During a conversation with friends from Texas who came to visit North Carolina over Labor Day weekend, I came to a conclusion about college football that I haven't been able to get out of my head since.
For better or worse, college football has some elements that are pretty similar to pro wrestling. We don't know how much exactly the participants are getting paid, the participants aren't technically employees of the schools, and there are myriad storylines that have nothing to do with the playing of the sport itself.
For this "Easter and Christmas" wrestling fan who only pays attention to wrestling around Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, the best part of wrestling are the great, despised heels. And it's clear that in this national era of college football, there are some hated villains.
Let's focus on the most unloved teams as of the first two weeks of 2026; give gold, silver and bronze medals for animus; and look at some teams that are just outside of the heel podium. No one can deny that these teams are factors in the bigger picture of college football in 2026. If every ranked program that's on TV each week was a babyface, it would be a pretty boring sport.
Gold: LSU
By and large, I've been the type of fan who supports the transfer portal and NIL in college sports. Even with all the politicking, lawsuits, and subterfuge, there wasn't one point where a team made me ask, "should I be concerning myself with this sport as much as I am?" ... until LSU this August.
Ultimately, LSU didn't roster the two NFL training camp players, so the point was somewhat moot. But I have no doubt that Lane Kiffin or coaches of his ilk will be out on the leading edge of the latest eligibility controversy in the future. And it was crucially important that the SEC was able to stand up to one of its founding members to prevent a situation that the other 15 schools found unacceptable.
That Wright-Harris embroglio is definitely one reason I have LSU as this season's most despised team, but Lane Kiffin's general demeanor is another, and the way it seems that LSU athletics exists as an organ of the state government of Louisiana is a third.
This coming Saturday, LSU travels to Ole Miss in what's probably the most anticipated September conference game since the heyday of the Tennessee/Florida rivalry in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Kiffin and LSU are going to be classic wrestling heels in this matchup, and you have to admit that Ole Miss is pretty good at hating things and people across its history.
Silver: Ohio State
After Ohio State's collapse from up 23-3 at Texas in the fourth quarter, and viewing the general reaction to the Buckeyes throwing away a game they had dominated, I came to the realization that Ohio State football is much like Duke basketball now.
Think about it: both teams' fans expect to contend for national titles and deep tournament/playoff runs every year, they almost always both have the talent to match, they have seemingly unlimited NIL and recruiting resources, and they bring out a sense of joy in most fans when they choke away games. That's a perfect recipe for college sports villainy.
As for the game that occurred on Saturday night, I actually don't think too differently of Ohio State after the 3-touchdown collapse than I did before. To complete the comeback, the Longhorns had to convert a 4th-and-9 and a 4th-and-6 in their own territory, recover two of their own fumbles, and get Ohio State to miss a field goal.
The Buckeyes' running game could have been more proficient, the defense was in too soft of a zone in the fourth quarter, and the 3rd-and-4 heave before the field goal miss was a dumb play call. But I still think Ohio State should be favored in every remaining regular season game — even at Indiana.
Bronze: Michigan
If I was writing this column before Week 1, I probably would have defaulted to putting Notre Dame in this spot because they're a classic team to hate, and the crying after missing out on the College Football Playoff left a bad taste in my mouth. But Notre Dame under Marcus Freeman is just not as hateable as Notre Dame under Brian Kelly. Michigan, post-Connor Stalions and post-Sherrone Moore, absolutely is.
So, with the wrestling canon event of the screwjob in mind, I promote Michigan to this spot a week and a half after they worked Western Michigan out of a deserved win in Week 1. Then, after I thought they had no shot at home against Oklahoma, they outlasted the Sooners in a game with barely over 550 yards of combined offense.
And yes, I realize that I've included both sides of college football's most heated rivalry on the heel podium. But that game is also typically the highest-rated regular season college football broadcast of the season. Many people watch — and dislike — both teams.
Until that game with the Buckeyes, the Wolverines have a somewhat favorable schedule, with Iowa, Penn State, Indiana, and UCLA all at home. Michigan's toughest road game before Thanksgiving weekend is at Oregon, which looks like it could be considerably more manageable than preseason polls would indicate.
What happens if Michigan is 10-2 after the regular season? Does the CFP committee take the step of holding the Western Michigan travesty against the Wolverines? Animosity is bound to come from that in either direction.
Off the Podium
Let's quick hit some other disliked teams. Georgia and Alabama would have been on this podium at different times earlier this decade, and SEC partisans still hate both. But with the elevation of the Big Ten, they miss out.
I personally can't stand Miami after they grabbed Darian Mensah (and Connor Barkate) from Duke, and there's a real chance the Hurricanes are a juggernaut. But even with last year's title game run elevating Miami back to prominence, they still sit a level below the biggest villains.
We've already mentioned Notre Dame, and I'm annoyed that the Irish play a pu-pu platter of four not-very-good Power 4 teams before BYU on October 17. Texas fans are going to be chirping following the Ohio State win and the Arch Manning hype train will continue apace, so this could be a team to watch. Steve Sarkisian's behavior after the win Saturday didn't help.
Texas Tech is "new money," which causes hate from fans, and the Brendan Sorsby saga in the spring and summer made folks mad. But they probably need another year of smoking the Big 12 to reach more of a national hatred level.
Indiana also has signs of being a new heel and all the (deserved) cockiness, but you can't seriously put them among the blue bloods of fan hate yet. Everyone else I briefly considered (Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oregon, USC, Penn State) aren't truly despised enough on a national level in 2026.
Animosity and rivalry are key elements of any sport's narrative. Traditionally, college football has some of the best regional hostility in all of sports. In the NIL/portal era, nationwide conferences and SEC/Big Ten dominance have helped create national fan grievances. That bodes well for interest and competition at the highest levels of the sport this season.
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