Overrated/underrated: An SEC coach, QB, and team that are over and underrated ahead of 2026
By Joe Cox
Published:
The beauty of football’s preseason is that everybody can go 12-0 and see their path to the College Football Playoff.
But for some fan bases, that’s rose-colored glasses or a vague hint of optimism. For others, it’s something near insanity.
Every year the college football hot stove season leaves some players, coaches, and teams vastly overrated — and others underrated. Here’s a pick on each side of that spectrum, with a coach, a quarterback, and a team that are being overhyped or undersold heading into the 2026 SEC season.
Overrated
These are the guys generating too much buzz:
Coach: Josh Heupel, Tennessee
For a Tennessee program desperate to return to its glory days, Josh Heupel grabbed immediate credit off of some steps for credibility. His 2022 team won 11 games and took down Alabama. His 2024 team reached UT’s first-ever College Football Playoff. But moving to the next step has proven difficult. In 2023, UT dipped to 9 wins, including losing late in the year to Mizzou and Georgia by 29 and 28 points, respectively. In 2025, the Vols won 8 games and finished the regular season by getting smacked around by Diego Pavia. With a freshman QB taking the reins and a fairly challenging schedule, Heupel’s image might endure another rough season in 2026. Patience is something the Vol Nation doesn’t want to be looking for again.
Quarterback: LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina
Athletic quarterbacks are fun, but can also be vastly overrated. The skill set with Sellers is obvious. But the production is shaky. Sellers played 5 ranked opponents last year, and threw 5 touchdowns and 5 interceptions against them. His passing numbers are awful in the fourth quarter (48% completions, 1 TD, 3 INTs) and on third down (49% completions, 2 TDs, 4 INTs). For a South Carolina team that’s still going to be fighting uphill against a strong schedule, that’s not good news. Sellers will put together a great highlight tape, but South Carolina isn’t going far with him at the helm. The good news? As Anthony Richardson could tell him, that world of potential will help Sellers get a nice draft slot at the pro level.
Team: Texas A&M
Part of this story is understandable — Mike Elko‘s team arrived at 11 wins and the College Football Playoff in just his second year. But repeating? That’ll be a massive challenge. Texas A&M had some major losses up front and will be patching together a transfer-heavy offensively line and some new faces on defense in the front 7. The offense fell off drastically at the end of last season and the Aggies have faced a tough offseason with departures and injuries. Add in that they now face a challenging schedule that makes their pre-Week 1 No. 8 ranking unlikely to stick.
Underrated
Here are the undersold SEC members entering 2026:
Coach: Pete Golding, Ole Miss
Much of the conventional wisdom around Ole Miss is that the loss of Lane Kiffin will somehow dash the Rebels’ hopes in 2026. Hogwash. Kiffin’s brilliant coaching largely consisted of putting the best players on the field. Jimmys and Joes, not Xs and Os. Pete Golding might not have a perfect pedigree, but rolling out arguably the sport’s top backfield, with Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy, is going to make him look pretty darn smart. The schedule shapes up pretty well and last season’s CFP run certainly didn’t show Golding looking intimidated. Beating Kirby Smart in a Playoff game a few weeks into his head coaching tenure was certainly a positive sign.
Quarterback: Austin Simmons, Mizzou
A year ago, Simmons was starting over Trinidad Chambliss in the Lane Kiffin attack. Now he’ll be handing the ball to Ahmad Hardy every week and taking advantage of the chummiest schedule in the SEC. The Tigers don’t have a massive challenge until Oct. 10 against Texas A&M. If Simmons can get Mizzou off to a 5-0 start, with games against Arkansas and Kentucky in the back end of the schedule, he might make the Tigers a dark-horse CFP team. And at the least, he’ll finally get his full shot in the SEC. With a great line and a top back, Simmons is set up for success.
Team: Oklahoma
The issue here is John Mateer. If he’s healthy enough to play anywhere near normal strength, OU is a player in the SEC race. A year ago, Oklahoma jumped to No. 5 and Mateer was in the center of the Heisman Trophy discussion. But it all fell apart. This year, the OU defense will keep them in every game. Enough offense to outlast Michigan and Georgia on the road in the season’s first month could well have OU back in the top 5 and Mateer back in the Heisman discussion. Keep him in bubble wrap and he’ll make Brent Venables end up looking like a genius.
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Joe Cox is a columnist for Saturday Down South. He has also written or assisted in writing five books, and his most recent, Almost Perfect (a study of baseball pitchers’ near-miss attempts at perfect games), is available on Amazon or at many local bookstores.
