The home of the last three college football national champions vs. the conference where, “it just means more.” The Big Ten and SEC are constantly bickering over which one is the top league in college football. They each care about earning that recognition from the outside. They each have their own opinion on what should determine that hierarchy. FOX Sports college football writer RJ Young would like a word in shaping that discussion. His ranking of all 138 FBS teams ahead of the 2026 season illuminates the status of each team in those conferences as the 2026 college football season approaches. Michigan State, lord have mercy. Please get out of your own way. Listen to coach Tom Izzo. Remember who you stand for, what you stand for and hope like hell that foundation transfers to the football field. — RJ Young Boilermakers coach Barry Odom needs to show results in the toughest league in the country. The good news is Purdue returns Ryan Browne, who threw for 300 yards or more twice last year, including 30-of-50 for 302 yards against top 25-ranked Illinois. — RJ Young But I’m sure Scarlet Knight fans are tired of national analysts like me reveling in their past. Let’s hope Greg Schiano’s 2026 team gives us both hope for the future. — RJ Young The Terps are 4-38 against top-25 teams in the CFP era. That’s the bad news. The good news is Malik Washington might just be another Taulia Tagovailoa for Terps coach Mike Locksley. — RJ Young PJ Fleck knows how to build a team that competes. The Golden Gophers have finished with a winning record in six out of nine seasons despite eight different coordinators across both sides of the ball. — RJ Young Last year was Wisconsin’s worst in 35 years. Luke Fickell has to wear that. And after getting the dreaded “vote of confidence” from the administration, he’s got to put Wisconsin back in the race to become one of the four best teams in the Big Ten. — RJ Young David Braun has gone 19-19 as head coach at Northwestern. A .500 record will do just fine in 2026 there too. Whether Chip Kelly has some magic left in him after a disastrous stint with the Las Vegas Raiders is another question. — RJ Young Has coach Matt Rhule reached the ceiling for what he can do at Nebraska? Despite achieving AP top-25 rankings in each of the last two seasons and winning at least seven games in 2024 and 2025, Rhule’s Nebraska has been unable to defeat class opponents. — RJ Young Can Bob Chesney perform at a Big Ten program like he did at James Madison? Indiana coach Curt Cignetti did. Cignetti came from JMU to a bad Big Ten team and immediately turned that program into a College Football Playoff contender. With Chesney having just led JMU to the CFP, it’s not unthinkable for him to lead the Bruins to their first CFP appearance. — RJ Young At East Carolina last season, Katin Houser threw for 3,300 yards with 19 touchdowns and six interceptions. But can he do that against a schedule that features games at Ohio State, Oregon and at Iowa? I won’t hold my breath. — RJ Young Iowa was essentially four plays from a 12-0 season, and the CFP selection committee tried to will that record into existence with its ranking of the Hawkeyes last year. Now, I’m asking Ferentz to not make the CFP put its thumb on the scale. Running back Kamari Moulton will help with that. — RJ Young Matt Campbell brought the best of Iowa State with him to Happy Valley, building his reputation on doing more with less while turning the Cyclones into a Big 12 contender. At Penn State, he’ll get his first opportunity to do more with more. — RJ Young Kyle Whittingham has everything he needs to reach the CFP for the first time in his career at a program that has made it three times in the last five years and won a national title just two years ago. — RJ Young Yes, head coach Lincoln Riley is great. Yes, QB Jayden Maiava is good. But Gary Patterson is one of the best defensive playcallers the sport has ever seen, and he’s running the defense at USC in 2026. That alone is enough for me to believe the Trojans can make a real run at a CFP appearance. — RJ Young Provided Oregon runs the ball and plays defense the way it did a year ago — and it should — there’s no reason the Ducks can’t win the first national championship in program history. — RJ Young Ohio State hasn’t completed the triple crown since 2014, but the pieces are in place to make it happen. That doesn’t mean the road will be easy. The Buckeyes must replace 11 NFL Draft picks, including three first-round selections, while also breaking in a new offensive coordinator. — RJ Young Lost in the shuffle of quarterbacks — a third new starter in as many years — and the rather exhausting list of talent and veteran leadership that departed Bloomington are a few important facts: 1. Curt Cignetti is still the head coach. 2. The best record in the sport over the last two seasons (27-2) belongs to Indiana. 