Georgia and Texas sit at the top of 247Sports’ SEC preseason poll, and the gap between them is razor thin.
The SEC sites in the 247Sports network gave Georgia the No. 1 spot in the conference heading into 2026, but only by the slimmest of margins. The Bulldogs collected seven first-place votes, while Texas picked up five. That kind of split tells the story of the league’s preseason outlook: no runaway favorite, just a crowded race at the top.
Ole Miss and Texas A&M were tied for third, adding to the sense that the SEC’s upper tier is packed tight. Alabama, Oklahoma, LSU and Tennessee followed to complete the top eight. At the other end, Mississippi State, Kentucky and Arkansas landed at the bottom of the poll.
Georgia enters the year as the defending SEC champion after beating Alabama 28-7 in the conference title game in Atlanta. The Bulldogs also earned a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff, though their run ended with a 39-34 loss to Ole Miss in the CFP quarterfinals at the Sugar Bowl.
Texas’ 2025 season finished at 10-3, and the Longhorns came up just short of a CFP berth after regular-season losses to unranked Florida and Georgia. They closed the year with a 41-27 win over Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.
Both teams open the 2026 season on Sept. 5.
Georgia, led by Heisman Trophy contender Gunner Stockton, starts against Tennessee State. Texas, with Arch Manning at quarterback, opens against Texas State before hosting Ohio State on Sept.
In Other News...
Kyle Field Just Became A Question Aggies Never Wanted Asked
Kyle Field has spent more than a century growing from a modest home field into one of college footballs most recognizable venues, and its place in Texas A&M lore has only deepened with each expansion and renovation. Named for E.J. Kyle, the stadium has long been treated as more than a building in College Station, a historic landmark that has carried the Aggies through generations of football and tradition.
That is why any conversation about its future tends to land with extra weight, especially after the massive redevelopment that reshaped the stadium ahead of the 2015 season and made it the SECs largest. Even with its modern scale and packed Saturdays, Kyle Field still sits at the center of the same question that has followed it through every era: how much change can a place absorb before it stops feeling like Kyle Field? [Read more 🡒]
Jimbo Fisher Just Reopened An Uncomfortable Texas A&M Conversation
Mike Elko has already given Texas A&M a cleaner football story to tell since taking over after Jimbo Fishers dismissal, and the numbers back it up. In less than two full seasons, Elko has guided the Aggies to a 19-7 record, capped by an 11-2 campaign and a College Football Playoff appearance, which has helped move the program past the turbulence that followed Fishers six-year run in College Station.
Still, Fisher has a way of pulling that old conversation back into the room. Now working as an ACC Network analyst, the coach who was fired by Texas A&M is again talking publicly about his future, and any hint that he could want back into the profession naturally reopens the question of what his next chapter might look like. For Aggies fans, it is less about nostalgia than about whether the program is finally settled or whether Fishers name will keep lingering around the edges of the post-Jimbo era. [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&M Commit Is Suddenly Closing In On Five-Star Status
Texas A&Ms 2027 recruiting class already looks like a heavyweight, sitting No. 1 overall and packed with six five-star prospects, with offensive tackle Mark Matthews headlining the group. But the buzz around the class has only grown because edge prospect Frederick Ards III is pushing his way toward that same elite tier, giving the Aggies another potential centerpiece in a cycle that has already drawn plenty of national attention.
Ards has the kind of production that keeps evaluators coming back, and his ranking now has him sitting just outside five-star territory in the Rivals300. He also figures to keep trending upward once he gets into Texas A&Ms development pipeline under strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt, which is part of why the Aggies are trying to hold firm as other blue-blood programs circle before Early Signing Day. [Read more 🡒]