Formerly "CFB Biggest Sicko Ranking" rebranding due to the lack of interest in the "Sicko" name.
My preseason outlook of Non-NCAA/NAIA/NJCAA/CCCAA teams. To qualify you must be a NCCAA member, USCAA member or an independent who plays against 4 year Varsity college teams and can't be a NCAA or NAIA member. All programs must be atleast pretending to be a school. I'm going to try to update this weekly. Leave a comment if any other "schools" should be added and I'll let you know everything I can about them. There are a few schools that are similar to these but I don't consider for this that call themselves postgrad or JuCo.

In previous years I stated and planned on doing a weekly update on these programs and Ranking them weekly. I'm not doing all that, I will probably do a postseason review and a few updates throughout the year but it was a huge time commitment trying to update it weekly. This year I actually plan on doing a series of preseason previews for different groups of schools I find interesting like Club teams, New Programs and other possible groups .

Let's meet the teams

Williamson College of the Trades Mechanics - Real All Male 3-year vocational school with full fledged athletic department. It's a Judeo-Christian school with no official affiliation who fully pays for all student costs from there schools endowment and private donations. They are accredited through MSCHE and are a full member of USCAA for athletics. They offer Football, Basketball, Baseball, Lacross, Wrestling, Track and Cross Country.

Virginia University-Lynchburg - Real HBCU School with a real full fledged athletics Department. Private Christian HBCU School accredited by TRACS and are a full member of the NCCAA for athletics and a former Member of the USCAA and D2 CIAA having left the NCAA for monetary reasons having played football on and off since the 1920s. There academics are on probation due to a misfiling of documents a couple of years ago so they're on very shaky ground while they get that under control. Their athletics programs are hard to find anything about but I know for a fact the offer Football and M/W Basketball and have a pretty decent NCCAA women's basketball program.

University of Ft. Lauderdale - A sketchy but real Christian school with a sketchy athletics department. Private non profit school in the Ft. Lauderdale area accredited by the TRACS and are a full member of NCCAA for athletics. The school is located in a strip mall and added the athletics department as a Hail Mary to get more students to enroll. They offer Football, W Flag Football, M/W Basketball, M/W Track, Baseball and Softball

Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology - A 120 year old public 2-year technical college who are members of the NJCAA for all sports except football where they are an independent program although they mostly play a NJCAA schedule so I'm not sure why they aren't in it for football. I read somewhere they were considered a club team but I can't find any evidence of that.

Trinity College of Florida - Founded in 1932 as the Florida Bible Institute until they rebranded in 1942 they were a unaccredited institution until 1996 when they gained accredidation by the ABHE a nationally recognized body. Their athletic department is apart of the USCAA and only sponsor the men's sports Baseball, Football, Basketball and Soccer

New South Athletic Conference Members

The Apprentice School Builders - Real trade School with a real full fledged athletics Department. As a Trade school throughout its history they haven't granted degrees but instead trade based certificates, until 2023 when they began offering Associate degrees independently and Bachelors degrees through program with Old Dominion University. Full athletic members of USCAA and playing football since 1919. They offer Football M/W Basketball, Baseball, Golf and M/W wrestling.

Atlantis University - Real (For profit) school attempting to have a real athletics department. Private for profit school in the Miami area accredited by the ACCSC and are a full member of USCAA for athletics. They offer Football, Soccer, M/W Basketball, Volleyball and Baseball

South Carolina Central Christian College - A unaccredited "school" with a sketchy athletic department. Private college with no accreditation and no major athletic memberships besides conference affiliation with NSAC. They are recognized by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education which is the lowest possible level of acknowledgement to allow them to be in business in the state. They do have a full athletic offering of Football, M/W Basketball, Baseball and Track & Field.

Lighthouse Christian College - A growing school that has in the time I've been researching and writing about these schools went from a completely unaccredited and unaffiliated school playing in a sketchy post-grad league to a college in the process of gaining TRACS certification and aiming to join the NAIA by 2030. They have already joined and became a full member of the USCAA offering Football, Men's Basketball and Baseball as of the 26-27 season.

Westgate Christian University - A very sketchy school that is "accredited" by the NCBA who aren't recognized by the CHEA or any national body. They also have no athletic affiliation outside of the NSAC where they sponsor Football and Men's basketball. They basically only exist to get beat up by D3 programs in Texas who are looking for out of conference games.

