Overview

Florida State is scheduled to play in a record 36th consecutive bowl game, the Independence Bowl, against Southern Miss on December 27. Their 6-6 record includes a win over Delaware State, an FCS program. For an FCS opponent to be countable towards bowl eligibility, the FCS program must have awarded at least 90% of the FCS scholarship limit. After our own investigation, we have determined and confirmed that Delaware State has not met the 90% threshold set by the NCAA. As a result, Florida State's bowl countable record is 5-6, thus making them ineligible for a bowl game this season. At present, there are three other bowl eligible teams that were not offered a game and it would be unprecedented for a team to go bowling without either eligibility or a waiver while teams who are eligible stay home.

/r/CFB is the first to report on this after an extended investigation into the number of football scholarships at Delaware State. It is important to note that Delaware State is at no fault here, having complied with NCAA rules regarding scholarships and awards. Based on current NCAA rules, Florida State cannot count a win over Delaware State towards bowl eligibility. Given that the Independence Bowl is a week away, there are several options available with most resulting in Florida State playing in this bowl. However, if they do so, they may do so without being bowl eligible.

Delaware State Data

Delaware State has been in a bit of flux lately, changing both Athletic Director and Football Head Coach the day after the loss to Florida State. As a result, it's taken a little while to get the data we needed for this, but we did receive validated data from the Delaware State University Department of Institutional Research, Planning, and Analytics. They confirmed in writing the following data:

The difference between the 2nd and 3rd column is the second is the number of students on any kind of scholarship (full or partial, fairly common in FCS), while the second is the sum of the scholarship equivalents, so 2 half scholarships add up to 1. This is the value the NCAA cares about for bowl eligibility. The average of of grants-in-aid per year in football during a rolling two-year period is 54.815. This is 87.008% of the permissible maximum number of 63. As this is less than 90%, Florida State cannot count the Delaware State game through Exception 18.7.2.1.1.

NCAA Rules

Huge thanks to /u/hythloday1 for surfacing the updated NCAA Rules for 2017-18 on this subject. There are a few relevant rules here:

18.7.2 - Page 326

15.5.6 - Page 212

The text of these rules is provided in the comments.

Looking at the rules, from 18.7.2.1 they are not initially considered eligible as they're 5-6 against FBS competition. This is where the FCS Exception that many teams use is applied, which is 18.7.2.1.1. Florida State's Bowl eligibility hinges entirely on whether Delaware State meets the 90% of 63 permissible maximum number of grants-in-aid per year.

I spoke with the NCAA Educational Line who confirmed a few facts. I'd note that they clarified that the educational line cannot make official NCAA statements. They did unofficially clarify a few questions though:

Is the permissible maximum number of grants-in-aid per year 63?

Answer: The FCS limit is always 63 (15.5.6.2)

I asked this because some FCS conferences have different scholarships limits (Ivy League, Pioneer are non-scholarship, as is Georgetown, and NEC is 45), and I wanted to confirm that 63 was the limit regardless. He confirmed it was and linked me to 15.5.6.2 above.

Does the 90% apply to full-time equivalents or players with countable aid?

Answer: Yes, full-time equivalents (15.5.6.2)

I asked this because many students are on partial scholarship.

Does the rolling 2-year period refer to 2015-16 and 2016-17?

Answer: This seems to be the correct interpretation, but could be subject to interpretation between the NCAA and schools.

This is the question that there may be a little wiggle room on, but this would be the simplest interpretation of the language.

Florida State Schedule

They ended up with a total record of 6-6 after a difficult season whose scheduling was complicated by Hurricane Irma. They ended up rescheduling the ULM game which had been initially cancelled following the win over Syracuse when it provided a path to 6 wins.

Possible Outcomes

Waiver

The most obvious is that Florida State applies for a Waiver under 18.7.2.1.1.1. We do not believe they have already applied for the waiver, and there was really no reason to for a number of reasons:

• Florida State had preseason CFP hopes and had no expectation of being borderline bowl eligible.
• Given how hard the data was to get, we don't believe anyone had any reason to suspect Delaware State was below the 90% mark.

They could apply for a waiver now, and the issue would be resolved, but this is a formal process they would need to apply to the NCAA Football Issues Committee for. Of note, the waiver for "unique or catastrophic situation" can only apply to Delaware State here, not to the scheduling difficulties Florida State has had from Hurricane Irma.

There is some precedent for this. In 2012, Georgia Tech went 6-7 with a loss in the ACCCG, and successfully applied for a waiver and went to the Sun Bowl (and beat USC). They only qualified for the ACCCG because both Miami and North Carolina were postseason ineligible that year, and so the NCAA approved the waiver as it seemed unfair they be punished for playing in the ACCCG. Both Louisiana Tech and Middle Tennessee were eligible that year, but stayed home. Louisiana Tech had an offer from a bowl, but turned it down through a miscommunication in which they expected a better bowl, but Middle Tennessee did not receive an offer from any bowls.

Ineligible

If Florida State does not apply for the waiver they are considered not bowl eligible. By 18.7.2.1.3(a) they would be in line before any 5-7 or 5-6 teams by APR if there were an insufficient number of bowl eligible teams. However as there were 81 bowl eligible teams and only 78 bowl openings in total, this condition does not apply.

Western Michigan, Buffalo, and UTSA, the three bowl eligible teams that did not receive a bowl bid this year, all have a rightful claim to the Independence Bowl bid against Southern Miss rather than Florida State in this scenario.

Approval through Extenuating Circumstances

Given that the bowl is a week away and this is digging very much into the weeds of NCAA bylaws, I think there's a good chance that this gets hand-waved away. If this is the result, Florida State will play in a bowl, but for the first time in 36 years they are not formally bowl eligible.

I owe a huge thanks to the folks at Delaware State for working to get this data to me through a time of transition in the busiest part of the year. It'll be interesting to see how this story resolves!

How desperate are teams to get wins?

What if someone exploited that opportunity?

During the offseason, as /u/bakonydraco was doing the bulk of the redesign, he carried on my minor obsession of adding flair for every college football team in America. During his search he uncovered two teams that I had missed (not members of the NCAA, NAIA or USCAA). When I looked into my omission I found two schools that seem to operate in a very sketchy situation—so sketchy I'm not entirely convinced they are legitimate even by their own ill definitions.

