Picking Champions: 2026 College Football Predictions, NFL East Previews & Fantasy Draft Chaos

Football season is officially close enough that every prediction feels reasonable, every fan thinks their team fixed everything in the offseason, and every fantasy roster looks like a championship team.

At least until the games actually start.

Episode 287 of The Far End of the Bench dropped with college football Week 0 staring us directly in the face, the NFL regular season only two weeks away, fantasy drafts taking over group chats everywhere, and Niko getting ready to head to Minnesota with the California Redwoods for the PLL Playoffs. In other words, we had plenty to get into.

This week we put some predictions permanently on the record — which is always dangerous — by picking college football conference champions, breaking down the AFC and NFC East, revealing our fantasy football rosters, previewing a huge PLL playoff weekend and handing out our Players and Benchwarmers of the Week.

College Football Is Back — So Let’s Pick Some Champions

There comes a point every August where you can watch all the previews, look at every transfer, stare at every depth chart and eventually you just have to make a damn pick.

That was the goal this week.

We went through the ACC, Big Ten, SEC, Big 12 and the newly rebuilt Pac-12 to figure out who we actually believe will be standing on top when conference championship weekend arrives.

ACC: At Some Point, Miami Has to Do It

This might finally be the year where the answer is simply Miami.

The problem is that saying “this is Miami’s year” has become one of the oldest traditions in college football.

The Hurricanes have enough talent. They have the expectations. They are coming off a run that proved they can compete on the biggest stage. The bigger question is whether they can finally break through and win an ACC championship.

Niko and I both ultimately leaned Miami, although Clemson remains the obvious challenger. Niko also threw North Carolina into the dark-horse conversation, while I’m fascinated by what Virginia Tech could become after its coaching change.

My feeling on Miami is basically yes — but prove it. There is still going to be hesitation until the Hurricanes actually finish the job.

Big Ten: Ohio State vs. Oregon — And We Split the Vote

This was probably our most interesting disagreement.

Niko picked Ohio State. I picked Oregon.

And I don’t really think either answer is crazy.

Ohio State has everything you would expect Ohio State to have. Oregon has an absurd ceiling with Dante Moore and Dan Lanning. Indiana is the defending national champion and somehow still feels like a team people are looking past. Michigan, USC and others make this one of the deepest races in the country.

Oregon is my swing.

At some point, the Ducks have to turn all of these great seasons into the season. The talent is there. The coaching is there. Moore has been in the system, and the upside of that offense might be as high as anyone in college football.

But Niko planted his flag with Ohio State, and considering what that program reloads with every year, I can’t exactly call him crazy.

SEC: Georgia, Texas and the LSU Wild Card

The SEC feels different than it did during the years when Alabama could simply walk into August and everybody else was fighting for second place.

There are legitimate options.

Texas might have one of the highest ceilings in the entire country. Georgia is still Georgia. And LSU might be one of the most fascinating boom-or-bust teams in college football.

Niko is extremely high on Texas and Arch Manning, while LSU became our favorite candidate to make the type of postseason run that suddenly has everybody asking, “Where the hell did this come from?”

And when we eventually forced ourselves to pick a national champion, we split again.

Niko: Ohio State.

Jimmy: Georgia.

For me, Georgia feels like a team flying slightly more under the radar than we are used to seeing from Kirby Smart's program. If Gunnar Stockton can give them consistent quarterback play and that defense continues doing Georgia things, I can absolutely see the Bulldogs reclaiming the throne.

Niko went Ohio State while also identifying LSU as a team capable of making a serious playoff run.

Write those down. We’ll either look smart in January or pretend this blog never existed.

Big 12: Texas Tech Is the Team to Beat

The Big 12 conversation kept coming back to one team: Texas Tech.

There are questions, particularly after some of the offseason drama, but when you compare the Red Raiders' overall talent to the rest of the conference, they still look like the team everybody else has to catch.

BYU, Utah, UCF and Houston all came up as teams capable of making things interesting, but we still landed in basically the same place: the Big 12 is Texas Tech’s to lose.

The New Pac-12 — And Don’t Sleep on CSU

Of course we had to talk about the new Pac-12.

It has Colorado State in it. You knew that was happening.

Boise State enters as the obvious favorite, and Niko still has the Broncos winning the conference. But the more we talked through this league, the more one Colorado-sized possibility kept becoming harder to ignore.

What if CSU is actually good?

Not “nice little season” good.

Pac-12 Championship Game good.

We both came around to the idea that it really would not be shocking to see Jim Mora get Colorado State into that game. Boise is still the best team on paper, but CSU has a legitimate opportunity to become one of the stories of this new conference.

And yes, CSU winning a Pac-12 championship before Colorado ever did would be objectively hilarious.

