Washington State football ranked No. 24 in preseason AP poll

The Cougars just made the cut.

Washington State checked in at No. 24 when the Associated Press released its first Top 25 football poll on Monday morning, giving the Cougars a preseason ranking for the first time since 2002. It’s only the third time in program history WSU has opened the season with a national ranking.

WSU, which earned 133 points, is one of four Pac-12 teams to earn a spot in the preseason poll. USC is ranked fourth, Washington is ranked eighth and Stanford is ranked 14th.

It’s the first time in 15 years that both the Huskies and Cougars are both ranked in the preseason Top 25.

WSU didn’t crack the Coaches Top 25 poll, which was released earlier this month. The Cougars were No. 26.

Alabama is ranked No. 1, with Ohio State, Florida State, USC and Clemson rounding out the top five, respectively.