Back to poll results >>

lowes18 Ballot for 2026 Week 3

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 15, 2026, 1:58 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Largely a mix of preseason talent projections, i.e. NFL big boards, recruiting, returning production, in addition to projecting which teams have gained/lost the most in terms of coaching and talent from 2025

Rank Team Reason
1 Texas Longhorns Texas won the tentative game of the year at home on Saturday against Ohio State. This game should have been an Ohio State blowout, but a successful red-zone defense by Muschamp, poor play by Julian Sayin, and Sark letting Arch be Arch allowed Texas to roar back for a win. If Sark can let his team play like it did in the second half, and stop trying to force his side-to-side offense on a team loaded with playmakers then Texas can win the national title.
2 LSU Tigers LSU eventually ran away from Louisiana Tech in the second half, and should have blown them out in the first if not for three disastrous turnovers from Leavitt. The LSU offensive line showed some serious issues in pass protection as well, leading to statistically sloppy performance for LSU. The defense is still absolutely elite, and prevented any serious threat from Louisiana Tech, but the Tigers have some clear issues to work through before they face Ole Miss on Saturday.
3 Indiana Hoosiers I dropped Indiana in last weeks poll over their poor performance against North Texas, assuming the Mean Green weren't great competition. Following North Texas annihilating UNLV and Indiana putting up obscene statistics this weekend I decided to bump the reigning national champs back up.
4 Ole Miss Rebels Ole Miss followed up one of the most impressive wins of week one with a though domination of a reeling Charlotte football team. Ole Miss moves up via inertia, holding on to one of the strongest resume wins in the sport currently with a solid an efficient showing on Saturday,
5 Ohio State Buckeyes Ohio State has the "best loss" of the sport, losing by one point on the road to the number one team in the country. This team's talent is frankly undeniable, although the 4th quarter collapse brings up plenty of interesting questions on if this Buckeye team can handle the daunting schedule in front of them with essentially no margin for error. I was not impressed with Julian Sayin's performance, who's poor red zone efficiency essentially cost the Buckeyes the game. I also came out of this game deeply concerned with the pass rushing efficiency of the Buckeye's, who gave Arch Manning an obscene amount of time in the pocket on Saturday. Its entirely possible Texas is just the best team in the country, but the way Ohio State lost this weekend made me more concerned with them than when I came into the game.
6 Miami Hurricanes Miami largely hit the same notes against Florida A&M that I felt when they played Stanford. Miami has an elite passing offense, with some questions about the efficiency of the running game (especially in their ability to hit big plays on the ground), and some disappointment with the performance of the high level pass rushers they brought in through the portal. If those defensive ends were just waiting to get serious for their first actual opponent, they will have the opportunity to show it this weekend against Wake, if not the drop off in pass rush could become the key concern for Miami moving forward.
7 Georgia Bulldogs UGA destroyed a god awful Western Kentucky team this weekend, so not much to glean from this weekend for the Bulldogs who largely just move up from teams falling.
8 Tennessee Volunteers Tennessee went into Georgia Tech and won a game playing conservative. I was impressed by the ability of Tennessee's rushing attack, and freshman QB Faizon Brandon who after a spotty first half went 5-6 on passing for 42 yards and some key rushes to covert for first downs. Tennessee's offense line also had a good second half bounce back after some struggles in the first half, including some costly penalties. Georgia Tech did run the ball somewhat effectively, but a good night on pass rush gives a mixed grade to the Tennessee defense who by and large prevented Georgia Tech from ever seriously contesting this game.
9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish After a mediocre performance against Wisconsin last Sunday, Notre Dame needed an elite showing to rebuild confidence, and while they did put a big number on the scoreboard I left rather disappointed in the Irish performance. None of the hopeful breakout candidates to show that Notre Dame had a true difference maker in their offensive skill positions showed up, including starting running back Aneyas Williams who somehow against Rice posted a negative EPA per play as Notre Dame delivered an incredibly mediocre rushing performance. CJ Carr was still fantastic, but Notre Dame needs to show a more balanced and dynamic offense to actually compete for a national title.
