4 underrated college football programs getting disrespected in preseason rankings
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
The 2026 college football preseason picture is taking shape, and the usual programs fill the top spots. Ohio State, Oregon, Notre Dame, Texas and Georgia dominate the early polls and the way-too-early College Football Playoff narratives.
But several programs with real cases for national contention keep landing lower than their results would suggest.
Some won big last season. Some built rosters that rank among the best in their conferences. Here are four underrated teams that are not getting enough respect heading into the 2026 season.
More: Predicting the college football 2026 preseason AP Top 25 rankings
Indiana Hoosiers not even top five after a perfect season
Indiana went 16-0 last season, won its first national championship and swept all 66 first-place votes in the final AP poll. The reward has been a shrug. ESPN’s preseason Football Power Index put the Hoosiers sixth behind Ohio State, Texas, Notre Dame, Oregon and Georgia. FootballScoop surveyed four preseason pollsters in May, and all four had Indiana sixth. Big Ten media voters picked the defending champions third in their own conference, behind Ohio State and Oregon.
The doubt comes down to turnover. Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza left for the NFL, and Curt Cignetti had to rebuild through the portal again. He landed TCU quarterback Josh Hoover, who threw for 3,472 yards and 29 touchdowns in 2025, plus Michigan State wide receiver Nick Marsh and Wisconsin offensive lineman Joe Brunner. Six starters return on defense.
Cignetti is not framing the season around the title. “In my mind, we’re not defending the national championship, we’re starting a new season,” the third-year Indiana coach said at Big Ten media days in Chicago.
His track record suggests the pollsters are underselling Bloomington again. Indiana opened 2025 ranked No. 20 and finished with the first perfect 16-win season in major college football since 1894.
BYU Cougars picked to win the Big 12 yet remain underrated
BYU went 12-2 last season, reached the Big 12 championship game and beat Georgia Tech in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Both losses came against Texas Tech, and the Cougars were left out of the College Football Playoff anyway. College Football News wrote that BYU got hosed by the CFP as much as Notre Dame did.
The conference has noticed even if the national polls have not. Big 12 coaches picked Kalani Sitake’s team to win the league in 2026, ahead of defending champion Texas Tech, Utah and Houston. Stewart Mandel of The Athletic ranked the Cougars eighth, the only Big 12 team in his top 10, and called them “the clear Big 12 favorite.” Most other projections have BYU closer to No. 14 or 15.
The roster explains the coaches’ vote. Quarterback Bear Bachmeier threw for 3,033 yards and ran for a school-record 11 touchdowns as a true freshman, winning Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year. Running back LJ Martin, the league’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2025, passed on the NFL to return to Provo. Texas Tech also lost quarterback Brendan Sorsby to an NCAA gambling ruling, which removed the biggest roadblock between Sitake and a conference title.
Washington Huskies consistently underrated in polls
Washington went 9-4 last season and closed with a 38-10 win over Boise State in the LA Bowl. Quarterback Demond Williams Jr. accounted for 32 touchdowns through the air and on the ground, then signed a new deal to stay in Seattle instead of entering the transfer portal. Phil Steele still has the Huskies just 25th in his preseason top 40, and Big Ten media voters put Washington behind Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana, USC and Michigan in the preseason poll.
The history says Jedd Fisch’s teams jump in year three. At Arizona, Fisch went 1-11, then 5-7, then 10-3. In Seattle, he has gone 6-7 and 9-4 entering his third season. OutKick called Washington a Big Ten dark horse, noting the Huskies rank in the top 15 nationally in returning production, play five of their first six games at home, avoid Ohio State and Michigan entirely and host both Indiana and Penn State.
Fisch made his view of the roster clear. “When you have an elite quarterback, you have an opportunity to win a lot of games,” the third-year Washington coach said. If Williams takes another step, a first College Football Playoff berth in the 12-team format is in reach.
Louisville Cardinals win nine games every year and get no respect
Louisville has won at least nine games in all three seasons under Jeff Brohm, the first time the program has done that since 2012-14. The Cardinals went 9-4 last season and beat Toledo 27-22 in the Boca Raton Bowl. ACC media voters picked Brohm’s team to finish third in the conference behind Miami and SMU, the highest preseason spot for Louisville since 2017, when Lamar Jackson was the reigning Heisman Trophy winner.
The national rankings have not followed. ESPN’s preseason Football Power Index left the Cardinals outside its top 25 entirely, even with Brohm holding a 28-12 record through three years. The doubt centers on another quarterback change. Ohio State transfer Lincoln Kienholz takes over the offense as the headliner of a portal class ranked fifth in the country.
The rest of the roster looks great; just look at running back Isaac Brown and defensive end Clev Lubin, who both made the preseason All-ACC first team. Lubin, who ranked No. 15 in a list of college football’s most important players, posted 8.5 sacks last season. The schedule gives Louisville early chances to force its way into the rankings. The Cardinals open against Ole Miss in Nashville on Sept. 6, then host SMU in week three in a matchup of two of the ACC’s preseason top three.
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos