ESPN College Football

Greg McElroy ranks his Top 25 teams going into the 2026 college football season, starting with teams 25-11. McElroy explains reasons he loves each team, areas of concern and if they can live up to the hype. | Always College Football Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Greg McElroy breaks down his Big Ten tiers, discussing which teams COULD win it all, which teams can make the playoff, who can play spoiler, who will make a bowl game and who needs work. How many teams can truly claim the title? Why Indiana can certainly do it again, Ohio State will be in the conversation, and is it Oregon’s year? Plus, USC is set up well for possibly its best season of the Lincol...

Greg McElroy breaks down the tiers in the ACC for the upcoming season and tells you why Miami is the only national title contender, if SMU and Clemson can get back to the CFP and if Louisville is primed to crash the party. Can Florida State bounce back, do Virginia and Duke have staying power, will year 2 at North Carolina under Bill Belichick yield better results and is this the year that Virgini...

Greg McElroy breaks down the “tiers” in the SEC for the upcoming season and tells you why Texas, Georgia, Ole Miss and Oklahoma all can WIN a National Title. Is LSU ready to compete for a CFP spot in year one under Kiffin, will Alabama make it back to the CFP and can Texas A&M carry over the momentum from last season? Is Tennessee ready to make a big jump and where will Florida, Auburn, South Caro...

Greg McElroy breaks down the ‘tiers’ in the BIG 12 with four CFP contenders but is there a legit National Championship contender in the conference? How will Texas Tech handle the bullseye on their back? Is BYU in the BIG 12 “championship or bust” mentality? Can Houston improve their win total again and what can we expect from the fresh start in Utah? Can TCU, Kansas State, Arizona State and Oklaho...

There are some BIG time quarterback competitions happening at Alabama, Tennessee and Florida. Arizona State is looking for a replacement for Sam Leavitt, Clemson is trying to keep the quarterback succession plan rolling and who Bill Belichick chooses at QB1 at North Carolina will be something everyone watches. McElroy gives you who he thinks will win each of the competitions plus tells you why Not...

Georgia has won 48 straight vs unranked opponents, Florida State has not won a road game in two years, Curt Cignetti is undefeated at home as Indiana’s head coach, Oregon has won 12 straight road games and Texas A&M is looking to end a 32 year drought of back-to-back 10+ win seasons. McElroy crunched the numbers and gives you 21 of the most improbable and crazy stats heading into the 2026 season a...

McElroy goes over the most “getable schedules” in the SEC, BIG 10, BIG 12 and ACC. Did Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Auburn hit the scheduling lottery in 2026? Will Luke Fickel at Wisconsin and Matt Campbell at Penn State BOTH get more wins than expected with “lighter” paths in the BIG 10? Can BIG 12 favorite Texas Tech take advantage of missing out on BYU & Utah and will Virginia be back in the...

Is the FPI correct with their strength of schedule metric? McElroy explains what we should use the FPI for then goes through the P4 and gives you the toughest schedules in each conference. Texas, Oklahoma & Texas A&M have a gauntlet to get through to make the CFP, while Ohio State and USC have the toughest road schedules in the BIG 10. In the BIG 12 Colorado and Oklahoma State will be grinding out...

What if the SEC misses the title game (again) and the BIG 10 wins ANOTHER national title? What if Arch Manning struggles, Lane Kiffin and LSU BEAT Ole Miss and Jeremiah Smith wins the Heisman?  McElroy tackles some of the biggest ‘what if’s’ heading into the 2026 season including if a Group of 6 team can win a college football playoff game, if money CAN buy a national championship and what if...

The weight of being the preseason #1 team is very heavy. In 76 years of the AP poll there is only ONE team that started #1 and stayed that way throughout the entire season and won a National Championship - that was Florida State in 1999.  While the CFP has given more leeway for the top ranked teams it’s still a big target on your back to start the season. So who deserves to be ranked #1 in the pre...

What if the SEC has a really bad start in non-conference play to open the season? What if Indiana drops three games or Penn State wins 10? What if Notre Dame finally breaks through for their first National Title since 1988 and what if USC finishes UNDER 8 wins in year five under Lincoln Riley?  What if the BIG 12 is a two bid league and what if the college football playoff gets even messier in Nov...

Greg McElroy breaks down who has the most elite pass catching units in college football knowing the Ohio State is Wide Receiver U until further notice. Will Miami be even better than last year with Malachi Toney & Cooper Barkate, can Trey’Dez Green and a group of transfers get LSU to the next level and does Indiana with Charlie Becker and Nick Marsh have the best WR duo in the BIG 10? Can Moore an...

