College football is back. Week 1 is here. And here’s what we’re hearing about the sport as most teams finally take the field. Sources spoke on condition of anonymity to provide an honest assessment and candor.

Oregon Ducks: National Title Favorites?

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Indiana’s big question

The biggest question for college football’s defending national champion Indiana is this: How well will quarterback Josh Hoover do in replacing Heisman Trophy winner and first overall NFL Draft pick Fernando Mendoza?

Hoover has plenty of arm talent, but like Mendoza, who took a lot of sacks at Cal before arriving in Bloomington, Hoover comes with one significant area of concern: turnovers. He threw 33 interceptions and lost nine fumbles in the past three years while playing for TCU. One of the biggest reasons for optimism inside the Hoosiers program, we hear, aside from coach Curt Cignetti’s magnificent track record of finding and developing QBs, is how impressive Indiana’s new running backs have looked.

Indiana, which ranked No. 12 in the nation in rushing and No. 1 in the Big Ten last season, has to replace Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black, a pair of 1,000-yard rushers.

The Hoosiers’ new 1-2 punch might be even more explosive than last year’s tandem. In Boston College transfer Turbo Richard, who ran for 749 yards and scored 11 touchdowns last season, they have a player who is fast but also really elusive. In Khobie Martin, who averaged 6.5 yards per carry and scored six TDs for the Hoosiers in 2025, they have a complete back who is very smooth with eye-catching acceleration. They’ve also added UAB transfer Lee Beebe, a 218-pound power back who missed most of last year with a torn ACL but had 1,103 yards from scrimmage and eight TDs in 2024.

This backfield, along with a stout defense, is going to help Hoover a lot as he acclimates to Cignettiball before Indiana’s schedule ramps up in mid-October.

Look out for the Fighting Irish defense

Last year, Notre Dame ranked No. 9 in the country in fewest yards per play allowed on defense. But the Irish were only 35th in third-down defense and 47th in red-zone TD percentage. The latter two numbers are respectable, but we think the Irish will take a big jump on defense this year — and that is a big part of why we’re picking Notre Dame to win the national title this season.

Look for the Irish to become a more smothering defense this fall with the arrival on staff of D-line coach Charlie Partridge, regarded inside the coaching world as one of the top developers of defensive linemen. “We were small inside,” said a team source, “but we’ve really bulked up and added some good depth.”

Edge rusher Bryce Young, the son of Irish great Bryant Young, is starting to emerge, we’re told. Young, No. 50 on this year’s Freaks List, improved his broad jump from 9-5 to 10-2 and jumped 35 inches vertically. He had 20 tackles and two sacks last season but is primed for a breakthrough in 2026 now that he’s leaner, stronger and more explosive. The Irish also brought in several promising newcomers in the portal to go with last year’s breakout defensive lineman Boubacar Traore (10 TFLs, 6.5 sacks).

In Drayk Bowen and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, the Irish should have two of the top linebackers in college football. Everyone knows how special cornerback Leonard Moore is. The other really special talent on the back end is Brauntae Johnson, a 6-2, 200-pound safety who had 48 tackles and four INTs last year in his breakthrough season. It sounds like he’s just getting warmed up.

“Tae-Tae is special,” a team source said this week. “He is so good sideline-to-sideline. He’s an eraser back there.”

Oklahoma is going to look significantly better

We’ll buy stock in John Mateer this year. The Oklahoma QB was hindered for much of last season after breaking a bone in his throwing hand, finishing with just 14 touchdowns against 11 interceptions, down from a 29-to-7 TD-to-INT ratio the year before at Washington State. His yards per attempt dropped from 9.0 to 7.3. Some of that can be attributed to playing in the SEC, a tougher league, but there were other factors that we expect will get turned around this fall. That’s why we think the Sooners won’t just be better on offense, but significantly better on offense.

Why? Mateer’s healthy now, and a young offensive line now has a lot of experience up front. Additionally, the Sooners should be much improved at tight end. They’re a lot deeper and a lot bigger. We’ve also heard great things about the impact new TE coach Jason Witten, the 17-year NFL veteran, has made. Also, watch out for Virginia transfer Trell Harris; he’s a bigger target who can win outside (last year, OU had to play Deion Burks, more of a slot out there). Last season, the 6-0, 200-pound Harris had 59 catches for 847 yards and five TDs for the Cavaliers. He should be an ideal complement to speedy Isaiah Sategna.

