USA Today Preseason College Football Coaches Poll

USA Today

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Jim Quist @ACCTheQ –

Who do college football coaches think are the best 25 teams in the nation? The 2021 Preseason USA Today Coaches Poll is out and the top 5 teams shouldn’t be too hard to guess. But, where do ACC Nation teams stand? Three conference squads hit the poll plus Notre Dame. There are five teams picking up enough early votes to qualify for the Receiving Votes (RV) category and that may be where you’ll want to focus your attention. Why? Four of those five are considered middle-of-the-pack teams that have a great deal of talent and potential. These are the teams most likely to surge into the Top 25 with good early season performances. How do our early ACC Nation picks stack up against the coaches?

When it comes to those top 5 teams we’re likely to see a shuffle following the first week of play. With Clemson and Georgia kicking off their seasons against each other one of those two teams can only escape dropping in the poll by keeping the final score razor thin. That appears to be the running line among a consensus of 6 sites as the Tigers are a 3.5 point favorite.

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Just who are the top 5 teams in college football according to the coaches?

  • #1 Alabama
  • #2 Clemson
  • #3 Oklahoma
  • #4 Ohio State
  • #5 Georgia

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Which ACC Nation teams made the final cut?

  • #7 Notre Dame
  • #9 North Carolina
  • #16 Miami

Notre Dame opens their season on September 5 in Tallahassee facing off with a team re-building under head coach Mike Norvell. The Seminoles aren’t quite ready to be giant-slayers but they have enough talent and experience to give the Irish a ‘Dadgummit’ (in a tip of the hat to Bobby Bowden) hard time.

North Carolina opens their season on September 3 (Friday) against a rejuvenated Hokies squad under head coach Justin Fuente. If you’re looking for Coastal Chaos you couldn’t ask for any better way to kick-off the season. Expect Lane Stadium to be rocking to ‘Enter Sandman’ to welcome in the Tar Heels.

Miami has the unenviable task of facing the No. 1 ranked Crimson Tide for their opener in Atlanta on September 4. The Canes want to protect that early season vote of confidence that the coaches have bestowed upon them in the rankings. It’s an uphill battle but certainly not completely out of the question that the Canes can keep it close. Can they sneak away with a thrilling upset? At the moment Miami is a significant underdog. We’ll find out in a couple of weeks.

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Let’s talk about the teams in the RV category of the preseason poll. As previously mentioned there are five teams receiving votes.

  • Receiving Votes
  • #35 NC State
  • #40 Virginia Tech
  • #44 Pitt
  • #45 Boston College
  • #58 Florida State

Not to downplay the efforts of Mike Norvell or how far the team has come since he took over but receiving one vote in this poll isn’t a major achievement. The Seminoles will have lots to deal with in their opener and plenty of challenging games on their schedule. Wrapping a season in the .500 plus bracket will be a successful season from my perspective. Next year will be far more exciting.

NC State is loaded with talent top to bottom. It shouldn’t be any surprise to those keeping an eye on Dave Doeren’s team that this will be an exciting year. How they perform against Mississippi State on the road in their second game will be a tell. Having Clemson as the final game in September is their first big challenge and fortunately they’ll have them in Raleigh.

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Virginia Tech has an opportunity to surge into the Top 25 and declare that they are back with a win over North Carolina in their opener. A bad showing will rattle the faithful and have Hank Hill delivering propane and propane accessories to fans who want to put Fuente on a hot seat. The Hokies have the tools. Putting them to good use is the challenge.

Pitt has a schedule that Pat Narduzzi must feel pretty comfortable with though being at Tennessee could be a stumbling block. Again, this is a team that is loaded and fans are buzzing about the possibilities. Things begin to get interesting in October for the Panthers as they start off with the two Tech’s before entertaining Clemson and Miami at home. Lots and lots of possibilities.

Let’s talk about Boston College. This is a team that our staff feels is grossly underrated. In fact, we picked the Eagles to be among the top 5 in our preseason poll. They’ll get their first challenge from Missouri at the end of September at home. Then the challenge begins with Clemson on the road and NC State at home. This is a grind out the win type of team and they appear to be hungry.

It’s the preseason USA Today Coaches Poll and there’s plenty of games that will change those numbers starting with week one. Hang on, it’s about to get real.