It came to a head last night when D2 Tusculum set a single-game NCAA record by holding the College of Faith to -100 total yards and -124 rushing yards.

Ever heard of the College of Faith in North Carolina? How about their sister school the University of Faith University of Faith down in Florida? Nobody has. We talked about it a bit on Twitter late last night, but I wanted to put together a comprehensive post reviewing programs that push the definition of "college" football and reveal how desperate some teams are to get a win.

Let's go over all the items that make them problematic:

(there's a lot, please read it all, it gets wacky)

• They pitch themselves as online universities (unaccredited by any major organization) that field football teams.

• The CoF website: http://www.cofchar.org/

• The UoF's athletic website is hosted on weebly: http://universityoffaith.weebly.com/athletics.html

• The admissions page for UoF has an application that just asks for "Address, Height, Weight, Position". I suppose that's a step above "Pulse: Y/N"

• The tuition and fees page for CoF conveniently takes PayPal.

• Both the CoF & UoF claim to be members of the American Small College Athletic Association (ASCAA)

• The ASCAA does not appear to have a website; its only 2 members appear to be CoF & UoF (which explains their scheduling, see below)

• UoF recruits on Facebook

• This 2013 video about CoF found by /u/wacojohnny is a bit stunning. The program was originally based in the Memphis area and was started for a college that folded. The person who started teams decided to start a new school for those teams where he served as President, AD and the original head coach. Watch the video and the entire nature of entity as a "school" unravels. Actual quotes: "Actually, I have not really even instituted much of the online curriculum yet because of the situation with the players and enrollees that I have [. . .] some of them don't have consistent access to online accessibility. So basically what I've been doing is—those who have it—I give them their assignments each week at practice and they have one assignment a week and they turn it in by hand or they email it to me." The founder is "basically homeless".

• The CoF is in its 2nd year and, despite claiming a record of 1-7 in their first year, in the games that we have records for (the incomplete records confounded an opponent, see below) they have never won or even scored a point:

2013

• 63-0, Tusculum
• 69-0, Brevard
• 56-0, Clark Atlanta
• 52-0, Ave Maria
• 42-0, Stillman

2014

• 56-0, Davidson (FCS team! Broke a 12-game losing streak)
• 71-0, Tusculum

But they won something, right?

• Here's what we know about their single win: they allegedly won a game against North Georgia Sports Academy, a junior college that is equally as mysterious. This is from the one story I found about them:

According to NGSA's website, it was created in 2013 to offer the opportunity for young men between the ages of 17-20 the chance to play football while pursuing a two year degree. The Mountaineers play their games against club teams and other sports academies.

But this isn't about the JC, so back to CoF/UoF.

• This July 2014 article on the CoF from the Charlotte Observer indicates that the school is now operating out of as an "an extension of the school’s main campus in West Memphis, Ark., along with other branches in Oklahoma and Florida". The main campus was presumably the school founded in the above video. The Florida campus is UoF. Who knows when the Oklahoma campus will field a team. It includes a video of the CoF at practice.

• On a recruiting website, the CoF has an incomplete and incorrect ("public"?) profile, topped with these quotes by a a pair of coaches that raise more questions than it answers (I've bolded some highlights):

“College of Faith football program is in its 2nd year of college football. We don't have S.A.T. or G.P.A. academic eligibility requirements. Our football program competes against NCAA D2, D3 and NAIA schools. We are looking for some IMPACT players of all sizes to help grow this great program into something special. College of Faith academic programs is a Christ-centered, online college of higher education which main office is in West Memphis, Ark with an extension campus located in Charlotte, NC. College of Faith’s Charlotte extension campus provides Athletic program, academic and student support with christian understanding, hands on ministry outreach and paid On-The-Job STUDENT WORK experience while obtaining a certification or degree.”

—Coach Dell Richardson

“Hello my name is Waycus Luckett. I was born in Mississippi and now resides in charlotte, nc, where I coach now with the College of Faith Saints as a defensive line coach. College of Faith is a second chance program for kids whose grades are not up to par and who believe what they can't do to what they can do. So if your the athlete that want to build and become part of yt?history in the books respond with an number so we can talk and I tell you more information because without faith nothings possible”

—Coach Waycus Lucket

• The UoF has a second athletic website with the current 2014 schedule, anyone notice some glaring issues? First off: ESPN? I checked, they were not televised against FCS Mississippi Valley State; in fact all we know is they were briefly mentioned in the school's own write-up. The Week 8 game at Mississippi College is not being televised on ESPN2. Two of their games are scheduled against the only team that they might beat, the CoF (this type of scheduling isn't uncommon in D2, but this is also the only "conference" opponent they play). They have only one home game, against their sister school CoF. They have large stretches of bye weeks as they try to fit into the schedules of teams who are willing to pay to beat them. Their opening game at small HBCU NAIA school Edward Waters College is only listed on their own football schedule without any results (the game isn't even listed on the NAIA's football schedule which, to be fair, appears to be voluntary).

• Limestone College, a school that just restarted its football program at D2, has a comical preview for the CoF that's incomplete: describing the team as "a bit of a mystery", with only limited information on their schedule and they list their conference as the non-existent "Bible Belt". They mention a "ASCAA National Championship Game" that's scheduled before what UoF (the only other ASCAA members) lists as their only home game...if you recall that game is against CoF.

• When Davidson got their first win of the season, breaking the 12-game stream with a new coach, they didn't have much to say about the CoF, which just filled a need...no questions asked! Here are Davidson's preview and post-game articles.

Bigger Questions:

• Are they diploma mills that take advantage of kids who want to play college ball but simply can't elsewhere? Are they colluding with the school (being paid) or, worse, being taken advantage because they are desperate for a chance to make in in college ball but will have no chance under their programs, academically or athletically? Or is it possible that the idea of slapping a rudimentary online school onto a football team has created a school that means well but is, in practice, a sham?
• Do these legitimate NCAA & NAIA schools want to admit that they intentionally schedule these two programs that may not be on the level? It's a guaranteed win, after all, and schools are counting those padded stats and claiming NCAA records off of these games. The schools' sports information directors treat these opponents like a regular teams in their PR machines. The mainstream media is trained to just blindly accept that stuff (even though it bit them with Josh Shaw and Manti Te'o), and when it's these teams in a lower divisions why should they check that hard?
• Who arranges these games? I imagine the de facto ADs of CoF & UoF try to solicit games, but are ADs now quietly suggesting them as opportunities for struggling teams?
• How much are these teams being paid per appearance?
• Do NCAA/NAIA rules allow schools to play schools with zero accreditation?
• Because they are not in any existing org (NCAA, NAIA or USCAA), can they pay players?

