Oklahoma's spot in preseason college football Coaches Poll might surprise you

NORMAN — OU football is entering a season filled with high expectations.

The Sooners, coming off a 10-2 season which culminated with a loss to Alabama in the College Football Playoff, were ranked ninth in the US LBM Coaches Poll released Tuesday.

OU was one of nine SEC teams included in the poll. The Sooners were ranked behind No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Texas, No. 8 Texas A&M and ahead of No. 10 Mississippi, No. 11 Alabama, No. 13 LSU, No. 18 Tennessee and No. 25 Missouri.

OU was picked to finish seventh in the SEC in the conference's media poll but the fourth-highest team in the league in the coaches' poll.

The Sooners were not ranked in the preseason coaches poll last season, a first for the program since 1999.

More: Where does OU football Palace on the Prairie rank among SEC stadiums?

US LBM Coaches Poll top 25

(2025 record in parenthesis)

1. Ohio State (12-2)
2. Oregon (13-2)
3. Georgia (12-2)
4. Texas (10-3)
5. Notre Dame (10-2)
6. Indiana (16-0)
7. Miami (13-3)
8. Texas A&M (11-2)
9. Oklahoma (10-3)
10. Mississippi (13-2)
11. Alabama (11-4)
12. Texas Tech (12-2)
13. LSU (7-6)
14. USC (9-4)
15. BYU (12-2)
16. Michigan (9-4)
17. Penn State (7-6)
18. Tennessee (8-5)
19. Washington (9-4)
20. SMU (9-4)
21. Utah (11-2)
22. Iowa (9-4)
23. Clemson (7-6)
24. Houston (10-3)
25. Missouri (8-5)

Dropped out: No. 15 Vanderbilt (10-3); No. 16 Virginia (11-3); No. 18 Tulane (11-3); No. 20 James Madison (12-2); No. 23 Navy (11-2); No. 24 Georgia Tech (9-4); No. 25 Illinois (9-4). 

Others receiving votes: Louisville (9-4) 153; Florida (4-8) 147; TCU (9-4) 63; Illinois (9-4) 62; Arizona (9-4) 50; South Carolina (4-8) 50; Virginia (11-3) 40; Vanderbilt (10-3) 37; Auburn (5-7) 29; Georgia Tech (9-4) 26; Boise State (9-5) 24; Oklahoma State (1-11) 22; UNLV (10-4) 17; Florida State (5-7) 13; North Carolina State (8-5) 13; Nebraska (7-6) 12; Virginia Tech (3-9) 12; Memphis (8-5) 9; Arizona State (8-5) 8; Duke (9-5) 6; James Madison (12-2) 6; New Mexico (9-4) 4; Pittsburgh (8-5) 4; Navy (11-2) 3; Western Michigan (10-4) 3; San Diego State (9-4) 2; California (7-6) 1; Hawaii (9-4) 1; Jacksonville State (9-5) 1; Kansas State (6-6) 1. 

The US LBM Board of Coaches for the 2026 season: Tim Albin, Charlotte; Blake Anderson, Southern Mississippi; Dave Aranda, Baylor; David Braun, Northwestern; Jeff Brohm, Louisville; Fran Brown, Syracuse; Neal Brown, North Texas; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Jamey Chadwell, Liberty; Curt Cignetti, Indiana; Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech; Spencer Danielson, Boise State; Ryan Day, Ohio State; Kalen DeBoer, Alabama; Manny Diaz, Duke; Jake Dickert, Wake Forest; Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri; Sonny Dykes, TCU; Jason Eck, New Mexico; Mike Elko, Texas A&M; Tony Elliott, Virginia; Matt Entz, Fresno State; Jedd Fisch, Washington; James Franklin, Virginia Tech; Willie Fritz, Houston; Scott Frost, Central Florida; Tony Gibson, Marshall; Alex Golesh, Auburn; Will Hall, Tulane; Blake Harrell, East Carolina; John Hauser, Ohio; Clay Helton, Georgia Southern; Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky; Charles Huff, Memphis; Butch Jones, Arkansas State; KC Keeler, Temple; Charles Kelly, Jacksonville State; Brent Key, Georgia Tech; Zach Kittley, Florida Atlantic; Collin Klein, Kansas State; Tre Lamb, Tulsa; Rhett Lashlee, SMU; Clark Lea, Vanderbilt; Lance Leipold, Kansas; Pete Lembo, Buffalo; Sean Lewis, San Diego State; Dowell Loggains, Appalachian State; Joey McGuire, Texas Tech; Jeff Monken, Army; Kirby Moore, Washington State; Eric Morris, Oklahoma State; Dan Mullen, UNLV; Billy Napier, James Madison; Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh; Brian Newberry, Navy; Ken Niumatalolo, San Jose State; Barry Odom, Purdue; Tim Polasek, North Dakota State; Tavita Pritchard, Stanford; Ricky Rahne, Old Dominion; Matt Rhule, Nebraska; Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia; Morgan Scalley, Utah; JaMarcus Shephard, Oregon State; Kirby Smart, Georgia; Will Stein, Kentucky; Jon Sumrall, Florida; Lance Taylor, Western Michigan; Jeff Traylor, Texas-San Antonio; Scotty Walden, Texas-El Paso; Kyle Whittingham, Michigan; Casey Woods, Missouri State. 

Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Order “BOOM TIMES: The Oklahoma Sooners’ Epic Charge to the 2026 College World Series Title” at Sooners.ChampsBook.com. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at csulley@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma's spot in preseason college football Coaches Poll might surprise you