With the conference championship games out of the way, the college football world is officially in bowl season, which means for the majority of teams their seasons are now over. This feels like a good time to tie a bow on what was another superb season across the United States.
To wrap up, we are going to look at some of the biggest winners and losers of the season, whether for on field or off field reasons, as you will see throughout. So to get started, why not dive into the best story of the year so far?
Fernando Mendoza and Curt Cignetti | Winners
Two years ago to the day, Indiana as a program was in some strife after finishing at the bottom of the Big Ten with a 3-9 record. From there, they hired former JMU head coach Curt Cignetti, who made it clear in his early press conference that all he does is win. In his first year, he led the Hoosiers to a phenomenal 11-2 record, certainly righting the ship as he promised.
This year, expectations were sky-high after he recruited Cal transfer Fernando Mendoza, who has quietly caught the eyes of NFL talent evaluators during the season. From there, it was history, as Mendoza and Cignetti formed one of the best duos in the country and have so far led the Hoosiers to a perfect 13-0 record. Including a huge win in Eugene against Oregon and a victory over Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game this past weekend.
There is certainly plenty more to the team’s success than just those two, but it helps to have your key pieces be a Heisman favourite and a head coach awarded a massive contract extension mid-season.
Will the Hoosiers carry this form through the playoffs? I am not 100% sure, but what a story for the NIL era of college football
Indiana Hoosiers To Be The NCAA Championship Winner 2025/26 @ $3.50
Clemson Tigers and Dabo Sweeny | Losers
The Clemson Tigers came into this college football season ranked fourth in the nation, and in many people’s minds, that ranking was underdone given the ridiculous talent and coaching experience at their disposal.
Entering the year, Clemson had four consensus first round draft talents in Peter Woods, T.J. Parker, Aveion Terrell, and most importantly, their returning former five-star quarterback Cade Klubnik, who was also on most people’s pre-season Heisman ballots. With so many other names on the roster and a championship winning head coach in Dabo Swinney, the Tigers were set up for huge success.
They started the year with a loss to LSU, which,] over the course of the season, did not age well. They would also lose to Georgia Tech, Syracuse, SMU, and Duke, leaving them sitting at 3-5 heading into November. With the pressure off, they managed to rattle off four consecutive wins and will take on Penn State in their bowl game as a consolation.
However, the fact that a team with this quality of players and coaches could come up so short in a season meant to be a title year should, and likely will, haunt Clemson fans for years to come.
Dante Moore | Winner
After a true freshman season to forget at UCLA, Dante Moore opted for a more traditional approach by transferring to Oregon and sitting behind eventual NFL quarterback Dillon Gabriel while learning the game. After a year on the sidelines, mastering the system that Dan Lanning wanted at Oregon, Moore was given the starting job.
Once handed the keys by the coaching staff, he never looked back, leading Oregon to an 11-1 record and seeing his name shoot up draft boards because of his play. This year, he is responsible for just under 3,000 total yards, with 25 total touchdowns and only six interceptions.
For me, Moore is the prototypical modern-day quarterback, capable of making any throw required with his arm talent, while also possessing the athleticism to make plays with his legs. What stands out most about Moore, is his mentality, at just 20 years of age, you could describe him as cold-blooded. The moment is never too big for him, and I would not be surprised if he leads Oregon to a deep playoff run while being a top-three pick come April.
Oregon Ducks To Be The NCAA Championship Winner 2025/26 @ $10
Preseason First Round Quarterbacks | Losers
Draft evaluation is a fickle game, especially when it comes to the quarterback position come April, and there was no better example of this than the talk surrounding this class of signal-callers. In the 2025 NFL Draft, based on everything we saw play out, there were not many players teams were willing to invest in, rather fading the class and looking ahead to what was supposed to be a stacked 2026 class of quarterbacks.
Looking at the preseason rankings, the names generating first-round buzz were:
- Garrett Nussmier
- Drew Allar
- Carson Beck
- Cade Klubnik
- LaNorris Sellers
- Arch Manning
In the end, only one of these names is in the top 65 of PFF’s consensus draft board: LaNorris Sellers. I would expect him and Arch Manning to return to college for another year and become potential top-10 picks for 2027. The other four, who had hoped to be seen as franchise signal-callers, are now projected as late Day Two or Day Three draft picks, which has done nothing but hurt their draft stock. This serves as a warning to some who turn down first-round selection one year in favour of returning to school, because it has not worked out well for this group.
LSU Tigers | Winners
This one is a more recent development, and it might seem crazy to crown LSU as winners of this season, as for a blue-chip program, going 7-5 is nothing short of a disaster. What it did lead to, however, was the school moving on from Brian Kelly as head coach after four seasons, making him the first LSU head coach not to win a National Championship since Gerry DiNardo.
From the start, the fit between school and coach just felt off. Instead, LSU swung for the fences last week and hit a home run by winning the Lane Kiffin sweepstakes and prying him away from Ole Miss, the program he built from the ground up.
With Kiffin at the helm, LSU is getting one of the best offensive minds in football, and he has retained key parts of the LSU staff that made them one of the best defensive units in the country. Combined with a strong transfer portal, the Tigers should be in a position to return to the College Football Playoff bracket, rather than remaining stuck in the mediocrity that riddled Kelly’s tenure.