The first Coaches Poll of the 2026 season is out, and as always in August, it tells you as much about reputation as it does about reality.
Ohio State opens at No. 1, Oregon sits at No.
2, Georgia checks in at No. 3 and reigning national champion Indiana lands at No. 6.
The Big Ten has three teams in the top six, the SEC puts nine teams in the top 25, the Big Ten has eight, and the Big 12 and ACC have four and three, respectively.
And once the initial noise settles, the real fun is sorting through which teams feel a little too shiny - and which ones might be getting shortchanged.
Notre Dame is the cleanest case for underrated in the poll. The Fighting Irish don’t face much resistance until a mid-October trip to BYU or a November rematch with Miami, but they bring back more proven production than anyone else in the FBS.
That starts with CJ Carr, who enters his second year as the starter with a real chance to grow into a Heisman Trophy contender. The defense looks loaded too, with eight starters back from a group that could make a strong case as the nation’s best.
And Notre Dame hasn’t forgotten how last season ended after believing it was unfairly left out of the College Football Playoff. Marcus Freeman will be pushing that edge hard.
Texas Tech at No. 12 also looks low. There’s clearly some skepticism baked into this ranking, whether it’s tied to the Brendan Sorsby saga or the noise around the Red Raiders’ aggressive roster-building and Cody Campbell’s massive investment.
But the talent is obvious, and this is a team that could realistically run the table as Big 12 champions. The biggest question sits at quarterback, where Will Hammond was expected to have plenty of time to recover from a torn ACL but is now on track to return for Week 1 as the starter.
If he’s close to 100 percent, Texas Tech has one of the highest ceilings in the sport. Even if he needs time, the roster around him is strong enough to keep the Red Raiders in the College Football Playoff mix.
LSU at No. 13 feels light as well. There’s understandable hesitation about jumping in on Lane Kiffin at LSU right away, because headlines in Baton Rouge are going to come with the territory.
Still, Kiffin has built explosive offenses throughout his career, and Arizona State transfer Sam Leavitt gives him the kind of quarterback who can make that system go. If Leavitt stays healthy, LSU has enough offensive juice to bother anybody in the SEC.
Add in the rest of a strong transfer class, including edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen and linebacker TJ Dottery, and coordinator Blake Baker has more pieces to work with. There are questions because there are so many new faces, but that’s part of why LSU looks undervalued.
On the other side, Texas A&M at No. 8 feels a touch ambitious. An 11-2 season and nine returning starters deserve respect, no question.
But the Aggies closed last season by dropping their final two games, including a home loss to eventual national runner-up Miami in the first round of the College Football Playoff. Marcel Reed also struggled badly in those last two outings, throwing five turnovers and no touchdowns.
Their résumé was helped by a Week 3 win at Notre Dame, but the rest of the season included seven wins over teams that either fired their coach or finished with losing records. The only other victory over a team above .500 came at Missouri.
Texas A&M has the talent to live in the top 10, but it still has to prove it.
Penn State at No. 17 also looks a little generous. Matt Campbell inherits a schedule that could hardly be friendlier in his first year in Happy Valley, but the roster overhaul is massive.
Campbell brought two dozen players with him from Iowa State, yet the bigger concern is the talent that followed James Franklin to Virginia Tech. Rocco Becht is an upgrade at quarterback, and that matters, but the Big Ten is a different kind of grind than the Big 12.
Campbell has shown he can build a winner, and Penn State has the resources, but an immediate leap into the top 20 is a big ask.
Clemson rounds out the overrated side at No. 23, and this one comes with some recent history. Last year, the Tigers were tabbed as underrated after opening at No. 6 in the Coaches Poll, only to finish with their worst season in 15 years.
Now they’re back in the rankings despite a long list of concerns. Clemson lost a school-record nine players to the 2026 NFL Draft and did little in the transfer portal to replace that production.
Recruiting hasn’t been at the elite level that once let the Tigers reload every year, either. On offense, the job appears to belong to Christopher Vizzina, who has waited patiently but has only limited meaningful snaps.
A bounce-back would require a major leap of faith, and for now the coaches seem willing to give Dabo Swinney that benefit of the doubt.
In Other News...
Joel Klatt Just Put Notre Dame's Title Hopes On C.J. Carr
Joel Klatts latest quarterback ranking gave Notre Dame an encouraging sign for the road ahead, with C.J. Carr slotting in as the broadcasters top college quarterback for 2026. Klatt put Carr ahead of several of the sports most familiar names, including Arch Manning, Dante Moore and Julian Sayin, while pointing to a Fighting Irish offense that is becoming more centered around the quarterback position.
For Notre Dame, the timing matters because the roster around Carr is changing, and not in an easy way. His 2025 numbers lagged behind some of the other headline passers in that ranking, and the Irish have also had to account for the departure of several key skill players from 2025 to 2026, which leaves Carr carrying more of the load than ever. If Notre Dame is going to stay in the title picture, the conversation may start with whether Carr can turn that promise into a full-season breakthrough. [Read more 🡒]
Marcus Freeman Faces Notre Dames Biggest Test Yet
Marcus Freemans path at Notre Dame has always been defined by the biggest stages, and this season looks no different. The Irish are facing the kind of gauntlet that can shape a coachs reputation, with Miami and Ohio State looming as early measuring sticks and the broader postseason picture already starting to take form around programs like Alabama and Oregon.
For Freeman, the challenge is as much about proving Notre Dame can get through elite opponents as it is about simply reaching the playoff discussion. His previous losses to Ohio State only sharpen the spotlight on that matchup, because a championship run for the Irish will be judged by whether they can finally beat the teams that have separated themselves from the pack. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Finally Gets A Defining Rivalry Back On The Schedule
After plenty of uncertainty, one of college footballs signature pairings is back on the board. Notre Dame and USC have agreed to a four-year deal that will restart their football series in Week 1 of the 2030 season, preserving a matchup that has long carried real weight for both programs and for the sport as a whole. It will open Aug. 31, 2030, in Los Angeles before shifting to South Bend the following year, giving the Irish a marquee nonconference anchor again after years of questions about the future of the rivalry.
The path to getting it done was helped along by a different schedule change, with Indiana canceling its home-and-home series against Notre Dame and freeing up the flexibility needed to make the USC agreement work. For Notre Dame, the timing matters almost as much as the opponent, because this keeps a defining tradition alive at a moment when college football scheduling keeps changing around it. The bigger picture is clear enough: a rivalry with national pull is staying intact, even if the next chapter is still a few seasons away. [Read more 🡒]