Alabama tops college football preseason coaches poll

Alabama sits atop the preseason USA Today coaches poll, with Ohio State second and defending national champion Georgia third.

The big picture: This marks the seventh time in 13 years that the Crimson Tide will begin the season at No. 1 in the coaches poll.

• Alabama garnered 54 of 66 first-place votes, followed by No. 3 Georgia (six), No. 2 Ohio State (five) and ... No. 18 Texas (one).
• No. 8 Utah, coming off its first Pac-12 title, has its highest-ever starting point in the coaches poll.

Conference call: The SEC leads the way with six ranked teams, followed by the ACC (five), Big Ten (four), Big 12 (four), Pac-12 (three), American (two) and independent (Notre Dame).

How it works: Each member of the randomly-selected panel of FBS coaches submits a Top 25 each week with a first-place vote worth 25 points, second place worth 24 and so on down to one point for 25th.

Looking ahead: The AP poll comes out next week, and the season kicks off in 18 days (Aug. 27).