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Football might be a team sport, but there are individual battles that happen every play that can be the deciding factor on the field. Here’s a look at some of the most anticipated head-to-head matchups between players entering the 2026 college football season.
Week 1
Auburn LB Xavier Atkins vs. Baylor QB DJ Lagway
The season-opening matchup to watch will be in Atlanta, when Auburn faces Baylor. Transfer quarterback DJ Lagway will suit up for the Bears for the first time, bringing with him his dual-threat ability. However, Auburn has a dynamic athlete on the defensive side of the ball who could be the one to contain him: linebacker Xavier Atkins.
While Atkins is undersized at 6-feet and 210 pounds, he flies around the ball. He had 84 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and nine sacks last year. He hasn’t faced Lagway yet, as the Tigers haven’t faced Florida since 2019. But Atkins did keep dual-threat quarterbacks John Mateer, Marcel Reed and Taylen Green in check last year to the tune of 20 total rushing yards among the three of them.
Lagway could point to the game Diego Pavia had for Vanderbilt, when he ran for 112 yards on the ground, as a potential weakness in the Auburn defense in Week 1. Can Lagway break contain against Atkins and put on a show?
Week 2
Oklahoma State QB Drew Mestermaker vs. Oregon S Koi Perich
Drew Mestermaker led the FBS in passing last year at North Texas. Now he’s one of the most impactful transfers in college football after heading to Oklahoma State this offseason. He’ll face his first big test with the Cowboys against Oregon, which will feature a standout transfer of its own in safety Koi Perich.
Mestermaker averaged 13.7 yards per completion last year while throwing 34 touchdowns to nine interceptions. Perich has six career interceptions. This game could be a chess match of when to attack downfield. The winner when the ball is in the air could be the deciding factor in Stillwater.
Week 3
Ole Miss RB Kewan Lacy vs. LSU LB TJ Dottery
Ole Miss vs. LSU is a preseason contender for game of the year given all of its off-the-field storylines, but it has intrigue on the field, too. Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy enters the year as one of the top backs in the FBS, and LSU will feature one of the top linebackers in the SEC in TJ Dottery.
Last season, Dottery played for Ole Miss, meaning he and Lacy used to face off in practice and share the same locker room. Now the occasional face-off in a drill will become an every-down meet-up on the field.
Week 6
Georgia DT Elijah Griffin vs. Alabama OG Michael Carroll
If you like the trenches, then Week 6 is for you. We’ll get to see two freshmen All-Americans from last season meet in the interior when Georgia and Alabama play. Elijah Griffin had three total tackles across two games against Alabama last year, but the Tide averaged only 2.1 yards per carry across those two games. When Griffin and Carroll meet, the winner of their individual matchup could determine who controls the game.
Week 7
BYU RB LJ Martin vs. Notre Dame LB Drayk Bowen
I could’ve gone with Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa as the Notre Dame linebacker here, but as he recovers from a torn ACL, I’ll slot in another good linebacker in Drayk Bowen instead. Whoever is at linebacker will be tasked with stopping preseason Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year LJ Martin from BYU in Week 7.
Stopping Martin won’t be easy, but it’s no guarantee that Martin has a big day against the Fighting Irish defense. Martin will have something to prove after rushing for only 35 and 76 yards against Texas Tech last season, the best defense he faced.
One of 2026’s top nonconference clashes could be the difference in one of these teams making the College Football Playoff, and it all could come down to whether or not LJ Martin puts on a show.
Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith vs. Indiana CB A.J. Harris
Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith enters 2026 as the best player in the country. He’ll face last season’s best team in the country when defending national champion Indiana comes to Columbus in Week 7. Smith had 144 receiving yards against the Hoosiers last year in a loss. He’ll now face a familiar face in A.J. Harris at cornerback after he transferred in from Penn State.
Last season, Smith caught six passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns against the Nittany Lions. Harris will have to do a better job with his new team if the Hoosiers want to defeat the Buckeyes two years in a row.
Week 9
Georgia OT Earnest Greene III vs. South Carolina Edge Dylan Stewart
South Carolina edge rusher Dylan Stewart has been one of the most exciting players at his position since his freshman year, and he enters year three as not only one of the best in the country, but also as a top NFL draft prospect. Yet, Stewart will avoid facing three of the top offensive tackle prospects in the 2027 class as South Carolina doesn’t face Texas (Trevor Goosby), Missouri (Cayden Green) or LSU (Jordan Seaton) this season.
