Coaches Poll top 25: Texas, Ohio State lead preseason college football rankings

The votes are in for the Coaches Poll top 25, our first official look at the 2025 preseason college football rankings looking ahead to a historic year.

SEC and Big Ten teams dominate the Coaches Poll top 25 college football rankings heading into the 2025 kickoff. | USA Today Sports | Imagn

A major moment on the preseason calendar has arrived as the Coaches Poll top 25 preseason college football rankings have been voted on and revealed with less than a month to go before a historic 2025 kickoff heading into the second year of the expanded playoff.

Voters were very evenly split as to who the No. 1 team in college football is this preseason, but Texas ultimately pulled away by earning eight more first-place votes than Ohio State, which itself got just six more than consensus third-place team Penn State.

All eyes are on the SEC and the Big Ten after those conferences put themselves definitively in the lead for the national championship picture, and it’s those leagues that dominate the preseason poll heading into 2024. Here are the first rankings, according to the coaches.

Coaches Poll top 25 football rankings

First-place votes in parentheses

1. Texas (28)
2. Ohio State (20)
3. Penn State (14)
4. Georgia (3)
5. Notre Dame
6. Clemson (2)
7. Oregon
8. Alabama
9. LSU
10. Miami
11. Arizona State
12. Illinois
13. South Carolina
14. Michigan
15. Ole Miss
16. SMU
17. Florida
18. Tennessee
19. Indiana
20. Kansas State
21. Texas A&M
22. Iowa State
23. BYU
24. Texas Tech
25. Boise State

How did we do? Our Coaches Poll prediction

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Other teams receiving votes

Oklahoma 221; Missouri 142; Louisville 126; USC 116; Utah 86; Baylor 76; Auburn 50

Iowa 49; Memphis 34; Army West Point 33; Tulane 31; Georgia Tech 27; TCU 24

Nebraska 19; Syracuse 16; Washington 15; Navy 14; Arkansas 14; Duke 12

Colorado 12; Minnesota 11; UNLV 8; Florida State 8; Kansas 6; Vanderbilt 3; Buffalo 1.

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More: ESPN top 25 rankings | Phil Steele’s AP poll

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Coaches Poll top 25 need to know

1 vs. 2? Texas and Ohio State are the first- and second-ranked teams in the first Coaches Poll, and if that result repeats in the AP rankings, we’ll see our first 1 vs. 2 game in college football since 2022, when the Longhorns and Buckeyes meet in Columbus in Week 1.

Hook ‘em: For the first time ever, Texas debuted as the No. 1 team in the Coaches Poll. That marks the first time the school ever opened at the top of either major preseason rankings, the previous highest being at No. 2 in the AP preseason poll.

S-E-C. As expected, the SEC leads the way among teams represented in the first Coaches Poll, with nine schools featured in the initial preseason football rankings, including two of the top five and four of the top 10.

B1G. In second place, the Big Ten had six of its member schools featured in the preseason poll, including two of the top three and four of the top 10.

No. 1 teams. Being ranked No. 1 in the preseason may feel good, but it has rarely produced a national champion over the last decade. Alabama stands alone in 2017 as the only preseason No. 1 team to hoist the trophy at season’s end since 2015.

But... Five of those initial No. 1 teams earned a place in the National Championship Game in their respective seasons. Sure, Alabama was four of those teams, and Clemson the fifth, but there is precedent to make it to the final game, especially in an expanded playoff field.

Unranked teams. Four of last season’s 12 College Football Playoff teams were unranked in the preseason Coaches Poll: SMU, Boise State, Arizona State, and Indiana, all of whom are in the early 2025 rankings, so there’s plenty of room for surprises in the future.

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How the Coaches Poll is created

Starting in early August with their preseason poll, the coaches rank the 25 best teams in college football every week during the season, and release a poll after the bowl season and following the College Football Playoff.

Coaches are selected at random by a draw from a pool of candidates who have told the American Football Coaches Association that they are willing to take part in the poll.

Every week following Saturday games, coaches submit a top 25 ranking with a first-place vote worth 25 points, the second-place team 24 votes, until they award a single point to the 25th best team in the country, in their view.

No. 1 team: 25 points

No. 2 team: 24

No. 3 team: 23

No. 4 team: 22

No. 5 team: 21

No. 6 team: 20

No. 7 team: 19

No. 8 team: 18

No. 9 team: 17

No. 10 team: 16

No. 11 team: 15

No. 12 team: 14

No. 13 team: 13

No. 14 team: 12

No. 15 team: 11

No. 16 team: 10

No. 17 team: 9

No. 18 team: 8

No. 19 team: 7

No. 20 team: 6

No. 21 team: 5

No. 22 team: 4

No. 23 team: 3

No. 24 team: 2

No. 1 team: 1

All the votes are then combined by the numerical value of each voter’s poll and the teams are ranked by their number of points in descending order to create the final rankings.

Coaches do not have to vote the College Football Playoff winner as their national champion, but so far the two polls have agreed on the winner so far every season.

At season’s end, the Coaches’ Trophy is awarded to the national champion.

More ... When the AP top 25 rankings come out

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