Coaches Poll adjusts after fall changes

A different college football season in 2020 will require a unique approach to handling the Amway Coaches Poll.

With only 76 schools currently scheduled to start play next month due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an adjustment will be made to the panel of coaches serving as voters. The 2020 panel established this summer includes 65 coaches among the 130 schools in the Bowl Subdivision. Each of those 65 coaches participated in the preseason poll released Aug. 6.

Due to decisions by the Big Ten, Pac-12, Mid-American, Mountain West and four other schools to not play, the teams of those schools will not be eligible to receive votes and the respective coaches from the panel will not cast ballots this fall. The adjustment leaves a panel of 42 coaches voting this fall.

“This is certainly a unique and unprecedented time in collegiate athletics,” said Todd Berry, president of the American Football Coaches Association. “Based on when their university is playing, we have our member coaches focused on different aspects of their jobs. It made sense for those currently playing their games to be the voters in this year’s poll.”

The first regular-season poll is now scheduled for Sept. 13. The move reflects the change in the calendar of games, with the first significant weekend taking place immediate prior to the vote.

The poll will then be released each Sunday through Dec. 20, the day after the anticipated end of the regular season.