Which teams are overrated or underrated in new preseason college football Coaches Poll?

That arguing this offseason has mostly centered on the fight for supremacy between the SEC and Big Ten Conferences, thanks to the Indiana Hoosiers winning the National Championship and closing out an undefeated 16-0 season.That was just a few months after Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said undefeated teams were a thing of the past in the NIL era.But 2026 is a new season, and thanks to the transfer portal and NIL, it's harder than ever to gauge the strength of a team or roster from year to year.

This upcoming season might be even harder than most, considering the turnover among coaches at top-tier programs.COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS FINALLY BACK AFTER MONTHS OF NCAA LAWSUITS, NIL DRAMA AND CONGRESSIONAL FIGHTSLSU new head coach Lane Kiffin speaks at South Stadium Club at Tiger Stadium on Dec.1, 2025.

(Matthew Hinton/Imagn Images)The Florida Gators have a new head coach in Jon Sumrall.Lane Kiffin fled Ole Miss for the LSU Tigers, while Pete Golding took over in Oxford.

Auburn hired Alex Golesh from USF.Penn State replaced James Franklin with Matt Campbell.

Kyle Whittingham left his longtime home at Utah to run a Michigan Wolverines program beset by turmoil after the departure of Sherrone Moore.Morgan Scalley is the new head coach in Salt Lake, while UCLA brought in Bob Chesney to try and revitalize the program.So how did the coaches, or more accurately, the staffers who actually do the voting in the poll, do in evaluating all of these changes heading into 2026?The short answer? Not too bad, actually.To evaluate it, we can compare it against a potentially less biased source: analytics-driven ranking systems.

These polls, which rely on efficiency numbers on offense, defense, and special teams, adjusted for opponent, are often a better indication of a team's underlying quality.Though it's up to human voters to weigh the importance of wins and losses, relative to how a team played.THREE TEAMS RANKED OUTSIDE THE TOP-12 OF THE COACHES POLL WHO WILL MAKE THE COLLEGE FOOTBA...