I really hope the bigger media takes a look at this situation. Nothing seems right here.

EDIT: to make things a bit clearer, here's the timeline of these schools:

• At the time of the 2013 video, Sherwyn Thomas started an athletic program for a Memphis-area school that he says folded (Shepherd Technical College, here's the old website that was hosted on Google). Rather than lose all the work he put in, he decided to start an online university (CoF) to support the program where he initially serves as president, AD and HC.
• The football program at the Arkansas campus has no record and is apparently just a basketball school now, playing as the Warriors (official site).
• The football program is instead moved to an "extension campus", the CoF-Charlotte, as the CoF Saints (official site).
• Later a new campus called the University of Faith is opened in St. Petersburg by the same institution (effective as a FL non-profit in May 2014. They are the UoF Glory Eagles (official site).
• There is also a supposed campus in Oklahoma.
• These make up the only members of the ASCAA.

EDIT 2: There is some good discussion in the comments.

Here's a summary of the situation as I see it:

It's a sweet deal for the teams that schedule them: the NCAA/NAIA schools that play CoF/UoF treat them like regular CFB teams in their own PR depts. They release a quick write-up and the local AP writer or beat writer (esp for such minor teams) parrot the facts put out there by the sports information director. The mainstream media automatically accepts that stuff (which bit them with Josh Shaw and Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax, but hey—why stop there?). Besides, when it's a minor team in a lower division, why check that hard? The schools even get to count the stats and NCAA records they set against these patsies.

CoF/UoF get to operate in the shadows. The NCAA has no explicit rule against playing effectively fake schools. The CoF/UoF players are either colluding or being exploited. It's an ugly situation; the wins—or especially NCAA records set against these sorts of teams—deserve an asterisk.

EDIT 3: A suggestion for a possible solution:

Also, where is the line drawn? Is it okay for schools to do this if they're more legitimate like Champion Baptist? They probably just take their kids' money too. (link to comment)

That's a good question and, frankly, complicated enough that it would act as an excuse for the schools that schedule them ("who are we to say what isn't a school?" Not an honest answer but there you have it).

A simple solution would be the athletic associations (NCAA, NAIA, and minor legitimate conferences) to announce that only games against other legitimate athletic associations will count towards any official team or individual records, as well as qualifications for post-season play.

That way teams can continue to chose to schedule sham schools, as well as schedule international games against national and semi-pro teams (as D3 is allowed to do), without any benefits of gaming the system. In that scenario the appeal of playing sham schools will disappear without harming the benefit of international tour games (besides, they take place in the Spring).

EDIT 4: Player health + the danger of incompetence

It's been suggested to me that CoF might be intentionally throwing the games (based on the individual's review of the drive summaries for the Tusculum game). I personally do not think that is happening for a few reasons, which in turn bring up concerns on player health and safety:

1. We're seeing the results of a team that may only have a few coaches (head coach and a few coordinators) and, from what a user claiming to be a Davidson player indicates in his comments after playing CoF: they don't appear to have any athletic trainers. From what we've seen above, they have no health and wellness facilities. This is a team that's playing with the capacity of a poor HS team.

2. The highlight video Davidson made of their game against CoF just demonstrates general ineptitude on the CoF team, so inept that believing they're able to throw a game might be giving them too much credit.

CoF is just playing to their abilities: not as individuals, but as a team (I'm sure some of their players could do well in a proper coaching/player development program). The team's inability to play like a cogent unit is the fault of the coaching staff; one that is so minimal in staffing/facilities that it seems a bit negligent to field a team in this way--almost like a modern version of that ill-fated Cumberland team that faced GT in the most lopsided game of all time.

If you take a team made up of a players that have no proper athletic health facilities/trainers, minimal (possibly incompetent) coaching staff, minimal equipment, and throw them against an FCS team... what if the kids start to get seriously hurt? People are up in arms about big time FBS schools that do not offer guaranteed 4yr scholarships for players who suffer career-ending injuries, yet do CoF and UoF even offer basic health coverage for their players?

I'd be curious to know what the players' expectations actually are.

EDIT: June 1, 2016: I haven't made any changes to the original post other than fixing some flair codes to show the right logo in the text (as we add team logos, some of the old codes were no longer displaying the right logo). Also, in the subsequent years there have been other posts.

• Here is the "sequel" which tells the history of these schools

• In May 2015, the NCAA joined the NAIA in declaring these teams as "non-countable opponents" for purposes of official conference or NCAA statistics or win/loss records.

by Bobak Ha'Eri

Quick intro to college football in Japan:

Japan has had college football for 90 years. At this point there's over 100 teams at various divisions, with promotion/relegation and a final tournament for the top division conferences. It's been organized into a structure that produces a national champion since the 1940s, culminating in the Koshien Bowl -- always played in Japan's host historic baseball stadium (which was built to host the national high school baseball tournaments and is also home of the Hanshin Tigers of NPB).

All of that said, the football is NCAA rules and -- as far as international competition goes -- remains competitive (sharing a tier with Mexico's football, just below what's played in the US followed by Canada).

Japanese college football programs have a unique place on campuses because they operate basically like a hybrid of a major club that also operates as a kind of athletic fraternity where young men can make connections that last for life. There is a semi-pro league in Japan (X-League) that draws on collegiate players and can bring in 4 import players, which they do from the NCAA quite frequently.

The Nihon Phoenix:

The Nihon University Phoenix are the sports teams of a respected private university (est. 1889) in Tokyo. The 83-year old football program is one of the premiere football programs in the Kanto Top 8, one of the two mega-conferences, which comprises the top-division of college football programs in the Kanto region (Tokyo-Yokohama's 30M population). They have 21 national championships from 1955 to their most recent in 2017, second only to the KG Fighters (33) of the Kansai conference. Nihon is the last team from the Kanto Top 8 to win the national championship.

