College Football Rankings: Where All 138 FBS Teams Stand Ahead Of 2026 Kickoff

If you don’t like where your team is ranked, it’s gotta win. It’s that simple. It has never been more difficult to win a college football game than it is in 2026 — NIL- and portal-driven parity and the ever-spinning coaching carousel among the contributors — but that’s where title contenders and pretenders will separate themselves. This is my ultimate ranking of all 138 college football teams in the FBS ahead of the 2026 season. This ranking reflects both the reverence the sport (and I) have maintained for winning every game you play and winning against the rate of perceived exertion — aka strength of schedule — since we began pitting the “haves” against the “have-even-mores.” Yes, Texas has to play Ohio State before its SEC schedule. Yes, the argument that Indiana ain’t played nobody will hold up — but only until the Hoosiers face the Buckeyes on October 17. Yes, there will probably be one Group of Six school that nearly runs the table against opponents that might finish dead last if pitted against a schedule featuring any Power Four program. We don’t know what’s ahead, but my preseason ranking does what good academic historians do: use the past to best predict the future. After we begin playing games, facts on the ground change. As teams begin to play regularly within their weight classes following Week 3, we’ll have a stronger idea of which teams could be 2025 Penn State — I was spot-on last year about the Nittany Lions — and which could be 2025 Indiana after the Hoosiers had 100-to-1 odds to win the national title in the preseason, only to win it all. What’s represented here is where your team starts, not where it is predicted to finish. The scoreboard will decide that, and I will rank winners and losers accordingly. Here’s my ranking of all 138 FBS teams ahead of the 2026 season. 2025 Record: 0-12 The only winless team in FBS last season won’t be winless this year. Minutemen coach Joe Harasymiak added former Florida A&M QB RJ Johnson III to his quarterback room after Johnson threw for 2,597 yards with 18 touchdowns. Harasymiak’s roster is more than capable of climbing out of the FBS basement and winning a game or two. Hey, you gotta start somewhere. Win total odds: Over 2.5 (-166), Under 2.5 (+130)Odds to win MAC: +11000 (13th) 2025 Record: 4-8 Damn it, Wyoming! Can y’all just score? Please? Did you know that over the last 45 games when you score at least 21 points, y’all are 39-6? Need I remind you the offense scored just 24 points combined in the last four games of the 2025 season? Look, I’m all in on Jay Sawvel. That’s a ball coach if ever there was one and a worthy successor to Craig Bohl. But doggone it, I hope offensive coordinator Christian Taylor can find a way to get sophomore running back Samuel Harris (5.6 yards per carry) loose and into the end zone. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-140), Under 5.5 (+110)Odds to win Mountain West: +2000 (seventh) 2025 Record: 5-7 The Golden Flashes went 1-23 in the two years before Mark Carney became head coach, so going 5-7 in 2025 is akin to a minor miracle for them. With the return of quarterback Dru DeShields and receiver Da’Realyst Clark — who not only has a name that’s cool as hell but who also has two returned kickoffs for touchdowns on his stat sheet — I’m not adverse to the Kent State fans believing they have a team that can reach the postseason for the first time since 2021 (and have a winning record for the first time since 2019). Win total odds: Over 3.5 (-105), Under 3.5 (-125)Odds to win MAC: +4000 (10th) 2025 Record: 7-6 The Cougars might’ve landed one of the best-kept secrets in the 2026 transfer portal cycle in quarterback Caden Pinnick, who put up more than 3,600 total yards and 35 touchdowns last season at UC Davis — as a freshman. And that’s about as good as the news gets for Cougars fans who are going to watch Kirby Moore, their fourth head coach in six years, toe the sideline. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (-166), Under 4.5 (+130)Odds to win Pac-12: +800 (fifth) 2025 Record: 12-2 This season could feel like running through mud, quicksand and on ice for Mean Green fans after watching their starting quarterback and basically their 2025 team relocate to Stillwater, Oklahoma, following Mike Gundy successor Eric Morris. And no one knows that more than new coach Neal Brown (who was an assistant at Texas in 2025 after five seasons as head coach at West Virginia). However, he’s got a bona fide mercenary in edge rusher Udoka Ezeani, who will play college football at his fifth different stop this season but comes to Denton, Texas, after racking up 12.5 tackles for loss, five sacks and two forced fumbles for UTEP a year ago. Brown wasn’t great in Morgantown (37-35 at WVU) but he was great at Troy, where he won 31 of 39 games. I don’t believe it will be long before UNT returns to making noise in the American Conference. But it’s hard to see UNT putting together back-to-back 10-win seasons. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-130), Under 5.5 (+100)Odds to win American: +2400 (ninth) 2025 Record: 2-10 Do you like pain? Does it let you know you’re alive? Do you like digging into hard-packed dirt solely to find out there is no treasure? Then you might be a Texas-El Paso Miners fan. UTEP has had just two winning seasons in the past 20 years and hasn’t won 10 or more games since 1988. Coach Scotty Walden knows that better than most with a record (5-19) that looks a lot like getting fired everywhere else. Quarterback EJ Colson Jr. decided to join the gold-panning initiative in damn near Mexico after throwing for 2,142 yards at FCS Incarnate Word last season. For UTEP’s sake, I hope the Miners strike pay dirt with him. But the hiring of a fourth offensive coordinator in four years — Kyle Beyer this time — doesn’t exactly move my internal metal detector. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (+110), Under 3.5 (-140)Odds to win Mountain West: +8000 (10th) 2025 Record: 5-8 Scott Abell found out that the move from FCS Davidson to Rice was appropriately hard — but almost entirely because he misevaluated the quarterback position. This season with former UCF and Miami quarterback Jacurri Brown behind center, Abell might have the guy that can run his option offense effectively. And it is deadly effective when it’s run well: Abell’s 2024 Davidson averaged 300 yards rushing a game. If running back Quinton Jackson can make the leap after rushing for 810 yards on 180 rushes last season, the Owls might be the best bird of prey in the American Conference. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (-115), Under 3.5 (-115)Odds to win American: +20000 (12th) 2025 Record: 4-8 Stanford general manager Andrew Luck, a Jim Harbaugh guy and former No. 1 NFL draft pick, was empowered and tasked with hiring the man he believed was best equipped to return the Cardinal to contending for conference championships. Naturally, he hired a Jim Harbaugh guy AND an Andrew Luck guy in Tavita Pritchard. But most of all, Pritchard is a Stanford guy. Pritchard lost his starting job to Luck in 2009. After his eligibility was exhausted, he coached Stanford as an assistant coach from 2010 to 2022. He then coached quarterbacks for the Washington Commanders from 2023 to 2025 before Luck hired him to take over their alma mater. Pritchard was the quarterbacks coach when Jayden Daniels won 2024 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, but I don’t know how much credit Pritchard deserves for the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and the 2023 Heisman winner continuing to be great in Washington. However… if Pritchard can turn former Michigan passer Davis Warren into a bona fide playmaker and the Cardinals into a winner, coaching Daniels for a couple of years becomes the footnote and not the highlight of his coaching career. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (-125), Under 3.5 (-105)Odds to win Pac-12: +35000 (sixth) 2025 Record: 5-7 The Zips haven’t been good for some time. Yet, they persist. And because they do, I’m gonna point you to the stud in Akron coach Joe Moorhead’s backfield: Jordan Gant, who rushed for 1,032 at 4.8 yards per clip in 2025. Gant was Akron’s spark plug last season and practically carried the offense on his back. He was responsible for about a quarter of the Zips’ total yards in 2025, but without stronger contributions from his supporting cast, it’s unlikely one man can pull a team above .500 — especially when five of their seven losses last year were by at least two scores. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (-125), Under 4.5 (-105)Odds to win MAC: +2500 (ninth) 2025 Record: 6-7 Bronco Mendenhall brought in reinforcements. He reunited with offensive coordinator Robert Anae, who will call plays for quarterback McCae Hillstead in his return to the Aggies following a season with BYU. After going bowling last year — barely — the aim for the Aggies this season is to punch up toward the top of the Pac-12 and assert itself atop a college football landscape that has never been kinder to turnarounds. And in the revamped conference, this could be Utah State’s moment to pounce. Utah State’s win total odds: Over 4.5 (-136), Under 4.5 (+105)Utah State’s odds to win Pac-12: +1300 (sixth) 2025 Record: 4-8 This ain’t Diego Pavia’s New Mexico State. In fact, since Pavia departed and Aggies coach Tony Sanchez took over, the program has fallen to 7-17 in a Conference USA that is only getting stronger with the addition of Delaware and Missouri State. Perhaps offensive coordinator David Yost can strike gold with the addition of former Furman passer Trey Hedden, who threw for 2,967 yards last season and wideout Tyler “TK” King, who averaged 14.3 yards per catch on a bad Aggies team. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (-110), Under 4.5 (-120)Odds to win Conference USA: +2500 (seventh) 2025 Record: 2-10 JaMarcus Shephard signed up for one of the tougher jobs in the sport. Winning at Oregon State is difficult if only because it’s constantly compared to neighbors Washington and, of course, Oregon. Maalik Murphy’s return puts me at ease, but the emergence of receiver Xayvion Noland makes me feel great. There aren’t too many 5-foot-6 wideouts who began their careers as FCS walk-ons averaging 22.5 yards per catch, but Noland has a chance to show what he can do at the next level now. Brandin Cooks — a former Beaver now with the Buffalo Bills — should immediately come to mind when you watch Noland play. Brother got live at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) and popped out of the portal in Corvallis, Oregon. Combined with former Alabama wideout Aeryn Hampton and former Texas wideout Aaron Butler, I expect the Beavers offense to show an eagerness to air the ball out in 2026. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (-150), Under 3.5 (+120)Odds to win Pac-12: +2200 (seventh) 2025 Record: 3-9 When Jeff Choate took over in Reno, he joined the list of American football coaches who just want the hard jobs. And his 6-19 Nevada record shows that. It wasn’t easy to build a winner in this sport before the portal, and sure as hell ain’t been easy since that avenue was implemented. But creating a winner starts with retaining the players you know everybody wants and you developed. Choate has won with dynamo defensive end Dylan Labarbera. Labarbera was pure Dennis The Menace with 118 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks combined in the last two seasons. Offensively, longtime Deion Sanders acolyte Brett Bartolone will get his first chance to call an offensive beyond the outsized shadow of his former boss. But he’s got a tough job on his hands, too, with just his quarterback, Carter Jones, and three offensive linemen returning to the Wolf Pack. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (+120), Under 4.5 (-150)Odds to win Mountain West: +3000 (eighth) 2025 Record: 4-8 There’s a playmaker at quarterback in Tyler Mizzell, a transfer from Division II Concord. He threw for 2,889 yards and 28 touchdowns with five games of 300 passing yards or more. But it’s still going to be an uphill climb for Mike Uremovich’s Cardinals to compete for the postseason in his Year 2. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (-120), Under 3.5 (-110)Odds to win MAC: +6000 (12th) 2025 Record: 7-6 Head coach G.J. Kinne has a monster in the middle of his defense this season, and his name is Phillip Bradford. Big Phil tucks in at 6-foot-6 and 308 pounds, and whatever he gets his hands on tends to go down — hard. At McNeese State, he picked up 15.5 tackles and 5.5 sacks last season. Kinne is going to need Bradford to hold up his end in FBS this season, as the Bobcats play Pac-12 football for the first time. Offensively, Brad Jackson is back, and perhaps that’s the difference between another seven-win season and pushing for the CFP. He threw for 3,200 yards and rushed for 744 a year ago, even though the Bobcats blew a 21-0 lead against Troy and lost in double overtime to Marshall. He’ll need to at least do that again, or the Bobcats will find themselves clawing to be above .500 again. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (+120), Under 6.5 (-152)Odds to win Pac-12: +550 (third) 2025 Record: 4-8 First, the Owls got one of those Joyner Lucas ones in edge rusher Kenyon Garner, who notched 28 tackles for loss and 15 sacks at Division II Livingstone last year. And while Zach Kittley’s team finished 4-8 in his Year 1, he’s returning quarterback Caden Veltkamp, who threw for 3,641 yards, and 1,000-yard receiver Easton Messer. Messer is second only to Ohio State wideout Jeremiah Smith in career receiving yards (2,373 in 44 total games). There is room yet for the Owls to become a bowl-eligible team in 2026. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-160), Under 5.5 (+125)Odds to win American: +1700 (eighth) 2025 Record: 7-5 I realize that Ryan Coogler and Cam Skattebo featured at Sac State long before the Hornets even thought about making the leap to FBS — a feat they were so zealous to accomplish that this California program accepted an offer to join the MAC. But this ain’t the FCS, and Alonzo Carter’s men have much to prove in a year when they’ll be measured against the sad reality of conference realignment. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (-125), Under 4.5 (-105)Odds to win MAC: +5000 (11th) 2025 Record: 7-6 Fairly or unfairly, the Eagles will be about the Max Johnson Experience: a quarterback who started at LSU, Texas A&M and North Carolina before being sidelined with a brutal leg injury. Despite six years in college football, he’s only played more than eight games in a season once. However, this is his first time playing a step down in competition from the Power Four. And he’s paired with a head coach who has a knack for getting the most out of his quarterbacks in Clay Helton — the guy who put Sam Darnold to work at USC. So there’s a chance that Johnson’s final year of college football could lead to a happy ending. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (-166), Under 4.5 (+130)Odds to win Sun Belt: +2600 (10th) 2025 Record: 4-8 Michigan State, lord have mercy. Please get out of your own way. Listen to coach Tom Izzo. Remember who you stand for, what you stand for and hope like hell that foundation transfers to the football field. And it might. Cam Edwards rushed for 1,240 yards at UConn last year, and he is the fourth-leading returning rusher in the sport with 2,690 career rushing yards in 36 games. Now he’s a Spartan. Safety Devin Vaught had three interceptions for Maine last year. Now he’s a Spartan. Alessio Milivojevic threw 10 touchdowns against just three interceptions last year, and he remains a Spartan. There was a time when the Spartans were the most feared soldiers in the world because to be a citizen was to be a soldier. It’s past time Michigan State remembered its profession is a full-time battle against the enemy outside, not the enemy within. All of this needs to take place with new coach Pat Fitzgerald — a man who hasn’t coached a single game since 2023 after he was fired amid a hazing scandal at Northwestern, which was his last and only post as a head coach. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (+130), Under 4.5 (-156)Odds to win Big Ten: +50000 (15th) 2025 Record: 2-10 Can Purdue climb out of the Big Ten’s cellar? The Boilermakers have not beaten a Big Ten opponent since November 2023 — a 35-31 win against rival Indiana. Now with Indiana entering this season as the defending national champions — apparently some at Purdue needed reminding of that — Boilermakers coach Barry Odom needs to show results in the toughest league in the country. The good news is Purdue returns Ryan Browne, who threw for 300 yards or more twice last year, including 30-of-50 for 302 yards against top 25-ranked Illinois. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (+120), Under 3.5 (-140)Odds to win Big Ten: +100000 (18th) 2025 Record: 2-10 Head coach Phil Longo signed players like he’s had quite enough of this. After going 2-10 in his first season — following a 10-win year led by his predecessor, K.C. Keeler — Longo went hunting in the Power Four for players he hopes can bully Conference USA opponents. He brought in transfers from Wisconsin, Maryland, NC State, Boston College and Arizona. But even with those Power Four players, so much of the Bearkats’ success depends on quarterback Landyn Locke making a massive jump in development. He completed just 50 percent of his 141 pass attempts last season and threw as many touchdowns as interceptions (four). Win total odds: Over 3.5 (+125), Under 3.5 (-160)Odds to win Conference USA: +8000 (10th) 2025 Record: 1-11 Dell McGee’s Panthers have won just four games in two years. For a coach who came to the other Atlanta team with a reputation for recruiting as a running backs coach at Georgia, his Georgia State teams have not done much for me to believe he’s going to keep this job with another two-win season. However, hope for Panthers fans appeared in the form of quarterback Cameran Brown, who was behind center for four starts in the second half of the season that saw the 2025 team put up an average of 25 points in each game. But he’s just one of four returning starters. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (-166), Under 3.5 (+130)Odds to win Sun Belt: +15000 (14th) 2025 Record: 3-9 ULM is the poster program for what happens to a Group of Six team when it uncovers a gem. Ahmad Hardy put the “war” back in Warhawks when he rushed for a Sun Belt-best 1,351 yards and 13 touchdowns for a 5-7 ULM team in 2024. But then he transferred to Missouri, and ULM fans put their heads in their hands and cried aloud because they aren’t allowed to have nice things. Making matters worse in 2025, Bryant Vincent’s team lost eight consecutive games at one point and does not look like it can do much from the bottom of the conference. But maybe quarterback Aidan Armenta figures out how to become a playmaker in the passing game. However, a 21-to-18 touchdown-to-interception ratio over the past two seasons does not inspire hope. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (-115), Under 3.5 (-115)Odds to win Sun Belt: +10000 (13th) 2025 Record: 6-7 The Chanticleers went 11-1 in 2020, and they’ve been mediocre ever since. Yes, they went bowling last year, but it was clear Tim Beck wasn’t returning the program to the standard it set six years ago. In fact, the Chants watched James Madison come into their league and become the first Sun Belt program to make the CFP. And that made the roosters feel like the sun was going to rise whether they cocked and doodled or not. So they went to get a Bear. Former Missouri State coach Ryan Beard enters after taking the Bears from FCS in 2024 to bowling in the FBS in 2025. He’s bringing with him a whopping 41 transfers from Springfield, Missouri, including Deuce Bailey, who hasn’t played much ball but completed 16 of 31 passes for 278 yards with a touchdown in a 22-20 win against Middle Tennessee last year. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (-140), Under 4.5 (+110)Odds to win Sun Belt: +4500 (11th) 2025 Record: 4-8 The Jaguars have only been playing FBS ball for 15 years, and yet, they’ve made three bowl games in the last four seasons. This is in large part because South Alabama has become a brilliant talent incubator for Power Four programs, and I don’t just mean players. Quarterback Gio Lopez (Wake Forest), running back Fluff Bothwell (Mississippi State), cornerback Ladarius Webb (Wake Forest) and even former head coach Kane Wommack (Alabama defensive coordinator) are but a few of the players who outgrew the Jaguars. After a 4-8 Year 2, South Alabama coach Major Applewhite will just have to build most of his roster from scratch again like so many Group of Six programs. But at least he won’t have to do that at quarterback because Bishop Davenport returns. He threw for 2,073 yards and rushed for another 325 with 21 total touchdowns and just six interceptions. South Alabama’s win total odds: Over 5.5 (-130), Under 5.5 (+100)South Alabama’s odds to win Sun Belt: +1500 (eighth) 2025 Record: 9-4 Sean Lewis is an offensive guru, and I expected his teams to feature their fair share of attacking pieces that might have me standing up in an empty room asking, “Are you not entertained?” However, Lewis’ best player might just play defense — offensively. Linebacker Cameron Cooper notched 81 tackles, including 14 for a loss, five sacks and five pass breakups at Western Colorado last season. Assuming Jayden Denegal can take the leap in 2026 — perhaps double last season’s passing yardage (1,807) — San Diego State could become a real contender for the Pac-12 title. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+130), Under 7.5 (-170)Odds to win Pac-12: +400 (second) 2025 Record: 3-9 Derek Mason’s Blue Raiders aren’t good, and they haven’t been good since he took the job — 7-17 in two years. They put the money in the bag against FCS Austin Peay (a 34-14 loss!) and could not win a one-score game in the middle third of the season for love or money. The only player Mason added who I genuinely believe might make like a Michelin Star chef and cook is former Saginaw Valley State running back Terrence Brown, who averaged 10.5 yards per carry last season. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (-160), Under 3.5 (+125)Odds to win Conference USA: +5000 (ninth) 2025 Record: 8-5 Sonny Cumbie finally wrangled a winning season out of Tech last year — eight wins! — after four years of just losing football. The Bulldogs wasted no time capitalizing on their great season and paid Conference USA extra money just so they could leave for the Sun Belt early. Of course, the Bulldogs saw what winning the Sun Belt did for James Madison, and they are fielding a team that can chase a title out of the West Division with wideout Jay Wilkerson back (20.2 yards per catch when he was healthy in 2024) and the addition of former NAIA star Jaden Miller (Keiser University in West Palm Beach, Florida), who rushed for 1,127 yards in 2025. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-160), Under 5.5 (+125)Odds to win Sun Belt: +1100 (sixth) 2025 Record: 6-7 After riding high during the Billy Napier years, Louisiana coach Michael Desormeaux just needed to keep the train on the tracks. And he’s done just that. The program has gone bowling in each of the last four years, but after a third-straight 6-7 season, it’s worth asking if this is as good as Louisiana gets in the age of NIL and revenue sharing. Desormeaux did not look to the transfer portal to acquire more talent, so much as he chose to hold on to what he’s got. The strategy here is simple: Continuity can lead to success and perhaps just the second 10-win in the Desormeaux era. To do that, he’s got to hit on D’Wanye’ “Lunch” Winfield, who threw for 1,555 yards and rushed for 667 yards but completed just 59% of his passes. He could be a mid-major engine for the Ragin’ Cajuns like what Alonza Barnett was for James Madison a year ago. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+105), Under 7.5 (-136)Odds to win Sun Belt: +700 (third) 2025 Record: 7-6 The Red Wolves have a chance to showcase one of the most overlooked quarterback transfers in the 2026 cycle in former Texas passer Trey Owens, who stands taller than Arch Manning at 6-foot-5 and is pushing 230 pounds. Red Wolves coach Butch Jones is trying to compliment his offense with a defense that is, like most of the Sun Belt, made of former FCS stars — like former Maine defensive tackle Elias Sherman who, at 290 pounds, notched 10 tackles for loss in 2025. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (+110), Under 6.5 (-140)Odds to win Sun Belt: +1150 (seventh) 2025 Record: 5-7 The Thundering Herd are the only team (not named James Madison or Indiana) to beat Old Dominion in 2025. But that was as good as it got for Tony Gibson’s crew. The hope this year, though, is that quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson makes the leap and can carry Marshall through the first quarter of the season until this team begins to gel. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+105), Under 7.5 (-136)Odds to win Sun Belt: +850 (fifth) 2025 Record: 8-6 Gerad Parker’s Trojans didn’t look like much to start 2025. Then an injury to starting quarterback Goose Crowder opened the door for Tucker Kilcrease to get back on track, and Troy did exactly that. After winning five in a row in the middle of the season, the Trojans featured in the Sun Belt Conference title game, with a respectable 8-6 record. But Troy isn’t looking for respectable. It’s looking for the College Football Playoff, especially after Jon Sumrall proved it can be great — he was 23-5 from 2022-2023 — and the Dukes became the first “Hustle Belt” team to make the CFP after playing FCS ball just five years ago. The hire of former Tarleton State offensive coordinator Adam Austin ought to act like a match to an offense that has the kindling to ignite. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (-150), Under 6.5 (+120)Odds to win Sun Belt: +800 (fourth) 2025 Record: 10-3 Ricky Rahne had earned a reputation for eking out mediocre seasons with the Monarchs’ program. But I was not sure Old Dominion’s administration wanted to do more than be a decent Sun Belt team until Rahne put together a 10-3 season with two of those three losses coming against a College Football Playoff team and conference champ (James Madison) and the national champ (Indiana). His talisman, quarterback Colton Joseph, transferred to Wisconsin, though. The Monarchs have to hit with either Quinn Henicle or former Washington State quarterback Jaxon Potter. Defensively, cornerback Zion Frink has enough juice to play at a Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year level. He returned after posting 60 tackles, six pass breakups, a forced fumble and an interception in 2025. I’ll be shocked if this team can run it back and win 10 games ago. But it won’t be the first time I’ve been struck by lightning. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-120), Under 7.5 (-110)Odds to win Sun Belt: +460 (second) 2025 Record: 7-6 After Charles Huff packed up his 2025 Golden Eagles and took them to Memphis through the portal, there was a need everywhere. One is filled in spectacular fashion: At Wingate last year, wideout Jaylen Himes caught 66 balls for 1,174 yards and 11 touchdowns at 5-foot-8, 180 pounds. However, Blake Anderson takes over a program that returns just one offensive player who started at least twice and one defensive player who got 40 snaps or more from last year’s team. What I’m saying is my mother, a USM alumna, is right to be mad that she doesn’t know anybody on her team because, well, 2026 Golden Eagles teammates didn’t know each other either until they came out of the portal in Hattiesburg. Among the new starters should be former Ole Miss defensive tackle Jeffery Rush and Texas A&M safety Jordan Pride. Perhaps a bit of the SEC in Forrest County can keep USM bowl-eligible for another year. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (-130), Under 3.5 (+100)Odds to win Sun Belt: +6000 (12th) 2025 Record: 5-8 Only one team — Memphis — has won more games during the CFP era (107) without making the College Football Playoff than the Mountaineers (105). The program that first brought former Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar to FBS is looking to former UCLA passer Henry Hasselbeck or former Purdue starter Malachi Singleton to return it to winning ways after back-to-back losing seasons. Hasselbeck is the son of former NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who played for App State coach Dowell Loggains in 2011-2012 when Loggains was passing game coordinator for the Tennessee Titans. Division II star Kevin Henderson is a natural WILL linebacker — fast enough to cover slot receivers in space and an absolute hammer in run defense. He created 15.5 tackles for loss and seven pass breakups at Findlay in 2025. If he was 6-foot-2 and not 5-foot-10, I think he’d be a Day 2 NFL Draft pick right now. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (-166), Under 8.5 (+130)Odds to win Sun Belt: +1800 (ninth) 2025 Record: 12-2 Billy Napier made the move from the SEC to the Little SEC, and he got to work in the portal. On defense, 291-pound defensive lineman Kevin Roberts notched 18 tackles for loss at Division II West Florida last year before joining the Dukes. Offensively, Napier brought in Drake star Nick Herman, who rushed for 1,032 yards at just more than seven yards per carry in the Pioneer League. It’s the kind of move that is indicative of Napier’s previous stint in the Sun Belt, where he put together a 34-5 record from 2019-2021 as head coach at Louisiana. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (-130), Under 8.5 (+100)Odds to win Sun Belt: +270 (first) 2025 Record: 1-11 Well, 1-11 is a far cry from what Tim Albin did at Ohio. In fact, after three consecutive 10-win seasons as head Bobcat in charge, his 2025 record looks more like a quiet whimper, engulfed in space’s black hole, where matter collapses into itself, measuring oblivion. And Charlotte’s 1-11 record is even worse than you think: The 49ers lost to every single FBS opponent they played by double-digits and only beat FCS Monmouth by a single score. Only 11 of the 43 players Albin brought to Charlotte last season remain. Hope for Charlotte might have to come in the form of a yellow S, blue spandex and a red cape. Superman could save the 49ers, but I don’t see him listed on their roster. Win total odds: Over 2.5 (+120), Under 2.5 (-150)Odds to win American: +40000 (14th) 2025 Record: 4-8 The Trent Dilfer experience yielded 11 wins in three years and was so bad in the first half of last season that UAB fired him in favor of offensive coordinator Alex Mortensen. Following his promotion, Mortensen led the Blazers to an upset of No. 22 Memphis and showed enough prowess over the rest of the season to keep the head job into 2026. Now comes the hard part: winning more games than the Blazers typically lose. That means sophomore quarterback Ryder Burton is going to have to play the best football of his collegiate life. His performance in a loss to UConn — 21-for-30 with 209 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions — is reason enough to believe there might actually be some fire breathing from Birmingham’s dragons. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (-125), Under 3.5 (-105)Odds to win American: +30000 (13th) 2025 Record: 4-8 This ain’t the NFL, Bill. You can’t put out a 4-8 team and get a first-round draft pick for being sorry. And that is exactly what UNC was in 2025 — sorry. So sorry, in fact, that I would not blame Mack Brown for standing over that 4-8 record with a broken spear in hand, pointing at UNC’s board of regents and asking with the same presence and tone as Erik Killmonger in “Black Panther,” “Is this your king?” But if you’re a UNC fan who believes Belichick will eventually result to UNC becoming king of the ACC instead of Page Six, then you must believe in the offensive genius of new Tar Heels offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino. At quarterback, Petrino’s going to have Billy Edwards, who I’d argue is a far cry from coaching Lamar Jackson at Louisville but could be good enough to turn the Tar Heels into a team we can begin to take seriously in the ACC. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (-130), Under 4.5 (+110)Odds to win ACC: +15000 (15th) 2025 Record: 9-4 The best damn acquisition Jason Candle made when he became the new head coach at UConn isn’t any one of the 56 transfers he signed, including 19 from his previous stop at Toledo. It was general manager Zach Potter. Potter is the best general manager in the sport you’ve never heard of, and he’s been preparing to do this job since he was a teenager. He helped build a dynasty in the USFL and isn’t yet 30. If I became a head coach at the Power Four level, Potter is the first man I’d ask to join my staff. He not only would go get exactly the kind of players I’d need to run my veer and shoot, but he’d do it on my budget. Defensively, the stud on the Huskies’ roster is linebacker K’Von Sherman, who picked up 17 tackles for loss last season as a Rocket. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (+105), Under 5.5 (-136)(UConn is independent and does not have conference odds.) 2025 Record: 5-7 Owls coach K.C. Keeler has won everywhere he’s gone, but it might take a bit in Philadelphia. It wasn’t because the Owls were good to start (5-3 in their first eight games) but because they couldn’t finish (0-4 in their final four games of the season). Keeler has to find out fast which of the two transfer quarterbacks — Ajani Sheppard from Washington State and Jaxon Smolik from Penn State — can help him. If his starting quarterback is good, I don’t see a reason why a coach who has been on the sideline for nine national title games in two different divisions can’t turn Temple into a winner. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-110), Under 5.5 (-120)Odds to win American: +3100 (10th) 2025 Record: 4-8 The Golden Hurricane beat Oklahoma State for the first time since 1998, and that led to first-year coach Tre Lamb providing the nail in the coffin last season to Mike Gundy’s 20-plus-year reign as head coach in Stillwater, Oklahoma. This season, Lamb returns a decent passer in sophomore Baylor Hayes (2,158 yards, 12 touchdowns, six interceptions) and five offensive linemen who started in 2025. But the defense has got to be worth the NIL money it’s getting paid in 2026. Tulsa allowed 30 points or more in seven games last season. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-125), Under 5.5 (-105)Odds to win American: +3200 (11th) 2025 Record: 11-3 The Green Wave have gone 43-13 across the past four years with a College Football Playoff appearance last season. But that record was built by former head coaches Willie Fritz (Houston) and Jon Sumrall (Florida). Asking Tulane coach Will Hall to be as good as either of those men is tough, but that has become the standard in New Orleans. Hall’s previous stop as a head coach at Southern Miss left him with an 11-26 record. However, the Green Wave’s bet on him is that he learned from his former boss, Sumrall, what it takes to win at a high level last season. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+120), Under 7.5 (-150)Odds to win American: +680 (fifth) 2025 Record: 9-4 Brian Hartline — the best damn recruiter at Ohio State over the last decade — finally became a head coach, and he built a talented roster befitting his recruiting prowess. South Florida features 24 Power Four transfers, including former Mississippi State starter and LSU quarterback Michael Van Buren. But my favorite of his acquisitions is 330-pound defensive tackle Major Dillard, who picked up a whopping 70 tackles for Michael Vick’s Norfolk State last season. I’m looking forward to finding out how good running back D.J. Crowther can be after making the move from the Ivy League. At Dartmouth, he averaged 93 rushing yards per game and had 929 yards on the ground in a 10-game season in 2025. I’ve no doubt that Hartline put together a talented roster, good enough to contend in the American Conference, even following a 9-4 season by his predecessor, Alex Golesh. What remains to be seen is how good Hartline is as the CEO of a mid-major program with a thirst to be great in the recruiting-rich footprint of South Florida. It’s also intriguing that this is also the place where former Coastal Carolina coach Tim Beck picked as his landing spot for an offensive coordinator gig. Hartline, at 39, is attempting to join Lincoln Riley, Marcus Freeman and Dan Lanning as men who hit the ground running in their 30s, creating 10-win programs. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (+115), Under 8.5 (-146)Odds to win American: +800 (sixth) 2025 Record: 7-6 Let me stop you right here: Jerry Mack left HBCU North Carolina Central and won Conference USA in Year 1 with Kennesaw State. FIU coach Willie Simmons took his first head coach job since leaving HBCU Florida A&M and turned in a 7-6 season. Respect will be paid to the MEAC and SWAC for their legacy of coaching talent here para siempre, hombre. But the job ain’t getting easier. Simmons will begin the season with 17 new starters. However, one of them is cornerback Ryan Gadson, who plays the boundary like a box safety with a wiggle. At Lafayette last season, he notched 53 tackles, 16 pass breakups and three interceptions. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (+120), Under 6.5 (-150)Odds to win Conference USA: +800 (fifth) 2025 Record: 9-4 Before Pirates coach Blake Harrell was in charge, ECU went 5-14 in its previous 19 games. Since he took over, the Pirates are 14-5. However, they have to start from scratch in 2026 with just one starter returning on offense and eight on defense. A lot of Harrell’s success with ECU this season depends on his starter at quarterback. It’s either Mitch Griffis — who combined for 2,300-plus yards and 17 touchdowns at Wake Forest and Texas Tech — or it’s going to be former Miami quarterback Emory Williams, who has enough talent to lead the Pirates to American title contention. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+125), Under 7.5 (-150)Odds to win American: +580 (third) 2025 Record: 7-6 The Roadrunners only started playing football 14 years ago, and yet, they have not seen a season below .500 since 2019. That has everything to do with UTSA coach Jeff Traylor, who has seen assistants like Will Stein coordinate a Big Ten title-winning offense, and studs like running back Sincere McCormick march straight into the American Conference looking competitive. Now with quarterback Owen McNown, running back Will Henderson III, three starters on the offensive line and two of the three most productive receivers back in San Antonio, UTSA has enough to push for the American title and a College Football Playoff appearance. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-125), Under 7.5 (-105)Odds to win American: +500 (second) 2025 Record: 3-9 The Huskies got a cheat code over at cornerback, and his name is Yassine Falke. Somehow — despite all the complaining about the transfer portal and the burden it places on discovering, evaluating and then acquiring talent — NIU pulled Falke, who stands at 6-foot-3, broke up 14 passes and picked off five passes at NAIA Marian (Indiana) last year. Interim head coach Rob Harley knows how to put together a defense. He’s the defensive coordinator who held Notre Dame to 14 points in NIU’s 16-14 win in South Bend, Indiana, in 2024. That’s a game the Huskies received $1.4 million to play. (Harley made $260,000 that year.) Now, he has to fix an offense that scored just 17 points and put up just 285 yards on average last season as NIU heads to the Mountain West. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (-105), Under 3.5 (-125)Odds to win Mountain West: +6000 (ninth) 2025 Record: 3-9 I’m willing to bet Fran Brown’s Syracuse is a better team in 2026 than it was in 2025 — provided quarterback Steve Angeli stays on the field. When Angeli was the starter, Syracuse looked like a team that could be a problem for anyone on its schedule. Without him, the Orange looked especially depressingly blue. You could see the hues change on the scoreboard. Brown’s best addition, though, is defensive coordinator Vince Kehres, who put together a 95-6 record as head coach at Division III Mount Union from 2013 to 2019 and last coached at Toledo from 2020 to 2025. Now, with his first chance to coach in the Power Four, I expect the Orange’s defense to be a delightful watch in 2026. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (-105), Under 4.5 (-115)Odds to win ACC: +15000 (14th) 2025 Record: 2-10 It’s been tough to be an Arkansas football fan. Since 2019, the Razorbacks have won nine games in a season just once and were capped at two-win seasons three times. That’s just one more reason former Razorback coach Sam Pittman had to go, and former Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield was brought in. Selecting the right quarterback will help, whether that’s former Memphis redshirt freshman AJ Hill or sophomore KJ Jackson. But whoever it is, needs to major in handing former Memphis running back Sutton Smith the ball. He averaged nearly six yards per touch from scrimmage and is the most explosive player on the Razorbacks’ roster with six touchdowns of 21 yards or more. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (-130), Under 1.5 (+110)Odds to win SEC: +20000 (15th) 2025 Record: 7-6 Scott Satterfield looks like he’s starting former Georgia Southern passer JC French IV, who has thrown for nearly 5,900 career yards and made starts at the FBS level (unlike Penn transfer Liam O’Brien). But both are decent options for a program that finished 7-6 and watched its two-year starter, Brendan Sorsby, elect to enter the portal last year. But the roster is littered with former Group of Six players. That’s fine… if Satterfield evaluated well. If he didn’t, seven wins might be hard to come by for the Bearcats. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (+125), Under 5.5 (-150)Odds to win Big 12: +10000 (15th) 2025 Record: 6-6 Look, I know there’s someone here who expected to hear more about new head coach (and former Kansas State star) Collin Klein and the most pivotal year of the Avery Johnson era at quarterback, but that’s easy. You’re here so you learn something. So turn your attention to redshirt sophomore defensive end Wendell Gregory, who was the best defender in the Big 12 most ain’t seen or heard about. That’s because he picked up 15.5 tackles for loss and four sacks at Oklahoma State in 2025, which was the worst Cowboys team I’ve ever seen. Mark down Gregory for greatness. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (+115), Under 8.5 (-136)Odds to win Big 12: +1500 (fourth) 2025 Record: 8-4 New Iowa State coach Jimmy Rogers surprised me with the shrewd acquisition of former Tulane receiver Omari Hayes, along with U-Hauling Washington State’s roster to Ames, Iowa. Hayes averaged 13.2 yards per catch in 2025 on a Green Wave team that made the CFP and won an extremely competitive American Conference last year. Six of the 12 former Washington State players Rogers and former Wazzu defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit brought with them are defensive linemen alone. My eyes will be on former Arkansas State starting quarterback Jaylen Raynor to open the season, though. He threw for 8,694 yards and rushed for 1,707 over his career in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in 37 games. That makes Raynor the fourth-leading returning passer in the sport this season. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-160), Under 5.5 (+134)Odds to win Big 12: +11000 (16th) 2025 Record: 2-10 Jim Mora loves a tough gig. That’s what he had at UConn before turning the Huskies into the second-best independent in the sport with back-to-back nine-win seasons. However, Rams fans probably won’t like being reminded it took two years for Mora to get the Huskies to hunt. Given that he’s taking over a program that finished 2-10 in 2025 and had to rebuild the roster from scratch, I would be happily astonished if Colorado State proved to be a problem in the Pac-12. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (-140), Under 3.5 (+110)Odds to win Pac-12: +3000 (eighth) 2025 Record: 4-8 Former Jacksonville State running back Cam Cook is going to give Boston College running back Evan Dickens a guard-tackle, pull-power run for his money: Who will emerge as the best running back to make the jump from Group of Six to Power Four in 2026? After Cook ran for 1,659 yards and 16 total touchdowns last year, he might end up with that crown. If WVU coach Rich Rodriguez can get Cook to, ahem, cook in the Big 12, the Mountaineers might return to the hell-raising, musket-waving terror they were when Steve Slaton and Noel Devine were running wild through coal country. At quarterback, I expect it will be The Scotty Fox Jr. Show, but former Oklahoma passer Michael Hawkins was brought in just in case the show needs to be canceled early. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-160), Under 5.5 (+134)Odds to win Big 12: +5000 (12th) 2025 Record: 4-8 In 51 years as an FBS program, EMU has had seven-win seasons just seven times, and Eagles coach Chris Creighton has engineered four of them. Though they finished 4-8 last year, five starters on that team return, including quarterback Noah Kim. He threw for 2,817 yards with 18 touchdowns last season, and returning wideout Nick Devereux hauled in 510 of those passing yards. Eastern Michigan gave 25 players starts last year and 17 of those starters are back. Eastern loves a close game — loves. In its last 109 games, a whopping 72.5 percent (79 games) of them have been wins or losses by one possession. It’s a team, a program, that keeps itself in it to win it. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-166), Under 5.5 (+130)Odds to win MAC: +1100 (sixth) 2025 Record: 4-8 Yeah, OK, sure, former Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George’s Falcons finished 4-8 in Year 1. But they also beat Toledo, defeated Liberty, stomped a mudhole in UMass, walked it dry — and lost three games by a single score. The canny acquisition of former Oregon quarterback Austin Novosad out of the portal and the power of Grayskull held by Pudge the Cat is enough for me to believe George’s Falcons have a real chance to become Masters of the (MAC) Universe. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (-160), Under 4.5 (+125)Odds to win MAC: +1600 (seventh) 2025 Record: 7-6 After a 7-6 Year 1, Central Michigan coach Matt Drinkall can think about making the leap in Year 2 with seven offensive linemen back who have made starts for him. The future feels bright for the MAC team with Drinkall in charge. Last year, he became the first CMU coach to win his debut road game since Bill Kelly in 1951. The toughest teams on the squad’s schedule this season are New Mexico for the season opener and CFP runners-up Miami in late September. Defensively, I love that Drinkall went to the NAIA to snag edge rusher Hunter Zirkle, who picked up 16 tackles for loss, 10 sacks and forced five fumbles at Cumberland last season. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (+110), Under 6.5 (-140)Odds to win MAC: +750 (fifth) 2025 Record: 5-7 Pete Lembo brought in former Wingate quarterback Elijah Holmes, who threw for 3,040 yards with 24 touchdowns at the Division II level last season. He’s also got two new coordinators to break in. With just six starters returning, Lembo has had to do a lot of work in evaluating players in the portal to try to bring his program back to the nine-win team it was in 2024 in his third year on the job. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-140), Under 5.5 (+110)Odds to win MAC: +1700 (eighth) 2025 Record: 5-7 Dave Aranda stepped his portal game up in 2026, and I’m not talking about acquiring former Florida quarterback DJ Lagway. I’m pointing you to 2025 national champion defensive tackle Hosea Wheeler, who transferred from Indiana. Look, show me a nose tackle with 30 tackles on a 16-0 team, and I’m gonna show you the foundation for winning. Aranda has one for his defense now. Offensively, DJ Lagway figures to start Week 1, but how he meshes with former Colorado wideout Dre’lon Miller and former Oklahoma State wideout Gavin Freeman will tell us a lot about how good he’s become as a passer — or not. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-166), Under 5.5 (+134)Odds to win Big 12: +4500 (11th) 2025 Record: 10-4 Edge rusher KJ Burley (Keiser University) was just an unmitigated nightmare against NAIA completion last year with 55 tackles, 15 for loss and 5.5 sacks. He is a welcome addition to a Broncos defensive front that was decimated by the portal and graduation. This year is about running back Jalen Buckley, who averaged 8.5 yards per carry over his last four games in 2025. When he averaged just five yards per carry in a game, the Broncos scored 33 points on average. Buckley is the best returning Group of Six tailback in the sport with 2,716 rushing yards over 38 games in his career. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+125), Under 7.5 (-160)Odds to win MAC: +360 (first) 2025 Record: 9-4 The Bobcats were cooking with gas over a two-ton stove on the hottest day of July before former head coach Brian Smith was fired for misconduct. Ohio won 40 games in four years, including the end of Charlotte coach Tim Albin’s tenure as head ball coach in Athens, Ohio. Now John Hauser returns to the Bobcats where he has to keep the standard. After four years at Miami (Ohio) and the last two as the defensive coordinator, I think he’s up for the challenge. Joining the Bobcats is former Holy Cross stud defensive back Eli Thompson, who last season posted 85 total tackles (33 solo and 5.5 for loss), picked off four passes and added a sack. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (-130), Under 6.5 (+100)Odds to win MAC: +650 (fourth) 2025 Record: 8-5 Former Mercer coach Mike Jacobs inherited one of the MAC’s best programs, and his transfer portal acquisitions reflect the Rockets’ desire to get to their third conference title game in five years. The addition of former Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year Andrew Zock — the jewel among the 21 small-school superstars Jacobs brought with him — gives the Rockets some zap off the edge. Zock accumulated 20 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks in 2025. In Jacobs, a former Ohio State offensive lineman, Toledo might’ve hired another Google Me Guy-lite because he just wins — 33-8 over the last three years at Mercer and Lenoir-Rhyne. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-130), Under 7.5 (+100)Odds to win MAC: +400 (third) 2025 Record: 7-7 RedHawks coach Chuck Martin added a stud-muffin in former Monmouth running back Rodney Nelson, who blew through the FCS with 1,802 rushing yards, 18 touchdowns and three games with 200 or more rushing yards. Acquisitions like Nelson are one reason I believe Martin is an 11-win season away from coaching Power Four ball. He was just 5-19 after Year 2 (2015) in Miami, Ohio. But since 2023, he has put together a 27-15 record and turned Miami into the kind of place where Alabama goes to get a kicker. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+105), Under 7.5 (-136)Odds to win MAC: +360 (second) 2025 Record: 5-7 Scott Frost finally got an absolute dude to come play for him at UCF for the first time since quarterback McKenzie Milton tore through the FBS to an undefeated season and share of the 2017 national title — fight me! — and his name is Alonza Barnett III. Barnett, who transferred to UCF from James Madison, became the first quarterback to lead a Sun Belt team to the College Football Playoff in 2025 because he was, what I call, an unanswered player. That’s a player for which the opposing unit, offense or defense, doesn’t have an answer. He could cut you up in the air (2,806 passing yards) or on the ground (589 rushing yards), and he is gonna score (38 total touchdowns last year). Yes, he was an unanswered player in the Sun Belt. But this is the Big 12, and UCF has been looking too much like 2015 UCF (0-12 that year) since making the move to Power Four football. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-140), Under 5.5 (+120)Odds to win Big 12: +6200 (13th) 2025 Record: 5-7 This ain’t the Mike Norvell Florida State you once knew. Following back-to-back losing seasons, with a combined record of 7-17, to say patience is wearing thin among fans would be like calling Ivan Drago’s right hand across Apollo Creed’s jaw a gentle touch. Now, more than any year in his coaching career, Norvell needs to bring FSU aaalll the way back or there might not be a buyout amount high enough to stave off his firing. Quarterback Ashton Daniels won the job during the spring after an explosive second half to his 2025 season. Daniels enters with 23 starts in 37 games but is learning a third different system after stops at Stanford and Auburn. How quickly he adapts to leading this team could be the difference between FSU returning to the kind of form it enjoyed in 2023 or Norvell exiting the program. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (+144), Under 6.5 (-175)Odds to win ACC: +4200 (11th) 2025 Record: 7-6 After leading the Bears to a 7-6 season, Ryan Beard left for Coastal Carolina and took a bunch of Missouri State players with him. Now it’s up to former SMU offensive coordinator Casey Woods to try to take the Bears bowling again. If he can turn former Duke quarterback Henry Belin IV into a Group of Six star, the Bears might very well find themselves playing for a championship. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (+130), Under 4.5 (-170)Odds to win Conference USA: +2800 (eighth) 2025 Record: 5-7 Back-to-back 5-7 seasons wiped the good taste of a 2023 9-4 run from Jayhawk fans’ mouths. Getting associate head coach Andy Kotelnicki back to Lawrence, Kansas, after an up-and-down stretch at Penn State should help. Adding Dylan Edwards from Kansas State to the running game and return game will absolutely help. Nailing the quarterback competition between Cole Ballard, Isaiah Marshall and former Rice passer Chase Jenkins is most dire. Bungling Jalon Daniels’ successor might mean the Jayhawks miss out on bowling for a third straight year. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-156), Under 5.5 (+128)Odds to win Big 12: +4500 (10th) 2025 Record: 7-6 Nick Minicucci is the best Conference USA quarterback, and if he improves on his 2025 output of 3,683 passing yards and 23 touchdowns, that’s enough for me to believe the Blue Hens can be a 10-win team. Not only did Delaware coach Ryan Carty’s program go bowling in their first season of FBS play, but they also finished 7-6 after going 58-53 in the previous 10 years in FCS competition. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (+130), Under 6.5 (-166)Odds to win Conference USA: +700 (fourth) 2025 Record: 9-5 Charles Kelly became the head ball coach in charge at Jax State last year and kept the trains running on time. Reaching the Conference USA title game and finishing 9-5 in 2025 means the expectation this season is for the Gamecocks to win their conference. And they’ve got a shot with quarterback Caden Creel returning. He managed to pass for 1,500 yards and rush for 1,100 yards while occasionally throwing deep to 6-foot-8 receiver Deondre Johnson, who averaged 24.4 yards per catch. With 2025 offensive coordinator Clint Trickett off to the Big Ten to call plays for Maryland, new offensive coordinator Taylor Housewright just has to do what his boss did: Make sure the trains keep rolling. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+105), Under 7.5 (-136)Odds to win Conference USA: +450 (third) 2025 Record: 4-8 I’m willing to wave off 2025 for the Flames because Liberty coach Jamey Chadwell wasn’t on the sideline. That program had won eight games or more since 2018 until last year’s downer. After seeking help for what the Liberty called “a serious but treatable medical condition,” he returned to a team that went 21-5 over 2023 and 2024. In his return, he picked up former Army and Arizona State running back Kanye Udoh. If quarterback Ethan Vasko can keep his starting job, I don’t see why the Flames can’t be a league title contender in 2026. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (+110), Under 8.5 (-140)Odds to win Conference USA: +270 (first) 2025 Record: 9-4 The Hilltoppers have won eight games or more in each of the past five years, and after last year’s 9-5 record, it’s time the Hilltoppers crest that mountain and smash downhill toward their first conference title in a decade. However, coach Tyson Helton needing to employ a sixth offensive coordinator in seven years doesn’t do much to buoy belief that this is Western Kentucky year. That means Rodney Tisdale Jr. and former Florida State quarterback Brock Glenn each have a chance to impress offensive coordinator Bodie Reeder. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+125), Under 7.5 (-160)Odds to win Conference USA: +290 (second) 2025 Record: 7-6 Jeff Monken’s Black Knights could’ve just easily been 11-2 as 7-6 if they could win all of their one-score games instead of going 4-5 in them. Finding ways to score more points isn’t really what Monken’s flexbone offense is going to ever be about, but with an experienced quarterback in Callum Hellums returning, perhaps experience can help find Army a few more wins in 2026. