Courtesy 247 Sports...

For the second consecutive year, Alabama is the team to beat in college football according to a panel of the nation's coaches, with several other bluebloods not far behind.

The Crimson Tide garnered 49 of a possible 65 first-place votes in Thursday's Preseason Amway Coaches Poll, holding off Ohio State who landed in the No. 2 spot.

Florida State, USC, defending national champion Clemson round out the Top 5. The Tigers had the second-most first-place votes with seven.

The SEC leads the way with six teams in the initial Coaches Poll, followed by the Big 12 and ACC each with five representatives.

Alabama and Florida State will kick-off the season in a seismic opening weekend showdown Sept. 2 in Atlanta, a matchup that'll impact early-season rankings considerably.

2017 Preseason Amway Coaches Poll

1. Alabama (49 first-place votes)
2. Ohio State (5)
3. Florida State (4)
4. USC
5. Clemson (7)
6. Penn State
7. Washington
8. Oklahoma
9. Michigan
10. Wisconsin
11. Oklahoma St.
12. LSU
13. Auburn
14. Stanford
15. Georgia
16. Florida
17. Louisville
18. Miami
19. Kansas St.
20. West Virginia
21. South Florida
22. Va. Tech
23. Texas
24. Tennessee
25. Utah

Others receiving votes: Washington State 99; Colorado 72; TCU 58; Boise State 49; Notre Dame 49; Texas A&M 46; Pittsburgh 45; North Carolina State 39; Oregon 37; Northwestern 25; Nebraska 23; Memphis 22; Arkansas 22; Mississippi State 19; San Diego State 18; Appalachian State 11; Brigham Young 10; Georgia Tech 10; Tulsa 10; Wyoming 9; Western Michigan 8; Temple 8; North Carolina 8; Houston 7; Troy 6; Minnesota 6; Iowa 5; Louisiana Tech 4; Syracuse 3; Arizona 2; Army 1; Colorado State 1; Michigan State 1; Maryland 1; Toledo 1; UCLA 1.

Preseason polls are a crap shoot. Most of the time, the national reporters don't really know what is going on within a team. As we all know, the coaches don't vote on the coaches poll it's usually the SID or someone else in the department (receptionist).

Having said that, Stanford has QB and DL issues so 14 seems generous. Herman or no Herman, I don't think Texas should be ranked. I expect him to turn that program around but I still would not rank them in the preseason poll. Oklahoma seems a little high given they just lost their coach. As for the rest, meh, who knows. Luckily, we will find out on the field.

As a side note, I have to laugh at Arizona getting 2 votes. I guess the people in that department voted for themselves. They were 3-9 last year and Grambling should have won that game. If they win 6 games, Rich Rod will keep his job. I expect him to be fired.

SFA88 said:

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Preseason polls are a crap shoot. Most of the time, the national reporters don't really know what is going on within a team. As we all know, the coaches don't vote on the coaches poll it's usually the SID or someone else in the department (receptionist).

Having said that, Stanford has QB and DL issues so 14 seems generous. Herman or no Herman, I don't think Texas should be ranked. I expect him to turn that program around but I still would not rank them in the preseason poll. Oklahoma seems a little high given they just lost their coach. As for the rest, meh, who knows. Luckily, we will find out on the field.

As a side note, I have to laugh at Arizona getting 2 votes. I guess the people in that department voted for themselves. They were 3-9 last year and Grambling should have won that game. If they win 6 games, Rich Rod will keep his job. I expect him to be fired.

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All good comments. (But your best one was pointing out that even a receptionist might vote in some cases!)

STATS Preseason Poll Out

We play 6 ranked or RV teams

Week: Preseason |

STATS FCS Poll
Rankings as of 8/7/2017

1 James Madison (0-0) 4034 (134)
2 North Dakota State (0-0) 3874 (19)
3 Sam Houston State (0-0) 3610 (7)
4 South Dakota State (0-0) 3385 (2)
5 Eastern Washington (0-0) 3270
6 Jacksonville State (0-0) 3081 (1)
7 Richmond (0-0) 3041
8 North Dakota (0-0) 2871
9 Youngstown State (0-0) 2658
10 Villanova (0-0) 2628
11 Wofford (0-0) 2543
12 Chattanooga (0-0) 1995
13 New Hampshire (0-0) 1741
14 Charleston Southern (0-0) 1710
15 Central Arkansas (0-0) 1685
16 Citadel (0-0) 1545
17 Lehigh (0-0) 1369
18 UNI (0-0) 924
19 Samford (0-0) 893
20 Illinois State (0-0) 876
21 Grambling State (0-0) 692
22 Fordham (0-0) 604
23 Cal Poly (0-0) 427
24 Albany (0-0) 418
25 Western Illinois (0-0) 367

Others: North Carolina Central (326) , Weber State (322) , Northern Arizona (307) , McNeese (261) , San Diego (250) , Montana (215) , North Carolina A&T (198) , Kennesaw State (154) , Liberty (134) , Tennessee State(102) , UT Martin (90) , South Dakota (87) , Harvard (36) , Saint Francis U (31) , Delaware (27) , Princeton (23) , South Carolina State (22) , Nicholls (21) , Southeastern Louisiana (20) , Southern Utah (17) , Penn (14) ,Duquesne (14) , Stony Brook (13) , Maine (11) , Montana State (6) , Mercer (6) , Southern Illinois (5) , Alcorn State (4) , William & Mary (4) , Eastern Illinois (3) , ETSU (3) , Wagner (3) , Eastern Kentucky (2) , Indiana State(1) , Bethune-Cookman (1) , Dayton (1)

We need to find out which receptionists vote and buy one lunch to give SFA a vote every now and then.