Ohio State Enters 2026 as Preseason No. 1: Can Anyone Beat the Buckeyes?
Ohio State is the AP preseason No. 1 for 2026, and the target on the Buckeyes’ back is enormous.
Ryan Day’s team enters the year with a roster stacked at the skill positions, an experienced offensive line, and a defense that returns most of its key pieces. Oregon comes in at No. 2, Georgia at No. 3, and reigning national champion Indiana lands at No. 6. That last part is the story of college football right now. Indiana as a defending national champion still feels weird to type.
The Big Ten has three teams in the top six. The SEC has nine teams in the top 25. That is the sport in 2026. Two conferences and everyone else.
For Ohio State, being No. 1 in August means very little in December. The Buckeyes have been in this spot before and finished with disappointing seasons. What is different this year is the mix of talent and returning production. Day has actually built a roster that projects like a national champion, not just a top-10 team. The pieces are there.
The schedule is the issue. Ohio State plays a brutal stretch that includes Oregon, Michigan, and a nonconference matchup that will test them early. If the Buckeyes want to go undefeated, they cannot lose a middle-of-October game to a good-but-not-elite Big Ten team. They have to play clean.
Oregon at No. 2 is the most dangerous team to Ohio State’s national title path. Dan Lanning has built a program that recruits at an elite level and coaches even better on Saturdays. The Ducks have depth at every position now and are not the finesse team they used to be. This is a legitimately physical Oregon team.
Georgia at No. 3 is Georgia. Kirby Smart’s floor is a 10-win season, and his ceiling is a national title every year. The SEC is deeper than it has been in a decade, which will steal a game or two from Georgia along the way, but the Dawgs will be there in December.
Indiana at No. 6 is the wildcard. Curt Cignetti won a national title with a portal-built roster and now has to prove it was not a fluke. The Hoosiers have retained more talent than most people expected and added enough through the portal to legitimately defend. LSU and Alabama are the SEC teams with the widest range of outcomes in the poll. Either could finish top 5 or drop out of the top 25.
The season kicks off Saturday. Every ranking becomes meaningless once a real result hits the board. But if you had to bet today on who plays in the national championship game, Ohio State is the smartest single-team wager. The Buckeyes have the roster, the schedule they can handle, and the coaching staff to get there.
The question is whether they finally close.
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.