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-140), Under 7.5 (+110)Odds to win American: +850 (seventh) 2025 Record: 10-4 In a stacked Conference USA with seven teams above .500 and three winning nine or more games, the Owls flipped their 2024 10-loss season into a 10-win one in 2025. In hindsight, that was an even better ball team than many know: The Owls’ only Power Four losses were to national champion Indiana and nine-win Wake Forest. Now Owls coach Jerry Mack has to try to defend the C-USA title with nine new starters on offense. One of those is former LSU and Syracuse quarterback Rickie Collins, who finished last season with almost twice as many interceptions (10) as passing touchdowns (six). Win total odds: Over 6.5 (+100), Under 6.5 (-130)Odds to win Conference USA: +1000 (sixth) 2025 Record: 2-10 Former Liberty running back Evan Dickens is my favorite candidate to become the best breakout tailback in the Power Four this year like Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy was last season after transferring from the Flames. Dickens rushed for 1,339 yards in just nine games last season with 16 touchdowns. He rushed for 200 yards or more in three of his last five games in 2025. I think he can be the best tailback the program has featured since A.J. Dillon. And Eagles coach Bill O’Brien needs him to be. After a rather thrilling 4-1 start to his tenure at Boston College, the Eagles have looked more like wounded Ducks. They’re just 15-5 since that great start, and a 2-10 2025 in a conference where SMU has shown up and made the CFP means the clock is ticking on O’Brien’s tenure with fans. Win total odds: Over 3.5 (+100), Under 3.5 (-120)Odds to win ACC: +40000 (17th) 2025 Record: 3-9 The 2025 Spartans weren’t good, but they were fun. And the latter is because quarterback Walker Eget — who played most of the year on basically one leg (ACL tear) — and receiver Danny Scudero played the two-man game better than anyone else in the Group of Six. But after leading the nation in catches (88) and receiving yards (1,297), Scudero opted for the portal (Colorado), as did Eget (Duke). While SJSU coach Ken Niumatalolo will identify a starter from a list that includes Hawaii transfer Luke Weaver and redshirt freshman Robert McDaniel, perhaps Spartans fans are comforted in knowing Sacramento State transfer Jayland McGlothen notched 9.5 tackles last season at defensive tackle. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (-130), Under 4.5 (+100)Odds to win Mountain West: +1800 (sixth) 2025 Record: 11-2 After going 21-5 over the last two seasons with Brian Newberry as head coach, everybody ought to see the Midshipmen coming. The question at the top of my mind is: Can Braxton Woodson be as good as Blake Horvath was behind center for Navy in 2026? He’s started twice for the Midshipmen, and when he’s thrown the ball he’s been decent with a 13.1 yard completion rate. Pay attention. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-160), Under 7.5 (+125)Odds to win American: +380 (first) 2025 Record: 5-7 The Scarlet Knights are 0-37 against top-25 teams in the College Football Playoff era. That’s the bad news. The good news is KJ Duff is the best wideout no one outside of the Big Ten knows about: 60 catches for 1,084 yards last season. And Antwan Raymond is the best tailback no one outside the Big Ten knows about: 1,241 rush yards last season. The addition of Boston College transfer Dylan Lonergan makes Rutgers feel like one of Greg Schiano’s plucky Big East teams of way back when. But I’m sure Scarlet Knights fans are tired of national analysts like me reveling in their past. Let’s hope Schiano’s 2026 team gives us both hope for the future. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (-156), Under 4.5 (+130)Odds to win Big Ten: +60000 (15th) 2025 Record: 4-8 The Terps are 4-38 against top-25 teams in the CFP era (sound familiar?). That’s the bad news. The good news is Malik Washington might just be another Taulia Tagovailoa for head coach Mike Locksley. After being handed the keys to the offense — and Locksley’s future at Maryland — he threw for at least 210 yards in 11 of 12 games, including a 61-attempt, 459-yard, three-touchdown performance against Michigan State. However, another 4-8 season ain’t gonna do much to invite Terps fans to stick with Locksley much longer. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (+105), Under 5.5 (-125)Odds to win Big Ten: +50000 (16th) 2025 Record: 8-5 PJ Fleck knows how to build a team that competes. The Golden Gophers have finished with a winning record in six out of nine seasons, despite eight different coordinators across both sides of the ball. Expect Darius Taylor to be a force in the backfield after a down 2025. If he’s healthy and gets 200 carries, he ought to be a 1,000-yard tailback. Defensively, Minnesota will be a handful with linebacker Maverick Baranowski returning after a 99-tackle season, and defensive end Anthony Smith coming back after a 12.5-sack season. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (+130), Under 6.5 (-150)Odds to win Big Ten: +25000 (13th) 2025 Record: 4-8 If we excuse 2020 — and we do — Troy Calhoun’s Falcons have been as reliable at winning nine games as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is to need “Hangman” to save his ass in “Top Gun: Maverick.” And, like Hangman, the Falcons have been good. They’ve been very good. Calhoun won nine or more games from 2019 to 2023, and then his evaluation took a dive below the hard deck. Air Force has suffered back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 2018. But with Liam Szarka established at quarterback — he returns after a year averaging 5.4 yards per carry — and fullback Owen Allen coming back after 750 yards on the ground, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Falcons rip off double-digits wins in 2026. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+120), Under 7.5 (-150)Odds to win Mountain West: +550 (fifth) 2025 Record: 8-5 Charles Huff left Southern Miss in much the same way he left Marshall — with a winning record. In fact, since Huff left Alabama as running backs coach for Nick Saban following the Crimson Tide’s 2020 national title run, he’s endured just one losing season as head coach. Now, Huff took over a program that has won more games without making the College Football Playoff (107) than any other since the CFP’s inception. It’s a dubious honor for a Tigers program that was denied entry into the Big 12 last year, despite bringing a reported $200 million to the table. Memphis is banking on Huff’s coaching prowess and transfer portal evaluations to break through. Either way the quarterback battle goes, I’m confident Huff will have one of the most talented passers in the conference starting for him. Former Ohio State and South Carolina passer Air Noland just needs a featured chance. Former Division II West Florida quarterback Marcus Stokes showed what he can do as a starter last season with 3,297 yards with 30 passing. Edge rusher J’Mond Tapp might be as impactful on defense as Noland or Stokes can be on their offense. He produced 13 tackles for loss for Huff at Southern Miss last year. The Tigers have averaged nearly nine wins a season since 2014, and that is a standard Huff is expected to meet in Year 1. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-105), Under 7.5 (-125)Odds to win American: +600 (fourth) 2025 Record: 8-5 If any coach can make 2026 Arizona State into a winner, it’s Kenny Dillingham, who followed a down year in 2023 with a program-defining one in 2024 before going 8-5 in Year 3. But now he’s got to do it with either Cutter Boley, Mikey Keene or Cameron Dyer at quarterback instead of Sam Leavitt. He’s also got to do it with Omarion Miller at wideout instead of Jordan Tyson and with former Delaware State running back Marquis Gillis instead of Cam Skattebo. All of these players have the potential to help the Sun Devils produce double-digit wins in 2026. But it’ll take some doing. A word on Keene: Somehow, the Fresno State transfer enters the season as the fifth-most productive returning quarterback with 8,245 career passing yards in 39 games. Perhaps he’s good enough to lead Arizona State after all. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (-115), Under 6.5 (-105)Odds to win Big 12: +2500 (seventh) 2025 Record: 3-9 We’ll talk about Buffs coach Deion Sanders and quarterback Julian Lewis later. But before we get to them, let’s talk about something new. His given government name is Gideon ESPN Lampron, and he became a human highlight reel at linebacker for Bowling Green after racking up 123 tackles and 18.5 for loss in 2025. I expect Lampron to make himself felt in Colorado’s quest to become the worldwide leader in college football. Story goes that Lampron got his middle name after his dad, Marty, managed to ALL CAPS those letters on his birth certificate while Lampron’s mama, Jennifer, was recovering. Now, if you’re gonna call Lampron by his government name, just know that it’s pronounced ESS-pen. ESS-pen works in a way that Marty’s first choice, according to The Toledo Blade, didn’t. Marty initially wanted to go with Larry Bird, but Jennifer stopped that behind the line of scrimmage and for good reason: What kind of name for a football player is Larry Bird? Onto the Buffs’ outlook. Not a single starter from the 2025 defense returned for 2026. In fact, just five scholarship players are back. However, that ain’t a bad thing, as the defense last year was sorry. It gave up an average of 30.5 points per game, ranked 112th in scoring defense and was just a touch better than the worst Oklahoma State team I’ve ever seen. As for Lewis, I just don’t see former Utah quarterback Isaac Wilson beating him out for the starting job in Brennan Marion’s Go-Go offense. The offense is built for Lewis’ point-guard skillset, and he’ll have a wide receiving corps that could be as prolific as the one Shedeur Sanders enjoyed in 2024. The nation’s leader in catches (88) and receiving yards (1,297) in former San Jose star Danny Scudero commands that unit. The addition of former Texas wideout DeAndre Moore Jr. and former Tulsa wideout Joseph Williams means the Buffs picked up two of the best portal targets at their positions in the past cycle. If former Alabama running back Richard Young or former Sacramento State star Damian Henderson II emerge to be the first 1,000-yard rusher Sanders has ever fielded, Colorado will challenge for the Big 12 title. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (+134), Under 4.5 (-160)Odds to win Big 12: +9000 (14th) 2025 Record: 5-7 Former Kentucky high school football star Will Stein finally took a chance on himself. In becoming Kentucky’s head coach, he’s also attempting to do in Lexington what Curt Cignetti did in Bloomington: Turn a basketball school into a football school overnight. Hiring former LSU offensive coordinator Joe Sloan and recruiting former Notre Dame backup quarterback Kenny Minchey out of the portal will help him do just that. But he didn’t stop there. Stein added some dudes in the form of former Texas running back CJ Baxter, former Oklahoma running back Jovantae Barnes, former UTEP left tackle Lance Heard, former Ohio State guard Tegra Tshabola and former Oklahoma wideout Nic Anderson. If these newcomers gel with the five starters who chose to remain following the end of the Mark Stoops era, Kentucky could make a run at the CFP in Stein’s Year 1. But that means picking a win in Week 2 vs. Alabama or Week 3 at Texas A&M for us to seriously consider the Wildcats as more than just fodder foxes in the hunt. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (-148), Under 4.5 (+124)Odds to win SEC: +15000 (14th) 2025 Record: 9-4 Matt Entz can well be perplexed if it felt like his nine-win season last year went mostly unnoticed. But in our defense, the Bulldogs’ only Power Four opponent was a Kansas team, which beat Fresno by 24 points, and each of its four losses were by double-digits. It’s not really the wins and losses that impressed me about how his team is building for 2026; it’s that Entz seems to want to build his program from the inside out. It doesn’t seem to hurt his feelings one bit that his defense might outplay his offense when things are going well. If quarterbacks Khristian Martin or Jayden Mandal turn out to be revelations, the Bulldogs might be one of those teams we’re watching at the end of the season right in the thick of the Pac-12 title fight. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (-125), Under 6.5 (-105)Odds to win Pac-12: +600 (fourth) 2025 Record: 5-8 When you start the season 4-0, like the Bulldogs did last year, a 1-8 record over the next nine games can feel like a swift kick to the groin. Start fast again, and this time finish, Mississippi State. But if you don’t, at least your quarterback room is fun with Kamario Taylor, AJ Swann and Jaden Rashada all in Starkville. If he’s healthy, I expect Taylor to start but, goodness me, it’s going to be a gauntlet run akin to the one run by Francis Lanyon in 1760 on the HMS Royal George. The Bulldogs face Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma and Texas consecutively over five weeks. Win total odds: Over 4.5 (-120), Under 4.5 (+100)Odds to win SEC: +25000 (16th) 2025 Record: 10-3 Before Clark Lea arrived in Nashville, the Commodores couldn’t threaten the SEC any more than an ant threatens a boot heel. Since Clark? By God, they’re winning 10 games a season. They fielded a Heisman Trophy finalist. They’re flipping five-star quarterback recruits from Georgia. This is me giving Vandy its flowers — a gift also appropriate for funerals, with apologies and on 20th century first dates. Now, with true freshman quarterback Jared Curtis likely to take the conductor’s seat — but three of the four best receivers from 2025 are gone — let’s find out just how much more coal Lea can shove in the furnace. He can start by continuing to run the ball — a lot. Returning tailbacks Makhilyn Young and Sedrick Alexander averaged 6.5 yards per carry as a tandem last season. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-130), Under 5.5 (+110)Odds to win SEC: +10000 (13th) 2025 Record: 9-5 Spencer Danielson followed up a trip to the playoff with a nine-win season and a second-straight conference title, improving his record as a head coach to 24-8. While I believe North Dakota State will be formidable in the Mountain West, the Broncos are the defending champs and should be regarded as such. However, they’re playing Pac-12 football now. Defensive back JeRico Washington landed in Boise after putting himself on my radar with an outstanding sophomore season on a Kennesaw State team that won the Conference USA title. It’s not the 13 pass breakups that awed me so much as the 3.5 tackles for loss, in addition to holding opposing quarterbacks to a QBR under 40. He enters as one of the conference’s best corners. Offensively, the running back firm of Sire Gaines and Dylan Riley put up more than 2,100 yards from scrimmage, and star quarterback Maddux Madsen is back. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-154), Under 7.5 (+125)Odds to win Pac-12: +164 (first) 2025 Record: 4-8 Last season was Wisconsin’s worst in 35 years. Luke Fickell has to wear that. And after getting the dreaded “vote of confidence” from the administration, he’s got to put the Badgers back in the race to become one of the top-four teams in the Big Ten. Former Old Dominion quarterback Colton Joseph should help him get there. Joseph threw for 2,600 and rushed for 1,100 last season with 34 touchdowns. I genuinely love that they picked up Division III star pass rusher Liam Danitz, who had 21 tackles for loss and 15 sacks at the lower level. Go bowling, Badgers. Life’s better when you do. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (-105), Under 6.5 (-115)Odds to win Big Ten: +13500 (ninth) 2025 Record: 4-8 Tell a South Carolina fan that Shane Beamer’s Gamecocks ain’t beat nobody with a ranking on the scorebug since November 30, 2024. Tell them that they ain’t beat nobody at all since September 27, 2025. Then watch them drop back in a prevent defense called “LaNorris Sellers Is Coming.” Look, NFL Draft types love Sellers. They love his height, his speed, his arm talent. I don’t love that he followed up a 9-4 Gamecocks season with a 4-8 one. I don’t love that he has never thrown for more than 2,600 yards in a season. Kendal Briles is the fourth offensive coordinator the Gamecocks have had in five years. Given what he achieved with Josh Hoover at TCU, I can see an arc for Sellers forming that might yet make me a buyer. Wideout Nyck Harbor will be great if he develops the potential we’ve known he’s had since high school. Nitro Tuggle — another great football name! — will offer a great second option if the passing game spins up. Add to this a tremendous Year 3 for edge rusher Dylan Stewart — who has amassed 11 sacks and six forced-fumbles over the previous two years — and the 2026 Gamecocks might actually slice the SEC with a sharp gaff. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (+110), Under 6.5 (-130)Odds to win SEC: +5000 (12th) 2025 Record: 9-4 Bet on Jason Eck to win. Entering just his second year at one of the toughest jobs in FBS, he and his Lobos are coming off a 9-4 record, and he’s No. 1 on my list of sitting head coaches who will make a move to a moneyed Power Four program in the next hiring cycle if he puts together another nine-win-plus season. Ex-UNLV receiver Troy Omeire gives Eck a player who averaged 16.6 yards per catch last year. Running back Kiefer Sibley gives him a former North Texas star who averaged 6.1 yards per carry last year, and son Jaxton Eck returns after notching 128 tackles, including 7.5 for a loss last year. And the family Eck brought in should help like the Avengers at the Battle of Wakanda. Leave it to Eck to dig deep into what one coach described to me as the soul-crushing, gravity-defying inferno of the transfer portal to pull out a player with a latent mutant gene in safety Will Hicks. The former Hampton star notched 72 total tackles, six tackles for loss, four pass breakups, two forced fumbles and a pick last season. The Lobos have the measure of the Mountain West after racking up six-straight regular season wins to finish tied atop the standings in 2025. Mark New Mexico down as a program that will enjoy a third-straight winning season after putting together just two in the previous 17 years. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (+140), Under 8.5 (-180)Odds to win Mountain West: +265 (second) 2025 Record: 10-4 The only 10-win team in the Mountain West last year was pillaged in the transfer portal. Fortunately, coach Dan Mullen has already demonstrated how he can find distressed assets in the portal and turn out a winner at UNLV. And because he has, the Rebels have put together more nine-win seasons (three) in the past three years than in the previous 45 (two). So much of UNLV’s success depends on former Oklahoma and Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold putting together a second half of his career that looks like Kyler Murray’s after transferring from Texas A&M to Oklahoma. The return of running back Jai’Den Thomas will help with that. He racked up 1,273 scrimmage yards in 2025. Defensively, former Holy Cross linebacker Cam Santee might just be UNLV’s tackles king after collecting 110 tackles, 14 for loss and five forced fumbles last year. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-174), Under 7.5 (+134)Odds to win Mountain West: +260 (first) 2025 Record: 9-4 If you predicted coach Jake Dickert would go 9-4 in 2025 at one of the toughest jobs in all of football, I need you to throw your tarot now and make sure it says something nice about yourself. Jiminy Christmas! The Demon friggin’ Deacons put together their best recruiting class since 2015 and added former North Carolina and South Alabama quarterback Gio Lopez to the roster. Lopez also gets to play for offensive coordinator Rob Ezell, who got the most out of him at South Alabama. And that might just mean the Deacons can be one of the most surprising teams in the sport again in 2026. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-136), Under 5.5 (+115)Odds to win ACC: +7600 (13th) 2025 Record: 9-5 Holy smokes! The Blue Devils are the defending ACC champions, and no one — not me, especially — is picking them to repeat that feat. Why? Well, quarterback Darian Mensah is gone. So is receiver Cooper Barkate. And Duke only made the ACC title game on a bizarre tiebreaker. Its record was so bad, even with an ACC title, it didn’t receive an invitation to the College Football Playoff — and no one really thought it should. Now, coach Manny Diaz and company have to prove last year was not happenstance but instead a legit breakthrough season at a football program that has been dormant for years. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (-130), Under 5.5 (+110)Odds to win ACC: +6800 (12th) 2025 Record: 8-5 I really dig continuity, and coach Dave Doeren keeping offensive coordinator Kurt Roper and defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot for the second year running gives the Wolfpack a great foundation. This’ll help them continue doing just what NC State does in the Doeren era: Guarantee eight wins, something the Pack has accomplished seven of the last nine years. Quarterback CJ Bailey will have to take a major step forward with an assortment of new pieces around him, though, for Doeren’s program to maintain its consistency in winning. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+120), Under 7.5 (-140)Odds to win ACC: +2000 (seventh) 2025 Record: 8-5 Pat Narduzzi will enter his first season in Pittsburgh without Randy Bates as defensive coordinator since 2018. Those shoes are left to former safeties coach and eight-year Pitt assistant Cory Sanders to fill. Both Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin and Cleveland Browns safety Donovan McMillon are Sanders products, so I expect the defense to be sound. Offensive coordinator Kade Bell returns with Mason Heintschel as his signal-caller, giving the Panthers a chance to make more noise in the ACC and push for a bid to the College Football Playoff. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-146), Under 7.5 (+125)Odds to win ACC: +1900 (sixth) 2025 Record: 11-3 Tony Elliott just put together the best season Virginia has enjoyed in nearly 40 years, and now the pressure is mounting for him to prove that 2025 was no fluke. The additions of former Missouri quarterback Beau Pribula and Pitt quarterback Eli Holstein will be a big part of that. Between the two of them, he should have a starter who is talented enough to do what Chandler Morris did for the Cavaliers last season. Add to that three starters on the offensive line with 14 starts each last year, and moving the ball should not be a problem. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-150), Under 7.5 (+125)Odds to win ACC: +1800 (fifth) 2025 Record: 7-6 New Northwestern offensive coordinator Chip Kelly has figured out Indiana, the defending national champs (who feature the 2025 Broyles Award winner and defensive coordinator Bryant Haines) before. Kelly coordinated Ohio State’s offense in a win over the Hoosiers in 2024. But Kelly had Will Howard in 2024, and Northwestern quarterback Aidan Chiles ain’t him. Chiles hasn’t enjoyed a 300-yard passing performance since September 7, 2024, or led a team to a win since September 13, 2025 — and that was against Youngstown State. But maybe Wildcats coach David Braun rubs off on him. Braun has gone 19-19 as head coach at Northwestern. A .500 record will do just fine in 2026 there too. Whether Kelly has some magic left in him after a disastrous stint with the Las Vegas Raiders is another question. Win total odds: Over 5.5 (+110), Under 5.5 (-130)Odds to win Big Ten: +50000 (14th) 2025 Record: 7-6 I watched coach Tosh Lupoi recruit for his 2026 Cal roster while performing media day duties for Oregon in the semifinal of the College Football Playoff last season. Perhaps he was working the phones so hard because Cal is home for him. As a former Cal defensive lineman, he’d like nothing more than for the Golden Bears to be back on top. He left no stone unturned. In his first season as head coach, Lupoi managed to re-recruit quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele back to Berkeley. Sagapolutele became just the second true freshman starter in school history — the other is Jared Goff — and put together an outstanding season with more than 3,500 pass yards, 18 touchdowns and just nine interceptions in 2025. The Golden Bears still feel very much like a strange fit in the ACC, but a passer with an upside that could figure into the first round of the 2028 NFL Draft might have them looking right at home by the end of the 2026 season. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (+125), Under 6.5 (-150)Odds to win ACC: +4000 (10th) 2025 Record: 9-4 Look, I’ve been trying to tell y’all that Micah Alejado can spin it since he left Bishop Gorman. But since there’s not much respect floating around for us short kings, maybe verticalist worshipers will respect that he threw for 3,106 yards and 24 touchdowns on one friggin’ leg last year. Yes, he’s 5-foot-8 on a good day. But I guaran-damn-tee you Auburn, Florida and Penn State would’ve loved to have him in 2025. Expect him to take another leap and supplant himself as one of the finest quarterbacks in the sport, even if you have to stay up way past your bedtime to watch him play. This was a nine-win team in 2025. I don’t see why it can’t be again in 2026. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+120), Under 7.5 (-150)Odds to win Mountain West: +480 (fourth) 2025 Record: 9-4 Entering his fourth year as a starter, quarterback Noah Fifita is getting every chance to take Brent Brennan’s Wildcats to places they’ve never traveled: the Big 12 championship game and the CFP. With a mostly veteran defense returning to help him, I’d like to think he sees more time with the ball in his hands, commits fewer turnovers and ends his career with more than 12,000 passing yards and 100 touchdowns. No one in college football has thrown more passing touchdowns (73) than Fifita has since he entered the sport. Arizona finished 9-4 last year, but two of those losses came in back-to-back weeks to 11-win BYU in overtime and 10-win Houston on a game-winning field goal on the road. That’s how close Arizona was to being a 10-3 or 11-2 program in 2025. I think the Wildcats could be great in 2026, but only if the defense is as disruptive this season as last. Arizona led the FBS in takeaways with 31 last year. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+105), Under 7.5 (-125)Odds to win Big 12: +1900 (sixth) 2025 Record: 5-7 Last year, Alex Golesh coached South Florida to its best season since 2017, in large part because quarterback Byrum Brown became one of two players to pass for at least 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards. The other was 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels. But Daniels won his Heisman as a quarterback in the SEC. The question for Brown is, can he be as prolific when it just means more? Can Golesh turn an Auburn program into a version of who Ole Miss was in the Lane Kiffin era? We’ll have an answer to both questions soon enough, and I hope Tigers fans like them. Away games at Tennessee, Georgia and Ole Miss might make 6-6 feel like a true winning season for Golesh and company in Year 1. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (-115), Under 6.5 (-105)Odds to win SEC: +4000 (11th) 2025 Record: 7-6 Has coach Matt Rhule reached the ceiling for what he can do at Nebraska? Despite achieving AP Top 25 rankings and winning at least seven games each of the last two seasons, Rhule’s Nebraska has been unable to defeat class opponents. The Huskers have lost 29 consecutive games to AP-ranked top-25 teams, and Illinois could very well be ranked when the two play. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (+115), Under 6.5 (-136)Odds to win Big Ten: +14500 (11th) 2025 Record: 3-9 James Franklin might be quoting LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out” — “Don’t call it a comeback. I been here for years, I’m rocking peers, putting suckas in fear” — when the 2026 season is done. But for now, he’s trying to turn the Hokies into a team that can rock the ACC with former Penn Stater Ethan Grunkemeyer at quarterback, former Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry at defensive coordinator and picking off 11 former Penn State commits. The schedule is manageable with just one preseason top 25 program (at SMU) to face. It’s there for the Hokies to make us all remember how tough it used to be to go into Blacksburg and come out with a win. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (-170), Under 6.5 (+140)Odds to win ACC: +2800 (eighth) 2025 Record: 3-9 Can Bob Chesney perform at a Big Ten program like he did at James Madison? Indiana coach Curt Cignetti did. Cignetti came from the Dukes to a bad Big Ten team and immediately turned that program into a College Football Playoff contender. With Chesney having just led James Madison to the CFP, it’s not unthinkable for him to lead the Bruins to their first CFP appearance. But the Big Ten isn’t the Sun Belt. And UCLA has a task on its hands October 10 when it faces Oregon. But this game could be the first of three that could lead UCLA into the conversation for an invitation to the 12-team playoff in earnest. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (+110), Under 6.5 (-132)Odds to win Big Ten: +17000 (12th) 2025 Record: 1-11 If you’re looking for a team that could flip its fortunes with one coaching move and a devastating eye for portal talent, then Oklahoma State is your team. After a breakthrough year as head coach of North Texas, Eric Morris picked up his 12-win team and moved it to Stillwater. That means Oklahoma State, a 1-11 program in 2025, now possesses a 4,300-yard passer in Drew Mestemaker, a 1,400-yard rusher in Caleb Hawkins and a 1,200-yard receiver in Wyatt Young. But that’s not it. Morris got busy in the portal with the addition of former Tarleton State tailback Tre Page III, who rushed for 839 yards on just 112 carries, as well as former Akron wideout Israel Polk, who caught 33 passes for 525 yards with eight touchdowns last season. If the Cowboys manage to pull an early season upset against Oregon or beat in-state rival Tulsa, you’ll see them skyrocket into everyone’s top-25 rankings — not just mine. Oklahoma State is the most improved team in college football through the offseason. Now, the Pokes have to realize that potential. