Georgia is headed into 2026 with the same broad respect it usually commands, but not the kind of top-end buzz that comes with a No. 1 vote.
The AP poll has the Bulldogs at No. 3 to open the season, and that lines up with the Coaches’ Poll, where UGA also landed third. Still, Kirby Smart’s team didn’t pick up a single first-place vote Monday, making Georgia and No. 5 Texas the only teams in the top seven without one.
Ohio State set the tone at No. 1 with 40 first-place votes, while Oregon checked in at No. 2.
Notre Dame sits at No. 4, followed by Texas at No. 5.
The Longhorns will get a quick chance to test that ranking when they host Ohio State early in the season.
The rest of the top 10 brought a little more shakeup. Defending national champion Indiana is No. 6 and received eight first-place votes, while last year’s runner-up Miami landed at No. 7 with one first-place vote of its own.
Texas A&M came in at No. 8, Oklahoma at No. 9 and LSU at No.
Georgia’s spot fits the larger picture around the SEC, which placed nine teams in the rankings. The Big Ten, now one of the sport’s biggest powers, had eight ranked teams.
There’s plenty on Georgia’s schedule to justify the ranking and the scrutiny that comes with it. The Bulldogs are set to face three preseason top-25 teams: No.
11 Alabama, No. 10 Ole Miss and No.
9 Oklahoma.
Before 2023, Georgia had not opened a season ranked No. 1 since 2008, Matthew Stafford’s final year in Athens. This program is coming off a 12-2 season in 2025 and a 16th SEC Championship, plus a résumé that included wins over three teams that finished the 2024 season in the final top 12.
That’s part of why expectations remain sky-high. Georgia was also picked by the media at the 2026 SEC Football Media Days to beat Texas for the SEC Championship in Atlanta this December.
Fall camp starts this week, and one insider told Dawg Post that the Bulldogs may have something especially dangerous brewing at tight end.
“I hope they play as many as possible,” one insider said of the tight ends. “Those guys are different.”
Smart, for his part, has made it clear he doesn’t put much stock in preseason lists.
“I've never honestly paid any attention to it, and we don't talk about it as a team. The expectation is we're going to develop and worry about today's day, and we don't think about that.”
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