Clemson and South Carolina both found themselves on the outside of the preseason AP Top 25 on Monday, and the gap between the two programs and the sport’s first ranking of 2026 was a lot wider than either fan base is used to seeing.
Clemson led the “others receiving votes” group with 112 voting points, which amounts to an unofficial No. 26.
South Carolina had 10 voting points, tied with Navy for an unofficial No. 31.
The AP poll includes 69 voters this year.
At the top, the preseason picture starts with No. 1 Ohio State, followed by No.
2 Oregon, No. 3 Georgia, No.
4 Notre Dame and No. 5 Texas.
Indiana checked in at No. 6 and Miami at No. 7, and both of those teams picked up first-place votes.
For Clemson, the absence is especially notable. Dabo Swinney’s team is unranked in the preseason AP poll for the first time in 15 years, dating back to 2011. The Tigers had appeared in 14 straight preseason AP polls since 2012 and had been a preseason Top 10 team nine times in the last 10 years.
South Carolina’s position is not far off the radar, but it still reflects a sharp slide from where the Gamecocks were a year ago. USC was No. 13 in last year’s preseason AP poll, while Clemson was all the way up at No. 4.
Both programs then stumbled through 2025. Clemson finished 7-6 overall and 4-4 in the ACC, its worst record in 15 years. South Carolina went 4-8 and 1-7 in the SEC, missing a bowl for the second time in three seasons under Shane Beamer.
The preseason coaches poll released on Aug. 3 had already signaled that the national outlook on both teams had cooled. Clemson was No. 23 in that poll, while USC was tied with Arizona for fifth among teams receiving votes, which put the Gamecocks unofficially at No. 30.
The wait for the next ranking is a short one. South Carolina opens at home against Kent State on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 12:45 p.m. on SEC Network.
Clemson starts that same night at No. 11 LSU at 7:30 p.m. on ABC.
2026 preseason AP Top 25 poll
Listed by total voting points; first-place votes in parentheses
Ohio State, 1672 (40)
Oregon, 1597 (14)
Georgia, 1513
Notre Dame, 1510 (6)
Texas, 1483
Indiana, 1440 (8)
Miami, 1379 (1)
Texas A&M, 1313
Ole Miss, 1102
Oklahoma, 1047
LSU, 988
Texas Tech, 983
Alabama, 904
BYU and Southern Cal, 839 each
N/A (two teams tied for No. 14)
Michigan, 718
Washington, 501
Penn State, 482
SMU, 434
Tennessee, 394
Utah, 304
Iowa, 260
Houston, 252
Louisville, 194
Missouri, 117
Others receiving votes
Clemson, 112; Florida, 51; Boise State, 43; Arizona, 32; TCU, 11; Navy, 10; South Carolina, 10; Illinois, 9; Oklahoma State, 8; Vanderbilt, 8; Pittsburgh, 7; Virginia Tech, 6; Minnesota, 5; UNLV, 4; New Mexico, 4; Georgia Tech, 4; Louisiana, 4; James Madison, 3; Auburn, 3; Memphis, 2; California, 2; Liberty, 1; Western Michigan, 1; Tulane, 1; and Virginia, 1
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