The Tigers drew a No. 6 ranking in the Amway USA Today coaches Top 25 preseason poll after finishing 17th previous year at 9-3. Alabama topped 55 of the ballots while the Tigers received seven No. 1 nods.
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Perhaps the most surprising vote of note was Tennessee’s lone first-place vote.
Spots 11-15 were held down by Michigan State (the only one of last year’s final four not to be in the top 5), Mississippi, Houston, TCU and Iowa.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will start the season ranked as the #9 team in the country in the new Amway Coaches Poll.
Ole Miss, Georgia, and Florida are the only other teams from the conference that are represented in the poll. Ohio State opened the 2015 season as the No. 1 team with 62 of the 64 first place votes. The last time was October 29, 2006. The Pac-12 has five top-25 squads, with one, No. 7 Stanford, beginning in the top 10.
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► Clemson earns its highest-preseason ranking ever in the coaches poll, six places better than its previous best (2013). Nobody at the time could have predicted that it would knock them out of the Top 10 for the next 10 years.
