Indiana football jumped to No. 5 and received eight No. 1 votes in the first Associated Press Top 25 Poll of the regular season, released Tuesday. The Hoosiers were ranked No. 6 in the preseason top 25.
The Hoosiers defeated the University of North Texas 52-16 in their season opener Sept. 5. Redshirt senior quarterback Josh Hoover threw for 231 yards and four touchdowns in his Indiana debut to headline the victory.
With its Week 1 dominance, Indiana improved one spot in the AP Poll. Four of the five teams slotted ahead of the Hoosiers in the preseason rankings remained in front. Meanwhile, Oregon dropped from No. 2 to No. 6 after narrowly avoiding an upset in its 34-27 victory over Boise State University over the weekend.
Indiana joins six other Big Ten programs in the updated poll.
Ohio State remained No. 1 on Tuesday following a 56-3 win against Ball State University over the weekend. USC also kept steady at No. 14 with two consecutive double-digit wins to open its 2026 season.
Penn State jumped two spots to No. 16 after routing Marshall University 45-0 in head coach Matt Campbell’s debut. Iowa also shut out its Week 1 opponent, earning a 40-0 victory over Northern Illinois University. With the victory, the Hawkeyes improved from No. 22 to No. 21 in the rankings.
Despite a win last Sunday, Washington dropped two slots to No. 19 in the newest poll. The Huskies struggled at times against Washington State University but notched a 24-10 victory.
Previously ranked No. 16, Michigan fell out of the rankings entirely Tuesday, but still received 69 Top 25 votes. The Wolverines notched an uninspiring 13-12 win over Western Michigan University after a controversial Hail Mary touchdown.
UCLA, Illinois and Minnesota also received Top 25 votes, but didn’t place in the ranking. Following Tuesday’s release, the Associated Press will release its rankings at 2 p.m. every Sunday through the end of the regular season.
Indiana will next face Howard University at noon Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington as it looks to improve to 2-0.
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Nathan Shriberg (@NShriberg and naashri@iu.edu) and columnist Elakai Anela (@elakai_anela and eanela@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
