Ohio State Opens 2026 Atop AP Poll; Clemson Unranked for First Time Since 2011

Ohio State opened the 2026 college football season ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press preseason poll, accumulating 1,672 total points and 40 of the 69 available first-place votes. It marks the first time the Buckeyes have begun a year atop the AP rankings since 2015, the season following their College Football Playoff national championship. Oregon checked in at No. 2 with 1,597 points and 14 first-place votes, with the remaining nine distributed among Indiana (8), Notre Dame (6), and Miami (FL) (1).

The top ten rounded out with Georgia at No. 3, Notre Dame at No. 4, Texas at No. 5, Indiana at No. 6, Miami (FL) at No. 7, Texas A&M at No. 8, Ole Miss at No. 9, and Oklahoma at No. 10. The Big Ten placed three teams in the top ten — Ohio State, Oregon, and Indiana — while the SEC accounted for five. Michigan entered the poll at No. 16.

Clemson Left Out for First Time in 15 Years

Perhaps the most notable absence from the poll was Clemson, which did not receive enough votes to appear in the Top 25 for the first time since 2011. The Tigers collected 112 voting points — five shy of the 117 needed to claim the No. 25 spot held by Missouri — despite having been ranked No. 23 in the USA Today Coaches Poll released earlier this month. Clemson is coming off a 7-6 finish in 2025, the program's worst record under head coach Dabo Swinney since 2010.

Swinney enters his 19th season at Clemson having won two national championships and accumulated 187 career victories, but the Tigers have not advanced past the first round of the College Football Playoff since the 2019-20 season. In 2026, Swinney assembled his largest transfer portal class to date, landing 11 players including SMU running back Chris Johnson Jr., Oklahoma defensive lineman Markus Strong, and Colorado edge rusher London Merrett. Clemson opens the season on the road against LSU.

Ohio State's preseason top ranking carries a notable historical footnote: no team ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason poll has gone on to win the national championship since Alabama did so in 2017. The Buckeyes were eliminated in the first round of last season's CFP and will face a demanding schedule that includes matchups against Texas, Indiana, Oregon, Michigan, USC, and Iowa. Receiver Jeremiah Smith and quarterback Julian Sayin, a Heisman finalist last season, headline a roster that voters judged as the most complete in the country entering the fall.