Ballot Type: Hybrid

Submitted: Oct. 4, 2026, 7:20 a.m.

Overall Rationale: Teams are ranked by using Punt & Rally’s 2026 Conference Team Talent Rating (https://www.puntandrally.com/viewconferencetalentratings.php). Teams are then broke into tiers based on how many losses they have (undefeated, one-loss, two-loss, etc). I rank the highest ranked teams based on their win/loss tier. I also try to respect head to head. If a team with a lower talent score defeated a team with a higher score within the same tier, they leap frog that team to be a head of them by one spot.

Author’s Note: Punt & Rally’s Conference Team Talent Ranking seems more accurate than their dedicated roster talent breakdown page. I want a talent composite that combines both recruiting and transfer portal additions. This seems to be the only free one I can find. If you can find a better/more accurate one, I am all ears.

• Ballot
• Analysis

Rank	Team	Reason
1	Georgia Bulldogs	1291 | 5-0
2	Texas Longhorns	1195 | 4-0
3	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	1193 | 5-0
4	Alabama Crimson Tide	1082 | 5-0
5	Miami Hurricanes	1073 | 5-0
6	Nebraska Cornhuskers	924 | 5-0
7	Texas Tech Red Raiders	904 | 5-0
8	UCLA Bruins	879 | 4-0
9	Pittsburgh Panthers	772 | 5-0
10	BYU Cougars	764 | 4-0
11	Indiana Hoosiers	756 | 5-0
12	Duke Blue Devils	751 | 4-0
13	Utah Utes	719 | 4-0
14	James Madison Dukes	616 | 5-0
15	North Dakota State Bison	242 | 5-0
16	Ohio State Buckeyes	1134 | 4-1
17	Mississippi State Bulldogs	Mississippi State | 905 | 4-1 | H2H over Missouri
18	Missouri Tigers	899 | 4-1 | H2H over Florida
19	Florida Gators	982 | 4-1 | H2H over Ole Miss
20	Ole Miss Rebels	1030 | 3-1 | H2H over LSU
21	LSU Tigers	1120 | 4-1
22	Oklahoma State Cowboys	825 | 3-1 | H2H over Oregon
23	Oregon Ducks	Oregon | 1091 | 3-1 | H2H over USC
24	USC Trojans	USC | 1053 | 5-1
25	Tennessee Volunteers	Tennessee | 1028 | 4-1

Teams Ranked:

Rank	Team	Unusualness
1	Georgia Bulldogs	0.12
2	Texas Longhorns	0.00
3	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	0.00
4	Alabama Crimson Tide	0.00
5	Miami Hurricanes	0.00
6	Nebraska Cornhuskers	1.91
7	Texas Tech Red Raiders	0.23
8	UCLA Bruins	1.04
9	Pittsburgh Panthers	0.98
10	BYU Cougars	0.00
11	Indiana Hoosiers	-0.86
12	Duke Blue Devils	1.40
13	Utah Utes	0.00
14	James Madison Dukes	2.49
15	North Dakota State Bison	2.42
16	Ohio State Buckeyes	-1.70
17	Mississippi State Bulldogs	0.00
18	Missouri Tigers	0.00
19	Florida Gators	0.00
20	Ole Miss Rebels	-0.06
21	LSU Tigers	-0.56
22	Oklahoma State Cowboys	0.00
23	Oregon Ducks	-0.73
24	USC Trojans	0.00
25	Tennessee Volunteers	-0.69

Omissions:

Team	Unusualness
Iowa Hawkeyes	0.47
Houston Cougars	0.25

Total Score: 15.90