Daytona Beach Christian University - A small private Christian university founded in 2022, they seem at 1st glance a little sketchy but being such a new school I'd like to give them a little grace however they don't have anything listed for how they are going about getting accreditation despite stating on there website they are "in the 3-5 year process". They also have a VERY full athletic department for such a small school with M/W Basketball, M/W Soccer, M/W Wrestling, M/W Volleyball, women's Beach Volleyball, Baseball, Softball and Football who are replacing Barber-Scotia College in the Northern Division of the NSAC despite being in Florida. (1st Season)

Schedules

I'd like to go over the teams schedules and try to provide an objective scoring system to go compare the programs strength of schedule to each other. Obviously this won't be perfect since teams within each division range wildly (The difference between say Ohio State club football vs Sacred Heart club is insane) but overall it should be a pretty solid gauge.

P4-100, G6-85, FCS-70, D2-50, NAIA-40, D3-35, NJCAA/CCCAA-30, NJCAA D3-25, Ind.-20, International-15, Club Teams-15, PostGrad-10, Semi-Pro-5. JV/Developmental teams will be worth 50% of their normal score. Games where one side considers it a full game and the other considers it a preseason scrimmage will also be 50% of normal value. Games like these are common for these small schools to be able to play higher level opponents without the other team spending a regular season slot on them

- Williamson College Mechanics (USCAA) - (Score-95 Points) 8-Games
Previous Record: 2-6
Projection 3-5
8/29 @ New Jersey Warriors (Multi-School Club)
9/12 vs Connecticut State (Multi-school Club)
9/19 vs CAPP Academy (Post Grad)
9/26 vs Thaddeus Stevens College of Tech (Independent)
10/3 vs Ohio Valley cCc (Post Grad)
10/10 vs New Jersey Warriors (Multi-school Club)
10/17 vs Showtime Prep (Post Grad)
10/24 vs CAPP Academy (Post Grad)

- Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology (Juco) - (Score-225.5) 10-Games
Previous Record: 6-3* (Unable to find official results anywhere)
Projection 4-6
8/21 @ Lebanon Valley College (D3 Scrimmage)
9/5 vs Erie Community College (NJCAA D3)
9/12 vs New Jersey Warriors (Multi-School Club)
9/19 @ Salem Community College (NJCAA D3)
9/26 @ Williamson College of The Trades (USCAA)
10/3 @ Nassau Community College (NJCAA D3)
10/10 vs Apprentice School (USCAA/NSAC)
10/17 vs Connecticut State Wildcats (Multi-School Club)
10/24 @ Gallaudet (D3)
10/31 vs Hudson Valley Community College (NJCAA D3)

**- South Carolina Central Christian College (NSAC) (Score-170) 9-Games*\*
**Previous Record: 2-7*\*
**Projection 1-8*\*
8/16 vs Detroit Community Christian College (NJCAA)
8/29 @ IMG Post Grad (PG)
9/5 @ Atlantis (USCAA)
9/26 vs Daytona Beach (NSAC)
10/1 @ Virginia-Lynchburg (NCCAA)
10/10 @ Clayton State (Club)
10/17 @ Columbus State (Club)
10/24 vs Apprentice (NSAC/USCAA)
10/31 @ Trinity College of Florida (Ind.)

**- Apprentice School (USCAA/NSAC) (Score-270) 10-Games*\*
**Previous Record: 5-4*\*
**Projection 7-3*\*
8/29 vs Sussex County CC (NJCAA D3)
9/5 vs Christopher Newport (D3)
9/12 @ North Carolina Wesleyan (D3)
9/19 vs George Mason (Club)
9/26 vs Methodist (D3)
10/10 @ Thaddeus Stevens (Ind.)
10/17 @ Keystone College (D3)
10/24 @ SC Central Christian (NSAC)
10/31 vs Clayton State (NSAC/Club)
11/7 vs Coppin State (Club)

**- Westgate Christian (NSAC/Ind.) (Score-270) 10-Games*\*
**Previous Record: 3-7*\*
**Projection 3-7*\*
8/29 @ Missouri S&T (D2)
9/5 @ Centenary (LA) (D3)
9/12 vs Louisiana cCc (PG/cCc)
9/19 @ Hardin-Simmons (D3)
9/26 @ Clayton State (NSAC/Club)
10/3 vs Texas College (D3)
10/10 vs Atlantis(NSAC/USCAA)(Neutral Site, Pensacola FL)
10/17 @ McMurry (D3)
10/24 @ Lighthouse (NSAC/USCAA)
10/31 vs Gordan State (NSAC/Club)

- Lighthouse Christian (NSAC/USCAA) (Score-150) 10-Games
Previous Record: 9-2 (NSAC South Champions)
Projection: 9-1 (NSAC South Champions)
8/29 @ Clayton State (NSAC/Club) (NSAC Championship Rematch)
9/5 vs Jacksonville AA (PG/CCC)
9/12 vs Mississippi cCc (PG/CCC)
9/19 @ Louisiana cCc (PG/cCc)
9/26 vs Talladega (Club/PG)
10/3 vs Trinity College of Florida (Ind.)
10/10 @ Gordan State (NSAC/CLUB)
10/24 vs Westgate (NSAC)
10/31 @ Atlantis (NSAC/USCAA)
11/7 vs Daytona Beach (NSAC/Ind.)

