Amway Coaches Poll panel will only include voters from schools playing this fall
A different college football season in 2020 will require a unique approach to handling the Amway Coaches Poll this fall.
With only 76 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 Conference and Mountain West and four other schools to not play in the fall, 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 season.
“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 Amway Coaches Poll is now scheduled for Sept. 13. The move reflects the change in the calendar of games this fall with the first significant weekend taking place immediately 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.
The Amway Coaches Poll trophy will again be awarded to the winner of the College Football Playoff with the final poll being released Jan. 12. Should the season be cut short, the AFCA will make a determination regarding the awarding of the trophy and the declaration of a national champion.
Paste BN has worked with the AFCA to administer coaches poll since the 1991 season.
Follow Erick Smith of Paste BN Sports on Twitter @ericksmith