This is the kind of poll result that makes you double-check the math. According to Pete Nakos, six schools received first-place votes in a preseason media poll, and Ohio State still came out on top at No. 1 overall despite not getting a single one of them.
Six schools received No. 1 votes. Ohio State took No. 1 overall despite not receiving any first-place votes. Texas (4) and Oregon (3) led the way with the most first-place votes. https://t.co/HSn27B900Y
Texas led the field with 4 first-place votes and Oregon wasn't far behind with 3, according to Nakos. Georgia, Indiana, Miami and Notre Dame each picked up 1. Add it up and that's 10 first-place votes spread across 6 different programs, with the presumptive No. 1 team getting exactly none of them.
Ohio State was our No. 1 w/out receiving a 1st place vote. First place votes: Texas 4, Oregon 3 & Georgia, Indiana, Miami & Notre Dame 1 each
Brett McMurphy confirmed the same breakdown from his own ballot pool, and the numbers are identical: Texas 4, Oregon 3, and single votes for Georgia, Indiana, Miami and Notre Dame. That's the definition of a wide-open preseason field — voters clearly aren't in lockstep on who the true top dog is, even if the composite rankings still shake out with Ohio State at the top.
It's worth remembering this isn't the official AP Top 25, which McMurphy has said won't drop until noon ET on August 17. What's floating around now is an early media straw poll, the kind of preview that gets people talking before the real ballots get cast. Still, the split says something real about how unsettled this preseason feels — nobody wants to commit to a true favorite yet, even as the composite numbers land on the defending frontrunner.
Ohio State topping a board with zero first-place votes is the sports equivalent of winning an election with no first-choice ballots — technically valid, weirdly unsatisfying. It sets up an interesting few weeks: does the eventual AP Poll mirror this fractured picture, or does one team start separating itself and consolidating those votes? Texas and Oregon fans, at least, have receipts to point to already.