8 simple reasons why we still love college football heading into 2026 season

Sporting News celebrated its 140th anniversary ahead of the 2026 football season with content overflowing with all the reasons we love college football. 

All-decade All-America teams. Teams of the decade. Greatest teams ever. Greatest personalities ever. Greatest sport ever? That unconditional love has been tested this offseason with everything off the field. 

We spent most of the offseason yapping about district court rulings about player eligibility – a battle that continues into Week 1 with players who played during the NFL preseason. You couldn't go a day without hearing about Brendan Sorsby in June or the Protect College Sports Act in July. Name, Image and Likeness. Transfer portal. College Football Playoff expansion. 

It's a series of collisions at dysfunction junction, but the good news is football is almost out of the courtroom and on the field – and we still love this game. For someone who started covering college football for The Sporting News at the end of the BCS era, I can say a little bit of dysfunction never hurts if you're comfortable in that environment.

There are more than enough reasons to love this game heading into Week 1 of the 2026 season. 

Lane Kiffin vs. everyone 

My opinion on Lane Kiffin changes almost by the minute. He's like that annoying TV series character you always hated, but there is an appreciation for how well he plays this role. 

Kiffin is so damn good at it, too. Last week is a great example. Is the coach who hijacked the 2025 regular season really going to have players who participated in the NFL preseason on his roster? Is he trying to destroy college football or simply expose the loopholes? You hate it out loud.

Then, you watch the Fansville commercial. 

— FootballScoop (@FootballScoop) August 28, 2026

He's either the most or least self-aware coach ever. I don't care that he's not on social media any more because that persona never really registered. I don't care about his yoga class or his daily reflections. Well, maybe I do.

That's the genius of Kiffin. He infects your subconscious. College football is better when a coach can burrow into your brain while watching him for four hours – and I can't wait to see the atmosphere at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium when he returns to Ole Miss on Sept. 19. 

MORE: Week 1 picks against the spread for LSU-Clemson, more

Curt Cignetti vs. everyone else  

Perhaps the ultimate sign of the absurdity of college football in the 12-team CFP age is that Curt Cignetti – a 65-year-old coach – is the sport's new boss. He's 46-6 the last four seasons between Indiana and James Madison – an .884 winning percentage that trails only Georgia's Kirby Smart at .894 in that time period. 

It's not just the viral content either. Sure, Cignetti is famous for saying "Google me," and every facial expression made your timeline last season. It's the substance behind that style, however, with an unmatched knack for talent evaluation and development that turned the Hoosiers into the biggest success story in college football.

Indiana has beaten four of the top six FBS programs by winning percentage the last four years – a list that includes Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan and Alabama. Who is left? Notre Dame – one of two teams that beat the Hoosiers the last two years – and Georgia. 

Given how Cignetti dropped the mic on the SEC at Big Ten Media Days, maybe a date with the Bulldogs in the CFP is exactly what we need in 2026. My pick for the CFP championship game is Indiana-Notre Dame. That works, too. 

MORE: Gauging the CFB pressure index on coaches, players, teams

Realigned rivalries 

"Why is Andrew Luck talking to me?" 

You ask yourself weird questions – in this case the middle of a conversation with Luck at a function before the ACC Kickoff in 2025. Then, you remember, "Oh yeah, they are in the ACC." 

There are positive side effects to massive realignment. Oregon winning in double overtime at Penn State during a "Whiteout." Texas being left out of the College Football Playoff – because of a loss to Florida at The Swamp. Texas Tech-Houston is the best Friday night game on the schedule in September in the Big 12. Maybe Cal or Stanford can make a run in the ACC next.

We can do nostalgic things and look at college football and ask whether the sport was better 40 years ago. Then again, does your high school still play in the same conference? 

Realignment regifted us the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry – which is better with the SEC backdrop given the last two matchups. The Longhorns won last year, but the Aggies made the College Football Playoff. BYU-Utah is back, too. 

Realignment rewards ambition. SMU is playing Florida State on Labor Day night. The Mustangs have been a success story since coming to the ACC with 20 wins in two seasons and a 14-2 record in regular-season conference play. Maybe SMU-Miami is a next-generation rivalry in the ACC from two nostalgic 1980s programs. What's wrong with that? 

And yes, it was very cool getting a chance to talk to Luck. You never take those conversations for granted.

RANKINGS: All 138 FBS teams | All 138 FBS coaches 

Separation Saturdays

Nov. 7 is one of those moments where it's OK to look ahead. 

Seven ranked matchups. Three top-10 matchups – with No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Oregon and No. 3 Georgia vs. No. 9 Ole Miss setting up that No. 4 Notre Dame vs. No. 7 Miami.

That's not all. Who knows where No. 13 Alabama and No. 11 LSU will be at that point? Will No. 18 Penn State be unbeaten headed to No. 17 Washington? 

Rivalry games such as No. 14 BYU vs. No. 21 Utah and Michigan State at No. 16 Michigan also are on the schedule. No. 5 Texas at No. 25 Missouri and No. 10 Oklahoma at Florida, too. 

