Week One of the 2026 college football season has come and gone, and it’s already a joke. Observers of the sport witnessed one of the most obvious instances of home cooking in Michigan’s 13-12 win at home over Western Michigan. Fans are also wondering if college football is going to be infiltrated by NFL practice squad players, with the drama surrounding LSU. The 2026 season is going to be a battleground for college football’s integrity, and it seems like the fans will be the ones who lose.
The Michigan-Western Michigan Ending Will Haunt The 2026 College Football Season
The conclusion to the Michigan-Western Michigan game was a disaster for the Big Ten and college football as a whole. The fact that replay officials can use a game clock that fans cannot see to decide the outcomes of games has left a bad taste in the mouths of most fans. If people watching the game can’t trust what they’re seeing on the screen to be correct, then why continue to watch if the integrity of the game is compromised? Saturday’s decision to add more time gave a black eye to both Michigan and the Big Ten (a league that’s been dominant in the NIL era), damage that will take years to undo in the minds of fans.
An overlooked aspect about what transpired in Ann Arbor is what’s next for Western Michigan. The Broncos or the MAC can’t really make a big stink over what happened, because the mid-majors depend on these “buy games” in order to keep their athletic departments afloat, especially in the NIL era.
The MAC can’t risk not having Big Ten opponents for its member schools, so the league can’t make a big deal about the controversy. The only silver lining for WMU is that the college football world knows it’s good, which might matter when the at-large selections for the College Football Playoff are announced. The Broncos were picked as MAC favorites in the preseason, and their play Saturday certainly put the rest of the conference on notice.
Pro Players Going Back To College Might End The Sport
Meanwhile in the SEC, Lane Kiffin and LSU seem intent on ending the sport as fans know it by bringing two NFL practice squad players to Baton Rouge. Fortunately, multiple major conferences and the College Football Playoff have denounced having such players on rosters, and the school is facing lawsuits over those players. The issue is so intense that the SEC is threatening to kick out of the league. This isn’t the first time that Kiffin has been at the center of a controversy at LSU, but this time the soul of college football is at stake.
It’s clear to see why having former NFL practice squad players is a huge problem for college football. The sport already struggles to regulate player movement with the transfer portal; giving elite programs access to former pro players would be extremely messy to navigate. Both of the issues that already plague the 2026 season have massive ramifications for the integrity of the sport. The institution of college football could be crumbling in real time, and all long-time fans can do is watch.
