Exactly one month ago, Indiana capped a magical and history-making undefeated run through the 2025 college football season by winning the program’s first-ever national title with a 27-21 victory over Miami in the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship Game. With that win, the No. 1 Hoosiers completed the sports’ first 16-0 season since Yale way back in 1894.
In the four weeks since, college football pundits everywhere have unveiled their personal way-too-early projections of what the 2026 preseason Top 25 rankings will look like. Finally, on the one month anniversary of Indiana‘s big victory, ESPN‘s CFP insider Heather Dinich joined the fray by releasing her own hand-written Way-Too-Early 2026 Top 25 projection Thursday morning on Instagram.
In it, Dinich swings for the fences with her projections, including ranking Notre Dame — which famously fell out of 2025’s 12-team CFP field on Selection Sunday due to a season-opening loss to the Hurricanes — at No. 2, right behind No. 1 Texas. The rest of Dinich’s Top 10 is full of 2025 Playoff teams, with one major omission — Alabama, which the ESPN expert ranked just inside the Top 20 at No. 17, right behind a Penn State team that went 7-6 in 2025.
Suffice it to say, Dinich’s WTE Top 25 rankings are sure to raise eyebrows from fans all across the college football landscape. With that in mind, let’s dive into Heather Dinich’s Way-Too-Early 2026 Top 25 rankings below:
Clearly Dinich doesn’t adhere to the “once burned, twice shy” idiom that other pundits have embraced this offseason and goes all-in on the Arch Manning-led Longhorns as her preseason No. 1 team.
Of course, after being hyped up all offseason a year ago, Texas infamously fell flat with a 3-2 start last season before closing strong and winning seven of its last eight games. It’s because of that progress, and a strong transfer portal class, that Dinich in a big believer 2026 might be the Longhorns’ year.
(Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images)
This might be the biggest surprise in Dinich’s Top 25, though it’s not far off from where other pundits expect the Irish to begin next season. On3’s experts ranked Notre Dame at No. 4 in its WTE Top 25 released last month.
But for the No. 2 spot, Dinich is obviously a big believer in Notre Dame’s 2026 revenge tour, and said as much during her Thursday morning hit on ESPN’s GetUp: “Oh, by the way, they’re still really mad about getting excluded from the Playoff last year, they’ve got something to prove and a chip on their shoulder.”
The reigning champion Hoosiers land at No. 3 in Dinich’s Top 25 projection despite significant turnover from its national-title-winning roster, including losing 2025 Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza.
But arguably the most important returner is Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti, who has won at least 11 games in each of the last three seasons, including compiling a 27-2 in his first 29 games in Bloomington. Add in TCU transfer Josh Hoover at quarterback, and Indiana will once again be a serious CFP contender.
If the dozens of NFL mock drafts out there are to be believed, the Buckeyes had the most talented roster in college football last season. Of course, much of that talent is now NFL-bound.
Of course, Ohio State still has plenty of elite talent with superstar receiver Jeremiah Smith and rising sophomore QB Julian Sayin back in 2026. The Buckeyes also added several key transfer portal pieces to a rebuilt defense that’s led the FBS each of the past two seasons.
(Stephen Lew-Imagn Images)
The back-to-back SEC champion Bulldogs enter 2026 still looking to snap what’s become a two-year one-and-done Playoff drought after becoming the first back-to-back national champion of the CFP era.
They’ll do so with a loaded roster led by returning starting QB Gunner Stockton and a strong backfield that includes returning RBs Nate Frazier, Chauncy Bowens and Kentucky transfer Dante Dowdell. And never count out a Kirby Smart-led defense that returns significant experience from last season.
Based on other way-too-early projections, Dinich might be overlooking a Ducks squad that returns a majority of the team that made up last year’s Playoff semifinalist squad.
That includes rising junior QB Dante Moore, who opted to pass on being a potential Top 5 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft to return to Eugene, where he’ll be joined by most Oregon’s elite 2025 defense, including the enter defensive front.
After surprising many with its run to last season’s national championship game, the Hurricanes aren’t going to catch fans off guard in 2026, especially after once again reloading through the transfer portal.
Miami has improved its win total every season under head coach and alumnus Mario Cristobal, but now will need to prove it belongs among college football’s elite with a third-consecutive transfer QB after poaching former Duke star Darian Mensah late in the process.
(Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images)
There’s plenty to like about what the Aggies have coming back in 2026, including dynamic dual-threat QB Marcel Reed in what will be his third season as QB1.
A&M head coach Mike Elko has proven he knows how to coach up a winner after leading the Aggies to the program’s first-ever CFP appearance thanks to 11 consecutive wins to open last season. Of course, he’ll need to fix Texas A&M’s late-season issues after ending the last two years on losing streaks.
The Rebels are coming off their best season on record after advancing to the CFP national semifinals last season despite infamously undergoing a major coaching change in late November.
Ole Miss received welcomed news last week when a local judge granted Rebels QB Trinidad Chambliss an injunction vs. the NCAA that should allow him to play in 2026. Unfortunately, next year’s Ole Miss will look a lot different after former coach Lane Kiffin brought several standouts with him to LSU.
The Sooners finally broke through and made their return to the CFP for the first time since 2019 in Brent Venables fourth season in Norman.
Oklahoma cracks Dinich’s Top 10 due in large part to a wealth of returning experience from last season’s 10-win team, including dual-threat QB and Heisman hopeful John Mateer as well as a majority of last year’s SEC-leading defense.
Before looking at the rest of her rankings, check out Dinich’s full segment discussing her Way-Too-Early 2026 Top 25 on Thursday morning’s GetUp below:
11. USC Trojans
12. Texas Tech Red Raiders
13. LSU Tigers
14. BYU Cougars
15. Michigan Wolverines
16. Penn State Nittany Lions
17. Alabama Crimson Tide
18. SMU Mustangs
19. Louisville Cardinals
20. Iowa Hawkeyes
21. Washington Huskies
22. Houston Cougars
23. Utah Utes
24. Virginia Tech Hokies
25. Boise State Broncos