3. The Hoosiers are the reigning national champions and the first team since 1894 to finish 16-0. — RJ Young Since 2019, the Razorbacks have won nine games in a season just once and were capped at two-win seasons three times. That’s just one more reason former Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman had to go, and former Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield was brought in. — RJ Young Former Kentucky high school football star Will Stein finally took a chance on himself. In becoming UK head coach, he’s also attempting to do in Lexington what Curt Cignetti did in Bloomington: Turn a basketball school into a football school overnight. — RJ Young When you start the season 4-0, like the Bulldogs did last year, a 1-8 record over the next nine games can feel like a swift kick to the groin. Start fast again, and this time finish, MSU. — RJ Young Before Clark Lea arrived in Nashville, the Commodores couldn’t threaten the SEC any more than an ant threatens a boot heel. Since Clark? By God, they’re winning 10 games a season. They fielded a Heisman finalist. They’re flipping five-star QB recruits from Georgia. This is me giving Vandy its flowers — a gift also appropriate for funerals, apologies and 20th century first dates. Now, with true freshman quarterback Jared Curtis likely to take the conductor’s seat on the train — but three of the four best receivers from 2025 gone — let’s find out just how much more coal Lea can shove in the furnace. — RJ Young Tell a South Carolina fan that Shane Beamer’s Gamecocks ain’t beat nobody with a ranking on the scorebug since Nov. 30, 2024. Tell them that they ain’t beat nobody at all since Sept. 27, 2025. Then watch them drop back in a prevent defense called “LaNorris Sellers Is Coming.” — RJ Young Can Alex Golesh turn an Auburn program into a version of who Ole Miss was in the Lane Kiffin era? We’ll have an answer to both questions soon enough, and I hope Tiger fans like them. — RJ Young Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel has built a program capable of staying competitive and successful in the tumultuous NIL era. But this season, he has a career backup in George MacIntyre competing with five-star phenom Brandon Faizon for the starting quarterback job. — RJ Young Jon Sumrall has reached a conference championship game in every season of his head-coaching career. I’m betting on Sumrall’s record as a head coach and Jadan Baugh’s ability to carry the offense here. — RJ Young Austin Simmons could emerge as one of the nation’s top signal-callers in 2026. Add in Ahmad Hardy’s 1,649 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns from last season, and the Tigers have the makings of one of the SEC’s most dangerous offenses. — RJ Young It’s easy to forget that Alabama was the home team in the SEC championship game against Georgia, and that the Tide became the first program to win a CFP game on the road. Kalen DeBoer’s job in 2026 is to create a memorable season rather than just a few memorable moments. — RJ Young Following Lane Kiffin’s departure, Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding answered questions about just how good he can be for the Rebels with the two biggest wins in school history — beating Tulane and Georgia to make the CFP semifinals — all while Kiffin raided the Ole Miss roster and staff. Star QB Trinidad Chambliss will return for a sixth season after putting together a Heisman-caliber year in 2025. — RJ Young The Sooners barely had a run game last season but still managed to win 10 games and earn a home CFP game. If quarterback John Mateer improves his accuracy, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle becomes less predictable in his playcalling and head coach Brent Venables again fields one of the stingiest defenses in the sport, Oklahoma has a real path to the CFP. — RJ Young Offensive coordinator Holmon Wiggins and quarterback Marcel Reed must take a major leap if A&M is going to chase its first conference title of any kind since 1998. — RJ Young LSU made Lane Kiffin one of the highest-paid coaches in the sport and the highest-paid ever without a championship on his résumé. They also gave him the resources to bring in former Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt, Colorado offensive tackle Jordan Seaton and Ole Miss defensive end Princewill Umanmielen. For a program that hasn’t won a national title since 2009, LSU fully looks built to change that. — RJ Young [Related: Good And Bad, Lane Kiffin Is The Answer — And LSU Is Betting Big On It] Former Arizona State RB Raleek Brown and former NC State RB Hollywood Smothers enter the fold, as well as former Auburn WR Cam Coleman. They should help the most bankable player in the sport, Arch Manning, propel the Longhorns to what they hope will be their first national title appearance since 2009. — RJ Young The SEC still belongs to Georgia. The Bulldogs have lost just once at home since 2019, but they still haven’t won a CFP game after earning a first-round bye in the 12-team era. That’s why so much of this season centers on returning quarterback Gunner Stockton. — RJ YoungLatest Sports News from FOX Sports
