The Big Ten\u2019s reign begins in earnest with three straight national titles from three different programs, while the once-mighty SEC has been boxed out, wiped out and crossed out of each of the last three national championship games. Washington, Notre Dame and Miami have all entered positions of power \u2014 otherwise known as “national title runner-up” \u2014 while the SEC has spent this stretch looking like Lincoln Riley-era Oklahoma: dangerous enough to make the College Football Playoff, but not complete enough to survive it. Who knew the Sooners\u2019 particular brand of excellence in ineptitude \u2014 0-5 in five CFP appearances dating back to 2015 \u2014 would prove infectious to the very conference that invited them to join their league? Certainly not I, and certainly not the SEC fan who had just watched 20 years of dominance dating back to Tommy Tuberville\u2019s 12-0 Auburn team and ending the moment Nick Saban decided he\u2019d rather talk about the sport for a living than coach it. What has that left us with? A Big Ten standing atop the mountain, daring the SEC to get back on its feet and fight back. So goes the sport here in May, just before we descend into another preseason full of prognostications, declarations and loud opinions. But fear not, my friend. Soon enough, these programs will play ball again. With that, here is a look at my post-spring top 25 rankings: Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel has built a program capable of staying competitive in the tumultuous NIL era. But this season, he faces a defining quarterback battle: career backup George MacIntyre versus five-star phenom Faizon Brandon. Getting this decision right could mean the difference between a CFP berth and a second straight loss to \u2014 gasp \u2014 Vanderbilt. The Utes were preparing to make Morgan Scalley their head coach in everything but name by 2026 anyway. Kyle Whittingham simply forced the timeline up. Utah\u2019s defense should again be fierce. What remains to be seen is how good quarterback Devon Dampier can be without Jason Beck calling plays and Kevin McGiven helping direct the offense. SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings has his issues, but he\u2019s 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 Rhett Lashlee\u2019s real problem to solve in 2026. Offensive coordinator Chad Morris is back. Defensive coordinator Tom Allen stayed. Quarterback Christopher Vizzina looks the part. But head coach Dabo Swinney enters 2026 with his back against the wall. Clemson produced more NFL Draft picks (nine) than wins (seven) in 2025, a reality that makes this season about more than merely hanging around the top 25. Swinney knows it, which is why I think Clemson responds. In 2025, I compared Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. to Kyler Murray, and he still looks every bit the part of that kind of dynamo. If the Huskies can develop a wide receiver as productive as Denzel Boston was a year ago, they can win double-digit games in the toughest league in the country. This is also Year 3 of the Jedd Fisch Experience in Seattle and, if his Arizona tenure taught us anything, it\u2019s that this is the year his teams tend to break through. Florida head coach Jon Sumrall might have pulled off his best recruiting win by convincing prized running back Jadan Baugh to stay another year. Getting back a tailback who accounted for 1,380 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns on a 3-9 team is impressive enough. Then again, Sumrall has reached a conference championship game in every season of his head-coaching career. Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz cares about throwing the ball about as much as Robert Downey Jr. cares about a thunderclap being quiet. So whether the starting quarterback is Jeremy Hecklinski or Hank Brown isn\u2019t as important as Phil Parker returning to call a defense that has consistently been one of the best in the sport. Eli Drinkwitz\u2019s team returns an abundance of talent, but uncertainty surrounds All-SEC running back Ahmad Hardy, who was shot at a concert in Mississippi early Sunday morning and remains in stable condition following surgery. With no clear timeline for his return to football activities, expect Jamal Roberts to take on a larger role in 2026. Roberts carried the ball 124 times for 753 yards a year ago, including a 110-yard, one-touchdown performance against Texas A&M. Former Ole Miss quarterback Austin Simmons will lead the Tigers’ offense after beating out Trinidad Chambliss during the 2025 camp competition. That alone is enough reason to believe Simmons could emerge as one of the nation\u2019s top signal-callers in 2026. 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\u2019ll get his first opportunity to do more with more. The result should be a drastic turnaround from PSU\u2019s disastrous 2025 season. I didn\u2019t expect QB Bear Bachmeier to have a breakout season as a true freshman, nor did I expect BYU to lose to just one team \u2014 twice \u2014 in 2025. But after a 12-2 season and some recent turbulence for reigning Big 12 champion Texas Tech, Kalani Sitake\u2019s Cougars look like a legitimate contender to win the league and earn a trip to the CFP. Kyle Whittingham steps into a program with everything needed 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 seasons 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\u2019s elite teams. Yes, head coach Lincoln Riley is great. Yes, QB Jayden Maiava is good. But Gary Patterson is one of the best defensive playcallers the sport has ever seen, and he\u2019s running the defense at SC in 2026. That alone is enough to believe the Trojans can make a real run at their first CFP appearance. Of course, doing it won\u2019t be easy. They\u2019ll have to go through Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana \u2014 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. 