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USA Today released their preseason Coaches Poll on Thursday morning and, as expected, Fighting Illini football failed to receive any votes. Still, it's always interesting to see where other teams in the Big Ten get placed before games kickoff later this month.
No. 5 Ohio State, No. 8 Michigan, No. 11 Michigan State, and No. 15 Iowa were all included in the initial rankings. Fellow conference members Wisconsin (82), Northwestern (31), Nebraska (17), and Indiana (1) also appeared on a few ballots.
Nationally, defending champion Alabama will open the season at No. 1 in the poll after receiving 55 first place votes. Although, the Crimson Tide weren't the consensus pick as Clemson (7), Florida State (1), and Tennessee (1) each received consideration from at least one coach.
The Amway Coaches Poll is conducted weekly throughout the regular season using a panel of head coaches at FBS schools. The panel is chosen by random draw, conference by conference plus independents, from a pool of coaches who have indicated to the American Football Coaches Association their willingness to participate. Each coach submits a Top 25 with a first-place vote worth 25 points, second place 24, and so on down to one point for 25th.
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | FIRST PLACE VOTES | PREVIOUS RANK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | 0-0 | 1585 | 55 | NR |
| 2 | Clemson Tigers | 0-0 | 1524 | 7 | NR |
| 3 | Oklahoma Sooners | 0-0 | 1398 | 0 | NR |
| 4 | Florida State Seminoles | 0-0 | 1351 | 1 | NR |
| 5 | Ohio State Buckeyes | 0-0 | 1321 | 0 | NR |
| 6 | LSU Tigers | 0-0 | 1241 | 0 | NR |
| 7 | Stanford Cardinal | 0-0 | 1149 | 0 | NR |
| 8 | Michigan Wolverines | 0-0 | 1062 | 0 | NR |
| 9 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 0-0 | 1034 | 0 | NR |
| 10 | Tennessee Volunteers | 0-0 | 960 | 1 | NR |
| 11 | Michigan State Spartans | 0-0 | 901 | 0 | NR |
| 12 | Ole Miss Rebels | 0-0 | 792 | 0 | NR |
| 13 | Houston Cougars | 0-0 | 668 | 0 | NR |
| 14 | TCU Horned Frogs | 0-0 | 649 | 0 | NR |
| 15 | Iowa Hawkeyes | 0-0 | 579 | 0 | NR |
| 16 | Georgia Bulldogs | 0-0 | 525 | 0 | NR |
| 17 | USC Trojans | 0-0 | 468 | 0 | NR |
| 18 | Washington Huskies | 0-0 | 454 | 0 | NR |
| 19 | Oklahoma State Cowboys | 0-0 | 426 | 0 | NR |
| 20 | North Carolina Tar Heels | 0-0 | 422 | 0 | NR |
| 21 | Baylor Bears | 0-0 | 383 | 0 | NR |
| 22 | Oregon Ducks | 0-0 | 361 | 0 | NR |
| 23 | Louisville Cardinals | 0-0 | 331 | 0 | NR |
| 24 | UCLA Bruins | 0-0 | 296 | 0 | NR |
| 25 | Florida Gators | 0-0 | 245 | 0 | NR |
| Others Receiving Votes: Miami (Fla.) 120; Wisconsin 82; Utah 73; Boise State 73; Washington State 47; Texas A&M 37; Texas 34; Arkansas 34; Northwestern 31; Navy 30; Mississippi State 19; San Diego State 18; Nebraska 17; Auburn 17; Western Kentucky 11; Pittsburgh 8; Brigham Young 6; Appalachian State 4; Duke 3; Arizona 2; Marshall 2; Toledo 2; South Florida 2; Memphis 1; Indiana 1; Northern Illinois 1 | |||||
Additionally, here's the complete list of the 2016 voters. Unfortunately, Illinois head coach Lovie Smith wasn't selected to participate this season. The list is helpful, though, because it explains why schools like Memphis, Indiana, and Northern Illinois received preseason recognition.
Chris Ash, Rutgers
Dino Babers, Syracuse
David Bailiff, Rice
David Beaty, Kansas
Bret Bielema, Arkansas
John Bonamego, Central Michigan
Terry Bowden, Akron
Matt Campbell, Iowa State
Ron Caragher, San Jose State
Rod Carey, Northern Illinois
Paul Chryst, Wisconsin
Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan
David Cutcliffe, Duke
DJ Durkin, Maryland
Larry Fedora, North Carolina
Jimbo Fisher, Florida State
James Franklin, Penn State
Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
Bryan Harsin, Boise State
Clay Helton, Southern California
Tom Herman, Houston
Doc Holliday, Marshall
Skip Holtz, Louisiana Tech
Joey Jones, South Alabama
Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
Sean Kugler, Texas-El Paso
Mike Leach, Washington State
Lance Leipold, Buffalo
Seth Littrell, North Texas
Rocky Long, San Diego State
Mike MacIntyre, Colorado
Gus Malzahn, Auburn
Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio)
Doug Martin, New Mexico State
Derek Mason, Vanderbilt
Urban Meyer, Ohio State
Trent Miles, Georgia State
Philip Montgomery, Tulsa
Scottie Montgomery, East Carolina
Chad Morris, Southern Methodist
Dan Mullen, Mississippi State
Mike Norvell, Memphis
Gary Patterson, TCU
Chris Petersen, Washington
Brian Polian, Nevada
Mark Richt, Miami (Fla.)
Mike Riley, Nebraska
Rich Rodriguez, Arizona
Nick Saban, Alabama
Tony Sanchez, UNLV
Scott Satterfield, Appalachian State
Kirby Smart, Georgia
Frank Solich, Ohio
Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee State
Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Dabo Swinney, Clemson
Tommy Tuberville, Cincinnati
Ron Turner, Florida International
Matt Wells, Utah State
Kyle Whittingham, Utah
Kevin Wilson, Indiana
Everett Withers, Texas State