For most of the past two decades, the SEC dominated college football, winning 13 national championships in the 17 seasons from 2006 to 2022, including seven consecutive titles from 2007 to 2012. However, an SEC team has not even played in the national title game in three years, and the college football media seemingly expects that to be the case again.
On Monday, the first AP Top-25 ranking was released ahead of the 2026 college football season. While two SEC teams cracked the top five in the rankings, with Georgia checking in at No. 3 and Texas coming in at No. 5, not a single SEC team was given a single first-place vote.
Ohio State led the way with 40 first-place votes while Oregon received 14. Defending national champion Indiana received eight first-place votes while Notre Dame received six and Miami received one. Georgia, Texas, and the rest of the SEC did not pick up a single first-place vote.
Needless to say, this led to a lot of reactions throughout the college football community.
“Not a single first-place vote for an SEC team is kinda wild, especially because votes for Texas were very common in the On3 poll,” wrote Ari Wasserman of On3 in a post on X.
“It is remarkable that the SEC as a whole didn’t get a single first-place vote,” wrote Albert Breer of The MMQB in a post.
“I am legit shocked that NOBODY voted for Texas or Georgia,” wrote Matt Brown of Extra Points in a post on X.
“I’m floored Texas didn’t get a vote. Top-2 roster in the country imo,” wrote Max Chadwick of the Preferred Walk-On podcast in a post.
“AP voters seem to think the SEC dry spell will continue,” wrote Andy Staples of On3 in a post on X.
We’ll have to see whether or not the SEC will be able to prove the voters wrong this season.
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