The Miami Hurricanes begin this season where they ended the last one, ranked No. 1 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll, one of the two polls used by the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) formula to determine the two teams that play for the national championship.

Top 25 polls

Texas, Oklahoma, Florida State and Tennessee followed the Hurricanes to round out the top five. The Big Ten and SEC each had five teams in the Top 25, but the Big 12 had four in the Top 10.