They had a crazy saga back in 2018:

After a flagrant late hit during a spring exhibition game the situation ballooned into the conference banning the coaches for life and getting so mad at the team for not apologizing sincerely enough that they suspended them for an entire season (forcing the reigning national champions to be relegated). The university ended creating a new Competitive Sports Management Committee to review its own processes and make sure it wouldn't happen again. It's even more bonkers than the summary, I covered it in several posts with the final run-down with much more detail here. In Japan it's since been called the "bad tackle incident."

What happened this season:

Japan has extremely tough laws about drugs, including marijuana.

Timeline

• On August 5th, a third-year player was arrested for alleged possession of cannabis and an illegal stimulant after a police search of the football team's dormitory in Tokyo. He was later indicted on the charge of possessing a stimulant drug.

• University suspends practice indefinitely.

• August 8: Vice President Yasuhiro Sawada, administrator in charge of competitive sports is asked about the continuation of the program "I don't know, it's just a hypothetical, but if there are multiple arrests, we have to think about abolishing the club"

• August 10: The program is reinstated citing no reason to punish all players for the incident.

• August 22: The police search the dorm again after other players were suspected of possessing cannabis.

• At this point the school declared "This is no longer about individual criminal behavior. Our management and supervisory responsibility as a university has now been called into question." An independent investigation committee was formed to assess the situation.

• September 2: The University suspends the season and closes the football players' dorm as suspicions increase that more team members were involved.

• As a result of the decision to suspend the season, the Nihon Phoenix would automatically be relegated again. This on its own would not necessarily harm them for too long, the last time this happened it only took them one season to fight back up to the top division (and even made it into the title game their first year back).

• In October a second player, a senior, was arrested and fined for buying cannabis from a dealer.

• October: an independent investigation committee blamed President Takeo Sakai, Board of Trustees chair Mariko Hayashi, and VP Yasuhiro Sawada for poor governance leading to a loss of public trust in the university. The university meanwhile set up a panel to discuss governance improvement measures and plans to report the outcome to the national education ministry. The third-party report accused the administrators of initially downplaying the problem, and noted some members of the staff should have been aware of the issue as early as October 2022.

• November 23: The Board of Nihon University recommends the President Takeo Sakai and Vice President Yasuhiro Sawada resign over the scandal. The chair of the university's Board of Trustees, Mariko Hayashi, also agreed to a 50% pay cut. Apparently, at some point in August, the university had been criticized for not swiftly reporting its discovery of what appeared to be a fragment of marijuana and other suspicious items in the member's dormitory to police. This turned into a fight between Sakai and Sawada, with the president accusing the VP of holding onto the items for 12 days, which could've subjected him to charges of also violating the cannabis control law. Sawada claimed Sakai was kept in the loop the entire time. Sawada has filed a lawsuit against the board chair Hayashi for harassment.

• November 27: The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Drug and Firearms Control Division arrested another third-year team member on suspicion of violating the Special Drug Provisions Act. Keep in mind Japan's detectives are especially noted for only arresting when they think they have a slam dunk case (this is why the national criminal prosecution rate is so successful).

• November 28: Nihon University announces it is abolishing the program. 83-seasons, 21 national championships.

Thus here we are, awaiting the formal announcement of its termination. The University president and VP have said they plan to resign.

It's unclear if they will eventually recreate the team, but the one-two punch of 2018 and 2023 have probably put the school in a very awkward spot in a country where honor/face and doing things the right way are valued at an extremely high level.

Thanks to @InsideSportJP for tipping me off to this saga.

With the National Championship here in Atlanta, I dropped by the College Football Hall of Fame to finally see the "new" location in person after having previously visited the old location in South Bend.

First off, it's a great venue and every college football fan should check it out when visiting the city. /r/CFB did a brick drive back in 2013 and purchased 4 bricks that are on the wall in the back of the "Peach Bowl Field" area (grouping and the outlier).

But... and this something odd we noticed even back when it opened:

The grand helmet wall that greets you when you enter (image), with over 775 teams, has one very strange inclusion:

This helmet from the the University of Faith.

This is a team that represented something that was never a real college. A team I exposed 10 years ago when writing about the infamous College of Faith/University of Faith fake schools (years before Bishop-Sycamore). They were programs existing at the edge of the college football periphery, playing D2, D3, and NAIA schools desperate for home games and willing to look the other way, before the NCAA & NAIA finally had them ruled as ineligible opponents and they and shut down. They were never real colleges, just completely worthless online junk on comically bad sites.

The "University of Faith" was briefly in Florida. It lasted for maybe 2 years that happened to correspond with the construction of the HOF in Atlanta.

Editing this in because some who haven't been to the HOF are making assumptions: They greet you and ask you to ask about anything on the wall. They have these special tablets to talk about any of the teams. It's a very interactive experience.

No one seems to know how the HOF got the helmet. We reached out to the Hall of Fame by email several years ago and they couldn't give a clear answer. When you ask the staff they make the mistake of going into boilerplate "The wall comprises NCAA teams from all divisions." I pressed them on the UFaith helmet and they couldn't find the school in their tablets that they carry. I told them it was because it was never a real school to begin with. After checking into it more they ended up saying the wall was to honor teams that played the NCAA at some point. The University [sic] of Faith never, ever was an NCAA or NAIA institution.

Check out the original post on CoF/UOF: these programs cheated kids of their hopes and dreams: No transfer credit. No trainers or support staff. Vanity projects for shady founders.

What should the HOF do?

Since 2014 there have been over a dozen new programs founded at real NCAA and NAIA institutions. There are also real college football programs abroad in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Finland, the UK, Austria, etc. Pretty sure any of those teams would love to have a helmet on that wall.

Honor the real teams, not the con artists.

by Bobak Ha'Eri

West Virginia (2-0) plays #25 Virginia (2-0) in the Duke's Mayo Classic this weekend in Charlotte, the first time these two teams have played in 24 years.

The last time they played was in this same stadium at the 2002 Continental Tire Bowl, the inaugural edition of what is now the Duke's Mayo Bowl (both organized by the Charlotte Sports Foundation).

The #15 West Virginia Mountaineers of the Big East, in the second season of Rich Rodriguez's first tenure, were 9-3 and coming off back-to-back road wins against ranked rivals Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh. Al Groh, in his own second season at UVA, had the ACC's Cavaliers 8-5 coming off their own rivalry loss at Virginia Tech.

