There are dozens of teams capable of having good college football seasons in 2026. There are probably 15 or so with a legitimate path to the College Football Playoff, and depending on how loose you want to get with the word “contender,” somewhere between six and 10 could talk themselves into believing a national championship is actually possible.
But there are four teams I keep coming back to: Texas, Texas A&M, Indiana and LSU.
These aren’t necessarily the four best teams in college football, though some or all of them could eventually fit that description depending on how the season unfolds. No, they’re the four squads I believe will have the largest impact on how we experience this season. Texas enters another year with a loaded roster and national championship expectations after failing to reach the playoff in 2025. Indiana is attempting to figure out what life looks like after improbably going 16-0 and climbing to the top of the college football mountain. LSU, meanwhile, handed Lane Kiffin the keys to the castle and told him he can do whatever the heck he wants.
And then there’s Texas A&M.
For years, the Aggies were one of college football’s great theoretical programs. The recruiting, money and fan support were always there, but the results rarely followed. Until 2025, that is.
Texas A&M went 11-1 during the regular season and reached the College Football Playoff, finally breaking through under Mike Elko and looking like the program everyone in College Station had been waiting years to see. The ending left something to be desired — another loss to Texas followed by a crushing playoff defeat against Miami — but that didn’t erase everything that came before it.
Few people have waited longer for that breakthrough than my longtime friend Colby Dye, easily the biggest Aggies fan I know. Colby was also my throwing partner during our high school baseball days, and those who know understand that’s a special kind of bond. We’ve spent plenty of time over the years talking about Texas A&M athletics, usually with significantly less optimism than he has entering 2026.
So, with expectations in College Station finally matching the talent on the field, I wanted to know what Colby makes of the Aggies’ new reality — and whether last season was only the beginning.
You are probably the most diehard Texas A&M fan I know, so I’ll start here: How much, if at all, did the ending of last season ruin what should’ve been an incredible year?
Colby: The ending of last season did not ruin it for me. It may have made my birthday weekend worse, but it still did not ruin everything they accomplished.
I went into that season without a ton of confidence that we would do better than 8-4 because of all the uncertainties surrounding Marcel Reed and the offense. I think the Texas loss hurt more than the Miami loss, not only because it was Texas but because it kept us from the SEC championship game.
Seth: I appreciate the rational stance here because I know far too many A&M fans who decided everything was lost following the defeat to Texas in Austin. That game was brutal, and following it up with a playoff loss to Miami certainly didn’t help matters, but neither result erases everything that came before them.
The Aggies took a massive leap forward in 2025 under Mike Elko and produced the type of season this program has spent a long time waiting for. They won big games, legitimately competed near the top of the SEC and produced memorable moments that folks in College Station will remember for the rest of their lives. The ending stunk, but the season absolutely did not.
Now comes the considerably more difficult part: doing it again.
Did last season actually change the way you view this program?
Colby: It changed my view a ton. I knew Mike Elko was a good coach before last season started, but after the way last season went, I believe he is the answer for Texas A&M moving forward.
With him leading the team, I believe we can create a ton of havoc not only in the SEC but throughout college football.
Seth: As someone who has long participated in making fun of Texas A&M’s continued failures, 2025 was something of a wake-up call. The Aggies kept stacking wins, and eventually I was forced to look in the mirror and come to a difficult conclusion: Elko is the guy.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Texas A&M is going to win a national championship this year, or even the next. But I do believe that if Elko is in College Station long enough, this program is eventually going to win one. The Aggies have too many resources, too much talent and now, perhaps most importantly, the right coach leading the operation. That’s a combination I’d rather not bet against over the long haul.
What do you think the biggest difference is between the way an A&M fan views this team and the way everyone else views it?
Colby: A&M fans always have full confidence in our team, while everyone else seems to put us on upset watch every single week, no matter who we are playing.
In short, no one ever truly believes in this program besides true A&M fans.
Seth: I’d say this is somewhat true, as there’s always been a healthy dose of pessimism from the outside world toward A&M. But I’d also counter by pointing out that the Aggies have routinely found themselves near the top of preseason polls over the years, even when the evidence occasionally suggested they probably shouldn’t be there.
Last year’s success changes that conversation quite a bit, obviously, and Colby’s larger point still stands. No matter how talented the roster is or how high A&M climbs in the rankings, there always seems to be a sense that the Aggies are one bad Saturday away from everything collapsing in on itself. Fair or not, A&M is almost permanently stuck in prove-it mode.
Do you completely trust Marcel Reed?
Colby: After last year, I still did not fully believe he was the guy at quarterback. However, all the improvement and work I have seen and heard about over the offseason has completely changed that.
