College Football Rankings: What They Got Wrong in the Preseason Coaches Poll

Voters put the 16-0 defending champions behind two teams they beat in January, and that is only the first problem with the initial Top 25 of 2026.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and his Tigers are a ranked team in the preseason coaches poll. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The US LBM Coaches Poll arrived Tuesday at noon ET, and the voters made some mistakes.

Ohio State at No. 1 is defensible. The Buckeyes return Julian Sayin, and most people agree they have the best roster in the country. They've got Jeremiah Smith, the best player in the country. Most would agree with that. Almost everything after that gets shaky. Here are five calls the coaches got wrong.

Indiana at No. 6 is the biggest mistake in the poll

Indiana went 16-0 last season, the first perfect 16-0 record in major college football history. The Hoosiers beat Ohio State 13-10 in the Big Ten championship game. They beat Oregon 56-22 in the Peach Bowl. Then they beat Miami 27-21 for the national title. The coaches responded by ranking the champions behind both Big Ten teams they defeated by a combined score of 69-32.

Yes, Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza is gone. But Curt Cignetti added TCU transfer Josh Hoover at quarterback and signed the No. 1 transfer class in the country.

BREAKING: College Football Preseason Coaches Poll👀https://t.co/gnEe967fmH pic.twitter.com/W2xBYGZWYe

— On3 (@On3) August 4, 2026

The Athletic and The Sporting News both rank Indiana No. 1. Athlon Sports, Phil Steele and Lindy's all have the Hoosiers fifth. Nobody outside this poll treats Bloomington like the sixth-best program in America.

"I'm a firm believer in our blueprint," Cignetti said at Big Ten media days. "We have a way of doing things … and all we do is win."

Oregon at No. 2 ignores the Peach Bowl result

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning, right, talks with Oregon wide receiver Dakorien Moore during warm-ups. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Oregon is a good team, likely a great team. Dante Moore is back, and Dan Lanning recruits as well as anyone. But the Ducks gave up 56 points to Indiana in a playoff semifinal seven months ago. Ranking Oregon four spots ahead of the team that did that to them requires a short memory.

The Ducks make sense in the top three, as long as it's behind Indiana. Common sense says the champs should not be looking up at a team they beat by 34.

Texas at No. 4 and Notre Dame at No. 5 both missed the playoff

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian looks on before a game against the Michigan Wolverines. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The strangest stretch of the poll sits right above Indiana. Texas went 10-3 and lost at Ohio State, at Florida and at Georgia. Notre Dame went 10-2, dropped its first two games to Miami and Texas A&M, then won 10 straight and still got left out of the field. Neither team played a single playoff snap in January. The coaches put both of them directly ahead of the champions and the runner-up anyway.

The rosters explain the optimism. Arch Manning threw 26 touchdown passes while playing on an injured foot, and CJ Carr threw for 2,741 yards and 24 touchdowns as a freshman in South Bend. Both belong in the top 10.

But Notre Dame lost to Miami 27-24 head-to-head and sits two spots ahead of the Hurricanes, and neither program accomplished anything last season that Indiana did not exceed.

Miami at No. 7 makes no sense next to Ohio State at No. 1

Miami head coach Mario Cristobal speaks to the media during ACC Media Days at Hilton Charlotte Uptown. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Miami played for the national title. The Hurricanes beat Ohio State 24-14 in the quarterfinals to get there. The coaches put them six spots behind the Buckeyes anyway.

Mario Cristobal also landed the best quarterback in the transfer portal in Darian Mensah, who led the ACC with 3,973 passing yards and 34 touchdowns at Duke and was voted preseason ACC Player of the Year. Seventh is too low for the runner-up.

Clemson at No. 23 after a 7-6 season

The coaches ranked Clemson sixth in last year's preseason poll. The Tigers went 7-6 and finished unranked. Now they are back in the Top 25 with first-year starter Christopher Vizzina penciled in at quarterback. This is the clearest case of voters ranking a logo instead of a roster.

The good news is that these arguments get settled soon. The 2026 college football season opens with Week 0 on Aug. 29, and the first regular-season coaches poll comes out Sept. 8.

US LBM Preseason Coaches Poll Top 25

1. Ohio State
2. Oregon
3. Georgia
4. Texas
5. Notre Dame
6. Indiana
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