Texas: Yes, quarterback Arch Manning is back and should be better in his second season as full-time starter, but his supporting cast has also gotten an upgrade. Coach Steve Sarkisian is expecting the Longhorns to have a more explosive offense this fall, “and that’s when we’re at our best,” he said. The two running backs out of the transfer portal — Hollywood Smothers (NC State) and Raleek 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 at our disposal a year ago,” Sarkisian said. The addition of transfer receiver Cam Coleman (Auburn) on the outside will create a deep threat to alleviate some of the pressure from Ryan Wingo.
“There’s some real pieces in place that we feel very confident about,” Sarkisian said. “I think we will be a better running football team, but I definitely think we’re going to be a more explosive offensive football team, which is something that we’re accustomed to being.”
Auburn: First-year Auburn coach Alex Golesh is excited about his linebackers, his defensive line and the safeties. He’s curious about his corners. Offensively, Golesh is excited about quarterback Byrum Brown coming with him from South Florida, and he has a talented group of running backs to work with.
As for the offensive line?
“I think if you asked me every year for the last 20 if I was nervous about any group, it’d be the O-line group,” Golesh said. “Nervous in the sense kind of in the same breath as the corner room — excited to see who the five are, what depth we have, and then truly build a system around what we’re good at, but it’s virtually a whole new group.”
Boise State: After winning three straight Mountain West titles, Boise State is headed to the Pac-12 this summer, where coach Spencer Danielson said “it’s going to be even more difficult” to reach the CFP.
“You’ve got really good coaches, really good players, and everyone’s investing in football and continuing to push forward to be that fifth conference,” he said, referring to the pecking order behind the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12. “That’s a big push, and I really believe it’s going to be that.”
The Broncos have a chance to make a huge playoff statement early with their season opener at Oregon — a game Danielson said the staff will start preparing for in May.
“I’ve been very open with our team about this game,” he said. “We’ve played them a lot in the past. We are very open about this game and the task at hand — Dante Moore coming back, what they’re going to be ranked — we’re just not running from it.”
UNLV: Boise State has been a constant contender for a CFP spot and beat UNLV twice last year to win its third straight Mountain West Conference title. But the Broncos are moving to the Pac-12 this summer, which means UNLV could have an easier path to the conference title — and in turn a CFP bid — in just the second season under coach Dan Mullen.
“Goal No. 1 is the one we can control, which is winning the Mountain West championship,” Mullen said, “and then hopefully we’ll be able by doing that to put ourselves in a position for the playoff. That was the idea behind scheduling Memphis and North Texas. I was trying to get two of the 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. That’s a schedule that gives us the opportunity to have a résumé to get into the College Football Playoff.”
BYU: Coach Kalani Sitake wanted to take a minute to remind everyone that his starting quarterback, Bear Bachmeier, was a true freshman last year who didn’t arrive on campus until June. He learned the playbook during the season, which meant the staff couldn’t really “open it up” until the very end.
Now?
“Now that he knows the offense, it’s like night-and-day difference,” Sitaki said. “It just 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 with him knowing the offense. The spring ball has already been different because he’s not learning — he’s refining, which is good, but that comes with a lot of expectations, too.”
The entire team is facing lofty expectations after being on the brink of a CFP berth last year as the Big 12 runner-up. BYU doesn’t face Texas Tech this year but does have an Oct. 17 home game against Notre Dame.
“I think Indiana has really shown what you can do with great strategy and great culture and playing a team game,” Sitake said. “That’s been a good example for not just us, but everyone out there — ‘Hey, you can do some really good things if you’re playing cohesively as a team.’ So that’s a goal, but we’ve got a long ways to go, a lot of work to do.”
Florida: First-year coach Jon Sumrall said he isn’t “in awe” about entering the SEC during its first season in a nine-game league schedule, but he certainly has respect for the difficulty of it. He faced Ole Miss twice last year as Tulane’s head coach — including in the first round of the CFP — and in 2024 he lost at Oklahoma 34-19. He also lost to Florida that season, 33-8, in the Gasparilla Bowl.
Now he has more resources, a bigger staff (“What the hell do I need all these people for” he joked), and a Power 4 transfer quarterback from Georgia Tech in Aaron Philo, who is competing with Tramell Jones Jr. for the starting job.
“It’s probably going to be Philo or Tramell Jones Jr.,” Sumrall said, “but I’ve had this happen before where I thought it was going to be one guy or another 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 a similar vibe to the one in 2024 that went undefeated during regular-season ACC play and earned a spot in the CFP.
“I think we have the making of a group that – just from those intangibles – is going to have the things we need,” Lashlee said. “And I think we’ve upgraded our talent. So that’s another win.”
Heisman hopeful quarterback Kevin Jennings returns, and the staff lured in key players from the portal and its recruiting class, particularly on defense. Lashlee said he expects the corners to be better and the defense as a whole to be better against the pass. They also return the most experience they’ve had on the interior of the defensive line, he said, and should be stronger up the middle and deeper on the edge. SMU should have a more consistent running game, and if they can navigate a tricky start to the season – and a November trip to Notre Dame – Lashlee said this could be the best team he’s had yet.
“Look, I’d rather you tell everybody we’re gonna be terrible,” he deadpanned, “but we’ve gone three straight years now where SMU either started the season in the top 25, finished in the top 25 or both. … I think we have the potential to be the best team we’ve had since we’ve been here.”
Playoff talk
When leaders of the College Football Playoff decided to stay with the current 12-team format, the SEC coaches weren’t thrilled — especially as they prepare to enter their first season in a nine-game league schedule.
“Sitting at our conference meetings a couple of weeks ago, that was everybody’s bitch, was, ‘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 playoff,'” an SEC coach said. “That’s how everybody sees it. And by everybody, I mean the entire room, from who was in the playoff to the teams that weren’t. Everybody sees it the same way.”
Many coaches want to know specifically how the committee weighs certain metrics such as scoring margin and schedule strength — factors that have been subjective for all 12 years of the system. One asked if he should keep his starters in and run up the score or if it’s OK to take them out and develop younger players.
“In the NFL, you know who gets in and you know who doesn’t because of the way the structure of the playoff is set up,” another SEC coach said. “Ours is set up so poorly and it’s up to a 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 to get in.’ The strength of schedule is bulls—. That doesn’t matter.”
USC coach Lincoln Riley said he’s in favor of a larger format that would give schools “a little bit more leeway in scheduling,” because right now, it’s more uneven than ever.
“I do feel like one of the weaknesses of the system is still the scheduling inequities,” Riley said. “I think the gaps right now in scheduling and college football have never been bigger. You’ve sacrificed some of these nonconference games and then the Big Ten and SEC have added all of these really good teams and are now a long ways ahead of these other leagues. They just are. It is what it is. I’m not saying there aren’t good teams in the other leagues — there are — but it’s more different than it’s ever been.
“Something’s got to give,” Riley added. “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 kinds of solutions for things that need to be fixed. I’m glad that we’re being active.”
Although the Big Ten’s push for 24 teams remains on hold for now, decision-makers in every conference have become more open to the idea. The question is if enough SEC leaders will latch on.
“Let’s see how this season plays out,” one SEC source said. “There may be a change in our attitude depending on how this plays out, that we may be more amenable to 24 than we are at this time right now. I think you’ll have some schools in our conference that are going to say, ‘We think 24 will be good.’ I think some coaches in our conference would like that because most of our teams, if you have a decent year, you’re going to be in the top 24.”
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