The preseason edition of the AP Top 25 was released on Monday with less than two weeks until the opening kickoff of the 2026 college football season.
The Florida Gators were left out of the top 25 to start things off, coming in at a de facto No. 27 ranking with 51 votes. Thirteen of the Southeastern Conference's 16 member schools were mentioned in the poll, with nine cracking the top portion of the list.
The highest-ranked SEC school is Georgia at No. 3 overall, followed by Texas (No. 5), Texas A&M (No. 8), Ole Miss (No. 9) and Oklahoma (No. 10) to round out the top 10. The remainder of the league's teams in the top 25 are LSU (No. 11), Alabama (No. 13), Tennessee (No. 20) and Missouri (No. 25).
South Carolina (10), Vanderbilt (8) and Auburn (3) join Florida among others receiving votes.
Jon Sumrall's team also came in at the de facto No. 27 spot in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll released earlier this month, earning 147 votes on that ballot.
Florida opens up its 2026 schedule on Saturday, Sept. 5, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium against FAU before hosting Campbell the following week. Then the Gators begin their conference journey on the road against Auburn on Sept. 19.
2026 preseason AP Top 25 poll
Point values in parentheses indicate the number of first-place votes
- Ohio State - 1,672 (40)
- Oregon - 1,597 (14)
- Georgia - 1,513
- Notre Dame - 1,510 (6)
- Texas - 1,483
- Indiana - 1,440 (8)
- Miami (FL) - 1,379 (1)
- Texas A&M - 1,131
- Ole Miss - 1,102
- Oklahoma - 1,047
- LSU - 988
- Texas Tech - 983
- Alabama - 904
- (t) BYU - 839
- (t) USC - 839
- Michigan - 718
- Washington - 501
- Penn State - 482
- SMU - 434
- Tennessee - 394
- Utah - 304
- Iowa - 260
- Houston - 252
- Louisville - 194
- Missouri - 117
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
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Here's where Florida football stands in preseason edition of AP Top 25