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (+120), Under 6.5 (-140)Odds to win Big 12: +2900 (eighth) 2025 Record: 9-4 Former Michigan State quarterback Katin Houser makes his return to the Big Ten after putting together an outstanding 2025, following a 2024 season where he played through a wrist injury for most of the year at East Carolina. But last season, Houser threw for 3,300 yards with 19 touchdowns and six interceptions. But can he do that against a schedule that features games at Ohio State, Oregon and at Iowa? I won’t hold my breath. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+134), Under 7.5 (-160)Odds to win Big Ten: +14000 (10th) 2025 Record: 9-4 Kirk Ferentz cares about throwing the ball about as much as a thunderclap cares to be quiet. So whether the starting quarterback is Jeremy Hecklinski or Hank Brown isn’t as important as Phil Parker returning to call a Hawkeyes defense that has consistently been one of the best in the sport. And they’ll need it. Ferentz and the Hawkeyes play at Ohio State, Michigan and at Washington before they reach their first bye week. Iowa was essentially four plays from a 12-0 season, and the CFP selection committee tried to will that record into existence with its ranking of the Hawkeyes last year. Now, I’m asking Ferentz to not make the CFP put its thumb on the scale. Running back Kamari Moulton will help with that. He’s averaged 5.3 yards per carry over the past two seasons. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-140), Under 7.5 (+120)Odds to win Big Ten: +5000 (eighth) 2025 Record: 9-4 With offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner off to Florida, and Haynes King taking on the NFL, Yellow Jackets coach Brent Key has had to nail his offseason replacements. Namely, new offensive leader George Godsey and quarterback Alberto Mendoza. I think Mendoza isn’t nearly as good as his older brother — former Indiana quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, who led Indiana to its first national championship and a 16-0 record. I think this because Curt Cignetti let him go, and that is as much of a red flag as a woman asking me out while wearing a wedding ring. Yes, Alberto was a backup passer on that Hoosier national title team, and Georgia Tech will be keen to find out just how much like his Heisman Trophy-winning older brother he can be. But, again, I don’t think these two are the same, and neither should Yellow Jacket fans, especially after the loud, indelible mark left on the program by King. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (+105), Under 6.5 (-125)Odds to win ACC: +3500 (ninth) 2025 Record: 7-6 Chad Morris is back as offensive coordinator. Defensive coordinator Tom Allen is staying, and quarterback Christopher Vizzina looks the part. But Dabo Swinney is up against the wall. Realize that Clemson had more 2026 NFL Draft picks (nine) than wins in 2025 (seven) and then know that Swinney is coaching for more than staying in the top 25 this season, which is why I think Clemson will turn it around. It’s time Clemson remembered it has seven College Football Playoff appearances in 11 years. Ordinarily, I’d rank Clemson inside the top 25. But what have Swinney and company done to earn that this offseason other than moan about losing Luke Ferrelli to Ole Miss? Nah. This season, the Tigers are gonna have to earn their way into the top 25 because they’ve demonstrated over the last two seasons they’ve been Lil Ol’ Clemson. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-140), Under 7.5 (+120)Odds to win ACC: +1400 (fourth) 2025 Record: 9-4 Lincoln Kienholz is a more talented athlete than any quarterback Jeff Brohm has coached in the previous five years. However, replacing Miller Moss’ ability to orchestrate the offense with precision — or even Tyler Shough’s before Moss’ — will take tremendous growth for a player who sat on the bench at Ohio State for most of his career and didn’t flash much when he did see the field. Defensive lineman Clev Lubin is a star with 18 sacks in just 23 games, ranking sixth among all FBS players. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (+124), Under 8.5 (-158)Odds to win ACC: +850 (third) 2025 Record: 12-1 (FCS) In its first year in the conference, North Dakota State might be the Mountain West’s best chance to produce a CFP team. It’s not just that quarterback Cole Payton and wide receiver Bryce Lance — Trey Lance’s younger brother — return to the Fargodome, but the Bison also are one of the great dynastic programs of the 21st century. They joined the FCS just 22 years ago and left with 15 national championships. When I spoke with NDSU coach Tim Polasek in February after the school announced its transition from the FCS to the FBS, there was little doubt in his mind that the Bison’s pedigree is good enough to contend for one of the 12 playoff spots, assuming they’re eligible for postseason play. Consider this: North Dakota State has gone 26-3 over the last three seasons. That’s as many losses as Curt Cignetti’s Indiana teams have had during their 38-3 run over the same span. The Bison have won just as many national titles and twice as many conference titles. This was a 12-1 team in 2025. The Bison came to the FBS to win. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (-170), Under 8.5 (+134)Odds to win Mountain West: +300 (third) 2025 Record: 8-5 Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel has built a program capable of staying competitive and successful in the tumultuous NIL era. But this season, he has a career backup in George MacIntyre competing with five-star phenom Faizon Brandon for the starting quarterback job. Getting this decision right could be the difference between a College Football Playoff berth and a second straight loss to — gasp — Vanderbilt. The Vols have a tough schedule, but they also get Alabama, Texas and LSU at home this season. Keep an eye on running back DeSean Bishop, who I think could be another Dylan Sampson. Bishop rushed for 1,076 yards and 16 touchdowns on 182 carries last season and should be a valuable weapon for whoever wins the starting quarterback job in 2026. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-125), Under 7.5 (-105)Odds to win SEC: +2000 (eighth) 2025 Record: 11-2 Utah was preparing to make Morgan Scalley their head coach in everything but name by 2026 anyway. Kyle Whittingham’s move to Michigan simply forced the timeline up. The team’s defense will once again be fierce. What remains to be seen is how good quarterback Devon Dampier can be without offensive coordinator Jason Beck calling plays and Kevin McGiven helping direct the offense. Dampier has totaled 33 rushing touchdowns in 33 career games. With Dampier returning and 900-plus-yard tailback Wayshawn Parker next to him, I don’t see why Scalley’s Utah squad can’t challenge for the Big 12 title again in 2026. Scalley is just the fourth head coach at Utah since 1990 and the second-straight hire made from the previous year’s coaching staff. And that’s for good reason: It ain’t broke, so they don’t fix it. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (-150), Under 8.5 (+125)Odds to win Big 12: +650 (third) 2025 Record: 9-4 SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings has his issues, but he’s good enough for the Mustangs to remain in this top 25 all season. Jennings led the ACC in interceptions last season (13) but also put together another season of at least 3,200 passing yards and 23 passing touchdowns. However, losing 90% of the pass rush from what was a bad defense in 2025 is coach Rhett Lashlee’s real problem to solve in 2026. The Mustangs have gone 22-2 over the last three years in the ACC, and now, they’ve added former five-star wide receiver Jordyn Adams, who is 26 years old and a former first-round MLB Draft pick. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (-136), Under 8.5 (+115)Odds to win ACC: +650 (second) 2025 Record: 9-4 Quarterback Jaden Craig came to Fort Worth after putting together a 19-5 record as a starter and setting school records for total offense (6,074 yards) and touchdowns (52). The only issue is Craig set those marks at Harvard in the Ivy League. Proving to be as productive in a Power Four league, in the Big 12, will be the toughest challenge he’s faced as a player. But coach Sonny Dykes has won 36 games over four years, made the Big 12 title game and reached the CFP national title game during that timeframe. I’m willing to bet he figures the 2026 Horned Frogs out. Who knows? Maybe they’ll obliterate Bill Belichick’s Tar Heels again just to make the point clear: Being Texas Christian doesn’t make it sweet. And reading their Bible don’t make it soft — it’s from the stockyards in Texas. Those men came to win. I know that’s true because the Horned Frogs have posted back-to-back nine-win seasons and feel that both were letdowns. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+150), Under 7.5 (-125)Odds to win Big 12: +3000 (ninth) 2025 Record: 9-4 In 2025, I compared Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. to Kyler Murray, and he still looks every bit the dynamo. If the Huskies can develop a wide receiver as productive as Denzel Boston was one year ago, they can win double-digit games in the toughest league in the country. This also is Year 3 of the Jedd Fisch experience in Seattle, and, if his Arizona tenure taught us anything, it’s that this is the year his teams tend to break through. Linebacker Jacob Manu is the best player on the Huskies’ defense. He has notched 241 tackles in 37 games, which ranks first among Big Ten defenders returning this season. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-170), Under 7.5 (+140)Odds to win Big Ten: +2400 (seventh) 2025 Record: 4-8 Florida coach Jon Sumrall might have pulled off his best recruiting win by convincing prized running back Jadan Baugh to stay another year. Having a tailback who accounted for 1,380 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns on a 3-9 team is impressive enough. Sumrall has reached a conference championship game in every season of his head-coaching career. I’m betting on Sumrall’s record as a head coach and Baugh’s ability to carry the offense here. But I’m also betting on former Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner — who has the most SEC name of any coach in the country — and his ability to make his offense work with transfer quarterback Aaron Philo and budding wideouts Dallas Wilson, Eric Singleton and Vernell Brown III. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (+130), Under 7.5 (-156)Odds to win SEC: +2500 (ninth) 2025 Record: 10-3 Forget Willie Fritz’s 14-11 record through his first two years in Houston. You live long enough and you cover this sport long enough, and you’ll come to realize Fritz is one of the 10 best living coaches in college football. His résumé includes two junior college national titles, two FCS national title game appearances, leading Georgia Southern to a 9-3 record in its first-ever season of FBS play, two American Conference Coach of the Year awards and all the piss-and-vinegar that comes from playing football in “The Jungle” at Pittsburg State. (If you know, you know.) If Houston offensive coordinator Slade Nagle — football name! — and former five-star quarterback Conner Weigman can take the leap, look for the Cougars to be a force in Fritz’s Year 3 in H-town. He’s also got one of the nation’s most prolific tailbacks in his backfield in Makhi Hughes. Despite redshirting last season at Oregon, Hughes is the second-leading returning career rusher in the sport with 2,849 yards in 32 games. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (+130), Under 8.5 (-156)Odds to win Big 12: +1600 (fifth) 2025 Record: 8-5 Eli Drinkwitz’s team returns the best tailback in the sport in Ahmad Hardy and one of the nation’s most intriguing transfer quarterbacks in former Ole Miss signal-caller Austin Simmons. Simmons beat out Trinidad Chambliss during the 2025 camp competition before an early season injury made way for Chambliss to take over. That alone is enough reason to believe Simmons could emerge as one of the nation’s top signal-callers in 2026. Add in Hardy’s 1,649 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns from last season, and the Tigers have the makings of one of the SEC’s most dangerous offenses. The one concern is Hardy’s availability. He sustained a gunshot wound that could delay the start of his season, leaving Jamal Roberts to shoulder much of the workload early. Win total odds: Over 6.5 (-120), Under 6.5 (+100)Odds to win SEC: +3200 (10th) 2025 Record: 7-6 Matt Campbell brought the best of Iowa State with him to Happy Valley, building his reputation on doing more with less while turning the Cyclones into a Big 12 contender. At Penn State, he’ll get his first opportunity to do more with more. The result should be a drastic turnaround from the Nittany Lions’ disastrous 2025 season. Campbell also has the luxury of avoiding Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon in his first season. Iowa State transfer quarterback Rocco Becht is the second-leading returning passer in the sport with 9,274 yards in 42 career games, and that experience should help ease Penn State’s transition into Matt Campbell’s first season with the Nittany Lions. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (-166), Under 8.5 (+130)Odds to win Big Ten: +2100 (sixth) 2025 Record: 12-2 I didn’t expect quarterback Bear Bachmeier to have a breakout season as a true freshman, nor did I expect BYU to lose to just one team — twice — in 2025. But after a 12-2 season and some recent turbulence for reigning Big 12 reigning champion Texas Tech, Kalani Sitake’s Cougars are now a solid bet to win the Big 12 title and earn a trip to the College Football Playoff. The Cougars face Utah and TCU on the road and host Notre Dame this season. If those games are close in the fourth quarter, BYU should like its chances. The Cougars trailed by double digits in seven games last year and came back to win five of them. I expect this team will know how to finish, too. The Big 12 conference featured just two 3,000-yard passers last year, and Bachmeier was one of them. