College football season is back! We are just a day away from the start of week 0 games, so it is time to once again publish the College Football Researchers Association preseason poll! This will be the 29th season overall that the CFRA will crown a contemporaneous national champion and the 18th 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 157th 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 for the second consecutive year in a row we had a tie at the # 2 spot! Last year, the tie was between Georgia and Ohio State, and this year, the tie is between Georgia and another Big Ten team in Oregon. Also, like last season, I am denoting each of the CFRA’s 12 currently selected CFP teams with an asterik next to their names. This season you will see the top 11 teams will earn bids based on this preseason poll but the Group of Six bid is actually deadlocked here between Boise State and Liberty, who are tied atop the list of teams also receiving votes at # 26. The playoff committee would have to decide between these two squad if both end up winning their respective conferences and end up tied like this in their poll, but we don’t have to today, so I am just going to put an asterik next to both team’s names.

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

1.  Ohio State (5)*– 263 points

2.  Georgia (3)*– 251 points

2.  Oregon (3)*– 251 points  

4.  Texas*– 218 points

5.  Indiana*– 215 points

6.  Miami-FL*- 212 points

7.  Notre Dame*– 211 points

8.  Alabama*– 175 points

9.  Texas Tech*- 163 points

10. Oklahoma*- 154 points

11. LSU*– 153 points

12. Ole Miss– 152 points

13. Southern Cal– 141 points

14. Texas A & M– 139 points

15. BYU– 112 points

16. Washington– 108 points

17. SMU– 85 points

18. Michigan– 78 points

19. Penn State– 65 points

20. Tennessee– 54 points

21. Louisville– 42 points

22. Clemson– 38 points

23. Iowa– 36 points

24. Houston– 31 points

25. Utah– 24 points

Others Receiving Votes: Liberty 21*, Boise State 21*, TCU 18, Missouri 18, NC State 15, Florida 15, Virginia 13, East Carolina 11, Arizona State 10, Kansas State 9, Western Kentucky 8, UNLV 8, James Madison 6, Minnesota 6, South Carolina 6, Old Dominion 5, Vanderbilt 5, Wisconsin 2, Nebraska 2, Memphis 2, Illinois, Oklahoma State 1

Teams Ranked Higher in CFRA than AP and Coaches Polls: Georgia (3), Indiana (5), Miami-FL (6), Alabama (8), Texas Tech (9), Southern Cal (13), Washington (16), SMU (17), Louisville (21), Clemson (22).

Teams Ranked Lower in CFRA than AP and Coaches Polls: Notre Dame (7), Ole Miss (12), Texas A &M (14), Michigan (18), Penn State (19), Iowa (23), Utah (25), Missouri (NR).

Teams Ranked Exactly the Same in All 3 Major Human Polls (AP, CFRA, and Coaches): Ohio State (1), Oregon (2).