It’s hard to connect all the parts with 138 teams, unbalanced schedules, and an ever-changing college football world thanks to the transfer portal.
We stand by our research, analysis, and predictions, but after the puzzle is put together, sometimes a few parts don’t quite fit.
Every year, there are a few teams that we don’t respect as much as we should, and then they make us look ridiculous. Below are the five teams that we might be disrespecting a bit too much going into the season.
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24: Big 12 Key Questions
23: Big Ten Key Questions
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21: SEC Key Questions
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Why Colorado Deserves More Respect: There’s more than enough offensive talent to come up with a few shootout wins. The receiving corps is loaded, quarterback Julian Lewis is a tremendous talent, and if the offensive line is even slightly competent, there will be times when it all clicks.
Why We’re Right About Colorado: The offensive line has to be better by leaps and bounds to be merely awful, the defense is all but starting over with transfers, and to be awkward about it, after a horrible end to last season, the vibes aren’t there.
What Will Really Happen: We aren’t totally alone on our 2-10 prediction – the win totals are all around 3.5.
There’s enough talent in place to be okay, but other than Weber State and the regular season finale against UCF, Colorado will struggle with the rest of a rough schedule. It’ll probably find a few more upset wins than we’re projecting.
– Colorado 2026 Team Preview
Why Kentucky Deserves More Respect: There’s an offense now. New head coach Will Stein was a star offensive coordinator, he brought in a whale of a coaching staff, and they all crushed the portal.
Quarterback Kenny Minchey comes in from Notre Dame, the receiving corps is loaded, and the offensive line will be far better.
Why We’re Right About Kentucky: It’ll still take a little while to find a running game, the receiving corps was banged up this offseason, and the defense will take a little while to come together.
What Will Really Happen: The problem is the schedule. Youngstown State and South Alabama are the only sure wins. After that it’s, what, Vanderbilt? Florida? Louisville?
We predicted four wins, but with this offense, the Wildcats will likely flirt with bowl eligibility.
– Kentucky 2026 Team Preview
Why North Carolina Deserves More Respect: For all the dogging of all things Bill Belichick, he’s still Bill Belichick. He hit the transfer portal hard, Bobby Petrino is an interesting offensive coordinator hire, and the defense that was underloved last year should be solid.
Why We’re Right About North Carolina: It’s hard to buy into the offense with an okay quarterback situation – Maryland/Wisconsin transfer Billy Edwards has to be terrific.
But here’s the bigger problem – TCU (in Dublin), at Clemson, Notre Dame, at Pitt, at Duke. This could quickly go into the tank early, and there’s still Miami, Louisville, NC State, and a trip to Virginia to go.
What Will Really Happen: The 5-7 call with this schedule is fair – the consensus win total is 4.5. There’s a shot the Tar Heels pull off an extra upset somewhere – they weren’t that far off from being 6-6 instead of 4-8 last season – and again, it’s Belichick.
– North Carolina 2026 Team Preview
Why North Dakota State Deserves More Respect: It’s North Dakota freaking State. It won ten FCS national titles under four different head coaches since 2011, and counting life as a D-II program, it has 18 national championships since 1963.
Why We’re Right About North Dakota State: It’s not like we’re dogging the Bison here with a 9-3 prediction. Now the program is going against 11 FBS teams. It has to go to Air Force, UNLV, New Mexico, and Hawaii, there are a few massive losses on offense, and …
What Will Really Happen: This is the preseason prediction we’re the least-happy about. Throwing out the shortened 2020 campaign, the last time the Bison won fewer than ten games in a season was 2009.
It’s North Dakota State, and it doesn’t play any Power Four programs. It might just rip through the Mountain West on the way to the College Football Playoff.
– North Dakota State 2026 Team Preview
Why Vanderbilt Deserves More Respect: Head coach Clark Lea has been building this up. Even without Diego Pavia, this still isn’t the Vanderbilt everyone is used to kicking around.
The receiving corps is outstanding, the running backs are great, and 5-star quarterback Jared Curtis appears to be the real deal.
Why We’re Right About Vanderbilt: Pavia made up for a whole lot of issues on defense. Vanderbilt was able to keep winning because the offense was so good, putting up 500 points on the season.
It also helped that the schedule wasn’t that great – the Commodores lost to the three best teams on the slate, Alabama, Texas, and Iowa.
What Will Really Happen: Someone has to lose in the SEC.
We have Vanderbilt going 4-8, but that includes projected road losses at Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Florida.
The Commodores will be good enough to win at least one of those, and maybe beat NC State at home, and pull off an upset somewhere. We won’t be the slightest bit shocked if we’re off by two wins.
– Vanderbilt 2026 Team Preview
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