Nothing says college football is upon us like the initial releases of the preseason college football top 25 polls, and one of the biggest ones is now officially out.
The Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports has just released its preseason top 25 poll and Ohio State checks in at No. 5. Compared to all the other preseason predictions and prognostications from various media sites and publications, that’s a little higher than expected.
But not without good reason.
Ohio State returns a ton of experience and talent on the defensive side of the ball despite some struggles last year. The thought is that an extra year of seasoning inside a new scheme will result in a much improved unit.
In addition to that, the offense returns a dynamic two-straight season 1,000 plus yard rusher in J.K. Dobbins, and a talented and deep receiving corps. Add that to the highest rated quarterback to ever call signals under center in Columbus, and the pieces are there to make some noise yet again in 2019.
Yeah, Urban Meyer is gone, but the cupboard is far from bare, and people are about to find out that Ryan Day is a rising star in the profession.
Ahead of Ohio State in the Amway Coaches Poll are Clemson (1), Alabama (2), Georgia (3), and Oklahoma (4). It’s the first time the top five teams remained the same from the end of the season to the next preseason in the poll (albeit in a different order) since 1992. Rounding out the top ten are LSU (6), Michigan (7), Florida (8), Notre Dame (9), and Texas (10).
As far as the Big Ten goes, it has seven ranked teams with Penn State (14), Wisconsin (17), Iowa (18), Michigan State (19), and Northwestern (25) all represented as well.
Here are the complete rankings of all the teams in the initial preseason Amway Coaches Poll:
1 Clemson
2 Alabama
3 Georgia
4 Oklahoma
5 Ohio State
6 LSU
7 Michigan
8 Florida
9 Notre Dame
10 Texas
11 Texas A&M
12 Washington
13 Oregon
14 Penn State
15 Utah
16 Auburn
17 Central Florida
17 Wisconsin
19 Iowa
20 Michigan State
21 Washington State
22 Syracuse
23 Stanford
24 Iowa State
25 Northwestern
