Aug. 4, 2011 - preseason poll
Rank	Team (first-place votes)	2010 record	Points	Final 2010 ranking
1.	Oklahoma (42)	12-2	1,454	6
2.	Alabama (13)	10-3	1,414	11
3.	Oregon (2)	12-1	1,309	3
4.	LSU (2)	11-2	1,296	8t
5.	Florida State	10-4	1,116	16
6.	Stanford	12-1	1,101	4
7.	Boise State	12-1	1,065	7
8.	Oklahoma State	11-2	933	10
9.	Texas A&M	9-4	885	21
10.	Wisconsin	11-2	829	8t
11.	Nebraska	10-4	814	19
12.	South Carolina	9-5	779	22
13.	Virginia Tech	11-3	767	15
14.	Arkansas	10-3	750	12
15.	TCU	13-0	687	2
16.	Ohio State	12-1	631	5
17.	Michigan State	11-2	536	14
18.	Notre Dame	8-5	440	NR
19.	Auburn	14-0	329	1
20.	Mississippi State	9-4	301	17
21.	Missouri	10-3	266	18
22.	Georgia	6-7	260	NR
23.	Florida	8-5	240	NR
24.	Texas	5-7	162	NR
25.	Penn State	7-6	161	NR
Others receiving votes
Arizona State (6-6) 158; West Virginia (9-4) 149; Utah (10-3) 50; Miami (Fla.) (7-6) 49; Iowa (8-5) 41; Northwestern (7-6) 30; Arizona (7-6) 28; Central Florida (11-3) 22; Michigan (7-6) 19; Air Force (9-4) 15; North Carolina (8-5) 14; Houston (5-7) 13; South Florida (8-5) 9; Hawaii (10-4) 8; Clemson (6-7) 7; Tennessee (6-7) 7; Southern Miss (8-5) 6; Brigham Young (7-6) 5; North Carolina State (9-4) 4; Northern Illinois (11-3) 4; Oregon State (5-7) 4; Pittsburgh (8-5) 3; Washington (7-6) 3; Georgia Tech (6-7) 1; Nevada (13-1) 1.
The USA TODAY Board of Coaches is made up of 59 head coaches at Bowl Subdivision schools. All are members of the American Football Coaches Association. The board for the 2011 season: Gary Andersen, Utah State; David Bailiff, Rice; Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech; Tim Beckman, Toledo; Todd Berry, Louisiana-Monroe; Bret Bielema, Wisconsin; Art Briles, Baylor; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Gene Chizik, Auburn; Dave Christensen, Wyoming; Dave Clawson, Bowling Green; David Cutcliffe, Duke; Mark Dantonio, Michigan State; Sonny Dykes, Louisiana Tech; Jon Embree, Colorado; Larry Fedora, Southern Miss; James Franklin, Vanderbilt; Al Golden, Miami (Fla.), Jim Grobe, Wake Forest; Pat Hill, Fresno State; Brady Hoke, Michigan; John "Doc" Holliday, Marshall; Skip Holtz, South Florida; Mark Hudspeth, Louisiana-Lafayette; Rob Ianello, Akron; Pete Lembo, Ball State; Mike London, Virginia; Rocky Long, San Diego State; Dan McCarney, North Texas; Mike MacIntyre, San Jose State; Doug Marrone, Syracuse; Bronco Mendenhall, Brigham Young; Les Miles, LSU; Ken Niumatalolo, Navy; Tom O'Brien, N.C. State; Bo Pelini, Nebraska; Chris Petersen, Boise State; Gary Pinkel, Missouri; Larry Porter, Memphis; Jeff Quinn, Buffalo; Paul Rhoads, Iowa State; Mark Richt, Georgia; Mike Riley, Oregon State; Nick Saban, Alabama; Greg Schiano, Rutgers; David Shaw, Stanford; Frank Solich, Ohio; Steve Spurrier, South Carolina; Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee; Bob Stoops, Oklahoma; Charlie Strong, Louisville; Kevin Sumlin, Houston; Jeff Tedford, California; Bob Toledo, Tulane; Tommy Tuberville, Texas Tech; Kyle Whittingham, Utah; Kevin Wilson, Indiana; Paul Wulff, Washington State; Ron Zook, Illinois. Because it is serving an NCAA-imposed bowl ban, Southern California is not eligible to receive votes this season under AFCA policy.