Preseason Coaches' Poll Top 25 'Disrespects' Indiana
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Earlier this Tuesday, USA Today unveiled its first Coaches Poll Top 25 for the 2026 college football season. As you'd imagine, the new rankings caused some controversy online.
Ohio State has landed the No. 1 spot in the Coaches Poll in large part due to its returning talent on offense. Ryan Day will get to lean on the trio of quarterback Julian Sayin, wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and running back Bo Jackson.
Oregon and Georgia, which will be led by talented quarterbacks in Dante Moore and Gunner Stockton, rounded out the top three in the rankings.
Here's the top 15 from the preseason coaches' poll:
- Ohio State
- Oregon
- Georgia
- Texas
- Notre Dame
- Indiana
- Miami
- Texas A&M
- Oklahoma
- Ole Miss
- Alabama
- Texas Tecj
- LSU
- USC
- BYU
Most college football fans are baffled that Indiana fell outside of the top five despite winning the national championship last season.
"Indiana at #6 just feels disrespectful lol," one fan commented.
"Any ranking that doesn’t have Indiana at 1 and Miami at 2 is invalid," a second fan wrote.
"Cignetti is making sure his guys know everyone thinks of them," a third fan predicted. "Indiana back to back."
"How is IU not #1," another fan asked.
Don't sleep on the Hoosiers.
There's no question Indiana's offense will look different without Fernando Mendoza under center, but Curt Cignetti got himself a talented quarterback in Josh Hoover.
"Josh Hoover has won a lot of football games, thrown for a lot of yards, lot of touchdown passes. He has an innate ability to play the position of quarterback," Cignetti said, via Indiana Hoosiers on SI. "He's kind of a natural passer, very accurate, processes very quickly. The things we’ll ask him to do are different than the things TCU asked him to do. We’re not going to put the ball in his hands and say go out, win the game, outscore people. We’re going to give him a running game, defense and special teams."
Hoover had a lot of success at TCU, completing 65.2% of his passes for 9,629 yards with 71 touchdowns and 33 interceptions. We'll see if he shines at Indiana.
This story was originally published by The Spun on Aug 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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