COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KRHD) — Coaches are weighing in on "who should start where" as the college football season starts in the coaches' preseason top 25 poll released Monday, and Texas A&M landed the No. 21 spot.
Texas, Ohio State, Penn State, Georgia and Notre Dame took the top five slots. This is the first time in the history of the coaches' poll that Texas will open the season at No. 1.
The Longhorns were picked to finish first by 28 of the 67 panelist deciding the poll, who are chosen by random draw from a pool of applicants to the American Football Coaches Association showing a willingness to participate.
The SEC, with four teams ranked inside the top nine, is leading all conferences with nine teams in the poll, including No. 21 Texas A&M.
Ohio State received 20 first-place votes, with Penn State, Georgia and Clemson also being picked as the preseason No. 1.
Oregon, Alabama, LSU and Miami round out the top 10.
The Texas-Ohio State matchup headlines a massive first weekend of the college football season. In other games on Aug. 30, No. 6 Clemson hosts No. 9 LSU (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) and No. 8 Alabama visits Florida State on Aug. 30 (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC).
On Aug. 31, the No. 10 Hurricanes face the No. 5 Fighting Irish (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC).
The Big Ten placed six teams (No. 12 Illinois, No. 14 Michigan, No. 19 Indiana), while the Big 12 has five representatives (No. 11 Arizona State, No. 20 Kansas State, No. 21 Iowa State, No. 23 BYU and No. 24 Texas Tech).
No. 16 SMU was the only other team from the ACC to join Clemson and Miami.
The only Group of 5 team to be ranked to start the season is No. 25 Boise State.
The Associate Press will release its preseason rankings on Aug. 11.
