Pace rankings:
1-25 – Very Fast
26-55 – Medium Fast
56-85- Medium
86-112 – Medium Slow
113 – 138 Very Slow
Head Coaching changes:
Arkansas:
2025 Coach: Sam Pittman – Sam’s OC Bobby Petrino had the Hogs ranking 87th in plays per game yet 58th in seconds per play.
2026 Coach: Ryan Silverfield – Ryan coached at Memphis who ranked 41st in plays per game, yet 89th in seconds per play. I expect about the same with Pace ranking in the 60s.
Change: Medium to Medium
Auburn:
2025 Coach: Hugh Freeze – The Tigers ranked 22nd in plays per game, and 40th in seconds per play, but some of that was due to being down in a lot of games.
2026 Coach: Alex Golesh – USF played fast last year under Golesh ranking 17th in plays per game and 2nd in seconds per play. I expect top 10 speed.
Change: Medium Fast to Very Fast
California:
2025 Coach: Justin Wilcox – I wanted Justin Wilcox to turn out well as a coach, but that defense was bad, and the team played at a medium fast pace ranking 49th in plays per game and 53rd in seconds per play.
2026 Coach: Tosh Lupoi – Tosh 2.0 comes in to bring another defensive mindset to the Bears. He was somewhat successful at Oregon learning under Danny Lanning. I think that he slows it down to rank in the low 80s in tempo.
Change: Medium Fast to Medium Slow
Coastal Carolina:
2025 Coach: Tim Beck – The Chanticleers had to dump Tim Beck as he had a medium paced offense that just could not get the job done.
2026 Coach: Ryan Beard – Ryan comes in from coaching Missouri State into the FBS. He had a medium pace ranking 55th in tempo. No change as I expect tempo ranking in the 60s.
Change: Medium to Medium
Colorado State:
2025 Coach: Jay Norvell – This team played a bit slow ranking 111th in pace. Easier to not get blown out.
2026 Coach: Jim Mora – Last year, Mora’s Huskies ranked 94th in pace. I expect the same at Colorado State.
Change: Medium Slow to Medium Slow
UCONN:
2025 Coach: Jim Mora – Easy to repeat what I just wrote, but the Huskies were a good team who played a bit slow.
2026 Coach: Jason Candle – Another bunched up situation where Toledo ranked 89th in plays per game which is only .3 off from what Mora did at UCONN.
Change: Medium Slow to Medium Slow
Florida:
2025 Coach: Billy Napeir– Last season, the Gators were very slow ranking 116th in plays per game.
2026 Coach: Jon Sumrall – As the coach of the Green Wave, Tulane was a very medium 74th in plays per game. Buster Faulkner comes in as OC from Georgia tech. A team that ran a similar pace. A pretty significant jump in pace ranking in the 70s.
Change: Very Slow to Medium
Iowa State:
2025 Coach: Matt Campbell – Surprisingly, Matt Campbell’s team ranked 47th in plays per game yet 77th in seconds per play which was a bit slower than the previous year.
2026 Coach: Jimmy Rogers – Not the country singer Jimmy Rogers comes in from one year at Washington State who was at a very medium pace ranking 76th in plays per game, yet 125th in seconds per play. I will say that Tyler Roehl will come in as OC who was also an Iowa State coach back in 2024 when Iowa State ranked 16th in plays per game. I think it’s hard to tell so let’s stick to medium
Change: Medium to Medium
James Madison:
2025 Coach: Bob Chesney – Bob’s JMU team ranked 47th in plays per game in their offense in 2024 and 30th plays per game in 2025 even though they were in the 100s in seconds per play. He would then slow it down at the end to run clock.
2026 Coach: Billy Napier – Billy comes from Florida where playing slow was his mantra. I expect it slow again, but not that slow. Pace ranking in the 90s is what I think.
Change: Medium Fast to Medium Slow
Kansas State:
2025 Coach: Chris Kleinman – This was one of the slowest power four teams ranking 127th in tempo.
2026 Coach: Collin Klein – Collin Klein comes back from the Aggies where they ranked 55th in plays per game but 90th in seconds per play. The year before at Kansas State he was an assistant ranking 89th in plays per game. I think speeding it up now that he’s back at K-State is valid with Tempo in the 70s.
