Seminoles ranked third in preseason AP poll; Gators No. 17, Hurricanes No. 18

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – A season-opening battle between the top two teams in the country won't materialize in Atlanta.

Florida State is ranked third in the Associated Press preseason top 25 poll released Monday. The Seminoles will open their season Sept. 2 against No. 1 Alabama in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, site of the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Ohio State, which had three first-place votes to Florida State's four, is No. 2.

Southern California, which received two first-place votes, is No. 4.

Defending national champion Clemson is No. 5. The Tigers beat Alabama in the final seconds of last season's national championship game.

Penn State is No. 6, Oklahoma is No. 7, Washington is No. 8, Wisconsin is No. 9 and Oklahoma State is No. 10. The sixth-ranked Nittany Lions beat Wisconsin to win the Big Ten Conference last season, and the seventh-ranked Huskies represented the Pacific 12 Conference in last season's playoff.

Florida opens its season ranked No. 17. The Gators will face No. 11 Michigan at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It will be Florida's first non-conference regular-season game played outside of the state since 1991.

Miami is ranked just behind Florida at No. 18. The Hurricanes open at home against Bethune-Cookman and will travel to Tallahassee two weeks later for their Atlantic Coast Conference opener against the Seminoles.

South Florida is No. 19 under first-year head coach Charlie Strong. The Bulls won a season-best 11 games in 2016.

Auburn is No. 12, Louisiana State is No. 13, Stanford is No. 14, Georgia is No. 15 and Louisville is No. 16.

Kansas State is No. 20, Virginia Tech is No. 21, West Virginia is No. 22, Texas is No. 23, Washington State is No. 24 and Tennessee is No. 25.