Cal Football: Golden Bears Virtually Ignored in Preseason Coaches Poll

Cal gets just five votes to tie for 42nd; Oregon is top Pac-12 entry at No. 9

The nation's college football coaches are giving Cal very little respect heading what we hope will be the 2020 season.

The Golden Bears received just five votes in the preseason Amway Coaches Poll and sit far back of a Top-25 ranking, tied for 42nd with Tulane. Cal is coming off an 8-5 season with a victory over Illinois in the Redbox Bowl and has 17 starters back on offense and defense.

The usual suspects top the preseason rankings: 1. Clemson, 2. Ohio State, 3. Alabama.

Clemson is No. 1 in the preseason poll for the second straight season after never before holding that distinction. 

There are four Southeastern Conference teams among the top eight and six in the top-13.

The Pac-12's first entry is Oregon at No. 9. USC checks in at No. 17, Utah at No. 20.

Three other Pac-12 schools got more love from the coaches than Cal, with Arizona State at No. 28, Washington at No. 32 and Washington State at No. 41. Stanford received two votes and is No. 47.

The Bears' low rating from the nation's coaches does not seem to reflect their standing among Pac-12 followers, and certainly falls far short of the expectations Cal fans have for their team.

Cal and Washington are generally viewed as close rivals for the No. 2 spot in the Pac-12 North, and no preseason publication ranks WSU higher than the Bears.

Here's the full Top-25 (with first-place votes in parenthesis):

1. Clemson (38)

2. Ohio State (17)

3. Alabama (4)

4. Georgia

5. LSU (6)

6. Oklahoa

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

Among the 65-member voting panel are just four coaches from the Pac-12: Clay Helton of USC, Jonathan Smith of Oregon State, Kevin Sumlin of Arizona and Kyle Whittingham of Utah.

Seven SEC coaches have votes: Jimbo Fisher of Texas A&M, Gus Malzahn of Auburn, Dan Mullen of Florida, Ed Orgeron of LSU, Jeremy Pruitt of Tennessee, Nick Saban of Alabama and Kirby Smart of Georgia.

The other three Power 5 conferences also have more schools represented among the voters than the Pac-12: The Big Ten and ACC each have seven votes, and the Big 12 has five. 

In fairness, the SEC, Big Ten and ACC all have 14 schools, although the Big 12 has just 10 members.

The poll describes the voters as coaches who were "willing" to participate, and we don't know if others from Pac-12 declined.

Former Cal coach Sonny Dykes, now at SMU, also has a vote.

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Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

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