2026 College Football Rankings: Oregon, Notre Dame Highlight Post-Spring Top 25

We're still several months away from the first practices of fall ball, but there are already seven teams that I believe are in a tier of their own ahead of the 2026 college football season.

You can likely guess a few of them, as programs like Ohio State have become mainstays at the top of college football. But is Indiana poised to make another run in 2026? Is there another Big Ten team that might be better than those two programs? Does Georgia still run the SEC?

With spring ball in the books for most of the country, let's take a look at my post-spring top 25. 

25.

Tennessee Volunteers

There were a lot of teams I considered at No. 25, but Tennessee has been very consistent, at least on offense. Josh Heupel took over five years ago and Tennessee has been the No. 1 scoring offense in the country ever since. However, the Vols have a big question at quarterback entering the summer, which is why they aren't ranked higher. It looks like the QB competition is down to two players, with redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and five-star freshman Faizon Brandon vying for the job. Both have little or no experience. I think Tennessee will be fine on offense, but it is a quarterback-driven offense. 

Defensively, Tennessee brought in former Ohio State and Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles for the same job. There's a lot of talent in Tennessee as it's been one of the top recruiting programs in the country. The schedule isn't terrible, but I like that the Volunteers get three of their four toughest games at home (Texas, LSU, Alabama).

24.

South Carolina Gamecocks

This is a bet on top-end talent at important positions. It's a make-or-break year for head coach Shane Beamer after South Carolina went 4-8 after being a top-10 team