This was the era where the regular bowls meant more. It was a good match, the spread was WVU by 1.5. Both teams were not too far away. The sellout crowd of 73,535 set a record for largest crowd to see a football game in what was then-called Ericsson Stadium.

Those who watched on Saturday, December 28, 2002, saw UVA freshman RB Wali Lundy go off for 4 touchdowns and 203 total yards in a 48-22 rout that snapped the 'Hoos 4-bowl losing streak.

Time passes, memories fade (though RichRod is back…). One effect of that game remains.

This was the game that killed UVA's band.

The Virginia Pep Band was a "scramble band" like Stanford's band. Maybe a bit too much like the Stanford band for the Governor of West Virginia. More on that in a moment.

The Virginia Pep Band started like a typical school marching band, but in 1974 began evolving into the student-run scramble band style used by Stanford and the Ivy League schools. The irreverence and humor of the band was popular with the student body, but sometimes embarrassed the administration. In 1993 there was an attempt by the athletic department to replace it with a faculty-run UVA Sports Band that was very unpopular, booed by fans and protested by the Pep Band on The Hill (on the side of the open end zone) during home games. The Pep Band was reinstated in time for the Virginia Tech game at the end of the season (which they lost).

For the halftime of the Continental Tire Bowl, the Virginia Pep Band came up with performance and skits that highlighted stereotypes of Appalachia. Uncreative? Sure. Cringe? Of course! But how far would be too far? The answer would turn out to be not as far as one might expect.

The Pep Band blended two pop culture moments in those early years of reality television: the first season of "The Bachelor" and a planned reality reboot of the "The Beverly Hillbillies" that never aired. A UVA student portraying The Bachelor chose between two contestants: a woman dressed in a Virginia shirt and another West Virginia-coded woman in bib/blue overalls, pigtails, "a talent for square dancing and a dream to move to Beverly Hills". The band reportedly included "The Beverly Hillbillies" theme song.

The Charlotte Observer described it on Sunday briefly:

Virginia's pep band ticked off the West Virginia crowd with a hillbilly skit similar to the one it pulled last time the teams played in 1985 [more on that below].

West Virginia fans booed and chanted "Get off the field!" as a woman wearing coveralls and pigtails staged a cat fight with a woman dressed in Virginia colors.

Later descriptions by the paper noted the WVU student was portrayed as sociology major and the UVA student was portrayed as a biology major headed for medical school. There were disputes over whether the actor portraying the WVU student was barefoot.

Not the first time.

The last time WVU had played UVA was a 1985 regular-season game where the Mountaineers visited Scott Stadium ('Hoos won, 27-7; RichRod was a graduate assistant coach on the team). During halftime, the Pep Band did a parody of the Family Feud mocking stereotypes about a lack of education, indoor plumbing, and birth control. Then-UVA President Robert O'Neil had to apologize to the people of West Virginia.

Given the tensions that had previously boiled over in 1993, the 2002 incident was the kindling that lit the Continental Tire fire.

The Aftermath.

The complaints began to pile up soon after the bowl game. By Monday, an official from UVA went on a West Virginia morning radio show to apologize and promise a full review of how The Bachelor skit got approved. The Governor of West Virginia, Bob Wise, sent a letter demanding an apology from UVA President John T. Casteen III that same day.

In his letter, Gov. Wise wrote "This type of performance merely perpetuates the unfounded stereotypes that we in West Virginia are fighting so hard to overcome."

By Tuesday, the Charlotte Observer reported UVA administrators had received over 200 letters not only from West Virginia fans but also the school's own alumni, in addition to angry letters to the newspaper and bowl organizers.

WVU's president, David Hardesty, made a statement congratulating the Cavaliers for their victory but derided the Pep Band for its "poor taste." He added "Given the similar offensive events involving the UVA pep band at the last encounter [in 1985], I am surprised that the UVA pep band would again adopt a program that exemplifies such poor sportsmanship.

Prior to the game the Pep Band director, third-year student Adam Lorentson, said "We're always told to stay out of trouble, but we never do."

Ken Haines, President and CEO of Raycom Sports as well as executive director and founder of the bowl game, said he approved a five-paragraph script presented by band officials but claimed the performance went further than expected and was "childish", stating it was "unflattering and stereotypical" and "was not done with class." The band was banned from future visits to the bowl game.

Below is the script that was supposedly presented to the bowl and possibly UVA:

intro: ladies and gentlemen- welcome to the final episode of the continental tire bowl's "the bachelor". and please welcome our bachelor to the field, DUDE{insert real name here}! [guy walks out onto the 50] DUDE has a great sense of humor, likes candlelight dinners, and enjoys long walks on the beach. he's also a member of the finest scramble band in the acc, The Award Winning Virginia Fighting Cavalier Precision Marching Pep Band!!!

announcer: we have just two bachelorettes left, GIRL_1[insert real name here], a sociology major from wvu [girl walks out, wearing blue and yellow]... and GIRL_2[insert real name here], a biology major from uva [another girl walks out, wearing blue and orange]. so who will it be? stay tuned to the continental tire bowl's "the bachelor" to find out.

[the three dance during the song, with each girl pulling him away from the other, vying for his attention]

announcer: well, it's going to be a tough choice for our bachelor, deciding between these two bachelorettes. GIRL_2, from uva, will be attending medical school next fall and plans to be a pediatrician. After she leaves wvu, GIRL_1 will be heading to california, out to beverly. hills, that is. swimming pools, movie stars!

announcer: now the moment you've all been waiting for- who will get the continental tire and who will go home with a broken heart? will it be GIRL_1 from wvu? [guy walks over to where GIRL_1]... or will it be GIRL_2 from uva? [guy walks over to GIRL_2] who will it be?!?!

[guys goes back and forth between the two girls, and during the "singing" part of song, he runs over to GIRL_2, drops to one kness, gives her the tire, she shrieks in joy, they hug and he carries her off the field toward the front sidelines]

As things progressed, band director Lorentson maintained the band did nothing wrong. "I'm surprised that pigtails are offensive, and I saw plenty of fans from both sides in overalls." While acknowledging the allusion to mountain stereotypes with the "Beverly Hillbillies" references, he said "We thought it was pretty innocuous." He further claimed that there were unidentified persons attempting to make their way onto the band bus before they escaped.

