Preseason Coaches Poll Released; Bama No. 1

By Bryan Law on August 3, 2018

With all the turmoil that has went on this week with Urban Meyer at Ohio State, there was some relief from the situation as the Amway Preseason Top 25 Coaches Poll came out on Thursday. Possibly not so much since the Buckeyes start out third in the country and Meyer has been placed on administrative leave for withholding information and his job and reputation is now put on the line. But for the time being, we will focus on the SEC and the SEC alone. Here is the poll:

1. Alabama

2. Clemson

3. Ohio State

4. Georgia

5. Oklahoma

6. Washington

7. Wisconsin

8. Miami (Fla.)

9. Penn State

10. Auburn

11. Notre Dame

12. Michigan State

13. Stanford

14. Michigan

15. USC

16. TCU

17. Virginia Tech

18. Mississippi State

19. Florida State

20. West Virginia

22. Boise State

23. UCF

24. LSU

25. Oklahoma State

Not too surprisingly, only five SEC teams start out in the top 25 with the remaining schools starting over with new head coaches. The only exception is Mississippi State starting 18th under new head man Joe Moorhead with Nick Fitzgerald and Aeris Williams returning. Even with the quarterback situation quietly coming to a head, Alabama starts off number one in the country with SEC Champion Georgia fourth, while they are reloading in the running back position.

Auburn is starting off tenth along with Gus Malzahn’s brand new seven year deal and Jarrett Stidham returning as quarterback. Kam Martin is most likely the starter in the backfield behind Stidham and Ryan Davis and Darius Slayton back to lead the receiving corps. The biggest surprise is LSU barely cracking the Top 25 and most likely putting Ohio State transfer Joe Burrow under center. Nick Brossette and Lenard Fournette are most likely to share rushing duties.

The teams that finished inside the Top 25 last season are the same ones who are starting there now, so long story short, nothing has changed. Texas A&M and Florida are expected to be sleepers and dark horses with Jimbo Fisher leading the Aggies and Dan Mullen the Gators. Arkansas might have a say in the situation and even with Jordan Ta’amu starting for the Rebels, Ole Miss is still awaiting whether their 2018 bowl ban will get overturned. With that being said, they cannot be voted into the coaches poll.

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