Coaches Poll Reveals the Preseason College Football Top 25 Rankings

The votes are in for the Coaches Poll top 25, our first official look at the 2026 preseason college football rankings looking ahead to a historic year.

USA Today Sports | IMAGN

The first college football rankings of the 2026 season are officially live.

Members of the coaching community have compiled their vote for the preseason Coaches Poll top 25 heading into the third year of the expanded College Football Playoff, and there was quite a debate around the No. 1 team in the country, reflecting what could be a crowded national championship field.

Six teams received first-place votes from the coaches in the preseason, including three would-be contenders from the Big Ten, two from the SEC, and independent Notre Dame, with the Buckeyes getting the ultimate edge in the No. 1 position heading into 2026.

Here are the first rankings, according to the coaches’ vote.

Coaches Poll top 25 football rankings

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

First-place votes in parentheses

1. Ohio State (38)
2. Oregon (6)
3. Georgia (7)
4. Texas (2)
5. Notre Dame (5)
6. Indiana (14)
7. Miami
8. Texas A&M
9. Oklahoma
10. Ole Miss
11. Alabama
12. Texas Tech
13. LSU
14. USC
15. BYU
16. Michigan
17. Penn State
18. Tennessee
19. Washington
20. SMU
21. Utah
22. Iowa
23. Clemson
24. Houston
25. Missouri

How did we do? Our Coaches Poll Top 25 prediction

Other teams receiving votes

Louisville 153; Florida 147; TCU 63; Illinois 62; South Carolina 50; Arizona 50; Virginia 40; Vanderbilt 37; Auburn 29; Georgia Tech 26; Boise State 24; Oklahoma State 22; UNLV 17; NC State 13; Florida State 13; Virginia Tech 12; Nebraska 12; Memphis 9; Arizona State 8; James Madison 6; Duke 6; Pittsburgh 4; New Mexico 4; Western Michigan 3; Navy 3; San Diego State 2; Kansas State 1; Jacksonville State 1; Hawaii 1; California 1.

How the Coaches Poll is created

Coaches are selected at random by a draw from a pool of willing candidates who have told the American Football Coaches Association that they are open to vote in the poll.

Every week following Saturday games, coaches submit a top 25 ranking with a first place vote worth 25 points, the second place team 24 votes, etc., until they award a single point to the 25th best team in college football.

Those votes are then counted and combined by the numerical value of each coach’s poll and the teams are then ranked by their number of points in descending order to create the final rankings.

Coaches don’t have to vote for the winner of the College Football Playoff as their national champion, but so far they have agreed with the winner on the field every season, and at year’s end the Coaches’ Trophy is awarded to the No. 1 team.