The AP Top 25 starts with Ohio State. Saturday Index sees a different No. 1 — and a much stronger Texas Tech.

The first AP Top 25 of 2026 has a familiar name at the top and a crowded group immediately behind it. Ohio State received 40 of 69 first-place votes to open at No. 1. Oregon is No. 2, Georgia is No. 3 and Notre Dame is No. 4, with only three points separating the Bulldogs and Fighting Irish in the voting.

Saturday Index begins in almost the same place — but not quite the same order. Notre Dame owns a 29.1 power rating and Ohio State sits one tenth behind at 29.0. That difference is too small to call a meaningful separation. It says that the two teams are essentially even on a neutral field, not that the AP voters missed an obvious No. 1.

The more revealing disagreements come farther down the board. Saturday Index ranks Texas Tech third, nine places above the AP poll. The AP is considerably more confident in Indiana, LSU, BYU and Washington. Those gaps tell us more than a debate over first place because they expose the different questions each ranking is trying to answer.

The AP Top 25 is a poll. Saturday Index measures present team strength on a neutral field. One rewards consensus, résumé and expected finish; the other is designed to estimate how good a team is right now. They should overlap. They should not be identical.

The complete AP Top 25 — and where Saturday Index ranks each team

Every team in the 2026 preseason AP Top 25 compared with its Saturday Index power rank.

AP rank	Team	Saturday Index	Gap
1	Ohio State	2	-1 · SI lower
2	Oregon	4	-2 · SI lower
3	Georgia	5	-2 · SI lower
4	Notre Dame	1	+3 · SI higher
5	Texas	10	-5 · SI lower
6	Indiana	13	-7 · SI lower
7	Miami	6	+1 · SI higher
8	Texas A&M	9	-1 · SI lower
9	Ole Miss	7	+2 · SI higher
10	Oklahoma	11	-1 · SI lower
11	LSU	18	-7 · SI lower
12	Texas Tech	3	+9 · SI higher
13	Alabama	8	+5 · SI higher
14T	BYU	25	-11 · SI lower
14T	USC	12	+2 · SI higher
16	Michigan	17	-1 · SI lower
17	Washington	24	-7 · SI lower
18	Penn State	NR	AP only
19	SMU	16	+3 · SI higher
20	Tennessee	14	+6 · SI higher
21	Utah	23	-2 · SI lower
22	Iowa	20	+2 · SI higher
23	Houston	NR	AP only
24	Louisville	NR	AP only
25	Missouri	22	+3 · SI higher

A positive number means Saturday Index ranks the team higher than the AP poll. Saturday Index ratings measure estimated neutral-field strength; they are not a projected final poll.

Saturday Index Top 25 teams outside the AP poll

Saturday Index Top 25 teams outside the AP Top 25.

AP rank	Team	Saturday Index	AP voting
RV	South Carolina	15	10 points
RV	Clemson	19	112 points
RV	Vanderbilt	21	8 points

Notre Dame over Ohio State is a distinction measured in tenths

Ohio State has the stronger claim to the top of a preseason poll. The Buckeyes return the country’s most accurate passer in Julian Sayin, the national receiving leader over the past two seasons in Jeremiah Smith and a 1,000-yard rusher in Bo Jackson. That is an outrageous collection of proven production for an offense that should be able to score before its rebuilt defense has completely settled.

Notre Dame’s case is different. The Fighting Irish enter the season on a 10-game winning streak, bring back a quarterback with legitimate Heisman expectations in CJ Carr and have fewer reasons to wonder whether their weekly identity will hold up. Saturday Index gives Notre Dame the slightest possible edge; the AP voters put more weight on Ohio State’s star power and championship ceiling.

Both positions are defensible. A 0.1-point rating gap is closer to a tie than a declaration.

Texas Tech is the real disagreement

The most important line in this comparison is not No. 1. It is Texas Tech at AP No. 12 and Saturday Index No. 3.

