Defending national champion Alabama is the preseason No. 1 in the USA Today Sports AFCA Coaches Poll released Tuesday.
The Crimson Tide got 63 of the 65 first-place votes while No. 3 Oklahoma got the other two. Clemson is No. 2 with Ohio State and Georgia rounding out the top five.
No. 8 Iowa State has its highest preseason ranking since USA Today started administering the coaches poll in 1991. So does No. 10 Cincinnati.
At No. 17, Indiana is ranked in the preseason coaches' poll for the first time. And Mack Brown's North Carolina team is ranked ninth, its best opening slot since heading into the season at No. 8 in 1997.
The Associated Press Top 25 will be released Aug. 16.
The preseason USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll Top 25 with team's records FROM LAST SEASON in parentheses, total points based on 25 for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in last year's final poll and first-place votes received:
Record Pts Pvs
1. Alabama (63) 13-0 1508 1
2. Clemson 10-2 1481 3
3. Oklahoma (2) 9-2 1435 6
4. Ohio State 7-1 1386 2
5. Georgia 8-2 1286 7
6. Texas A&M 9-1 1139 4
7. Notre Dame 10-2 1131 5
8. Iowa State 9-3 999 9
9. North Carolina 8-4 979 17
10. Cincinnati 9-1 870 8
11. Florida 8-4 842 12
12. Oregon 4-3 664 NR
13. LSU 5-5 655 NR
14. Southern California 5-1 654 21
15. Wisconsin 4-3 575 NR
16. Miami (FL) 8-3 573 22
17. Indiana 6-2 554 13
15. Iowa 6-2 427 15
16. Miami, Fla. 8-3 422 22
17. Indiana 6-2 404 13
18. Iowa 6-2 216 15
19. Texas 7-3 153 20
20. Penn State 4-5 150 NR
21. Washington 3-1 149 NR
22. Oklahoma State 8-3 216 19
23. Louisiana-Lafayette 10-1 153 16
24. Coastal Carolins 11-1 150 14
25. Mississippi 5-5 149 NR
Dropped out: No. 10 Northwestern (7-2); No. 11 Brigham Young (11-1); No. 18 Liberty (10-1); No. 23 Ball State (7-1); No. 24 San Jose State (7-1); No. 25 Buffalo (6-1).
Others receiving votes: Utah (3-2) 145; Northwestern (7-2) 120; Arizona State (2-2) 90; Auburn (6-5) 84; Liberty (10-1) 68; Brigham Young (11-1) 53; TCU (6-4) 48; Michigan (2-4) 30; Central Florida (6-4) 29; Boise State (5-2) 27; North Carolina State (8-4) 27; Kentucky (5-6) 20; San Jose State (7-1) 18; Army (9-3) 13; Virginia Tech (5-6) 9; Missouri (5-5) 8; UCLA (3-4) 7; Boston College (6-5) 6; Pittsburgh (6-5) 6; Tulsa (6-3) 6; Ball State (7-1) 5; Houston (3-5) 5; Appalachian State (9-3) 4; SMU (7-3) 4; West Virginia (6-4) 4; Alabama-Birmingham (6-3) 3; Arkansas (3-7) 3; Air Force (3-3) 2; Mississippi State (4-7) 2; Nevada (7-2) 2; California (1-3) 1; Florida State (3-6) 1; Marshall (7-3) 1; Stanford (4-2) 1.
The USA TODAY Sports AFCA Board of Coaches is made up of 65 head coaches at Football Bowl Subdivision schools. All are members of the American Football Coaches Association.
The board for the 2021 season: Tom Allen, Indiana; Blake Anderson, Utah State; Dino Babers, Syracuse; Walt Bell, Massachusetts; Mike Bloomgren, Rice; Craig Bohl, Wyoming; Neal Brown, West Virginia; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Matt Campbell, Iowa State; Jason Candle, Toledo; Jamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina; Paul Chryst, Wisconsin; Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech; David Cutcliffe, Duke; Butch Davis, Florida International; Manny Diaz, Miami (Florida); Dave Doeren, North Carolina State; Karl Dorrell, Colorado; Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri; Sonny Dykes, Southern Methodist; Luke Fickell, Cincinnati; Jedd Fisch, Arizona; Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern; James Franklin, Penn State; Willie Fritz, Tulane; Danny Gonzales, New Mexico; Todd Graham, Hawaii; Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State; Will Hall, Southern Mississippi; Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois; Bryan Harsin, Auburn; Clay Helton, Southern California; Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky; Brady Hoke, San Diego State; Skip Holtz, Louisiana Tech; Butch Jones, Arkansas State; Brian Kelly, Notre Dame; Jimmy Lake, Washington; Clark Lea, Vanderbilt; Tim Lester, Western Michigan; Sean Lewis, Kent State; Maurice Linguist, Buffalo; Seth Littrell, North Texas; Mike Locksley, Maryland; Chad Lunsford, Georgia Southern; Gus Malzahn, Central Florida; Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio); Doug Martin, New Mexico State; Phillip Montgomery, Tulsa; Dan Mullen, Florida; Billy Napier, Louisiana-Lafayette; Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh; Ken Niumatalolo, Navy; Gary Patterson, TCU; Sam Pittman, Arkansas; NIck Rolovich, Washington State; Nick Saban, Alabama; Steve Sarkisian, Texas; Scott Satterfield, Louisville; Greg Schiano, Rutgers; Kirby Smart, Georgia; Jake Spavital, Texas State; Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee; Mel Tucker, Michigan State; Kyle Whittingham, Utah.
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