2012 Rant Sports College Football Writers Preseason Top 25
As teams begin padded practices in preparation for the upcoming 2012 college football season, a group of Rant Sports writers got together to rank the top 25 teams in the nation.
A total of eight writers created their own individual top 25 rankings for use in the 2012 Rant Sports College Football Writers Preseason Top 25. A point system, similar to the one used in the USA Today Coaches Poll, was used to combine the eight lists. A No. 1 team received 25 points, a No. 2 team received 24 points, and so on. A team receiving eight first-place votes would receive 200 points, a perfect score. The amount of first-place votes a team received are in parentheses next to the name of the school. In the event of a tie, teams were compared on their average ranking and if they tied on average position, the school with the highest ranking received the tiebreaker.
I now present to you to the first Rant Sports College Football Writers Preseason Top 25:
| Ranking | School | Points |
| 1 | USC (4) | 195 |
| 2 | Alabama (3) | 192 |
| 3 | LSU (1) | 186 |
| 4 | Oklahoma | 171 |
| 5 | Oregon | 168 |
| 6 | Georgia | 148 |
| 7 | Wisconsin | 147 |
| 8 | Florida State | 141 |
| 9 | Arkansas* | 139 |
| 10 | Michigan* | 139 |
| 11 | South Carolina | 137 |
| 12 | Clemson | 102 |
| 13 | Michigan State | 95 |
| 14 | Texas | 71 |
| 15 | Stanford | 63 |
| 16 | TCU | 60 |
| 17 | Virginia Tech | 55 |
| 18 | Kansas State | 52 |
| 19 | Nebraska | 51 |
| 20 | Oklahoma State** | 45 |
| 21 | Florida ** | 45 |
| 22 | Boise State | 29 |
| 23 | Georgia Tech | 18 |
| 24 | Ohio State | 14 |
| 25 | Auburn | 13 |
Others receiving votes: North Carolina State 12, Washington 10, Notre Dame 8, Utah 5, Louisville 5
*=Arkansas and Michigan tied with a total of 139 points and in average ranking but the tie went to Arkansas, who was received higher rankings than the Wolverines.
**=Oklahoma State and Florida tied with a total of 45 points and in average ranking but the tie went to the Cowboys who received higher rankings than the Gators.
Rant Sports will rank the top 25 teams in the nation every week during the season with new rankings every Sunday afternoon.
Want to see how some of our writers ranked your team in their own College Football Preseason Top 25? Here are the writers brave enough to post their own rankings:
