How each of the College Football Playoff bubble teams attacked the offseason – The New York Times

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Texas added some star power at the skill positions to help Arch Manning and the offense in 2026. Brett Davis / Imagn Images
The bubble is always a great topic of conversation this time of year. Did so-and-so do enough to make the NCAA Tournament? Was that loss too bad to overcome? Was that win impressive enough to boost the resume?
In the college football world, we had these bubble discussions and debates in November and December. The programs that found themselves sitting just outside of the 12-team College Football Playoff field have had three months to move past that disappointment.
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With roster movement and coaching turnover basically at a standstill, it’s a good time to take a look at the teams that narrowly missed the Playoff and assess what they have done to get over the hump and contend for a spot in 2026.
2025 record: 10-2 in 2025
Final CFP rank: 11th
The Fighting Irish were the most hotly debated bubble team. Ultimately, they were passed over for Miami and Alabama, but expectations will be sky-high for this team next fall.
CJ Carr should be one of the best quarterbacks in the sport, and the Fighting Irish have brought in plenty of talent across the rest of the roster. Notre Dame started slow during the portal window but rallied to sign the No. 11 transfer class in The Athletic’s rankings. Pitt transfer Francis Brewu was a critical add at defensive tackle, and former Colorado corner DJ McKinney was a good pickup for a group that already includes standout Leonard Moore.
Notre Dame also signed the No. 5 recruiting class in the country, per the 247Sports Composite — the program’s first top-five class since 2013.
Notre Dame did well retention-wise but has to replace the best running backs tandem in the country, Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, who are both off to the NFL. The Fighting Irish return leading receiver Jordan Faison but lost their next four top pass catchers. They took bets on young talent in the portal, such as Ohio State transfers Mylan Graham and Quincy Porter, to boost the talent level at receiver. That’s a position worth watching.
With Marcus Freeman, Mike Denbrock and Chris Ash back, the program has continuity at coach and with its coordinators.
There is a tough road game at BYU and home games against Miami and SMU, but Notre Dame is likely to be favored in every game it plays, so the expectation should be to return to the Playoff after being left out this past year.
2025 record: 12-2
Final CFP rank: 12th
The Cougars went 12-0 against teams not named Texas Tech but lost twice, convincingly, to the Red Raiders. That was enough to keep BYU, which played for the Big 12 title, on the outside looking in.
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The Cougars held on to reigning Big 12 Coach of the Year Kalani Sitake after Penn State made a serious push. They also bring back two more award winners, Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year LJ Martin, who rushed for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2025, and quarterback Bear Bachmeier, the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year.
So there’s a solid foundation that will be bolstered by a top-25 recruiting class and a transfer portal haul that includes first-team All-ACC linebacker and Cal transfer Cade Uluave, tight end Walker Lyons (USC) and offensive lineman Jr Sia (Utah State).
The program did, however, suffer some significant losses this offseason. Highly regarded defensive coordinator Jay Hill followed former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham to Michigan. Special teams coordinator and defensive ends coach Kelly Poppinga was elevated to replace him.
The Cougars lost two first-team All-Big 12 defensive players — linebacker Jack Kelly, who led the team with 10 sacks in 2025, and safety Tanner Wall, who recorded four interceptions. All-Big-12 receiver Chase Roberts is off to the NFL, too.
And the program was confronted with an ugly situation when the school expelled leading receiver Parker Kingston days after an arrest on a felony rape charge.
2025 record: 10-3
Final CFP rank: 13th
The Longhorns beat two teams that reached the College Football Playoff in 2025 (Oklahoma and Texas A&M), but a loss to a bad Florida team proved too much to overcome and ultimately kept Texas out of the field.
That was a disappointing result for a team that was ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason poll. The Longhorns responded by being very aggressive in the offseason. They signed another top-10 recruiting class and made a loud statement in the transfer portal. It could be Arch Manning’s last season in Austin, so it feels like an all-in year for the program.
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Among the notable additions are receiver Cam Coleman (Auburn), running backs Raleek Brown (Arizona State) and Hollywood Smothers (NC State), offensive tackle Melvin Siani (Wake Forest) and linebacker Rasheem Biles (Pitt).
