USATSI
Georgia finished on top of the final Coaches Poll on Tuesday, a day after capturing its second consecutive College Football Playoff National Championship. After a 65-7 loss to the Bulldogs in Monday’s CFP title game, TCU finished No. 2, ahead of No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 Ohio State in the final rankings.
Alabama made its case to enter the top four with a dominant 45-20 win over Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl, but the Crimson Tide ended at No. 5 behind the College Football Playoff teams. Tennessee finished No. 6 with a 31-14 Orange Bowl win over Clemson, giving the SEC three teams in the final top six.
Perhaps the biggest winner of the final ranking besides Georgia was No. 9 Tulane, which added a second top-15 win over USC in the Cotton Bowl to finish ranked for the first time ever since 1998. Troy also edged its way into the final rankings at No. 20 following a 12-2 season under first-year coach Jon Sumrall. Pac-12 schools USC and Utah both fell out of the top 10 with losses in their bowl games.
Below are the final rankings in the Coaches Poll top 25. First-place votes are in parenthesis.
Coaches Poll top 25
Georgia (63)TCUMichiganOhio StateAlabamaTennesseePenn StateWashingtonTulaneFlorida StateUtahClemsonUSCKansas StateLSUOregonOregon StateNotre DameMississippi StateTroyUCLAPittsburghSouth CarolinaFresno StateTexas
Others receiving votes: UTSA (68), Minnesota (57), Air Force (50), Duke (47), North Carolina (35), Boise State (22), Texas Tech (13), South Alabama (9), Iowa (9), Wake Forest (6), Ohio (6),…
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