10 USC Trojans I am developing deep concerns about this USC line of scrimmage, which for the third week in a row against G5 competition failed to develop an elite rushing attack or a consistent pass rush. Maybe their young defensive linemen begin to step up before USC's schedule really begins in two weeks against Oregon, but an offensive line full of veterans shouldn't be barely successful running the ball on early downs against Louisiana.
11 Michigan Wolverines Michigan won the only way they could have possibly won against Oklahoma, by running Underwood as much as possible and letting Mateer make the mistake. This is not an elite Michigan team, and frankly I think they are far away from a chance at a national title, but they did find a way to win against potentially the best defense in FBS and are clearly aware of what they have and don't have at the QB position.
12 BYU Cougars BYU won a slugfest of a game against an Arizona team I was decently high on, so I bumped BYU up more than they probably deserved but they do get credit for beating a top 30 team by dominating on the lines of scrimmage. I still have deep concerns about the effectiveness of this BYU passing offense although Legend Glasker is emerging as a key offensive weapon. If BYU can develop a more diverse offense to pair with their dominant lines of scrimmage they could potentially be a clear front runner to win the Big 12 the way Texas Tech was perceived pre-season.
13 Alabama Crimson Tide Alabama won a game on the road against Kentucky that was a lot more ugly on paper than the scoreboard suggests. Alabama struggled mightily to effectively move the ball for much of the game, really only hanging on through defensive scores. I am still not sold that Alabama's roster is elite, or even good enough to win more than 8 games with this schedule, but Keelon Russell is showing that he can be good enough to drag Alabama to ugly wins and ugly wins still count.
14 Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M won a game similar to Alabama, in extremely ugly fashion. Arizona State was capable of trading haymakers against this A&M team, only getting blown out due to obscene negative turnover luck. I was impressed by the play of Reed in the second half, even if he was bad in the first. If Reed can play like that throughout the season, it dramatically raises what A&M can be.
15 Oklahoma Sooners Oklahoma is basically the same team they were last year. An ungodly good defense paired up with a quarterback who isn't good at the position. If Mateer doesn't make mistakes, Oklahoma will win almost by default from smothering teams, if he does Oklahoma loses. The good news for Sooner fans is that the same formula from last year dragged Oklahoma to the playoffs and they could potentially do it again.
16 Florida Gators Florida largely hit the same notes from last week in their matchup against Campbell, Florida has elite playmakers on offense that will make them dangerous against any team they face paired with a defense that looks somewhat suspect especially on the defensive line.
17 Texas Tech Red Raiders After a lackluster week one performance Texas Tech followed it up with a God-awful one in week two. They are 2-0 with enough talent to potentially still win the Big 12 if everything clicks suddenly but this team should have lost to Oregon State. Their vaunted pass rush and offensive lines got outperformed by a G5 team that just got out of near program annihilation. This team, quite frankly, is not very good even if it has all the tools to potentially be good.
18 UCLA Bruins UCLA came off their win against Cal by handling a decent SDSU team. UCLA didn't look great in the passing game, but their lines of scrimmage carried them to a win and a cover, so its a good performance overall in my opinion.
19 Louisville Cardinals
20 Missouri Tigers I personally came into this season expecting a drop off in QB play and defensive performance for Missouri, however I came away absolutely floored by the passing ability of Austin Simmons who simply made all of the perfect throws to prevent Kansas from ever seriously stopping Missouri. Their defensive line also successfully dominated an admittedly bad Kansas o-line despite the massive loss in talent from the draft and portal after 2025.
21 SMU Mustangs
22 Virginia Cavaliers
23 Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State went into Minnesota and thrashed a team that hadn't lost at home in eight straight games. Mississippi State went for a very volatile portal strategy during this off-season, prioritizing players with high ceilings but little actual production and seems to have hit more than they've missed. If Mississippi State can have a roster filled with p4-level starters to back up Kamario Taylor who has looked fantastic so far it could make Mississippi State a real threat in the SEC.
24 Penn State Nittany Lions
25 Kansas State Wildcats

Back to poll results >>