Alabama Tops Preseason Coaches Poll, Extends Streak of Being No. 1 During a Season to 14 Years
Without even having played a game, the University of Alabama football program extended one of the most impressive streaks in collegiate sports history.
Tuesday morning, the coaches poll released its preseason poll, which had the reigning national champions at the top. Consequently, the Crimson Tide has been ranked No. 1 in one of the two major polls at least once each season since 2008.
The 14-year streak includes every season Nick Saban has been at Alabama minus one (2007).
The previous long streak in the Associated Press Top 25, which will be announced next week, was seven seasons by Miami (Fla.) from 1986-92.
Saban has coached 87 games with the nation's top-ranked team, 66 more than any active coach in college football. Former Alabama player Dabo Swinney at Clemson is second at 21. Former Saban assistant Jimbo Fisher, now at Texas A&M, is third at 10, all from the 2013-14 seasons at Florida State.
The voting in the coaches poll was done by 65 coaches from the American Football Coaches Association across the 10 conferences plus independents in the Bowl Subdivision.
Alabama received 63 of the first-place votes. Oklahoma received the other two.
The Crimson Tide has five ranked opponents on its 2021 regular-season schedule, beginning with its opener against No. 16 Miami in Atlanta on Sept. 4.
It'll visit No. 6 Texas A&M (Oct. 9) and No. 11 Florida (Sept. 18), and host No. 13 LSU (Nov. 6) and No. 25 Ole Miss (Oct. 2).
The SEC had the most teams in the poll with six, and both future league members Oklahoma and Texas were ranked as well. The Big Ten was next with five.
2021 Preseason USA Today/AFCAC Poll
Rank, Team, Record, Points
1 Alabama (63) 0-0 1621
2 Clemson 0-0 1508
3 Oklahoma (2) 0-0 1481
4 Ohio State 0-0 1435
5 Georgia 0-0 1386
6 Texas A&M 0-0 1286
7 Notre Dame 0-0 1139
8 Iowa State 0-0 1131
9 North Carolina 0-0 999
10 Cincinnati 0-0 979
11 Florida 0-0 870
12 Oregon 0-0 842
13 Louisiana State 0-0 664
14 Southern California 0-0 655
15 Wisconsin 0-0 654
16 Miami 0-0 575
17 Indiana 0-0 573
18 Iowa 0-0 554
19 Texas 0-0 427
20 Penn State 0-0 422
21 Washington 0-0 404
22 Oklahoma State 0-0 216
23 UL Lafayette 0-0 153
24 Coastal Carolina 0-0 150
25 Mississippi 0-0 149
Also receiving votes: Utah 145; Northwestern 120; Arizona State 90; Auburn 84; Liberty 68; Brigham Young 53; Texas Christian 48; Michigan 30; Central Florida 29; NC State 27; Boise State 27; Kentucky 20; San Jose State 18; Army 13; Virginia Tech 9; Missouri 8; UCLA 7; Tulsa 6; Pittsburgh 6; Boston College 6; Houston 5; Ball State 5; West Virginia 4; Southern Methodist 4; Appalachian State 4; UAB 3; Arkansas 3; Nevada 2; Mississippi State 2; Air Force 2; Stanford 1; Marshall 1; Florida State 1; California 1.
The USA Today Sports AFCA Coaches Poll voters for the 2021 season:
Tom Allen, Indiana; Blake Anderson, Utah State; Dino Babers, Syracuse; Walt Bell, Massachusetts; Mike Bloomgren, Rice; Craig Bohl, Wyoming; Neal Brown, West Virginia; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Matt Campbell, Iowa State; Jason Candle, Toledo; Jamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina; Paul Chryst, Wisconsin; Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech; David Cutcliffe, Duke; Butch Davis, Florida International; Manny Diaz, Miami (Florida); Dave Doeren, North Carolina State; Karl Dorrell, Colorado; Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri; Sonny Dykes, Southern Methodist; Luke Fickell, Cincinnati; Jedd Fisch, Arizona; Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern; James Franklin, Penn State; Willie Fritz, Tulane; Danny Gonzales, New Mexico; Todd Graham, Hawaii; Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State; Will Hall, Southern Mississippi; Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois; Bryan Harsin, Auburn; Clay Helton, Southern California; Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky; Brady Hoke, San Diego State; Skip Holtz, Louisiana Tech; Butch Jones, Arkansas State; Brian Kelly, Notre Dame; Jimmy Lake, Washington; Clark Lea, Vanderbilt; Tim Lester, Western Michigan; Sean Lewis, Kent State; Maurice Linguist, Buffalo; Seth Littrell, North Texas; Mike Locksley, Maryland; Chad Lunsford, Georgia Southern; Gus Malzahn, Central Florida; Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio); Doug Martin, New Mexico State; Phillip Montgomery, Tulsa; Dan Mullen, Florida; Billy Napier, Louisiana-Lafayette; Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh; Ken Niumatalolo, Navy; Gary Patterson, TCU; Sam Pittman, Arkansas; NIck Rolovich, Washington State; Nick Saban, Alabama; Steve Sarkisian, Texas; Scott Satterfield, Louisville; Greg Schiano, Rutgers; Kirby Smart, Georgia; Jake Spavital, Texas State; Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee; Mel Tucker, Michigan State; Kyle Whittingham, Utah.
