Heisman, College Football Playoff chase offers two epic weeks in 2026

The proposed expansion of the College Football Playoff threatens to both remove big games from the schedule or rob of them of their meaning, but in 2026 just 12 teams get in, and a loss in a big game just means more.

Week 2 promises to be a split-screen, Multiview, plant-yourself-on-the-couch kind of day for college football fans:

Ohio St vs Texas
Oklahoma vs Michigan
Arkansas vs Utah
Missouri vs Kansas (Border War)
Washington St vs Kansas St
Oregon vs Oklahoma St
Arizona St vs Texas A&M
Iowa St vs Iowa
Arizona vs BYU
Cal vs Syracuse
Mississippi St vs Minnesota

In CBS Sports' post-spring rankings, Ohio State and Texas are No. 1 and No. 2. It's a game with plenty of firepower and two of the best receiver corps in the nation in what lines up as a make-or-break year for Steve Sarkisian.

Jeremiah Smith, Julian Sayin and Arch Manning have the opportunity to make a huge Heisman statement in a primetime game on ABC (7:30 p.m. PT.)

At home under the lights in Austin with one of the most expensive rosters in college football and the 6-4, 219 Manning entering his fourth year of college football, the pressure is firmly on Sarkisian after the Longhorns missed the playoffs last year.

At FanDuel, the Buckeyes are the national championship favorites at +550, Texas third behind Notre Dame at +750. The Irish's CJ Carr stands as the preseason Heisman favorite with Manning second and Sayin in a tie for fourth at +1200, Smith at +1300.

A big showing in a Top Five primetime game early in the year will create massive momentum for someone.

An aerial battle in Stillwater as Mestemaker tests Oregon's top pass defense

Elsewhere on the slate, a revamped Oklahoma State squad hosts Dante Moore and Oregon in another battle of top quarterbacks, Moore versus new Cowboy gunslinger Drew Mestemaker. At North Texas last year Mestemaker threw for 4.379 yards and 34 touchdowns, leading the country in yards, yards per attempt and yards per game, fourth in passer rating.

Oklahoma versus Michigan is another big intersectional clash that pits two teams with outsized expectations but difficult schedules. Mateer suffered an injury to his throwing hand last September that required surgery, sitting out an October 4th game against Kent State.

This season the Sooners got him three new targets in former Texas wide receiver Parker Livingstone, Florida tight end Hayden Hansen and Colorado State tight end Rocky Beers, who latched on to 31 passes for 388 yards and seven touchdowns for the Rams last year

November 7 stands out as a Saturday that will shake up the Top 25 and reorder the race for the Stiff-Arm Trophy:

Miami @ Notre Dame
Oregon @ Ohio State
Alabama @ LSU
Georgia @ Ole Miss
BYU @ Utah
Oklahoma @ Florida
Penn State @ Washington
Virginia Tech @ SMU
Texas @ Missouri

The Irish play just three likely-to-be-ranked opponents all year in BYU, SMU and the Canes. Carr will rack up big days against Wisconsin, Michigan State, Rice, Purdue, Arkansas, Navy and Stanford, but the clash with Darian Mensah (another Heisman contender at +1300) and Miami projects as his sternest test.

The two teams met at Hard Rock Stadium on August 31 last year, Miami hitting a 41-yard field goal with 1:14 to play to win 27-24. Games like Alabama-LSU and BYU at Utah need no introduction: They're variations of good old-fashioned hate.

Oregon's date at Columbus is a three-red-circles kind of football game between two national championship contenders and Big Ten favorites. FanDuel has the over/under for the Ducks at 10.5 wins, making this a pivotal game for both the playoffs and making possibly the last conference championship game.

If Sayin, Smith and Moore are still in the Heisman race, this will be the game that voters remember most. In the SEC, the matchup of the Georgia defense and Trinidad Chambliss should be mesmerizing; Last October the Bulldogs won in Athens 43-35.

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