The defending national champion Buckeyes received all 61 first-place votes from the media panel in the rankings released Sunday.
TCU is No. 2, followed by Alabama, Baylor and Michigan State.
The Buckeyes won the first College Football Playoff championship last season and are trying to become the 12th team to win consecutive AP titles since the poll began in 1936.
Preseason rankings date back to 1950. Since then no team had received more than 97 percent of the first-place votes in a preseason poll.
In 2013, Alabama, which had won two straight championships, received 58 of 60 first-place votes and defending champion Florida did the same in 2009. Neither finished the season No. 1.
The rest of this year's preseason top 10 is Auburn, Oregon, Southern California, Georgia and Florida State.
The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press preseason college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, 2014 records, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and 2014 final ranking:
| Record | Pts | Pv | |
| 1. Ohio St. (61) | 14-1 | 1,525 | 1 |
| 2. TCU | 12-1 | 1,428 | 3 |
| 3. Alabama | 12-2 | 1,322 | 4 |
| 4. Baylor | 11-2 | 1,263 | 7 |
| 5. Michigan St. | 11-2 | 1,256 | t5 |
| 6. Auburn | 8-5 | 1,192 | 22 |
| 7. Oregon | 13-2 | 1,156 | 2 |
| 8. Southern Cal | 9-4 | 1,085 | 20 |
| 9. Georgia | 10-3 | 991 | 9 |
| 10. Florida St. | 13-1 | 959 | t5 |
| 11. Notre Dame | 8-5 | 873 | NR |
| 12. Clemson | 10-3 | 862 | 15 |
| 13. UCLA | 10-3 | 698 | 10 |
| 14. LSU | 8-5 | 675 | NR |
| 15. Arizona St. | 10-3 | 605 | 12 |
| 16. Georgia Tech | 11-3 | 588 | 8 |
| 17. Mississippi | 9-4 | 563 | 17 |
| 18. Arkansas | 7-6 | 410 | NR |
| 19. Oklahoma | 8-5 | 394 | NR |
| 20. Wisconsin | 11-3 | 393 | 13 |
| 21. Stanford | 8-5 | 347 | NR |
| 22. Arizona | 10-4 | 311 | 19 |
| 23. Boise St. | 12-2 | 240 | 16 |
| 24. Missouri | 11-3 | 219 | 14 |
| 25. Tennessee | 7-6 | 114 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Mississippi St. 100, Texas A&M 61, Oklahoma St. 46, Virginia Tech 42, Utah 36, Penn St. 20, Louisville 12, Cincinnati 8, Nebraska 6, Kansas St. 5, Florida 4, NC State 4, Texas 3, BYU 2, Michigan 2, N. Illinois 2, California 1, W. Kentucky 1, West Virginia 1.
