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The start of the 2026 college football season is just over three weeks away. Texas football is hoping to return to the College Football Playoff in 2026, while Ohio State is aiming for a national championship. Oregon hopes to become the fourth different team from the Big Ten to win the title in four years. Indiana is aiming to defend their title, though. All the while, Notre Dame looks to rebound from being snubbed from the playoff in 2025.
For the first time in the 2026 season, coaches are letting their thoughts be known on who they believe are the best, as USA Today has released its Preseason Coaches Poll Top 25.
Ohio State football comes in ranked number one in the first poll. They are followed by a Big Ten rival in the number two spot, as Oregon checks in. The first SEC team to make the poll comes in at number three, with Kirby Smart and his Georgia Bulldogs. Arch Manning has high expectations for the 2026 season, and the coaches poll believes in him as Texas ranks fourth. The top five is rounded out by Notre Dame, which was the national runner-up in the 2024 season.
Regardless, the defending champion is not in the top five. Indiana comes in ranked sixth. This is a similar drop to Michigan in the 2024 poll, which opened at ninth, and LSU in 2020, when LSU opened at sixth. Miami, which lost to Indiana in the national championship, comes in one spot behind them at seven. The top ten is rounded out by Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Ole Miss.
Alabama opens with one of its lowest rankings in years, sitting at 11, while Texas Tech, without Brendan Sorsby, sits 12. Overall, the SEC has nine teams ranked in the pre-season Top 25. The Big Ten followed with eight teams, while the Big 12 had four and the ACC had three. No team in the Group of Six was ranked by the coaches, with Boise State receiving the most votes at 24. That would rank them 36th. Meanwhile, James Franklin, in his first year at Virginia Tech, got votes, with 12.
The college football season opens up on August 29, as North Carolina faces TCU in Ireland.
The start of the 2026 college football season is just over three weeks away. Texas football is hoping to return to the College Football Playoff in 2026, while Ohio State is aiming for a national championship. Oregon hopes to become the fourth different team from the Big Ten to win the title in four years.
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