Amway Coaches Poll Preseason Top 25: Biggest Snubs and Surprises
Feel like the college football season was never going to get here? Thursday's release of the Amway Coaches Poll preseason Top 25 means we're getting close to the sport's return, which is a reason to celebrate—and probably gripe a little, which is one of the main functions of such preseason polls.
Though the coaches poll no longer has an impact on determining the national title, as it did during the BCS era, it still helps spark debate. The 64 FBS coaches who vote in this poll have given us a baseline for what to expect in the 2016 season, and their rankings will continue to get scrutinized throughout the fall.
Defending national champion Alabama begins at the top, with Clemson in second and Oklahoma third. That represents three-quarters of last season's College Football Playoff field, meaning the coaches think there's a good chance we could have some repeat semifinalists.
What stood out most from this initial poll? Follow along as we highlight some of the more notable surprises, both good and bad.
Surprise: Alabama's (Lack of) Overall Support
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It's not the least bit of a surprise that Alabama begins at No. 1, as the Crimson Tide are the fourth consecutive defending national champion to open atop the following season's preseason poll. Ironically, Alabama was the last defending champ not to start first in 2012, yet it ended up winning a second straight title.
But the confidence in the Tide's being able to repeat isn't as strong as it was for recent defending champs. Their 55 first-place votes (out of 64) are fewer than the previous three No. 1 teams and seven fewer than Ohio State received in 2015.
Some of the voters who opted not to put Alabama first might have been concerned about its quarterback situation, or other factors, but it was more likely because of the presence of a strong second option for the top spot. Clemson, which lost to 'Bama in January's title game, earned seven first-place votes, the most for a No. 2 preseason team since 2012 (when 'Bama got 20 votes, to 19 for No. 1 LSU).
Snub: Holding Back on Harbaugh?
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After a surprisingly strong first season under head coach Jim Harbaugh, many pegged Michigan as being back among the college football elite. This figured to translate into the Wolverines' first preseason Top 10 ranking since 2012 and very likely their first Top Five preseason spot since 2007.
One out of two ain't bad.
Michigan begins eighth in the 2016 Amway poll, three spots ahead of its final ranking at the end of the 2015 season. Many media outlets had put the Wolverines in their top five during the offseason, including as high as third in some rankings.
Sitting in eighth place isn't such a bad thing, though Michigan's lack of tough competition early this season might keep it from climbing much. The Wolverines play their first five games at home, with the first three against opponents who were a combined 7-31 in 2015.
Surprise: Who Voted for Tennessee?
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Before you ask, the answer is no: Tennessee coach Butch Jones is not one of the 64 coaches who vote in this year's Amway poll. That means someone else is sold on the Volunteers after their hot finish to 2015. Possibly one of the seven SEC coaches who are part of this year's voting group?
"I think someone hijacked Nick Saban's vote," Bill Landis of Cleveland.com tweeted.
That lone first-place vote stands as a major outlier in the 2016 poll, as Tennessee's spots on the other 63 ballots land it at No. 10 overall. It's the lowest a team with a first-place nod has been in the preseason coaches poll since 10th-place Michigan got one in 2001 (as did every team from first through eighth).
How the Vols got to 10th doesn't take away from the fact this is their first such preseason Top 10 ranking since 2005, when they opened third but ended up going 5-6. It also gives the SEC multiple teams with first-place votes for the fourth time in the last six preseason Amway polls.
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Snub: Little Love for the Non-Power Teams
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It's all on you, Houston. At least that's what the initial Amway poll indicates, as the Cougars are the only school from outside the power conferences (other than top independent Notre Dame) that landed in the Top 25.
The Cougars are 13th, five spots below where they ended the 2015 season with a win over Florida State in the Peach Bowl—their third victory over a power team during a 13-1 campaign. Twelve starters return from that squad, including dynamic dual-threat quarterback Greg Ward Jr. and offensive mastermind/head coach Tom Herman.
The next-highest-rated non-power team is Boise State, which earned 73 vote points to tie for 28th with Utah. Others outside the power leagues to get votes were Navy (30), San Diego State (18), Western Kentucky (11), BYU (six), Appalachian State (four), Marshall (two), Toledo (two), South Florida (two), Memphis (one) and Northern Illinois (one).
San Diego State's lack of votes is arguably a bigger snub than Houston's placement. The Aztecs went 11-3 last season, winning their final 10 games with nine of those by at least 14 points.
Surprise: Pac-12 Back?
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The Pac-12 Conference was the league that got left out of the playoff party in 2015, as champion Stanford was unable to overcome two regular-season losses to get into the Top Four. And despite sending a league-record 10 teams to bowls, a 6-4 performance in those games contributed to only three Pac-12 teams making the final Amway poll.
That number has risen to five for the 2016 preseason poll, second most of any conference and just one behind the SEC's six ranked teams.
However, that strong preseason showing can be a bit misleading, since only one school (Stanford) is among the Top 10, starting at seventh, while the other four (USC, Washington, Oregon and UCLA) are between 17th and 24th.
Snub: SEC Dominance Waning?
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Getting nearly a quarter of the spots in a preseason poll is normally a big deal for most conferences, but in the SEC, that's become old hat. In fact, the league's landing only six teams in the 2016 Amway rankings marks a step down from recent preseason representations.
Last year, the SEC had eight teams in the Top 25, getting seven into the initial 2014 poll. It had six to start 2013, but five of those began in the Top 10.
This year, the SEC has three preseason Top 10 teams: No. 1 Alabama, No. 6 LSU and No. 10 Tennessee, with Ole Miss coming in at 12th. Georgia is 16th, and defending SEC East champion Florida is 25th.
Five other SEC teams earned votes but none more than Texas A&M's 37 (good enough for 31st place). The Aggies will have a chance to jump into the Top 25 right away, though, as they host No. 24 UCLA in Week 1.
Surprise: Smart Starting Lower Than Normal
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Being in the preseason rankings is nothing new, as Georgia has been part of the Amway's first poll every year since 2002. But this is the first time the Bulldogs are doing so under the guidance of someone other than Mark Richt, whose 15-year tenure ended in November, and the initial poll indicates coaches are taking somewhat of a wait-and-see approach with new coach Kirby Smart.
Georgia's No. 16 ranking is its lowest to start a season since 2011, when it began 22nd. That Bulldogs squad quickly fell out of the poll after starting 0-2, including a loss to Boise State in Atlanta, but then 10 straight victories put them in the SEC title game (also in Atlanta).
The Bulldogs open the Smart era in Atlanta as well, taking on No. 20 North Carolina on Sept. 3. It's one of four ranked teams they'll face along with No. 12 Ole Miss, No. 10 Tennessee and No. 25 Florida.
Snub: Bearish on Baylor
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The biggest wild card heading into the Amway poll's release was where the coaches would put Baylor, an immensely talented team but one that's had a tumultuous offseason. A sexual assault scandal led to the firing of coach Art Briles, who turned the Bears from a Big 12 doormat to one of the conference's top programs, but now former Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe is running the team on an interim basis.
The coaches have spoken, at least for now, and it's not so great: Baylor opens 21st, eight spots lower than it ended the 2015 season with a record-setting rushing performance in the Russell Athletic Bowl. Other than Utah, which went from 16th at the end of last year to unranked in the preseason poll, no other team had a bigger dip during the offseason.
"If not for the tumultuous offseason, this Baylor team would have landed in the Top 10," wrote USA Today's Steven Ruiz, labeling the Bears the most underrated team in the Amway poll.
Still, Baylor will begin ranked for the third consecutive season—the longest streak in school history.
All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports, unless otherwise noted. All statistics provided by CFBStats, unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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