We still don’t know if there will be a college football season this fall but we’re all rooting for one to happen, so let’s just pretend that everything is going to work out despite the pandemic.

So, with that optimism on our side, we should talk about some contenders. And not just any contenders, but rather some due contenders. Only 14 different college football programs have won a national championship in the last 28 years (out of 130 teams currently at the FBS level), which means there are plenty of prestigious schools that are still looking for their first title in the modern era.

Our resident college football expert/gambling aficionado/cartoon dog Tom Fornelli has come up with a shortlist of five schools that are best positioned to immediately make a run at their first title since 1992, when the Bowl Coalition was formed.

Here are his handful of hopefuls:

• Georgia: The Bulldogs play in a Power Five conference and have championship talent, which makes them a great candidate to top this list. They should sit atop the SEC East and they reached the College Football Playoff under Kirby Smart just a few years ago
• Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish aren’t in the Power Five but they have a strong enough schedule to qualify for the CFP if they go undefeated. They’ve got the talent to do just that, and they don’t have to win a conference championship to get there. Don’t sleep on ND
• Oregon: The Ducks have never won a national title, period. But they’ve made it all the way to the championship twice in the past 10 years (2010 and 2014) and they’ve done a great job of recruiting while taking strides in the Pac-12 recently. Oregon went 12-2 last season and their 2021 recruiting class is ranked sixth in the nation
• Penn State: Some will argue the Nittany Lions won the national title in 1994 but the school itself doesn’t formally recognize the ratings and polls that listed them first in 1994. PSU has been the No. 2 program in the Big Ten during the CFP era and they’re an elite quarterback away from being a legitimate title threat
• Texas A&M: TAMU hasn’t won a title since 1939 and they’ve got a difficult path to the College Football Championship considering they’ve have to go through Alabama, Auburn, and LSU in the SEC West, plus maybe Florida or Georgia in the SEC Championship. That being said, the talent is there
• To place your winning bet and winning fantasy picks click here!!

Of course, there’s a good chance none of these teams will win a title this year (or in the next few years) because 1) winning a championship is extremely hard, 2) the schools that have already won in the modern era tend to be in the conversation regularly, and 3) there may not be any champion this year depending on how the next few months go. But don’t be a buzzkill!

It tends to be a little more fun when a newcomer is able to show up to the party and announce their arrival in impressive fashion. Nobody likes when the same teams win over and over (unless of course you’re a fan of one of those teams) so maybe we can get a new team in the mix this year. Save some for the rest of us.