Take heart, college football fans. Your long offseason is nearly at an end. With the season set to kick off in less than a month, the preseason Amway Coaches Poll is out. Though the No. 1 team won’t come as a surprise, it is nevertheless a first.

Clemson, the defending national champion, will enter the campaign with the top ranking. It is the first preseason No. 1 ranking for the Tigers in the history of the coaches poll.

Clemson received 59 of 65 first-place votes, with the remaining six all going to second-ranked Alabama. The Tigers’ dominant defensive line from their championship season must be rebuilt, but sophomore QB Trevor Lawrence and a slew of talented playmakers on offense should once again have the Tigers among the highest-scoring teams in the country.

As for Alabama, this is the first time since 2015 the Crimson Tide will not be ranked first heading into the season. But that could prove to be good news for Nick Saban’s squad. Of Alabama’s five national championship campaigns with Saban at the helm, the Tide were picked first in the preseason in just one of them (2017).

The rest of the teams in the top five are also the same as those who started last season there, though the order is slightly different. Georgia will open at No. 3, followed by No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 5 Ohio State. It is the first time since 1992 that the preseason top five has been made up by the same teams in consecutive seasons.

TOP 25:Complete Amway Coaches Poll preseason Top 25

LOOKING AHEAD:Outlooks for the Top 25 teams in the preseason poll

GOING NATIONAL:The unique way Clemson has become a recruiting powerhouse

MAJOR SNUBS:Six teams missing from preseason poll that should have be in

This is the first time since 2010 that only two teams received first-place votes in the preseason, a pretty strong indicator that most observers believe the Tigers and Tide are destined to clash yet again in the College Football Playoff. If the poll is any indication, however, Clemson appears to have an easier trip through its conference than Alabama. Just one other team from the ACC, No. 22 Syracuse, is featured in the Top 25, while the SEC has six ranked teams in all including four in the top eight.

In terms of volume, the Big Ten has the most representatives in the poll with seven, but only two, No. 5 Ohio State and No. 7 Michigan, open in the top 10. Notre Dame, a playoff participant a year ago, will enter the year at No. 9. The lone ranked squad from the Group of Five conferences is Central Florida, tied for 17th with Wisconsin. Boise State will start the campaign just outside the top 25 but is second among others receiving votes.

A couple of notable name-brand programs that will start the campaign outside the Top 25 are Florida State and Southern California. The Seminoles are unranked in the preseason for the first time since 2008. Prior to that omission, they were in every preseason poll from 1991-2007.

The Trojans have appeared in the preseason Top 25 every year since 2001 in which they were eligible to receive votes, though they were not ranked during the entire 2010 and 2011 seasons due to NCAA sanctions.

Some history was made at the bottom of the poll as No. 24 Iowa State is in the preseason rankings for the first time.

The season will begin on Aug. 24 when No. 8 Florida meets Miami (Fla.) in Orlando.