I now believe he is the best quarterback we have had since Johnny Manziel. That could be a hot take.
Listen, I’m not saying he is the perfect quarterback, but with the system we have in place and the help he has in the wide receiver and running back rooms, I think he is perfect for what we want to do.
Seth: I agree and disagree with this stance. Reed probably is the best quarterback the program has had since Johnny Manziel, but that’s honestly not saying all that much.
Kenny Hill, Kyle Allen, Trevor Knight, Nick Starkel, Kellen Mond, Haynes King — pre-Georgia Tech Haynes King, I might add — and Conner Weigman all took snaps under center after Manziel’s departure, and to call that a mixed bag would be an understatement. There were good moments scattered throughout, but nobody managed to elevate A&M quite like Reed did last season. Now he has to prove he can live somewhere close to that same ceiling for another full season, particularly with expectations considerably higher than they were a year ago.
What is the thing about this year’s team that has you lying awake at night thinking, “Oh no, this is how they’re going to get us?”
Colby: An easy answer is whether we can actually be consistent at making field goals. The inconsistency of Randy Bond last year still haunts me, and I hope that changes this year.
Another thing that scares me is our terrifying road schedule. LSU, Alabama and South Carolina are going to be huge tests for this team. If we only lose one road game, I have confidence that would be our only loss.
Seth: You know Colby is a massive fan when the first thing keeping him awake at night is the kicker position. He’s not entirely wrong, either.
After three relatively dependable seasons in College Station, Randy Bond went completely off the deep end in 2025, making just 12 of his 19 field-goal attempts. The biggest drop came from long range. Bond had made eight of his 11 attempts from 50 or more yards over the previous three seasons before going 0-for-3 from that distance last year.
A&M has since moved on to Illinois transfer David Olano, with the hope being that perhaps a little more consistency at that position could help the Aggies win on the margins.
Give me the player you’re irrationally excited about.
Colby: That is hard to choose because I am just over the top about the entire receiving room. If I had to pick one, I would say Isaiah Horton because we have not had that dominant, big-bodied receiver since Mike Evans. Reed has not had a receiver like that to throw to, so I am excited to see how we work that into our system.
Seth: Horton is particularly interesting because he gives Reed a different type of weapon than the speedy receivers that made A&M’s passing game so dangerous last season. There’s something incredibly appealing about pairing that type of big-bodied target with all the speed and explosiveness already surrounding him, and it should give Reed another option whenever the offense desperately needs someone to go make a play.
What would hurt more: going 8-4, or going 11-1 and losing to Texas again?
Colby: Going 8-4 and beating Texas sounds great until you realize that probably keeps you out of the playoff. Going 11-1 and losing to Texas still gives you an extremely high chance of making the CFP.
Being in the playoff is more important to me, so I would say 8-4 would hurt worse. I would love to finally break the stereotype of A&M always going 8-4.
Seth: Calling Texas A&M “Texas 8-4” was always the go-to jab for anybody making fun of the Aggies, and another season like last year would go a long way toward finally tossing that joke into the trash.
That doesn’t make the Texas game irrelevant. Far from it. A&M desperately needs to beat the Longhorns at some point, especially if it wants to shed the little-brother label. Losing to Texas every year while celebrating playoff appearances isn’t exactly going to make everyone in College Station happy.
But Colby is right about the larger goal. If given the choice between beating Texas during an otherwise disappointing 8-4 season or going 11-1 and competing for a national championship, I’m taking the latter every single time. Rivalries matter immensely in college football, but the entire point of building what Elko is building is to eventually win the whole damn thing.
Give me your most delusional Texas A&M prediction for 2026.
Colby: Mario Craver is a top-three receiver in all of college football. Jeremiah Smith is the only receiver I can say I truly believe is better than him.
I will give one final thought that I haven’t touched on yet. We have a whole new offensive line and a new stud middle linebacker. If the offensive line has good chemistry right off the bat and we have that head-seeking middle linebacker, CFP, here we come.
Seth: I’ll pull out the receipts if I have to, but I’ve been on the Mario Craver train since the beginning of last season. That dude is an absolute beast.
Putting him in the same neighborhood as Jeremiah Smith is certainly aggressive, but I don’t think it’s all that crazy to believe Craver could finish the season as one of the best receivers in the country. We already saw stretches of that ability in 2025, and another year alongside Reed should only make the connection more dangerous.
As for the rest of Colby’s prediction, I am not going to doubt Elko’s ability to lead his men into battle and come out the other side with a victory because last season proved that A&M isn’t sneaking up on anybody anymore. And with a lot of the same talent returning, as well as high-impact pieces arriving, there are legitimate reasons to believe the Aggies can be even better.
CFP, here they come?