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Record predictions for every college football team in 2026: Who will win each conference?
USA TODAY Sports has culled through depth charts and schedules to predict the final records for every team in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Prepare your anger accordingly.
Our preseason outlook has Ohio State (Big Ten), Texas (SEC), Miami (ACC) and Texas Tech (Big 12) taking home Power Four conference championships. While not picked to win their respective leagues, teams such as Oregon , Indiana and Georgia are expected to challenge for automatic College Football Playoff berths.
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In the Group of Six, our favorites are Navy (American), Western Kentucky (Conference USA), Miami Ohio (MAC), UNLV (Mountain West), Boise State ( Pac-12 ) and James Madison (Sun Belt).
Here’s how we see the highly anticipated 2026 season playing out across the FBS:
Big Ten
Two teams lead the way in Ohio State and Oregon, followed closely by defending national champion Indiana and a potential playoff sleeper in Southern California. Washington is lurking as an at-large contender and Penn State looks to make noise against a friendly schedule in Matt Campbell’s first season .
Texas and Georgia are followed by Oklahoma and Alabama, with the Crimson Tide still a bit of a wild card given the uncertainty at quarterback with new starter Keelon Russell . Mississippi, Texas A&M and LSU are definite playoff contenders, just with slightly less room for error. New coaches at Arkansas, Kentucky and Auburn come in near the bottom of the standings.
Miami is the no-doubt team to beat in the ACC , though SMU and maybe even Clemson could spoil the attempt of the Hurricanes to win the conference for the first time. Virginia Tech will make an immediate jump under James Franklin. You’ll have to scroll down to find Bill Belichick and North Carolina , again picked to finish well shy of bowl eligibility.
Even with Brendan Sorsby gone , Texas Tech is going to be hard to beat in the Big 12. As was the case in 2025, Brigham Young looks to be the Red Raiders’ biggest threat. Houston has made major gains under coach Willie Fritz and might be poised to take the next step into the top two and make a conference championship game appearance. If things go as we expect at Colorado, there will be some tough questions asked about the state of Deion Sanders’ program.
Notre Dame is aimed at the program’s first national championship since 1988 thanks to a loaded roster keyed by rising superstar quarterback CJ Carr . The Huskies look to remain a bowl team under new coach Jason Candle, formerly of Toledo.
Navy is the safest pick among a handful of teams with the potential to win eight or more games. One is East Carolina, which has played very well under coach Blake Harrell. Tulane looks to remain relevant with former assistant Will Hall replacing Florida-bound Jon Sumrall.
There’s a clear top three in Western Kentucky, Jacksonville State and Kennesaw State. The Hilltoppers have won at least six games in every non-pandemic season since 2019; that streak should continue this season. Delaware is a team to watch thanks to a high-powered offense that led the conference in yards per game a year ago.
Miami (Ohio) has the best roster in the MAC and one of the deepest rosters in the entire Group of Six. That gives the RedHawks a legitimate shot at representing the Group of Six in the 12-team playoff. The talent in the MAC quickly drops off, leaving as many as five teams that will struggle to win more than four games.
UNLV might be a little more susceptible to an upset than in Dan Mullen’s first season but remains the team to beat in the reworked Mountain West. New Mexico has other ideas after a very successful 2025. The most intriguing team in the MWC and perhaps the larger Group of Six is North Dakota State, which dominated the Championship Subdivision and is pegged to hit the ground running as a new member of the FBS .
Boise State changes leagues but remains one of the elite teams in the Group of Six. Fresno State is nipping at the Broncos’ heels . But both teams are a step ahead of the next tier of Pac-12 contenders, headed by San Diego State and Washington State. Pac-12 teams will play four non-conference games, seven conference games and then “a home-and-home flex matchup” on Nov. 28, with pairings following the previous Saturday.
James Madison has the personnel and coaching to stay atop the Sun Belt, though getting back into the playoff will be a tall order. If the Dukes backslide, Old Dominion is poised to win the division. There’s a logjam in the West, where any one of Troy, Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech and Louisiana-Lafayette has what it takes to reach the Sun Belt championship.
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