Urban Meyer’s brethren in the coaching profession made it official Friday – they believe the Gators will make a run at a third national championship since the 2006 season.
Receiving 53 of a possible 59 first-place votes, the Gators, who won the BCS National Championship with a 24-14 victory over Oklahoma last January, were a runaway choice with 1,466 points in the poll conducted of Football Bowls Subdivision coaches by the American Football Coaches Association.
The coaches believe the Gators’ opponent in this season’s BCS National Championship Game at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 7 will be the Texas Longhorns, who garnered four first-place votes and totaled 1,386 points.
The Sooners, who lost to Texas in the regular season but managed to win the Big 12 Championship, received a first-place vote and totaled 1,358 points for third place. The other first-place ballot that didn’t go to the Gators was picked up by Southern California, which managed 1,321 points. Alabama, No. 1 for most of last season before losing to Florida in the SEC Championship Game, finished fifth.
Nos. 6-10 were Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Penn State and Florida’s fellow SEC schools, No. 9 Louisiana State and No. 10 Mississippi.
Nos. 11-20 were Oklahoma State at No. 11, California 12th, Georgia 13th, Oregon 14th and Georgia Tech 15th. Boise State was 16th, Texas Christian 17th, Utah 18th, Florida State 19th and North Carolina 20th.
The final five schools in the preseason poll are Iowa (No. 21), Nebraska (No. 22), Notre Dame (No. 23), Brigham Young (No. 24) and Oregon State (No. 25).
The SEC led the Top 25 with five teams, with four in the top 10 and Georgia at No. 13.
The Big 12, ACC and Pac-10 each had four teams in the poll, and the Big Ten and Mountain West each had three.
Boise State of the WAC, at No. 16, was the highest-ranked non-BCS school in the Top 25.
The Associated Press preseason Top 25 will be released Aug. 22.
For a look at the USA TODAY poll, click below:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankings?pollId=2&seasonYear=2009