Five College Football Bowl Game Droughts That Will End in 2026

Every year, College Football sees a number of success stories emerge from the ashes of years of previous failures. Sometimes, all it takes is a new head coach or new players to shake things up to get a program back to relevance.

For these five programs, the modest goal of a bowl game should be reached during the 2026 season, with some finally investing big money into their rosters, some hiring a new leader to steer the ship in a different direction, and some doing both.

Here are five teams that will end their bowl game drought this fall.

Kentucky

Will Stein is going to raise the Kentucky Wildcats' standard back to the brief period in the Mark Stoops era in 2021 and 2022, when UK seemed like it could make inroads in the SEC. Stein is a quarterback whisperer who has had Bo Nix, Dillon Gabriel, and Dante Moore all above 70% in completion percentage during the past three years with the Oregon Ducks.

With Jay Bateman, a former Army Black Knights defensive coordinator and co-DC under Mike Elko with the Texas A&M Aggies, taking over the defense, and Kentucky coming off a $20 million-plus transfer portal spending spree, the Wildcats are almost certainly going to their first bowl game since the 2023 Gator Bowl.

Auburn

Despite having highly talented rosters over the past two seasons, Hugh Freeze couldn't get the Auburn Tigers to a bowl game. He made it his goal in 2025 to make one, but he was fired by early November with the team at 3-6. New head coach Alex Golesh brings with him many of the winning pieces from his time with the USF Bulls, chief among them Byrum Brown, to the Plains.

While the talent level is probably lower at Auburn than it was in 2024 and 2025, the culture will be much improved. Auburn will win at least six games, if not more, in 2026.

Stanford

The Stanford Cardinal haven't made a bowl game since 2018. Granted, had the 2020 season been anything remotely close to a normal one, Stanford would've made it. Still, since 2018, there's been one winning season, and it was six games. That's unacceptable for a brand that once held respect in College Football circles. Tavita Pritchard, a former Cardinal QB, likely won't tolerate more losing in his Stanford head coaching seat.

Though the Miami Hurricanes, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and Louisville Cardinals may be uphill battles, there should be enough roster improvement, spurred on by a strong portal performance fueled by a $50 million gift to the university last October, to reach six wins in 2026.

Michigan State

Pat Fitzgerald knows how to coach. The Michigan State Spartans have been a mess for a while, suffering through a controversial Mel Tucker tenure and a less problematic but still underwhelming Jonathan Smith tenure. Fitzgerald was 110-101 overall with the Northwestern Wildcats, who otherwise have the least-winningest record in College Football history as a program.

He can do more with less, but will have more than he's ever had in East Lansing. While the situation looks bleak now with uncertainty under center, the Spartans have plenty of talent in the RB room, with UConn Huskies transfer Cam Edwards, Iowa Hawkeyes transfer Jaziun Patterson, and the returning Brandon Tullis, to win at least six ugly games and break a five-year bowl game drought.

Purdue

The Purdue Boilermakers are entering the second year of Barry Odom's tenure in 2026. His debut featured several games where Purdue didn't fold but ultimately lost because the talent advantage was too vast. Odom was behind the 8-ball recruiting during his first cycle and had to settle for scraps, but that's not the case this year.

The Boilermakers focused on revamping their defense in the portal, which should allow quarterback Ryan Browne not to be forced to win shootouts he's not equipped to win. There are four games (Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Penn State Nittany Lions on Halloween at Beaver Stadium, Iowa Hawkeyes at Kinnick, Indiana Hoosiers in Bloomington) that look practically impossible to win from here, but there's room for a 6-2 run against the rest of the schedule if things finally click in West Lafayette, Indiana, for there to be a bowl game for the first time in five years.