This article has been posted by Forum Post Up Man, NJ Duck, under B1G Info, Predictions, Etc. Thank you, NJ. On the forum, you are the Victor, covering the post like Yaxel Lendeborg. 😍

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49317249/2026-college-football-top-25-lingering-questions-team

Here's a chance to comment on ESPN's Man vs. Machine Mark Schlabach's preseason top 25 CFB ranking. And the Man's question for each of his top 25 teams.

Mark had to have been out sick and missed the memo that was programmed into ESPN's FPI and SP+, otherwise how could he only have seven SEC teams ranked?

Only SEVEN! That's Bristol Blasphemy! Compounded by Mark ranking EIGHT B1G teams. 🤪

For anyone who had the slightest doubt about QB being the most important position on the field, 14 of the 25 questions directly or impliedly bring 2026 QB play into question.

OBD is Mark's 2nd-ranked team. Mark wonders if Oregon can win the biggest of B1G and other big games. Impliedly, "With more experience, will Dante Moore and the coaching staff be ready to show up when it matters most?"

Our Man Moore was fantastic against G6 JMU in last season's 1st-round playoff game.

But Dante and the O were average at best against a strong Texas Tech defense, and yes, there were injuries to deal with, but Dante and the Ducks coaching staff were MIA in the Peach Bowl, missing out on a return trip to MIA to play Mario and a terrific Miami D for the title.

Other QB questions:

Will CJ Carr up his big game play for No. 4 Notre Dame? ND does not play many top 40 teams in 2025, but in 2025 Carr's QBR was a dismal 48.9. And this was with two now-in-the-NFL RBs in the backfield.

Will Hoover drive the 'Cig crazy instead of officials?

No. 6 Indiana. Will QB Josh Hoover stop the picking? 24 interceptions collectively for Josh at TCU in 2024 and 2025. If this isn't fixed, Josh and Coach Cig won't need to pack for a trip to NYC in December.

No. 11 Texas Tech - You may have heard that the presumed TT starting QB will not be taking the field in 2026? Will Hammond will start at QB; has he fully recovered from a late-season Achilles tear?

It may not matter because in 2026, the most difficult out-of-conference game has the Red Raiders playing Beavis in Corvallis. TT misses No. 12 BYU and No. 18 Utah and plays No. 23 TCU and No. 24 Houston, ASU, and Arizona in Lubbock. (FYI, the question for Houston is whether RB Makhi Hughes regains his 2024 form? If he does, what will this say about the B12?)

Tech and Notre Dame are battling to see which team has the easiest FBS schedule in 2026.

Another year for Marcel to mature as a QB?

No. 9 Texas A&M - Will QB Marcel Reed, without OC Colin Klein now the head man at Kansas State, bounce back from throwing eight picks in his last five games? In 2024, A&M did not defeat an SEC team that finished with more than six wins.

No. 12 BYU - Will QB Bear Bachmeier's play improve in his second season starting for the Cougars? Except for BYU's two losses in 2025 versus Texas Tech, Bear had an exceptional freshman season.

No Texas Tech in the regular season, but Notre Dame visits on October 17th, with The Holy War played at Utah on 11/7.

No. 13 Oklahoma - After losing to Texas 23-6 last season, John Mateer's finished the season with a dismal QBR of 60.5. Which Mateer will appear in 2026?

No 16 Alabama - Newbie Mack or Newbie Russell at QB? If one cannot step up, the Tide could roll out on Bama AD Greg Byrne, who gave DeBoer a contract extension and pay raise after Bama's worst bowl loss in its storied bowl history. And DeBoer could need asbestos seat liner.

No. 17 Washington - Can DeMond Williams win at home vs. Indiana and Penn State, win at Michigan, OBD, and against lesser B1G opponents on the road? (Answers - IMO - Maybe, and how about NO for the Week 14 game in Autzen!)

No. 19 Iowa - QB Brown or Hecklinski. Brown bombed at Auburn; Hecklinski was the backup at Wake. Eminent DC Phil Parker will have his hands full.

Other B1G Questions -

No 1 Ohio State - Will the O-line that was MIA against Indiana and Miami toughen up in 2026?

No 13 - Penn State - Was the choking all the fault of Little Game James?

