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PERMANENT BOARD · JULY 27, 2026 · PRESEASON
THE OPENING
POSITION.
If everybody played next Saturday, which 25 teams would we believe in most?
This page preserves the human-readable opening board. The current presentation may move; these rankings and reasons do not.
- 01 Big Ten Ohio State The highest quarterback–receiver ceiling in the sport, carrying the season’s nastiest road schedule.
- 02 Independent Notre Dame Unusual defensive continuity and fewer imaginary preseason dependencies than anyone else.
- 03 SEC Texas The Arch Manning window is now; the unresolved run game keeps this from being No. 1.
- 04 Big Ten Oregon Dante Moore, deep talent, championship capacity—and two new coordinators to assimilate.
- 05 SEC Georgia Back-to-back SEC champions receive institutional trust until the rebuilt secondary spends it.
- 06 Big Ten Indiana The undefeated champion deserves deference; repeating after turnover would change the sport permanently.
- 07 ACC Miami A national finalist plus Darian Mensah creates an immediate return path; the defensive reconstruction is real.
- 08 SEC LSU Lane Kiffin, Sam Leavitt, and the leading transfer class: enormous ceiling, delicious combustion potential.
- 09 Big 12 Texas Tech The Big 12 champion has a serious floor; quarterback health determines whether the ceiling survives.
- 10 Big Ten USC Five returning blockers, a huge recruiting class, and Gary Patterson. The excuse inventory is empty.
- 11 SEC Alabama This is no longer a brand ranking. It is a referendum on whether Alabama can become physically frightening again.
- 12 Big Ten Penn State Matt Campbell and 39 transfers: either an intelligently assembled machine or a very expensive group project.
- 13 SEC Texas A&M Eleven straight wins proved the shape; the ending proved the fragility.
- 14 SEC Oklahoma A championship defense being asked to carry an offense that must finally become ordinary-good.
- 15 Big Ten Michigan Kyle Whittingham plus Bryce Underwood is the season’s strangest and most compelling culture experiment.
- 16 Big 12 BYU Consecutive 11-win seasons are evidence, not atmosphere.
- 17 SEC Ole Miss Enough offensive continuity to matter; an entire post-Kiffin identity still to invent.
- 18 SEC Tennessee Jim Knowles can make the defense serious immediately. Nobody has earned certainty at quarterback.
- 19 ACC Clemson Potentially exceptional receivers, a new quarterback, and the clearest Dabo inflection point yet.
- 20 Big 12 Utah Can the infrastructure survive the end of the Whittingham era? We believe it can—barely.
- 21 Big Ten Washington Quietly respected by models and preseason consensus; a perfect early candidate for “we noticed first.”
- 22 SEC Florida Jon Sumrall inherits real talent and an SEC-sized proof requirement.
- 23 SEC South Carolina LaNorris Sellers is the reason; whether anybody can protect him is the entire ranking.
- 24 Pac-12 Boise State The outsider benchmark: the team that reveals whether this poll actually watches beyond the power brands.
- 25 Big Ten Iowa An elite imported runner, institutional defensive competence, and the possibility of extremely strange winning.
WHAT AGED WELL?