College Football Betting Picks
Notre Dame at North Carolina Betting Picks
Notre Dame’s strong defense and consistent performance make them clear favorites to cover the spread against North Carolina, who have struggled ATS. History and current form point to another Fighting Irish win.
College Football
College football enters another fascinating season with a defending national champion few would have predicted several years ago, major coaching changes, another wave of high-profile transfers and a College Football Playoff format that continues to evolve.
How The College Football Playoff Works In 2026-27
The College Football Playoff remains a 12-team competition for the 2026-27 season, although there have been some important changes to how the field is selected.
The champions of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC receive automatic qualification. A fifth automatic place goes to the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt. The remaining seven places are at-large selections made by the CFP selection committee. That should ensure the battle to reach the postseason remains intense throughout November and conference championship weekend.
Selection Day is December 6, when the final rankings and 12-team bracket will be revealed.
The first round then takes place on December 18 and 19, with all four games played on campus. The higher-seeded team in each matchup earns home-field advantage, giving the regular season even greater importance. The quarterfinals begin with the Fiesta Bowl on December 30, followed by the Cotton, Rose and Peach Bowls on New Year's Day. The Orange and Sugar Bowls host the semifinals on January 14 and 15 respectively.
Everything culminates on January 25, 2027, when Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas hosts the CFP National Championship for the first time.
How Indiana Won The 2025-26 National Championship
The story of the previous college football season belonged to the Indiana Hoosiers, who completed an extraordinary 16-0 season by defeating Miami 27-21 in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, securing the first national championship in program history.
The transformation under head coach Curt Cignetti was remarkable. Indiana had gone 3-9 in 2023, immediately before Cignetti's arrival. Two seasons later, the Hoosiers were undefeated national champions.
Quarterback Fernando Mendoza was central to the run. The Heisman Trophy winner was named Offensive MVP of the championship game after completing 16 of 27 passes for 186 yards and adding a rushing touchdown. Defensive lineman Mikail Kamara earned Defensive MVP honours.
Indiana's championship also continued a remarkable run for the Big Ten. The Hoosiers followed Michigan's 2023 national championship and Ohio State's 2024 title, giving the conference three consecutive CFP champions.
Repeating will not be straightforward. Mendoza is now in the NFL, leaving TCU transfer Josh Hoover with the challenge of succeeding a Heisman winner. Nevertheless, Cignetti has demonstrated that Indiana can no longer be treated as an outsider in the national championship conversation.
Transfer Portal Transforms College Football Again
Few developments have changed college football more dramatically than the transfer portal. More than 4,500 Division I players had entered the portal by midday on its opening day in January, illustrating the extraordinary scale of annual roster turnover.
Quarterbacks were particularly prominent.
Sam Leavitt moved from Arizona State to LSU, giving new Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin an experienced quarterback who previously led Arizona State to a Big 12 championship and CFP appearance.
Darian Mensah, meanwhile, left Duke for the University of Miami in a move that hit the court room before it was finally settled.
Elsewhere, Rocco Becht left Iowa State for Penn State, joining former Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell in Happy Valley, while Brendan Sorsby moved from Cincinnati to Texas Tech.
Florida quarterback DJ Lagway transferred to Baylor, Aaron Philo moved from Georgia Tech to Florida and Indiana responded to Mendoza's departure by bringing in Hoover from TCU.
The result is a college football landscape in which roster construction increasingly resembles professional sport. Recruiting high-school players remains fundamental, but coaches must now simultaneously recruit the transfer portal while attempting to retain the talent already on campus.
New Coaches Face Enormous Expectations
Players were not the only major names changing schools.
One of the most significant coaching moves saw Lane Kiffin leave Ole Miss for LSU. Kiffin arrives in Baton Rouge with enormous expectations and a transfer class designed to make LSU competitive immediately. Pairing Kiffin's offensive approach with Leavitt at quarterback gives the Tigers one of the most interesting new combinations in the SEC.
Penn State also begins a new era under Matt Campbell, who left Iowa State and brought several familiar players with him, including quarterback Rocco Becht.
Those changes underline one of the defining characteristics of modern college football. Programs are increasingly expected to rebuild immediately. The combination of the transfer portal and NIL-era roster construction means new coaches no longer necessarily require several recruiting cycles to create competitive teams.
The opportunity is greater, but so is the pressure.
Key College Football Dates To Watch In 2026-27
The early weeks only begin the journey. Some of the season's most important dates still lie ahead:
- October and November – Conference races intensify: SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 schedules increasingly move towards games with direct championship and playoff implications.
- November 28 – Rivalry weekend: The traditional final weekend includes many of college football's defining rivalries, with Michigan-Ohio State and Alabama-Auburn among the games that can reshape entire seasons.
- December 5 – Conference Championship Saturday: The major conference titles are decided, with automatic CFP qualification at stake for the Power Four champions.
- December 6 – CFP Selection Day: The final 12-team College Football Playoff bracket is revealed.
- December 18-19 – CFP First Round: Four playoff games are staged on campus.
- December 30 – Fiesta Bowl: The CFP quarterfinals begin.
- January 1 – New Year's Day: The Cotton, Rose and Peach Bowls complete the quarterfinal round.
- January 14 – Orange Bowl: The first CFP semifinal takes place in Miami Gardens.
- January 15 – Sugar Bowl: The second finalist is decided in New Orleans.
- January 25 – CFP National Championship: Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas hosts the national title game.