Boise State is the Group of Six team to beat, according to the Associated Press’ preseason college football poll, but will open the season against the No. 2-ranked team in the country.

The Broncos were unranked in the season’s initial Top 25 poll, released Monday, but were still the top vote getters among teams outside the power conferences, collecting 43 points. Expanding the rankings outside of the top 25 teams, that would put Boise State in 28th.

Boise State’s opening day opponent, Oregon, is the No. 2-ranked team in the country. The Ducks picked up 14 of the 69 first-place votes from media members across the country and were 75 points behind top-ranked Ohio State, which picked up 40 first-place votes. It marks the second time the top two teams in the preseason rankings have both come from the Big Ten.

Oregon has the look of a team that could be ready to break through and win its first national championship.

The Ducks have one of the most seasoned teams in the nation with quarterback Dante Moore among six starters back on offense. Defensive lineman A’Mauri Washington and edge Matayo Uiagalelei lead a defense that returns eight starters.

Each of the last two years the Ducks have had their season end in the College Football Playoff with a loss to a Big Ten opponent they were playing for the second time that season.

In 2024, Oregon won the Big Ten title with a 13-0 record in its first year in the conference and was the No. 1 CFP seed. The Ducks, who beat Ohio State 32-31 in the regular season, lost 41-21 to the Buckeyes in the playoff.

In 2025, Oregon’s only two losses were to Indiana — 30-20 in the regular season and 56-22 in a playoff semifinal.

“I think that speaks volumes about our league, especially when you’re talking about repeat games within our league,” Ducks coach Dan Lanning said. “We have some unbelievable coaches, great teams. There’s a lot of things we studied with ourselves in this offseason.

“Sometimes the ball has to bounce the right way. Sometimes you can do something schematically. We have studied other teams that have won games in their second opportunity. We’re looking for our opportunity to be a team like that.”

The Broncos and Ducks will square off on Sept. 5 in Eugene, Oregon.

No team besides Boise State from the newly rebuilt Pac-12 received votes, but the Broncos will face two other non-conference opponents in the first month of the season that were in the “receiving votes” category.

Memphis, which comes to Boise for the Broncos’ home opener on Sept. 12, picked up two votes. Western Michigan, the defending MAC champion which will host Boise State in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Sept. 26, picked up one vote.

Boise State’s fourth non-conference opponent, South Dakota, was ranked No. 3 in the American Football Coaches Association FCS Coaches Poll, which was also released Monday. The Coyotes, who will face Boise State on Sept. 19 at Albertsons Stadium, picked up one first-place vote in that poll with Montana State receiving the other 25.

Other Group of Six teams which received votes in the preseason AP poll were Navy (10 votes), former Mountain West foes UNLV and New Mexico (four votes each), James Madison (3), Liberty (1) and Tulane (1).

James Madison and Tulane both represented the then-Group of Five in last year’s College Football Playoff and Boise State represented it in 2024. This year, the top-ranked Group of Six team in the final College Football Playoff Poll will get the group’s lone automatic bid into the playoff field, regardless of whether they won their conference title or not.

After Ohio State and Oregon, Georgia, Notre Dame and Texas round out the top 5.

The Southeastern Conference gets bragging rights with nine ranked teams, but the Big Ten isn’t far behind with eight.

Based on the AP Top 25 preseason rankings, the CFP would open like this:

— No. 9 seed Mississippi at No. 8 Texas A&M. Winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State.

— No. 12 seed Boise State at No. 5 Texas. Winner vs. No. 4 Notre Dame.

— No. 10 seed Oklahoma at No. 7 seed Miami. Winner vs. No. 2 Oregon.

— No. 11 seed Texas Tech at No. 6 Indiana. Winner vs. No. 3 Georgia.