CBS Sports 138: Ohio State edges out Texas for No. 1 in post-spring college football rankings

Ranking every FBS team ahead of the 2026 college football season with spring practice now in the rearview mirror

Chip Patterson

May 13, 2026

10:54 am ET

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10 min read

CBS Sports Graphic

Spring practice has wrapped up across the country, and now teams are entering a summer period focused on individual development for the players and the recruiting trail for the coaches. Since we no longer have a spring transfer portal, the rosters are mostly set, so now seems like a good time to check in with our experts to see how they view the college football landscape heading into the 2026 season.

The CBS Sports 138, which has grown this season by two teams with the additions of North Dakota State and Sacramento State, is a comprehensive ranking of every FBS team. Experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports submit ballots weekly during the season, but we haven't reshuffled the deck since the confetti fell on Indiana's national championship win against Miami back in January. With a full offseason of player movement and additional information coming out of spring practice, we wanted to know what teams are competing for what spots in the rankings and how the picture has changed since the end of last season.

What our balloting revealed was a wide array of opinions for the No. 1 team in the land and very little consensus on how some of the top six or seven teams stack up against each other. Ohio State is our No. 1 team to start the 2026 rankings cycle of the CBS Sports 138, but the Buckeyes had an average ballot ranking of 2.0 from our experts.

There is some agreement among the top five teams with Ohio State, Texas, Oregon, Notre Dame and Georgia all carrying average ballot rankings of 4.6 or better, but the wide dispersion of votes for the group leaves us with a clear tier of contenders but almost no agreement on the order. Those five teams, plus reigning national champion Indiana and last year's runner-up Miami (who also got a first-place vote), are the teams our group has collectively found to be the true top tier in the sport.

Beyond the seven-team top tier are a collection of familiar faces, starting with teams that made the CFP last year, such as Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Alabama and Ole Miss. Three of those five return their quarterback after making the College Football Playoff in 2025, though each has enough questions that they never really threatened for any of the spots at the top of the rankings. If our voting behavior is any indication, this group has "returning customer" status at the cafe when it comes to playoff contention and gets included just ahead of teams with more to prove.

There's a new head coach bump powering big moves from LSU, Florida and Penn State when it comes to changes since last year's final ranking. The Tigers and Nittany Lions both landed inside the top 20 of our rankings, along with a new-look Michigan now led by Kyle Whittingham. Coaches leaving led to some colossal drops in our rankings as well, as a couple Group of Six squads have seen their expectations adjusted following double-digit win seasons in 2025 and a subsequent coaching change.

We have broken down some of the big and notable adjustments in the Mover's Report, which you can find below the top 25 table.

College football experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports contribute ballots each week, which are averaged together for our rankings. You can see the top 25 below and 26-136 on our rankings page.

RankTeam2025 RecordFinal 2025 Ranking1Ohio State12-232Texas10-3133Oregon13-254Notre Dame10-285Georgia

12-266Indiana16-017Miami13-328Texas A&M11-299Texas Tech12-2710Oklahoma10-31211Alabama11-41112Ole Miss13-2413LSU7-65314USC9-41615BYU12-21016Michigan9-42017Tennessee8-53218Penn State7-64619Washington9-42620SMU9-42721Missouri8-53422Utah

11-21423Iowa9-42124Louisville9-43525Florida4-871Biggest movers

- No. 32 South Carolina (+45): Our voters did not respond kindly to what was an underachieving 2025 season for the Gamecocks. After starting the year with one of the most talented quarterbacks in the SEC, the team sputtered in close games against the best teams in the conference. A seven-point home loss to Alabama and a blown lead in a 31-30 defeat at Texas A&M showed South Carolina could hang with playoff teams, but with just three wins against FBS opponents on the season, our voters had the Gamecocks outside the top 70 to finish the year. An adjustment back up inside the top 40 suggests a projection that a few of those close games flip the other way, and Shane Beamer is bowling again in 2026.

- No. 13 LSU (+40): Hiring Lane Kiffin to return LSU to title contention comes with the expectation that every one of his teams, even Year 1, will have the necessary talent to compete in a 12-team playoff era. Our experts are mostly in line with that here, starting LSU just outside the top 12 and well ahead of where the team finis