A stadium ban is hardly unique to any one band (just ask Stanford) but the incident went a step further with Gov. Wise.

As the New Year rolled in, President Casteen made a public appeal for anyone with video footage of the so-called "hillbilly" skit before commenting. Although he was at the game, he had missed the performance and no one at UVA apparently recorded it. A university spokesperson said "clearly the majority of emails and calls are of concern and regret and disappointment that the halftime caused any pain to the WVU fans and the citizens of that state."

On January 2nd, President Casteen – acknowledging he could not locate any video of the performance – made a statement regretting the performance and the offense it caused. His apology is still posted on the WVU website. "I have come to believe that the bands attempted spoof, however ill or well conceived, worked badly, and that our common problem now is to learn from this event and move on." He called the skit a violation of explicit NCAA/ACC sportsmanship rules barring bands from ridiculing opposing teams or fans. He lamented the fact that "the performance has diverted attention from the success of a young football team that exceeded all expectations this season. Post-game reviews have said little or nothing about this team and its successes, and a great deal about (of all things) the band."

The Band is Pushed Aside

Casteen promised a review of "how the band works." UVA Athletic Director Craig Littlepage acknowledged the internal review board, mandatory before Pep Band performances after the 1985 WVU game, "didn't ask enough questions" before the game.

By the end of the Spring 2003 semester, the UVA administration made its move. The school announced a $1.5 million gift from an alumnus to establish a traditional marching band. The Pep Band was disinvited to play at athletic events. The new, university-run band became known as the Cavalier Marching Band. In parallel, the school wanted to start taking big time college sports seriously, and the old Pep Band was seen as a liability. Littlepage noted "There were a lot of people that just felt as though if we are serious about a high-quality athletic program, part of that in terms of presentation at football or basketball games should be a more standard approach. To go from kind of a more playful, not-so-serious tone at the games to an approach that’s more about enhancing spirit, as opposed to the focus being the band itself."

The student-run Pep Band tried to keep itself alive but faded out within a decade from lack of interest.

In his apology letter, Casteen appealed to the commonality of the people of the two states: "We are all pretty much the same. We are related." Despite wishing for more frequent match-ups between the programs, he feared "this sad controversy may delay" future matchups "to our mutual detriment." He hoped "for a day when mutual respect and the appropriate affections that ought to exist among people who share as much as Virginians and West Virginians do will be the rule, not the exception."

That day will be this Saturday, 24 years later, on the same field in Charlotte.

by Bobak Ha'Eri

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema was the first coach on the main stage at Big Ten Media Days, where I'm reporting live, and he gave the most quoted coach comment of the day -- that the SEC wants to live in 2005.

What did he mean? Well first, he picked 2005 because it was the year before he became a head coach, but I think this is one where the full quotes -- both from this opening remarks and his answer to a follow-up -- will put context to what he meant. It stems from that first job at Wisconsin, where despite being a successful team he felt they weren't getting respect because the system was biased towards the big-name schools, with similar opinions from his time at Arkansas and now at Illinois. He is open about the fact the Illini would not have the talent they have without the combo of NIL/Portal.

So he views the positions pushed by the SEC (and one could say the Big Ten is also part of this) as pushing hard towards going back towards the older era of big brands staying at the top with little chance for the upstarts to challenge like they can now.

His opening remarks were extensive, as he was once again chosen as the lead-off hitter for the coaches (4 of the last 6 media days), probably because he's good at staying on message and is engaging.

I know a lot of people have different opinions about what's going on in college football. Going into my 18th year, I couldn't be more excited about where we are, not just at Illinois but in our conference and also college football. It's literally at an all-new high by the people that are here, the buzz around this.

I go back and I sit in conference meetings, and I hear Tony [Petitti] talk to us as a group of coaches. I remember being here as a young coach when Jim Delany got up and would come in and talk to us, and I remember him and Joe Pa getting in arguments every time about different things. It was very comical, very enjoyable to watch.

But to see the growth of this league to get to where we are now -- I spent a couple years in the SEC, was with [then commissioner] Slive and then transitioned to [Greg] Sankey. And I just think about it now, everybody is going to have opinions, and obviously they're going to draw the Big Ten/SEC and all that goes around about that. But to sit in the room with both of those guys, I think with Tony [Petitti] and the vision and experience that he has and to be in the room where Sankey -- I know he's got to protect the SEC, and they kind of want to live in 2005 forever, but I think the forward thinking of where we are in college football is an awesome thing.

You could hear the flurry of typing and tweeting when he said that 2005 quote.

Four questions into his podium time it came up as a question:

Q. You just said something earlier about the SEC wanting to live in 2005 forever. Can you just explain what you mean by that?

BRET BIELEMA: Well, I think I just made the headline, right? (Laughter.)

When I became a head coach in 2006, so it was going back before I was a head coach purposefully, and I think what I'm saying is I went to the league and went to the SEC and it was a completely different league, in my opinion, than the one I was in in the Big Ten prior.

Just with the -- basically the two biggest things, the biggest components of the transfer portal and revenue share or NIL, however you want to describe it, when those two elements came into college football, the whole world changed. I mean, it's overly obvious to say that, but I think anything to predate that is just a different time in college football. It just is.

It's also really hard -- I said this point to someone earlier. So back when I was in the Big Ten the first time, we were going through this renaming of our league. I think the eventual winner was Leaders and Legends. I don't know how the hell we got there (smile). But regardless, I remember we were in these conversations, and I was with Coach [Barry] Alvarez. He was obviously our AD. We did a comparative study over 20 years, and I believe they looked at the last 50 years up to that point.

Of course, 50 years' time, Wisconsin wasn't anywhere in the mix, but in the last 20 years when we took that data, the only other team that had won more games than Wisconsin was Ohio State. It wasn't Michigan, it wasn't Penn State, it wasn't Nebraska who was coming into the league, obviously. But the four teams they all wanted to talk about and that they were worried about distributing evenly was Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan and Nebraska.

I'm pissed, right? Because I'm at Wisconsin, and I look at 20 years, and no one is really paying attention to that, right? And Coach just said to me very plainly, said, "Don't worry about things you can't control. You can't change people's 50 years of history in the way they think."

