2026 AP Preseason Poll: Bama outside top 10 for first time since 2008

UA TN — Alabama’s Zabien Brown against Tennessee (University of Alabama Athletics)

For the first time since 2008, Alabama is ranked outside the top 10 in the Associated Press preseason rankings.

The Crimson Tide came in at No. 13 in the poll, ending a streak of 17 straight years starting in the top 10. Prior to last season, Alabama was in the preseason top 5 for 16 straight seasons.

This is still Alabama’s 296th consecutive appearance in the AP rankings, the longest active streak in college football. It’s the second longest streak of all time to Nebraska’s 348 straight polls which ended in 2002.

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Preseason AP Top 25 features 9 SEC teams

Just like the USA Today Coaches poll, the top two spots were taken up by the Big Ten with No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Oregon. But it was the SEC who put the most teams in the top 25.

SEC teams in the preseason rankings include:

No. 3 Georgia
No. 5 Texas
No. 8 Texas A&M
No. 9 Ole Miss
No. 10 Oklahoma
No. 11 LSU
No. 13 Alabama
No. 20 Tennessee
No. 25 Missouri

Four other SEC schools also received points meaning 13 of the conference’s 16 teams got at least one vote in the preseason poll.

Auburn finished with three poll points, officially coming in at 43rd overall. The Tigers have not been ranked in the preseason AP Poll since 2020 but they have received votes every year since then.

You can see the full preseason poll here.