The first major pre-season poll leading to the football season is out, and the voting college football coaches ranked Clemson #1 ahead of Ohio State, Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia and LSU. The Tigers received 38 of the 65 first place votes. Ohio State received 17 of the votes, LSU 6 and Alabama 4. Two Clemson opponents are in the top 25, #10 Notre Dame and #24 Virginia Tech. Based on its original schedule, USC has four ranked opponents…#4 Georgia, #5 LSU, #8 Florida and #13 Texas A&M. Clemson, of course, would have been a 5th ranked opponent.
Coaches pre-season top 25
| Rank | Team | Record | PTS | 1st | Prev | Chg | Hi/Lo |
| 1 | Clemson | 0-0 | 1589 | 38 | NR | — | 1/1 |
| 2 | Ohio State | 0-0 | 1555 | 17 | NR | — | 2/2 |
| 3 | Alabama | 0-0 | 1495 | 4 | NR | — | 3/3 |
| 4 | Georgia | 0-0 | 1345 | 0 | NR | — | 4/4 |
| 5 | Louisiana State | 0-0 | 1330 | 6 | NR | — | 5/5 |
| 6 | Oklahoma | 0-0 | 1315 | 0 | NR | — | 6/6 |
| 7 | Penn State | 0-0 | 1199 | 0 | NR | — | 7/7 |
| 8 | Florida | 0-0 | 1176 | 0 | NR | — | 8/8 |
| 9 | Oregon | 0-0 | 1164 | 0 | NR | — | 9/9 |
| 10 | Notre Dame | 0-0 | 1012 | 0 | NR | — | 10/10 |
| 11 | Auburn | 0-0 | 898 | 0 | NR | — | 11/11 |
| 12 | Wisconsin | 0-0 | 887 | 0 | NR | — | 12/12 |
| 13 | Texas A&M | 0-0 | 807 | 0 | NR | — | 13/13 |
| 14 | Texas | 0-0 | 703 | 0 | NR | — | 14/14 |
| 15 | Michigan | 0-0 | 687 | 0 | NR | — | 15/15 |
| 16 | Oklahoma State | 0-0 | 524 | 0 | NR | — | 16/16 |
| 17 | Southern California | 0-0 | 521 | 0 | NR | — | 17/17 |
| 18 | Minnesota | 0-0 | 494 | 0 | NR | — | 18/18 |
| 19 | North Carolina | 0-0 | 415 | 0 | NR | — | 19/19 |
| 20 | Utah | 0-0 | 241 | 0 | NR | — | 20/20 |
| 21 | Central Florida | 0-0 | 232 | 0 | NR | — | 21/21 |
| 22 | Cincinnati | 0-0 | 229 | 0 | NR | — | 22/22 |
| 23 | Iowa | 0-0 | 204 | 0 | NR | — | 23/23 |
| 24 | Virginia Tech | 0-0 | 143 | 0 | NR | — | 24/24 |
| 25 | Iowa State | 0-0 | 135 | 0 | NR | — | 25/25 |
