Under-the-Radar College Football Teams That Can Alter 2026 Championship Races

Although every program is opening the 2026 college football season with dreams of a championship run, those visions will soon end for many teams.

Reality stings. Mistakes pile up, losses stack and trophy hopes fade.

The most annoying rosters, though—said in the kindest manner—find a way to embrace the spoiler role. They're not bringing home a conference or national title, but they manage to affect those races anyway.

While the following list is subjective, the choices are teams with modest/average expectations with several opportunities to derail key contenders.

Arizona Wildcats

Christopher Hook/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Noah Fifita

Texas Tech stands as the preseason Big 12 front-runner, and rivals BYU and Utah are otherwise mentioned near the top of the conversation.

Arizona, though, is lurking.

Last season, the Wildcats went 9-4 while its Noah Fifita-led offense averaged more than 31 points per game. Fifita is back, and Arizona has plenty of experience from returning players and transfers.

The main challenges will be breaking in a new wave of skill-position leaders on offense, plus a retooled back seven on the defensive side. Those are the main reasons you don't see Arizona as a high-end contender.

Still, the best-case scenario is appealing—and the Cats, who travel to BYU (Sep. 12) early on, might be the most impactful Big 12 squad down the stretch.

Arizona heads to Texas Tech (Oct. 31), then hosts TCU (Nov. 6) and Utah (Nov. 14) before playing at Kansas State (Nov. 21). Add in a home showdown with rival Arizona State (Nov. 28), and that's five straight games involving key Big 12 teams.

Missouri Tigers

Parker S. Freedman/Getty Images

Eli Drinkwitz

Staring at a schedule with Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma does not bode wonderfully for Missouri. All five of those SEC counterparts could land as top-15 teams in preseason polls.

So, no, I don't anticipate Mizzou will be winning a league title.

On the other hand, the program has notched three consecutive years of eight-plus victories in the regular season. Even as the Tigers deal with considerable roster turnover, optimism for a competitive year is well-founded.

Mizzou's best chances to spring an upset, in theory, are the home matchups. Texas A&M (Oct. 10), Texas (Nov. 7) and Oklahoma (Nov. 28) all travel to Columbia.

In such a tight SEC race, any Mizzou surprise can heavily impact the standings.

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

Matt Rhule

I'm not saying you should buy a ton of stock in Nebraska.

Look around the Big Ten, and the conference is stacked with talent. Indiana, Ohio State and Oregon are national contenders, while Iowa, Michigan, USC and Washington all have formidable rosters.

Nebraska should be better, especially with UNLV transfer Anthony Colandrea adding a mobile element to the offense. The blocking group looks improved, and the defense was already excellent last season.

Yet this schedule is a double-edged sword.

The seven programs mentioned above? Yeah, Nebraska plays five of them—including the standout trio of IU (Oct. 10), Oregon (Oct. 17) and Ohio State (Nov. 21). It's rather bold to say the Huskers will win a majority of those matchups.

Stealing one of two games, however, against that trifecta, Washington (Oct. 31) or rival Iowa (Nov. 27) would complicate the Big Ten picture.

South Carolina Gamecocks

Maria Lysaker/Getty Images

LaNorris Sellers

On the heels of a nine-win 2024 season with LaNorris Sellers as a breakout star, South Carolina hoped for another solid year in 2025.

Instead, the Gamecocks fell victim to a hellacious slate and tumbled to 4-8 overall with an ugly 1-7 mark in SEC action. It certainly didn't help that Sellers had a bad campaign behind a worse offensive line.

Time for some optimism, right?

Sellers' upside is still apparent, and the team eases into the season with Kent State, Towson and Mississippi State. After a trip to Alabama (Sep. 26), games against Kentucky and Florida lead into an open weekend. South Carolina should be able to build confidence for the tough part of the schedule.

In the second half, the Gamecocks host Tennessee (Oct. 24), Texas A&M (Nov. 7) and Georgia (Nov. 21) with a tilt at Oklahoma (Oct. 31), too. Throw in a trip to rival Clemson (Nov. 28), and South Carolina can be a nuisance.

Virginia Tech Hokies

Lee Coleman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

James Franklin

James Franklin was a good coach at Penn State.

Excluding the disaster of 2025, he'd overseen a near-decade of steadily solid performance. The program won nine-plus games in seven of his last 10 seasons, taking home a Big Ten title in 2016 and reaching the CFP semifinals in 2024.

Franklin, however, was not a great coach at Penn State. Constantly falling in marquee games caused a mountain of frustration, and a couple of horrible losses last season led to his dismissal—and hiring at Virginia Tech.

And the Big Ten, the ACC is not.

Franklin has already proved his value as a program-builder at Vanderbilt and PSU. Even if that's his ceiling, it should make Va Tech a real hazard quickly.

Virginia Tech closes with several ACC hopefuls, hosting Georgia Tech (Oct. 17) and going to Clemson (Oct. 24). After an open date, the Hokies play at SMU (Nov. 6) and Miami (Nov. 21) followed by a home game against rival Virginia (Nov. 28).

While a one-year ascent feels unlikely due to the overhaul needed in Blacksburg, a late emergence as a thorn sure is possible.