Thursday Thoughts: Preseason tournaments for college football and unlikely national champs

Happy Thursday, y’all.

We’re only 2 days away from one of the greatest college football Saturdays in recent memory.

Here’s just a partial list of some of the great games we have on tap for Saturday’s slate:

• No. 7 Texas at No. 18 Mizzou
• No. 9 BYU at No. 3 Utah
• No. 5 Alabama at No. 14 LSU
• No. 23 Oregon at No. 12 Ohio State
• No. 6 Kentucky at No. 13 Tennessee
• No. 1 Miami at No. 11 Notre Dame
• No. 2 Georgia at No. 10 Ole Miss

Buckle up, y’all. This Saturday is going to be insane.

Here are a few quick thoughts as we approach the weekend:

1. What if we had preseason tournaments for college football?

Everyone is trying to figure out how to best prepare themselves for the expanded College Football Playoff. You have most power conferences sitting at 9 league games per year. Teams like Indiana play an absolute joke of a nonconference schedule year in and year out, while schools like Ohio State, LSU and others consistently challenge themselves.

What if we took the decision out of individual schools’ hands?

What if, to start every season, we had a bunch of 4-team, 2-week mini-tournaments?

One team from each of the Power 4 leagues (sorry, Notre Dame. It’s 2026. Join a conference). For example, we could have Georgia (SEC No. 1) in a bracket with the No. 16 seed from the Big Ten, the No. 8 seed from the ACC and the No. 9 seed from the Big 12. That hypothetical this year would’ve seen Georgia play Maryland in Week 1 and the winner of Clemson-TCU in Week 2.

Then, let’s say chalk held. Maryland and TCU would battle in Week 2 while Clemson and Georgia were playing for the mini-tournament “title.” Heck, these new mini-tournaments could even be affiliated with bowl games. Who knows?

Another hypothetical example. No. 1 seed Texas Tech from the Big 12 against No. 16 seed Boston College from the ACC on one side of the bracket. No. 8 seed Mizzou from the SEC vs. No. 9 seed Washington out of the Big Ten on the other side.

The 2 winners play in Week 2, as do the 2 losers.

You put 64 of the Power 4 teams in those mini-brackets in Weeks 1 and 2. The Big Ten has 18 teams and the ACC has 17, so there will be 3 teams left over. In that hypothetical, just add the Group of 5’s Playoff representative and have their own bracket. This year, that would’ve been a 4-team pod of James Madison, Syracuse, Michigan State and Purdue.

Tell me that’s not more interesting than what 75% of these Power 4 teams do in their nonconference schedules. I dare you.

Plus, with 2 tournament games and 9 conference games, there’s still 1 regular-season game left over to protect traditional rivalries like Georgia-Georgia Tech, Louisville-Kentucky, Florida-Florida State, and so on. If Indiana wants to schedule Southern New Hampshire State Tech for its 12th game, it can certainly do that.

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2. Kentucky or Wake Forest? Which would be a crazier national champion?

Let me first acknowledge that we’ve arguably already had the craziest possible national champion in college football. The Indiana Hoosiers had been the program with the most losses in college football history until Curt Cignetti showed up and changed everything.

And I’ll also note here that the current all-time loss leader is Northwestern — a team enjoying a resurgence this year.

In the first Playoff rankings on Tuesday night, Kentucky checked in at No. 6 and Wake Forest was within striking distance of the top 11 at No. 16. Absolutely no one would’ve predicted either of those things ahead of the 2026 season.

Kudos to Will Stein and Jake Dickert for the jobs they’re doing at their respective skills.

Now to the statistics. Wake Forest has 100 more all-time losses than Kentucky (694 to 594). Kentucky claims the 1950 national title (and rightfully so) under a coach named Bear Bryant. Wake Forest has never won a title. Kentucky has 4 seasons with 10+ wins. Wake Forest has 2 such seasons.

The answer is clear.

