College football rankings: Preseason AP Top 25 for SEC

The Associated Press on Monday, Aug. 17, released its annual preseason AP Top 25 poll, an annual tradition that marks college football one step closer to the start of the season.

And, of course, generates plenty of talking points.

REQUIRED READING: College football rankings: SEC teams in preseason US LBM Coaches Poll top 25

Much like the US LBM Coaches Poll that was unveiled on Aug. 4 for the 2026 season, Big Ten programs Ohio State and Oregon take up the top two spots in the AP poll. They are followed by Georgia, Texas and Notre Dame to round out the top five (the only difference between the two polls is a swap of the Longhorns and Fighting Irish).

The SEC has nine teams represented in the earliest iteration of the 2026 college football rankings, matching the number from the Coaches Poll. Georgia and Texas lead the way in the top five, followed by Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Oklahoma in the top 10; LSU and Alabama in the top 15; Tennessee in the top 20; and Missouri as the last team ranked.

Vanderbilt, coming off a season in which it went 10-3 and featured a Heisman Trophy finalist in quarterback Deigo Pavia, was not ranked in the top 25. Instead, the Commodores finished with eight total votes. What other SEC programs received votes in the preseason AP Top 25? Here's a look:

SEC teams bolded. First-place votes in parentheses.

1. Ohio State (40)
2. Oregon (14)
3. Georgia
4. Notre Dame (6)
5. Texas
6. Indiana (8)
7. Miami (1)
8. Texas A&M
9. Ole Miss
10. Oklahoma
11. LSU
12. Texas Tech
13. Alabama
14. BYU
15. Southern California
16. Michigan
17. Washington
18. Penn State
19. SMU
20. Tennessee
21. Utah
22. Iowa
23. Houston
24. Louisville
25. Missouri

Others receiving votes: Clemson 112, Florida 51, Boise State 43, Arizona 32, TCU 11, Navy 10, South Carolina 10, Illinois 9, Oklahoma State 8, Vanderbilt 8, Pittsburgh 7, Virginia Tech 6, Minnesota 5, UNLV 4, New Mexico 4, Georgia Tech 4, Louisiana 4, James Madison 3, Auburn 3, Memphis 2, California 2, Liberty 1, Western Michigan 1, Tulane 1, Virginia 1.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: College football rankings: Preseason AP Top 25 for SEC