Texas: yes, quarterback arch manning Is back and should be better in his second season as a full-time starter, but his supporting cast has also received an upgrade. Coach Steve Sarkisian expects the Longhorns to have a more explosive offense this time around, “and that’s where we’ll be at our best,” he said. Both are running out of the transfer portal– hollywood smothers (NC State) and Relic Brown (ASU/USC) – Are versatile enough to catch the ball out of the backfield, “which is something we like to do that we didn’t have a year ago,” Sarkisian said. transfer receiver joint Cam Coleman (Auburn) will create a deep threat to take some pressure off the outside. Ryan Wingo.
“There are some real pieces here that we feel very confident about,” Sarkisian said. “I think we’re going to be a better running football team, but I definitely think we’re going to be a more explosive offensive football team than we’re accustomed to.”
Auburn: First-year Auburn coach Alex Golesh is excited about his linebackers, his defensive line and his safety. He is curious about his corners. Offensively, Golesh is excited about the quarterback Byram Brown He’s coming with them from South Florida, and he’s got a talented group to come back to work with.
As far as the offensive line?
“I think if you asked me every year for the last 20 years if I was nervous about any group, it would be the O-line group,” Golesh said. “Kind of nervous, just like the corner room — excited to see who the five are, how much depth we have, and then really build a system around what we’re good at, but it’s really a whole new group.”
Boise State: After winning three consecutive Mountain West titles, Boise State is heading to the Pac-12 this summer, where coach Spencer Danielson said reaching the CFP is “going to be even tougher”.
“You’ve got really good coaches, really good players, and everybody is investing in football and moving to the fifth conference,” he said, referring to the pecking order behind the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12.
The Broncos have a chance to make a big playoff statement with their season opener at Oregon — a game Danielson said the staff will begin preparing for in May.
“I’m very open with my team about this game,” he said. “We’ve played them a lot in the past. We’re very open about this game and the work that’s going on — Dante Moore coming back, what he’ll be ranked at — we’re not running away from it.”
UNLV: Boise State has been a consistent contender for a CFP berth and won its third consecutive Mountain West Conference title last year by defeating UNLV twice. But the Broncos are headed to the Pac-12 this summer, which means UNLV could have an easier path to a conference title — and in turn a CFP bid — in its second season under coach Dan Mullen.
Mullen said, “Goal No. 1 is what we can control, which is winning the Mountain West championship, and then hopefully we’ll be able to put ourselves in position for the playoffs by doing that. That was the idea behind scheduling Memphis and North Texas. I was trying to get the two top American teams on the schedule. We play Cal, so we have a Power 4 game, and we have two data points against American Conference teams. It’s such a schedule. “That gives us a chance to have a resume to get to the College Football Playoff.”
BYU: Coach Kalani Sitake wanted to take a minute to remind everyone that his starting quarterback, bear bachmeyerLast year there was a true freshman who didn’t arrive on campus until June. They learned the playbook during the season, which meant the staff couldn’t really “unpack” it until the end.
Now?
“Now that he knows the crime, it’s a night-and-day difference,” Sitaki said. “It helped that he was able to win us a lot of games last year while he was learning. Now I’m excited to see what happens as he gets to know his offense. Spring ball is already different because he’s not learning — he’s refining, which is nice, but it also comes with a lot of expectations.”
The entire team faces high expectations after finishing on the brink of a CFP berth as Big 12 runner-up last year. BYU does not face Texas Tech this year, but does have a home match against Notre Dame on Oct. 17.
“I think Indiana really showed what you can do with great strategy and great culture and playing a team game,” Sitake said. “It’s a good example not just for us, but for everybody out there – ‘Hey, if you’re playing together as a team you can do some really good things.’ So that’s a goal, but we still have a long way to go, a lot of work to do.”
Florida: First-year coach John Sumrall said he’s not “surprised” about entering the SEC during its first season on a nine-game league schedule, but he certainly respects the difficulty of it. He faced Ole Miss twice last year as Tulane head coach – including in the first round of the CFP – and in 2024 he lost 34–19 at Oklahoma. They lost to Florida 33–8 in the Gasparilla Bowl that season.
