Where Do The Dawgs Stand In The 2026 AP Preseason Top 25?

Georgia begins the 2026 season inside the top three.

The Associated Press released its 2026 Preseason Top 25 on Monday, and the Bulldogs landed at No. 3. That matches where Georgia sat in the Coaches Poll released earlier this month, and it marks a two-spot climb from the No. 5 preseason ranking the Dawgs carried into 2025.

Ohio State opens at No. 1 with 40 first-place votes. Oregon follows at No. 2 with 14. Notre Dame sits fourth with six first-place votes, defending national champion Indiana is sixth with eight, and Miami is seventh with one.

The ranking reflects what Kirby Smart has built rather than any single result from last fall. Smart enters his 11th season in Athens with two national championships, four SEC titles and a 117-21 record, including 69-12 in conference play.

Georgia went 11-1 in the 2025 regular season and won its second consecutive SEC Championship before falling to Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. That finish, the second straight one-and-done trip through the expanded bracket, is the part of the resume the Dawgs are looking to rewrite.

A schedule with no soft landing

Four teams on Georgia’s regular season slate are ranked in the preseason poll.

Oklahoma comes to Sanford Stadium on September 26 at No. 10. Georgia travels to No. 13 Alabama on October 10. The trip to No. 9 Ole Miss on November 7 carries obvious weight given how last season ended. Missouri visits Athens on November 14 at No. 25.

That does not account for Florida in Atlanta on October 31, Auburn, Vanderbilt or Georgia Tech, none of whom are ranked in August but all of whom have a history of complicating this schedule.

The broader SEC picture is crowded. Texas A&M opens at No. 8, LSU at No. 11 and Tennessee at No. 20. Nine SEC programs are ranked in the preseason poll, and five sit inside the top eleven.

What the poll actually measures

The AP Top 25 is built on a straightforward points system. Each voter submits a ballot of 25 teams. A first-place vote is worth 25 points, second place 24, and so on down to a single point for the 25th spot. The rankings are the point totals sorted highest to lowest.

Preseason polls are projections. They reward returning production, recruiting, coaching continuity and recent history, and they have no bearing on what happens once the season starts. Georgia has been ranked No. 1 in the preseason and finished elsewhere. Georgia has also started outside the top two and won a national title, which is exactly what happened in 2021 when the Dawgs became the first No. 3 seed to win it all.

Where the ranking does matter is early margin. A team that opens at No. 3 gets the benefit of the doubt in September and has room to survive one loss without falling out of the playoff conversation. That cushion is worth something in a twelve-team field.

Kickoff is close

Georgia opens the 2026 season at home against Tennessee State on September 5. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. ET with the game streaming on SEC+.

The full 2026 AP Preseason Top 25 is below.