The preseason USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll Top 25 with team’s records FROM LAST SEASON in parentheses, total points based on 25 for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in last year’s final poll and first-place votes received:
| Record | Pts | Pvs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Alabama (63) | 13-0 | 1621 | 1 |
| 2. Clemson | 10-2 | 1508 | 3 |
| 3. Oklahoma (2) | 9-2 | 1481 | 6 |
| 4. Ohio State | 7-1 | 1435 | 2 |
| 5. Georgia | 8-2 | 1386 | 7 |
| 6. Texas A&M | 9-1 | 1286 | 4 |
| 7. Notre Dame | 10-2 | 1139 | 5 |
| 8. Iowa State | 9-3 | 1131 | 9 |
| 9. North Carolina | 8-4 | 999 | 17 |
| 10. Cincinnati | 9-1 | 979 | 8 |
| 11. Florida | 8-4 | 870 | 12 |
| 12. Oregon | 4-3 | 842 | NR |
| 13. LSU | 5-5 | 664 | NR |
| 14. Southern California | 5-1 | 655 | 21 |
| 15. Wisconsin | 4-3 | 654 | NR |
| 16. Miami (FL) | 8-3 | 575 | 22 |
| 17. Indiana | 6-2 | 573 | 13 |
| 18. Iowa | 6-2 | 554 | 15 |
| 19. Texas | 7-3 | 427 | 20 |
| 20. Penn State | 4-5 | 422 | NR |
| 21. Washington | 3-1 | 404 | NR |
| 22. Oklahoma State | 8-3 | 216 | 19 |
| 23. Louisiana-Lafayette | 10-1 | 153 | 16 |
| 24. Coastal Carolins | 11-1 | 150 | 14 |
| 25. Mississippi | 5-5 | 149 | NR |
Dropped out: No. 10 Northwestern (7-2); No. 11 Brigham Young (11-1); No. 18 Liberty (10-1); No. 23 Ball State (7-1); No. 24 San Jose State (7-1); No. 25 Buffalo (6-1).
Others receiving votes: Utah (3-2) 145; Northwestern (7-2) 120; Arizona State (2-2) 90; Auburn (6-5) 84; Liberty (10-1) 68; Brigham Young (11-1) 53; TCU (6-4) 48; Michigan (2-4) 30; Central Florida (6-4) 29; Boise State (5-2) 27; North Carolina State (8-4) 27; Kentucky (5-6) 20; San Jose State (7-1) 18; Army (9-3) 13; Virginia Tech (5-6) 9; Missouri (5-5) 8; UCLA (3-4) 7; Boston College (6-5) 6; Pittsburgh (6-5) 6; Tulsa (6-3) 6; Ball State (7-1) 5; Houston (3-5) 5; Appalachian State (9-3) 4; SMU (7-3) 4; West Virginia (6-4) 4; Alabama-Birmingham (6-3) 3; Arkansas (3-7) 3; Air Force (3-3) 2; Mississippi State (4-7) 2; Nevada (7-2) 2; California (1-3) 1; Florida State (3-6) 1; Marshall (7-3) 1; Stanford (4-2) 1.
The USA TODAY Sports AFCA Board of Coaches is made up of 65 head coaches at Football Bowl Subdivision schools. All are members of the American Football Coaches Association.
The board 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.
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