With the 2026 college football season at roughly the halfway point, the divide is getting sharper. Some teams are still chasing the College Football Playoff. Others are staring at a stretch run that could go off the rails in a hurry.
A few of the most vulnerable programs are already hanging by a thread. Texas A&M, sitting at 3-3, has taken a beating with a home loss to Kentucky and road defeats to LSU by 29 points and Missouri by 21 points.
The Aggies should be okay this week against Citadel, but the relief may be short-lived. Alabama and South Carolina are next on the road, Tennessee comes to town, then it’s a trip to Oklahoma before Texas closes the schedule.
A 6-6 finish looks generous with that kind of path ahead.
Michigan is in a different spot at 3-2, but the margin for error is still razor thin. This weekend’s matchup with Penn State could tell the whole story.
After that come games against Indiana, Oregon, and UCLA, plus the regular-season finale with Ohio State. Right now, a 7-5 ceiling feels about right, and a loss to Penn State would open the door to a real collapse.
The Week 1 escape against Western Michigan makes the whole thing look a little more fragile than it should.
Florida State is already in trouble at 3-3, and Mike Norvell’s status isn’t getting any sturdier. Miami is up next, and that’s followed by Clemson, Pittsburgh, and Florida still waiting on the schedule. Another losing season is squarely in play, and it’s tough to see how Norvell is still in Tallahassee next year if this keeps going the way it has.
Colorado has also gone sideways fast. Coach Prime’s team has dropped three straight and could easily make that four with Utah and Oklahoma State coming up.
The schedule does soften after that, but a 2-5 team might not have the focus to salvage much of anything. After what Deion has shown recently, it’s fair to wonder how much longer he’ll be with CU.
LSU’s situation is the most complicated of the bunch. The Tigers have flashed enough quality to keep things from feeling completely lost, but they’re coming off a second loss and now have Alabama and Texas in back-to-back weeks to start November.
A road game at Tennessee is still ahead too, and 7-5 is absolutely on the table for Lane Kiffin’s team. That would not have matched the expectation when LSU spent around $140-$150 million to move on from Brian Kelly and hire Kiffin.
In Other News...
Lane Kiffin Family Drama Adds To LSU Fans' Frustration After Loss
The mood around LSU was already sour after the upset loss to Kentucky, and Lane Kiffin did little to lift it when he pointed to execution errors and turnovers as the reasons the Tigers let one get away. For a fan base expecting a steadier response, the defeat only deepened the frustration around a season that has already produced too many anxious Saturdays.
Then came a bit of added off-field noise during the Red River Rivalry, when Landry Kiffin drew attention online by showing support for several SEC programs, including LSU, Ole Miss and Texas. The social media criticism that followed was less about football allegiance than the timing, since LSU supporters were already bristling over the loss and looking for something, anything, to settle the conversation back on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Lane Kiffin Faces A Dangerous LSU Temptation Right Now
LSUs fast start has given way to a rougher stretch in league play, and the Tigers are suddenly trying to steady themselves after consecutive SEC losses. There have still been flashes of what this team can become, especially on offense, but the inconsistency has been hard to ignore. Too often, LSU has left plays on the field in the moments that matter most, and the defensive effort has followed a similar pattern, with strong outings mixed in with performances that have not held up against conference competition.
For Lane Kiffin, the appeal is obvious because the talent is there and the upside has already shown up in stretches. The challenge now is figuring out whether LSU can turn those promising pieces into something more durable before the seasons biggest games start to define it. The Tigers have enough capability to stay in the conversation, but the margin for error keeps shrinking until the execution catches up with the potential. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Brings Auburn Fans A Bigger Question Than Media Day Absences
LSUs trip to SEC Media Day in Birmingham ended up looking a little thinner than planned, with coach Will Wade and several members of the program left behind by weather problems in Baton Rouge. The same travel issue also kept transfers Abdi Bashir Jr. and Mouhamed Dioubate from making the event, while Kim Mulkey and several LSU womens players were also absent from their own session, turning what should have been a routine preseason stop into a logistics story almost as much as a basketball one.
Beneath the inconvenience, though, the more interesting question for LSU is what the roster actually looks like once the season gets moving. The programs official group has been updated to 10 players, but several names still are not appearing there, and Wade has already been open about taking an unconventional approach to building out this team. For Auburn fans and everyone else around the league, the media-day absences were only the surface issue. The bigger issue is figuring out how complete LSU really is before the real games begin. [Read more 🡒]