Miami is No. 7 in On3’s 2026 preseason top 25, matching its position in the coaches poll and receiving one of six first-place votes cast by the outlet’s staff.
On3 released the 11-writer poll Tuesday morning in a post from its official account. Jake Crain placed Miami first on his ballot. Texas received four first-place votes, Oregon received three and Georgia, Indiana and Notre Dame joined Miami with one apiece.
Ohio State still finished No. 1 without appearing first on any ballot. Its consistently high placement across the staff produced the most total support. Oregon ranked second, Georgia third, Texas fourth, Notre Dame fifth and Indiana sixth before Miami.
The structure matters because a first-place vote does not mean On3 selected the Hurricanes as its preseason favorite. It means one voter saw a complete enough roster to rank Miami above every other contender, while the full group reached a more cautious consensus at No. 7.
Patrick Previty of Canes Warning compared the On3 result with the coaches poll. Eight teams hold the same place on both lists, including Miami. No team shared by the two polls moved more than three positions, which makes No. 7 part of a broader preseason consensus rather than one outlet’s unusual judgment.
Miami also leads the ACC teams in the ranking. SMU is No. 19 and Louisville is No. 22, while Clemson and Virginia Tech received votes outside the top 25. The position makes the Hurricanes the league’s preseason standard, even though the conference race will be decided through schedules that do not give every contender the same opponents.
The ranking rewards a roster that returns proven playmakers and added Darian Mensah at quarterback. Toney gives the passing game an established centerpiece, Fletcher anchors the backfield and Bain leads a defense with high-end talent at every level. Those names make Miami easy to place in a contender tier before the opener.
Uncertainty remains beneath the star power. The Hurricanes are replacing important production, settling kicking and offensive line competitions and asking new combinations to work under game pressure. A No. 7 ranking assumes the answers will be good enough. Camp can improve the odds, but it cannot prove them.
On3’s complete preseason ranking included 37 teams that received at least one vote. The wide group shows how quickly the order can change once teams play. A ranked opponent can disappear after two losses, while an unranked team can become a résumé anchor by October.
Miami should treat the matching No. 7 placements as an expectation, not an achievement. The Hurricanes are being evaluated as the ACC favorite and a plausible playoff team. They also sit outside the first six in both polls, leaving room to earn the status that one On3 voter already assigned them.
The first-place vote is the eye-catching detail. The consensus is more useful. Two separate preseason groups see Miami in the same place: close enough to the top to contend, but still required to prove it belongs there. September results will replace every summer assumption soon enough.
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