All three of those schools feature a preseason First-Team All-SEC offensive tackle. The fourth First-Team lineman is Georgia’s Earnest Greene III. Greene presents the toughest conference matchup for Stewart, who’s looking for redemption after failing to notch a sack against 2026 first-round draft picks Blake Miller (Clemson) and Kadyn Proctor (Alabama) last season. In fact, Stewart has zero sacks in his career against any offensive tackle that has gone Day 1 or Day 2 in the NFL draft.
Meanwhile, Greene has a great opportunity to improve upon a 2025 season. It’s one in which Georgia held eventual first-round draft pick Keldric Faulk to zero sacks. That comes just one year after Greene and the Bulldogs held 2025 first-round selection James Pearce Jr. to zero sacks.
The Greene-Stewart matchup will be exciting as something will have to give.
Mississippi State CB Kelley Jones vs. Texas WR Cam Coleman
Kelley Jones stands 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds while Cam Coleman stands at 6-foot-3 and 204 pounds. That’s two physically imposing players that could matchup across from each other every play.
For Jones, the matchup against Coleman will be three weeks after facing Alabama’s Ryan Coleman-Williams. For Coleman, the matchup against Jones will be his cornerback matchup on paper as of the preseason.
Both players could have something to prove entering this Week 9 clash.
Week 10
Texas edge Colin Simmons vs. Missouri OT Cayden Green
Week 10 is filled with great head-to-head matchups. It starts up front with Colin Simmons against Cayden Green. Green has played all across the Missouri offensive line but is set to play left tackle this season after turning down the NFL draft. That means he’ll face some of the top edge talent in the country in the gauntlet that is an SEC schedule. Simmons might be the best on the slate with 21 career sacks across his first two seasons.
LSU TE Trey’Dez Green vs. Alabama S Bray Hubbard
6-foot-7 and 237 pounds is a matchup nightmare for most teams. That’s the difficulty that will come with playing LSU tight end Trey’Dez Green this year. However, Alabama has a safety in Bray Hubbard who’s excellent in coverage that could be tasked with shutting down Green.
Last year, Alabama held second-round draft pick Eli Stowers (Vanderbilt) to a season-low three catches for 22 yards. The Tide held third-round draft pick Oscar Delp (Georgia) to just two catches and 10 yards last season.
While Hubbard isn’t the only standout in the Alabama secondary, he’s the best cover guy at safety, so his matchup against a dynamic tight end like Green will be one to watch.
LSU CB DJ Pickett vs. Alabama WR Ryan Coleman-Williams
In that same game, we’ll get to see another elite physical traits guy in DJ Pickett at cornerback for LSU. He’ll go head-to-head with Ryan Coleman-Williams. While Coleman-Williams will line up all across the field, when he’s outside the numbers, his matchup could be Pickett more often than not. Pickett is a 6-foot-4 cornerback with the length to disrupt the shifty 6-foot wide receiver off of his routes.
Notre Dame CB Leonard Moore vs. Miami (FL) WR Malachi Toney
The best cornerback-wide receiver matchup this week — and possibly this season — will be Leonard Moore vs. Malachi Toney. Toney is coming off of a breakout freshman campaign. Two years ago, Moore had a breakout freshman season of his own. These are two of the best players in the country at their positions entering 2026.
What makes this matchup special is how often we could see these two go head-to-head. Toney can line up in the slot, out wide or in the backfield. That could create matchup problems for most teams, but Notre Dame has depth at cornerback with DJ McKinney and Christian Gray that could allow Moore to follow Toney across the field. If Moore shadows Toney for the whole game, we could be in for something special.
WVU RB Cam Cook vs. Texas Tech LB Ben Roberts
We head to the Big 12 for the final Week 10 matchup to watch. That’s where Texas Tech has four preseason All-Big 12 players in their front seven, highlighted by linebacker Ben Roberts. Roberts will be tasked with stopping the nation’s leading rusher from a season ago, Cam Cook. Now at West Virginia, Cam Cook is trying to prove that last season wasn’t a fluke.
Texas Tech looks like the early favorite for the best Big 12 defense, and Cook will need a big game for West Virginia to have a chance here. He’ll also need to improve upon his performance against a Big 12 team last year, rushing for a season-low 75 yards against UCF while with Jacksonville State a season ago.
Week 11
Texas edge Colin Simmons vs. LSU OT Jordan Seaton
We might’ve saved the best for last. Arguably the country’s top pass rusher will face off against the country’s top pass protector when Colin Simmons battles Jordan Seaton. It’ll be the second straight week that Simmons faces an elite left tackle, while Seaton will face the best edge rusher on his schedule entering the preseason.
This November game could also have playoff implications. That means Simmons or Seaton winning their matchup could mean more than just an individual accolade.
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