It’s easy to believe during this portion of the college football calendar. Those 20-plus transfers the coaching staff added in January have made a seamless transition and patched up the holes on the roster. The new defensive coordinator installed a simpler scheme, and the unit is playing faster. The QB is experienced and will definitely take his game to another level this year.No program has played a game yet — therefore, no flaw has been exposed. So it’s not too difficult to build a narrative about how things will be better. With that in mind, here’s a look at College Football Playoff hopefuls and what they’ve been selling this offseason. It’s entirely up to you whether to believe in these teams.Note: This list includes programs that did not reach the Playoff last season.Boise State’s Playoff pedigree puts them atop the G6 hierarchyLook across the Group of 6 landscape. Tulane and James Madison reached the College Football Playoff last season but have both lost their head coaches, starting quarterbacks and several other key contributors. Memphis and South Florida are also transitioning to new head coaches. So there’s a lot of upheaval at the top of the G6, particularly in the American Conference.But Boise State is entering its third full season with the same starting quarterback (Maddux Madsen) and head coach (Spencer Danielson), a tandem that has won a bunch of games together and which reached the CFP in 2024. That will place the Broncos at the forefront of the G6 Playoff race, and they’ll certainly enter the season as the team to beat in the new-look Pac-12.Boise State will open the season as a significant underdog when it plays Oregon in Eugene, but there’s an opportunity to gain a signature win against Memphis at home on Sept. 12. There are some other challenges on the schedule, such as a road date at Fresno State in October, but nothing insurmountable.And while there are some question marks on the roster, running backs Dylan Riley (1,125 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2025) and Sire Gaines (811 yards, 11 touchdowns) are back as the focal points of the offense, and productive pass rusher Jayden Virgin-Morgan is back on defense.BYU’s breakthrough is comingThe Cougars invested to keep coach Kalani Sitake after he talked to Penn State about its head coaching job, and after going 23-4 the past two seasons, this is the year BYU breaks through, wins the Big 12 and reaches the College Football Playoff.Second-year starting quarterback Bear Bachmeier arrived on campus last June after transferring from Stanford. He threw for 3,033 yards, rushed for 527 and led the Cougars to 12 wins. Now he has a full season of starting experience and a full spring practice under his belt, so he’ll be better. The Cougars also return reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year LJ Martin, who rushed for 1,305 yards and 12 scores a year ago.The defense, which ranked 19th in scoring last year, lost coordinator Jay Hill to Michigan, but the unit returns a good amount of experience. The Cougars also added first-team All-ACC linebacker Cade Uluave from Cal after he notched 100 tackles, including 12 TFLs, in 2025.And keep the schedule in mind. There’s a midseason date with Notre Dame (at home), but the conference slate sets up well. There are road dates against TCU and Utah, but BYU doesn’t play Texas Tech or Houston — two of the other Big 12 title contenders.Houston is ready to challenge for a Big 12 title Willie Fritz was going to get things going at Houston at some point, but it felt like the Cougars were ahead of schedule when they won 10 games last year. They should be even better this season.