Clemson, Ohio State and Alabama lead preseason coaches poll
There’s no guarantee we’ll have a 2020 college football season. But we at least have a preseason coaches poll.
The top 25 was released Thursday and is led by Clemson, Ohio State, and Alabama. The Tigers, who beat the Buckeyes in the 2019 Fiesta Bowl before losing to LSU in the national title game, return QB Trevor Lawrence and RB Travis Etienne and Ohio State brings back QB Justin Fields.
Alabama, which missed the College Football Playoff for the first time in 2019, is at No. 3 followed by SEC mates Georgia and LSU. The Tigers are in the top five despite losing a bunch of talent to the NFL in the likes of Joe Burrow, Justin Jefferson, Grant Delpit, Kristian Fulton, K’Lavon Chaisson and Patrick Queen.
The fourth SEC team in the top 10 is Florida at No. 8. The Gators are preceded by Oklahoma and Penn State — which has star LB Micah Parsons set to opt out of the 2020 season — and Oregon and Notre Dame round out the top 10.
Here’s the full preseason poll for a season of uncertainty. Power Five conferences are moving to primarily conference-only schedules and both the SEC and Pac-12 have said they’re going to start playing in late September. The Big Ten is still scheduled to play on Labor Day weekend as scheduled while the ACC will have its teams start play on Sept. 12.
Full poll
1. Clemson
2. Ohio State
3. Alabama
4. Georgia
5. LSU
6. Oklahoma
7. Penn State
8. Florida
9. Oregon
10. Notre Dame
11. Auburn
12. Wisconsin
13. Texas A&M
14. Texas
15. Michigan
16. Oklahoma State
17. USC
18. Minnesota
19. North Carolina
20. Utah
21. Central Florida
22. Cincinnati
23. Iowa
24. Virginia Tech
25. Iowa State
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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