We're less than two months away from the start of the 2026 college football season and while the Associated Press has yet to release its Week 1 or preseason rankings, ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI) has picked up the slack.
On Thursday, the latest update to the ESPN computer model was released. Coming in at No. 1 in the country is Ohio State, who reached the College Football Playoff and Big Ten Championship Game last year but lost both. Second is Texas, led by fourth year QB Arch Manning.
Rounding out the top five are Notre Dame, Oregon and Georgia. Defending champion Indiana was ranked sixth.
Here's the top 25 per the ESPN FPI ranking:
- Ohio State
- Texas
- Notre Dame
- Oregon
- Georgia
- Indiana
- Miami
- Alabama
- LSU
- Texas Tech
- Texas A&M
- Oklahoma
- USC
- Ole Miss
- Michigan
- Tennessee
- Penn State
- Florida
- Clemson
- BYU
- Missouri
- Auburn
- South Carolina
- SMU
- Iowa
Breaking Down the Ranking
It really shouldn't be much of a surprise that the SEC and Big Ten conferences make up the bulk of this list. The Big Ten showed up with seven teams, while the SEC accounted for nearly half of the ranking with 12 of their 16 teams in the top 25.
The only outliers were Notre Dame (Independent), three ACC teams (Miami, Clemson, SMU) and the presumptive favorites to win the Big 12 this year (Texas Tech, BYU).
As for Indiana's low ranking despite them being the reigning national champions, the fact is they're making the transition from a Heisman Trophy-winning QB in Fernando Mendoza to a new starter. They also lost a slew of players that contributed in a big way to that historic national title earlier this year.
By contrast, Ohio State is bringing back their two most important offensive players from last year: QB Julian Sayin and wideout Jeremiah Smith.
It's also worth noting that five of the teams that made this list have new coaches after frustrating seasons. Expectations are clearly high for those teams to turn things around in Year 1 of the new regime.
Which of the top 25 selections surprised you the most?
