Where does your favorite college team rank in the preseason rankings?

Alabama head coach Nick Saban

The official start of the college football season is still several months away, but a few sources have already released their pre-season Top 25 polls. The Sporting News released its preseason Top 25 on May 24, and Athlon Sports released its preseason Top 25 on Tuesday of last week. Two-time defending national champion Alabama was ranked No. 1 in both polls, but the two polls differ quite a bit from that point on.

Stanford was ranked No. 2 in the Sporting News, but was ranked No. 7 in the Athlon poll. South Carolina was ranked third in the Sporting News, but was ranked fifth by Athlon. The Florida Gators were ranked fourth by the Sporting News, but were ranked 13th in the Athlon poll.

Ohio State was ranked No. 5 in the Sporting News, but was ranked second in the Athlon poll. Oklahoma State was ranked sixth by the Sporting News, but was ranked 16th by Athlon. Texas A&M, the only team to beat Alabama last year, was ranked seventh by the Sporting News, but was ranked eighth by Athlon.

Oregon was ranked eighth in the Sporting News, but was ranked third by Athlon. Clemson was the No. 9 team in the Sporting News poll, but was ranked sixth by Athlon. Notre Dame was ranked No. 10 in both polls.

The rest of the Sporting News poll was as follows – 11. Louisville (No. 9 in the Athlon poll), 12. Georgia (No. 4), 13. Michigan (No. 14), 14. Texas (No. 18), 15. Boise State (No. 11), 16. LSU (No. 12), 17. Baylor, 18. Florida State (No. 15), 19. Oklahoma (No. 17), 20. UCLA, 21. Nebraska (No. 21), 22. Miami, 23. Oregon State (No. 25), 24. Wisconsin (No. 19) and 25. Ole Miss.

Teams that were ranked in the Athlon poll, but were not mentioned in the Sporting News poll included No. 20 TCU, No. 22 Fresno State, No. 23, Arizona State and No. 24 Northwestern.

It’s no secret that fans should take preseason polls for what they’re worth since they do little more than generate conversation for fans waiting on the actual games to start. If your favorite team wasn't ranked in either of the polls above, don’t worry because a number of other preseason polls haven’t been released yet. Other major preseason polls include Sports Illustrated, USA Today, Lindy’s and the Associated Press.

While we’re on the subject, we might as well begin the countdown to the upcoming football season. Hillcrest High School and Sparta Academy will both kick off their 2013 seasons on Fri., Aug. 30, in Evergreen. Hillcrest will play Washington County High School at Brooks Memorial Stadium, and Sparta will play Pickens Academy at Stuart-McGehee Field.

The college football season will begin on Thurs., Aug. 29, with six games, including a nationally televised match-up between South Carolina and North Carolina. Alabama will kickoff the season on Aug. 31 when they play Virginia Tech in Atlanta. Auburn will also kickoff its season that same day when they play Washington State in Auburn.

The NFL season will begin on Thurs., Sept. 5, when the Baltimore Ravens will play the Denver Broncos in Denver. A full slate of pro games will follow on Sun., Sept. 8.