The dawn of the 2026 college football season is officially here.
The unveiling of the annual AP Top 25 Preseason poll is the most crystal clear sign that a return to normalcy is on the brink of happening.
This became a reality on Monday morning at 12:00 P.M. EST. The projections, conversations, and takeaways will now commence, particularly around top-ranked Ohio State.
Preseason Poll Sees Familiar Faces at Top
GettyThe expectation is that CJ Carr takes Notre Dame to the CFP this season.
Eight out of the 10 teams that managed to finish the 2025 season in the top 10 remain heading into 2026.
The only two that are sliding out of the top 10 are Alabama (9 to 13) and Texas Tech (7 to 12), both of which were not exactly unexpected. Alabama is working to replace first-round draft selection Ty Simpson. Texas Tech is moving past the Brendan Sorsby fiasco that took place this offseason.
Ohio State and Oregon are representing the Big 10 incredibly well, as they take up the top two spots in the poll. Ohio State received 40 first-place votes, while Oregon earned 14. The third Big 10 team in the top 10 is the defending champion in the Indiana Hoosiers. The Hoosiers come in at number six despite earning eight first-place votes themselves.
The other programs to receive first-place votes are #4 Notre Dame (six) and #7 Miami (one). These programs are going to face one another in November in one of the most consequential matchups of the regular season.
The SEC did not receive a single first-place vote, but there are five programs headlining the league in the top 10. Georgia is the highest-ranked of the conference at number three. Following the Bulldogs are Texas (#5), Texas A&M (#8), Ole Miss (#9), and Oklahoma (#10). Four of these five teams are attempting to reach the College Football Playoff for a second straight season. Texas is the lone team that didn’t reach the tournament last season.
How Each Conference is Represented in Poll
The SEC leads all conferences in representation with nine teams. LSU (11), Tennessee (20), and Missouri (25) are the three other teams in the top 25.
The Big 10 has eight teams inside of the top 25. USC (tied-14), Michigan (16), Washington (17), Penn State (18), and Iowa (22) are the others representing the conference.
The ACC has a clear power scaling issue, as Miami is only joined by SMU (19) and Louisville (24). The Hurricanes are the prohibitive favorite to win the conference title after falling short last season.
Brigham Young (14), Utah (21), and Houston (23) are joining Texas Tech in the Big 12 representation heading into 2026. TCU and Arizona are representing the conference just outside of the top 25.
Perhaps the most compelling result of the poll is that no “mid-major” programs are inside of the top 25. Boise State is effectively placing at #28 at the moment, but they are playing Oregon in week one.
Louisville placing at 24 to begin the season sets the stage for a ranked matchup in week one against Ole Miss, while Oklahoma-Michigan and Ohio State-Texas are playing one another in a high-stakes week two. Lane Kiffin’s return to Ole Miss in week three has an opportunity to define week three of the season. All in all, there is going to be a heavy dose of intriguing matchups from very early on in the campaign.
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