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The college football season ended days ago, and fans are already anticipating what next season and beyond could look like.
Will the 12-team College Football Playoff format last? Will the SEC see a surge after all the head coaching shakeups? Can the Big Ten stay on top — and for how long?
Our trio of experts at FOX Sports gathered for a discussion about the sport’s biggest burning questions right now:
Why haven’t the CFP board of managers implemented a 24-team model yet?
RJ Young: SEC commissioner Greg Sankey doesn’t like it, but he should. In the 24-team model that has been populated most by the Big Ten, Sankey’s conference receives four automatic qualifying bids, and his conference stands a good chance of getting half of his league invited to play (eight out of 16 teams). That’s a third of the proposed field.
The move to extend the CFP also removes the need for top-ranked teams to take nearly three weeks off before play, which hasn’t helped them, allows them to have a bye and to play at least one home playoff game. For once, the best teams in the country can enjoy the advantage the CFP’s board of (mis)management has only seen fit to extend to its mid-field tournament teams.
Will Indiana repeat as national champions?
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Laken Litman: Curt Cignetti has quickly built a program that will contend for national championships for years to come. There’s no question about that, but going back-to-back is never easy, which is why it isn’t done often.
Indiana has one of the strongest transfer portal classes arriving on campus, which includes top players like former TCU quarterback Josh Hoover, Michigan State wide receiver Nick Marsh and Kansas State defensive end Tobi Osunsanmi. Plus, Cignetti has a few star players returning, like standout receiver Charlie Becker, who made critical plays in the title game against Miami (Fla.).
Still, when you look at the Big Ten and who Indiana has to play next year — Ohio State, Michigan and USC are all on the schedule — plus the general uncertainty of the college football landscape brought on by NIL, it’s more likely than not that the Hoosiers don’t repeat in 2026.
Can the Big Ten win a fourth consecutive national title?
Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Michael Cohen: After his involvement in the trophy presentation on Monday night, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti hopped down from the stage at Hard Rock Stadium and attempted to scurry off the field unnoticed. But a handful of reporters tracked him down near midfield to get his thoughts on the conference’s third consecutive national championship. In part, Petitti said, “I feel like we’re just getting started,” which is a fascinating thought for a league that only won two national titles this century prior to its current run.
Can the Big Ten do it again in 2026? The answer feels like a yes, considering just how much talent some of the leading programs is returning — including legitimate Heisman Trophy candidates at Ohio State (Julian Sayin, Jeremiah Smith), Oregon (Dante Moore) and maybe even USC (Jayden Maiava). Plus, an influx of high-quality coaches at Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State now gives the league a more proven collection of leaders than the SEC, which should translate to sterner tests during the regular season. The Big Ten is certainly trending up.
[2026 COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Indiana, Ohio State Highlight Way-Too-Early Top 25]
Is there one other Indiana mendacity in wait?
RJ Younger: There’s a personal fairness agency on the market asking the identical query. I do know this as a result of I’ve requested this query in texts you’ll by no means see with powers that desire to not be seen.
The query does not a lot revolve round flipping a roster right into a CFP contender in 12 months 1 after which a Godzilla to Lord of the game the subsequent. It revolves round sheer mass. While you realized Indiana has the most important dwelling alumni base within the nation, I’m positive a lot of the Hoosiers’ success on the sphere instantly made sense to you. Now, what different giant universities have giant alumni bases and yearn to play for championships in FBS soccer? We’ll all discover out quickly — very, very quickly.
Can LSU make the CFP in head coach Lane Kiffin’s first season?
(Picture by Tim Warner/Getty Pictures)
Laken Litman: No. Kiffin has owned the switch portal and is constructing a aggressive roster, led by former Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt, however LSU has a troublesome schedule subsequent 12 months that features matchups towards Texas and Kiffin’s former employer, Ole Miss.
Plus, should you assume the SEC groups that return beginning quarterbacks — Georgia, Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma — are higher positioned to make the CFP, then it is very attainable LSU finds itself on the skin wanting in subsequent fall.
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Will head coach Kalen DeBoer win sufficient video games to stay at Alabama?
Michael Cohen: When DeBoer left Washington and accepted the accountability of changing former Alabama head coach Nick Saban previous to the 2024 marketing campaign, he understood the unbelievable — maybe unreasonable — normal that followers anticipated him to fulfill. Saban gained six nationwide titles with the Crimson Tide. He solely misplaced greater than two video games in a season as soon as outdoors his debut 7-6 mark in 2007. He recruited at a stage that nobody else within the sport might match.
DeBoer, in the meantime, has 4 video games in every of his first two years at Alabama. He reached the CFP in 2025 however was barnstormed by eventual nationwide champion Indiana in a sport that was by no means shut. A 3rd consecutive substandard season might effectively lead to one other change of management for the Crimson Tide.
With all due respect to DeBoer, who stays a advantageous coach, this query is much less about him and extra about what a emptiness at Alabama does to the game. Saban’s departure two years in the past set off an avalanche of teaching strikes throughout the nation in a cause-and-effect response that mirrored how fascinating it’s to work for the Crimson Tide in any capability. If DeBoer is fired, a equally wide-ranging reshuffling would possible happen.
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