Ohio State and Oregon Separated by a Breath
The 2026 preseason US LBM Coaches Poll is official, and the race for No. 1 is closer than the final standings suggest. Ohio State takes the top spot with 1,741 points, but Oregon sits right behind at 1,637 — a gap of barely one hundred points across the ballots of FBS head coaches. In a poll that has produced blowout No. 1s in recent memory, this is a genuine coin-flip at the top.
The two teams are the clear class of the field, and both carry legitimate championship credentials. Georgia follows at No. 3 with 1,591 points, Texas checks in at No. 4 with 1,544, and Notre Dame completes the top five at 1,524. Notice what those numbers say: five teams within 220 points of one another, with no runaway favorite. CBS Sports called it the most wide-open preseason top 25 since 2008, and the point distribution backs that up.
For Ohio State, the No. 1 spot is a statement of continuity. For Oregon, it is validation that last season's run has re-priced the program's ceiling. Both open the season knowing the target on their backs is the largest in the country.
Defending Champion Indiana Lands at No. 6
The most fascinating placement in the top ten belongs to Indiana. The Hoosiers won last season's national championship, yet they re-enter the year at No. 6 with 1,522 points — two points behind Notre Dame and well clear of the top four. Championship hangovers are real in the coaches' voting, and roster turnover after a title run invites skepticism no matter who returns.
The rest of the top ten reflects a fascinating national map: Miami at No. 7 keeps the ACC's flagship high after last season's semifinal run, Texas A&M holds No. 8, Oklahoma takes No. 9, and Ole Miss rounds out the top ten at 1,096 points. Alabama — a program accustomed to living in the top three — sits at No. 11, immediately sparking the loudest debate of the poll cycle.
Here is the complete top 25 as released August 4:
| Rank | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State | 1,741 |
| 2 | Oregon | 1,637 |
| 3 | Georgia | 1,591 |
| 4 | Texas | 1,544 |
| 5 | Notre Dame | 1,524 |
| 6 | Indiana | 1,522 |
| 7 | Miami (FL) | 1,409 |
| 8 | Texas A&M | 1,174 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | 1,104 |
| 10 | Ole Miss | 1,096 |
| 11 | Alabama | 1,050 |
| 12 | Texas Tech | 1,034 |
| 13 | LSU | 951 |
| 14 | USC | 838 |
| 15 | BYU | 781 |
| 16 | Michigan | 719 |
| 17 | Penn State | 463 |
| 18 | Tennessee | 428 |
| 19 | Washington | 406 |
| 20 | SMU | 378 |
| 21 | Utah | 313 |
| 22 | Iowa | 291 |
| 23 | Clemson | 235 |
| 24 | Houston | 194 |
| 25 | Missouri | 158 |
The SEC's Nine-Team Power Grab
The conference math is the story underneath the rankings. The SEC placed nine teams in the top 25 — Georgia, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Alabama, LSU, Tennessee and Missouri — more than any other conference. The Big Ten answers with eight, including the top two, and together the two leagues occupy 17 of the 25 spots.
That concentration is not an accident; it is the transfer portal, media deals and recruiting infrastructure compounding year over year. It also sharpens the stakes of the playoff expansion fight happening in parallel: when two conferences own the poll, arguments about access, automatic qualifiers and field size become arguments about which league's middle class gets postseason life.
Elsewhere in the poll, BYU at No. 15 continues the Big 12's climb, Michigan at No. 16 starts a rebuild year inside the top 20, and SMU at No. 20 gives the ACC a third ranked body alongside Miami and Clemson at No. 23. Houston at No. 24 and Missouri at No. 25 close out the list.
Big Ten's Answer and the Heisman Market
The Big Ten's eight-team showing deserves its own read, because it comes with the poll's two biggest prizes attached. Ohio State at No. 1 and Oregon at No. 2 means the conference holds both of the sport's lead storylines, and the rest of the league's ranked body — Indiana, Michigan, Penn State, Iowa, Washington and USC — gives the league depth from the playoff picture down into the bubble. If the top of the poll is a coin flip, the Big Ten owns both sides of the coin.
That concentration will shape the Heisman conversation too. The preseason player lists already reflect it: Ohio State's Jeremiah Smith, the game's defining talent, plays for the No. 1 team, while last season's championship run at Indiana minted the kind of national exposure that turns returning standouts into instant candidates. When a conference owns the top two poll spots, its marquee players inherit the largest broadcast stages, and Heisman campaigns are built on exactly that visibility.
The counterweight, as always, is the schedule. The SEC's nine-team presence means the league's internal slate will produce ranked-versus-ranked collisions every Saturday from late September onward, and those games are where polls get rewritten. A top-ten SEC team that survives October unscathed will carry a resume no projection can manufacture in August.
Overrated, Underrated, Snubbed
No poll release survives a news cycle without the reaction content, and this one produced a full slate within hours. Yahoo Sports ran with the spicy one: Alabama named college football's most overrated team — a take fueled by the Crimson Tide's slide to No. 11 after last season's finish, even as Kalen DeBoer's second act divides analysts.
CBS Sports and USA Today published overrated/underrated panels, Sports Illustrated and USA Today both ran snub pieces, and local coverage lit up from Illinois (snubbed entirely) to Iowa (ranked, and celebrating). The New York Times weighed in on who sits too high and too low. The consensus of the commentary class: the top is wide open, the middle is brutal, and the bubble teams at 20-25 have real cases to swap places by October.
It is worth remembering what the coaches poll actually is: a ballot of FBS head coaches, published by USA Today in partnership with the American Football Coaches Association, which means the voters are the people preparing to play the season they are ranking. That perspective is a strength — coaches see roster quality up close — and a known bias, since they also vote on reputations built in previous seasons. The College Football Playoff selection committee makes its own decisions independently, but in practice the preseason polls set the narrative frame that every upset, every top-25 collision and every resume argument gets measured against until the committee takes over in November. This year's frame is unusually wide, and that is good news for everyone whose team starts just outside the top ten.
What the Poll Means for Week 0
The timing gives this poll immediate teeth. With the season opening August 29 in Week 0 — headlined by North Carolina against TCU in Dublin — ranked teams barely have a week to settle before voters get new information. A No. 1 Ohio State loss in September would detonate the top of the poll; a mid-tier upset could reshuffle positions 10 through 25 before the AP and coaches reconvene.
For fans, the practical use of a preseason poll is simple: it is the argument starter, not the verdict. Coaches vote on reputation, returning production and schedule math, and every one of those inputs gets stress-tested the moment real games begin. This year, more than most, the ballot is an invitation to disagree.
What This Means for CFB 27
A preseason ballot is the closest thing college football has to a ratings sheet, and this one is unusually tight. Ohio State's 1,741 points against Oregon's 1,637 is a razor-thin margin across 130 head coaches, with five programs inside 220 points of one another — the kind of spread that means any projection built on these rankings starts from a genuine tie at the top.
Watch the SEC's nine ranked teams against the Big Ten's eight more than you watch the No. 1 debate. When two conferences hold seventeen of twenty-five spots, the interesting question is who inside each league survives the internal slate, and Ohio State and Oregon will be judged on exactly that. The Hoosiers at No. 6 despite holding the trophy is the other useful signal: voting bodies punish roster turnover even in a championship year, which is why a preseason ballot is a starting assumption to test rather than a verdict.
