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Brant college football sleepers teams and underrated programs for 2026. He highlights under-the-radar teams and sneaky contenders, including Houston, SMU, Michigan, and more.
Spring games are in full swing, the warm weather is here to stay, and it almost feels like football season is here, despite being 19 weeks away from Week 0. College football sickos like myself, and like you as a reader of this article, are foaming at the mouth for content to help prepare for the season.
Everybody knows that top contenders like Oregon, Texas, Indiana, and Ohio State will probably be in the mix at the end of the season. But what teams are flying under the radar right now that could make more noise than anticipated in 2026?
These eight teams may not make the CFP this season, but they certainly have the potential to pull off season-altering wins. Don’t underestimate these teams in 2026.
California Golden Bears
Perhaps my favorite underdog team for 2026, it’s a new era of Cal football with former Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi set to lead the program after the firing of Justin Wilcox. Cal joined the ACC in 2024 and has a 6-10 record in conference games. Lupoi is hoping to flip that script and bring the Golden Bears back to national relevance.
Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele has some of the greatest raw arm talent I’ve seen
Very happy he’s sticking with Cal pic.twitter.com/lwdtk7KOhY
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) December 10, 2025
The biggest win of the offseason was getting star quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele back. Sagapolutele was very impressive as a true freshman, passing for 3,454 yards, 18 touchdowns, and nine interceptions while making highlight-worthy plays week in and week out. With a year of experience under his belt, Sagapolutele has the potential to be among college football’s best players this season.
Sagapolutele’s supporting cast should be much stronger this season than it was in 2025. Ian Strong (Rutgers), Chase Hendricks (Ohio), and Dorian Thomas (New Mexico) form a trio of impressive targets.
Being a defensive-minded coach, Lupoi should get the most out of the team on the defensive side of the ball.
We’ll find out a lot about this team right out of the gate, as they host UCLA in Week 1, then travel to Syracuse for their first ACC game in Week 2. If they get through those two games unscathed and then take care of Clemson at home in Week 4 on a Friday night, the Golden Bears should be firmly on the national radar as an ACC title contender.
South Carolina Gamecocks
Shane Beamer’s South Carolina team was hyped up heading into 2025 after a strong finish in 2024, just to fall flat on their face with a 4-8 record. LaNorris Sellers had a down season, passing for 2,437 yards, 13 touchdowns, and eight interceptions while rushing for just 270 yards and five scores.
Sellers is back in Columbia for 2026, but nobody is talking about it after his disappointing 2025 season. He remains one of college football’s most talented quarterbacks, and it would not come as a shock for the Gamecocks to have a post-hype breakout season with their offensive leader and their defensive star, Dylan Stewart, both back in the fold.
The Gamecocks’ earliest spot to make a name for themselves will be on Saturday, September 26th, when they play at Alabama. Two years ago, during Sellers’ breakout season, they nearly toppled the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa. Beamer’s squad will have another chance to do so while now back under the radar.
While South Carolina probably is not a playoff team, they should be much improved from last season’s 4-8 blunder and will have plenty of opportunities to make a statement in a deep SEC.
Houston Cougars
If you read my way-too-early college football playoff predictions piece, you know that I’m in on Houston for 2026. Willie Fritz has done an incredible job turning the program around quickly, and former Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman is back to lead the way on offense after an impressive 2025 season.
The Cougars do lose a top target in tight end Tanner Koziol, but they return Amare Thomas (966 yards in 2025) and add Oregon State transfer Trent Walker (823 yards in 2025). Oregon transfer running back Makhi Hughes reunites with Fritz, who coached him at Tulane.
Amare Thomas would not go down 💪😤
This was just an absurd TD from @UHCougarFB pic.twitter.com/PWOMpMJBl6
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 18, 2025
Fritz will have his hands full with the first conference game being a Friday night showdown on the road against Texas Tech, whom they lost to 35-11 last season. However, having that game so early in the season will end up being a good thing as they’ll be a tested team, much like it was for them last season.
Nobody’s talking about them, but Houston is an under-the-radar Big 12 contender.
UCF Knights
In year one of Scott Frost’s second UCF tenure, the Knights finished at 5-7, winning just two conference games. The quarterback play was not strong, with Tayven Jackson being the primary signal caller. Frost hit the transfer portal to bring in Alonza Barnett III, who played in the College Football Playoff for James Madison last season.
