Ohio State and Oregon open 1-2; the 2027 QB board has four Round 1 names
The 2026 preseason AP ballot puts Ohio State and Oregon 1-2, while fresh draft evaluations place four quarterbacks in an early Round 1 tier and make Drew Mestemaker the week's clearest riser.
Coverage: Aug. 16-23, 2026.
The official 2026 preseason AP Top 25 gives Ohio State and Oregon the Big Ten's first preseason 1-2 since 1961. Ohio State received 40 first-place votes, Oregon received 14, and 69 media voters selected the ballot. 12
The Aug. 16-23 window also ended before the first FBS games. Week 0 begins Saturday, Aug. 29, so this issue has no game-earned ranking changes, upsets, or performance-based draft-stock moves to report. 3
The official AP Top 25
The table compares the preseason ballot with the 2025 final AP poll. "New" means the team was unranked in that final poll; a dash in the first-place column means the published list did not report a first-place vote for that team. 14
| Rank | Team | First-place votes | Movement vs. 2025 final |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State | 40 | Up 4, from No. 5 14 |
| 2 | Oregon | 14 | Up 2, from No. 4 14 |
| 3 | Georgia | — | Up 3, from No. 6 14 |
| 4 | Notre Dame | 6 | Up 6, from No. 10 14 |
| 5 | Texas | — | Up 7, from No. 12 14 |
| 6 | Indiana | 8 | Down 5, from No. 1 14 |
| 7 | Miami | 1 | Down 5, from No. 2 14 |
| 8 | Texas A&M | — | Held at No. 8 14 |
| 9 | Ole Miss | — | Down 6, from No. 3 14 |
| 10 | Oklahoma | — | Up 3, from No. 13 14 |
| 11 | LSU | — | New 14 |
| 12 | Texas Tech | — | Down 5, from No. 7 14 |
| 13 | Alabama | — | Down 4, from No. 9 14 |
| T-14 | BYU | — | Down 3, from No. 11 14 |
| T-14 | USC | — | Up 6, from No. 20 14 |
| 16 | Michigan | — | Up 5, from No. 21 14 |
| 17 | Washington | — | New 14 |
| 18 | Penn State | — | New 14 |
| 19 | SMU | — | New 14 |
| 20 | Tennessee | — | New 14 |
| 21 | Utah | — | Down 7, from No. 14 14 |
| 22 | Iowa | — | Down 5, from No. 17 14 |
| 23 | Houston | — | Down 1, from No. 22 14 |
| 24 | Louisville | — | New 14 |
| 25 | Missouri | — | New 14 |
What changed from the final poll
Seven teams entered the preseason ballot after missing the 2025 final poll: LSU at No. 11, Washington at No. 17, Penn State at No. 18, SMU at No. 19, Tennessee at No. 20, Louisville at No. 24, and Missouri at No. 25. 14
The seven teams that left the 2025 final poll are Vanderbilt, Virginia, Tulane, James Madison, Navy, North Texas, and TCU. The largest upward moves were Texas, up seven places, followed by Notre Dame and USC, each up six. Utah fell seven places, while Ole Miss fell six. 14
The conference shape is familiar at the top: the SEC has nine ranked teams, the Big Ten has eight, the Big 12 has four, and the ACC has three. Notre Dame is the only independent in the poll, and no Group of 6 team made the Top 25. BYU and USC are tied at No. 14. 12
The first scoreboard is still ahead
The first FBS games arrive Aug. 29, after this coverage window. The absence of games means the preseason ballot has no game result behind its movement, and the draft section can measure fresh evaluation rather than a weekly performance swing. 3
The first regular-season AP poll is scheduled for Sept. 8. Four days later, No. 1 Ohio State visits No. 5 Texas, while No. 10 Oklahoma visits No. 16 Michigan. Those games will supply the first major head-to-head evidence for the ballot. 25
2027 draft stock
The fresh draft evidence is a split between board placement and round-tier evaluation. On Aug. 17, Mel Kiper Jr. and Field Yates both put Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith at No. 1 on their top tens. Their quarterback orders diverged immediately: Kiper placed Dante Moore fourth, Arch Manning fifth, and CJ Carr eighth; Yates placed Dante Moore second, Drew Mestemaker third, and Arch Manning seventh. 6
On Aug. 21, ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid placed CJ Carr, Arch Manning, Drew Mestemaker, and Dante Moore in his early Round 1 quarterback tier. Reid placed Darian Mensah, Julian Sayin, and LaNorris Sellers in Round 2. The tiers describe where the quarterbacks would grade if the draft were held the following week, so the four-name Round 1 group is an evaluation signal rather than a settled draft order. 7
| Prospect | Team / position | Current evaluation | Evidence date | Question that could change the evaluation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeremiah Smith | Ohio State / WR | No. 1 on both Kiper's and Yates' top tens. 6 | Aug. 17 | Can a third season of Ohio State production preserve the shared No. 1 view? |
| Drew Mestemaker | Oklahoma State / QB | No. 3 on Yates' top ten and in ESPN's Round 1 tier. Bleacher Report noted that Mestemaker missed its earlier early top 25 but appeared at No. 13 in its newer mock. 67 | Aug. 17-21 | Can his first Power Four season validate the production he posted at North Texas? 7 |
| Dante Moore | Oregon / QB | Kiper No. 4, Yates No. 2, and ESPN Round 1. 67 | Aug. 17-21 | Can Moore improve against ranked opponents after eight of his 10 interceptions came against ranked teams in 2025? 7 |
| Arch Manning | Texas / QB | Kiper No. 5, Yates No. 7, and ESPN Round 1. 67 | Aug. 17-21 | Can Manning improve his short-to-intermediate accuracy and lower-body mechanics? 7 |
| CJ Carr | Notre Dame / QB | Kiper No. 8 and ESPN Round 1. 67 | Aug. 17-21 | Can Carr handle more responsibility after Notre Dame lost two first-round running backs? 7 |
| Darian Mensah | Miami / QB | ESPN Round 2; absent from Kiper's and Yates' top tens even though Bleacher Report's mock made him the projected No. 1 overall pick. 67 | Aug. 17-21 | Can Mensah add more pass velocity and improve ball security? 7 |
| Julian Sayin | Ohio State / QB | ESPN Round 2, with evaluators split between Round 1 ability and Day 2 physical limitations. 7 | Aug. 21 | Can Sayin's accuracy and decision-making outweigh the physical questions? |
| LaNorris Sellers | South Carolina / QB | ESPN Round 2: elite physical tools paired with inconsistent passing. 7 | Aug. 21 | Can Sellers turn the physical tools into consistent passing? |
Mestemaker is the clearest new riser in this week's board conversation because he moved from outside Bleacher Report's earlier top 25 to No. 3 on Yates' list and into ESPN's Round 1 tier. That is a change in evaluation and attention; the first games of his Oklahoma State season will determine how much of it survives contact with a Power Four schedule. 67
Next checkpoint
- Aug. 29: Week 0 supplies the first FBS results. 3
- Sept. 8: The first regular-season AP ballot replaces this preseason baseline. 5
- Sept. 12: Ohio State-Texas and Oklahoma-Michigan provide the first major ranked matchups named with this ballot. 2
- 2027 draft watch: Smith's shared No. 1 status, Mestemaker's Power Four translation, and the separation among the four ESPN Round 1 quarterbacks are the next live questions. 67
References
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- 8NCAA AP preseason Top 25 report
ncaa.com
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