College football season is back! We are less than week away from the Week 0 slate of games so it is time to once again publish the College Football Researchers Association preseason poll! This will be the 27th season overall that the CFRA will crown a contemporaneous national champion and the 16th consecutive since the re-emergence of the poll in 2009.  The history of this poll there may not seem overwhelmingly vast but keep in mind that when you include all of the retrospective champions we’ve elected, this season’s champion will be the 155th in poll history which is more than any other multi-voter, NCAA-recognized poll in the country.

One interesting aspect of this year’s preseason polls is that the AP poll, Coaches poll, and CFRA poll all have the same ranking of the top six teams in the nation. Clearly, there is quite a bit of consensus on how the top tier of college football looks to start this season. Also, with the advent of the 12 team playoff, I am adding a feature to this poll where each team that has currently been selected by the CFRA to participate in the playoffs is denoted with an asterik.

Without further ado, here is this year’s preseason poll.

1.  Georgia (7)*– 295 points

2.  Ohio State (2)*– 284 points

3.  Oregon (1)*– 262 points  

4.  Texas*– 257 points

5.  Alabama*– 247 points

6.  Ole Miss*- 225 points

7.  Michigan (2)*– 214 points

8.  Penn State*– 207 points

9.  Notre Dame*- 184 points

10. Missouri- 178 points

11. Florida State*– 175 points

12. Utah*– 159 points

13. Clemson– 158 points

14. LSU– 143 points

15. Tennessee– 132 points

16. Oklahoma– 110 points

17. Oklahoma State– 100 points

18. Kansas State– 86 points

19. Texas A & M– 82 points

20. Kansas– 61 points

20. Miami-FL– 61 points

22. Southern California– 60 points

23. NC State– 54 points

24. Iowa– 37 points

25. Liberty*– 17 points

Others Receiving Votes: Oregon State 14, Kentucky 13, Virginia Tech 13, Arizona 11, Boise State 10, Memphis 8, Iowa State 7, Louisville 6, Nebraska 5, Auburn 5, South Carolina 5, SMU 5, Wisconsin 4, Washington 3, West Virginia 2, Rutgers 1

Teams Ranked Higher in CFRA than AP and Coaches Polls: Michigan (7), Missouri (10), Clemson (13), Texas A & M (19), Kansas (20), Southern California (22), Iowa (24), Liberty (25).

Teams Ranked Lower in CFRA than AP and Coaches Polls: Notre Dame (9), Florida State (11), LSU (14), Miami-FL (20), Arizona (NR).

Teams Ranked Exactly the Same in All 3 Major Human Polls (AP, CFRA, and Coaches): Georgia (1), Ohio State (2), Oregon (3), Texas (4), Alabama (5), Ole Miss (6), Tennessee (15), Oklahoma (16).