AFC East: Buffalo and New England Separate From the Pack

From college football, we moved into the NFL and doubled up our division previews with both East divisions.

The AFC East looks like a two-team race.

Buffalo still has Josh Allen and added more help around him. New England has Drake Maye and enough talent to remain dangerous, even if we both still have questions about whether that offensive line can hold up for an entire season.

Then you get to Miami and New York.

Things get significantly less exciting.

My final AFC East order was:

Bills → Patriots → Dolphins → Jets.

The Bills and Patriots feel like legitimate playoff teams. The Dolphins and Jets feel like teams that could be spending December researching draft prospects.

NFC East: Philly First. Everything Else Gets Weird.

The NFC East was much harder.

Philadelphia is still the most complete team, so both of us kept the Eagles at No. 1. After that? Welcome to chaos.

I eventually let Niko talk me further into the Giants and went Eagles, Giants, Cowboys, Commanders. Niko stayed with Eagles, Cowboys, Giants, Commanders.
The Giants are one of my favorite wild cards in the league. Dallas is always Dallas. Washington has talent but plenty of questions.

And Philly?

They don’t even necessarily have to be as good as they were last year. They just have to be more consistent than everybody else in this division.

That might be enough.

Fantasy Roster Reveal: Unnecessary Syntax vs. Maye the Force Bo With You

This might have been the segment I was most excited to finally put on screen.

Our league starts two quarterbacks every week, which changes almost everything about draft strategy.

After spending the last two seasons watching my fantasy team turn into a weekly disaster, I decided to change the approach.

Unnecessary Syntax starts with Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts.

That's the foundation.

If I can consistently get elite production from two quarterback spots while everybody else is trying to survive the position, I’m willing to take a few more chances elsewhere. The rest of the roster includes names like A.J. Brown, Davante Adams, Brock Bowers, DK Metcalf, Courtland Sutton and David Montgomery, with Kyler Murray sitting on the bench as QB3.

I know.

Three quarterbacks.

I have a plan.

And considering our league's power rankings have treated my team like a relegation candidate for years, trying something different feels justified.

Niko went in another direction with Maye the Force Bo With You, building around Drake Maye and Bo Nix while landing Jahmyr Gibbs, Travis Etienne Jr., DeVonta Smith, D.J. Moore and Trey McBride.

He also waited much longer to add another quarterback, eventually taking Fernando Mendoza as insurance behind Maye and Nix.

Two completely different strategies.

Now we find out which one looks genius and which one gets mocked for the next four months.

PLL Playoffs: Redwoods vs. Outlaws Gets Personal

Then there is the game that makes this weekend a little weird for the show.

California Redwoods vs. Denver Outlaws.

Niko is headed to Minnesota with the Redwoods for a do-or-die playoff game. I’m a Colorado guy who has known the Outlaws brand basically my entire life.

So naturally I am handling this with complete neutrality.

Okay, absolutely not.

I want Niko and the Redwoods to win.

But this matchup has some serious stakes. Niko talked about the nerves that come with knowing one loss could mean the final trip of the season, while Denver enters a postseason where the future of a significant portion of its roster could look very different depending on what happens next.

The winner moves on to face Utah in the semifinal, and with how many teams entered the postseason playing their best lacrosse, this feels like one of the more wide-open PLL playoff fields we’ve had.

Players & Benchwarmers of the Week

We finished, as always, with the awards.

Niko’s Player of the Week: Dolly Parton

Niko used his Player of the Week to celebrate Dolly Parton, spending the segment talking about her music, personality, legacy and the rare ability she had to seemingly be loved by everybody.

Niko’s Benchwarmer of the Week: Manchester United

Then Niko crossed over to the other football.

Manchester United earned the Benchwarmer after a brutal opening-weekend result against Hull City, a team that entered with dramatically lower expectations and promptly handed Manchester United a 2–0 loss.

Jimmy’s Player of the Week: Bo Nix

Mine went to Bo Nix.

Watching him in person during the preseason only reinforced the difference between having your starting quarterback on the field and having to survive without him. Two drives were enough for me. There is a reason he is QB1 in Denver.

Jimmy’s Benchwarmer of the Week: NFL Fans Enduring Preseason Injuries

And my Benchwarmer wasn’t one player or one team.

It was all of us.

NFL fans enduring preseason injuries.

Every August, we spend months begging for football to come back and then immediately spend the preseason terrified that somebody important is going to get hurt in a game that doesn’t count. The injury bug was already becoming one of the recurring themes of this preseason before we ever reached the awards segment.

Football is great.

Preseason injury notifications are not.

Football Season Is Here

Episode 287 felt like the real starting gun.

The college football picks are officially on tape. The NFL division predictions are starting to fill out. Fantasy teams are drafted. The PLL is in win-or-go-home mode.

Now we finally get to stop guessing and start watching.

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