The Coaches opening poll is reproduced below and like the AP version, the top is dominated by teams who have by and large dominated the CFP playoffs in recent seasons. They also have two Sun Belt teams ranked and are high on Cincinnati although probably more realistically ranking them at 10. Having said that with trips to Indiana & Notre Dame in their opening 4 games they could be worthy top 10 or completely gone before October’s out.
They have both Oklahoma State & Ole Miss ranked and of those on the fringes are much higher on Northwestern than AP.
Coaches Poll
1 Alabama
2 Clemson
3 Oklahoma
4 Ohio State
5 Georgia
6 Texas A&M
7 Notre Dame
8 Iowa State
9 North Carolina
10 Cincinnati
11 Florida
12 Oregon
13 LSU
14 USC
15 Wisconsin
16 Miami
17 Indiana
18 Iowa
19 Texas
20 Penn State
21 Washington
22 Oklahoma State
23 Louisiana
24 Coastal Carolina
25 Ole Miss
Others receiving votes:
Here the Coaches are much more diversified with around 35 teams getting at least one vote. We are a little surprised that everyone seems down on Appalachian State. We appreciate QB Zac Thomas will be a miss but they were not a great red zone team last year with him Anyway they have added Chase Brice who has played in the ACC for both Clemson & Duke. He is i his senior year and will be keen to impress.
Utah 145
Northwestern 120
Arizona State 90
Auburn 84
Liberty 68
BYU 53
TCU 48
Michigan 30
UCF 29
NC State & Boise State 27
Kentucky 20
San José State 18
Army 13
Virginia Tech 9
Missouri 8
UCLA 7
Pittsburgh, Tulsa & Boston College 6,
Ball State & Houston 5
SMU, Appalachian State & West Virginia 4
Arkansas & UAB 3
Nevada, Air Force & Mississippi State 2
Marshall, Florida State, California & Stanford 1
So there it is AP’s thoughts as to who the top teams are. Preseason polls are meaningless in the grand scheme of things but it’s always fun to have a guess.
We will have our opening rankings decided soon bit in the meantime why not check out our other Top 25 posts.
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