Oregon, Texas A&M Among Six CFB Teams in 2026 Freefall — SkimNews
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- Oregon Ducks opened at No. 2 in the preseason polls but have fallen to 3-2 and out of the top 25 entirely after a loss at home to UCLA; OC Will Stein took the Kentucky job, DC Tosh Lupoi went to Cal, and Dan Lanning's in-house promotions have underperformed on both sides of the ball.
- Texas A&M Aggies have dropped from a 2025 playoff berth and preseason top-10 ranking to unranked by Week 6 after a dismantling by Missouri, having lost both coordinators (Collin Klein and Jordan Peterson to Kansas State, Jay Bateman to Kentucky) and managed just six points against LSU and Missouri.
- Washington Huskies sit at 3-3 on a three-game losing streak after allowing a season-high 41 points to Iowa on Friday night, with OC Jimmy Dougherty now with the Seahawks and Jedd Fisch calling his own plays to an offense that ranks in the bottom half nationally.
- Louisville Cardinals are 3-3 after ACC losses to Wake Forest and NC State, with the defense surrendering 30-plus points in four games under new coordinators Mark Ivey and Steve Ellis; Jeff Brohm received a contract extension this offseason amid reported Penn State interest.
- Illinois Fighting Illini are 3-3 after losses to Duke and Purdue, with new defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck resigning after four games and the unit now ranking among the worst in FBS; transfer QB Katin Houser has played well but is now sidelined with a broken hand.
- Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are 2-4 and have lost QB Haynes King to the NFL and OC Buster Faulkner plus backup Aaron Philo to Florida, with portal pickup Alberto Mendoza — the reigning Heisman Trophy winner's younger brother — unable to revive a rushing attack that ranked top-five in 2025.
Why it matters: Every team on this list lost one or both coordinators to the coaching carousel, and in-house promotions couldn't absorb the losses — a pattern that shows how the portal era punishes programs that fail to retain staff. With seven or fewer games left for most, bowl eligibility has replaced playoff contention as the realistic ceiling for these one-time hopefuls.
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