Who will be No. 1 in the 2026 college football season?
It’s never too early to take a look, and there are different candidates across the major publications.
Ohio State is No. 1 in a composite Way-Too-Early Top 25 made up of 10 college football publications. Sporting News released its Way Too Early Top 25 for 2026, but we also looked at other sites to see how their rankings looked. That list includes Athlon, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, Yahoo Sports and On3.com.
The Buckeyes had the highest composite total among those 10 sites. Five sites have Ohio State at No. 1. Texas is No. 2 in the composite rankings. The Longhorns had one first-place vote. Ohio State and Texas play on Sept. 12.
Georgia did not have a first-place vote, but the two-time defending SEC champions are No. 3 on the composite list. Indiana, which won the national championship with a perfect 16-0 record, had two first-place votes. The Hoosiers are No. 4. Oregon, which rounds the top-five at No. 5 – also had two first-place votes.
MORE: Transfer portal winners and losers
The SEC has the most schools on the list with nine, followed by the Big Ten with eight. Four Big 12 schools, three ACC schools and Notre Dame – which is No. 6 – complete the list.
We used an inverse scoring method (awarding 25 points to a No. 1 selection, 24 for a No. 2 selection, all the way down to one point for a No. 25 selection) to determine the highest possible score for each school.
Last season, 8 of the 10 Power 4 College Football Playoff teams for the following season were in the Way-Too-Early composite Top 25, and the two others received votes.
MORE CFP CHAMPIONSHIP GAME NEWS:
Composite top 25 preseason college football rankings
A look at a composite Way Too Early Top 25 college football ranking across 10 major websites. Here is each school with the total points scored and their high and low ranking:
| RANK | SCHOOL | TOTAL | HIGH | LOW |
| 1 | Ohio State | 214 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | Texas | 207 | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | Georgia | 206 | 2 | 5 |
| 4 | Indiana | 199 | 1 | 8 |
| 5 | Oregon | 193 | 1 | 8 |
| 6 | Notre Dame | 186 | 2 | 9 |
| 7 | Texas Tech | 165 | 7 | 10 |
| 8 | Texas A&M | 151 | 8 | 13 |
| 9 | Miami | 148 | 4 | 13 |
| 10 | Oklahoma | 132 | 9 | 19 |
| 11 | BYU | 129 | 8 | 15 |
| 12 | LSU | 115 | 6 | 17 |
| 13 | USC | 113 | 11 | 19 |
| 14 | Michigan | 110 | 9 | 18 |
| 15 | Ole Miss | 105 | 9 | 20 |
| 16 | Alabama | 102 | 11 | 21 |
| 17 | SMU | 60 | 14 | N/R |
| 18 | Utah | 56 | 15 | N/R |
| 19 | Louisville | 50 | 14 | N/R |
| 20 | Penn State | 49 | 14 | N/R |
| 21 | Iowa | 46 | 16 | N/R |
| 22 | Washington | 41 | 17 | N/R |
| 23 | Houston | 35 | 20 | N/R |
| 20 | Missouri | 22 | 13 | N/R |
| 25 | Tennessee | 16 | 21 | N/R |
Others receiving votes: Virginia Tech 13, Boise State 8, Clemson 8, Florida 7, Illinois 7, TCU 6, South Carolina 5, Florida State 4, Arizona State 3, Vanderbilt 1, Memphis 1, Virginia 1, Arizona 1
Composite Top 25 rankings by site
| SCHOOL | SN | ATHLON | T-ATH | B/R | CBS | ESPN | S/I | USA | Y! | ON3 |
| Indiana | 1 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| Ohio State | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Georgia | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| Texas | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Notre Dame | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 4 |
| Oregon | 6 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 6 |
| Texas Tech | 7 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Miami | 8 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 9 |
| Oklahoma | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 19 | 10 | 13 | 10 |
| Ole Miss | 10 | 13 | 15 | 13 | 20 | 9 | 18 | 20 | 11 | 15 |
| BYU | 11 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 15 | 13 |
| Alabama | 12 | 15 | 20 | 11 | 15 | 21 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 17 |
| Texas A&M | 13 | 7 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| USC | 14 | 16 | 12 | 16 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 19 |
| Utah | 15 | 18 | 24 | 17 | 18 | 25 | 17 | 18 | – | 16 |
| Michigan | 16 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 9 | 18 | 11 | 14 | 16 | 11 |
| LSU | 17 | 11 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 10 | 15 | 6 | 12 |
| Penn State | 18 | 21 | – | 19 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 17 | 18 | 14 |
| Louisville | 19 | 23 | 17 | 24 | 16 | 14 | – | – | 19 | – |
| Iowa | 20 | 22 | 18 | 23 | – | 16 | 16 | 21 | – | 21 |
| Houston | 21 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 21 | – | – | 23 | 21 | 22 |
| Illinois | 22 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 24 | – |
| SMU | 23 | 24 | 22 | 18 | 23 | 17 | 14 | 16 | 17 | – |
| Washington | 24 | 17 | 19 | 22 | 19 | 19 | 24 | – | 23 | 18 |
| Vanderbilt | 25 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Tennessee | – | 19 | – | 21 | – | 24 | – | 24 | – | 20 |
| Boise State | – | 25 | 23 | – | – | – | 23 | 25 | – | – |
| Missouri | – | – | 13 | – | 17 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Florida | – | – | 25 | – | – | – | 20 | – | – | 24 |
| Clemson | – | – | – | 25 | – | – | – | 19 | – | – |
| Virginia Tech | – | – | – | – | 24 | – | 21 | – | 20 | 23 |
| South Carolina | – | – | – | – | 25 | – | – | – | 22 | – |
| TCU | – | – | – | – | – | 20 | – | – | – | – |
| Arizona State | – | – | – | – | – | 23 | – | – | – | – |
| Memphis | – | – | – | – | – | – | 25 | – | – | – |
| Florida State | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 22 | – | – |
| Virgina | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 25 | – | |
| Arizona | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 25 |
