The 2026 preseason AP Top 25 is out, and Ohio State is at the top of it with 40 first-place votes. That is a comfortable margin over Oregon at No. 2, which pulled in 14 first-place votes of its own. Georgia sits at No. 3 without a single first-place vote. Notre Dame is No. 4 with six firsts. Texas rounds out the top five.
The interesting name is at No. 6, where defending national champion Indiana is sitting after picking up eight first-place votes. Miami is right behind at No. 7 with one first-place vote, still trying to shake off the loss to Indiana in the January title game.
If you look at the top of the poll, you are looking at a two-conference world. The Big Ten has three teams in the top six, which is a level of dominance the conference has not enjoyed at the top of the sport in years. Ohio State, Oregon, and Indiana are all realistic playoff teams before a single snap of the season has been played.
The SEC has its own case. Half of the top 10 is SEC. Georgia at three, Texas at five, plus Texas A&M, Ole Miss, and Oklahoma all sitting in the back half of the top 10. Seven of the top 13 teams overall are from the SEC. That is the kind of depth that decides playoff bids in December.
What is not in the top of this poll is almost as interesting as what is. The ACC has one team in the top 10 and Miami has to prove they can hold up after a title game loss. The Big 12 does not have a team in the top 10 at all. Clemson is not in the poll, which is its own story worth telling.
College football has been drifting toward a two-conference top tier for a couple of years now, and this poll makes it official. If you are not in the Big Ten or the SEC, you basically have to be Notre Dame or Miami to be taken seriously in the preseason. That is a hard reality for the rest of the sport, but it is the reality.
Ohio State at No. 1 is not a surprise. Ryan Day has stacked back-to-back strong recruiting classes, kept his defensive front intact, and has one of the best quarterback situations in the country. The Buckeyes are the safest pick to make the playoff, and voters agreed.
Oregon at No. 2 is a real endorsement of Dan Lanning’s program. The Ducks have won the Big Ten and been in the playoff mix in each of their first years in the conference, and their roster is built to keep doing it. Their skill talent is as good as anyone’s in the country.
Georgia at No. 3 without any first-place votes is the poll telling Kirby Smart something. Georgia is still Georgia, but the mystique is fading a little. Losing the coordinator battles the last two years has caught up to them in the eyes of voters, even if the roster is still elite.
Notre Dame at No. 4 is aggressive but not crazy. Marcus Freeman has the Irish playing legitimate top-10 football, and the schedule sets them up to make a real run. Texas at No. 5 reflects the ceiling of a program that just cannot quite get over the top of the SEC pecking order yet.
Indiana at No. 6 as the defending champion is fascinating. Voters are treating them like a good team that got hot rather than a permanent power. That is fair. Curt Cignetti has to prove last year was not a lightning bolt.
Buckle in. The season starts in two weeks, and the top of the sport has never looked more like a private club.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
