Ohio State paced the field in the first Coaches Poll ahead of the 2026 college football season.
The Buckeyes received 38 first-place votes, 32 ahead of Oregon in second place. Reigning national champion Indiana cracked the ranking at No. 6.
- Ohio State
- Oregon
- Georgia
- Texas
- Notre Dame
- Indiana
- Miami
- Texas A&M
- Oklahoma
- Ole Miss
- Alabama
- Texas Tech
- LSU
- USC
- BYU
- Michigan
- Penn State
- Tennessee
- Washington
- SMU
- Utah
- Iowa
- Clemson
- Houston
- Missouri
Preseason polls have long been an unreliable indicator for who will actually come out on top in the end, and forecasting a champion is even more difficult in an era of the transfer portal.
Last year’s preseason Coaches Poll had Texas on top and followed by Penn State. Both schools missed the College Football Playoff, and the Nittany Lions fired coach James Franklin after a 3-3 start.
Indiana, meanwhile, was down in 19th. Even the staunchest Hoosiers supporters couldn’t have imagined the team would go 16-0 and have the Heisman Trophy winner under center.
On paper, Ohio State makes sense in the No. 1 spot. The Buckeyes return their leading passer (Julian Sayin), rusher (Bo Jackson) and receiver (Jeremiah Smith). Cornerback Dominick Kelly, safety Terry Moore and edge-rusher Qua Russaw were among the portal additions to bolster a defense that lost three first-round NFL draft picks.
Unlike last year, Ohio State will have a game to find its bearings before it matches up with Texas.
Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning might benefit from that as well. Manning improved as the 2025 campaign unfolded, but his lackluster showing in Week 1 against the Buckeyes cast a long shadow.
The excitement is beginning to build again. If Texas avenges its loss to OSU, the hype train is going to careen off the rails, both for Manning and the Longhorns as a whole.
Down in South Florida, Miami should finally be able to capture the a title that has proven elusive for 20-plus years. That’s right, the Hurricanes have yet to be champions of the ACC.
It’s impossible to overstate how much losing Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor off the edge will hurt the defense. Coach Mario Cristobal is counting Damon Wilson II, who had nine sacks and 9.5 sacks with Missouri in 2025, to make up for their departures.
Going from Carson Beck to Darian Mensah at quarterback might be an upgrade as well.
Cristobal won’t have any excuses if Miami yet again fails to win the ACC and can’t make a deep run in the CFP.
Along similar lines, the general patience afforded to coaches in Year 1 is unlikely to apply to Lane Kiffin.
Kiffin put a ton of pressure on himself when he bolted a program on the verge of earning a CFP bid for one in the same conference. College football fans have also seen the headlines about how much LSU and people around the program are prepared to spend in order to win.
The Tigers aren’t in a championship-or-bust mode, but qualifying for the playoff is the minimum expectation.
The Coaches Poll tells a far bigger story for another set of Tigers. Clemson occupies its lowest spot (23rd) in the Coaches Poll since being unranked in 2011.
Dabo Swinney’s squad was sixth in the 2025 preseason poll before stumbling to a 7-6 finish. The general vibes are lower than they’ve been in more than a decade.
Maybe Swinney’s bet on Christopher Vizzina as the starting quarterback will pay off. As Monday’s poll shows, Clemson no longer has the benefit of the doubt.