Now he has more resources, a larger staff (“Why do I need all these guys,” he joked), and a Power 4 transfer quarterback from Georgia Tech. aaron philowho is competing Trammell Jones Jr.. For initial work.
“It’s probably going to be Philo or Trammell Jones Jr.,” Sumrall said, “but that’s happened to me before, where I thought it was going to be one or the other guy and then someone else emerges, so I’m not assuming anything.”
SMU: SMU senior linebacker Alex Kilgore, one of the Mustangs team captains, recently told coach Rhett Lashlee that this year’s team has the same excitement as 2024, which went undefeated during regular season ACC play and earned a spot in the CFP.
“I think we’re building a group that — just from those intangibles — will have the things we need,” Lashlee said. “And I think we’ve elevated our talent. So it’s another win.”
Heisman hopeful quarterback Kevin Jennings returns, and the staff lured key players to Portal and its recruiting class, particularly on defense. Lashlee said he expects the corners to be better against the pass and the defense to be better overall. That said, they also return most of their experience on the interior of the defensive line, and should be stronger in the middle and deeper on the edge. SMU should have a more consistent running game, and if they can overcome a tough start to the season – and travel to Notre Dame in November – Lashlee said this could be his best team yet.
“Look, I’d love for you to tell everybody that we’re going to be terrible,” he said, “but we’ve had three years in a row where SMU either started the season in the top 25, or finished in the top 25, or both. … I think we have the potential to be the best team since we’ve been here.”
talk of playoffs
When the leaders of the College Football Playoff decided to stick with the existing 12-team format, SEC coaches were not thrilled – especially as they were preparing to enter their first season playing a nine-game league schedule.
One SEC coach said, “Sitting in our conference meetings a few weeks ago, everyone was saying, ‘Man, we went to a nine-game schedule, but we didn’t get a 16-team playoff, and we’re all being evaluated on whether we made the playoffs or not.’ “That’s how everybody sees it. And by everybody I mean the whole room, from who was in the playoffs to which teams weren’t. That’s how everybody sees it.”
Many coaches specifically want to know how the committee measures certain metrics like scoring margin and schedule strength – factors that have been subjective for all 12 years of the system. One asked if they should keep their starters in and run up the score or is it better to take them out and develop younger players.
Another SEC coach said, “In the NFL, you know who gets in and who doesn’t because of the way the playoff structure is set up.” “Our setup is very bad and it’s up to the committee to decide who gets in. You have to give us something to say, ‘This is what you need to do to earn more points in favor of getting in.’ The power of schedule is bulls—. It doesn’t matter.”
USC coach Lincoln Riley said he is in favor of a larger format that would give schools “a little more leeway in scheduling” because right now, it’s more unequal than ever.
“I think one of the weaknesses of the system is still the scheduling inequities,” Riley said. “I think the difference in scheduling and college football right now has never been bigger. You sacrifice some of these non-conference games and then the Big Ten and the SEC add all these good teams and are now so far ahead of these other leagues. They just are. It is what it is. I’m not saying there aren’t good teams in other leagues — there are — but it’s different than ever before.
“Something’s got to give,” Riley said. “Our group has been proactive about finding solutions. Some groups sit there and say no and try to find something wrong and don’t really provide any kind of solutions to things that need to be fixed. I’m glad we’re proactive.”
Although the Big Ten’s push for 24 teams remains on hold for now, decision makers in each conference have become more open to the idea. The question is whether enough SEC leaders will step up.
“Let’s see how this season goes,” an SEC source said. “There may be a change in our approach depending on how this plays out, that we may be more amenable to 24 than we are right now. I think you’ll have some schools in our conference that will say, ‘We think 24 would be good.’ I think some coaches in our conference would love it because most of our teams, if you have a good year, you’ll be in the top 24.”
