Earlier today, the Associated Press released their first college football rankings of the 2026 season. Are there any other sportsball fans on Tildes who would like to talk about them?...
Earlier today, the Associated Press released their first college football rankings of the 2026 season. Are there any other sportsball fans on Tildes who would like to talk about them?
AP-affiliated sportswriters are selected from around the country in order to create an unbiased group of voters. A certain number of writers are chosen from each state with a top-level football team, and states with more teams get more voters (but it isn't one-to-one). This year, there are a total of 69 voters. Each voter ranks their top 25 teams each week, and the overall rankings are created using a Borda count.
Rankings inside a spoilerbox because they take a lot of vertical space
Rank
Team
Points
1
Ohio State
1672 (40)
2
Oregon
1597 (14)
3
Georgia
1513
4
Notre Dame
1510 (6)
5
Texas
1483
6
Indiana
1440 (8)
7
Miami (FL)
1379 (1)
8
Texas A&M
1131
9
Mississippi
1102
10
Oklahoma
1047
11
Louisiana State
988
12
Texas Tech
983
13
Alabama
904
T-14
Brigham Young
839
T-14
Southern California
839
16
Michigan
718
17
Washington
501
18
Penn State
482
19
Southern Methodist
434
20
Tennessee
394
21
Utah
304
22
Iowa
260
23
Houston
252
24
Louisville
198
25
Missouri
117
Also ran: Clemson 112, Florida 51, Boise State 43, Arizona 32, Texas Christian 11, Navy 10, South Carolina 10, Illinois 9, Oklahoma State 8, Vanderbilt 8, Pittsburgh 7, Virginia Tech 6, Minnesota 5, Nevada-Las Vegas 4, New Mexico 4, Georgia Tech 4, James Madison 3, Auburn 3, Memphis 2, California 2, Liberty 1, Western Michigan 1, Tulane 1, Virginia 1
A 4-8 team getting votes is definitely surprising. Did you guys have an amazing recruiting class? Or it could just be a homer doing homer things because it's just the preseason poll.
A 4-8 team getting votes is definitely surprising. Did you guys have an amazing recruiting class? Or it could just be a homer doing homer things because it's just the preseason poll.
If I had to pick between those two I would definitely go homer. But we did have a horrendously bad season last year, including blowing a historic lead, so it's hard to imagine anything but...
If I had to pick between those two I would definitely go homer. But we did have a horrendously bad season last year, including blowing a historic lead, so it's hard to imagine anything but trending upwards.
I'm really curious to see how Indiana will do this year. Given that they now have a target on their back and they no longer have Mendoza, what happens? I do like the underdog story (but as a...
I'm really curious to see how Indiana will do this year. Given that they now have a target on their back and they no longer have Mendoza, what happens? I do like the underdog story (but as a conference rival wish them also back to the basement so I can laugh at them). Still, I do prefer them to the usual overlords, if I had to choose.
I don't follow off-season activities much, but I'm curious too to see how ND, Bama, Texas, and USC respond. I would say that all of them had disappointing seasons relative to their expectations, and so I wobder how they might rebound this season. Similarly, I want to know what happens with BYU and Ole Miss, given they exceeded expectations last year.
For pure rage content, curious to see what happens with LSU and TTU, too. They are on my hate watch list for sure. And, of course, looking forward to El Assico, hope there is excellent punting and terrible offense (which is a normal day for Iowa football).
People on /r/CFB joke about Cignetti getting a statue at Indiana. If he can repeat again this year, it will stop being a joke. I'm really curious to see how well he does with all the roster...
People on /r/CFB joke about Cignetti getting a statue at Indiana. If he can repeat again this year, it will stop being a joke. I'm really curious to see how well he does with all the roster turnover.
The blue bloods will probably bounce back relatively well. I'm probably more bearish than most on Mississippi sans Kiffin and expect them to drop this year. BYU, I have no idea.
I never can figure out how good ND actually is, because their schedule is so weird relative to the teams that play in conferences. I never know how much their ranking is a result of their history...
I never can figure out how good ND actually is, because their schedule is so weird relative to the teams that play in conferences. I never know how much their ranking is a result of their history and prestige and the benefit of the doubt, and how much is how good they really are. Having so many teams with different schedules is one of the things about CFB that's most annoying to me, and makes conference comparisons so endlessly circular and frustrating. For many reasons, I'm so, so happy we have a real playoff now.
