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)
- TCU
- Michigan
- Ohio State
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- Penn State
- Washington
- Tulane
- Florida State
- Utah
- Clemson
- USC
- Kansas State
- LSU
- Oregon
- Oregon State
- Notre Dame
- Mississippi State
- Troy
- UCLA
- Pittsburgh
- South Carolina
- Fresno State
- Texas
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), Maryland (4), Louisville (3), Cincinnati (3), BYU (3), UCF (2), Purdue (1), Ole Miss (1)
Dropped out: No. 22 UTSA, No. 25 North Carolina
