New York, NY (My Sportsbook) - The Oklahoma Sooners garnered the No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press preseason poll released on Saturday.

The Sooners, who are atop the AP poll for a record ninth time, beat out defending national champion Ohio State for the top spot. Oklahoma received 32 first-place votes and 1,573 points to the Buckeyes' 27 firsts and 1,532 points.

It is the widest margin in the preseason poll since 1999, when Florida State had 77 more points than Tennessee.

Oklahoma returns nine defensive starters to a team that ended last year 12-2 and finished its season with a victory over Washington State in the Rose Bowl.

The Sooners, who won their seventh AP title in 2000, were also the preseason top pick in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll, released in late July. Oklahoma was last ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason poll in 1987 and has won the championship four times when beginning the season atop the AP poll.

Nine of the previous 53 preseason No. 1's ended up winning the championship, but Florida State is the only school to go wire-to-wire as they accomplished the feat in 1999.

Ohio State returns all 11 defensive starters from last year's 14-0 squad that beat Miami in the Fiesta Bowl.

However, the team's success could depend on star running back Maurice Clarett, who is currently being held out of practice due to investigations into his eligibility.

Miami, which lost in last year's national title game, is ranked third and got two first-place votes. Michigan also received two votes and captured the fourth spot, while Texas State completed the top-five.

Rounding out the top 10 are Auburn (one first-place vote), Kansas State (one), Southern California, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh.

The second 10 consisted of Georgia, Tennessee, Florida State, LSU, Maryland, North Carolina State, Washington, Virginia, Purdue and Notre Dame.

Wisconsin, Arizona State, Colorado State, Oklahoma State and TCU round out the top 25. The Cowboys were last ranked in the preseason poll in 1985.

Nebraska failed to be ranked in the preseason poll for the first time in 33 years. The Seminoles now have the longest streak with 21 straight seasons being ranked.

The first regular season AP poll will be released on September 1.