9 college football predictions for 2026 season, including national champion and Heisman winner

The college football season is right around the corner, and it’s time to make some bold predictions we’re sure to be mocked for when the dust settles — or even mid-season. At this point in the year we’re all going off vibes, and trying to read tea leaves. We have a general idea of who should be good, but the best laid plans often go awry, as Clemson showed us in 2025.

Dante Moore wins the Heisman Trophy

Kicking things off with a safer pick. Oregon QB Dante Moore is primed to absolutely stuff the stat sheet this season and assert himself as both the Heisman Trophy winner for 2026, as well as the No. 1 pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.

Moore put himself in the conversation a year ago with a less-than-ideal group of weapons around him. Yes, the Ducks will absolutely miss TE Kenyon Saddiq and WR Malik Benson — but in their stead they get a major injection of talent from Evan Stewart, who missed the 2025 season with a knee injury. Stewart joins a deep, talented group of young receivers who will give Moore a deeper, more talented pool of playmakers than he had a year ago, and they will soar inside the already potent Oregon offense.

Belichick finishes the season at UNC … but not Bill

The water is getting hot in Chapel Hill, and it’s tough to envision a scenario where Bill Belichick comes away unscathed. Not only did the Heels have a disastrous season a year ago when expectations were high, but now the school is facing an NCAA NIL investigation just after Belichick’s right-hand man Michael Lombardi was suspended for an HR violation.

North Carolina took a mammoth step back offensively last season, but defensively they vastly improved — under Steve Belichick. There is absolutely a scenario brewing where Bill can cook up a reason to walk away amid controversy and get his son the job. It would save a little face for the search committee that brought in the Belichicks, and try to get this program back on track.

Notre Dame complains its way to a CFP berth

We’re going to see a very similar season from Notre Dame in 2026 that we did a year ago, albeit with a different outcome. There’s a lot of hype about the Irish being a lock playoff team that gets in on their own merit, but I think we’re going to see this season end with a total tossup as to whether or not they belong in the field.

The difference this time is that the complaining from a year ago works, and the Irish make it into the playoff — even while having a resume that is less-than-ideal. From there they will either get bounced early proving everyone else right, or make a run all the way to the natty using the chip on their shoulder as motivation.

Lane Kiffin gets a rude awakening

There’s entirely too much hype around LSU and Lane Kiffin right now. No doubt they will become good, but there will be some significant growing pains in 2026. Lane went 5-5 in his first season at Ole Miss, he went 8-5 in his first season at USC. There’s no doubt the Tigers boast a brilliant roster, but success won’t come immediately in Baton Rouge, leading to some anxiousness in the fanbase.

The expectation is that Kiffin will come in and immediately lead LSU to the playoff, and I think that is going to really hurt when this becomes a building/culture installation season.

Ole Miss is laughing

Dovetailing off my prediction that LSU will have some struggles, Ole Miss will be enjoying every ounce of the schadenfreude left behind in Lane Kiffin’s wake. This definitely feels like some one-year gloating, but Hotty Toddy has some reason to be hyped with the return of Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy.

Getting back to the playoff might be a step too far, but when the dust settles I think they finish ahead of LSU in the rankings — and that’s good enough for the fans.

USC takes a big step back

It’s been a significant struggle for USC as the Trojans adapt to life in the Big Ten, and that gets considerably more difficult for Lincoln Riley in 2026. Losing Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane are massive hits to the offense the program doesn’t really have great answers for. This is the heart of the Riley Air Raid offense being ripped away, and the Trojans are already a middling defensive team, finishing 51st in defense this past year.

This slip isn’t necessarily Riley’s fault as coach, though he’s going to get blamed for the errors facing this team.

We leave the season still having questions about Arch Manning

Pressure, expectation, and lineage have aligned to create a perfect storm of hype around Arch Manning that has existed ever since he began the recruiting process. Thus far we’ve seen a solid, albeit unremarkable quarterback who certainly looks like a draftable talent in the NFL — but perhaps not the No. 3 type pick people earmarked him to be as a freshman.

The major hopes of the NFL are that he’ll answer those questions in 2026, cementing himself as a top pick in the process, but I predict we close out the year with many of the same questions about Arch as we have right now. The accuracy and decision making are questionable, sometimes he plays too conservatively in the pocket, there isn’t a looseness or naturalness to his game you’d really want to see at this point. In short: He plays like a kid with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

This 2026 season is about separating himself from Dante Moore and Julian Sayin in the eyes of NFL teams. I don’t think that happens, and we hit draft season with teams needing to project his ability even more, and bank on that bloodline to pull him through.

The Dabo Swinney era ends

It’s a pivotal year for Dabo Swinney and Clemson where the school needs to decide if it’s willing to fade into obscurity with their legendary coach, or carve a new path to ensure they don’t keep struggling in the ACC. Swinney has struggled to adapt to the new college football landscape, bemoaning NIL, and the marketing era of college programs. He’s been swimming against the tide, and Clemson has gone nowhere as a result.

Roster atrophy has hit Clemson hard. They turn to Christopher Vizzina at quarterback, who was once a highly-touted prospect but has been languishing on the bench and has limited reps as a result. There aren’t a lot of sure things on the Tigers roster right now, and it’s going to make for another rough year.

Swinney leaves Clemson with a legacy, but not recent success.

Ohio State wins the natty

I’ll sandwich this with another prediction I feel is a little safe. There’s just so much to like about Ohio State this season. The pairing of Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith is going to eat all season long, and despite the Buckeyes losing so many players to the NFL Draft, you look at their roster and it’s back to being totally stacked.

Ryan Day gets his second natty, Sayin and Smith go on to be Top 5 picks in the NFL Draft, and the OSU train just keeps rolling.