Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt revealed the college football teams in which he is buying and selling stock for the 2026 season. There are five that you need to get ready to make a jump, while five others could take a step back this fall.
Some teams have new coaches, some old faces in new places, etc. Others are looking to run it back from last year, but it might not work out as well.
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So, without further ado, let’s dive into Klatt’s stock market, so to speak, for college football in 2026. We start with a squad that should get a lot of buys.
UCLA is in a good spot under Bob Chesney, who coached James Madison to the College Football Playoff last year. The next Curt Cignetti? A new direction is certainly what the Bruins needed if they’re going to climb the ranks of the Big Ten.
Klatt: “UCLA is going to be a buy for me. They were 3-9, remember, fired their head coach, Deshaun Foster, right before that game against Penn State. Now, the hire that they made is why I’m so excited about this program moving forward, because Bob Chesney is a really good coach, really good coach. They’ve got a returning quarterback, Nico Iamaleava, and they’ve got over 40 incoming transfers, so they’ve got the experience of the quarterback position, and you’re going to have an infusion of talent.”
Ole Miss might have peaked last year with the team it assembled under Lane Kiffin and then Pete Golding. Golding can prove he’s a darn good coach after leading the Rebels to the CFP semifinals, but the expectation is to win it all at this point, especially with Trinidad Chambliss back at QB.
Klatt: “Ole Miss is going to be a sell for me. I love Trinidad Chambliss, I love Kewan Lacy, there’s no doubt, but they were in the semi-final a year ago. You know, Pete Golding, as good of a job as he did last year, he retained the offensive staff that was under Lane for the playoff run. They’re no longer there, and they had a chip on their shoulder. I mean, Pete Golding himself has talked about the fact that he didn’t want to be a head coach, and now he’s kind of thrust into this position.”
Illinois has to reset at the QB position going into 2026. After winning 10 games in 2024, the Illini won nine last year, so it’s fair to predict they’ll come back to earth once again this year. Still, Bret Bielema and crew are usually a tough out.
Klatt: “Illinois is going to be a sell for me in 2026. They had 19 wins over the last two years, some real sustained success for a program that had not had much before Bret Bielema got there. Now he’s still there, that’s an obvious continuity piece, their quarterback isn’t though. And you think about, at least I do, how important Luke Altmyer was to their success at Illinois. He was a huge part of that.”
The Gators usher in a new era with Jon Sumrall, who led Tulane to the College Football Playoff last year. It seems like Sumrall’s attitude and administration support, this time around anyway, seem to be giving off better vibes than the Billy Napier era.
Klatt: “I’m buying Florida right now. Easy to go up from here … Now John Sumrall comes in, reached the CFP last season with Tulane. He’s got a 43-12 career record as a head coach. This guy can coach. I think he brought in a lot of talent for Florida. This is a program that should be able to acquire and sustain talent to the necessary level to be a very good SEC program.”
No Diego Pavia means the buzz goes down a little bit now. Clark Lea has done a heck of a job rebuilding this program from basement to SEC contender. But to win 10 games and nearly make the CFP might be the high for the Commodores for now.
Klatt: “Last year they set a program record with 10 wins, and now they’ve got to replace the entire energy, the engine to that 10 win team, Diego Pavia. Like you don’t just do that. I know that they brought in some elite level talent. I get it, and in particular at quarterback, but now it’s inexperienced talent.”
The Matt Campbell era at Penn State is upon us and it’s time to buy stock in the Nittany Lions. They just ran out of gas under James Franklin, but Campbell now has way more resources at his disposal after being successful with Iowa State. There is a high floor here.
Klatt: “They land on Matt Campbell, even though it was a long and somewhat tenuous coaching search, Matt Campbell is a perfect guy at Penn State. I really believe that, and his 10 seasons at Iowa State should tell us one thing, and that’s that they’re going to be solid.”
If you’re going to buy stock in Penn State, you might as well buy it in Blacksburg too! James Franklin goes to a new location and he can certainly turn this program around fast. We’ll see if that turns into national title expectations down the line like in State College.
Klatt: “Listen, say what you want about James Franklin and what he did in big games at Penn State, but truth be told, the guy can coach. He raised the level of Penn State, and I believe he’s going to raise the level of Virginia Tech. If you look at what they did last year and the seasons prior, four straight seasons without being ranked at any point, I mean, come on now, like Virginia Tech should be better than that.”
Brent Key will have to rebuild a little bit in Klatt’s mind, so this Yellow Jackets team might not be at the top of the ACC in 2026. Maybe in another year or two we can revisit what Georgia Tech is capable of doing on a large scale.
Klatt: “You’re coming off a really great season, a couple of really great seasons, and Haynes King was the engine, similar to Diego Pavia, for all the success at Georgia Tech. So, you had nine wins last year, most since 2016 and now you’ve got to replace Haynes King and both coordinators, losing continuity and losing experience is a recipe for taking a little bit of a dip.
Of course, we have to buy stock in LSU, right? Klatt said Lane Kiffin’s new school is certainly where you want to put your money. Kiffin, regardless of your personal opinion, is a darn good coach and he can retool a roster on the fly. But in Baton Rouge, there’s an expectation to win a national championship.
Klatt: “I think this is an easy one. This is a buy for me, Lane Kiffin at LSU, one, he’s a great coach, two, he’s done this before, he’s gone to Ole Miss and brought in a ton of transfers, and you know, recharged, if you will, rebuilt the culture of an organization and a program, and had a lot of success.
A tough look here for Alabama fans. Despite Kalen DeBoer leading this team to the CFP last year, and a win in the first round for that matter, Alabama might be further away from winning it all than 2025. There’s a QB battle to be had and the Crimson Tide haven’t had true Nick Saban vibes since, well, Nick Saban.
Klatt: “I picked them to win the national championship like 10 straight years, but I would go stock down and be selling Alabama right now. Bama is going to be a good football team, but I don’t know if that’s going to be enough. This is a team that’s going to lose their most important player in Ty Simpson … They had 11 wins last season, and they reached the CFP quarterfinal in the Rose Bowl, and got beat by Indiana. They’re not doing that again.”