The industry consensus heading into the 2026 season was that there were seven teams in contention to win the national title. The best reflection of this belief was in the preseason AP Top 25. Not only did five different teams (Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana, Notre Dame and Miami) receive first-place votes, but when all the votes were tallied, No. 1 Ohio State was separated from No. 7 Miami by only 293 points.
The gap between No. 7 Miami and No. 8 Texas A&M was 248 points. It turns out the consensus was wrong. There aren't seven national title contenders this season.
Welcome to the party, LSU. Their 51-10 win over Clemson reflected two programs heading in different directions. One continued its freefall from the world of the sport's elite, while the other re-established itself as a genuine threat.
Lost in all the ridiculousness surrounding LSU this offseason, and its quest to turn the sport on its head just to see if it can, was the fact that Kiffin put together a very good roster for his first campaign on the Bayou. A team so good that you can't help but wonder what the damn point of going after NFL dropouts was in the first place. The only error on the night came on the second play from scrimmage when Sam Leavitt's pass to Malik Elzy slipped through Elzy's arms and into the arms of a Clemson defender.
But even that threat was quickly extinguished by an LSU defense that made it painfully clear from the jump that Clemson wasn't going to have much fun on offense. From that point on, it was an absolute decimation. Sam Leavitt was spectacular in his debut, as was just about everybody else who took a snap.
Honestly, LSU made Clemson look like the same kind of FCS/G6 cannon fodder so many other title contenders were facing in Week 1. It was the kind of performance that screamed, "Hey, this team can win it all." And they can. Adjust your preseason expectations accordingly.
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