Florida State tops preseason Amway Coaches Poll

Defending national champion Florida State topped the Amway/USA Today preseason coaches poll released Thursday. Florida State ended the Southeastern Conference's seven-year stranglehold on the title with a 34-31 victory over Auburn in the BCS Championship in January.

The first season of the College Football Playoff will serve to end the debate about who the best team in the nation is on the field. Until the playoff starts, the polls will have to do.

Defending national champion Florida State topped the preseason Amway Coaches Poll released Thursday.

Florida State ended the Southeastern Conference's seven-year stranglehold on the title with a 34-31 victory over Auburn in the BCS Championship in January.

Snap judgments on preseason USA Today Coaches Poll

The Seminoles received 56 of 62 first-place votes.

The Seminoles return seven defensive starters and eight starters on offense, including Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jameis Winston. They begin their championship defense Aug. 30 against Oklahoma State.

Coming in at No. 2 is perennial power Alabama.

Oklahoma, which routed the Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl, is third, followed by Oregon and Auburn.

Ohio Stateis sixth, followed by UCLA, Big Ten and Rose Bowl champ Michigan State, South Carolina and Big 12 champ Baylor​.

The second ten is led by Stanford, Georgia, LSU, Wisconsin and USC. 

Clemson is 16th, followed by Notre Dame, Arizona State and Mississippi. Texas A&M, who will be replacing quarterback Johnny Manziel, is 20th.

More: The end of Cinderella: Where do Group of Five teams sit in playoff system? 

Kansas State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Texas and Washington round out the poll.

The SEC has seven teams in the poll. The Pac-12 is second with six teams.

The Big 12 and Big Ten each have four teams in the poll, and the ACC has three. There are no teams from the American Athletic Conference.

The first regular season poll will be released Sept. 2.

The College Football semifinals will take place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1. The national title game will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Jan. 12.

Rank	team	Points	First Place Votes
1	Florida State Seminoles	1543	56
2	Alabama Crimson Tide	1455	0
3	Oklahoma Sooners	1382	3
4	Oregon Ducks	1314	1
5	Auburn Tigers	1271	0
6	Ohio State Buckeyes	1267	1
7	UCLA Bruins	1085	0
8	Michigan State Spartans	1050	0
9	South Carolina Gamecocks	1009	1
10	Baylor Bears	965	0
11	Stanford Cardinal	955	0
12	Georgia Bulldogs	905	0
13	LSU Tigers	833	0
14	Wisconsin Badgers	654	0
15	USC Trojans	627	0
16	Clemson Tigers	535	0
17	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	509	0
18	Arizona State Sun Devils	358	0
19	Ole Miss Rebels	346	0
20	Texas A&M Aggies	266	0
21	Kansas State Wildcats	257	0
22	Nebraska Cornhuskers	228	0
23	North Carolina Tar Heels	175	0
24	Texas Longhorns	143	0
25	Washington Huskies	142	0

- Scooby Axson