Heading into the 2016 college football season, Sporting News undertook quite the task — ranking all 128 FBS coaches in order.

SEC coaches had a strong showing in the rankings, with the top seven coaches in the conference finding themselves in the top 25 overall:

  1. Nick Saban, Alabama (No. 1 overall)
  2. Les Miles, LSU (No. 10)
  3. Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss (No. 16)
  4. Gus Malzahn, Auburn (No. 19)
  5. Bret Bielema, Arkansas (No. 20)
  6. Jim McElwain, Florida (No. 24)
  7. Butch Jones, Tennessee (No. 25)
  8. Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M (No. 32)
  9. Dan Mullen, Mississippi State (No. 33)
  10. Kirby Smart, Georgia (No. 37)
  11. Will Muschamp, South Carolina (No. 62)
  12. Barry Odom, Missouri (No. 67)
  13. Mark Stoops, Kentucky (No. 70)
  14. Derek Mason, Vanderbilt (No. 97)

Only four SEC leaders were ranked outside of the top 40, with first-year head coaches Barry Odom and Will Muschamp among the quartet.

But the real news is at the top of the rankings, where Nick Saban reclaimed his top spot after winning last year’s national championship. Sporting News said Saban was closely followed by a former SEC head coach:

The flip-flopping with Urban Meyer continues, but Saban reclaims the top spot after delivering his fourth national championship with Alabama and fifth as a head coach. No coach handles the win-every-game pressure like Saban. He’ll turn 65 in October, but the Crimson Tide show no signs of slowing down under his watch.

Though he was ranked No. 10 overall, Les Miles may have the biggest beef with these rankings. Five coaches who have never won a national championship — Brian Kelly (9), Gary Patterson (8), Jim Harbaugh (6), Mark Dantonio (5) and Dabo Swinney (4) — were ranked ahead of the 2007 title-winning coach.

Athlon Sports ranked the coaches earlier this week. Whose rankings were better?