ESPN SP+ Names No. 1 Team in College Football Before 2026 Season

ESPN's Bill Connelly has released his initial SP+ projections for the 2026 college football season.

General view of a television camera with an ESPN college football sleeve. | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The Indiana Hoosiers were crowned as champions for the 2025 college football season, becoming just the third team in the sport's history to pull off a 16-0 record.

While the 2026 season is still months away, it is never too early to try to understand the landscape of how things may play out. Along with notable coaching changes like Lane Kiffin taking the LSU job, there were also over 10,000 players who entered their names into the transfer portal.

Taking all of this into consideration, ESPN's Bill Connelly released his first SP+ projection rankings of all 138 FBS teams. As explained by Connelly, the SP+ "is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency." He bases the rankings on returning production, recent history, recent recruiting and coaching change effects.

Although the Hoosiers had a strong offseason and will have a prime opportunity to defend their crown, they are not the No. 1 team in the rankings, but one of their Big Ten rivals are.

General view of a ESPN college football sideline cameraman. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The Ohio State Buckeyes come in as the No. 1 team, with an SP+ of 31.8. Although they failed to defend their title this past season, they seem poised to make another push for a championship in 2026.

Despite losing offensive coordinator Brian Hartline to the USF head coaching role, and also losing star players Emeka Egbuka, Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles and Lorenzo Styles Jr., among others, the Buckeyes spent big this offseason. They replaced Hartine with former NFL play-caller and head coach Arthur Smith, and also brought in top-five recruiting and transfer portal classes.

From the high school ranks, five-star wide receiver Chris Henry Jr., out of Mater Dei (CA), is expected to be the next Jeremiah Smith, with multiple reports revealing he is already getting first-team reps. As for their transfer portal class, the notable additions include corner Cam Calhoun (Alabama), EDGE Qua Russaw (Alabama) and wide receiver Kyle Parker (LSU).

Similar to last season, they will be tested early and often. The Buckeyes will head to Austin to take on the Texas Longhorns in Week 2. The Longhorns ranked No. 6 in the SP+ rankings, marking one of five teams within the top 15 Ohio State will play.

They'll also be taking on No. 2 Oregon, No. 5 Indiana, No. 13 USC and No. 14 Michigan throughout the year. Outside of Michigan and Oregon, the rest of these huge matchups will be on the road.

Needless to say, Ohio State has a chance to pull off a really impressive season, or they could take a few lumps along the way.