Monday was a big day in the college football offseason, as the official AP preseason Top-25 poll was released. That means that the start of the new season is right around the corner.
Coming off a perfect 16-0 season that culminated in a historic National Championship, Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers were primed for a high ranking. Cignetti is 27-2 over his two seasons in Bloomington, and has re-stocked Indiana's roster for the upcoming season with plenty of elite talent. Entering the new campaign, the Hoosiers are among the favorites to win the National Championship again.
Indiana made history with its highest-ever ranking in the preseaon poll, but the Hoosiers still deserved better.
Indiana earns No. 6 ranking in initial AP poll
Indiana had never been ranked in the Top-10 of the AP preseason poll in program history. That has now changed, as the Hoosiers claimed the No. 6 spot in Monday's poll from the Associated Press.
Indiana trails No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 5 Texas. The Hoosiers come in just before No. 7 Miami (FL) and No. 8 Texas A&M, while Ole Miss and Oklahoma round out the Top-10.
BREAKING: Preseason College Football AP Poll🚨https://t.co/JL3USE6MnT pic.twitter.com/wImUOmUUg5
— On3 (@On3) August 17, 2026
While it's great to see Indiana make history and earn its first-ever Top-10 preseason ranking, not including the Hoosiers in the Top-5 is wild to see. It marks just the third time in the CFP era that the reigning national champs are ranked outside the preseason Top-5.
Indiana deserved to be ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason poll
What has Cignetti and Indiana done to warrant being ranked outside of the Top-5? How many times does he have to keep being doubted? Since taking over for the program with the most losses in college football history, all he's done is win. Just Google him.
Indiana's defensive front is the envy of college football––and for good reason
Sure the Hoosiers lost plenty of big-name talent to the NFL, but Cignetti re-vamped the IU roster with the top-ranked portal class in the country. The Hoosiers also boast several key returners on both sides of the ball, and on paper, have enough talent and experience to warrant being a No. 1-ranked team entering the 2026 campaign.
But this could just give Cignetti and company more fuel. Despite Indiana's overwhelming success with Cignetti at the helm, the Hoosiers still tend to be overlooked. After going 11-1 with a College Football Playoff appearance in his first season, Indiana was thought to be a flash in the pan. Not many people outside of Bloomington expected the success to last.
Heading into the 2025 season, Indiana was ranked No. 22 in the AP preseason poll. Even after picking up monster wins in the regular season, the Hoosiers contiuned to be overlooked. And now even after winning a National Championship and reloading for another deep CFP run this season, Indiana finds itself taking a backseat to five other teams in the AP preseason poll. What more does Cignetti have to do to earn a No. 1 ranking?
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