had Cal at #37 with 11 votes. The Golden Bears usually don't tickle the Top 25 until they've danced through the early part of their schedule. I hated seeing the Pac-12 season canceled but it was the right decision. You can't play football if the campus isn't a safe place to be for all students.

I wish the teams that are playing football the best of luck on a questionable decision during a very different and difficult college football season.