NEW YORK — Julian Sayin did not transfer. He did not leave. He came back to Columbus with Jeremiah Smith, and apparently that was enough.
Ohio State earned the preseason No. 1 ranking in the AP Top 25 college football poll this week, claiming the top spot on the strength of a 12-0 regular season in 2025 and the kind of returning talent that tends to attract votes before a single snap of the fall season. The Buckeyes captured the majority of first-place votes among the Associated Press panel — a verdict that rewards continuity at skill positions that carry programs to January.
The story that matters more than Ohio State’s familiar address at the top of the poll is what surrounds it. Four of the top five spots in the AP preseason ranking belong to Big Ten programs. Oregon, now fully settled in the conference under Dan Lanning and quarterback Dante Moore, opened at No. 2. Indiana, which had almost no national profile before Curt Cignetti arrived and produced the conference’s most startling turnaround story of 2025, landed at No. 4 — a placement that reflects how thoroughly the Hoosiers have reset expectations. Michigan, despite a coaching transition that brought in Kyle Whittingham, held at No. 15. Penn State checked in at No. 17.
That is not a coincidence. That is conference realignment working as intended — at least for the Big Ten.
Texas, at No. 3, is the one program inside the top five that plays in a different building. The Longhorns finished their 2025 season in the Cheez-It Bowl after spending much of the year ranked No. 1 in the preseason, which would ordinarily erode voter confidence. It did not. Texas’s talent base and recruiting infrastructure carry enough weight that the program retains top-three consideration even when the postseason falls short of its initial billing.
Notre Dame at No. 5 closes out a top five that includes only one program from outside the Big Ten or SEC. CJ Carr’s Heisman buzz drove the Fighting Irish into contention, and an independent schedule built for maximum poll flexibility gives them room to climb or fall on results rather than conference context.
The poll’s most revealing debates sit further down the board. Georgia ranked sixth in the AP poll — below five Big Ten and independent programs before the season opens. The Bulldogs claimed the SEC Media Poll’s top position behind Arch Manning and a deep offensive roster, but the SEC preseason award and AP poll placement tell different stories. AP voters distributed their confidence differently, and the gap tells you something about how the two conferences are perceived entering the fall.
Alabama at No. 13 is the poll’s largest unanswered question. The program is ranked on reputation — Keelon Russell and Austin Mack are still competing for the starting quarterback role, and a public decision has not been made. Voters appear to be betting on the institution rather than the player, a calculation Alabama has earned through two decades of dominance but one that has also burned preseason pollsters more than once.
Texas A&M’s placement at No. 10 will draw scrutiny from anyone who watched the Aggies go 11-0 in the regular season last year without ever climbing higher than No. 3 in the AP rankings. The skepticism persisted through an unblemished regular season, and it appears to have persisted into the preseason as well. Ranked 10th despite a record of production that would carry most programs considerably higher, the Aggies remain one of college football’s most persistently underrated programs in the eyes of AP voters.
LSU at No. 12 and Miami at No. 7 represent the poll’s most optimistic projections. Lane Kiffin arrived in Baton Rouge with portal-heavy roster construction and an offense built for the modern college game; whether it produces January results is a question his previous stops have not fully resolved. Miami’s seventh-place finish depends heavily on Darian Mensah, who claimed ACC Preseason Player of the Year honors in July and gave the Hurricanes a signal-caller capable of sustaining their push through a demanding November.
The SEC placed five programs inside the top 13: Georgia, Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, and Alabama. The Big Ten matched that number in the top 20. CBS Sports noted the Big Ten’s commanding position reflects how significantly the conference’s perceived strength has grown since expansion.
The College Football Playoff’s expansion means more of these preseason rankings carry weight in December than before. A program ranked 12th in August can finish in Pasadena. Iowa at No. 21, Florida at 22, Missouri at 23, and Utah at 24 are all legitimate CFP contenders if the fall develops as their most optimistic projections suggest.
The preseason AP Top 25 has rarely predicted the playoff field with precision. What it reliably predicts is which programs carry the most institutional trust entering a new season. Right now, Ohio State has the most of it, the Big Ten has more collectively than any single conference in the modern poll era, and Alabama’s quarterback situation is the sport’s most consequential unresolved story before the first kickoff.
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