Change: Very Slow to Medium
Kentucky:
2025 Coach: Mark Stoops – Kentucky was a bad team who slowed it down ranking 112th in the nation in plays per game and 81st in seconds per play.
2026 Coach: Will Stein – The Stein comes in from being an OC at Oregon where they played fast until their games were over by the 3rd quarter. I say pace will really step up into the 40s.
Change: Medium Slow to Medium Fast
LSU:
2025 Coach: Brian Kelly – The Tigers played pretty slow ranking 107th in seconds per play and 117th in plays per game.
2026 Coach: Lane Kiffen – The Lane train comes in to speed it up more with his high fire power offense with pace to rank in the top 10. His old Miss team ranked 11th in seconds per play.
Change: Very Slow to Very Fast
Memphis:
2025 Coach: Ryan Silverfield – The Tigers were at an above average Tempo ranking 41st in the league under Silverfield.
2026 Coach: Charlie Huff – Charlie Huff comes in with a new OC in Kevin Decker from Old Dominion. Their offense ranked 54th in Tempo, when Southern Miss’s offense ranked 21st. I expect the OC to be the guy and keep pace in the 40s.
Change: Medium Fast to Medium Fast
Michigan:
2025 Coach: Sherron Moore – The Wolverines were a slow paced team last year ranking 103rd in plays per game and 84th in seconds per play.
2026 Coach: Kyle Whittingham – Kyle comes in to fix the drama with his last year OC in Jason Beck who lit it up ranking 12th in plays per game at Utah and 30th in seconds per play. I expect a continued faster pace ranking in the 20s.
Change: Medium Slow to Very Fast
Michigan State:
2025 Coach: Jonathan Smith – Johnny liked to lose at a slightly slower tempo ranking 80th in the land.
2026 Coach: Pat Fitzgerald – Now that Pat’s lawsuits are settled with the Purple nerds, he can go back to his old ways of playing with a little pace. I expect Tempo to rank in the 40s at about 71 plays per game.
Change: Medium to Medium Fast
Mississippi:
2025 Coach: Lane Kiffen – The Lane train had this team at 73.4 plays per game ranking a slippery 13th in Tempo before he implied that he is more of a rebel than the Rebels.
2026 Coach: Pete Golding – Defensive coordinator Pete Golding inherited a good team while new offensive coordinator John David Baker learned some of Lane’s system under Charlie Weiss in December. None the less, JDB had a lighting fast offense at East Carolina ranking 2nd in plays per game.
Change: Very Fast to Very Fast
Missouri State:
2025 Coach: Ryan Beard – Ryan’s offensive tempo at Missouri State ranked 55th in the nation.
2026 Coach: Casey Woods – Right out of the wood shed at SMU, Casey Woods comes in with a nice promotion to take over the Bears. SMU’s pace ranked 71st but I expect a little faster. Not much.
Change: Medium to Medium
North Texas:
2025 Coach: Eric Morris – While N Texas ranked 37th in plays per game, but 14th in seconds per play, this team was actually much faster as they blew out a lot of their opponents away early and ran some clock at the end.
2026 Coach: Neal Brown – Neal Brown was the head coach at West Virginia for about 5 years or so where his pace was kinda medium. He spent some time with Sark in Texas, but I think that he goes back to his roots with pace ranking in the 50s.
Change: Very Fast to Medium
Northern Illinois :
2025 Coach: Thomas Hammock – Before Tom left for the NFL, the Huskies were a sluggish 126th in plays per game and 97th in seconds per play. They knew they were a bad team.
2026 Coach: Rob Harley – Rob Harley get’s promoted from defensive coordinator, but that doesn’t mean slow and methodical as Quinn Sanders comes in at OC from the University of Charleston where scoring 40+ points was the norm. This is the biggest change in college football.
