2017 college football rankings: Alabama No. 1 in preseason Coaches Poll, aaagain

The season for arguing about rankings has returned!

It’s officially poll season, folks. On Thursday afternoon, the preseason edition of the Coaches Poll was released. As we saw last season, the Alabama Crimson Tide came in first place, getting 49 first-place votes.

Rounding out the Top 5 are Ohio State at No. 2, Florida State at No. 3, USC at No. 4 and the reigning national champs, Clemson, at No. 5. Unsurprisingly, that Florida State-Alabama matchup, which has already been pegged as college football’s biggest season opener ever, is looking even bigger, given both teams’ rankings. This should hold consistent when the Associated Press preseason poll comes out later this month, too.

Take a look at the full Top 25 below. First-place votes are listed in parenthesis. Behind Alabama, Clemson had the second-most first-place votes with seven.

USC earning a No. 4 spot isn’t all too surprising, given how high the Trojans finished with their thrilling Rose Bowl win over Penn State. Clemson, Penn State, Washington, and Oklahoma are all College Football Playoff contenders, too, so Top 10 spots aren’t too surprising. Here’s the breakdown by conference, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Others receiving votes that didn’t get ranked include Washington State (99), Colorado (72), TCU (58), Boise State (49), Notre Dame (49), Texas A&M (46), Pittsburgh (45), North Carolina State (39), Oregon (37), and Northwestern (25).

Of course, none of these polls really matters until the College Football Playoff rankings come out midseason. But at the very least, this first poll coming out is a reminder that we’re getting closer and closer to real actual football being played. Until then, stay strong, friends.