Back to poll results >>

Bank_Gothic Ballot for 2026 Week 5

Ballot Type: Human

Submitted: Sept. 28, 2026, 2:37 p.m.

Overall Rationale: Locking in this week and taking things more seriously. Still willing to change my rankings significantly from week to week, but we know enough now to lock in.

Notable teams I've left out are:

- Kentucky (loss to Bama + win over A&M losing some shine)
- Michigan (tight game against WMU who just lost + OU win looking worse + loss to Iowa)
- Missouri (loss to MSU not a terrible knock, but KU win looking worse)
- Louisville (tough losses to good teams, but still 2 losses)
- Wake Forest (good win over Louisville, but close game to Purdue / Miami loss isn't hurting them)
- USC (all wins against bad teams + letting Rutgers be competitive + losing to Oregon at home with the backup QB and displaying poor culture).
- LSU (impressive wins over Clemson and A&M should have them ranked, but the loss to Ole Miss still looms large in light of the Rebels' loss to Florida)

Of those teams, Wake Forest and Missouri are most likely to jump in the poll with continued success. But all remain in contention.

Rank Team Reason
1 Texas Longhorns Still undefeated with the best wins in the country. Offense is off to a sluggish start but defense is elite and defense, proverbially, travels and wins championships.
2 Miami Hurricanes Haven't played the toughest schedule but have looked amazing. The win over Wake Forest is aging well. I think the Pitt game will be the first real measuring stick, which is disappointing, but Miami has looked the part in its other performances.
3 Georgia Bulldogs Could almost copy and paste the same note that I made above for Miami. Haven't played any serious opponents but have looked good in their games. UGA will get its first test sooner than Miami in Alabama, however, and with a win over Alabama I think UGA will move up. Even up to No. 1 if Texas continues to flounder on offense.
4 Ohio State Buckeyes Neither the states of Kent or Ball tell you much about OSU, but the win over Illinois was impressive to watch. I generally avoid ranking teams with losses high when there are still undefeated teams, but a 1-point loss on the road to the No. 1 team is about as much of a "quality loss" as a team can get. I won't hold the loss against OSU, who arguably would have beaten Texas on a neutral field.
5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish People trash ND's schedule, but their win over Wisconsin is aging well. Can't quite say the same about their win over Michigan State, who just lost to Nebraska at home by a wider margin. Still, ND has looked good in their games and I'm not inclined to ding them for what I think rather than what I know. This is a good team with a good balance of defense and offense.
6 Alabama Crimson Tide Bama looks good and Russell looks dangerous. They're getting dinged slightly for slow starts against Kentucky and FSU, although that Kentucky win looks better now than it did at the time.
7 Mississippi State Bulldogs I am too high on the Bulldogs. I can't help it, they're fun to watch. I respect both Minnesota and Missouri, which gives MSU two nice wins. USC looks worse every week, so that close wins sours things a bit and MSU's defense seems mostly okay. The next two games (Bama and LSU) will tell us a lot about where MSU sits in the SEC pecking order, but I won't sweat being high on them at this point in the season.
8 Texas Tech Red Raiders I don't know what to make of Tech. It's a good roster, but the defense has regressed and the QB play has been inconsistent. The SHSU and ACU games were poor showings, but I think the win over Houston was good and I actually think Oregon State is one of the better G6 teams this season (we'll have to wait and see how that win ages, but I like it for now). They are probably still the best team in the Big 12, but I have my eye on them.
9 Indiana Hoosiers My opinion of Indiana is not adversely affected by the close win over Northwestern. I think the Wildcats are an improved team this year. But the rest of Indiana's resume to date is awful. UNT is their next best win and they look pretty middle of the road for a G6. I still think Indiana is a top-10 team, but more in "wait and see" mode with them.
10 Florida Gators Jaden Baugh reminds me of Bijan Robinson in a way that I just hate for a team on Texas' schedule. That offense is talented and efficient. Defense probably has some catching up to do, but the win over Ole Miss clearly shows Florida is a top-10 team.
11 Pittsburgh Panthers I'm probably a little too high on Pitt, but I like how they looked against Syracuse and the win over UCF was gutty in difficult conditions. At this point it's more about eye-test than resume, but I'm eager to see how the Panthers look against Virginia Tech. A loss will kill Pitt in my rankings, but as long as they keep rolling I'm going to stay high on them.
12 Utah Utes Utah is quietly great this year. I don't think Arkansas or ISU are good teams this season, but the way Utah beat them gives me a lot of confidence. It's a shame they don't play Tech this regular season, but the game against Houston will be an excellent test.
