Among the shared expectations in college football for the 2026 season were that Oregon would have an experienced national championship contender, LSU might take a couple of weeks to find its footing under Lane Kiffin amidst the chaos, and the Michigan Wolverines were set for a big improvement with the arrival of Kyle Whittingham. Then the actual football happened, and all those preseason expectations were thrown out the window. Oregon could still win the national championship, LSU might find the chaos disruptive eventually and Michigan will have plenty of opportunities to show better form.
But preseason expectations have been shattered just one week into the season. It's a jarring experience as a college football expert to see your expectations go up in smoke in early September. Here at CBS Sports, we ask our experts to rank teams every week for the CBS Sports 138, a comprehensive ranking of every FBS team, and our preseason rankings were released back on Aug. 12 in advance of the 2026 season.
Those rankings were the result of an entire summer of research and reporting, with media days tidbits and some fall camp observations. But since then we've gotten a full fall camp in the books, starting quarterbacks were named, and yes, finally some actual football to inform our analysis. So when ballots are distributed and returned after Week 1, we find some dramatic changes to the rankings.
Oregon did fall from No. 2 down to No. 8, dropping to the bottom of a defined top tier of eight teams that our voters have in various orders. That group was a top seven but now is a top eight because of LSU's rise from No. 10 to No. 6, with the Tigers carrying an average ballot rating of 5.2 and sitting closer to Notre Dame at No. 5 than they are to Indiana at No. 7. And of course there's Michigan, which predictably no longer sits inside the top 20 or even the top 30 in the CBS Sports 138.
You can find out where the Wolverines rank after the 13-12 win against Western Michigan in our Mover's Report in this story, which can be found 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 26-138 on our rankings page.
Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 138: Teams ranked 26-138
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