Social media spent the last few weeks of the offseason debating whether it's acceptable to schedule a fall wedding. I am not going to tell you how to live your life, but for the most part we know better where I'm from.

I've been to fall weddings, and I probably remember Ohio State kicker Mike Nugent's 55-yard walk-off field goal against Marshall on Sept. 11, 2004, or a 48-43 shootout between Alabama and Ole Miss on Sept. 17, 2016, because I was surrounded by good friends at weddings. You can celebrate both at the same time.  

That said, attention spans will be at a premium on Nov. 7. Do you really want to be the person who gets married on a "Separation Saturday?"

Notre Dame vs. Miami is back 

The ACC Network replayed the Miami-Notre Dame matchup nine times ahead of conference championship weekend last year either though neither the Hurricanes nor Irish were playing. This, of course, was part of the buildup to Miami getting in the playoff and Notre Dame being left out. 

College football brings out petty disputes that last for generations – and all that Miami-Notre Dame angst from the 1980s is back. Jimmy Johnson ran the score up in Gerry Faust's last game. The 1988 matchup –  forever known as "Catholics vs. Convicts" –  still comes with the question about whether Miami running back Cleveland Gary fumbled at the goal line in a 31-30 loss. 

When Miami travels to South Bend on Nov. 7 – all of those memories are coming back in the first matchup since Lou Holtz passed away. 

SN 140 : Top 20 teams of all time | Best programs by decade

The Game never changes 

I've covered every installment of The Game since 2015 for SN. I witnessed Jim Harbaugh's incalculable anger after "The Spot" in 2016, watched players and reporters wipe their eyes after being pepper-sprayed during the flag-planting incident in 2024 and heard the screams of Ohio State players in the Michigan tunnel last season after ending a four-game losing streak. 

It doesn't matter how you toggle the weather settings. Every backdrop is perfect. You can lose The Game and win a national championship now – but the legacies for the players and coaches never change. That adds to the excitement of the first matchup between Ryan Day and Kyle Whittingham at The Shoe on Nov. 28. 

Submit a factually-incorrect claim that there is a better rivalry if you want. Maybe the Egg Bowl or the Iron Bowl is nastier because it's in-state. Texas-Oklahoma and Army-Navy have their arguments given the pageantry. 

It's still not close. Michigan-Ohio State had a lull from 2007-14 because the Wolverines were bad. But it's picked up since – and there just isn't a singular traditional sporting event in this country that matches the intensity. 

Year 3 of the 12-team CFP 

Before the 12-team College Football Playoff, college football had become way too predictable. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Georgia combined for eight of 10 national championships in the four-team era – and the semifinals were blowout central. The Buckeyes won the first 12-team CFP, but Indiana validated the "anybody can do it" philosophy of the new era. 

Do I like it better than the Bowl Championship Series era? No, but this is fine even if the equation does not make total sense. As far as teams, 12 is better than four and 12 is better than 24 – which might be the next version of the postseason model in the near future. 

The scramble to get those 12 spots still gives us controversy for those who are left out and provides enough excitement between on-campus home games and keeping the tradition of postseason games at the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. This is only Year 3 of the 12-team CFP, and a few new tweaks were made this offseason to make it better. Let this format breathe a little longer.

BENDER: The seven teams that can win the national title

The first dysfunctional Saturday 

If the polls didn't matter, then why does everyone lose their collective minds when the upsets start happening. That might not be Week 1 – where AP Top 25 teams are favored by an average of 26.2 points per game. That doesn't count the matchups against FCS schools. Just wait for that first nuclear Saturday when the top-10 teams start falling. 

That's one thing this sport has that the NFL doesn't. If the Rams lose to the 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, next week, both teams will be fine. North Carolina beat TCU in Dublin, Ireland, in Week 1. Now, we're wondering if the Tar Heels are ACC contenders and if Sonny Dykes is on the hot seat. 

College football lives for dysfunction on the field. The goalposts still come down after huge victories – like when Georgia Tech upset Clemson last season. The emotion and pageantry still exists in a more corporate world, and the fight songs still mean something. Who isn't going to feel that on the first rendition of "Rocky Top" after Dolly Parton passed away?

The text-thread therapy with friends after the first three-and-out. The triumphant return of "Pac-12 After Dark." Yeah, the sport is a mess, but we still hold on to the little things. 

When Sean McDonough says "Trouble with the snap," we get the reference.

When Gus Johnson comes up with a new nickname or catch-phrase, we roll with it (Masarati Marv, anyone?). 

When the CBS theme song fires up, we fight about whether it belongs to the SEC or Big Ten. 

When Pat McAfee trots out a college kid to kick a field goal on ESPN's "College GameDay," we expect them to make it. 

When an actual kicker comes on a few hours later to make a 35-yard chip shot in front of those same college kids, we expect them to miss it. 

Does any of that make sense? Of course not. It's dysfunctional, but you stick with it no matter what. 

Isn't that what love is?