We’re almost a quarter of the way through the 2026 college football regular season, which is a strange sentence to say out loud. After Saturday, just about every team will have played 25% of its schedule, and the sport is already settling into the kind of weird, uneven shape that makes September feel a little like a lie.
That includes the local games, where Alabama and Auburn are both staring at matchups that looked a lot better on paper when they were first announced.
Alabama gets Florida State at 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium, and this is one of those home-and-home series that was supposed to feel like a showcase when it was set up in 2019. Back then, FSU was struggling, but nobody really expected the Seminoles to stay down for long.
They didn’t stay down. They bounced back, then fell apart again.
Now the rematch lands in a completely different place. Alabama is a three-score favorite, coming off that mortifying two-touchdown loss that opened last season in Tallahassee.
The revenge angle is there, but so is the reality that this Florida State team looks like it arrived broken. The athletic director has already been fired, Mike Norvell is standing in quicksand, and what was once billed as a prime nonconference game has lost a lot of its shine.
The pressure on Alabama is the part that matters most. The Tide are expected to roll.
Anything less than control will bring the noise, and a loss would be catastrophic. There’s not much in the way of perception points available here, and that’s a little disappointing given how these big home-and-homes are supposed to feel.
It’s still more appealing than another generic directional-school matchup, but the national buzz is nowhere near what it could have been if Florida State hadn’t gone off the rails.
The pick: Alabama 38, Florida State 10
The Seminoles won’t have Tommy Castellanos at quarterback or Gus Malzahn calling plays this time. Instead, former Auburn QB Ashton Daniels has landed in the starting role after a college football odyssey that brought him to Tallahassee. Florida State opened with a 34-17 win over New Mexico State that didn’t exactly wow anybody, then followed it with a sloppy 27-24 loss to SMU in a game that got weird in a hurry.
Auburn’s night game against Florida has a different kind of edge. This series has been nasty for years, with Auburn repeatedly serving as a thorn in the Gators’ side. And the trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium has been a long time coming - 15 years, to be exact.
There’s plenty riding on it, too. Auburn has shown solid defense in its first two wins, but Alex Golesh wants more from the offense.
A lot of that unit was imported from South Florida, so this is the first real measuring stick for how that transition plays against a bigger stage. Florida, meanwhile, is getting its first true test under new management after skating past Florida Atlantic 66-21 and Campbell 52-3.
Byrum Brown is the guy to watch if Auburn is going to take another step. He’ll need to prove he can throw it well enough to make the Tigers more than just a run-first team, even though he’s already a load as a battering ram and beat Florida last year with South Florida.
That said, this is a different opponent and a different setting. Night game.
Jordan-Hare. That leans home.
The pick: Auburn 19, Florida 17
SEC play is really getting rolling now, and there are a few games worth circling.
No. 2 Georgia goes to Arkansas at 11 a.m.
CT on ABC, and this could get ugly fast. Razorback fans have already turned on first-year coach Ryan Silverfield after a 43-10 loss at Utah, which is about as bad a setup for Georgia week as you can draw up.
The pick: Georgia by a thousand.
Kentucky heads to Texas A&M at 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN, and the Wildcats did have a jolt of energy for Alabama last week.
For a half, they looked like a real SEC team. But the offense still doesn’t have enough pieces to hang at the top level, and Texas A&M is the kind of team that should make that obvious.
The pick: Texas A&M.
Mississippi State visits South Carolina at 3:15 p.m. CT on SEC Network, and this is quietly one of the more interesting games on the board.
Bulldog quarterback Kamario Taylor has flashed early, completing 67.9% of his passes with 7 TDs and no INTs while also threatening defenses as a runner. The pick: Mississippi State in a close one.
Then there’s LSU at Mississippi at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC, the one everyone keeps circling.
It’s strange in all the ways you’d expect, especially with LSU starting QB Sam Leavitt listed as doubtful on the availability report. Lane Kiffin is back in a place he helped build, and it’s hard to know what to make of any of it.
LSU showed what it can be in the win over Clemson, but the home team has the motivation. The pick: Mississippi in a crazy one if Leavitt doesn’t play.
Outside the SEC, the board isn’t exactly loaded, though there are a few games worth your time. The Big Ten slate, as noted, is rough.
Friday gives us a couple of decent ones: Miami at Wake Forest at 6:30 p.m. CT on ESPN, which could turn into an offensive shootout, and No.
22 Houston at No. 13 Texas Tech at 7 p.m.
CT on Fox, a game that could matter in the Big 12 title race.
There’s also a ranked ACC matchup with No. 16 SMU at No.
23 Louisville at 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2, and the winner gets a real jump in the league-title chase.
Defending national champ Indiana keeps taking the scenic route through college football’s so-called great programs. The Hoosiers get my alma mater a week after the WKU Hilltoppers put up 20 at Georgia and allowed 70. Don’t worry, Indiana’s next stretch is still a meat grinder, with Big Ten games against Northwestern, Rutgers and Nebraska on deck.
North Carolina at Clemson at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN should be disgusting, but in the best possible sicko way.
In Other News...
Alabama Faces One Big Receiver Question Before Florida State
Alabamas opening stretch has already brought a few roster changes into focus, and the receiver room is one of the more interesting ones as the Crimson Tide prepare for Florida State. Noah Rogers has yet to play this season while working back from a lower-body injury, but he appears to be nearing a return at a time when Alabama is still sorting out how its newer faces fit into the offense.
Florida State comes into the matchup carrying plenty of its own uncertainty after firing its athletic director, and the pressure around Mike Norvell only adds to the stakes of the game. For Alabama, the question is less about the headline outside the program and more about how quickly Rogers can get back on the field and give the Tide another option before a challenging early-season test. [Read more 🡒]
Alabamas Past Jeremy Pruitt Interest Is Suddenly Back In Focus
Jeremy Pruitts fight with the NCAA has returned to the spotlight in Alabama, where the state Supreme Court heard oral arguments in his lawsuit this week. The former Tennessee coach is challenging the NCAAs authority to handle the case in Alabama, putting a legal dispute tied to his firing and the punishment that followed back in front of a court with real implications for his coaching future.
Pruitt is seeking $100 million over the penalties he says stemmed from the NCAAs actions, including the six-year show-cause order that has limited his employment opportunities. The justices did not rule from the bench, so the case now moves into another waiting period while the court considers how to handle a dispute that Alabama fans have followed from the start because of where Pruitts career once intersected with their program. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Gets A Needed O-Line Boost Before Florida State
Alabamas offensive line should get a timely lift heading into the Florida State game, with right guard Michael Carroll expected to be available after sitting out the previous matchup because of an injury. The freshman All-America pick has been back in practice, and his return would give the Tide a more settled look up front at a point in the season when every piece matters.
Carrolls presence also matters because Alabama is preparing for a Florida State team that can challenge defenses on the ground, putting even more pressure on the Tide to be firm at the point of attack. Getting him back gives Alabama a better chance to handle those physical demands and keep its offensive plans on schedule in a matchup where line play could shape the day. [Read more 🡒]