AP has Gators No. 5

The Associated Press released its preseason poll for the 2008 college football season, and like the Coaches Poll, the Florida Gators debut at No. 5.

Florida received six first place votes, tallying 1,415 points - about 100 points fewer than No. 1 ranked Georgia. The Gators and Dawgs face each other on November 1 in Jacksonville.

The AP's top five contained the same five teams as the Coaches Poll, but Ohio State (No. 2) edged out USC for the second spot in the AP. The Buckeyes received 21 first place votes, one shy of Georgia's 22 first place votes. The Trojans (No. 3) received 12 first place votes, and Oklahoma (No. 4) received four first place votes - two fewer first place votes than the Gators.

Both LSU and Auburn also made the top ten. LSU debuts at No. 6 - one spot lower than in the Coaches Poll - and Auburn comes in at No. 10 - one spot higher than their Coaches Poll ranking. The four SEC teams in the top ten doubled the number of teams from the Big 12, and no other conference has more than one.

Tennessee starts off the year at No. 18, and Alabama comes in at No. 24. South Carolina led the bunch of teams that also received votes along with Arkansas.

Neither Florida State or Miami cracked the top 25, and only the Seminoles received votes. South Florida debuts at No. 19.

Florida begins the 2008 season at The Swamp on August 30 against Hawaii who received one point.