2026 College Football Preview

Lubbock, TX- College football is finally upon us! It's so close you can taste it. The food is tasting better, the beer is going down smoother, and we all can't wait to just enjoy the best that college football has to offer us in 2026!

This season there are no shortage of fantastic storylines: Texas Tech being the new villains of the sport, Lane Kiffin's era begins at LSU, Oregon finally having their best opportunity to win a National Championship under Dan Lanning, and more! This article could be about every single storyline that we'd like to cover here at CSN, but as this will be an opinion-based piece, I (Pat Cockrell) will be picking my three favorite stories for the upcoming 2026 College Football season.

I would like to be biased and write about Texas Tech in this article, but instead I'm going to focus this piece outside of Lubbock. One of my top storylines going into the 2026 season is North Dakota State joining the Mountain West Conference (being immediately eligible to compete for the conference title and playoff berth), and really the G6 College Football Playoff race as a whole. North Dakota State has championship DNA already built into their program and this will make them a formidable contender for the Mountain West Conference, a conference in which, in my opinion, could have two teams fighting for the G6 playoff spot at the end of the season. UNLV will look to get to its fourth straight Championship Game appearance, and they finally don't have Boise State in their way as they look to get that elusive title. New Mexico and coach Jason Eck will have one of the conference's best defenses in 2026 with many of their strongest opponents having to go visit Albuquerque to play the Lobos, and North Dakota State has the ultimate chance to come in and play spoiler to both teams Mountain West title ambitions. Boise State will still be the favorite to claim the playoff spot for the G6 this season, but they have Memphis, Oregon and Western Michigan as three early season tests to see how good the Broncos will be this season. Western Michigan looks to repeat as MAC champions with Boise State on the schedule as a giant resume booster for the committee, and Memphis has a great chance to make some early noise having UNLV in Week 0 and Boise State on their non-conference schedule to put eyes on the tigers. Overall the Group of 6 playoff spot race is a fascinating aspect for the 2026 season.

The second major storyline to point out is that 2026 might by Dan Lanning's best chance at winning a national championship at Oregon so far in his tenure in Eugene. The Ducks might have the best overall roster in college football with Dante Moore deciding to return at quarterback. There is talent and depth at every single position. Oregon's defense is a top three defense in the country with A'Mauri Washington and Teitum Tuioti leading a stacked front seven. Evan Stewart and Jamari Johnson are going to be threats all over the field for Dante Moore to target, and they have strong continuity along the offensive line. They do have to visit Columbus, Ohio for a date with the Buckeyes in November which will be a tough test, but if this team gets out of there with a win, look for them to play for a Big Ten championship and a top 4 seed in the College Football Playoff. Dan Lanning will just need to win multiple playoff games to silence the doubters.

Now for the Big XII as a whole. The conference as a whole this season has elevated with teams like Utah, BYU, Houston, and Arizona being legitimate threats to play for and possibly win the conference title in 2026. Now most have picked Texas Tech, and rightfully so, to repeat as Big XII Champions in 2026, and to have BYU return to Arlington for rematch of the 2025 Championship Game. While that is a good pick to have with the continuity of BYU's roster and the excellence of coach Kalani Sitake, the most interesting team to watch to play in Arlington against the Red Raiders is the Cougars' hated rivals, the Utah Utes. Yes, they have a new head coach in Morgan Scalley, but Scalley isn't someone who is unfamiliar with the Utes program and culture. The have elite quarterback play with Devon Dampier and have a great back with Wayshawn Parker. The schedule is really what makes Utah interesting this season. In the same luck that Texas Tech received for their conference slate, the Utes toughest opponents have to visit Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake. The Big XII Championship game appearance could truly come down to the Holy War game this season and that makes it all the more fascinating.

Overall, the 2026 College Football season has too many great storylines to cover, and we at Campus Sports Network and around the country cannot wait to kick off Week 0. Further in-depth preseason discussions can be found on the Campus Report Podcast wherever you like to listen. That's all for this blog post, but remember: If it's on Campus, it's on CSN!