Preseason Amway Coaches Poll set for Thursday release

Ohio State finished No. 1 with all 62 first-place votes in January's final Amway Coaches Poll following a 42-20 victory against Oregon that gave the Buckeyes the first national championship of the College Football Playoff era.

Will Ohio State remain out front nearly seven months later? The Buckeyes' roster features three Heisman-caliber quarterbacks, with former starter Braxton Miller recently switching to receiver.

VIDEO:  Season previews of every FBS team

The 2015 college football season is exactly five weeks away from kicking off, but fans can get a head start on the season when the top 25 teams in the country are unveiled Thursday in the preseason Amway Coaches Poll.

Where will Big 12 favorites TCU and Baylor, who both narrowly missed the Playoff semifinals last season, land in the preseason top 25? How many SEC teams will make it, too few or too many?

All day Thursday, you can find extensive coverage of the poll on USA TODAY Sports' college football page or interact via Twitter.

ABOUT THE POLL:

— The first regular-season poll is scheduled to be released Sept. 8. The final regular-season poll is scheduled to be released Dec. 6.

— The Coaches Poll used to count for one-third of the formula that was used to determine the BCS standings and national championship participants, but is not part of the determination of the College Football Playoff, which uses a selection committee to determine participating teams.

— The voting panel, consisting of 64 Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches, is chosen conference by conference by the American Football Coaches Association via a random draw. A coach must indicate to the AFCA his willingness to participate before his name is included in the pool.

— There has been a coaches poll for major college football since 1950. USA TODAY Sports became the administrator of the poll starting with the 1991 season.

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