I also had that revelation when I recruited a young man, Hjalte Froholdt [to Arkansas]. He was from Denmark. And Hjalte was a foreign exchange student at Ohio. I offered him a scholarship. And then he went on a tour. And I was at Arkansas, and we hadn't won anything at that point. I was in my first or second year. He went to visit us, but then he went and visited Alabama, Florida, Ohio State, Michigan, all these premier programs.

And he came to Arkansas, in my opinion, because he wasn't blinded by the 50 years that he didn't know, or the 18 years he had been alive on this earth, because he had been in Denmark. He wasn't blinded by the things that he had been told or learned.

I just kind of take that in a way that, like, it's a different world. The last three years, like, the quarterback I have now, we would not have gotten if the world existed five years ago. I know that. Neither would my left tackle. My left guard, my center and my right tackle wouldn't be here playing for me.

You go around to every team, and the rosters have changed because of those two components. The transfer rule and revenue share. It's a different world. Anything beyond that is nonsense.

That's where I'm coming from.

The rest of my Big Ten Media Day updates will continue to be at its main post.

by Joe Smith

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Despite sharing a border, the last time the West Virginia Mountaineers played the No. 25 Virginia Cavaliers before the Duke’s Mayo Classic on Saturday night was in 2002. That game came in the same stadium as Saturday night’s showdown, in the Continental Tire Bowl – an event run by the same organizers of the Duke’s Mayo Classic.

Current West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez was on the sideline for that game, during his first stint as the head coach of the Mountaineers – the Cavaliers won that game decisively by 26 points. At halftime, the Virginia pep band mocked their border rivals as “hillbillies” during an unapproved skit which caused plenty of controversy.

It was the third straight loss at the time for the Mountaineers to Virginia – it followed a 1985 loss in Charlottesville, which featured a similar performance by Virginia’s pep band mocking West Virginians. Rich Rodriguez was on the sideline as a student assistant coach. The year prior, Virginia defeated West Virginia in Morgantown during Rodriguez’s senior year as a player.

So even though it had been over 20 years since the two programs played, the rivalry had deep connections for Rodriguez, a West Virginia native, as he stepped into Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte for Saturday’s marquee non-conference clash. As with revenge on his mind, it felt good to avenge his 2002 loss to the Cavaliers with a 38-27 win that carried bragging rights for an entire state.

"I think it's important to the folks in the great state of West Virginia,” Rodriguez said. “We hadn't played [Virginia] in a long time and I remember playing them as a senior and we got beat...it still sticks with me."

West Virginia football makes statement win with upset over ranked Power 4 opponent

Now, what will stick with Rodriguez is not just vengeance for prior losses and his fellow West Virginians, but a resume-building win that sets the tone for the season and helps put the rest of the college football world on notice that West Virginia is back. Or at least they are if program alum and ESPN personality Pat McAfee is to be believed.

And maybe saying the Mountaineers are back is an overstatement, but what they can lay claim to is one of the best non-conference wins in the Big 12 so far, a win over a ranked opponent, and their first 3-0 start since 2016. And it's hard to argue that they don’t look like a legitimate Big 12 contender entering their league opener against Oklahoma State, despite national expectations entering the season.

“We know what we have in our building. A lot of people don't,” said West Virginia starting quarterback Mike Hawkins Jr. after the game. “So we've got to continue to believe in the talent and keep that chip on our shoulder.”

“It’s awesome,” said West Virginia linebacker Isaiah Patterson, who led the Mountaineers with 12 tackles. “The locker room was great, and the morale is high. We have to continue to build off it…for the season, being able to get some steam early and get it going into conference play is huge for us. Giving us the confidence and the know-how that we can play big college football.”

It didn’t look like that would be the case to start the game, however. The Mountaineers started going three-and-out and punting the ball away to Virginia, and then Beau Pribula led the Cavaliers down the field on a 12-play, 62-yard drive which chewed up over six minutes of game clock.

But once the Mountaineers found some momentum, it never felt like the game was out of their grasp. They responded on their next trip out with a touchdown drive by Mike Hawkins Jr. to tie the game, and then traded touchdowns with the Cavaliers before taking a seven-point advantage into the halftime break via a late touchdown in the second quarter.

And despite Virginia responding to start the second half by tying up the game, the Mountaineers quickly showed the game was not in doubt, scoring 17 unanswered points to get Virginia fans headed for the exit of Bank of America Stadium and back to Charlottesville – though Virginia would add a late touchdown in an attempt to narrow the gap.

“There were times we didn't play particularly well, but I think we always played hard,” Rodriguez said about the win. “We thought that was going to be a key…A good win over a really good program. Got a lot of respect for Tony and what he's done there, and, you know, it's just one win, but it's a win, against the right team, that we got a lot of respect for. So happy for that.”

"You have to tip your hats to West Virginia,” said Virginia head coach Tony Elliott. “I mean, they won the game. They made the competitive plays when they needed to make competitive plays."

Mike Hawkins Jr. etches his name into the West Virginia record books on the national stage

It was the first marquee game against Power 4 competition for Mike Hawkins Jr. with West Virginia since transferring from Oklahoma, and he probably has some Sooners fans regretting the program’s decision to bet on John Mateer.

Hawkins went 10-for-17 passing for 190 yards and two touchdowns, while adding 123 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns on 18 carries. He committed no turnovers in the win. Those stats are particularly notable, because he became the first player since Pat White in 2008 to record three rushing touchdowns and two passing touchdowns in a single game for the Mountaineers.

It was just the fourth occurrence of such a stat line in program history, and Hawkins Jr. is only the third player to do it. After Hawkins and White, you have to go back to Ira Rodgers in 1915 and 1919 to see that statistic replicated for the Mountaineers. On the season, Hawkins Jr. is 26-for-38 passing for 477 yards, five touchdowns, and no interceptions, while adding 332 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns.
“You know, Mike is, you know, he's a dynamic player and I think he's going to keep getting better. I mean, it's just his third game in the system,” Rodriguez said. “I think he grew a lot. I think our offense grew a lot today at certain moments, but Mike was, he's electric. He's got a lot of really good football in front of him too.”

How does Virginia respond?

Elliott has carried Virginia, historically not a powerhouse program, to an 11-win season and an ACC runners-up finish last season. And before Saturday, they began the season undefeated with a dominant win over a fellow ACC opponent in NC State – who nearly had a win over an SEC opponent on Saturday before they stole defeat from the jaws of victory.