#UCF transfer RB Landen Chambers showing off the hands with the one handed catch. pic.twitter.com/9qBc4jueb4
— Andrew Cherico (@Andrew_Cherico) March 31, 2026
With Barnett under center, four new starters on the offensive line, and transfers Landen Chambers and Duke Watson primed to carry the load, the goal here is clearly to establish a strong run game. Frost has all of the pieces in place to have one of the best rushing offenses in 2026.
The schedule is extremely manageable. An early-season road game at Pitt very well could be the toughest game on the schedule. UCF gets to play BYU at home and does not play Texas Tech. Frost should definitely get the Knights back into a bowl game this season, and double-digit wins should be a realistic goal.
Michigan Wolverines
With Sherrone Moore out the door and Kyle Whittingham ready to coach his first game not at Utah since 1993, there will be plenty of eyes on the Wolverines’ program in 2026.
Quarterback Bryce Underwood, who flashed as a freshman, is back under center. He is joined by the majority of his offensive line from last season, along with running back Jordan Marshall and five-star freshman Savion Hiter in the backfield. The run game should be elite.
Andrew Marsh, who broke out as a freshman, is joined by Utah transfer JJ Buchanan, Texas transfer Jamie Ffrench, and top-100 freshman Salesi Moa to form a very capable receiving room.
Defensively, Utah stars John Henry Daley and Smith Snowden join Whittingham to help implement his hard-hitting defense within the Big Ten.
The talent on this team isn’t close to where it was three seasons ago when they won the national championship, but it is certainly trending in the right direction, and the Wolverines should be back on their way to being a top team in the sport.
Kentucky Wildcats
Kentucky hired one of the hottest young names on the coaching market in former Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein. I’m not saying that they’ll be anywhere near a CFP contender. Clawing their way to six wins may not even be within the realm of possibilities in year one under Stein.
This team should be trending upwards, however, and could steal one or multiple games that they should not win. Notre Dame transfer quarterback Kenny Minchey is set to lead the way, and he is surrounded by formerly highly-touted players such as running back CJ Baxter and wide receiver Nic Anderson, who are looking to revive their careers.
With games against Alabama, Texas A&M, LSU, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and Missouri on the schedule, getting to a bowl game in year one under Stein seems like a tall task. However, I can see this team getting overlooked by higher-ranked opponents and pulling off a few upsets. The Wildcats should have more life this season than they did the past few seasons.
SMU Mustangs
Continuity is one of the most underrated attributes of building a roster, and Rhett Lashlee has a whole lot of it on the offensive side of the ball next season.
Kevin Jennings is back for his third straight season as the starting quarterback for the Mustangs. He will be behind a line that returns three starters, and gets back his third and fourth receivers in Yamir Knight and Jalen Cooper, while adding Yannick Smith from ECU.
The Mustangs lose Matthew Hibner and RJ Maryland to the NFL, but add two experienced transfer tight ends in Theo Melin Ohrstrom and Randy Pittman Jr.
The defense is somewhat overhauled through the transfer portal, but Lashlee did a good job at adding depth to combine with his four returning starters.
This team was in the College Football Playoff two seasons ago and has what it takes to compete at that level again. They beat Miami last season while finishing 9-4, and a similar, if not better season, should be expected, yet this team is flying under the radar in a weak ACC.
UCLA Bruins
This team will look nothing like the team that pulled off one of the biggest upsets in college football history last season when they toppled seventh-ranked Penn State after starting 0-4. The Bruins have just six returning starters after first-year head coach Bob Chesney overhauled the roster in the transfer portal.
First look at UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava at the Bruins’ first spring practice of the season.
He’s warming up with Ty Dieffenbach, a Cal Poly transfer and a fellow SoCal native. pic.twitter.com/Hrm8iQJugg
— Gabriel Duarte (@GabrielNDuarte_) April 2, 2026
One of the six returning starters is quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who regressed after impressing at Tennessee in 2024. His production can be chalked up to the poor situation he was in, and a bounce back should be expected in 2026. If Iamaleava does bounce back to the trajectory his career seemed to be on in 2024, the Bruins could make some noise.
UCLA is 8-16 since joining the Big Ten. They’ve won just six conference games. The floor is very low, and Chesney will attempt to raise it during his tenure in Los Angeles. The Bruins are under the radar for good reason.
Like Kentucky on this list, I am not expecting UCLA to make real noise on the national level. What I am expecting is a solid year one from a new head coach, a promising win or two that generates excitement for the program, and bowl eligibility.
UCLA isn’t going to beat Oregon on the road, but they very well could rattle off five straight wins against Wisconsin, Michigan State, Nevada, Minnesota, and Illinois. If they do that, they could even crack the top 25, which would be considered a major success in year one under Chesney.
