College Football Preseason Poll of Top Georgia and Ohio State Coaches

NEW YORK — After ending their two-year run as national champions, the Georgia Bulldogs will open the season ranked No. 1 in the USA Today preseason coaches poll.

The Bulldogs received 46 of the 55 first-place votes from college football coaches in the poll released Monday. Preseason second-ranked Ohio State earned seven first-place votes and was followed by Oregon, Texas and Alabama in the top five.

The Associated Press preseason college football poll is scheduled to be released next Monday.

Texas and defending national champion Michigan also got a first-place vote. The Wolverines will open at No. 8 after losing coach Jim Harbaugh and quarterback J.J. McCarthy to the NFL.

The Ole Miss Rebels’ No. 6 ranking represents the program’s highest preseason ranking in the coaches’ poll since 1970. Notre Dame is No. 7, and Penn State and Florida State follow Michigan to round out the top 10.

The Southeastern Conference had nine teams in the poll, including half of the top 12, with Missouri at No. 11 and LSU at No. 12. It’s the highest starting ranking for SEC newcomer Texas since 2010 and the lowest for the Crimson Tide since 2009.

The Big Ten also had four teams in the top 10 and six overall seeded, and the Big 12 opens with five seeded teams.

Independent Notre Dame was the only team outside of the Power 4 conferences to be ranked.

National runner-up Washington just missed out on breaking into the top 25.