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (-150), Under 8.5 (+125)Odds to win Big 12: +550 (second) 2025 Record: 9-4 Kyle Whittingham has everything he needs to reach the CFP for the first time in his career at a program that has made it three times in the last five years and won a national title just two years ago. If offensive coordinator Jason Beck can develop quarterback Bryce Underwood into the player his talent suggests, Michigan should remain one of the Big Ten’s elite teams. That’s the good news. Now the bad. First, the man who brought the former Utah coach to Ann Arbor, Warde Manuel, is (in)voluntarily stepping down on December 31, leaving behind a scandalous tenure. Looking to the field, Whittingham has already messed up the messaging of just how much the Wolverines’ rivalry with Ohio State means and should mean for its head coach and team. And then, Michigan’s schedule does it no favors. Not only do the Wolverines face a top-15 Oklahoma team in Week 2, but they also take on five Big Ten teams ranked inside the top 25 — including Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (+140), Under 8.5 (-180)Odds to win Big Ten: +1600 (fifth) 2025 Record: 12-2 Well, quarterback Brendan Sorsby certainly complicated the math on Texas Tech. Following his admission that he gambled on his own team while at Indiana, the legal wrangling that followed and his decision to forgo a fight for eligibility in 2026, the Red Raiders have been forced to move on. Backup Will Hammond is not expected to be ready for Week 1. That means Texas Tech could open its Big 12 title defense with its third-choice quarterback — perhaps former Tulsa signal-caller Kirk Francis. The good news for whoever starts under center is that the supporting cast remains loaded. Cam Dickey and Quinten Joyner give the Red Raiders one of the better backfields in the conference, while the defense should be as devastating this season as it was last season. Linebacker Ben Roberts is like a real Bobby Boucher tackling machine, recording 280 tackles in 40 career games, the most among returning FBS linebackers. Win total odds: Over 10.5 (-200), Under 10.5 (+160)Odds to win Big 12: -105 (first) 2025 Record: 11-4 Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer will start a third different quarterback in as many years, with either Keelon Russell or Austin Mack under center. Whoever wins the job will have to build a quick rapport with wide receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams, who has the tools to be the best wide receiver in the SEC with enough accurate service. And that connection will have to come fast. The Tide are also trying to avoid losing in Knoxville for a third straight time, while the Vols try to achieve that first since 2000. It’s easy to forget that Alabama was the home team in the SEC championship game against Georgia, and that the Tide became the first program to win a CFP game on the road. DeBoer’s job in 2026 is to create a memorable season rather than just a few memorable moments. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (-120), Under 8.5 (+100)Odds to win SEC: +850 (third) 2025 Record: 13-2 Following Lane Kiffin’s departure, Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding answered questions about just how good he can be with the two biggest wins in school history — beating Tulane and Georgia to make the College Football Playoff semifinals — all while Kiffin raided the Ole Miss roster and staff. Star quarterback Trinidad Chambliss will return for a sixth season after putting together a Heisman-caliber year in 2025. Golding will have his first chance to prove he’s a better coach than Kiffin on September 19 when LSU shows up to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi. It’s not overselling it to call LSU-Ole Miss the most highly anticipated SEC game of the season. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-166), Under 7.5 (+130)Odds to win SEC: +1100 (sixth) 2025 Record: 10-3 The Sooners barely had a run game last season but still managed to win 10 games and earn a home CFP game. If quarterback John Mateer improves his accuracy, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle becomes less predictable in his play-calling and head coach Brent Venables, again, fields one of the stingiest defenses in the sport, Oklahoma has a real path to the playoff. The Sooners also have a chance to make a statement early on, traveling to Ann Arbor on September 12 to face Michigan for a second straight year. And that’s just the start: Oklahoma plays Georgia, Missouri, Texas and Florida away from home. Win total odds: Over 7.5 (-156), Under 7.5 (+130)Odds to win SEC: +1150 (seventh) 2025 Record: 9-4 Yes, head coach Lincoln Riley is great. Yes, QB Jayden Maiava is good. But Gary Patterson is one of the best defensive play-callers the sport has ever seen, and he’s running the defense at USC in 2026. That alone is enough for me to believe the Trojans can make a real run at a CFP appearance. The more I think about this team, the more I believe the Trojans have the best offensive strategist (Riley) and defensive coordinator (Patterson) of any team in the country. That includes Indiana and Ohio State. In order to achieve the lofty expectations I’ve set for the Trojans, they’ll have to go through Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana — or, in other words, two of the last three national champions and two of the last three Big Ten champs. Sheesh. Fight On, or get moved on. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (+115), Under 8.5 (-136)Odds to win Big Ten: +1500 (fourth) 2025 Record: 11-2 Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko seems to believe most coaches in his position are one bad season away from getting fired if they don’t reach the CFP. Well, with the Aggies, he might actually have a point. The good news is that the Aggies did just that in 2025 (losing to Miami), but they also crashed out against rival Texas with a chance to make the SEC title game. Eleven wins doesn’t mean much in College Station without one coming at the expense of the Longhorns. That reality has to change for Elko to feel secure at the end of the season. Offensive coordinator Holmon Wiggins and quarterback Marcel Reed must take a major leap if Texas A&M is going to chase its first conference title of any kind since 1998. Reed is one of just two returning SEC quarterbacks to throw for 3,000 yards and rush for at least 550. The other is Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss. Ampersand U better come ready. It faces LSU, Alabama and Oklahoma — all on the road. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (+100), Under 8.5 (-120)Odds to win SEC: +1000 (fifth) 2025 Record: 7-6 Hoo boy! If I told you 2026 LSU looks like 2025 Texas Tech with a little seasoning, you’d probably understand what I mean: The Bayou Bengals have decided money ain’t no problem. LSU made Lane Kiffin one of the highest-paid coaches in the sport and the highest-paid ever without a championship on his résumé. They also gave him the resources to bring in former Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt, Colorado offensive tackle Jordan Seaton and Ole Miss defensive end Princewill Umanmielen. For a program that hasn’t won a national title since 2019, LSU fully looks built to change that. Win total odds: Over 8.5 (-115), Under 8.5 (-105)Odds to win SEC: +900 (fourth) 2025 Record: 13-3 Quarterback Darian Mensah broke his contract with Duke to join the Hurricanes after leading the ACC in passing yards (3,973) and passing touchdowns (34). And he did all that while guiding the Blue Devils to a wildly improbable ACC championship on the strength of a 7-5 regular season and the most preposterous tiebreaker protocol in college football history. Now, he must follow Cam Ward’s No. 1 overall selection after a 2024 season in Coral Gables and Carson Beck’s run to the national title game in 2025. Along with Mensah, running back Mark Fletcher and wideout Malachi Toney could give the Canes the best quarterback-running back-wide receiver trio not just in the ACC, but in the entire country. Win total odds: Over 10.5 (-110), Under 10.5 (-110)Odds to win ACC: -140 (first) 2025 Record: 10-2 Notre Dame’s schedule isn’t a joke this year, but that’s only because the punchline in 2024 was Northern Illinois walking out of South Bend with a victory and depositing $1.4 million for the effort. Coach Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish won’t face anything resembling a ranked opponent until October 17 against BYU, and they shouldn’t lose before then — if they lose at all. Miami is the toughest team on the schedule, and I don’t rate the Hurricanes higher than Notre Dame. But don’t let that stop you from believing Notre Dame will lose and then refuse to play in the postseason. Win total odds: Over 11.5 (+160), Under 10.5 (-190)(Notre Dame is independent and does not have conference odds.) 2025 Record: 10-3 Last season was coach Steve Sarkisian’s first at Texas without a 1,000-yard rusher. So he traded his running backs out. Former Arizona State running back Raleek Brown and former NC State running back Hollywood Smothers enter the fold, as well as former Auburn receiver Cam Coleman. They should help the most bankable player in the sport, Arch Manning, propel the Longhorns to what they hope will be their first national title appearance since 2009. Just last year, Texas began the regular season ranked No. 1 and lost it after falling to Ohio State in Week 1. The Longhorns later lost to a 4-8 Florida team, which essentially ruined their chances of making the College Football Playoff. Texas will get its shot at revenge against Ohio State, September 12 in Austin. It certainly will help that the Longhorns return edge rusher Colin Simmons, who has more career sacks (21) than any other player in the FBS. Win total odds: Over 9.5 (+120), Under 9.5 (-142)Odds to win SEC: +310 (second) 2025 Record: 13-2 The Ducks are dealing with new offensive and defensive coordinators in the same season for the first time since Dan Lanning took over as head coach, as they promoted Drew Mehringer and Chris Hampton from within. Still, Lanning returns quarterback Dante Moore, dynamite wideout Dakorien Moore — who long-jumped 24 feet, 6.5 inches (7.48 meters) at track and field’s Oregon Team Invitational just for giggles — and wide receiver Evan Stewart, who is back from injury. Provided Oregon runs the ball and plays defense the way it did a year ago — and it should — there’s no reason the Ducks can’t win the first national championship in program history. The schedule, however, is anything but a cakewalk. Oregon must travel to USC, Ohio State and Michigan while also navigating games against a rising Boise State, a refreshed Oklahoma State and a retooled UCLA. Returning cornerback Brandon Finney Jr. and transfer safety Koi Perich should form the backbone of one of the nation’s best secondaries. The Big Ten is Oregon’s for the taking if the Ducks’ new coordinators can coach like the last two. Win total odds: Over 10.5 (+100), Under 10.5 (-120)Odds to win Big Ten: +260 (third) 2025 Record: 12-2 The SEC still belongs to Georgia. The Bulldogs have lost just once at home since 2019, but they still haven’t won a CFP game after earning a first-round bye in the 12-team era. That’s why so much of this season centers on returning quarterback Gunner Stockton. If Georgia fans will be happy with Stockton becoming Stetston Bennett 2.0 — 34 total touchdowns and just five interceptions — then so be it. Georgia fans can be forgiven if, in the course of shuffling the aisles at Walmart or waiting on an open table at Waffle House, they’ve uttered aloud, “Just, what the hell, Kirby?!” to no one in particular. This is because they’ve seen their program win back-to-back SEC titles while also watching their former starting quarterback lead Miami to the national championship game and Indiana winning the whole thing. The expectation is to become the first program since Florida’s 1993-96 run to win three straight conference championships — and then bring another national title back to Athens. The defense should help. Safety KJ Bolden and cornerback Ellis Robinson IV look like future All-Americans. The question is whether enough pieces emerge around them in the secondary to give the Bulldogs another national championship-caliber defense. Win total odds: Over 9.5 (-180), Under 9.5 (+150)Odds to win SEC: +260 (first) 2025 Record: 12-2 Look, I’ve said it for two years, and I don’t mind repeating myself for a third: Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is the best player in college football. He should’ve had a chance to become the first two-time winner of the Biletnikoff Award for the nation’s best receiver last season, but those voters had other ideas. Regardless, the good news for Ohio State is that replacing NFL talent becomes a lot easier when the sport’s most dominant player is lining up on your side. And if Buckeyes fans really are Viltrumite refugees temporarily stranded on Earth like in Robert Kirkman’s “Invicible,” then 2026 is the year they reclaim the throne. A win over Michigan. A Big Ten championship. A national championship. Ohio State hasn’t completed that triple crown since 2014, but the pieces are in place to make it happen. That doesn’t mean the road will be easy. The Buckeyes must replace 11 NFL Draft picks, including three first-round selections, while also breaking in a new offensive coordinator. Arthur Smith — who came from the Pittsburgh Steelers to be Ohio State’s newest offensive coordinator — has a track record of designing physical, effective rushing attacks in the NFL, and should be a welcome addition to a ground game that struggled against Power Four competition at times last season. Win total odds: Over 9.5 (-180), Under 9.5 (+150)Odds to win Big Ten: +180 (first) 2025 Record: 16-0 Lost in the shuffle of quarterbacks — a third new starter in as many years — and the rather exhausting list of talent and veteran leadership that departed Bloomington are a few important facts. 1. Curt Cignetti is still the head coach. 2. The best record in the sport over the last two seasons (27-2) belongs to Indiana. 3. The Hoosiers are the reigning national champions and the first team since 1894 to finish 16-0. In the college football universe, Indiana has become the Arrakian prophecy from “Dune” personified. As Paul Atreides once said, “I’m pointing the way.” He could have been talking about Cignetti. TCU transfer quarterback Josh Hoover is a big reason why Indiana remains as formidable in 2026 as it was during last year’s title run. The nation’s leading returning passer has thrown for 9,629 yards in just 36 career games. With Charlie Becker and Nick Marsh catching passes, the Hoosiers have the firepower to make another run at the top of the sport. Win total odds: Over 10.5 (+105), Under 10.5 (-125)Odds to win Big Ten: +255 (second)