Back to poll results >>

133112 Ballot for 2026 Week 2

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 8, 2026, 12:42 p.m.

Overall Rationale: It's Week 2, so not much to go off of in terms of record, the usual largest factor in my rankings. Essentially just taking my thoughts from before the season began and adjusting them according to how teams played in Weeks 0/1.

Rank Team Reason
1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Came into the season looking like one of the most talented teams in the nation, and unfortunately for me and my Badgers, showed it on Sunday, with a really impressive second half.
2 LSU Tigers While I do hate LSU for currently trying to ruin College Football, damn, they may have just ended the Dabo era at Clemson with that one.
3 Georgia Bulldogs Great team, great win against a non-quality opponent. Common repeating reason throughout this poll, and doesn't hurt these teams that much, but also won't help them either.
4 Indiana Hoosiers Great team, great win against a non-quality opponent.
5 Ohio State Buckeyes Great team, great win against a non-quality opponent.
6 Texas Longhorns Great team, great win against a non-quality opponent.
7 Ole Miss Rebels Like with Oregon, choosing to be nice today and assume their opponent was just much better than their ranking and that this will be looked back on as a real quality win.
8 Miami Hurricanes It would feel really good to call Stanford a "non-quality opponent", and while their Hawaii game makes me think that could be true, I'll be gracious to the ACC and call Stanford simply a lower-quality opponent.
9 Oregon Ducks I'm choosing for now to assume that Boise St. is just better than expected, rather than that Oregon has major worries. We'll see if that assumption continues to be a safe one.
10 USC Trojans I think that SJSU and Fresno State aren't as bad of teams as some people might think they are, particularly SJSU, and USC put up impressive wins against both.
11 UCLA Bruins Cal is(I hope) a pretty good team this year, with an amazing talent at QB. Credit to the Bruins for taking them down.
12 Texas A&M Aggies Great team, great win against a non-quality opponent.
13 Oklahoma Sooners Great team, great win against a non-quality opponent.
14 Iowa Hawkeyes Great team, great win against a non-quality opponent.
15 Boise State Broncos The rare case where a loss helps a team out a lot; great, great showing from the Broncos.
16 Louisville Cardinals Cards lose a close one, but gain my respect, and places in this poll.
17 Washington Huskies I don't know how good Wazzu is, but at least they played the Apple Cup. Counts for points in my book.
18 Houston Cougars Remains to be seen how good Oregon St. is, but Houston looked good, and I left watching that game feeling much better about the Cougars.
19 SMU Mustangs As with the other teams in this neighborhood, credit for scheduling real teams in Week 1. A deservedly crazy end to an insane Week 0/1.
20 Tennessee Volunteers Great team, great win against a non-quality opponent.
21 Penn State Nittany Lions Great team, great win against a non-quality opponent.
22 Texas Tech Red Raiders Supposedly great team, and while that game wasn't as close as the score might have been, it was still closer than, say, LSU-Clemson, or even Notre Dame-Wisconsin.
23 Alabama Crimson Tide Great team, great win against a non-quality opponent.
24 BYU Cougars Great team, great win against a non-quality opponent.
25 Utah Utes Great team, great win against a non-quality opponent.

Back to poll results >>