Change: Very Slow to Very Fast
Ohio:
2025 Coach: Brian Smith/John Hauser – The Tempo ranked right in the middle at 76th when Brian Smith left in early December.
2026 Coach: John Hauser – No change in OC with Scott Isphording back. Same medium pace in the 70s.
Change: Medium to Medium
Oklahoma State:
2025 Coach: Mike Gundy – This Pokes team was slow ranking 110th in plays per game and 65th in seconds per play under Mike Gundy. Gonna miss his after game press conferences.
2026 Coach: Eric Morris – With QB Drew Mestemaker, I expect Eric Morris to speed this thing up a bunch like he did at North Texas as they ranked 14th in seconds per play. They will not be blowing out teams in the Big 12, and I expect pace in the top 10.
Change: Medium Slow to Very Fast
Oregon State:
2025 Coach: Trent Brey – It wasn’t Trent’s fault that this team sucked, but the faster pace ranking 27th in the league in plays per game didn’t help matters. The got blown out quite often.
2026 Coach: JaMarcus Shephard – Groomed from the Kalen Deboer tree of knowledge, Jamarcus will have this team at a medium pace.
Change: Medium Fast to Medium
Penn State:
2025 Coach: James Franklin – The Nittany Lions were quite boring last year with a pace ranking 121st in plays per game and 98th in seconds per play in college football.
2026 Coach: Matt Campbell – Matt Campbell brings his team and his OC Taylor Mouser to Penn State as this team was medium fast ranking 47th in plays per game and 77th in seconds per play. I expect more pep in their step.
Change: Very slow to Medium Fast
Sacramento State:
2025 Coach: Brennan Marion – This team played pretty fast in the FCS last year.
2026 Coach: Alonzo Carter – Alonzo was a running backs coach and assistant head coach at Arizona where he will now bust a move at Sacramento State with a pretty fast pace like Brett Brennan had for the Cats.
Change: Medium Fast to Medium Fast
South Florida:
2025 Coach: Alex Golesh – This speedy team ranked 17th in pace before Golesh went to Auburn.
2026 Coach: Brian Hartline – While Ohio State had a slow pace, this team will not have the same kind of defense, so I expect Hartline to have a medium pace at USF in the 70s
Change: Very Fast to Medium
Southern Miss:
2025 Coach: Charlie Huff – Charlie Huffed and Puffed his way to ranking a speedy 21st in plays per game at Southern Miss. That is quite fast.
2026 Coach: Blake Anderson – The OC Gets promoted meaning the offense keeps close to the same pace in the teens IMO.
Change: Very Fast to Very Fast
Stanford:
2025 Coach: Troy Taylor – This team was smack dab in the middle for tempo ranking 65th
2026 Coach: Tavita Prichard – Was an OC back at Stanford and assisted there for quite some time. I expect medium fast tempo ranking in the 30s
Change: Medium to Medium Fast
Toledo:
2025 Coach: Jason Candle – Toledo had a medium slow-ish pace ranking 89th in plays per game and 70thin seconds per play before Jason left to UCONN.
2026 Coach: Mike Jacobs – Mercer would sometimes score over 30 points in the first half. I expect a very fast pace out of this team.
Change: Medium Slow to Very Fast
Tulane:
2025 Coach: Jon Sumrall – From a medium pace ranking 74th in plays per game, Sumrall took his talents to Florida.
2026 Coach: Will Hall – Will was OC last year. This coach was all over the board during his three year stint at Southern Miss. I expect a medium pace again.
Change: Medium to Medium
UAB:
2025 Coach: Trent Dilfer/Alex Mortensen – As we said a few years ago, If Dilfer is as good of a coach as he was an analyst, this coaching stint may not end well. The pace was very fast ranking 18th in the land.
2026 Coach: Alex Mortensen – Young Mort took over mid season from being the OC so no change.
Change: Very Fast to Very Fast
UCLA:
2025 Coach: DeShawn Foster – This UCLA team had a medium fast pace ranking 95th in plays per game and 102nd in seconds per play as they were always behind on the scoreboard.
