College football’s conference media days are already underway, which means the sport is creeping back into view ahead of Week 0 in late August. And with the 2026 season on the horizon, a few teams that fell short in 2025 look set up to make a move back toward the AP Top 25.
Baylor is one of them.
Dave Aranda is heading into his seventh year in Waco, and the pressure around his program is impossible to ignore. Baylor has gone through four losing seasons in his first six, and last year’s 5-7 finish only added to the frustration. Aranda did deliver one of the best seasons in school history in 2021, when the Bears went 12-2 and won just their third Big 12 Championship, but his overall 36-37 record is not enough, especially after Texas and Oklahoma exited the league for the SEC before the 2024 season.
That backdrop makes this a pivotal year for Aranda. Baylor also made one of the biggest transfer splashes in the country by landing former five-star quarterback DJ Lagway, a Willis, Texas, native who is back home after two rollercoaster seasons at Florida.
At 6-foot-3 and 247 pounds, Lagway brings real physical presence at quarterback. With a new start in Waco and a step down in weekly competition after leaving the SEC for the Big 12, he gives Baylor a real chance to climb back into the AP Top 25 and maybe even enter the Big 12 Championship conversation again in early December.
Clemson is next, and the Tigers are coming off a season that nobody in Death Valley wanted to see.
Ranked No. 4 in the preseason AP Poll, Clemson somehow finished with six losses in 2025, its worst season since 2010. Even so, the program still churned out NFL talent at a high level, with nine players selected in the 2026 NFL Draft, tied for the third-most of any school.
That kind of talent usually keeps a team in the national picture, which is why the questions around Dabo Swinney have only gotten louder. Clemson has lost 16 games over the past three seasons, matching the total from the previous nine seasons combined. Swinney still recruits at an elite level, but the issue now is whether he can get more out of that talent on Saturdays.
The schedule gives Clemson a path. The Tigers are favored in nine of 12 regular-season games on paper, with the toughest tests coming at LSU, at home against Miami, and at home against South Carolina.
Clemson should also have plenty of firepower. The receiving group of Bryant Wesco Jr., T.J.
Moore, and Naeem Burroughs gives the offense explosive potential, while Gideon Davidson, Chris Johnson Jr., and Jay Haynes form a running back trio that can help ease the load on likely first-year starting quarterback Christopher Vizzina.
The defense has pieces too. Sammy Brown, Jeremiah Alexander, and Amare Adams give Clemson a strong spine on that side of the ball after a 2025 season in which the Tigers finished No. 33 nationally in scoring defense and No. 55 in total defense, according to TeamRankings.com. If that group holds together, Clemson has a clear path back into the AP Top 25.
South Carolina rounds out the list, and the Gamecocks are looking for a reset after a rough 2025.
Shane Beamer’s team followed a No. 19 finish in the final 2024 AP Poll with a disappointing 4-8 season. The good news for South Carolina is that Beamer kept the core intact. Quarterback LaNorris Sellers, wide receiver Nick Harbor, defensive end Dylan Stewart, and defensive tackle Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy are all back, and aside from Sellers, each was a former five-star recruit according to 247Sports.
Beamer also landed a major addition up front in Darius Gray, the nation’s top interior offensive lineman in the 2026 recruiting class and the No. 15 overall prospect according to 247Sports. The 6-foot-3, 302-pound lineman chose South Carolina over several powerhouse programs, and his arrival could matter right away for an offensive line that struggled badly in 2025 and kept Sellers from fully showing what he can do.
The schedule is brutal, no way around that. South Carolina has games at Alabama, at Florida, at Oklahoma, at Clemson, plus home dates with Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Georgia. Even so, this version of Beamer Ball has enough talent to bounce back and push toward the rankings again.
In Other News...
Why Baylor's Secondary May Hinge On This Veteran Addition
Baylors secondary has spent the offseason looking for stability, and Colby McCalister is one of the names that could matter most when the Bears get into 2026. The veteran defensive back arrived from Kansas State after following defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman, bringing Big 12 experience and a familiarity with the system that should help him settle in quickly once he is fully back on the field.
McCalister is still working his way back after missing the 2025 season with a knee injury, but his return gives Baylor a potential boost in a room that can use it. If he recaptures the form that made him such a useful piece in Manhattan, the Bears may find that one of their most important defensive additions was already in the building all along. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor's 2026 Schedule Looks Even Tougher When You See The QBs
Baylors 2026 football schedule already looked demanding on paper, but the quarterback matchups make it feel even more unforgiving. The Bears open against Auburn and close the year against Houston, with a run of opponents in between that brings a steady stream of experienced, high-upside passers. For a team trying to navigate a difficult slate, the challenge is not just the names on the calendar but the variety of styles those quarterbacks bring.
Some of the most intriguing tests come from the top of that list, where Baylor will see a mix of proven production and rising talent. Noah Fifita, Bear Bachmeier, Will Hammond and Byrum Brown all give their teams reasons to believe they can tilt games, whether through efficient passing, dual-threat playmaking or sheer volume of impact. It is the kind of schedule that can expose a defense quickly, and for Baylor, the question is how much margin it will have when the opposing quarterback room looks this deep. [Read more 🡒]
Baylors Big 12 Hopes Come Down To One Brutal Final Test
Baylors path to a Big 12 push has narrowed into a late-season stress test, with ESPNs Football Power Index slotting the Bears sixth in the league and the final three weeks looking like anything but a soft landing. The mix of BYU, Texas Tech and Houston gives Dave Arandas team a stretch that will demand cleaner offense, sturdier defense and a little more composure in the moments that decide close conference games.
DJ Lagway and Dawson Pendergrass give Baylor enough talent to make the race interesting, especially with Pendergrass back after missing last season and the defense getting help from additions up front. But the Bears will have to protect the ball, stay on schedule on third down and hold up against opponents that bring proven playmakers of their own, which is why this finish feels less like a tune-up and more like a verdict on whether Baylor can still contend in the Big 12 conversation. [Read more 🡒]