2026 College Football Top 25 Rankings
The Ohio State Buckeyes enter the 2026 college football season as the No. 1 team in the AP Preseason Top 25 poll. Ohio State received 40 first-place votes and finished 26 points ahead of No. 2 Oregon.
Ohio State’s No. 1 ranking is its ninth preseason No. 1 selection, tying Alabama for the second-most all time. Oklahoma holds the record with 10 preseason No. 1 selections.
Georgia is ranked No. 3, followed by Notre Dame at No. 4 and Texas at No. 5. The 2025 national champion Indiana Hoosiers begin the season at No. 6.
2026 NCAAF Preseason AP Top 25
| Rank | School | Points |
| 1 | Ohio State (40) | 1672 |
| 2 | Oregon (14) | 1597 |
| 3 | Georgia | 1513 |
| 4 | Notre Dame (6) | 1510 |
| 5 | Texas | 1483 |
| 6 | Indiana (8) | 1440 |
| 7 | Miami (FL) (1) | 1379 |
| 8 | Texas A&M | 1131 |
| 9 | Ole Miss | 1102 |
| 10 | Oklahoma | 1047 |
| 11 | LSU | 988 |
| 12 | Texas Tech | 983 |
| 13 | Alabama | 904 |
| T14 | BYU | 839 |
| T14 | Southern Cal | 839 |
| 16 | Michigan | 718 |
| 17 | Washington | 501 |
| 18 | Penn State | 482 |
| 19 | SMU | 434 |
| 20 | Tennessee | 394 |
| 21 | Utah | 304 |
| 22 | Iowa | 260 |
| 23 | Houston | 252 |
| 24 | Louisville | 194 |
| 25 | Missouri | 117 |
Others Receiving Votes
Clemson received 112 votes, followed by Florida with 51, Boise State with 43, Arizona with 32, TCU with 11, Navy with 10, and South Carolina with 10.
Illinois received 9 votes, while Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt each received 8. Pittsburgh received 7, Virginia Tech 6, and Minnesota 5.
UNLV and New Mexico each received 4 votes. Georgia Tech and Louisiana each received 4, while James Madison and Auburn received 3 each. Memphis and California received 2 each, while Liberty, Western Michigan, Tulane and Virginia each received 1.
Ohio State begins the season at the top of the AP preseason rankings, with Oregon, Georgia, Notre Dame and Texas completing the top five. Indiana’s No. 6 position gives the defending national champion an immediate place among the country’s highest-ranked teams. The preseason poll sets the starting point, but the regular season will determine which teams remain in the College Football Playoff race.
Data: NCAA.com.