Matt Campbell's Nittany Lions have the Big Ten's easiest schedule in 2026. Along with QB Rocco Becht and his 39 starts, and 19 other Cyclones, does the roster come with a Heimlich Maneuver?

No. 20 USC - Does Linc make it through The Doors and Break On Through to the Other Side?

Beat Boise!

Good read(s)!

For me at least, with some distance between us and last year’s playoff, what happened last year really was not that complicated. We lost to the national champion twice. We needed to be at full strength and play well in the rematch and neither happened. Despite that last game, Dante Moore still may have been the number one pick if he had come out. Can he still improve? Of course…even he recognized it, which is the biggest key imo.

We were good enough to go 11-1 in the best conference, I don’t think there’s some deep formula we missed out on. We have a stacked team and the expectation is to win it all this year, but it still takes some luck for that to actually happen.

Edited Friday at 07:50 PM5 days by JabbaNoBargain

I'm down with the (real) Dawgs, but the Buckeyes? We'll find out in Week 2.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-top-offensive-lines-2026-georgia-ohio-state/

One of Charles's many great posts was yesterday's take from Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi, spouting off about the ACC being a better conference than the Big Ten. This is the same guy who predicted Pitt would defeat Notre Dame and Miami in Pittsburgh last season and advance to the ACC champ game.

11/15/ 25 - Notre Dame scraped by Pitt 37-15

11/29/29 - Miami managed to sneak out of Pitt with a 38-7 hard-fought victory.

Pat's B1G evidence included the ACC's great bowl record.

Military Bowl - 12/27/25 - G6 American Athletic Conference East Carolina Pirates 23 - Atlantic Coast Conference Pitt Panthers 17.

Was Narduzzi perhaps alphabet-challenged? Did he intend to credit the AAC and not the ACC?

BTW, Pat, advancing one team to the playoff helps with the bowl game record.

When it comes to 2026 preseason prowess, ESPN Humanoid Mark Schlabach's top 25 resembles all of the other preseason polls, whether they originate from man or machine.

Big Ten - 1. Ohio State, 2. OREGON, 6. Indiana, 14. Michigan, 15. Penn State, 17. Washington, 19. Iowa, 20. USC

If I haven't chugged too many Iron City brewskis, I believe eight B1G teams are ranked.

Now for the Pat-Preferred ACC - 7. Miami, 21. Louisville, 23. SMU

Easy as ACC, that equals 3.

Big Ten 12-team playoff record - Ohio State 4-1 - 2024 Champion, Indiana 3-1 - 2025 Champion, OREGON 2-2 - 2025 Semifinal loss, Penn State 2-1 - Semifinal loss - Total 11-5 - Two Championships - 7 playoff appearances

ACC 12-team playoff record - Miami 3-1 - 2025 Champ game loss, Clemson 0-1 - 1st round loss, SMU 0-1 - 1st round loss - Total 3-3 - Zero, Zip, Nada Championships - 3 playoff appearances

Pat, People in Glass Houses ... 🤪

On3 looks at 2026 CFB schedules, noting that CFB schedules have run the gamut from exacting to easy.

On3's Chris Low rates the Buckeyes' schedule as 2026's most difficult.

On3

College football schedule superlatives for 2026: Easiest,...

The first thing to remember when doing a deep dive on college football schedules is that “ain’t nobody played nobody.” It’s the official slogan, albeit with a Southern touch, of any debate regarding a

Take the pain and use it all the way to a title on 1/25/27 in Las Vegas, where Oregon will have a dominant number of fans.

Losing to the eventual champions? Who cares about fabricated 'moral victories'? An L is an L.

I entirely disagree that the Ducks' best PO path is to play 13 games, at Ohio State, Michigan, at Michigan State, Washington, then next week play in the conference champ game in Indianapolis.

What does the author not get about teams with a 1st round bye being 1-7, including 0-2 Kirby Smart, 0-1 Ryan Day, and 0-1 Dan Lanning?

IMO, the 5 seed and an opening home game against the 12th-seeded team is the sweet spot.

Oregon Ducks On SI

Oregon's College Football Playoff History Raises Key Ques...

The Oregon Ducks and coach Dan Lanning have improved step by step over the course of the last three seasons. They went from missing the College Football Playoff

ESPN and SP+ Bill Connelly's 2026 Preview of the SEC -

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/49143990/2026-sec-college-football-preview-predictions-top-transfers-more