Game week is here, and with most college football teams set to open next week, the national title market is starting to settle into its first real shape.
The defending champion is Indiana, but the Hoosiers are not being treated like the kind of established powerhouse that usually owns this part of the conversation. Indiana lost No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza to the NFL Draft, and even with the title in hand, sportsbooks still have the Hoosiers inside the top 10 rather than at the very top.
That’s where the usual heavyweights come in. Ohio State, Notre Dame and Texas sit as the leading trio in the championship race, with all three showing up near the front across the major books.
Ohio State is the favorite at FanDuel at +550 and is tied with Notre Dame at +600 on DraftKings and Kalshi, where Notre Dame is listed at 13 percent. BetMGM has Ohio State in front at +600, while Texas is third at +650 on DraftKings and BetMGM.
FanDuel is a little cooler on Texas, putting the Longhorns fifth at +850, behind Oregon and Georgia. Along with Indiana, those five teams are the only ones priced shorter than 10-to-1 at the major sportsbooks.
That top group lines up with the preseason polls, which also point to a familiar cluster at the top. Ohio State opens at No.
1, Oregon is No. 2 and Georgia checks in at No. 3.
Oregon and Georgia are slightly higher in the polls than they are in the betting market, but the broad picture is the same: the sport’s top tier is pretty clearly defined.
Ohio State’s spot at the top makes sense after what it’s done in the post-Nick Saban era. The Buckeyes won the national title in 2024 and spent much of 2025 ranked No. 1, so being favored again to begin 2026 isn’t exactly a shock. That said, last season did end with an unfriendly finish - Ohio State lost the Big Ten championship game and then dropped its first College Football Playoff game.
Even with that, the roster still looks loaded where it matters most. Ohio State brings back Heisman finalist quarterback Julian Sayin, All-American receiver Jeremiah Smith and 1,000-yard rusher Bo Jackson, giving the Buckeyes a star-packed offense at the skill spots. The big question sits on the other side of the ball after five defenders went in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft, including Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs, three of the top 11 picks.
Notre Dame’s case is built a little differently. The Fighting Irish lost Heisman finalist running back Jeremiyah Love, but sophomore quarterback CJ Carr is the preseason Heisman favorite this year.
Notre Dame also has a schedule that should let it get rolling quickly, opening with six teams that posted losing records in 2025. That matters after last season’s rough start, when the Irish fell to 0-2, ripped off 10 straight wins, and still couldn’t quite get back into the Playoff.
Texas is still carrying some baggage from last year’s preseason hype, but the betting market clearly isn’t done believing in the Longhorns. Arch Manning had a rocky stretch in 2025, yet he remains one of the Heisman favorites and now has a full season as a starting quarterback behind him. The supporting cast is strong, too: Raleek Brown arrived from Arizona State after running for 1,141 yards last season, and Ryan Wingo plus Auburn transfer Cam Coleman give Texas one of the country’s most talented receiver pairings.
Miami rounds out the next tier as the consensus seventh team in the odds. The Hurricanes are moving from Carson Beck to Duke transfer Darian Mensah at quarterback, and they’ll also have to replace Rueben Bain Jr., the defensive end who anchored one of the best defenses in the country.
Still, none of this is locked in. Preseason odds have a way of looking silly by the time winter arrives.
Last year’s preseason favorite and No. 1, Texas, didn’t make the Playoff at all, while the eventual national champion began the season at No. 20 in the AP Top 25 and was still listed at 100-to-1 to win the title multiple weeks into the year.
In Other News...
Ohio State Freshman Legend Bey Is Starting To Look Worth The Hype
Legend Bey is already getting the kind of early buzz that follows a recruit with real upside, and the freshmans place in Ohio States 2026 class has only grown more noteworthy with the black stripe now off his helmet. Even with missed practice time because of injury and a suspension along the way, he has managed to stay part of the conversation around the Buckeyes young talent, which says plenty about how the staff views him.
Ryan Day has described Bey as a dynamic player with significant potential, and that fits the path that brought him to Columbus in the first place. His recruitment went through a twisty stretch before he signed with Ohio State, including a flip from Tennessee after he was released from his original commitment, so the Buckeyes knew they were getting a player whose story was already a little different. Now the only real question is how quickly that promise turns into a bigger role. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Freshman Legend Bey Is Pushing For A Real Fall Role
Legend Beys first months at Ohio State have already had a little bit of everything, from a winding recruitment that included commitments to Tennessee and the Buckeyes to an early offseason that kept him out of some spring practices. The true freshman running back is back on the field now, and the staffs interest in him has not faded. Even with two established backs ahead of him on the depth chart, Ohio State still sees room for Bey because of the way he can fit into multiple parts of the offense.
What makes Bey worth watching this fall is less about where he sits today and more about how the Buckeyes might use him if they want to get him touches. The coaching staff has looked at him as a player who could be deployed creatively on offense and on special teams, which gives him a clearer path to early playing time than a typical freshman buried on the depth chart. His return to practice has put him back in position to keep pushing for that role, and Ohio State will have to decide how much of it it wants to carve out. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Has One More Captain Debate Fans Will Jump On
Ryan Day has already put the 2026 Ohio State captains in place, and the list comes with a little extra intrigue because it includes seven names, not the more familiar handful fans are used to sorting through. Austin Siereveld and Brandon Inniss are back on the honor roll for a second straight year, a sign that the coaching staff sees real continuity in the leadership group as the Buckeyes turn the page to another season.
Even so, the conversation around captains does not really end when the announcement is made. There is still room for debate about whether the room should be bigger, and players such as Luke Montgomery and Earl Little Jr. naturally invite that kind of discussion as Ohio State looks for the right mix of experience, voice and presence. The official list is set, but this is the sort of decision Buckeye fans will keep revisiting because leadership on a team this size always feels like more than a formality. [Read more 🡒]