Wake Forest would be the more improbable national champion. Of course, the Demon Deacons have plenty of work to do to even make the field, let alone go on an Indiana-like run.

3. Who still has a chance to steal the Heisman from Darian Mensah?

Oddsmakers still like Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith’s chances to win the Heisman Trophy, but his odds have dropped since QB Julian Sayin went out with an injury.

Miami QB Darian Mensah is putting up ridiculous efficiency numbers and has a chance to make a true statement this weekend at Notre Dame without star WR Malachi Toney, who will miss the game with an injury. Perform well in a hostile environment and Mensah will earn a boost in the eyes of voters.

But the guy on the other sideline might be the biggest threat to Mensah’s Heisman run. If Notre Dame QB CJ Carr shines in the primetime matchup, suddenly he could vault Mensah.

Carr has the efficiency numbers, but he lacks the counting stats that Mensah currently has, so he probably has some work to do. Voters love a narrative though, and taking down No. 1 Miami would provide that.

A couple of other guys to keep an eye on? Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss, who has a great opportunity this weekend at home against Georgia, and LSU QB Sam Leavitt, who has been on a tear lately.

4. Who should Florida State hire?

The Seminoles are in a tough position after firing Mike Norvell. This is not a coaching carousel I’d want to take a spin on, as the number of elite candidates seems to be low.

Florida State should theoretically be high on the totem pole when it comes to choosing a new coach, but I’m just not sure there’s a candidate out there who is going to fire up the fan base.

A couple of guys I’d consider include Georgia DC Glenn Schumann and Houston head coach Willie Fritz, but the top candidate is obvious, in my opinion. You have to bring in Duke head coach Manny Diaz.

Diaz is a Florida State alum and has worked wonders as the head coach at Duke. Heck, he led the Blue Devils to the ACC championship last season.

Florida State is a definite step up from Duke (at least in football). The resources there will let a coach like Diaz compete for Playoff berths.

Don’t overthink it, FSU.

5. Top 5 SEC coaches by how they’ve fared this year

This is just a ranking of 2026 performance alone. If it was a ranking of the coaches’ entire body of work, Kirby Smart would be No. 1, hands down. So let’s look at the top 5 coaches this year in the SEC:

1. Will Stein, Kentucky — This one’s a no-brainer. Will Stein has completely changed the culture at Kentucky in his first year on the job. He should warrant major Coach of the Year consideration nationally and should be a shoo-in for SEC Coach of the Year.
2. Eli Drinkwitz, Mizzou — Everyone wrote off Mizzou this year. There were so many preseason projections out there predicting the Tigers to go 5-7 or 6-6. All Eli Drinkwitz has done is keep the Tigers competitive. They’re 6-0 against teams outside of the state of Mississippi. A brutal home stretch awaits, so he could still drop in these rankings, but for now, he deserves the No. 2 spot.
3. Kirby Smart, Georgia — Kirby Smart drops from No. 2 to No. 3 on this list because of that uncharacteristic home loss to Auburn. To be fair, he’s only No. 3 on the list because of the insanely lofty standard he’s set for himself over his time at Georgia.
4. Pete Golding, Ole Miss — Pete Golding gets the No. 4 spot. He hasn’t really missed a beat since his 3-game trial by fire in last year’s Playoff. He has the Rebels positioned to make another Playoff run if they can take care of business at home this weekend against Georgia.
5. Shane Beamer, South Carolina — Since October, at least, Shane Beamer deserves a spot on this list. It was looking bleak for his tenure at South Carolina after an overtime loss to Kentucky, but he’s righted the ship in a big way with wins over Florida, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Texas A&M and Arkansas look manageable the next 2 weeks, too.

If I had to put an honorable mention, it would be Josh Heupel at Tennessee. He’s done a good job with below-average QB play this year, but it just goes to show the Vols should’ve done more in the transfer portal this offseason to address that position.

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Adam Spencer

Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.