SB Nation’s look ahead to the 2026 college football season rolls on.
Today, we are highlighting some teams that should take a step forward in the season ahead. For some teams, this means a return to a winning record, or a bounce-back campaign after a disappointing finish to 2025.
For others, it means taking a big step forward from a strong 2025 season, with visions of a run to the College Football Playoff dancing in their heads.
Here are six teams that should be better this season than they were a year ago.
LSU began the 2025 season ranked ninth, with fans in Baton Rouge believing a run to an SEC title — if not more — was on the table. A win over then-No. 4 Clemson in the season opener only added to the hype, and by late September the Tigers were in the top five.
However, losses in four out of five games doomed the Tigers, and head coach Brian Kelly. While LSU limped to a bowl game under interim coach Frank Wilson (which they lost to Houston), the 7-6 season was one of overall disappointment.
The Tigers swung for the fences in the offseason, luring Kiffin from Oxford to take over in LSU. Along with him come a host of transfers, including quarterback Sam Leavitt from Arizona State, wide receiver Eugene Wilson III from Florida, and a bevy of talent from Ole Miss including pass rusher Princewill Umanmielen. Just how quickly Kiffin can turn this roster with 59 new faces, 43 of them incoming transfers, into a team remains a question.
But it will be fun as hell to watch.
Another team that began the 2025 campaign inside the Top 15? That would be South Carolina, as Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks began the year ranked 13th. Wins over Virginia Tech and South Carolina State saw the Gamecocks creep into the top ten ahead of the SEC part of their schedule.
That is when the bottom fell out, and by the time the dust had settled South Carolina ended the year with a 4-8 record, including a 1-7 conference record, and Beamer was inching closer and closer to the hot seat.
Concerns remain. On the offensive side of the ball, a host of new faces along the offensive line could take time to gel, and as we saw a year ago, LaNorris Sellers is at his best when the protection is solid in front of him. The hope is that new offensive coordinator Kendal Briles puts an emphasis on getting the ball out of Sellers’ hands quickly, minimizing what that group has to do in front of him. If that takes shape, this team could take a massive step forward.
Unlike some of the teams on this list, who finished with losing records or struggled to break .500, the Cougars went 10-3 last year and finished with a 6-3 record in the Big 12.
But expectations are even higher for 2026, and with good reason.
Quarterback Conner Weigman is back, coming off a career-best campaign, and he will have some continuity in the coaching staff as offensive coordinator Slade Hagle returns. He’ll have targets in the passing game in wide receiver Amare Thomas — an All-Big 12 selection — and tight end Patrick Overmyer, a transfer from UTSA. But the biggest boost likely comes from running back Makhi Hughes, who ran for almost 3,000 yards in two years at Tulane, but was held to a reserve role last year at Oregon. Adding him to the mix could take this offense from great, to spectacular.
And it could put the Cougars in the Big 12 title game.
We’ve talked about the 2025 preseason rankings a lot in this piece.
The Nittany Lions were ranked second in the AP preseason Top 25, but the wheels came off rather quickly. After a 3-0 start, Penn State lost six straight games, all of them in the Big Ten, to crater out of the rankings. The losing streak cost James Franklin his job, and while the Nittany Lions finished with a winning record thanks to a win in the Pinstripe Bowl over Clemson, it was not what fans were hoping for.
Enter Matt Campbell, and what feels like the entire Iowa State roster from a year ago.
Campbell finally made the leap to another program after years of speculation about his future, and brought with him 40 transfers, 24 of whom came from Ames. That list includes Rocco Becht, the most experienced FBS quarterback in the nation with 39 starts and 26 wins on his resume. That continuity will ease the transition, and should give Penn State a boost this season.
The case for Florida to take a step forward in 2026?
Rather simply, it is hard to see things being much worse.
A 3-4 start to the year, even with wins over Texas and Mississippi State, was not enough to save Billy Napier, as he was fired in October. The Gators limped to a 4-8 finish, including a 2-6 SEC record.
In comes Jon Sumrall from Tulane, tasked with turning around a program — and offense — in 2026. For that latter point, Sumrall tapped Buster Faulkner of Georgia Tech to shepherd the offense into the new season, and the new offensive coordinator brought several faces with him from Atlanta, including quarterback Aaron Philo and wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr, who played for Faulkner in 2023-2024 before spending some time in Auburn. The offense should take a huge step forward, and will be tough for opposing defenses to prepare for during Faulkner’s first year in the SEC. That should lead to a much-improved Florida team this year.
The Trojans went 9-4 a year ago, but could be in store for even bigger things in 2026.
It starts with the roster. Lincoln Riley returns 14 starters overall, one of the most experienced groups in the nation, and that includes all five names along the offensive line. They’ll be tasked with protecting Jayden Maiava, who finished 13th in Passing Efficiency a season ago, throwing for 3,711 yards and 24 touchdowns. He’ll have a pair of running backs returning in Waymond Jordan and King Miller, and wide receiver Tanook Hines returns as well.
There are questions on defense, questions which have plagued Riley’s teams dating back to his time at Oklahoma. But Riley has outsourced those questions to Gary Patterson, as the former TCU head coach joined the staff to handle defensive play-calling duties. With returning starters on every level of the defense, and some incoming talent via recruiting and the portal, the pieces are there.
When you put it all together, a run to the College Football Playoff could be in the cards for Riley.
