4 sleepers for college football national championship (but no 'next Indiana')
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There’s no next Indiana. Let’s set that straight from the start and frame this conversation properly.
To replicate Indiana’s outhouse-to-penthouse rise, a longtime loser like Northwestern would need to ascend to the throne within a couple of years.
A more realistic debate would be this: Is there a team ranked outside the top 10 in the US LBM Coaches Poll that could replicate what the 2025 Hoosiers did and go from underrated to national champions?
Until Indiana, not since 2013 Florida State (preseason No. 12) had a team won the championship that wasn’t ranked in the preseason top 10.
So, that’s the framework for our exercise. Which teams not in the top 10 have the best chance — a longshot chance, perhaps, but a chance — to win the national championship?
Here are four teams to consider:
No. 13 LSU
This is why I say no “next Indiana” exists, because Lane Kiffin and LSU winning a national championship — the Tigers already have three national titles this millennium — would not be equivalent to Indiana overcoming a doormat’s history to win a national championship, two years after hiring James Madison’s coach. But if we’re purely looking at teams outside the top 10 with the goods to chase a ring, LSU must be on the list. Kiffin’s portal haul is tremendous, and he’s proven he can blend transfers. If quarterback Sam Leavitt ignites, LSU can’t be ignored.
No. 14 USC
If there was ever a time for Lincoln Riley to break through at USC, this is it. No team returns more starters than USC, and although Dante Moore and Julian Sayin magnetize a lot of the hype surrounding Big Ten quarterbacks, USC’s Jayden Maiava is star, too. USC’s schedule is loaded — it includes Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana — but Riley should be able to compete with this roster. If he can’t, maybe he’s not the guy the Trojans thought they were getting.
No. 12 Texas Tech
The Brendan Sorsby saga overshadowed that Texas Tech remains the Big 12 frontrunner. Conference peers will struggle to score against a defense with a disruptive front and linebacker Ben Roberts in the middle of it all. The schedule is a breeze — No. 24 Houston is the only ranked opponent — so the Red Raiders are a good bet for the playoff. What do they achieve if they get there? Last season, they got shut out in a whimpering playoff loss. To be championship contenders, Will Hammond must become a better quarterback than Texas Tech thought he'd be. Otherwise, why did it try so hard to make a gambling addict its starter? If Hammond overdelivers, then Texas Tech is underrated.
No. 19 Washington
From No. 19 to champions? Pretty extreme, right? Well, not for 2025 Indiana, and here’s another Big Ten team lurking on the 19-line with an ace quarterback in Demond Williams Jr. He’s got an offensive line full of familiar faces in front of him. There’s good reason for skepticism that Washington will ascend past last year’s 9-4 record, particularly because it must replace several defensive starters. But, the cliché rings true that if you’ve got a quarterback, you’ve got a chance, and Washington has a quarterback.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 4 sleepers for college football national championship (but no 'next Indiana')
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