13 UCLA Bruins Bruins win with gawdy numbers against bad teams. Part of me wants to put them higher, but the wins just age badly as the season goes on. Which sucks for UCLA, because 3 of their 4 wins are against P4 teams, they just happen to be some of the worst P4 teams. UCLA gets the bye, then major tests against Oregon and Wisconsin.
14 Ole Miss Rebels Ole Miss is the second highest ranked 1-loss team on my poll with a great win over LSU and a good-but-maybe-not-great win over Louisville. The Swamp is a tough place to play, so I don't fault Ole Miss too much for the loss to Florida, but they just didn't look competitive. Maybe that's just the hangover from beating LSU, but I can't keep Ole Miss in my top-10 with that kind of loss.
15 Duke Blue Devils Duke is the reigning ACC champ with two P4 wins. The games against Illinois and Tulane were closer than I want to see from a top-15 team, but I will respect the Blue Devils until they give me a reason not to.
16 Iowa Hawkeyes Big win over Michigan and showing signs of a real offense get Iowa ranked. The close win over a middling-to-bad ISU team is holding them back from being higher, but I'll acknowledge that any win in El Assico is a good win. I don't expect Iowa to beat OSU, but keeping it competitive and then winning against Washington with short rest will boost Iowa in my rankings.
17 Oklahoma State Cowboys It was hard to know what to do with the Pokes. The loss to Tulsa is a real head scratcher, especially in light of Tulsa getting hammered by Arkansas. This ranking has a lot to do with what I think about Oregon and my refusal to rank OSU below Oregon when they have the same record and OSU holds the head-to-head. But it's also about OSU's dominant win over a WVU team that I think is pretty solid.
18 Oregon Ducks Much in the way that Oklahoma State's ranking is buoyed by the win over Oregon, Oregon's ranking is weighed down by the loss to Oklahoma State. Boise State is a solid squad and USC is talented, so those wins obviously justify ranking Oregon in the top-20. Given the talent and Lanning's track record, Oregon should be in the top-10 or even top-5. I'll be more than happy to move them up if the impressive wins keep rolling in.
19 BYU Cougars BYU has played only 3 games and they've all been against nobodies. I like the Cougars and think they're a good team, but it's hard to rank them higher without any proof. Especially when my perception is that this BYU team is what it is, and won't change much over the season. It's a good team, so that's not necessarily a bad thing, but the games against Arizona and CSU make me think it's not a great team. Definitely top-20 material but I'll need to see a lot more to move them up.
20 Nebraska Cornhuskers Not many tests for Nebraska so far, but I watched the games against Ohio and Michigan State and I liked what I saw. My read is that this team should roll Maryland in a relatively low scoring game that is nonetheless never in doubt, so we'll see if I have them pegged. If that's the case, then I like where I have Nebraska ranked.
21 James Madison Dukes Top G6 team on my poll and possibly the nation. The Duke's G6 status doesn't have them outside the top-20, however. The problem is that they've really played no one, and the potentially good teams on their schedule (SDSU, ODU, Liberty) have all looked pedestrian-to-bad in other games. And JMU has not been blowing them out the way I would like to see. I still like the Dukes, and I'm asking a lot for team that keeps losing excellent head coaches, but my preseason expectations will go out the window if they don't improve.
22 Tennessee Volunteers The Vols losing to Texas hurt them, but it wasn't just the loss. It was the fact that the game was not as close as the score suggests. Poor officiating and special teams (which count, I'll admit) kept it closer than it should have been. They don't have any other good wins, and I can't put them any higher than 22 based on a "close" loss to the No. 1 team.
23 Houston Cougars I like the Coogs. The win over Oregon State will continue to age well and the close loss to Tech on the road doesn't hurt them much. Letting Georgia Southern score 28 points actually gives me more pause than anything. Houston has some good tests coming up (UCF, OSU, and Utah) and I will happily move them up as they rack up wins. I think this team has a top-15 feel to it, with a top-10 ceiling, but I need to see more to confirm.
24 Boise State Broncos BSU should be higher. The loss to Oregon will age better as time goes on. I still think the wins over Memphis and WMU are good wins, although I don't like how close SDSU kept things. I want to move BSU up in my poll, but I don't know how many tests are left on their schedule. TXST, CSU, and Oregon State are all strong teams, but BSU will need to win convincingly if it wants to move up head of the quality P4 teams. If both JMU and BSU win out, then I think I will end up ranking BSU ahead of JMU due to differences in competition, but I doubt BSU will be able to crack the top-10 of my poll this year.
25 UTSA Roadrunners The meeps are fun. They score a lot of points. I think their DBs can hang with the best WRs in the G6. They're a little all over the map at this point, but I'm ranking them this week based on positive vibes and how fun they are to watch. They may drop off in favor of a team like Wake Forest or Missouri, however, if those teams continue to play well.

Back to poll results >>