The season of rankings has arrived in college football, and you may see various top 16s and top 25s elsewhere, CBS Sports prefers to take a wider — nay, complete — view of this awesome sport. The CBS Sports 138 is a comprehensive ranking of every FBS team, which has grown by two this year with the additions of North Dakota State and Sacramento State.
Experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports will fill out ballots each week during the season, reacting to the weekend’s results. Of course, that process still requires a starting point, which is achieved through CBS Sports’ official preseason rankings for the 2026 campaign.
Perhaps the most interesting storyline to emerge from the initial voting process was the wide range of teams that received first-place votes in our balloting: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Texas and No. 7 Miami (FL).
Complicating matters even further? Two tried-and-true College Football Playoff contenders, No. 5 Georgia and No. 6 Indiana, received zero first-place votes but clearly have enough support to be among those top teams. With so many different teams getting first-place votes, no one has a true hold on the ranking, which could set up for some excellent shifts and debates once the season rolls through Week 1 and beyond. (Perhaps no team is truly “No. 1” yet, which is fair, as that title must be earned on the field.)
Of course, the rankings extend far beyond the top 10 and even the top 25, and the year-to-year changes from the 2025 final rankings to the 2026 preseason rankings reflect a shift in attitudes following player and coach movement. Some of the most notable year-to-year movements have been highlighted below in the Mover’s Report underneath the top 25 table.
College football experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports submit ballots each week, which are averaged to produce our rankings.
Preseason CBS Sports 138
| Rank | Team | 2025 Record | 2025 Final Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State | 12-2 | 3 |
| 2 | Oregon | 13-2 | 5 |
| 3 | Notre Dame | 10-2 | 8 |
| 4 | Texas | 10-3 | 13 |
| 5 | Georgia | 12-2 | 6 |
| 6 | Indiana | 16-0 | 1 |
| 7 | Miami | 13-3 | 2 |
| 8 | Texas Tech | 12-2 | 7 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | 10-3 | 12 |
| 10 | LSU | 7-6 | 53 |
| 11 | Texas A&M | 11-2 | 9 |
| 12 | Ole Miss | 13-2 | 4 |
| 13 | Alabama | 11-4 | 11 |
| 14 | USC | 9-4 | 16 |
| 15 | Michigan | 9-4 | 20 |
| 16 | BYU | 12-2 | 10 |
| 17 | Tennessee | 8-5 | 32 |
| 18 | Penn State | 7-6 | 46 |
| 19 | Washington | 9-4 | 26 |
| 20 | SMU | 9-4 | 27 |
| 21 | Iowa | 9-4 | 21 |
| 22 | Florida | 4-8 | 71 |
| 23 | Missouri | 8-5 | 34 |
| 24 | Utah | 11-2 | 14 |
| 25 | Louisville | 9-4 | 35 |
Check out the entire CBS Sports 138, including teams ranked 26-138.
Biggest movers
- No. 22 Florida (+49): Seeing Florida spiral a little bit with injury issues and an impending coaching change hurt the Gators’ ranking at the end of last season, as no one truly believes that roster was the 71st-best roster in the country last season. However, the losses piled up, and Florida’s ranking tanked, allowing for one of the biggest year-over-year adjustments in the rankings. Jon Sumrall showed up and offered encouraging signs by retaining top talent from last year’s squad while supplementing with solid portal additions, giving Florida a firm top-30 quality heading into 2026.
- No. 10 LSU (+43): The Lane Kiffin effect has taken over all of college football, and here, it includes a massive jump from where the Tigers sank at the end of last year to the expectations of contending for a College Football Playoff in Year 1 of the new regime. LSU’s investment in Kiffin and the roster has made it easy for our experts to place LSU in a top 10 or top 15, but Tigers fans are hoping the results on the field lead to moves up closer to that national title contention that comes with being the coach in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- No. 18 Penn State (+28): Matt Campbell’s hire fulfilled a future that many foresaw when he started finding success at Iowa State, and now, it’s clear that many believe he’ll hit the ground running in Happy Valley. Rocco Becht and a couple of dozen Iowa State transfers will have to prove their Big Ten bona fides in a new conference, but the schedule offers enough favorable opportunities to think this new hire will hit the ground running with plenty of wins.
- No. 37 Virginia (-20): The Wahoos were one of the surprises of the season in 2025, emerging from a clustered ACC standings as the only team to go 7-1 in conference play. Tony Elliott and his staff invested in the transfer portal and hit on their evaluations, but now have to start back with another group of newcomers that are expected to match the competitiveness of last year’s ACC runner-up squad. As the sixth ACC team listed in the overall preseason rankings, it’s clear that status will have to be earned on the field before it’s acknowledged on our ballots.
- No. 36 Vanderbilt (-21): After soaring up inside the top 20 of our rankings last season, the CBS Sports 138 braintrust is not ready to anoint Clark Lea’s squad as a top-20 group again just yet. A 10-2 regular season put Vanderbilt squarely in the conversation as one of the best teams in the country, but now, the program is looking for its successor at quarterback following the departure of Heisman Trophy finalist Diego Pavia. Five-star true freshman Jared Curtis could be ready to take that challenge on immediately, but for now, the Commodores will start the year just outside the top 35.
- No. 47 Georgia Tech (-22): After putting on a show in the greatest Hall of Fame Game of all time, Haynes King is now well-known with an NFL audience as well for his play-making ability. King’s departure to the NFL, paired with some transfer portal and coaching staff losses, has some of our experts pumping the brakes on a team that started last year 8-0. Brent Key is back in the more familiar position of underdog fighting for respect in a crowded group teams that are decidedly in the top half, but not top 25, of our FBS-wide rankings.
- No. 78 James Madison (-59), No. 86 Tulane (-68), No. 112 North Texas (-88): Let’s group these three together as they all share similar traits of a major rankings hit following the departure of a star coach. Bob Chesney (JMU to UCLA), Sumrall (Tulane to Florida) and Eric Morris (North Texas to Oklahoma State) all got the call-up to power conference opportunities after leading their previous teams to double-digit win seasons — in the case of JMU and Tulane, College Football Playoff appearances. The combination of coaching changes and massive roster turnover has led to an extreme recalibration for these squads, which could still finish inside the top 30 or 40 by season’s end but will have to win their way up in the rankings.
