Monday, August 17, 2026
Ohio State, Oregon and a 65-year Big Ten first
The Big Ten owns the top of the preseason AP poll. Ohio State is No. 1, Oregon is No. 2, and the conference has the first preseason top two from one league in 65 years.
The lede
Ohio State received 40 of 69 first-place votes, with Oregon taking 14, as the Buckeyes and Ducks opened first and second. Georgia is No. 3, Notre Dame No. 4 and Texas No. 5. The SEC still won the depth contest with nine ranked teams, led by Georgia.
Scoreboard
The preseason AP top five, per the first poll:
- Ohio State
- Oregon
- Georgia
- Notre Dame
- Texas
The fun starts at No. 14, where USC and BYU are tied with 839 points. It is the first tie in a preseason AP poll in 17 years.
Quick hits
- South Carolina took two hard hits. Wide receivers Jayden Sellers and Jayden Gibson will miss the season after suffering practice injuries last week.
- Tennessee lost a starter. Safety Edrees Farooq will miss 2026 with a torn right patellar tendon.
- Alabama may wait on its backfield. Running back AK Dear is expected to miss about six weeks with an ankle injury, according to multiple reports.
- Miami made another camp cut. The Hurricanes dismissed receiver Cam Vaughn, a January transfer from West Virginia who was expected to supply a deep-ball option.
- The Heisman opened a door. A new platform called Heisman Hopefuls will let fans cast an official first vote alongside its award coverage.
The carousel
Michigan State is finalizing a deal to hire Western Michigan athletic director Dan Bartholomae for the same job in East Lansing, ESPN's Pete Thamel reports.
Fan pulse
- Clemson is outside the preseason poll for the first time since 2011.
- The sharpest argument today: 18 of the last 19 preseason polls had at least one top-10 team finish unranked. Fans are already choosing this year's trapdoor.
- The less serious question may be the better one: what belief would get you scrutinized by your own fanbase?
The Observer's Call
The preseason poll isn't a prediction. It is a pressure map. Eighteen of the last 19 editions put at least one future unranked team in the top 10, but that miss is part of the fun. The number beside a team's name tells you where patience will vanish first. Ohio State gets the crown today. Somebody else gets the trapdoor. Which top-10 team would you leave out, and why?
Kickoff is 13 days away. The arguments are already in midseason form.