Historic Trend Says One of These Teams Will Win the College Football Playoff

The 2025 college football season is just weeks away, and on Monday, the preseason AP Top 25 Poll was unveiled.

All 12 teams that reached last season’s College Football Playoff cracked this year’s Top 25. The defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes landed at No. 3, while the runner-up Notre Dame Fighting Irish came in at No. 6.

While preseason rankings are often dismissed because voters haven’t seen a single snap of live action, there’s one historical stat that gives them real significance. According to On3’s Brett McMurphy, 19 of the past 21 national champions were ranked inside the preseason AP poll’s top seven.

As a result, these are the teams bettors should target to win the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship after Monday's reveal:

1. Texas Longhorns
2. Penn State Nittany Lions
3. Ohio State Buckeyes
4. Clemson Tigers
5. Georgia Bulldogs
6. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
7. Oregon Ducks

The only two seasons in the last 21 in which a team outside the preseason AP Poll’s top seven won the national championship were 2010, when the Auburn Tigers started at No. 22, and 2013, when the Florida State Seminoles started at No. 11.