Preseason college football rankings are here, and ESPN’s Football Power Index has delivered a clear message: the usual heavyweights are still parked at the front of the line.
Ohio State holds the No. 1 spot in ESPN’s database and the coaches poll heading into 2026. The Buckeyes spent all but one week of the 2025 regular season atop the AP poll, and they enter this year with another national title push in sight under Ryan Day.
The challenge is the road map. Ohio State plays six teams ranked in ESPN’s preseason top 25, so this isn’t a soft landing by any stretch.
Texas sits right behind the Buckeyes in the national conversation, and the buzz around the Longhorns is built on more than hype. The belief around the program is that portal additions can push them from the fringe into true championship contention, especially after the way their quarterback finished the final eight games last season.
The schedule, though, is no gift. Texas has had five ranked matchups in each of its last two SEC seasons, and this year it faces eight Power Four opponents that ESPN ranks inside the top 25.
Notre Dame comes in with the second-highest projected win total in the country, according to ESPN. The setup is appealing: a veteran roster and a favorable schedule.
The Fighting Irish are expected to make another run at the College Football Playoff after an underwhelming finish in 2025, and their season may come down to two games early - BYU and Miami. SMU also shows up later on the slate, but those first two tests loom as the ones that should shape their playoff positioning.
Oregon is chasing a different kind of finish. The Ducks still have the sting of their College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Indiana, and they’ve brought back quarterback Dante Moore along with plenty of other starters from last year’s team.
That return gives Oregon a real shot at its first national title. The schedule is demanding, too.
The Ducks haven’t seen four or more ranked opponents on a slate since their penultimate season in the Pac-12, and while most of those games are bunched in November, the late-September trip to USC is an early checkpoint.
Georgia, the reigning SEC champion, checks in with ESPN projecting the best conference record in 2026. The Bulldogs made a small jump in 2025 with a younger group, and now the roster looks much more veteran-heavy.
That matters, because Georgia has five games against teams in ESPN’s preseason top 25. Three of those come inside state borders, including the Florida game in Atlanta.
The two true road trips are at Alabama and Ole Miss, and both of those teams have beaten Georgia in each of the past two seasons.
Indiana’s No. 6 ranking reflects just how quickly Curt Cignetti has reshaped the roster. He went back to the portal for more offense, and the defense kept a lot of its core intact, including two defensive ends who were granted eligibility by a recent court ruling.
The schedule is unusual in one sense - no Power Four nonconference opponent - but the back half is packed with ranked teams. Ohio State is the headliner, and Michigan, USC and Washington also appear later on.
Miami is another team with a clear upgrade path if the pieces fit. The biggest question is the offensive line, where the Hurricanes need to reload effectively.
On defense, they kept plenty in place, and the addition of quarterback Darian Mensah should lift the offense from last season’s level. The ACC schedule is manageable on paper, with five of the nine opponents combining for an 18-39 record in 2025.
Clemson and Notre Dame are the only teams on Miami’s schedule ranked in ESPN’s top 25.
Alabama’s projection is more cautious than the name usually suggests. ESPN has the Crimson Tide at 8.6 projected wins, the second-lowest mark among the top 10.
The defense is veteran-laden, but the offense still has plenty of uncertainty across the board. The schedule is not the SEC’s hardest, but a four-game stretch between Georgia and the trip to LSU could decide whether Kalen DeBoer gets Alabama back to the College Football Playoff for a second straight year.
LSU rounds out the lower half of the top 10 with the worst projected record among the group at 8.4-3.8. Lane Kiffin has spent the last five years building transfer-heavy rosters, and LSU will need that kind of roster construction to match the expectations of a fan base hungry for a playoff return in 2026.
September is rough at the edges, with top-15 matchups against Ole Miss and Texas A&M. November starts with home games against Alabama and Texas, both of whom sit in the top 10.
Texas Tech is the oddity at the back of the top 10. ESPN says the Red Raiders have the best projected win total in the country, even though quarterback Will Hammond is not the player they hoped would be starting in 2026.
What they do have is the most complete roster in the Big 12. They also avoid Power Four opponents in nonconference play, and their highest-ranked tests - Arizona and Houston - both come outside ESPN’s top 30.
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For Oregon, the loss is more about the ripple effect than the one decision itself. Vargas had been one of the marquee targets at the position, and with his pledge now elsewhere, the Ducks will have to keep working down the board as they shape their quarterback board for the class. Virginia Tech is facing the same reality, as both programs now turn their attention to other prospects while Ohio State adds another major recruiting win. [Read more 🡒]