Aztecs don’t get much love in USA Today Coaches Poll

As far as the nation’s college football coaches are concerned, San Diego State’s aspirations for being a Top 25 program won’t be realized this season until the Aztecs prove themselves on the field.

The 2016 preseason USA Today Coaches Poll was released on Thursday and the Aztecs were not among the Top 25 teams. SDSU was listed among “others receiving votes,” ranked the equivalent of No. 37, in the preseason poll with 18 points.

In the 2015 final poll, SDSU was No. 27 with 55 points. SDSU is coming off an 11-3 season and brings a 10-game winning streak into its 2016 opener against New Hampshire on Sept. 3 at 5:30 p.m. at Qualcomm Stadium.

The Aztecs have been listed among the Top 25 in two polls so far — listed at No. 19 by Lindy’s Sports and No. 24 by Dennis Dodds of CBSSports.com.

Defending national champion Alabama is ranked No. 1 in the USA Today poll, followed by Clemson, Oklahoma, Florida State and Ohio State. Rounding out the Top 10 are LSU, Stanford, Michigan, Notre Dame and Tennessee.

Boise State, No. 29 with 73 points, was the only other Mountain West team mentioned in the poll. Northern Illinois, which SDSU plays in Week 3, was the only Aztecs opponent listed. The Huskies tied for No. 49 with one point.

According to USA Today, the poll is “conducted weekly throughout the regular season using a panel of head coaches at FBS schools. The panel is chosen by random draw, conference by conference plus independents, from a pool of coaches who have indicated to the American Football Coaches Association their willingness to participate. Each coach submits a Top 25 with a first-place vote worth 25 points, second place 24, and so on down to one point for 25th.”

While SDSU fans may be disappointed not seeing the Aztecs ranked among the Top 25, they may be interested to know that last year’s final poll included nine teams that were not included in 2015 preseason Top 25. In fact, three of those teams — No. 8 Houston, No. 10 Iowa and No 18 Navy — did not receive a vote in the preseason poll.

Interestingly enough, Houston checks in at No. 13 and Iowa at No. 15 in this year’s preseason poll. Navy is listed among others.

The poll includes 64 head coaches at FBS schools. The Mountain West is represented by six of the conference’s 12 head coaches: Boise State’s Bryan Harsin, Nevada’s Brian Polian, SDSU’s Rocky Long, San Jose State’s Ron Caragher, Utah State’s Matt Wells and UNLV’s Tony Sanchez.

Here is the full voting group: Chris Ash, Rutgers; Dino Babers, Syracuse; David Bailiff, Rice; David Beaty, Kansas; Bret Bielema, Arkansas; John Bonamego, Central Michigan; Terry Bowden, Akron; Matt Campbell, Iowa State; Ron Caragher, San Jose State; Rod Carey, Northern Illinois; Paul Chryst, Wisconsin; Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan; David Cutcliffe, Duke; DJ Durkin, Maryland; Larry Fedora, North Carolina; Jimbo Fisher, Florida State; James Franklin, Penn State; Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech; Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State; Bryan Harsin, Boise State; Clay Helton, Southern California; Tom Herman, Houston; Doc Holliday, Marshall; Skip Holtz, Louisiana Tech; Joey Jones, South Alabama, Brian Kelly, Notre Dame; Sean Kugler, Texas-El Paso; Mike Leach, Washington State; Lance Leipold, Buffalo; Seth Littrell, North Texas; Rocky Long, San Diego State; Mike MacIntyre, Colorado; Gus Malzahn, Auburn; Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio); Doug Martin, New Mexico State; Derek Mason, Vanderbilt; Urban Meyer, Ohio State; Trent Miles, Georgia State; Philip Montgomery, Tulsa; Scottie Montgomery, East Carolina; Chad Morris, Southern Methodist; Dan Mullen, Mississippi State; Mike Norvell, Memphis; Gary Patterson, TCU; Chris Petersen, Washington; Brian Polian, Nevada; Mark Richt, Miami (Fla.); Mike Riley, Nebraska; Rich Rodriguez, Arizona; Nick Saban, Alabama; Tony Sanchez, UNLV; Scott Satterfield, Appalachian State; Kirby Smart, Georgia; Frank Solich, Ohio; Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee State; Bob Stoops, Oklahoma; Kevin Sumlin, Texas A & M; Dabo Swinney, Clemson; Tommy Tuberville, Cincinnati; Ron Turner, Florida International; Matt Wells, Utah State; Kyle Whittingham, Utah; Kevin Wilson, Indiana; Everett Withers, Texas State.