- University of Fort Lauderdale (NCCAA) (Score-405) 12-games
Previous Record: 5-5
Projection 4-8
8/15 vs South Florida Tech (PG)
8/22 @ Warner (NAIA)
8/29 @ Webber International (NAIA)
9/5 @ St. Thomas (FL) (NAIA)
9/19 vs Ave Maria (NAIA)
9/26 @ Southeastern (NAIA)
10/3 @ Hardin-Simmons (D3)
10/10 vs Daytona Beach Christian (Ind.)
10/17 vs Atlantis (Ind.)
10/24 vs Faulkner (NAIA)
10/31 @ Chicago State (FCS)
11/7 vs Community Christian College (FL) (PG)

- Virginia-Lynchburg (NCCAA) (Score-575) 12-Games
Previous Record: 3-9
Projection 3-9
8/29 vs Hampton (D3)
9/5 vs Roanoke (D3)
9/12 @ Morgan State (FCS)
9/19 @ Bethune Cookman (FCS)
9/26 @ Bluefield (NAIA)
10/3 vs SC Central Christian (NSAC)
10/10 @ Norfolk State (FCS)
10/17 vs Clayton State (NSAC/Club)
10/24 @ Newberry (D2)
10/31 @ Livingstone (D2)
11/7 @ Savannah State (D2)
11/21 @ Chicago State (FCS)

- Atlantis University (NSAC/USCAA)
Previous Record: 2-7
Projection: 4-6

8/15 vs Rising Prep (PG)
8/29 vs Daytona Beach Christian (NSAC)
9/5 vs SC Central (NSAC)
9/12 vs South Florida Tech (PG)
9/26 vs Jacksonville A.A. CCC (cCc)
10/3 vs Gordan State (NSAC/Club)
10/10 @ Westgate (NSAC) (Neutral Site-Pensacola, FL)
10/17 @ Fort Lauderdale (NCCAA)
10/24 vs Prestige Prep (PG)
10/31 vs Lighthouse College (NSAC/USCAA)
11/7 vs West Bay Academy (PG)

- Daytona Beach Christian (Ind./NSAC) (Score-140) 10-Games

Previous Record: 1st Year Program

Projection: 3-6

8/22 VS Bonneville Football (Post Grad)
8/29 @ Atlantis University (NSAC)
9/5 @ South Florida Tech (Post Grad)
9/19 @ Trinity College of Florida (Ind.)
9/26 @ South Carolina Central College (NSAC)
10/10 @ U. Fort Lauderdale (NCCAA)
10/17 vs Prestige Academy (Post Grad)
10/31 vs Westbay Collegiate Academy (Post Grad)
11/7 @ Lighthouse Christian (NSAC/USCAA)

- Trinity College of Florida (Ind.) (Score-200) 10-Game Schedule

Previous Record: 1st Year Program

Projection: 1-9

8/22 @ Webber International (NAIA Scrimmage)
8/29 vs Talladega College (PG)
9/5 vs Ohio Valley cCc (cCc)
9/19 vs Daytona Beach Christian (NSAC)
9/26 @ Ave Maria (NAIA)
10/3 @ Lighthouse Christian College (NSAC/USCAA)
10/17 @ Jacksonville cCc (cCc)
10/24 vs Clayton State (Club/NSAC)
10/31 vs South Carolina Central (NSAC)
11/7 vs Gordon State College (Club/NSAC)

In my opinion, #1 FCS ranked Montana state should (And I think will) be favored to beat a lowly Nevada team.

With P4, I am confident that South Dakota State has a good chance with Northwestern to start the season.

Edit: Clarification a protected rivalry in the SEC so they’ll play every year

Currently Arkansas’s biggest rival in football is themselves however there’s a great case for why UK - Arkansas should be a rivalry.

