100 Days to Kickoff: Top Storylines, Games & Players for the 2026 Season

Paul Finebaum weighs in on Lane Kiffin's and Steve Sarkisian's critical comments of Ole Miss. (1:08)

The countdown begins as we are just 100 days away from the start of the 2026 college football season. Week 0 will kick off with UNC facing TCU in Dublin. After going 4-8 in his first year as head coach at UNC, can Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels bounce back and become an ACC contender? How will the Horned Frogs look as they enter the season with a new starting quarterback after Josh Hoover left to join Indiana?

As we wait for the season to begin, it's never too early to look at early Heisman Trophy contenders, top storylines, plus key players and coaches to keep an eye on. You also don't want to miss our wild predictions.

This season, we'll see Texas quarterback Arch Manning return after going 10-3 in his first full season as starting quarterback for the Longhorns. Also, Oregon quarterback Dante Moore comes back for another season after the possibility that he could've been a 2026 first-round NFL draft pick.

After a wild coaching carousel last season, we'll see many new faces at new programs this fall. Lane Kiffin enters his first season at LSU after a surprising departure from Ole Miss and former Penn State coach James Franklin joins Virginia Tech and brought multiple Nittany Lions players along with him .

Our ESPN college football reporters have put together 100 things to know ahead of the upcoming college football season.

Jump to a section:

Storylines | Must-see games | Hotseat

Rising coaches | First-time CFP teams

Heisman contenders | Freshmen

Transfers | First-round bye

Predictions | G6 teams

10. The Pac-12 relaunches: It is back. It might be in name only, but the Pac-12's rebirth will officially take shape this year with holdovers Oregon State and Washington State set to welcome Boise State , Colorado State , Fresno State , San Diego State , Texas State and Utah State (and Gonzaga come basketball season). The conference has leaned into the idea that it can be the best football conference outside of the Power 4 and while that's true, nothing, of course, is guaranteed. If the vibes from Pac-12 After Dark can be replicated, it would be an entertaining brand of football that is worth staying up late for.

9. Miami reloads at QB again: The Hurricanes and Mario Cristobal returned to the CFB elite with the help of transfer quarterbacks Cam Ward and Carson Beck the past two years, winning 23 games over that span. Then they shook up college football this year by landing Darian Mensah , who led Duke to its first ACC title since 1989 and set single-season records for passing yards and touchdowns, while he was under contract which was believed to be worth up to $4 million this year. Duke sued, and a settlement was reached to allow Mensah to officially commit to Miami on Jan. 26. Duke plays at Miami on Nov. 14.

8. Matt Campbell is rising at Penn State as Franklin rebounds at Virginia Tech: The two coaches are linked by Franklin's shocking downfall in State College last year, being fired in mid-October after playing in a College Football Playoff semifinal the season before. Campbell, the winningest coach in Iowa State history after 10 years in Ames, was finally poached after several schools made runs at him, and now he starts over on a bigger stage. Franklin jumps in at Virginia Tech, along with his Penn State transfer QB, Ethan Grunkemeyer and begins a rebuild of the Hokies.

7. Belichick in Year 2: Arguably the greatest coach in football history arrived at North Carolina last year, only for the Tar Heels to limp to a 4-8 record during a season most memorable for Belichick's personal life. It was a bizarre debut and considerably lowers expectations for Year 2, but this is still a man who won six Super Bowl championships as a head coach and who will continue to make North Carolina relevant. The idea that he could quickly jump back to the NFL doesn't seem likely anymore, so the question becomes: How long does Belichick want to do this? Or, perhaps, how long will North Carolina want to put up with the circus if the on-field results don't improve?

6. Dante Moore and Oregon run it back: In an alternate universe, it's possible that Moore would have been the first overall pick in the NFL draft and preparing for life as an Las Vegas Raiders . Instead, he's back in Eugene, set to lead the Ducks toward another playoff run. Since moving to the Big Ten, Oregon is 17-1 in conference play and finished with a pair of top-four finishes in the AP poll. With Moore back, any conversation about national title contenders must include Oregon, which continues to carry the flag for college football on the West Coast.

5. Texas Tech , Brendan Sorsby and the NCAA gambling investigation : As legal sports gambling has infiltrated college and professional sports over the past several years, a scandal the magnitude of the one involving Sorsby at Texas Tech has been inevitable. Regardless of the warnings and education made available to athletes, they were always going to be tempted by a pastime that has billions of dollars in advertising might designed to attract participation. It's hard to see a scenario where the NCAA allows Sorsby to play considering the reports he bet on Indiana games while on the team, but if he has a diagnosed addiction, it sets up an interesting fight for eligibility.

4. Manning and Texas are loading up to win now: Steve Sarkisian retooled around Manning, adding star receiver Cam Coleman . Sarkisian revamped the backfield by adding RBs Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown , both home run threats, and he poached Will Muschamp off Kirby Smart's staff as his new defensive coordinator. Manning sits in rare company toward the top of the Heisman Trophy favorites list after throwing for 3,163 yards, 26 TDs and 10 rushing TDs, along with Notre Dame's CJ Carr , Ohio State QB Julian Sayin and WR Jeremiah Smith , as well as Oregon's Moore, Miami's Mensah and Georgia QB Gunner Stockton in a wide-open race.

3. Kyle Whittingham's Michigan move: For years, there was a widely held assumption that Whittingham would soon retire, assume some kind of figurehead position within the Utah athletic department and ski his way through retirement. This was an assumption that Whittingham also shared at one point, but the desire to keep coaching didn't fade. So, after stepping down in Salt Lake City, Utah's winningest coach became a free agent -- and it took just days before he landed in Ann Arbor, set to bring order to a program enveloped in chaos.

