The SEC can still claim the biggest footprint in the preseason AP Top 25, but Rece Davis wanted no part of putting the league at the very top of his ballot.
Davis, the ESPN College GameDay host, slotted Notre Dame at No. 1 and then went four straight spots without an SEC team. By the time his top five was complete, Georgia was the first league entry, and it came in at No.
- Texas followed at No.
- In a poll where the SEC landed nine teams overall, Davis still left the conference without a single first-place vote.
The full AP picture looked very different from his card. Ohio State grabbed the No. 1 spot with 40 first-place votes, Oregon checked in second with 14, then Georgia, Notre Dame and Texas rounded out the top five.
Davis’ ballot stood out enough to register an outlier score of 2.96 on the chart tracking every voter, a mark that reflected nearly three spots of difference per team from the AP consensus. That compilation was produced by Reddit user u/bakonydraco.
What makes the ballot especially eye-catching is Davis’ own background. He graduated from Alabama, and he works for the network that holds the SEC’s main television rights. None of that nudged an SEC team into his top five.
Still, this is not a case of Davis ignoring Georgia. He picked the Bulldogs to beat Texas in the SEC Championship Game earlier this week and said on See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack, “I think Georgia’s one of the favorites to win the national championship,”
Georgia is coming off back-to-back SEC titles, and Gunner Stockton returns after being named SEC Championship Game MVP. Last season, Stockton threw for 2,894 yards, 24 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Davis’ ballot also lines up with how the national race has shifted. The Big Ten has taken the last three national championships, with Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana each winning one during that stretch.
Indiana finished 16-0 last season, and Ohio State came close to knocking off the Hoosiers in the Big Ten title game. Davis picked the Buckeyes to win the conference this fall.
“I’ll take the team that’s going to show them that Ohio State is here and at the top of the Big Ten for the first time since the COVID season,” Davis said on the College GameDay podcast.
He also made clear that Indiana is still the team the rest of the league is chasing.
“Somebody may favor Ohio State. Somebody may favor Oregon. Everybody’s shooting at Indiana whether you like it or whether you don’t,” Davis said.
Even with nine SEC teams in the Top 25, most of the league sits in the middle of the rankings. Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, LSU and Alabama all came in between No. 8 and No.
- The Big Ten placed eight teams in the poll.
CBS Sports also ranked the Big Ten ahead of the SEC in its preseason conference rankings. Over the last two seasons, the Big Ten went 10-7 against the SEC and posted an 8-2 postseason record.
And while the SEC still leads the sport in NFL talent - it has topped the draft-pick count for 20 straight years and set a record with 87 selections in 2026 - Davis’ ballot leaned toward recent on-field results. Reputation, conference ties and pro potential didn’t move him as much as what he sees happening now.
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