5 College Football Teams Headed For a Letdown in 2026

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This isn't the fun part for fans coming off a great season. Not everyone can keep the party going.

Every year there are surprise teams that come from out of nowhere and do something special, and others turn into last year's South Carolina and Syracuse – two of the teams in last year's version of Teams Headed For a Letdown.

Which five teams are going to struggle a bit more than everyone is hoping for?

26 for '26, No. 14: Five Teams Due For a Letdown

They might not be teams that crash. They're all facing high expectations that will be tough to live up to.

For the record, last year's five teams were Tennessee (coming off a CFP run), BYU (oops), Arizona State (like Tennessee, coming off a CFP run), South Carolina (nailed it), and Syracuse (nailed that harder).

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5. Jacksonville State

In the three years since moving up to the FBS ranks, Jacksonville State has won nine games every year, played in two Conference USA Championships, and won one of them.

The bar for the program is high, and to be fair, last year, we didn't think it would come close. It was rebuilding, and everything was ripe for a collapse – nope. But this year it's all about the schedule.

The team is good again, but starting at North Dakota State and going to Ohio won't be easy. Road games at Kennesaw State, Western Kentucky, and Delaware will be just enough to keep the Gamecocks from maintaining the success.
– Jacksonville State 2026 Team Preview

4. Ole Miss

Last year, Penn State was the hot team coming off a run to the College Football Playoff Semifinals. It had just about everyone back, the schedule looked right, and it all crashed. The team couldn't find the same magic.

That's not exactly what will happen for this year's Rebel team that returns amazing quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, running back Kewan Lacy, and a loaded backfield, but considering how close the program came to playing for the national title, not getting back to the tournament will be a big disappointment.

The Rebels will be terrific, but road games at Texas and Oklahoma, home dates against LSU and Georgia, and a few sneaky-tough fights against Florida on the road and Auburn at home will be too much to avoid at least a three-loss season.
– Ole Miss 2026 Team Preview

3. North Texas

This is a pure rebuild call.

Neal Brown was a terrific head coaching hire with the experience and skill to get the Mean Green back up to speed fast, but this will be nowhere near the 12-2 run of last year.

Former head coach Eric Morris took almost everyone of note with him to Oklahoma State, and now North Texas has to rely on at least 19 transfers among the starting 22 to try getting back up to speed.

If that wasn't bad enough, there's a great chance it loses more games after three weeks than it did all year, starting out with at Indiana, UNLV, and at Texas State. Throw in road games at Navy, UTSA, and Tulane, and … uh oh.
– North Texas 2026 Team Preview

2. Duke

We should probably know better, considering the program has won 35 games over the last four years and established itself as a true ACC factor.

We've been bullish on the Blue Devils for the last few seasons, but no, we didn't see an ACC Championship run coming. And no, we don't think it'll continue.

The defense will once again be strong, but the loss of QB Darian Mensah to Miami hurts, there aren't as many top playmakers, and the schedule is loaded with problems.

At Illinois, at Georgia Tech, at Virginia, at NC State, at Wake Forest … and at Miami. All of that combined with dates with Clemson and Tulane will be a bit too hard to keep the championship vibes going.
– Duke 2026 Team Preview

1. Vanderbilt

There's still plenty of talent around – it wasn't all Diego Pavia – and likely starter Jared Curtis is a fantastic prospect. However, he's just a freshman, the offensive line has too many replacements – even with a few nice talent grabs from the portal – and then there's the one big issue.

The SEC is better.

Last year's Commodore team came up with nice wins over Tennessee and Missouri, but LSU was down, beating South Carolina and Auburn wasn't that big a deal, and rolling past Virginia Tech in non-conference play wasn't the big victory everyone thought.

There's a good chance Arkansas is the only SEC game Vandy will be favored in. It can beat Kentucky and Mississippi State, but both are stronger, and both games are on the road.

Five SEC road dates, a visit from NC State, and home games against Alabama, Ole Miss, and Tennessee will put 2026 Vanderbilt into the good-team-bad-record category.
– Vanderbilt 2026 Team Preview

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