Coach Steve Sarkisian fired well-respected defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, whose units ranked in the top 25 in scoring and yards per play allowed each of the past two seasons, and replaced him with Will Muschamp.
The Longhorns have Manning, who is the face of the program, and edge rusher Colin Simmons, who is the leader on defense. Those are two foundational pieces, and Texas has made every effort to build around them this offseason.
The Longhorns play Ohio State in Week 2 and have a tough conference schedule, which includes games against Tennessee (road), Oklahoma (neutral site), Florida (home), Ole Miss (home), Missouri (road), LSU (road) and Texas A&M (road).
Texas will have one of the most talented rosters in the country once again, and expectations will reflect that, but it has to navigate a tough road slate if it’s going to return to the Playoff.
2025 record: 10-3
Final CFP rank: 14th
The Commodores won 10 games for the first time in program history last season and were one of the feel-good stories in the sport. But losses to Alabama and Texas were enough to prevent Vanderbilt from reaching the Playoff in a crowded field.
Naturally, all eyes will be on the quarterback position after the departure of Heisman Trophy runner-up Diego Pavia, who deservedly receives a good chunk of credit for sparking the program’s culture change over the past two seasons.
Vanderbilt picked the opportune time to sign the most high-profile recruit in program history, five-star Jared Curtis, who is lined up to replace Pavia and start at quarterback this fall. Curtis was the No. 2 QB in the 2026 recruiting cycle in the 247Sports Composite.
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A lot of pressure will fall on Curtis to maintain the momentum the Commodores have generated over the past few years, but he won’t have to do it alone. Vanderbilt signed an 18-member transfer class, which features experienced players on the offensive and defensive lines, and some productive skill players such as Clemson safety Ricardo Jones (six interceptions in 2025) and Old Dominion receiver Ja’Cory Thomas (719 receiving yards in 2025).
They join a squad that returns receiver Junior Sherrill, leading rusher Sedrick Alexander and the team’s top two tacklers, linebacker Bryan Longwell and safety CJ Heard.
Vanderbilt is another program with continuity at coach and coordinator, with Clark Lea, Tim Beck and Steve Gregory all returning. The Commodores were probably one win away from reaching the Playoff this season, but it’s going to be tough to get to that same point with a schedule that features games against Georgia (road), Ole Miss (home) and Alabama (home) — three postseason teams from 2025.
2025 record: 11-2
Final CFP rank: 15th
The Utes are the only team on this list that lost its coach. Kyle Whittingham stepped down in mid-December and was hired at Michigan a few weeks later. Former defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley is now the coach in Salt Lake City.
Utah also lost offensive coordinator Jason Beck to Michigan. On the personnel side, the Utes lost two stalwart offensive tackles, Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu, to the NFL and defensive lineman John Henry Daley and defensive back Smith Snowden to the transfer portal — and both ended up at Michigan.
Those are crucial departures. But Utah managed to hold on to quarterback Devon Dampier, who had a strong first season with the Utes, and his exciting young backup Byrd Ficklin. Running back Wayshawn Parker is also back after rushing for 981 yards last year.
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Utah bolstered the receivers group with transfers Braden Pegan (Utah State) and Kyri Shoels (San Jose State). Kevin McGiven will take over as offensive coordinator after holding the same role at Utah State last season.
On defense, the Utes welcome back their top two tacklers — linebacker Jonathan Hall and safety Jackson Bennee — but return just one of the other top 10 tacklers from a year ago. That’s a lot of production to replace.
Utah will look quite different from its 2025 form. It does have a nonconference game against Arkansas but doesn’t play Texas Tech or Arizona State during Big 12 play, and the BYU game is at home. So in a transition year, at least the Utes have that working in their favor.
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Antonio Morales covers USC football for The Athletic. Previously, he spent three years at the Clarion Ledger in Mississippi, where he covered Ole Miss for two seasons and Jackson State for another. He also spent two years covering preps for the Orange County Register and Torrance Daily Breeze. Follow Antonio on Twitter @AntonioCMorales

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