The second AP poll of the 2026 college football season has been released and it’s clear that the voters were absolutely in love with what the 16 teams of the Southeastern Conference did to open the season.
Nine SEC teams were ranked in the top 25: Georgia (2), Texas (4), LSU (8), Ole Miss (9), Texas A&M (10), Oklahoma (11), Alabama (12), Tennessee (18) and Missouri (23). But another four SEC teams received votes: Florida (83), South Carolina (19), Auburn (2) and Vanderbilt (2).
The only teams that didn’t receive votes were Arkansas, Kentucky and Mississippi State. But those teams all got to enjoy 1-0 records to start the season regardless.
Week 1 was an historic week for the SEC, who saw every single team win to open a season for the first time since 1997. And that was back when the conference only had 12 schools rather than 16.
With very few exceptions, SEC teams dominated their foes. Auburn and Ole Miss were the only teams that were held within two touchdowns of their foes. Granted, many of those were “cupcake” games against teams that are in non-power conferences or even FCS teams.
LSU got the most impressive win by far, completely dismantling Clemson and beating them by 41 on Saturday night. Though that hasn’t stopped the SEC from taking action that will allow them to expel LSU from the conference entirely.
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Michigan Bows Out
Despite starting Week 1 as the No. 16 team int he country, Michigan received just 69 votes after needing a little help from the officiating to take down Western Michigan in Ann Arbor. That would put them at 28th in the AP ranking, behind Boise State and Florida.
The Wolverines take on No. 11 Oklahoma and will have a chance to correct that if they can spring the upset.
