The USA Today Coaches poll followed suit with AP poll by putting Auburn No. 1, TCU No. 2 and Oregon. The USA Today poll members are required to vote the BCS champion number one in the final poll, however one coach decided that TCU deserved to be ranked No. 1 after its Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin.
While the poll requires the coaches to vote Auburn No. 1 this year, the rule has little teeth as Utah's Kyle Whittngham voted his own team No. 1 in the final 2008 poll after they defeated Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. The speculation would be that TCU's Gary Patterson would have voted his team No. 1, but Patterson does not have a vote. The culprit could come from one of these voters: Wisconsin's Brett Bielema, Utah's Kyle Whittingham, Wyoming's Dave Christensen, New Mexico's Mike Locksley or Colorado State's Steve Fairchild.
In the coaches poll the Utah Utes stayed in the rankings by finishing 23rd; San Diego State and Air Force both finished in the others receiving vote category with 36 and four points respectively. The Maryland Terrapins and the North Carolina State Wolfpack both entered the polls after their bowl wins finishing 24th and 25th. Arkansas and Michigan State both fell out of the top 10 after losing their bowl games. Arkansas fell from the 8th spot to the 12th spot while Michigan State fell from seventh to 14th.
1 Auburn (56)
2 TCU (1)
3 Oregon
4 Stanford
5 Ohio State
6 Oklahoma
7 Boise State
8 LSU
8 Wisconsin
10 Oklahoma State
11 Alabama
12 Arkansas
13 Nevada
14 Michigan State
15 Virginia Tech
16 Florida State
17 Mississippi State
18 Missouri
19 Nebraska
20 UCF
21 Texas A&M
22 South Carolina
23 Utah
24 Maryland
25 North Carolina State