Tennessee football will start the 2026 season ranked No. 18 in the US LBM Coaches Poll, which was released on Aug. 4.
It's a sign that there's optimism about the Vols, who finished last season unranked for the first time since 2021. They'll find out their AP Top 25 preseason ranking when that poll is released Aug. 17.
However, the coaches poll also acknowledges Tennessee's challenging schedule. Four of its opponents are ranked: No. 4 Texas, No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 11 Alabama and No. 13 LSU. And four more UT opponents also received votes in the top 35: South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Auburn and Georgia Tech.
Tennessee plays Furman on Sept. 5 (3:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+/ESPN+) to start the 2026 season.
Ohio State, Oregon and Georgia are the top three teams
in the coaches poll. Nine SEC teams made the Top 25.
The US LBM Coaches Poll is conducted weekly throughout the regular season using a panel of head coaches at Football Bowl Subdivision schools. The panel is chosen by random draw, conference by conference plus independents, from a pool of coaches who have indicated to the American Football Coaches Association their willingness to participate. Each coach submits a Top 25 with a first-place vote worth 25 points, second place 24, and so on down to one point for 25th.
Here's the US LBM Coaches Poll to start the 2026 season.
College football rankings to start 2026 season
US LBM Coaches Poll
- Ohio State (12-2)
- Oregon (13-2)
- Georgia (12-2)
- Texas (10-3)
- Notre Dame (10-2)
- Indiana (16-0)
- Miami (13-3)
- Texas A&M (11-2)
- Oklahoma (10-3)
- Ole Miss (13-2)
- Alabama (11-4)
- Texas Tech (12-2)
- LSU (7-6)
- Southern Cal (9-4)
- BYU (12-2)
- Michigan (9-4)
- Penn State (7-6)
- Tennessee (8-5)
- Washington (9-4)
- SMU (9-4)
- Utah (11-2)
- Iowa (9-4)
- Clemson (7-6)
- Houston (10-3)
- Missouri (8-5)
Dropped out from final 2025 poll: No. 15 Vanderbilt (10-3); No. 16 Virginia (11-3); No. 18 Tulane (11-3); No. 20 James Madison (12-2); No. 23 Navy (11-2); No. 24 Georgia Tech (9-4); No. 25 Illinois (9-4).
Others receiving: Louisville (9-4) 153; Florida (4-8) 147; TCU (9-4) 63; Illinois (9-4) 62; Arizona (9-4) 50; South Carolina (4-8) 50; Virginia (11-3) 40; Vanderbilt (10-3) 37; Auburn (5-7) 29; Georgia Tech (9-4) 26; Boise State (9-5) 24; Oklahoma State (1-11) 22; UNLV (10-4) 17; Florida State (5-7) 13; North Carolina State (8-5) 13; Nebraska (7-6) 12; Virginia Tech (3-9) 12; Memphis (8-5) 9; Arizona State (8-5) 8; Duke (9-5) 6; James Madison (12-2) 6; New Mexico (9-4) 4; Pittsburgh (8-5) 4; Navy (11-2) 3; Western Michigan (10-4) 3; San Diego State (9-4) 2; California (7-6) 1; Hawaii (9-4) 1; Jacksonville State (9-5) 1; Kansas State (6-6) 1.
List of voters: The US LBM Board of Coaches for the 2026 season: Tim Albin, Charlotte; Blake Anderson, Southern Mississippi; Dave Aranda, Baylor; David Braun, Northwestern; Jeff Brohm, Louisville; Fran Brown, Syracuse; Neal Brown, North Texas; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Jamey Chadwell, Liberty; Curt Cignetti, Indiana; Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech; Spencer Danielson, Boise State; Ryan Day, Ohio State; Kalen DeBoer, Alabama; Manny Diaz, Duke; Jake Dickert, Wake Forest; Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri; Sonny Dykes, TCU; Jason Eck, New Mexico; Mike Elko, Texas A&M; Tony Elliott, Virginia; Matt Entz, Fresno State; Jedd Fisch, Washington; James Franklin, Virginia Tech; Willie Fritz, Houston; Scott Frost, Central Florida; Tony Gibson, Marshall; Alex Golesh, Auburn; Will Hall, Tulane; Blake Harrell, East Carolina; John Hauser, Ohio; Clay Helton, Georgia Southern; Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky; Charles Huff, Memphis; Butch Jones, Arkansas State; KC Keeler, Temple; Charles Kelly, Jacksonville State; Brent Key, Georgia Tech; Zach Kittley, Florida Atlantic; Collin Klein, Kansas State; Tre Lamb, Tulsa; Rhett Lashlee, SMU; Clark Lea, Vanderbilt; Lance Leipold, Kansas; Pete Lembo, Buffalo; Sean Lewis, San Diego State; Dowell Loggains, Appalachian State; Joey McGuire, Texas Tech; Jeff Monken, Army; Kirby Moore, Washington State; Eric Morris, Oklahoma State; Dan Mullen, UNLV; Billy Napier, James Madison; Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh; Brian Newberry, Navy; Ken Niumatalolo, San Jose State; Barry Odom, Purdue; Tim Polasek, North Dakota State; Tavita Pritchard, Stanford; Ricky Rahne, Old Dominion; Matt Rhule, Nebraska; Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia; Morgan Scalley, Utah; JaMarcus Shephard, Oregon State; Kirby Smart, Georgia; Will Stein, Kentucky; Jon Sumrall, Florida; Lance Taylor, Western Michigan; Jeff Traylor, Texas-San Antonio; Scotty Walden, Texas-El Paso; Kyle Whittingham, Michigan; Casey Woods, Missouri State.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Where Tennessee football ranks in coaches poll to start 2026 season
