The Wait Is Almost Over — And This Season Has the Receipts
College football has a funny way of humbling the loudest voices in the room. Last season, Arch Manning showed up to Austin with the weight of a dynasty on his shoulders — and quietly, methodically, struggled to live up to it. Indiana hoisted a national title. Ohio State licked its wounds. Notre Dame fell just short. And now, with the calendar flipping toward fall, 2026 has the look of a season that's been soaking in gasoline for twelve months, just waiting for a match.
The predictions machine is in full swing, and frankly, the vibes are immaculate. New coaches, generational talents, blue bloods with something to prove — this isn't just another season of college football. It's a reckoning. Here are seven predictions for what's coming.
1. Arch Manning Will Be a Heisman Finalist and Lead Texas to the CFB Playoff
Let's get something straight: Arch Manning did not have a bad 2025 season. He had a human one. For a kid carrying the Manning surname into the most scrutinized quarterback room in the country, pressing too hard in September was practically baked into the cake. By December, though, Manning was carving up defenses — 14 touchdowns against just two picks in his final six games, adding big-time scrambles against Texas A&M and Michigan that rebuilt the Heisman hype around him like scaffolding around a skyscraper.
He threw for 3,163 yards and 26 touchdowns in year one, rushed for nearly 400 more, and even caught a touchdown pass in one of the more unhinged plays of the season. Now he enters 2026 with a full year of reps, an elite offensive line returning, and a new weapon in top-rated transfer wideout Cam Coleman. The Longhorns have national championship expectations, and this time, Manning has experience instead of pressure driving the ship. The Heisman trophy has a Texas-shaped hole in it, and Manning is arriving with the tools to fill it. Bet accordingly.
2. New Head Coach Kyle Whittingham Will Lead Michigan to the CFB Playoff
There is something poetic about Kyle Whittingham ending up in Ann Arbor. After 21 seasons building Utah into a legitimate program — multiple Rose Bowl appearances, Sugar Bowl titles, a culture of toughness that every Power Five coach tried to replicate — he signed a five-year, $8.2 million-per-year deal to become the 22nd head football coach in Michigan history on December 26, 2025. Replacing Sherrone Moore, who was fired for cause, Whittingham arrived with exactly the disposition Michigan fans have been starving for: disciplined, physical, defense-first football.
With sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood already locked in as the starter and his development becoming Whittingham's north star, the Wolverines aren't rebuilding — they're reloading under someone whose résumé speaks for itself. The 2026 schedule is brutal in spots, but Michigan has elite talent on the roster and a coaching legend running the program. Don't sleep on them in the Big Ten race. Whittingham has been to this movie before; he just changed theaters.
3. Notre Dame Returns to the CFB Playoff — as the 12 Seed
Notre Dame is the program that college football loves to debate. Independent schedule, religious tradition, legions of fans who haven't been to South Bend — and yet, year after year, the Fighting Irish find ways to be relevant when the bracket gets set. In 2026, they're back in the conversation, led by a roster with genuine upside at quarterback and a defense that could make them a nuisance for any top seed.
The Fighting Irish don't need to win a conference title — they need 11 wins and enough quality victories to demand a top-12 ranking. That's eminently doable with the talent Marcus Freeman has assembled. As the 12 seed, they'd enter the playoff as a dangerous underdog, the exact role Notre Dame thrives in historically. Don't rule out a deep run once they're in the field. The Irish have been close enough to smell the confetti before. They're not stopping here.
4. Ohio State Wins Its First Big Ten Title Since 2020
Ohio State has spent the last two years watching the Big Ten throne get occupied by everybody else. Indiana grabbed the title and the natty last season. Penn State has been knocking. Oregon entered the conference like a freight train. But the Buckeyes? They've been sitting on a roster that, by virtually every measure, is the most talented in the country — and they just haven't closed the deal.
That changes in 2026. Ohio State returns a loaded offense anchored by one of the best players in college football, faces a challenging but winnable schedule, and enters the season with a chip large enough to use as a surfboard. Ryan Day's team plays Oregon, Texas, Indiana, Michigan, and USC — a murderers' row of marquee matchups. Win those, and the Big Ten title is theirs. Five years is too long to wait for a conference crown at a program like this. The drought ends in 2026.
5. Jeremiah Smith Wins the 2026 Heisman Trophy
Wide receivers almost never win the Heisman. Travis Hunter's 2024 run was a once-in-a-generation anomaly driven by his dual-role magic. Before that, you have to go back to Desmond Howard in 1991 to find a wideout taking home the hardware. So when a prediction says a receiver wins it, it better come with receipts.
Jeremiah Smith comes with receipts. In just two seasons at Ohio State, he has accumulated 2,558 receiving yards and 27 touchdowns, becoming the fastest Buckeye to reach 100 receptions in program history. Multiple NFL scouts reportedly told ESPN he would have been a top-five pick in the most recent draft had he been eligible. He wasn't — because he won't be NFL eligible until 2027. So he'll spend 2026 demolishing college cornerbacks in arguably the most visible offense in the sport, with his former co-star Carnell Tate now gone to the NFL and more targets available than ever before. If Smith puts up 1,800 yards and 20 touchdowns — numbers completely within range — no Heisman voter will be able to look away. The trophy is coming to Columbus.
6. Oklahoma and USC Will Meet in the CFB Playoff
The 2026 bracket has a specific collision course written all over it: a Brent Venables-led Oklahoma squad that has been quietly building its way back to national relevance, and a Lincoln Riley-USC program that now plays in one of college football's deepest conferences in the Big Ten. The fact that Riley left Norman to take over USC, only to eventually follow OU into the same conference, is the kind of narrative the sport writes once a decade.
Oklahoma has the pieces to navigate a brutal schedule — road wins over ranked opponents have become a Venables signature — while USC enters 2026 with Jayden Maiava under center and a roster that CBS Sports describes as facing one of the most difficult home schedules in the entire Big Ten. That gauntlet either forges them or exposes them. The prediction here is the former. When the playoff bracket is set, these two programs, tethered by history and separated by a divorce nobody has forgotten, find their way onto the same side of the bracket. The CFB content machine practically demands it.
7. The National Championship Game Will Feature a Big Ten Team — For the Fourth Straight Year
Indiana. Ohio State. Michigan. The Big Ten has had a team in the national championship game three consecutive years, and in 2026, the conference sends another one. Whether it's Ohio State riding Jeremiah Smith to glory, Michigan making Whittingham's first season a fairytale, or Oregon and Indiana continuing to punch above their historical weight — the Big Ten's depth and talent advantage over every other conference has become structural, not circumstantial.
The last three national championship trophies live in the Midwest. The recruiting pipeline, the NIL infrastructure, and the roster depth concentrated in the Big Ten suggest that the 2026 champion will very likely be wearing a Big Ten logo on their helmet. Four years in a row would make a statement that no conference has made in the modern era. In a season full of bold predictions, this might be the safest one on the board.
The Bottom Line
College football in 2026 is shaping up to be one of the most compelling seasons in recent memory. Redemption arcs, coaching debuts, generational talent, and enough conference politics to fill a political science textbook. Arch Manning gets to rewrite his story. Jeremiah Smith gets to make history. Kyle Whittingham gets to prove that great coaching is portable. And somewhere in late January, a Big Ten team lifts another trophy.
The offseason debates are loud. But the field doesn't lie. Keep checking back at CFB Alerts for every twist, turn, and breaking development as we count down to kickoff.
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