2026 Coach: Bob Chesney – As said earlier, Bob ranked 30th in plays per game but only 112th in seconds per play, so I expect some more speed.
Change: Very Slow to Medium
Utah:
2025 Coach: Kyle Whittingham – Utah’s Tempo with Dampier at quarterback ranking bout 79th in Tempo.
2026 Coach: Morgan Scalley – Being that Scalley was a DC, I can’t go by the tempo from last year, but new OC Kevin McGiven was the OC at Utah State who had a medium pace themselves ranking 70th in Tempo.
Change: Medium to Medium
Virginia Tech:
2025 Coach: Brent Pry – The Hokies ranking a pretty slow 107th in plays per game, and 79th in seconds per play.
2026 Coach: James Franklin – Big game James brings with him his co-OC Ty Howle who might slow it down to what they were at Penn State with tempo ranking 110s.
Change: Medium slow to Very Slow
Washington State:
2025 Coach: Jimmy Rogers – From ranking 76th in plays per game and 126th in seconds per play, Jimmy Rogers heads to the flat lands of Iowa State.
2026 Coach: Kirby Moore – From the Eli Drinkwitz tree of offensive knowledge, Kirby was the OC at Missouri ranking 63rd in seconds per play, but I think that he will come in to WASU with guns-a-blazen with pace ranking in the teens.
Change: Medium Slow to Very Fast
Substantial offensive coordinator tempo changes:
Northwestern:
I could see some faster pace with Chip inserted as OC at Northwestern. This slow Wildcats team was a slow 113th in plays per game.
Change: Very Slow to Medium
South Carolina:
Kendal Briles comes in from an OC job at TCU with a chance to save this team. The Gamecocks ranked 86th in plays per game and 62nd in second per play. They probably speed it up to the 30s.
Change: Medium Slow to Medium Fast
Clemson:
Chad Morris is back at OC that should bump up this team in speed going back to his days at Clemson from 2010 – 2014 where this team scored more than 35 points per game on average.
Change: Medium to Medium Fast
UNC:
Bobby Petrino comes in from Arkansas ranking a mid 87th in plays per game, but the year before he ranked 21st. UNC was a sluggish rank of 132nd in plays per game and 118th in seconds per play. I see this being a much bigger change to start the year with pace ranking in the 30s.
Change: Very Slow to Medium Fast
Colorado:
Brennan Marion comes in from coaching Sacramento State’s high powered offense.
Change Medium to Medium Fast
Top 8 largest slow to faster tempo changes:
LSU:
2025 Coach: Brian Kelly – The Tigers played pretty slow ranking 107th in seconds per play and 117th in plays per game.
2026 Coach: Lane Kiffen – The Lane train comes in to speed it up more with his high fire power offense with pace to rank in the top 10. His old Miss team ranked 11th in seconds per play.
Change: Very Slow to Very Fast
Oklahoma State:
2025 Coach: Mike Gundy – This Pokes team was slow ranking 110th in plays per game and 65th in seconds per play under Mike Gundy. Gonna miss his after game press conferences.
2026 Coach: Eric Morris – With QB Drew Mestemaker, I expect Eric Morris to speed this thing up a bunch like he did at North Texas as they ranked 14th in seconds per play. They will not be blowing out teams in the Big 12, and I expect pace in the top 10.
Change: Medium Slow to Very Fast
Northern Illinois :
2025 Coach: Thomas Hammock – Before Tom left for the NFL, the Huskies were a sluggish 126th in plays per game and 97th in seconds per play. They knew they were a bad team.
2026 Coach: Rob Harley – Rob Harley get’s promoted from defensive coordinator, but that doesn’t mean slow and methodical as Quinn Sanders comes in at OC from the University of Charleston where scoring 40+ points was the norm. This is the biggest change in college football.
Change: Very Slow to Medium Fast
UNC:
Bobby Petrino comes in from Arkansas ranking a mid 87th in plays per game, but the year before he ranked 21st. UNC was a sluggish rank of 132nd in plays per game and 118th in seconds per play. I see this being a much bigger change to start the year with pace ranking in the 30s.
