2026 SEC football preseason poll: Georgia, Texas voted as top 2 teams
There are two clear favorites in the SEC ahead of the 2026 college football season.
Georgia and Texas received the vast majority of first-place votes in the league's annual preseason media poll that was released Friday. The Bulldogs easily took the top spot with 88 of the 164 first-place votes. Texas was voted second with 57 other first-place votes.
No other team received more than six votes to finish first.
Georgia and Texas played each other in the 2024 SEC championship game before both teams made the College Football Playoff. The Bulldogs won that game 22-19 as starting QB Carson Beck suffered a season-ending elbow injury before halftime. That backed up Georgia's regular-season win in Austin earlier in the season.
The Bulldogs faced Alabama in last season's SEC title game and dominated the Crimson Tide after Alabama won 24-21 in September. Georgia beat Alabama by three touchdowns in the rematch before losing to Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff.
The Rebels were the team with six first-place votes in the preseason poll and finished third ahead of Texas A&M (five first-place votes) and LSU (two) in fifth. Alabama was voted sixth with three first-place votes and Oklahoma, who received two first-place votes, was seventh.
This season's outlier first-place vote went for Kentucky.
The SEC had five teams in the College Football Playoff a season ago but Ole Miss was the only one to advance to the semifinals. The Rebels, who played the postseason without head coach Lane Kiffin, lost to Miami in the Fiesta Bowl.
Kiffin, of course, left Ole Miss for LSU. His arrival along with the addition of QB Sam Leavitt and players like former Colorado OT Jordan Seaton are a big reason why LSU is higher than Alabama and Oklahoma in the poll this season.
Three of the five teams that made the playoff from the SEC a season ago were outside the top six in the 2025 preseason poll, while two teams in the top six — LSU and Florida — each made coaching changes after disappointing seasons.
The complete poll is below.
Trinidad Chambliss named first-team QB
A year after he was picked as the preseason third-team all-conference QB, Arch Manning starts 2026 on the second team.
Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss was voted the first-team QB after he emerged as one of the best QBs in college football in 2025. Chambliss, a former transfer from Division II Ferris State, began the season as Ole Miss' No. 2 QB before taking over as the starter after Austin Simmons — now the starter at Missouri — suffered an ankle injury.
Manning was voted the No. 2 QB in the conference ahead of Georgia's Gunner Stockton. A year ago, LaNorris Sellers was voted the first-team QB ahead of LSU's Garrett Nussmeier. Both Sellers and Nussmeier had disappointing seasons. Sellers, viewed as a potential first-round NFL Draft pick before the season, opted to return to school while Nussmeier was a seventh-round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs after dealing with complications from a cyst in his midsection for most of the season.
Ole Miss RB and Missouri RB Ahmad Hardy were voted as the two first-team running backs. The two were the second and third-leading rushers in college football a season ago. Hardy had 1,649 yards and 16 TDs, while Lacy had 1,567 yards and 24 rushing touchdowns. Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz announced at SEC media days that Hardy has been cleared to resume football activities as he continues his recovery from a gunshot wound suffered in May.
2026 SEC preseason football poll
1. Georgia (88 first-place votes)
2. Texas (57)
3. Ole Miss (6)
4. Texas A&M (5)
5. LSU (2)
6. Alabama (3)
7. Oklahoma (2)
8. Tennessee
9. Florida
10. Missouri
11. South Carolina
12. Auburn
13. Vanderbilt
14. Kentucky (1)
15. Mississippi State
16. Arkansas
