With the 12-team College Football Playoff in place, the road to a national title looks more open than it used to. More teams get a shot, and more chaos can creep in.
But that doesn’t make the job easier for the programs carrying championship expectations. In fact, the new format can turn a great season into a dead end fast.
That’s why there are still a few teams every year that head into the fall with one standard and one standard only: win it all or face a season that falls short. Texas, Oregon, Notre Dame and Ohio State all fit that mold.
Texas has lived in that pressure cooker for years, but Steve Sarkisian has at least pushed the Longhorns to the doorstep. They’ve reached the Playoff twice in the last two seasons, and now Arch Manning is entering his fourth college season.
That puts the spotlight squarely on this year. Texas also loaded up with 22 incoming transfers, including Hollywood Smothers and Cam Coleman on offense.
The message is clear: this is the year the Longhorns are supposed to finish the job.
Oregon is in a similar spot, only with a different kind of frustration. Dan Lanning’s teams have been among the best in the regular season, and the Ducks have made the College Football Playoff in back-to-back seasons.
Both times, though, they ran into blowout losses against the eventual national champions. Dante Moore gives Oregon a quarterback who looks like a likely high draft pick, which is why there’s a sense this team may be even better positioned for 2026.
But if the Ducks don’t break through now, the questions about whether Lanning can deliver in the biggest games are only going to get louder.
Notre Dame’s situation has its own edge. Last season’s Playoff snub stirred plenty of debate, and the decision not to play a bowl game only added to the criticism.
But it also made the Irish’s priorities obvious: the Playoff and the national title are the target. This roster has the look of one built for a run.
C.J. Carr is at quarterback and eligible for the NFL Draft after the season, with the chance to become a high pick.
The defense brings back experience and talent, and the schedule is described as very manageable. That combination has Notre Dame expecting to be there at the end.
Then there’s Ohio State, a program where the championship bar never really goes away. Winning a title two seasons ago takes a little heat off, but not much.
Ryan Day still has a roster that looks built to chase another one, especially with Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith back. Sayin and Smith give the Buckeyes what may be the best quarterback-receiver pairing from last season, and Smith stands out as the best receiver in college football.
Since he’s headed for the NFL next year, it’s hard to picture Ohio State having this kind of offensive firepower again in 2027.
For all four programs, the margin for error is thin. The Playoff gives them more ways in, but it also makes the climb to the top steeper once they get there.
In Other News...
Notre Dame Just Changed How Indiana's Future Schedule Will Be Judged
Indianas future nonconference slate took another hit when its planned home-and-home series with Notre Dame for 2030-31 was canceled, removing one of the more recognizable games from the Hoosiers schedule. The change comes as Notre Dame moved to renew its rivalry with USC in a four-game series, keeping one of college footballs marquee matchups on the calendar and leaving Indiana to keep reshaping its own future dates.
For Indiana, the timing only sharpens the conversation around how its schedules will be judged going forward. The Hoosiers currently do not have any Power Four non-conference opponents lined up, a detail that has already drawn criticism about the strength of their future slates. Losing Notre Dame adds another layer to that scrutiny, especially with so much attention now on how programs position themselves for selection committees and public perception alike. [Read more 🡒]
Lincoln Riley Just Added Real Heat To Notre Dame-USC Again
Lincoln Riley has put fresh attention back on one of college footballs most stubborn rivalries by revisiting the Notre Dame-USC scheduling issue. The USC coach pointed to the reality of the Trojans conference calendar as part of the reason the matchup has landed where it has, while also taking aim at Notre Dames choices along the way. It is the kind of public back-and-forth that keeps a long-running series from going stale, even when the games themselves are still years away.
For Notre Dame, the timing matters because the rivalry is officially set to restart in 2030, with the games scheduled early in the season. That only raises the stakes around every comment and countercomment between the two sides, especially when the conversation shifts from tradition to logistics. Rileys latest remarks do not change the calendar, but they do remind both fan bases that the tension around this series is already back in full view. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Is Still Waiting On The Indiana Matchup Fans Wanted
Indiana footballs future non-conference slate has been drawing attention, and not in the way Notre Dame fans had hoped. Under Curt Cignetti, the Hoosiers have mapped out a schedule through 2029 that stays away from any Power Four opponent outside the Big Ten, a sharp turn from the kind of game that can make an autumn calendar feel a little bigger.
Indiana had previously had games with Virginia and Louisville on the books before moving on to lighter opponents, and Cignetti has described the approach as SEC-style in its emphasis on conference play. For Notre Dame, though, the matchup people keep circling is still a ways off, with the first series between the programs now slated for 2030-31. [Read more 🡒]