2026 College Football Rankings: Oregon Or Notre Dame At No. 1 In Preseason Top 25?
The start of every college football season brings plenty of uncertainty. However, ahead of the 2026 college football season, there's one thing I'm certain about: who should be considered the No. 1 team in the nation.
As this college football offseason has provided us with plenty of drama, there's one Big Ten team that's built an elite roster across the board. Which team is it?
Let's take a deep dive into my preseason top 25.
How often do you see a team that went 1-11 start out in a preseason top 25? Welcome to the new modern age of college football, which I think is better than how the sport used to be.
There was so much turnover at Oklahoma State this offseason. Eric Morris comes in as head coach after leading North Texas to the No. 1 scoring offense in the country a year ago. Morris has worked with a who's who of quality offensive players in college football — Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes, Cam Ward, among others. You know he's going to get the best out of his quarterback, and he did a year ago with Drew Mestemaker.
And guess what? Mestemaker followed him to Oklahoma State, and I love this for the Cowboys. This is a completely different team. They have 55 transfers come in, with 17 of them arriving from North Texas.
I'm a big fan of the Cats and Brent Brennan, now entering his third year as Arizona's head coach. But first-team All-Big 12 quarterback Noah Fafita returning is huge. He's got great experience as he enters his fourth season as a starter.
The big question for me with Arizona, though, is that it has to replace three All-Big 12 players in the secondary. Arizona has some tough road games in conference as well, playing at BYU, Texas Tech and Kansas State.
Listen, I think Tennessee can go either way here. It has a good roster. Josh Heupel has four straight top-15 recruiting classes, and his offenses can produce.
The big question for me is the inexperience at quarterback, particularly in that system. Can you step in and produce right away? Whoever does start will have zero career starts in college football. Redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and five-star true freshman Faizon Brandon are competing for the job. Luckily, the Vols have talent at running back and wide receiver between All-SEC DeSean Bishop and Braylon Staley. But the quarterback has to make post-snap decisions down the field with that deep choice system.
They've got a lot of these big games at home, and historically, they've won a lot of their big games at home. Three of their four toughest games are at home, as they host Texas, Alabama and LSU. This is a team that might make some noise in the SEC.
Joel Klatt’s Favorite Over/Under Win Total Bets for the 2026 Season
It doesn't matter what Iowa brings back. It doesn't matter if the Hawkeyes don't have a quarterback. They still have head coach Kirk Ferentz and defensive coordinator Sean Parker. It's not a quarterback-centric program. They're going to continue to do the same things: play fundamentally sound football, be physical, stop the run and run the ball well.
Iowa does have to replace some of the guys who helped it win the Joe Moore Award for the nation's best offensive line a year ago. A lot of this season will come down to whether Iowa can develop its offensive line quickly enough. If it does, then Iowa will have something here — and I trust the infrastructure.
I don't feel great about this ranking, to be honest with you. But Willie Fritz won 10 games in his second season as Houston's head coach, and it has its quarterback back, Conner Weigman, after a good first year with the program. There were some good transfer portal adds for Houston on the offensive side of the ball, too.
The one thing that I'm worried about is Houston's record in close games last year. It went 6-1 in one-score games in 2025, and teams typically regress to the mean after such a year. Maybe with an experienced quarterback, though, Houston will be able to turn those one-score victories in multiple-score wins?
It was a messy start to the offseason, but maybe all is well in Washington? Demond Williams is back at quarterback — remember the whole dilemma with him this offseason? That's my biggest question with the Huskies, honestly. Williams is a heck of a player, averaging 332 total yards in the Huskies' nine wins last year.
Head coach Jedd Fisch's teams get better every single year, going 9-4 in Year 2. They had a solid recruiting class, but the Huskies still have to replace running back Jonah Coleman and wide receiver Denzel Boston. Dezmen Roebuck could help potentially fill in the void left by Boston following his strong freshman year.
Demond Williams saga comes to a close as he returns to Washington
I like Louisville and head coach Jeff Brohm a lot. The Cardinals have won nine games in three straight seasons. We'll see how Ohio State transfer Lincoln Kienholz does at quarterback, but he's got a strong running back returning in Isaac Brown, who is an absolute star. The Cardinals also have a top-15 portal class to help fill in some gaps to compete in a conference that I don't think is overly difficult.
Louisville has a game early in the season against SMU that I think is pivotal in the ACC title race. Miami's the best team in the ACC, but that game might determine who the Hurricanes could face in the conference title game.
That Louisville-SMU game in Week 3 is why I have these two teams ranked back-to-back.
SMU has been really successful under Rhett Lashlee, and the Mustangs have a really experienced quarterback in Kevin Jennings. If he doesn't turn the ball over, he's a really dynamic quarterback. Jennings has helped SMU reach the playoff in his career and led the Mustangs to an upset over Miami last season.
