With the start of the 2026 college football season barely over a month away it's time for the preseason release of the AGS Top 25. Unsurprisingly the defending national champions Montana State open the season at #1 garnering 32 of 33 first place votes. They were followed by South Dakota State, who made a 12 spot rise from the final 2025 poll to come in at #2. Montana held their position at #3 and defending national runner-up Illinois State fell 2 spots from their final 2025 position down to #4. UC Davis cracked the top 5 in this inaugural release of 2026 climbing 3 spots to #5.

Other teams in the rise included North Dakota and Youngstown State - the MVFC league-mates rose 7 and 6 spots to #8 and #11, respectively. There was a quartet of teams who climbed into the top 25 after finishing outside of it in the final 2025 poll. Austin Peay climbed 11 spots to #20 and Western Carolina shot up 13 spots into a tie at #25 after finishing in the ORV section last year. Idaho State at #24 and William & Mary at #25T came from completely out of the final poll in 2025 to crack the top 25 in this preseason 2026 release.

Teams falling in the top 25 were led by Stephen F Austin who fell 5 spots to #12. South Dakota, Yale, and Abilene Christian each fell 3 spots to #13-#15, respectively. New Hampshire and South Carolina State fell into the ORV section in this preseason poll after finishing the 2025 season ranked in the top 25. North Dakota State, who moved to the FBS during the offseason, fell out of the 25 for the first time since week 8 of the 2010 season snapping their record streak of 216 straight appearances in the AGS Top 25. South Dakota State now holds the longest active streak of top 25 appearances at 173 (which started in week 11 of the 2013 season).

In terms of conference representation the MVFC led the way placing 6 teams into the top 25. They were followed by the Big Sky with 4. The Patriot League, SOCON, Southland, and UAC each had 3 teams and the CAA and Ivy League each put 2 teams into the top 25. Those were all of the 8 conferences represented in this top 25 release.

Full results below: