Ohio State Preseason No. 1: Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith Lead Buckeyes to Top College Football Ranking
Ohio State is the preseason No. 1 team in college football, and it’s going to take a lot to knock them off. The Buckeyes topped both the CBS Sports 138 rankings and the AP Coaches Poll heading into the 2026 season, edging out Oregon in a tight vote.
Ohio State received 38 of 72 first-place votes in the preseason coaches poll. That’s the kind of consensus that only comes when a program has clearly established itself as the team to beat.
The reason for the ranking is simple: Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith. The Buckeyes have arguably the two best returning players in the country at their positions, and both are legitimate Heisman Trophy contenders.
Sayin, the returning quarterback, was named to the Big Ten Preseason Honors list along with Smith. He is entering his second full year as the starter after taking over as the primary quarterback midway through last season. His command of the offense and precision throwing are what elevated Ohio State’s ceiling.
Smith is the more electric of the two. The All-American wide receiver has more receiving yards and receiving touchdowns than any player in college football over the past two seasons: 2,558 yards and 27 touchdowns. He’s the kind of receiver who can single-handedly change games with one deep ball or one contested catch in traffic.
The rest of the Ohio State roster is loaded around those two stars. The offensive line returns significant experience. The running back room has depth. The defensive front is stacked with future NFL talent. Ryan Day has built exactly the type of roster that wins in the College Football Playoff.
Ohio State also brings back institutional playoff experience from recent runs. They know what it takes to survive December and January football. That mental edge is real and gets underrated in preseason discussions.
Oregon is the closest challenger. The Ducks return a strong core and have a favorable schedule in the Big Ten. Dan Lanning has built a program that has the recruiting and infrastructure to compete for the national title consistently. If Oregon and Ohio State meet in the Big Ten title game, it might be the biggest college football game of the entire regular season.
The SEC is not going quietly. Multiple SEC teams shot up in the preseason rankings, and the conference has claimed the last several national championships. Any preseason poll that has Ohio State at No. 1 also has to acknowledge that Georgia, Texas, and Alabama are all elite and could easily be in the College Football Playoff discussion.
The Big 12 has its own storylines. Texas Tech is expected to be a serious contender after a strong recruiting class. Deion Sanders has Colorado back on the national radar. The conference is deeper and more competitive than it has been in years.
What makes Ohio State the deserving preseason No. 1 is the combination of experience and star power. Sayin and Smith are both back for at least one more year. The coaching staff is stable. The recruiting has been elite. The roster has zero obvious weaknesses.
The Big Ten schedule presents some real tests. Michigan and Penn State are always tough. Oregon and USC bring the West Coast heat. Wisconsin’s revamped roster under a new coach is a wild card. Ohio State has to navigate all of those games on the way to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship.
The College Football Playoff has expanded to 12 teams, and Ohio State is set up to be one of the top four seeds. That first-round bye is a massive advantage in a bracket that requires four wins to claim the national title.
The season opens for Ohio State in late August. Every game will be must-watch television. Every Sayin-to-Smith connection will be dissected. And every result will factor into the College Football Playoff picture.
Preseason rankings only mean so much. But when you have the top quarterback and top receiver in the country, you deserve to sit at No. 1 until somebody knocks you off.
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.