I toyed around with placing Penn State higher in my rankings because it hit the schedule lottery. But the turnover in Happy Valley this offseason was really impressive.
Matt Campbell is a hell of a football coach and he brought, well, everybody with him at Iowa State over to Penn State. The most important person Campbell brought over was Rocco Becht, the most experienced quarterback in college football. He's made 39 career starts, and he'll continue to work with Taylor Mouser, who was the offensive coordinator at Iowa State. Becht will also be handing the ball off to running back Carson Hansen, who was second-team All-Big 12 a year ago.
Penn State also made a great defensive coordinator hire in D'Anton Lynn, and it won the schedule lottery. It has a tough game at Michigan and it hosts USC, but it avoids Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon. This could be a big year for Penn State.
This is the start of the next tier in my top 25. Honestly, you could rank these next six teams in any order.
I love Ole Miss' backfield. Quarterback Trinidad Chambliss is fantastic. His leadership was really tremendous during the College Football Playoff, when Lane Kiffin bailed on them. The Rebels also brought in the No. 2 transfer portal class, so there'll be some talent around Chambliss.
Still, Kiffin was a force of nature, especially on the offensive side during his Ole Miss tenure. Can the Rebels replicate that? Pete Golding did a wonderful job as their head coach during the CFP, but they've got a tough schedule ahead of them this year. They've got to open the season against Louisville. They host LSU in Week 3. They face Florida, Oklahoma and Texas on the road, while they host Georgia later in the year.
So, with replacing Kiffin and the tough schedule, Ole Miss is at the bottom of this tier.
Bama fans, you know what to do. You think I hate Alabama, but I don't.
This is viewing this team through regular lenses and not Crimson lenses. I don't love the trajectory of this program right now, even though they made the playoff a year ago. They got blown out by Georgia and Indiana. Indiana, particularly, put a physical beatdown on Alabama in that Rose Bowl.
Here's what I'm concerned about for Bama: It's going to have a brand new quarterback and I don't know where the run game is to help whoever the starting quarterback will be. That was the issue for Alabama last season, as it couldn't support an elite quarterback in Ty Simpson with a run game.
What do I like about Alabama? I love their roster. Kalen DeBoer has recruited really well at Alabama. I love the defense, and the secondary should be one of the best in the country. But Alabama also lost a bunch of defensive linemen in the portal, raising my concerns about the Tide's play along the line of scrimmage. The offensive line is also a huge question mark.
Keeping head coach Kalani Sitake was a huge win for BYU after it proved it could handle just about everyone in the Big 12, outside of Texas Tech. The Cougars are also returning their quarterback, Bear Bachmaier, and running back LJ Martin, the reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. That's big for a BYU program that's looking to level up.
BYU did lose defensive coordinator Jay Hill to Michigan, but it should still be good on that side of the ball. I'm a big fan of Sitake and this BYU team.
Mike Elko has done a great job as Texas A&M's head coach, and I'm optimistic about the Aggies because of him.
I think quarterback Marcel Reed can improve. Reed's next step is being more consistent and not turning the ball over against top competition. We saw him go through some lulls and play great in the same game at times, but the last we saw of Reed was in the CFP loss to Miami. I think he can improve, and he'll have wide receiver Mario Craver back, which is good.
The one thing Texas A&M's defense will have to get better at is stopping the run. What were the Aggies defensively against the run when you take away their sack yardage? 127th. Can Texas A&M get a road win at either LSU or Alabama? If it does, there's a good chance the Aggies enter November at 7-1.
This is Lincoln Riley's best team at USC. The Trojans are a real team at the line of scrimmage. This is no longer smoke and mirrors and wondering if Caleb Williams can carry the team back when he was their quarterback.
I'm not concerned about who the quarterback will be in Riley's offense, as they almost always prove to be a Heisman contender. Jayden Maiava is back behind center, and he'll have two impressive running backs alongside him (Waymond Jordan, King Miller).
The defensive line at USC looks legit. It had the No. 1 recruiting class in the country as well, which could be great for USC's depth.
So, why isn't USC in the top 10? Its schedule is brutal. It comes down to this: If you think USC has to go 10-2, then it likely has to split the games at home against Ohio State and Oregon. If not, then you have to think that this could be the first 9-3 team to make the CFP if it's able to win at Penn State or Washington. Eventually, a 9-3 team is going to get into the playoff. Will it be USC? It could be.
Yes, I know Texas Tech lost quarterback Brendan Sorsby after his gambling saga. But this is still a very talented Red Raiders' roster and Texas Tech is clearly the best team in the Big 12. Quarterback Will Hammond is good and got some experience last season, too. He's returning from an ACL injury, but from what I've heard, Hammond's expected to be ready to play early in the season.