Change: Very Slow to Medium Fast
South Carolina:
Kendal Briles comes in from an OC job at TCU with a chance to save this team. The Gamecocks ranked 86th in plays per game and 62nd in seconds per play. They probably speed it up to the 30s.
Change: Medium Slow to Medium Fast
Washington State:
2025 Coach: Jimmy Rogers – From ranking 76th in plays per game and 126th in seconds per play, Jimmy Rogers heads to the flat lands of Iowa State.
2026 Coach: Kirby Moore – From the Eli Drinkwitz tree of offensive knowledge, Kirby was the OC at Missouri ranking 63rd in seconds per play, but I think that he will come in to WASU with guns-a-blazen with pace ranking in the teens.
Change: Medium Slow to Very Fast
Michigan:
2025 Coach: Sherron Moore – The Wolverines were a slow paced team last year ranking 103rd in plays per game and 84th in seconds per play.
2026 Coach: Kyle Whittingham – Kyle comes in to fix the drama with his last year OC in Jason Beck who lit it up ranking 12th in plays per game at Utah and 30th in seconds per play. I expect a continued faster pace ranking in the 20s.
Change: Medium Slow to Very Fast
Auburn:
2025 Coach: Hugh Freeze – The Tigers ranked 22nd in plays per game, and 40th in seconds per play, but some of that was due to being down in a lot of games.
2026 Coach: Alex Golesh – USF played fast last year under Golesh ranking 17th in plays per game and 2nd in seconds per play. I expect top 10 speed.
Change: Medium Fast to Very Fast
Top 4 largest fast to slower tempo changes:
South Florida:
2025 Coach: Alex Golesh – This speedy team ranked 17th in pace before Golesh went to Auburn.
2026 Coach: Brian Hartline – While Ohio State had a slow pace, this team will not have the same kind of defense, so I expect Hartline to have a medium pace at USF in the 70s
Change: Very Fast to Medium
North Texas:
2025 Coach: Eric Morris – While N Texas ranked 37th in plays per game, but 14th in seconds per play, this team was actually much faster as they blew out a lot of their opponents away early and ran some clock at the end.
2026 Coach: Neal Brown – Neal Brown was the head coach at West Virginia for about 5 years or so where his pace was kinda medium. He spent some time with Sark in Texas, but I think that he goes back to his roots with pace ranking in the 50s.
Change: Very Fast to Medium
California:
2025 Coach: Justin Wilcox – I wanted Justin Wilcox to turn out well as a coach, but that defense was bad, and the team played at a medium fast pace ranking 49th in plays per game and 53rd in seconds per play.
2026 Coach: Tosh Lupoi – Tosh 2.0 comes in to bring another defensive mindset to the Bears. He was somewhat successful at Oregon learning under Danny Lanning. I think that he slows it down to rank in the low 80s in tempo.
Change: Medium Fast to Medium Slow
James Madison:
2025 Coach: Bob Chesney – Bob’s JMU team ranked 47th in plays per game in their offense in 2024 and 30th plays per game in 2025 even though they were in the 100s in seconds per play. He would then slow it down at the end to run clock.
2026 Coach: Billy Napier – Billy comes from Florida where playing slow was his mantra. I expect it slow again, but not that slow. Pace ranking in the 90s is what I think.
Change: Medium Fast to Medium Slow
Kyle Hunter’s additions (@KyleHunterPicks) :
Nevada:
From 128th in Tempo, Brett Bartolone comes in from the Mike Leach tree and should play with some big Tempo.
Change: Very Slow to Very Fast
Northwestern:
From 129th in Tempo, Chip Kelly will speed this up to at least Medium speed.
Change: Very Slow to Medium
Colorado State:
From 35th in Tempo, Jim Mora comes in and will try and slow it down with a run focus.
Change: Medium Fast to Medium Slow
TCU:
From 27th in Tempo, Gordan Sammis comes from being an OC in UCONN who will slow it down.
Change: Medium Fast to Medium Slow
