Despite returning much of a roster that finished 11-3 last season, made an ACC Championship Game appearance, and beat an SEC opponent in the Gator Bowl, the Virginia Cavaliers were unranked in the 2026 college football preseason AP Poll, released Monday afternoon.
https://t.co/T23NtgfCyw
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) August 17, 2026
Ohio State and Oregon are 1-2 in the preseason poll while the SEC leads conferences with nine ranked teams. pic.twitter.com/KIcOlA5YyB
The ’Hoos, while unranked, were among 24 additional teams to receive votes in the poll, though UVA received just one, tied for 47th overall. Virginia enters the 2026 season with one of the oldest average rosters in the country after climbing as high as No. 12 last season and finishing the year at No. 16 in the final rankings. Still, Virginia will have to prove itself once again to the college football world.
Elsewhere in the preseason poll, just three Atlantic Coast Conference teams cracked the top 25. Miami, the reigning national runners-up, led the pack at No. 7 with SMU (No. 19) and Louisville (No. 24) rounding out the group.
AP Poll: Preseason Top 25 📊 pic.twitter.com/pmbxBQCKDP
— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) August 17, 2026
In addition to Virginia, five other unranked ACC programs received votes. Clemson (112) was the first team to miss the top 25 cut, while Pittsburgh (7), Virginia Tech (6), Georgia Tech (4), and California (2) each drew some attention on the ballots.
At the top of the poll, Ohio State is college football’s preseason No. 1, with Oregon, Georgia, Notre Dame, and Texas rounding out the top five. It’s the fifth consecutive season that the Buckeyes have had a top-three preseason ranking.
As for the ’Hoos, led by transfer quarterback Beau Pribula and an offensive line that figures to be one of the biggest positional strengths of any team in the ACC, local optimism is sky-high surrounding Virginia football despite the lack of national love.
UVA’s season and its path back into the AP Poll begin with a tough early test in Week 0 against NC State. The Wolfpack were one of just three squads to best the ’Hoos in 2025 and checked in at No. 7 in the ACC preseason poll, just one spot behind Virginia.
Kickoff between UVA and NC State is set for 3:30 PM on Saturday, August 29th.