2. SEC coaching changes: The Lane Kiffin soap opera was the start of a makeover across nearly half the league, with a record six head coaches at new schools: Kiffin ( LSU ), his replacement and former defensive coordinator Pete Golding (Ole Miss), Alex Golesh ( Auburn ), Ryan Silverfield ( Arkansas ), Jon Sumrall ( Florida ) and Will Stein ( Kentucky ). Kiffin, obviously, headlines that list with a new QB, Sam Leavitt , and the No. 1 portal class. LSU will make trips to his now-nemeses -- Ole Miss and Tennessee -- as the league begins its first season of a nine-game conference schedule.

1. Can the new king of CFB stay on top? Indiana went from the losingest program in CFB history to national champions under Curt Cignetti and together, they're not planning on going back to the bottom of the pile anytime soon. Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza is gone, the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, but Cignetti landed Hoover from TCU along with receiver Nick Marsh from Michigan State as part of ESPN's No. 2 transfer portal class, and Cignetti got a new contract worth $13.2 million a year. IU is a football school. -- Kyle Bonagura, Dave Wilson

10. North Dakota State at UNLV , Oct. 10: Long the class of FCS, NDSU is finally making a long-awaited jump to FBS this season. The Bison lost a lot of last year's stars, but they'll get a massive prove-it game with this Week 7 trip to face Mountain West favorite UNLV. Will they be immediate mid-major hits, or is there a learning curve for the team from Fargo?

9. Houston at Texas Tech, Sept. 18: Tech's Big 12 schedule couldn't be more favorable -- no BYU , no Utah , no Kansas State -- but Houston could be nasty in the trenches, and this will be the first huge test of either the Brendan Sorsby era or, if the new Tech QB is deemed ineligible, the Will Hammond or Someone Else era.

8. Texas at Texas A&M , Nov. 27: A&M enjoyed its first 11-0 start in over 30 years, but Mike Elko's Aggies lost their last two games, starting with their Rivalry Week trip to Austin. They're now 0-2 against Texas since the Horns joined the SEC. Is this the year they clear that hurdle? And is there a spot in the SEC championship game on the line in this one?

7. Oklahoma at Michigan, Sept. 12: On the same day as Ohio State-Texas comes another SEC-Big Ten battle, this one between CFP hopefuls with a few more questions to answer. Are Bryce Underwood and new offensive coordinator Jason Beck ready for a tough OU defense? Has Brent Venables given John Mateer better weapons this time around?

6. Oregon at Ohio State, Nov. 7: Oregon has lost only to eventual national title finalists over the past three seasons -- Washington in 2023, eventual champs Ohio State in 2024 and Indiana in 2025. If this is the season Dan Lanning's Ducks finally take that last step, this trip to Columbus will be awfully telling.

5. Georgia at Alabama , Oct. 10: Georgia avoids Texas, Texas A&M and LSU in SEC play, but the Dawgs do make their second trip to Tuscaloosa in three seasons to face a mystery of an Alabama team. Can Keelon Russell , Ryan Coleman-Williams & Co. prove their playoff bona fides against the Dawgs?

4. Miami at Notre Dame , Nov. 7: Miami took down Notre Dame in last year's season opener, somehow hawked down the Fighting Irish in the late-season CFP rankings, then darn near won the national title after grabbing the last CFP at-large bid. Do you think the Irish remember that?

3. Ohio State at Indiana, Oct. 17: Ohio State's second huge road trip of the season takes the Buckeyes to Bloomington to face Hoover, Turbo Richard and the new-look Indiana offense. Curt Cignetti & Co. will have already traveled to Nebraska and Michigan, but this is the biggest game of the year for the defending champs.

2. Ohio State at Texas, Sept. 12: Ohio State is the No. 1 team in Mark Schlabach's Way-Too-Early Top 25 , and the Buckeyes play three other teams in the top six. This one will serve as a measuring stick, both for Ohio State's remodeled defense and for Manning and the new weapons he has been given.

1. LSU at Ole Miss, Sept. 19: LSU head coach Kiffin visits the Ole Miss program he abandoned right before its first CFP game. (He then not-so-subtly began attempting to woo the best Rebel players to Baton Rouge, too.) Most hostile crowd of the season forthcoming. -- Bill Connelly

5. Shane Beamer, South Carolina : Beamer loves being at South Carolina and delivered top-25 finishes and wins against rival Clemson in 2022 and 2024. But better performances bring increased investment and expectations, and Beamer is coming off his worst season (4-8 overall, 1-7 SEC) in Columbia. The school stepped up to retain quarterback LaNorris Sellers , defensive end Dylan Stewart and others, and will demand better results this fall. Athletic director Jeremiah Donati did not hire Beamer.

4. Mike Locksley, Maryland : Locksley's ability to land top recruits and produce NFL players is undeniable, with Zion Elee -- ESPN's No. 2 overall recruit for 2026 -- being the latest example. But the coach's repeated struggles in Big Ten play (17-48) and in October and November games are also difficult to dispute. Locksley retains promising quarterback Malik Washington but needs to convince an athletic director who did not hire him (Jim Smith) that he's the right coach for the Terrapins.

3. Luke Fickell, Wisconsin : Fickell's hefty contract has helped secure his job despite Wisconsin's troubling performance dip,

_Originally reported by [ESPN](https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/48610717/2026-100-days-college-football-players-coaches-playoff)._