By Blake Froling
Now that fall practice is starting and we’re less than a month away from real, live college football, it’s time to get riled up by preseason polls.
The Amway Coaches Poll was released Thursday afternoon and featured the usual suspects — Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State — at the top. Michigan State was voted No. 12 and Michigan came in two spots behind at No. 14.
The Spartans and Wolverines were two of the five Big Ten teams selected in the top 15, along with Ohio State (3), Wisconsin (7) and Penn State (9). Northwestern also received votes.
Looking ahead, Michigan State will play three ranked opponents this season and Michigan will face five, including the season opener in South Bend against No. 11 Notre Dame.
The Big Ten, SEC and Big 12 each had five teams voted into the poll, while the ACC had four and the PAC-12 had three. University of Central Florida, the self-proclaimed “national champions,” were ranked No. 23.
| RK | TEAM | REC | PTS | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Alabama(61) |
0-0 | 1621 | |||
| 2 |  Clemson(3) |
0-0 | 1547 | — | — | |
| 3 |  Ohio State(1) |
0-0 | 1458 | — | — | |
| 4 |  Georgia |
0-0 | 1452 | — | — | |
| 5 |  Oklahoma |
0-0 | 1288 | — | — | |
| 6 |  Washington |
0-0 | 1245 | — | ||
| 7 |  Wisconsin |
0-0 | 1243 | |||
| 8 |  Miami |
0-0 | ||||
| 9 |  Penn State |
0-0 | 1050 | |||
| 10 |  Auburn |
0-0 | 1004 | |||
| 11 |  Notre Dame |
0-0 | 892 | |||
| 12 |  Michigan State |
0-0 | ||||
| 13 |  Stanford |
0-0 | 768 | |||
| 14 |  Michigan |
0-0 | 752 | |||
| 15 |  USC |
0-0 | 691 | |||
| 16 |  TCU |
0-0 | 530 | |||
| 17 |  Virginia Tech |
0-0 | 524 | |||
| 18 |  Mississippi State |
0-0 | 407 | |||
| 19 |  Florida State |
0-0 | 328 | |||
| 20 |  West Virginia |
0-0 | 310 | |||
| 21 |  Texas |
0-0 | 265 | |||
| 22 |  Boise State |
0-0 | 261 | |||
| 23 |  UCF |
0-0 | 259 | |||
| 24 |  LSU |
0-0 | 254 | |||
| 25 |  Oklahoma State |
0-0 | 168 |
Others receiving votes: South Carolina 138, Florida 135, Oregon 105, Utah 81, Texas A&M 67, Northwestern 67, Kansas State 35, Florida Atlantic 27, Memphis 23, Boston College 23, NC State 22, Arkansas State 19, Troy 19, Appalachian State 16, San Diego State 15, Kentucky 8, Iowa State 8, Iowa 8, Washington State 7, South Florida 6, Duke 5, Fresno State 4, Louisville 3, Arizona 2, Houston 2, Army 1, Northern Illinois 1
Photo by Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images