The AP ranking reflects reasonable caution. Texas Tech is coming off its first Big 12 championship and a school-record 12-win season, but it must replace major pieces from the team that broke through. The defensive front will look different, and the quarterback competition still has to produce a dependable answer. Voters are acknowledging the breakthrough without assuming every part of it transfers cleanly to 2026.

Saturday Index is more aggressive because much of the structure that produced the breakthrough remains intact. All three coordinators are back. The Red Raiders still have two productive running backs, an experienced offensive line and a roster built to survive the weekly strain of the Big 12. The rating is not asking whether Texas Tech will repeat last season’s record. It is saying that, snap for snap, the Red Raiders begin the year with one of the strongest teams in the country.

That is a major preseason claim, and it should be treated like one. If the quarterback play is merely stable, No. 3 will not look outlandish. If the turnover up front changes the defense, the AP’s caution will prove wiser.

The AP is buying Indiana, LSU and BYU more heavily

Indiana is the defending national champion, went 16-0 and added another top-10 transfer class. The Hoosiers deserve the benefit of the doubt. They also have to replace Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 draft pick Fernando Mendoza with Josh Hoover. The AP keeps Indiana in the championship tier at No. 6; Saturday Index places it 13th, still excellent but more exposed to the uncertainty that comes with a quarterback transition.

LSU creates a similar split for different reasons. The Tigers are No. 11 in the AP poll and No. 18 at Saturday Index. Lane Kiffin, Sam Leavitt and a rebuilt roster create obvious upside, but this remains a first-year system with important questions along the interior and little proof that all the new pieces will fit immediately. The AP is pricing the ceiling. Saturday Index is waiting for more evidence that LSU can reach it every week.

BYU owns the largest numeric gap among teams ranked by both systems: AP No. 14 and Saturday Index No. 25. A 12-win season gives the Cougars a compelling poll résumé and earns real respect. Saturday Index is less certain that last year’s results translate into the same neutral-field strength after another offseason of roster movement. BYU is not being dismissed; it is being asked to prove that last season’s record and this season’s underlying team strength are the same thing.

Alabama and Tennessee sit well above their AP labels

Saturday Index is five places higher on Alabama and six places higher on Tennessee.

Alabama’s No. 13 AP ranking is shaped by the questions everyone can see: a quarterback competition, unsettled protection and a schedule that offers little time to grow into the season. The Crimson Tide still have one of the country’s deepest defensive backfields and enough high-end talent to beat almost anyone. Saturday Index places that roster eighth, effectively arguing that the floor may be messy but the weekly ceiling remains national.

Tennessee appears at No. 20 in the AP poll and No. 14 at Saturday Index. That does not make the Volunteers a hidden national-title favorite. It does suggest they are more dangerous on a neutral field than a back-end Top 25 label implies. The distinction will matter quickly once conference play begins and rankings start absorbing wins and losses rather than preseason expectations.

The cut line shows two different definitions of a Top 25 team

Penn State, Houston and Louisville made the AP poll but did not make the Saturday Index Top 25. South Carolina, Clemson and Vanderbilt made the Saturday Index list but not the AP poll.

Clemson is the most striking omission. The Tigers are No. 19 at Saturday Index and missed the AP Top 25 by only five voting points, finishing immediately behind Missouri among teams receiving votes. That is less a rejection than a cut-line decision.

South Carolina is a bigger philosophical disagreement. Saturday Index ranks the Gamecocks 15th even though they received only 10 AP voting points. Vanderbilt is 21st at Saturday Index and collected eight. Both teams carry more neutral-field respect inside the ratings than they do in the national poll.

The AP’s final three choices — Penn State, Houston and Louisville — lean more heavily on expected season relevance and the belief that each can stay in the rankings. Saturday Index is willing to rank a dangerous team before its schedule gives it the résumé that voters usually require.

That is the value of putting the two lists next to each other. Ohio State versus Notre Dame will get the headline, but the season’s most useful arguments begin with Texas Tech at No. 3, Indiana at No. 13 and South Carolina inside one Top 25 but barely mentioned in the other.

The poll establishes the consensus. Now the games get to attack it.