Ohio State edged Oregon to give the Big Ten the top two slots in the in the USA Today 2026 preseason college football Coaches Poll, which was unveiled Tuesday afternoon.The Buckeyes are the first Big Ten squad to debut as the coaches’ No. 1 team since 2015, when Ohio State was coming off a College Football Playoff title. Either an SEC team or Clemson has opened the coaches poll at No. 1 every season the last 10 seasons.Ohio State garnered 38 first-place votes, by far the most of any team in the poll. Six different teams received No. 1 votes, with defending CFP champion Indiana collecting the second-most (14) despite only coming in at No. 6 in the rankings. Oregon (six), Texas (seven), Georgia (two) and Notre Dame (five) also received first-place votes and rounded out the top five in that order.
2026 Preseason Coaches Poll RankingTeam2025 record1Ohio State12-22Oregon13-23Georgia12-24Texas10-35Notre Dame10-26Indiana16-07Miami13-38Texas A&M11-29Oklahoma10-310Ole Miss13-211Alabama11-412Texas Tech12-213LSU7-614USC9-415BYU12-216Michigan9-417Penn State7-618Tennessee8-519Washington9-420SMU9-421Utah11-222Iowa9-423Clemson7-624Houston10-325Missouri8-5
The coaches poll hardly serves as a predictor of the upcoming football season. Last year, only 14 preseason top-25 teams were ranked in the final polls, after only 12 appeared in both editions during the 2024-25 season. Alabama was the last team to open at No. 1 in the coaches poll and win that season’s College Football Playoff title, in 2017.
