2026 College Football Predictions: Playoffs & Awards

I have no clue what is going to happen this year. I mean, we have NFL players leaving training camp to go back to school because they may have another year of eligibility (or maybe not, it is confusing). Funny thing is, I suggested this a few years ago. I said that Penn State should have convinced Parker Washington and Jahan Dotson to return for another year since they still had eligibility, and the NIL stuff makes the distinction between professional and amateur a little messy.

If things stand as they are now, and no teams do something insane like convince Ty Simpson to return to college, then this is how I see things going down. Notre Dame will get hot at the end of the season, and roll through everyone. That should make a few of my friends very happy to hear.

So what teams will be complaining about being left out this year? Washington, SMU, and Clemson will have the strongest argument. But it will be Ole Miss and Oklahoma who scream the loudest. They will rail against JMU again, and probably BYU. But you know what team will probably the one with the biggest complaint? Boise State. If my predictions are true, they will also end up in the position to be the top G6 team, and there will be a strong case for them over the Dukes.

Conference Championship Games:
AAC: South Florida defeats Tulane
C-USA: Jacksonville State defeats Western Kentucky
MAC: Ohio defeats Toledo
MWC: UNLV defeats Hawaii
Pac-12: Boise State defeats Fresno State
Sun Belt: James Madison defeats Louisiana
ACC: Miami defeats SMU
Big XII: Texas Tech defeats BYU
Big Ten: Ohio State defeats Oregon
SEC: Texas defeats Georgia

Last year I tried to predict all of the bowl games, and that was a bit much. Also in years past, I did all of the awards, which is excessive. So this year, I am doing the big ones, and that is it.

HEISMAN: C.J. Carr, QB, Notre Dame
COACH OF THE YEAR: Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame (I feel like this is a bad pick, but if they would go undefeated in the regular season, I could see Freeman winning the award)
DOAK WALKER (RB): Kewan Lacy, Ole Miss
BILETNIKOFF (WR): Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State
MACKEY (TE): Peter Clarke, Temple
NAGURSKI (DPOY): Yhonzae Pierre, DE, Alabama
JIM THORPE (D-BACK): Leonard Moore, CB, Notre Dame
BUTKUS (LB): Collin Simmons, Texas