If the College Football Playoff field were set today, the SEC would own the bracket.
That’s the picture emerging from the latest AP top 25 vote heading into Week 4 of the 2026 season. It’s still early - just about a month into the year - but no major conference has looked stronger so far. The SEC has piled up a national-best 10-2 record against non-conference Power Four opponents, and that early work is showing up at the top of the poll.
The conference has three teams in the top five of the latest ballot, and five total teams would make the playoff if the season ended right now. No other league comes close to that number.
The rest of the field would be spread out behind the SEC. The Big Ten and Big 12 would each land two teams, the ACC would get one, Notre Dame would be the lone independent, and Boise State would take the highest-ranked Group of Six spot.
Boise State is not in the AP top 25 this week, but the Broncos would still qualify as the top Group of Six champion. Their 48 total votes effectively place them 31st nationally.
Of course, this is only a snapshot. The bracket almost certainly won’t look like this later in the year. If Texas were to beat Georgia in the SEC championship, for example, Georgia would likely slide in the rankings and open the door for teams such as ACC title favorite Miami to move up.
The same kind of reshuffling would likely happen elsewhere, too. A Big Ten champion would probably sit above the SEC runner-up and any SEC teams that didn’t reach the conference title game. Still, these rankings offer a clean look at the sport’s hierarchy in the first quarter of the season.
Under this format, the SEC would also control three of the top four byes. No.
1 Texas, No. 2 Georgia and No.
4 Ole Miss would all be on the inside track to rest in the opening round, while No. 8 Alabama would host a first-round game.
The other first-round hosts would be Ohio State, Indiana and Miami.
The bracket matchups would shake out like this: No. 12 Boise State at No.
5 Indiana, with the winner facing No. 4 Ole Miss; No.
10 LSU at No. 7 Ohio State, with the winner advancing to No.
2 Georgia; and No. 11 Texas Tech at No.
6 Miami, with the winner moving on to No. 3 Notre Dame.
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