10 biggest storylines entering the 2026 college football season

With the start of the 2026 college football season officially now just days away, it's a perfect time to refresh yourself on some of the biggest themes that will dominate the season.

Here are 10 of the biggest storylines as we enter the third season of the 12-team College Football Playoff era.

If we're counting recent playoff titles as the ultimate barometer, the Big Ten currently has the upper hand. The league has won the last three national championships with three different teams — Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana.

Will one of those three teams win the title again to extend the streak to four? Can Oregon be the team to make it four in a row?

Perhaps tellingly, AP voters are backing the Big Ten early this season. All 69 first-place votes in the preseason poll went to Big Ten teams . Not a single SEC team received a first-place vote, though the league had seven teams in the top 13 and nine teams in the top 25.

The SEC again has an argument that it's the deeper conference in 2026. Last season, seven teams finished with two or fewer conference losses. The Big Ten had just five such teams and only one other with three conference losses.

But the arguments over conference depth are pretty, well, shallow when one league is hogging all the national titles. The Big Ten's claim to being the best conference in college football will only get stronger with another championship this season.

The 12-team playoff is back for a third season and yes, it looks different once again.

The two main changes prevent repeats of what happened at the end of the 2025 season. Thanks to the rule that put the top five conference champions in the field, ACC champion Duke missed out on the playoff in favor of James Madison.

That rule is gone. Instead, all four power conference champions are guaranteed a spot in the field while the fifth spot for a champion will go to the highest-ranked Group of Six team. The odds of two Group of Six teams getting into the field again are extremely low.

Additionally, Notre Dame is guaranteed a spot in the field if it's in the top 12 in the final CFP rankings. A year ago, the Irish were the first team out of the field when Miami jumped them in the final rankings. But Notre Dame was still in the top 12 even with Miami ahead. Had the rule been in effect in 2025, Notre Dame would have still made the postseason and Miami, which made the national title game, would have been left out.

What will playoff look like in the future?

The rivalry between the SEC and the Big Ten is going to continue throughout the 2026 season in playoff discussions too. The two conferences have all the power when it comes to figuring out the future format of the postseason. And they haven't figured out how to come to an agreement on it.

The Big Ten initially proposed a format that would guarantee it and the SEC more spots than the other power conferences. That idea went nowhere. Now, the Big Ten is in favor of expanding the playoff to 24 teams and has even offered to scrap the Big Ten title game if the playoff doubles in size.

Additionally, a 16-team playoff has been floated with four play-in games ahead of a playoff format that looks like the current 12-team iteration. Does that have any support?

Like last season, the future of the CFP is going to be hotly contested. And guess what? If there's no consensus, the 12-team playoff is going to return for 2027.

After leading Ole Miss to the College Football Playoff in 2025, Lane Kiffin couldn't resist LSU and agreed to join the Tigers before the postseason began. By now, you know that Ole Miss didn't want Kiffin coaching the Rebels in the playoff while also working at a bitter rival and promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding.

Now, Ole Miss enters the 2026 season with similar national title odds and a higher preseason ranking in the AP Top 25 as Kiffin overhauled LSU's roster. In are former Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt, ex-Colorado OT Jordan Seaton and former Ole Miss edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen, among others.

After firing Brian Kelly following a 24-point home loss to Texas A&M, the Tigers finished 7-6 in 2025. It was the school's sixth-straight season with at least three losses since an undefeated run to the national championship in 2019.

No one rational is asking Kiffin to lead the Tigers to an undefeated season in 2026. But as Ole Miss is again a playoff contender, the Rebels are the bar in his first season in Baton Rouge. Oh, LSU heads to Oxford in Week 3, too. It's hard to think of a bigger revenge game for a home fan base in quite some time.

What will coaching carousel look like in 2026?

The firings of Kelly and James Franklin during the middle of the 2025 season were the start of an especially active coaching cycle. More than 30 FBS schools hired new coaches ahead of the 2026 season.

The coaching carousel can't spin as fast during and after the 2026 season , right?

