Alabama was voted No.1 for the second consecutive season in the preseason USA Today Sports AFCA Coaches Poll released Monday. Texas A&M leads all area schools, coming in at No.7.
Ohio State is ranked second and defending national champion Georgia third. Clemson follows at No.4, and Notre Dame rounds out the top five.
Michigan is No.6 after making the College Football Playoffs for the first-time last season. Utah is the highest-ranked PAC-12 team at No.8.
Alabama received 54 first-place votes from the panel of 66 Division I college football head coaches after coming up short to Georgia last season in the national championship game.
Ohio State received five first-place votes, and six coaches voted Georgia No.1 in the poll.
In a surprise, No.18 Texas coming off a 5-7 season, received one first-place vote from a head coach. USA Today does not immediately reveal individual ballots, so it is unknown what coach selected the Longhorns as tops in the nation.
“It wasn’t me,” said second-year Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian when asked about the voting Monday. “I never quite understood [preseason polls]. You are the way you play. You are the record you end up with. We have a lot of work to do. We’re picked to finish fourth in the Big 12. So that should motivate us to get our [rear ends] moving and practice real well.”
The highest-ranked Big 12 team is Oklahoma, which checks in at No.9. Fellow Big 12 rivals Baylor (No.10) and Oklahoma State (No.11) are just behind in the rankings.
It is the seventh consecutive preseason coaches poll that Oklahoma has been the highest ranked Big 12 team.
Future Big 12 members Cincinnati (No.22) and Houston (No.25) each made the top 25. BYU and UCF, other future members of the Big 12, did not crack the top 25 but were listed as others receiving votes with 152 and 55 votes, respectively.
The Associated Press will release its preseason poll voted on by media members on August 15.