Alabama’s feeling itself

If Alabama is going to get back to being Alabama again, the Tide has to get more physical. Team sources feel very confident that they will do that this year. Alabama is much bigger on the D-line and loves the addition of new O-line coach Adrian Klemm, who is coaching the Tide front aggressively in coming off the ball. That said, the Tide will be leaning on two freshman running backs for a spark. Five-star EJ Crowell has been banged up with an ankle injury for much of camp but is expected to be ready to roll, and coaches hope he will be able to get the bulk of the action by Week 2’s game at Kentucky. Coaches rave about his vision and his feet. Fellow freshman Trae’shawn Brown has also impressed.

There is also a lot of optimism around Keelon Russell, the 19-year-old former five-star taking over at QB. Whatever makes up the “It Factor,” he’s got it. He never gets rattled in practice (games, of course, could be a different deal); he can work through a progression and make off-platform throws from different arm angles; he can escape pressure; and he can work the RPO game, something the previous two QBs (Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson) didn’t seem as comfortable doing.

One other item: The Tide were already loaded with long, athletic DBs, but in Mercer transfer Carmelo O’Neal, Alabama has really found something. The Georgia native, a former zero-star out of high school, was something of a late bloomer in the recruiting process. He’s every bit of 6-4, 210 pounds, runs more than 22 mph and can really flip his hips. “He’s one of the freakiest athletes on the whole team,” said a team source.

What will DJ Lagway look like with another coach on the hot seat?

Quarterback DJ Lagway was a top-50 recruit out of high school. In two seasons at Florida, he threw 28 TD passes and 23 INTs. He was sacked 32 times while playing in a pressure cooker in Gainesville, and his head coach, Billy Napier, was on the hot seat from the moment Lagway arrived. The Texas native has returned home and now will try to help another coach on the hot seat, Baylor’s Dave Aranda.

The Bears don’t have a ton of weapons or a very deep O-line, but Lagway, we’ve heard, has looked much sharper since settling in at Baylor. He has been very diligent in his preparation, spending extensive time utilizing Cognilize, an advanced virtual reality program from Germany that Jayden Daniels credited for his development.

The 6-3, 238-pounder has one of the strongest arms in college football and has shown a very good sense of awareness. Those 20 starts in the SEC look like they’ve paid off in terms of Lagway’s internal clock. Perhaps it’s fitting that he’ll begin his Baylor career against an SEC team, when Auburn and Baylor face off in Atlanta.

Which college football teams are under the most pressure?

Chris Vannini

All eyes on LSU’s roster (the college players)

Of course, all eyes will be on Lane Kiffin this weekend when LSU hosts Clemson. One area where we expect the Tigers to make a big jump is getting after the quarterback. LSU ranked No. 10 in the SEC in sacks with just 27, their lowest in a long time. Watch out for Ole Miss transfer Princewill Umanmielen, who had nine sacks in 2025 for the Rebels. Umanmielen has bulked up 10 pounds from last year to 6-4, 255 and still has a lightning-quick burst. His 1.51-second 10+1-yard dash is one of the quickest of any edge rusher his size. The Tigers also have a trio of former top-100 D-line recruits who are expected to make their debut.

The least hyped of the three, Deuce Geralds (ranked No. 67 overall by 247 Sports), is the player we suspect will make the biggest impact early. Geralds, the son of former Ole Miss center Daverin Geralds, is very twitchy and relentless. He’s a shade over 6-0 and 281 pounds but already super strong, bench pressing 410 pounds and squatting 635. He also hit 18.9 mph on the GPS and vertical jumped 30 inches.

The other two D-linemen are both former five-stars who were ranked in the top 10 of the 2026 class. Lamar Brown, at 6-4, 292, is even faster, clocking a 19.2 mph on the GPS. Expect him to become a force for the Tigers soon. Richard Anderson is the biggest of the three at 6-3, 334. He figures to be a problem for teams around the A-gap. It is a talented group for defensive coordinator Blake Baker to work with, in addition to getting standout safety Ty Benefield from Boise State to upgrade the secondary.