We can't rule anything out after last year — no one saw Franklin's midseason firing coming at this time a year ago — but all signs point to fewer coaching changes. Coaches like Florida State's Mike Norvell, Wisconsin's Luke Fickell and Baylor's Dave Aranda enter the season with pressure for their teams to put up winning seasons, but with 22 power conference coaches entering either their first or second seasons at their current schools, there likely won't be as much action.

The Pac-12 is reborn with six new members

After two years with just Oregon State and Washington State as its members, the Pac-12 added six teams ahead of the 2026 season.

Most of those teams came from the Mountain West, as Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State came over. Texas State joined from the Sun Belt.

This version of the Pac-12 won't be mistaken for a power conference. It barely has enough teams for a conference championship game. Since there are only eight schools in the league, each team plays another twice in the regular season and those matchups will be finalized before the end of the season.

But despite its limited numbers, this is a league that should compete with the American to be the best non-power conference in football this season. Boise State is one of the Group of Six favorites to make the playoff, and a team like Fresno State or even San Diego State could even make a case for the postseason with a Pac-12 title.

What will North Dakota State do at the top level?

The Mountain West went out and got one of the most successful football programs of the 2000s to help replenish its ranks after the Pac-12 took five of its members.

Longtime FCS powerhouse North Dakota State is now at the top level of college football and no one should be surprised if the Bison compete for the Mountain West title. After all, this is a team that has won nine games against FBS schools over the past 21 seasons.

The conference schedule isn't inviting; the Bison have to travel to Air Force, UNLV, New Mexico and Hawaii. Those are four of the best remaining programs in the Mountain West. But the Bison should get at least one win in those games, and the non-conference schedule is extremely easy. Thanks to an NCAA rule change, North Dakota State is eligible to go to a bowl this season and it'll be a shock if the Bison aren't bowl eligible.

Punts will look a bit different in 2026 and many coaches weren't happy about it. Thanks to an offseason rule change , teams who line up to punt will now have to have at least five players wearing Nos. 50-79 on the line of scrimmage. If they don't, certain conditions will need to be met and any players who are on the line as part of a numbering exception cannot shift before the snap.

The Big Ten's coaches were all apparently against the rule and Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, the punt-friendliest head coach in college football, said there was "no compelling reason" for the rule change.

The rules are likely to prevent teams from designing clever punt fake concepts to confuse their opponents. But let's be real, we don't need fewer punt fakes. We need more of them. Could the changes lead to more blocked punts if returning teams are no longer as scared of a fake as they would have been?

Which school will have a first-year coach bounce?

With 17 power conference coaches in their first year at their new schools, there are bound to be at least a few teams that make a major leap from a disappointing 2025. Who are the likeliest candidates?

After a disaster of a 1-11 season in 2025, Oklahoma State hired North Texas coach Eric Morris. Former UNT QB Drew Mestemaker is now in Stillwater, along with prolific RB Caleb Hawkins. A Week 2 game against Oregon will likely be a loss, but the Cowboys don't play either BYU or Utah and also avoid Arizona. A bowl game is very possible.

UCLA is also in line to improve after a 3-9 season in 2025. The Bruins hired Bob Chesney from James Madison, and RB Wayne Knight followed him to Los Angeles along with a bunch of other former Dukes. A stronger running game is key for UCLA; QB Nico Iamaleava was the team's leading rusher in 2025.

It's time to get used to corporate logos on your favorite team's jersey

If you're a soccer fan, you're probably numb to the sponsor names and logos that are commonplace on the front of jerseys in nearly every league across the globe. If you're a baseball fan, you're probably already glossing over the corporate logos on the sleeve of MLB jerseys, though the helmet sponsorships in the postseason are still a bit weird.

How long will it take to get used to similar branding in college sports? The 2026-27 school year is the first where schools can sell corporate logo space on their jerseys and numerous programs across the country have already inked seven-figure deals. Heck, the Big 12 even has a deal with Monster to plaster the energy drink company's logo on every jersey and playing surface.

The patches are going to look out of place at first, but as the weeks go on, we're inevitably going to get used to them. It stinks that corporatism has invaded another part of college football, but it was also the natural progression as schools turn over every leaf looking for revenue-generating opportunities.