If you stop and think about where Cignetti came from, and the specific program he won a championship with, especially in the 12-team playoff era, his win last year is mind-boggling. I cannot overstate how much of a joke Indiana has been in football during my lifetime. I don't think their run would have been possible in the BCS or even the 4-team playoff era, but because there's so much more potential competition, I'm blown away by what Cignetti has done. Its magnificent, unbelievable, and vaguely disturbing. If Joe Burrow's jersey is functionally retired after playing one season with LSU, why not build Cignetti a statue from one championship? I think it was way harder to do at Indiana!
Earlier today, the Associated Press released their first college football rankings of the 2026 season. Are there any other sportsball fans on Tildes who would like to talk about them?
AP-affiliated sportswriters are selected from around the country in order to create an unbiased group of voters. A certain number of writers are chosen from each state with a top-level football team, and states with more teams get more voters (but it isn't one-to-one). This year, there are a total of 69 voters. Each voter ranks their top 25 teams each week, and the overall rankings are created using a Borda count.
Rankings inside a spoilerbox because they take a lot of vertical space
Also ran: Clemson 112, Florida 51, Boise State 43, Arizona 32, Texas Christian 11, Navy 10, South Carolina 10, Illinois 9, Oklahoma State 8, Vanderbilt 8, Pittsburgh 7, Virginia Tech 6, Minnesota 5, Nevada-Las Vegas 4, New Mexico 4, Georgia Tech 4, James Madison 3, Auburn 3, Memphis 2, California 2, Liberty 1, Western Michigan 1, Tulane 1, Virginia 1
I'm amazed my Gamecocks got any votes at all given our abysmal performance last season. Here's hoping we live up to the (admittedly tiny) hype!
A 4-8 team getting votes is definitely surprising. Did you guys have an amazing recruiting class? Or it could just be a homer doing homer things because it's just the preseason poll.
If I had to pick between those two I would definitely go homer. But we did have a horrendously bad season last year, including blowing a historic lead, so it's hard to imagine anything but trending upwards.
I'm really curious to see how Indiana will do this year. Given that they now have a target on their back and they no longer have Mendoza, what happens? I do like the underdog story (but as a conference rival wish them also back to the basement so I can laugh at them). Still, I do prefer them to the usual overlords, if I had to choose.
I don't follow off-season activities much, but I'm curious too to see how ND, Bama, Texas, and USC respond. I would say that all of them had disappointing seasons relative to their expectations, and so I wobder how they might rebound this season. Similarly, I want to know what happens with BYU and Ole Miss, given they exceeded expectations last year.
For pure rage content, curious to see what happens with LSU and TTU, too. They are on my hate watch list for sure. And, of course, looking forward to El Assico, hope there is excellent punting and terrible offense (which is a normal day for Iowa football).
People on /r/CFB joke about Cignetti getting a statue at Indiana. If he can repeat again this year, it will stop being a joke. I'm really curious to see how well he does with all the roster turnover.
The blue bloods will probably bounce back relatively well. I'm probably more bearish than most on Mississippi sans Kiffin and expect them to drop this year. BYU, I have no idea.
I never can figure out how good ND actually is, because their schedule is so weird relative to the teams that play in conferences. I never know how much their ranking is a result of their history and prestige and the benefit of the doubt, and how much is how good they really are. Having so many teams with different schedules is one of the things about CFB that's most annoying to me, and makes conference comparisons so endlessly circular and frustrating. For many reasons, I'm so, so happy we have a real playoff now.
If you stop and think about where Cignetti came from, and the specific program he won a championship with, especially in the 12-team playoff era, his win last year is mind-boggling. I cannot overstate how much of a joke Indiana has been in football during my lifetime. I don't think their run would have been possible in the BCS or even the 4-team playoff era, but because there's so much more potential competition, I'm blown away by what Cignetti has done. Its magnificent, unbelievable, and vaguely disturbing. If Joe Burrow's jersey is functionally retired after playing one season with LSU, why not build Cignetti a statue from one championship? I think it was way harder to do at Indiana!