Oklahoma Sooners football ranked No. 8 in Preseason Coaches Poll

The first Amway Coaches Poll of the season was released today. The Oklahoma Sooners came in at No. 8 just behind Washington and ahead of Michigan. The Coaches Poll is a weekly poll taken of 65 D1 head coaches including Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley. The voting for teams ranked No. 6-8 was the closest of any three-team block in the entire poll, as Penn State finished with 1257 votes, Washington with 1245 and the Sooners with 1237.

Four other Big 12 teams cracked the top 25 with Oklahoma State at No. 12, Kansas State at No. 19, West Virginia at No. 20 and Texas at No. 23.

Here is the the preseason top 25 in its entirety:

1. Alabama (49)
2. Ohio State (5)
3. Florida State (4)
4. Southern California
5. Clemson (7)
6. Penn State
7. Washington
8. Oklahoma
9. Michigan
10. Wisconsin
11. Oklahoma State
12. Louisiana State
13. Auburn
14. Stanford
15. Georgia
16. Florida
17. Louisville
18. Miami
19. Kansas State
20. West Virginia
21. South Florida
22. Virginia Tech
23. Texas
24. Tennessee
25. Utah

My instant reaction is that the Sooners are underrated. They finished last season ranked third in the Coaches Poll, and I expect the Sooners to be better than they were last year. I guess I can also see why some would overreact to OU with Bob Stoops’ departure. Preseason polls are fun for fans, but any coach will tell you that they’re meaningless. The Sooners will have a chance to skyrocket up the polls and gain respect in a hurry if they can go into Columbus and beat Ohio State on September 9.