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AIPROPX ReportYahoo Sports · 2h ago
26 Bold College Football Predictions That Just Might Be Right
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ohio State is good, the SEC has lots of great teams, blah, blah, blah … enough of the boring, predictable college football analysis stuff. What if I told you last year at this time that preseason top-four Penn State and Clemson teams would barely be bowl eligible, that Fernando Mendoza would win the Heisman, or that Florida State would rock Alabama, start 3-0, and finish with a losing season? Continuing with our 26 for 2026 series, here are 26 giant calls for the upcoming college football season. You get to the Hall of Fame batting .300, and that’s the goal here. Some of this will be right, some will come close, and most will be embarrassingly wrong. After a miserably dumb offseason, let’s have some fun.
26 for ’26, No. 12: Crazy College Football Predictions for 2026
26: Winningest Programs Yet To Make the CFP 25: ACC Key Questions 24: Big 12 Key Questions 23: Big Ten Key Questions 22: Top 2027 NFL Draft Prospects 21: SEC Key Questions 20: What’s Next in Realignment? 19. Ranking all 30 New Head Coaches 18. Who Has the Easiest Schedules? 17. Who Has the Hardest Schedules? 16. Who Might Be the Next Indiana? 15. Group of Six Teams with Best CFP Shot 14. 5 Teams Due For a Letdown 13. 5 Programs Under the Most Pressure
26. The Big 12 will be the most interesting conference
Every single team has a story. Last year’s bad teams – Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma State – are more interesting than your conference’s bad teams. The midsection is better, and there will be a whale of a fight up top for a league that fights to get noticed by the College Football Playoff committee.
25. Jason Eck and Sean Lewis will be the next hot head coaches, but …
Not at Wisconsin, after Luke Fickell does just enough to stick around. San Diego State’s Sean Lewis (an ex-Badger) and New Mexico’s Jason Eck (also an ex-Badger) will have big seasons in very different ways as they become the big prospects on the coaching carousel. – New Mexico 2026 Team Preview – San Diego State 2026 Team Preview
24. All 16 SEC head coaches will still be there in 2027
The one possible exception is Jeff Lebby at Mississippi State, but with Kalen DeBoer’s huge buyout, and six new guys taking over, the SEC’s coaching situation will stand pat.
23. You’ve never heard of the Big Ten’s best NFL quarterback prospect
Oregon’s Dante Moore should be a New York Jet right now, and Michigan’s Bryce Underwood, Ohio State’s Julian Sayin, USC’s Jayden Maiava, and Washington’s Demond Williams are all terrific, too. Minnesota’s 6-5, 230-pound Drake Lindsey is about to become this year’s Quarterback You Need To Know. – Minnesota 2026 Team Preview
22. Michigan will beat Indiana
The image of a postgame interview with Kyle Whittingham, after a stalled deep Indiana drive in the final moments leads to on-field chaos, has been stuck in my brain since the moment he was hired. (For what it’s worth, I just mistakenly typed fired.) – Indiana 2026 Team Preview – Michigan 2026 Team Preview
21. Absoluely no one will know exactly who’s in the Pac-12
Announcers and commentators will fumble over the new Pac-12. It’ll be a blast, though, especially when UNLV has to go to Hawaii early on, and North Dakota State makes its conference debut at Air Force. (That was a trick – all those teams are still in the Mountain West.)
20. UMass will win more games than Colorado
Fortunately, if Coach Prime has his way, the media will be barred from reporting on it. This pains me as a Deion Sanders fan, but his Buffaloes will beat Weber State and should beat UCF – getting the team from Orlando in Boulder on November 28th. They’ll be the underdog against everyone else. UMass will beat Sacred Heart and Stonehill, and they’ll slip one past the goalie for a third win. – Colorado 2026 Team Preview – UMass 2026 Team Preview
19. Alabama will be fine …
Sort of. The Tide will start 5-0, and everyone will do the Bama is Back thing, and then Georgia will happen, and so will Texas A&M, and so will at Tennessee and at LSU. That’s when everyone will do the Kalen DeBoer Buyout thing. – Alabama 2026 Team Preview
18. Florida State won’t be fine …
Sort of. It’ll go bowling, and there will be moments overall, but there will be a problem early on with SMU and at Alabama coming up in September, and road games at Louisville and Miami in October, and then a visit from Clemson on Halloween, and then road trips to Boston College and Pitt, and then NC State and Florida … Okay, no. Florida State won’t be fine. – Florida State 2026 Team Preview
17. Kansas State will be really good right away
Because America just doesn’t pay attention to the Big 12, it gets lost that Kansas State won nine games or more three seasons in a row before last year. This needed a tweak, not an overhaul, and that’s exactly what new head coach Collin Klein brings. There will be mistakes – Klein is just getting going – but Kansas State will make it four seasons with nine or more wins in the last five. – Kansas State 2026 Team Preview
16. Billy Napier will keep James Madison going
Things obviously didn’t go right for Napier at Florida, but for the most part, his Gators lost to really, really good teams. It’s Florida, and it’s supposed to beat the really, really good teams, but … James Madison doesn’t play any really, really good teams this season. – James Madison 2026 Team Preview
15. Will Stein will be right
The record won’t reflect it right away – the schedule is too brutal – but Kentucky really will be better, and it’ll be because of the new h...
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