Shortly after Indiana claimed the National Championship on Monday night, ESPN released its way-too-early top 25 for the 2026 season.
While there’s still plenty to be decided in the transfer portal this offseason, a few top contenders for next year’s title have begun to emerge. Indiana is once again expected to be in the mix for the National Championship and the Hoosiers come in at No. 1 in ESPN’s rankings.
The top SEC team is the rankings is Texas, who comes in at No. 2. Here’s some analysis on the Longhorns from ESPN’s Mark Schlabach:
After missing the CFP, the Longhorns are going all-in for 2026, which might be quarterback Arch Manning’s final college season. After a slow start, Manning had a solid campaign in his first season as a starter, throwing for 3,163 yards with 26 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. The Longhorns added Coleman, the No. 1 receiver in the portal, to start opposite Ryan Wingo. Texas ranked 90th in the FBS in rushing in 2025, averaging 137.8 yards per game. The Longhorns have to become more physical on offense, which starts up front, and getting star tackle Trevor Goosby back will help. Brown and Smothers were upgrades in the backfield. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian fired defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and brought in former UT coach-in-waiting Will Muschamp, who was instrumental in helping Georgia win back-to-back CFP national titles in 2021 and 2022.
In total, 8 SEC teams cracked the top 25. Georgia, Ole Miss and Texas A&M all cracked the top 10 in ESPN’s rankings.
Here’s a look at the full way-too-early top 25 from ESPN:
- Indiana
- Texas
- Notre Dame
- Georgia
- Oregon
- Ohio State
- Texas Tech
- Miami
- Ole Miss
- Texas A&M
- BYU
- Oklahoma
- USC
- Louisville
- LSU
- Iowa
- SMU
- Michigan
- Washington
- TCU
- Alabama
- Penn State
- Arizona State
- Tennessee
- Utah
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