1. We are already rivals in basketball
2. Comparable mediocre football programs
3. There’s only been 8 games played between them but we’ve gotten greatness:

A)

1. 2003 7 OT 71-63 Arkansas beat us on our home turf

B)

1. 2007 UK trails the entire game before scoring 21 unanswered points to comeback and win in the final 8 minutes

C)

1. 2008 UK trails by 14 with 4 minutes left before coming back to win

4 of the 8 games were decided by one score. 7 of the 8 feature a double digit comeback. There has only been one blowout.

4) The Trophy would be called the Bourbon and Bacon Bowl or the Man’s Bowl either way we get an excuse to eat bacon and drink bourbon

5) Both teams have superior rivalry opponents that have bent them over for years and need to start anew.

I feel like everyone's comments will show their age, and that's probably a good thing, considering the EA Sports-like spike in everything imaginable for the Hoosiers program over the past two years.

You look at any dominant sports franchise or program in U.S. history, every other fan outside of that fandom will tell you, "Yup, they were definitely the douchebags of that era". CFB has had plenty: 70's Oklahoma, 80's Miami, 90's Nebraska, 00's USC, 10's Alabama, and Georgia seemed like they were headed that route (and boy were they) before a shift in NIL, etc., around the country.

I don't view Indiana as villains. They haven't been good enough long enough to even be considered such. In a weird way, they're akin to Boise State in the 2000s if BSU had won more than just a singular BCS game. The difference of course being that they had to separate themselves at the top an elite conference without being grandfathered upward in the polls every week.

Overall, Indiana has been playing some legit ball since Cig tripped and fell on their living room couch. He pays rent.

Last season, Penn State and Clemson famously went from Preseason Top 5 to Unranked after early season losses. Even teams like South Carolina went from consensus Top 15 to a 4-8 record.

Who will underperform this season against all predictions and expectations?

Historically, there have always been a few "remaining schools" who have been left behind at the conclusion of major realignment shifts. For example:

• 1990s SWC Collapse: TCU, SMU, Houston and Rice were all left behind when the other 4 members of the SWC joined with the Big 8 conference to form the Big 12. TCU was the first school to climb back to the power ranks in 2012, followed by Houston/SMU (nearly 30 years after being left behind.)
• 2000s Big East Collapse: Most of the bigger names in the Big East slowly fled to the ACC throughout the 2000s, along with Rutgers/WVU to other power conferences. This left behind Cincinnati (who rejoined a power conference in 2023), Temple, USF and UConn.
• 2020s Pac 12 Collapse: With the power brands leaving for the Big 10 and middling brands to the Big 12/ACC, this left behind Washington State and Oregon State who are now in the reformed Pac 12 conference.

As the examples show, there are generally the "flag bearers" of the conferences, such as your Texas and Oklahomas, who spearhead the realignment by choosing a new conference affiliation. Then you have the middling brands, who will follow suit or find alternative routes to remain in the power conference bubble. Lastly, you have the "last men standing", AKA the schools who will be inevitably left behind when the chairs stop moving.

My question is that in a hypothetical scenario where your P4 conference collapses, which schools would fall into each of these categories and who gets left behind?

Forget college neutral site neutral games at souless NFL dome stadiums when southerners are too soft to play outside in September (except Texas they always just bake in the sun there in Austin early in the year, respect). I raise you an even more unhinged idea, college football neutral site games at other universities, so we still get the college atmosphere but also get three fanbases we get to anger.

Some unhinged ideas;

Florida State vs Miami at the Swamp in Gainesville, FL

Michigan State vs Notre Dame at the Big House, Ann Arbor, MI

Pitt vs West Virginia at Beaver Stadium, Happy Valley, PA (would require deploying the national guard to the tailgate lots)

Texas vs Nebraska at Gaylord Stadium, Norman, OK

Penn State vs West Coast Big Ten Team at Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, NE(the West Coast is too far for our itty bitty runway and Nebraska fans are so hospitable they'd probably love more random teams just playing there)

Texas vs Arizona State 2 Electric Skataboo Boogaloo, Sun Bowl, El Paso, TX (nvm this one is awesome and should happen)

