College football needs more fun. These 5 teams understood the assignment

Kevin Skiver, USA TODAYThu, October 22, 2026 at 10:07 AM UTC

Is it us, or is college football lately kind of ... vibeless?

Maybe it's the lack of diversity in the national coverage zeitgeist. Maybe it's the announcement of the impending 24-team College Football Playoff. Maybe fans have trapped themselves in an ouroboros of hyper-focusing on those things and being more miserable because of them.

There is a way to stop eating that proverbial tail: Stop focusing on what will be (or worse, what should be) and focus on what is.

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This season, in some ways, is making that easy: There are no super teams, no 1995 Nebraska or 2001 Miami or 2019 LSU. Just a bunch of flawed teams hoping they're contenders.

But below the top teams in the country that soak up the oxygen — the Miamis, the Georgias, the Ohio States — there's a group of teams that don't get a ton of coverage. Call it college football's middle class. And while it may sometimes feel like there's no room for that group of teams who are — let's face it — out-and-out fun, the void being left by not having a clear national champion has every opportunity to be filled.

Maybe in the coming weeks, all fans need is a change of scenery and games with stakes outside of the playoffs. If nothing else, it might help to break up the monotony of blue-blood hate watching week in and week out.

Or, fans can continue to watch Texas and ponder why it isn't better week after week.

With that, here's a look at the teams fans can watch if they want to get some old-school college football joy, and all of the imperfections that come with them.

Off-the-path college football teams to watchNorthwestern

Northwestern got its time in the sun when it ran the Wing-T to beat Penn State in the new Ryan Field's grand unveiling. But anyone who isn't paying attention to what David Braun and Chip Kelly are doing in Evanston is missing out.

In a way, Kelly's at home as the Wildcats' offensive coordinator. Being a cackling, steeple-fingered maniac doesn't work in the NFL, and Kelly was largely hamstrung at UCLA and Ohio State. But with Aidan Chiles at Northwestern, he's doing the Wing-T one week and whatever the heck this is the next:

Or maybe this is more your speed:

The Wildcats have their warts, and they're imperfect. But they're clicking at 5-1 and 2-1 in the Big Ten, with a tough loss at Indiana as their only blemish. If nothing else, you can guarantee you're going to see something different if you tune in.

With so many offenses feeling homogenized, that's extremely refreshing.

Wake Forest

Brian Hartline made headlines when he went to South Florida, but another 2000s wide receiver is doing some awesome stuff in his second year at his current program.

Jake Dickert has built a Wake Forest team that went toe-to-toe with Miami earlier this year on a fraction of the payroll, and has shown that it isn't a fluke. Gio Lopez has proven to be a worthwhile reclamation project after struggling at North Carolina early last year, throwing for nearly 2,000 yards so far this year as a holdover from his late-season heater.

The best win so far is a 30-27 marathon over Louisville: just two teams playing a great game against each other. Nothing else. While at the time it was thought to be a huge upset and a classic Jeff Brohm loss, Wake has since proven it's just like that.

Rob Ezell and Scottie Hazelton are doing some really fun things with the Demon Deacons as their coordinators, and fans should have the Nov. 14 matchup against SMU circled on their calendars. There's a nonzero chance that game determines who is playing in the ACC championship game.

Oregon State

Two words: Jesse. Legree.

A three-star recruit who committed to the Beavers in December, it is impossible to overstate just how special this receiver is. As Jeremiah Smith continues to build Heisman hype, the 18 year old is making a compelling case of his own.

He's having the season of someone playing Road To Glory and restarting the console if his game doesn't go perfectly. He leads the FBS with 1,040 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns, and he's eighth with 22.6 yards per catch. (No one who ranks higher than him in that category has more than 22 catches. Legree has 46).

Chad Johnson is already ponying up to try to keep Legree in Corvallis, but that's a problem for the future. Right now, Legree is doing things that seem unbelievable, and he's a big part of why Oregon State is 5-2 and 3-0 in the new-look Pac-12.

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Oklahoma State

The other orange OSU, for its part, has also earned its way this year. The world's eyes were on Stillwater when Oklahoma State stunned Oregon after Eric Morris' debut was blown up by Tulsa. Since then, the Cowboys have continued to impress.

Drew Mestemaker has been far from perfect. He has six interceptions this season, some of them on legitimately baffling decisions. And yet, he's learning and growing: He has 1,940 yards with 16 interceptions in elevated competition from North Texas last year, and Oklahoma State was just locked in a thriller with a very good Houston team.

Even with one of the best quarterback prospects in the country — Mestemaker really is that good — there's a grit and a grime to this iteration of Oklahoma State. It handily dispatched West Virginia and beat up on Central Florida, but the game against Houston was one lesser in which teams would roll over.

Although it came up short, those are games you want to see from a first-year coach taking over a program that was floundering.

Arizona

The Arizona Wildcats are just on the outside of the US LBM Coaches Poll and just entered the AP poll, but this team deserves a lot of buzz.

Sitting at 5-1 and 2-1 in the Big 12, Brent Brennan is making his mark in Tucson. His not-so-secret weapon? Noah Fifita, one of the top quarterbacks in the country who has stuck with the program despite offers elsewhere.

Fifita, however, has his sights set higher.

"I don't want to just be the guy that stayed," he said in the offseason in an interview with ESPN. "I want to be the guy that won. We've never had an outright conference title, at least in a power conference in Arizona history. So why not us? I feel like that's why God brought me back, that's what I came back for. I didn't come back for a 10-win season. I came back for it all."

It's going to be tough to do in the Big 12 this year. The field is deep. But Fifita has the talent to run with anyone, and the Wildcats are moving a bit different this season. They'll get their cracks. With games against Texas Tech on Halloween and Utah on Nov. 14, if Arizona makes it to Arlington, no one can say it didn't earn its way there.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football needs more fun. These 5 teams understood the assignment

Source: Sports