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...
Dabo Swinneys Clemson Reset Left Out One Move Fans Wanted
Clemsons offseason reset has already brought a different feel after a frustrating 2025 finish, when a preseason No. 4 team stumbled to 7-6 and fell well short of expectations. Dabo Swinney has leaned into the urgency of the moment, acknowledging the programs underperformance while making clear changes around the roster and staff as the Tigers try to get back on track.
The moves have been substantial, from Chad Morris taking over as offensive coordinator to a wave of defensive additions that should reshape the depth chart quickly. Still, for all the turnover Clemson has embraced, there is one obvious area fans expected to see more movement, and the decision to leave it alone says plenty about how Swinney wants this reset to work. [Read more 🡒]
Dabo Swinney Just Took A Stunning Hit To His National Standing
USA TODAYs latest head coach rankings delivered a sharp reminder of how quickly the conversation around Dabo Swinney can change. After being slotted No. 3 a year ago, Swinney came in at No. 10 this time, a drop tied to Clemsons 7-6 finish and the broader uncertainty that has followed a roster in transition. The Tigers were also placed No. 24 nationally, which keeps them in the mix but far from the standard Clemson spent years setting.
There is still plenty of attention on how this next phase will look, especially with redshirt sophomore Christopher Vizzina and new offensive coordinator Chad Morris drawing a lot of the focus. For a program that has spent so long measuring itself against championship expectations, even a mid-pack ranking for its coach carries real weight, and it says as much about the questions ahead as it does about the results that produced it. [Read more 🡒]
Clemson Just Made A Real Move For A Coveted 2028 Defensive Back
Giovanni Tuggles recruitment has reached a meaningful checkpoint, and Clemson is right in the middle of it. The consensus four-star safety in the 2028 class has trimmed his list to five schools, with the Tigers joining Alabama, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Florida State as the programs still in the running. For Clemson, it is another sign that the staffs work on the trail is resonating with one of the more sought-after defensive backs in the cycle.
Tuggles Clemson push came after he attended the programs camp, where he picked up the offer that helped move the Tigers into his top group. He has already drawn interest from a long list of major programs, so this is not a simple early win, but it does give Clemson a real seat at the table as his process continues to unfold. The next step will be whether the Tigers can turn that camp connection into something more lasting. [Read more 🡒]