Can Texas Tech replace Romello Height and David Bailey along the edge and Jacob Rodriguez at linebacker? The Red Raiders got some really good players because of their willingness to spend. You might not have heard of them, but linebacker Austin Romaine had over 160 tackles at Kansas State the last two years. They got a pair of edge rushers that you might not have heard of (Trey White, San Diego State; Adam Trick, Miami of Ohio) who had a combined 15 sacks last season.
The schedule sets up for them to go either 11-1 or 12-0. Will they be able to level up against the elite teams? That's the big question for them.
I probably have Michigan ranked higher than most, and I think the Wolverines are the second-biggest wild card in college football this season.
But for a long time I said "death, taxes and Utah football." Well, I should really say: "death, taxes and Kyle Whittingham." I believe in Whittingham's structure and fundamental traits to make Michigan a great football team. Whittingham's blueprint for success also matches the blueprint Michigan used to win the national title in 2023. Whittingham also brought talented coaches with him, including former Utah offensive coordinator Jason Beck and Utah offensive line coach Jim Harding.
Michigan was a young team last year, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. The Wolverines had six freshmen playing for them on offense in big moments late in the year, including quarterback Bryce Underwood. Can Underwood develop? He has to improve his total touchdown-to-interception ratio (17-11). But Beck has a track record of getting the most out of athletic quarterbacks, helping Devon Dampier become one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the nation.
John Mateer is healthy, and when Mateer is healthy, he's one of the better players in the country. The problem with Oklahoma last year was that it couldn't run the football, and when you can't run the football, you can't protect your quarterback. Mateer can't do everything, as he physically broke down after carrying Oklahoma's offense in the opening weeks of the season.
This is a team that plays great defense under Brent Venables. That was one of the best defenses in college football, but the offense was woefully short of that standard due to the Sooners' inability to run the football. If I'm an OU fan, I'm wondering if we can finally marry an elite defensive unit with an offense that can be at least OK.
This is the biggest wild card in the country. LSU could climb into the top three. It could also fall out of the top 25. I think the Lane Kiffin experience will work, but who knows? LSU brought in the No. 1 transfer portal class in the country, but it also had the No. 1 transfer portal class in the country last year and it couldn't play its way offensively out of a wet paper bag.
Kiffin should fix the offense, though. He averages over 500 yards of offense just falling out of bed. That's what he does. He brought in Sam Leavitt, a heck of a quarterback out of Arizona State. Kiffin also had a history of rebuilding through the portal at Ole Miss, and it worked out for him there.
How much pressure is on Lane Kiffin in his first year at LSU? 👀 Joel Klatt Show
Who knows what Kiffin is going to say or do; he's an absolute loose cannon. He left a playoff team before the playoff. But if LSU fixes the offense, the Tigers should be good. Those matchups against Clemson, Ole Miss and Texas A&M early in the year could determine how Year 1 goes for Kiffin, though.
You could honestly talk me into any order between No. 2 and No. 7. We are splitting hairs here, so I don't want to hear it.
Texas has things it needs to fix, and we can't assume that everything will be fixed until we see it. The biggest area the Longhorns needed to fix was the offensive line and running the football. Going back to his time at Washington, Steve Sarkisian's best teams are effective at running the football.
Texas went into those areas, spent and upgraded in the transfer portal. It got players like Auburn wide receiver Cam Coleman, along with running backs Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown. Arch Manning had a tough start to the year last year. However, if you think he's bad and is Texas' problem, you don't know ball. Manning was a top-three quarterback in the back half of last year, and the people around him were falling short of expectations.
The entire question for me about Texas is not about Manning, and if your question is about Manning, you don't know what you're looking at.
Georgia's still the class of the SEC. The roster is great. Kirby Smart is a great coach. You can't kill Georgia, either, because quarterback Gunnar Stockton is a gamer who is tough as nails and absolutely tough as nails. He's an elite fourth-quarter quarterback.
If Stockton had some better options to throw to in the passing game, maybe the Bulldogs would have made their way into the top five. The defense should be elite again.
But here's the problem: Georgia hasn't played at the same level as the teams in the top five. Can Georgia score at the level that some of the top teams in the nation can? I'm not sure.
Candidly, this might be too low.
Curt Cignetti was the best head coach in the country last year, and he kept his coordinators. I know the Hoosiers lost a lot and don't have Fernando Mendoza. However, Josh Hoover is the best of the three quarterbacks Cignetti has had at Indiana based on what they were at their previous school. Hoover is probably going to work. He's going to have two best friends he can rely on: a running game and a defense, as Cignetti put it.
And while Hoover has struggled with interceptions, I trust that Cignetti can coach his quarterbacks. Indiana’s QBshad the lowest interception percentage in the country during the first two years under Cignetti and OC Mike Shanahan. This should be a run-first team with a great offensive line and talent at wide receiver after landing Michigan State wide receiver Nick Marsh.
I'm going to trust Cignetti. The schedule's a bit tougher than it has been during Cignetti's time there, but Indiana is an elite program.
Last year was a breakthrough for Miami, getting
