Who's the Favorite? Beautiful Chaos Ruling College Football at Midpoint of 2026 Season

We still don't know.

Six weeks into the 2026 college football season, our opinions are starting to build a backbone. You believe in that school. I'm all-in on this program. The struggling teams? They're just pretenders.

The beauty of this all, though, is any number of teams could be plugged into the undefined places of those sentences.

Georgia, for example, picked up a massive win Saturday at Alabama. While the Dawgs deserve the praise for the victory—they've stood atop B/R's Top 25 for several weeks, too—it took every bit of 60 minutes for UGA to clip the Crimson Tide.

At the midpoint of the campaign, there's no undisputed top team.

Georgia has a strong case, absolutely. Still, it's fair to mention the toughest part of UGA's schedule is only now arriving. Rivalry games against Auburn and Florida are up next, followed by a trip to Ole Miss and clash with Missouri. Taking down Alabama on the road is fantastic, but plenty more tests are ahead.

You could tout Notre Dame or Miami, a pair of Top Five programs. Both appear destined for a spot in the CFP, no matter what happens in the Nov. 7 clash featuring the now-undefeated teams.

Between them, though, what's their best win? Wisconsin? Wake Forest?

Scan the rest of the nation's unbeatens, and you're not going to find an incredibly dominant, runaway-type of team.

Indiana held off Northwestern and needed a comeback to survive Nebraska on Saturday. BYU hasn't scored more than 28 points in three Big 12 matchups. Texas Tech and Utah have played a low level of competition on the path to 5-0, similar to—yes, it's true—UCLA. James Madison rounds out the group.

Everyone else has a loss.

Literally every other team.

Texas became the most prominent loser in Week 6, imploding during the fourth quarter of a frustrating setback to rival Oklahoma. Saturday's slate also ended the perfect records of Duke, Pitt and North Dakota State, along with Nebraska and Alabama in their marquee games.

Beyond that, preseason hopefuls LSU and Oregon endured their second losses of the campaign. Florida fell for the second week in a row.

Just add 'em to the list.

Robin Alam/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images

Ohio State and Ole Miss already had a loss apiece, as did Tennessee and USC. The mood around teams like Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas A&M has soured—and an upset of Texas isn't enough evidence needed to suddenly buy OU, given the Sooners' early mess on offense.

Pick any team not mentioned, and we could easily find a bad result, an obvious flaw or an uphill climb.

We still don't know. That's the best part.

The second half of the 2026 season doesn't have a seemingly inevitable ending. Georgia heads to Ole Miss in a month for a critical SEC tilt. In addition to the later showdown with Miami, Notre Dame is set to play BYU—which also travels to Utah—in Week 7 as Indiana hosts Ohio State.

UCLA's schedule is incredibly favorable, and Iowa lands in that category, too. But are we genuinely ready to trust the Bruins or Hawkeyes?

Ole Miss, conversely, is hugely talented with a nightmare slate remaining, and Texas' path is comparably brutal. Kentucky, Missouri and Mississippi State have impressed early but will be challenged often in the SEC.

Houston and Oklahoma State are bracing for a prime-time meeting in Week 7, and a future date with a Big 12 unbeaten awaits both. Ohio State has a difficult three-game run surging over the horizon, as well.

You get the point.

So often in college football, there's an overwhelming team or two just cruising toward the postseason by the halfway point of the campaign. And, hey, in hindsight, we might say UGA, Notre Dame or Miami fit that billing.

But as mid-October closes in, the strongest opinions you or I might hold about the championship favorite—well, they are either unproven or a confident guess.

We still don't know. And I, for one, can hardly wait to find out.