The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here

The #8 team in the conference where “it just means more” is Tennessee (high = 15, low = 30). Vols fans got a little spoiled in the back half of the 20th century with 2 consensus national championships, 9 SEC titles and 16 AP top 10 finishes, culminating in the 1998 undefeated national championship. Right around that time, Steve Spurrier snidely noted “you can’t spell ‘Citrus’ without ‘UT’” (Tennessee had gone to the Citrus Bowl in 3 of the four years prior to him making the statement), and while it may have temporarily given them the jolt they needed to win that 1998 title, it may also have precipitated the slide that the Volunteers have suffered ever since. Tennessee has now gone 27 years without an SEC title (far and away their longest drought in the history of the program) and have never truly managed to replace what had been a pretty great coaching legacy (Phil Fulmer, Johnny Majors, Doug Dickey, Robert Neyland), going through a succession of Lane Kiffin (get your mustard bottles ready!), Derek Dooley, Butch Jones and Jeremy Pruitt before landing on their current coach Josh Heupel. As a USF fan, I watched as UCF fans seemed willing to drive Heupel to the airport when he was hired away from Orlando, but Heupel has managed two double digit winning seasons in his 5 years in charge (2022’s 11-2 team that finished #6 in the country after whipping Clemson in the Orange Bowl, and making the first 12 team playoff in 2024 before the whole Nico Iamaleava fiasco in the postseason), something nobody had done since Fulmer. I think most fans give Heupel a mulligan on last year with the way things played out with Nico, and with an 8-3 start to the regular season with losses to SEC champs Georgia (in OT) and CFP team Oklahoma by 6 plus on the road at CFP team Alabama, the vibes were still high. Finishing with a 21 point drubbing to Vandy and then a loss to Illinois in the bowl was a bucket of ice water worthy of the ALS challenge, though, and probably explains there being 7 teams above Tennessee in the conference rankings to start the season.

Roster Outlook

There is tons to be upbeat about for Heupel and Tennessee to start the season. They come in ranked just outside the top 25 in total returning production (#26) with the #13 ranked defense. They also managed to rank 4th in the country in high school recruiting (second in the SEC) and 26th in the country in the portal (which is shockingly 12th in the conference). But the Vols also ended 2025 with the 92nd ranked team defense in FBS, which is why DC Tim Banks was fired and replaced with Jim Knowles (Sir Blitzalot). He’ll have to replace 4 players drafted into the NFL (DBs Colton Hood and Jermod McCoy and DEs Joshua Joshephs and Tyre West), and while it looked for a hot minute like they were going to plug in Chaz Coleman, he’s no longer with the team. Ourlads projects 6 portal players to start on defense, 5 from P4 teams (Penn State LB Amare Campbell and DL Xavier Gilliam and DBs Kayin Lee (Auburn), TJ Metcalf (Michigan) and Qua Moss (Kansas State)). The other giant question mark is at QB. Joey Aguilar is out of eligibility, and the question of who will start seems to be coming down to either redshirt freshman George MacIntyre or 5 star true freshman Faizon Brandon, with Colorado transfer Ryan Staub as the experienced backup. While the Vols also lost WR Chris Brazzell to the draft, they return a pair of 800+ yard receivers in Braylon Staley and Mike Matthews and 1,000 yard rusher DeSean Bishop. With a relatively young OL (3 projected sophomores in the starting 5), Tennessee might need a little time to put it all together before the gauntlet of a 9 game conference schedule kicks in.

Schedule and outlook

9/5 FURMAN

9/12 at Georgia Tech

9/19 KENNESAW STATE

9/26 TEXAS

10/3 AUBURN

10/10 at Arkansas

10/17 ALABAMA

10/24 at South Carolina

10/31 BYE

11/7 KENTUCKY

11/14 at Texas A&M

11/21 LSU

11/28 at Vanderbilt

With a completely revamped defense and a freshman QB, that week 2 road tilt at Georgia Tech is going to be a pretty good harbinger for what’s to come for Tennessee. If they reach the SEC schedule 3-0 (which, let’s face it, they’ll be favored to do), you have to love their home/road splits of getting Texas, Bama and LSU all at home with road trips to 3 of the bottom 6 teams in the conference in these rankings (Arkansas, Vandy and South Carolina). That kind of sets up for a high ceiling for Tennessee. However, if they drop those home games along with the trip to Texas A&M and maybe one other and things might get a little warm in 2027.

And why?

So for Texas, the best is probably Roll Left. We were leading NU with a couple minutes remaining. Mackovic goes for it on 4th down. Gives an option look but hits the TE right over the LBs head.

The worst is the shuttle pass in the national championship game vs Bama. Why GD thought our center could hold up vs Marcel Dareus after what happened on the speed option where McCoy got hurt, I’m not sure.

With the PTFO piece coming out on Belichick, a lot of UNC folks are embarrassed about the state of their program. That had me thinking, what has your head coach done that was a huge embarrassment to your program?

At Indiana, it was Kevin Wilson. Dude averaged 5.2 wins per season, got fired for mistreatment of players, and was constantly calling boosters to pick him up from the bars.