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 need to build a quick rapport with 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 year, a streak Tennessee hasn\u2019t managed against Alabama at home since 2000. Following Lane Kiffin\u2019s departure, Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding answered questions about just how good he can be for the Rebels with the two biggest wins in school history \u2014 all while Kiffin raided the Ole Miss roster and staff. Star QB 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\u2019s a better coach than Kiffin on Sept. 19 when LSU shows up to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi. Well, quarterback Brendan Sorsby certainly complicated the math on Texas Tech. Sorsby, one of the top transfer portal additions in college football this offseason, is reportedly under NCAA investigation for alleged gambling activity involving his time at Indiana. Backup quarterback Will Hammond is not expected to be game-ready for Week 1, leaving the Red Raiders potentially forced to turn to a third option \u2014 possibly former Tulsa quarterback Kirk Francis \u2014 to open their defense of the Big 12 title. 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 diversifies his playcalling, and Brent Venables again fields one of the stingiest defenses in the sport, Oklahoma has a real path back to the CFP. The Sooners also have a chance to make a statement early, traveling to Ann Arbor on Sept. 12 to face Michigan for a second straight year. 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\u2019t reach the CFP. Well, at A&M, he might actually have a point. The good news is the Aggies did just that in 2025, but they crashed out against rival Texas with a chance to make the SEC title game. Eleven wins doesn\u2019t mean much in College Station without one coming against the Longhorns. That reality has to change for Elko to feel secure at the end of this season, and he\u2019ll have to do it with OC Holmon Wiggins leading the offense and quarterback Marcel Reed taking a major leap if A&M is going to chase its first conference title of any kind since 1998. Hoo, boy! If I told you 2026 LSU looks like 2025 Texas Tech with a little seasoning, you\u2019d probably understand what I mean: the Bayou Bengals have decided money ain\u2019t 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 r\u00e9sum\u00e9. 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\u2019t won a national title since 2019, LSU looks fully built to change that. Former Duke quarterback Darian Mensah broke his contract to join the Hurricanes after leading the ACC in passing yards (3,973) and passing touchdowns (34) 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\u2019s No. 1 overall selection after a 2024 season in Coral Gables, and Carson Beck\u2019s run to the national title game in 2025. The schedule isn\u2019t a joke, but that\u2019s only because the punchline already happened in 2024, when Northern Illinois walked into Notre Dame and left with a win and a $1.4 million payday for the effort. Marcus Freeman\u2019s Fighting Irish won\u2019t play anything close to a ranked opponent until Oct. 17 against BYU, and they shouldn\u2019t drop a game before then \u2014 if at all. Miami is the toughest opponent on the schedule, and I have Notre Dame ranked higher than the Canes. But don\u2019t let that stop you from believing in Notre Dame’s ability to lose and then refuse to play in the postseason. Last season was head coach Steve Sarkisian\u2019s first at Texas without a 1,000-yard rusher, so he went out and fixed it. Former Arizona State running back Raleek Brown and former NC State back Hollywood Smothers arrive via the portal, along with former Auburn wide receiver Cam Coleman, to support the most bankable player in the sport, Arch Manning, as Texas chases its first national title appearance since 2009. The Longhorns simply can’t go ahead and lose to a 3-9 team like they did last year and ruin their chances at making the CFP. We remember the last time this program began the season ranked No. 1: they lost their season-opener, and they never looked capable of getting it back. The Longhorns will get an early measuring stick Sept. 12, when they host Ohio State, the Big Ten title runner-up, on the Forty Acres. Dan Lanning\u2019s program is dealing with coordinator turnover on both sides of the ball for the first time in his tenure. Even so, the Ducks return quarterback Dante Moore, explosive wide receiver Dakorien Moore \u2014 who long jumped 24\u20196.5″ (7.48m) at the Oregon Team Invitational just for giggles \u2014 and Evan Stewart back from injury. If Oregon can sustain its usual level of physicality on the line of scrimmage, there\u2019s no reason the Ducks can\u2019t be in position to play for their first national title in 2026. The challenge is that the path won\u2019t be forgiving. Oregon travels to USC, Ohio State and Michigan, in addition to budding Boise State, refreshed Oklahoma State and reformed UCLA. Georgia fans can be forgiven if, while shuffling through Walmart aisles or waiting on an open table at Waffle House, they\u2019ve uttered aloud: “Just what the hell, Kirby?” It comes from winning back-to-back SEC championships while seeing a former starter lead Miami to a national title game and Indiana somehow win the whole thing. Georgia fans know their program has underperformed, but with quarterback Gunner Stockton heading into Year 3, the expectation is nothing short of becoming the first three-peat SEC champion since Florida\u2019s stretch from 1993 to 1996, and a third national title in six years. I\u2019ve said it for two straight years, and I don\u2019t mind repeating myself for a third time: Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is the best player in college football. He should have had a chance to become the first two-time winner of the Biletnikoff Award last season, but the voters made that impossible. The talent is there for this Ohio State team to win a true triple crown for the first time since 2014: a victory in The Game, a Big Ten championship, and a national title. Lost in the shuffle of quarterbacks \u2014 a third new starter in as many years \u2014 and the rather exhausting list of talent and veteran departures in Bloomington are a few very important facts. Curt Cignetti is still the head coach. Indiana owns the best record in college football over the last two seasons (27-2). And the Hoosiers are the reigning national champions and the first 16-0 title team since 1894. In this version of college football\u2019s known universe, Indiana is the Arrakis prophecy personified. “I\u2019m pointing the way,” Paul Atreides once said. He might as well have been talking about Cignetti\u2019s Indiana program.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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