Who has the best secondaries in college football, the ones that could change games, the ones who could swing college football playoff races? Would you rather have Ohio State’s or Michigan’s secondary? Texas Tech showed out last year, can Pollock & Boyd do it again? Does Notre Dame have the best player on the best secondary or can Alabama lay claim to both? Are the transfers ready to step up EVERYW...

Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko talks with Greg McElroy about the expectations in College Station, the growth of Marcel Reed, what new offensive coordinator Holmon Wiggins will bring, how the Aggies will handle a brutal SEC schedule and much more. Plus, Elko is just one of a handful of coaches entering year 3 at their respective schools so McElroy ask the questions: what will Cignetti do following...

McElroy details the Brendan Sorsby decision and tells you what impact it will have on college football moving forward, if other conferences boycotting Texas Tech will hold, if other BIG 12 teams could really opt out of games and if Sorsby should still enter the NFL supplemental draft. Plus could (or should) the NCAA penalize other programs at Texas Tech (baseball, basketball, softball, etc) to sho...

Greg McElroy goes through and ranks the Top 10 linebacker units in College Football heading into the 2026 season. Are the veteran leaders at Clemson and Pittsburgh enough and can Georgia just continue to reload with NFL caliber talent? Can transfers at Texas A&M and Texas keep the production level up and will Ben Roberts and Austin Romaine be able to pick up where Jacob Rodriguez left off? Can Ind...

Expectations will always be high at Texas and this year is no exception. Head Coach Steve Sarkisian joins Greg McElroy to discuss the pressure on Arch Manning, what he loves about his roster, what Will Muschamp will bring to the defense and why he feels coaches should have a bigger voice in college football. Plus, Coach Sark talks about strength of schedule and why it might expose a huge CFP flaw...

Greg McElroy is joined by new SEC Nation host Matt Barrie to discuss if the BIG 12 and ACC can keep up with the SEC and BIG Ten, if the system as a whole is sustainable and the inevitable playoff expansion and what (if anything) will be lost. Barrie also tells you the moment that changed college football for him, if the SEC can break a three year streak without a National Title and if the SEC coul...

What is the most expensive real estate in college football? Answer: the 7 yards between the OT's outside shoulder and the QB's chin. So why not rank the Top 10 defensive line units in college football heading into the 2026 season. Can A.J. Holmes Jr. lead a rebuilt Texas Tech line back to the CFP, is Will Heldt ready to continue the Clemson D-line NFL pedigree, and is everyone sleeping on David St...

It’s spring meeting time in college football and the number 1 topic is whether or not to expand the College Football Playoff. McElroy dives into the sustainability of the sport moving forward, why the BIG Ten and SEC are in a standoff and if anyone is thinking of the sport as whole or just their conferences. Plus, we hit the mailbag to discuss Michigan’s Jordan Marshall, the Oregon RB room, who is...

Who are the best running backs heading into the 2026 college football season? Can Kewan Lacey get Ole Miss back to the CFP, how much better can a healthy Isaac Brown be at Louisville, what impact will the transfers have at Oklahoma State and West Virginia and can anyone challenge the SEC as the best conference for running backs in 2026? McElroy goes over all of it plus gives you some honorable men...

Kalen DeBoer talks with Greg McElroy about where the Alabama program is heading into the 2026 season, what he has learned about being the head coach at Alabama, the quarterback competition, the growth of the offensive line, why Ezavier Crowell will be a player to watch this fall and much more. Plus, McElroy breaks down the Presidential College Sports Reform Committee’s 8 proposals and tells you wh...

The BIG Ten is going for their 4th consecutive National Championship with a handleful of legit contenders. McElroy goes through the entire conference and gives you the ONE question about each team heading into the summer. Can Josh Hoover really just replace Fernando Mendoza? Can two new coordinators maintain Oregon's offense and defensive dominance? Is Ohio State playing with a chip on their shoul...

We all know Jeremiah Smith is the best wide receiver, but is he the best “football player” in college or does that go to Malachi Toney? McElroy goes through and lists the Top 10 wide receivers heading into the 2026 season and outside of Smith and Toney you will see other familiar names like Charlie Becker, Ryan Wingo and Duce Robsinson but watch out for Beau Sparks at Texas State and transfers Cam...