Preseason Rankings, Rosters, and the Business of Football

The preseason AP Top 25 dropped Monday and immediately became a flashpoint, with analysts picking apart where programs like Texas A&M, Alabama, Missouri, LSU, and Clemson landed before a single snap has been played. That kind of friction is familiar — preseason polls have always invited argument — but the stakes feel different when programs are simultaneously navigating revenue-sharing structures that Lane Kiffin, in his first year in Baton Rouge, described as having fundamentally changed how players approach the game.

On the roster front, Nebraska absorbed a setback with the dismissal of a transfer addition to its backfield, while its new starting quarterback drew a ninth-place ranking among Big Ten signal-callers — a quiet but telling summary of where the Cornhuskers stand heading into camp. Texas, meanwhile, continued to assert itself as a program-of-record moment, placing more players on the Walter Camp Award watch list than any other school.

Michigan used Monday to announce its 2026 captains, and the selection carried some institutional weight: safety Rod Moore became the first player in program history to earn the honor three times, joined by sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood. It was a leadership announcement that also doubled as a statement about where the Wolverines see their identity heading into the season.