Elliott was clear after the game that despite it being a tough loss, he still believes he has a talented team, and they can still accomplish every goal they had entering the weekend outside of an undefeated season.

"Some of that information is from the team,” Elliott said when asked about his message to the locker room. “But I told our team, all of our goals are still on the table...the ultimate objective is to get back here in December, and that's still on the table."

West Virginia’s crowd travels well, outshines Virginia in attendance

Rumors among the West Virginia media contingent were that the Mountaineers sold their full ticket allotment for the game, and the Mountaineers had an impressive turnout for a program representing a state which is over two hours from Charlotte at its southernmost border, and that plays its home games over six hours from The Queen City.

The Mountaineers fans took over downtown Charlotte, and packed most of the entire lower bowl on their side of the stadium with fans, as well as several upper-deck seats at Bank of America Stadium. Several West Virginia fans even trickled into the lower bowl on Virginia’s side, which was easy enough to accomplish because the Virginia contingent was noticeably lighter than West Virginia’s. 

The fans were loud and rowdy all night, and serenaded Charlotte with their own special renditions of ”Sweet Caroline” and “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” One WVU staffer may have been calling for some moonshine after the win, and Rich Rodriguez threatened to break out some red solo cups and “put some juice in it.” After the game, one of Rodriguez’s first comments was on the crowd turnout for West Virginia.

“I thought we had a home field advantage,” Rodriguez said. “Our fans were fantastic. The whole game.”

MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota Golden Gophers upset the Michigan Wolverines 20-14 to take the Little Brown Jug at home for the first time since 1977.

Minnesota came into the game with a plan to maintain the strong defensive pressure they had at Washington last week in order to contain Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood. The Gophers also needed to ensure their offensive line remained stout as they were missing two of its starters. Michigan hope to focus on giving Underwood a chance to use his legs and arm as an effective combo, containing their own penalties, and pressuring Gophers quarterback Drake Lindsey in the pocket.

The Michigan offense seemed lackluster. Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham agreed with reporters that the Wolverines offense “has been completely ineffective most of the time.” Going into a bye week, he noted “I’m still trying to figure it out. I've been in this profession 40-some years, and this is the biggest challenge I've had. We will get it figured out, I promise you. I’m not sure what the time line is. But I promise you we will figure it out.” Conversely, he noted the defense had played well all season “but it gets to the point where they can’t hold up anymore”, as happened in the second half, without the offense playing complementary football. 

After the win, Minnesota coach PJ Fleck said “I couldn't be prouder. Besides my marriage, my kids being born, this might be the best day of my life.” Fleck’s intensity and willingness to be a little wacky caught national attention last weekend when he smeared his own player’s blood on his face after a late night victory at Washington. Before and after Michigan he crowd surfed on fans and his own players after pretending to chug water out of the Little Brown Jug. When asked about the antics he said “I don't think you ever have to apologize for being yourself”. 

These contrasting statements sum up the game pretty well with Minnesota dominating most of the action and Michigan being unable to answer. 

Over the course of the game, the Gophers beat the Wolverines in almost every statistic. 262 to 180 total offensive yards, 65 to 49 offensive plays, 3 sacks for 25 yards to none, Minnesota also won the overall turnover battle 3-2. 

Minnesota won the toss and deferred to the second half. 

In the first quarter Michigan’s first got stopped by the Gopher defense. Then it was Minnesota striking first with a 2 yard rush up the middle from Darius Taylor. Michigan then had a 5:34 long drive that ultimately ended in a punt. On the next drive, Minnesota QB Drake Lindsey was pressured and threw up a high lob as he got hit leading to an interception by Smith Snowden of Michigan. Minnesota did an excellent job pressuring and containing Michigan QB Bryce Underwood. Drake Lindsey was hurried and threw an interception. Other notes from the first quarter were Michigan had 3 penalties for 19yds and 2 punts that were misplayed and resulted in touchbacks instead of being downed inside of the 5 yard line each time.

In the second quarter Michigan started off with a 5 yard rushing touchdown up the middle from Jordan Marshall. Minnesota then went 3 and out and their punt was blocked by Lugard Edokpayi. On the Gophers next drive, their usage of eye misdirection on the plays was apparent on a few plays although the drive ended in a thrown pick 6 for Minnesota that PJ Fleck took responsibility for in the post game press conference. 

In the second half, Minnesota came out and had a solid first drive that ultimately ended in a punt. Michigan WR Andrew Marsh muffed the punt and Minnesota recovered it at the Michigan 17, that drive ultimately ended in a field goal making the score 14-10 for Michigan. On the Wolverines next drive, Minnesota perfectly anticipated the play which led to an interception by Aydan West. Minnesota then kicked a field goal to make the score 14-13 for Michigan. Immediately after that field goal on the first play of the drive Bryce Underwood’s pass is blocked and intercepted by Minnesota. A huge rush from Noah Jennings to make it 1st and goal and a short touchdown pass to Darius Taylor coupled with a PAT from kicker Luke Drzewiecki who is perfect on the season made the score 20-14 for the Gophers. The game ended with a turnover on downs and the Gophers kneeling it out. 

Gophers fans from the sold out crowd stormed the field as the players ran over to claim the Little Brown Jug for their first home win in the rivalry since 1977.

A few post game notes.

* The turnover margin was crucial and Minnesota was able to capitalize on it and flip it in the second half. 
* This was a key game for Michigan to try to get back on track for playoff hopes with 4 ranked opponents yet to come. Similarly this was a key game for Minnesota who has 3 ranked opponents still to come. This game was a huge momentum shift for both teams with both of them coming off of arguably their best games played all season last week. Minnesota played excellent complementary football and responded very well to the difficult Michigan personnel changes, motioning, and shifts while throwing in their own eye misdirection on offense
* This was PJ Fleck's 100th career win and the 100th game for the Little Brown Jug, a rivalry that Michigan leads 74-23-2. 
* This is the first time Minnesota has held both the Little Brown Jug and Paul Bunyon’s Axe (vs. Wisconsin) since 1987. 

Minnesota goes to Purdue next week, Michigan has a bye.

It's our 12th season of original reporting, and this week /r/CFB is reporting live from Big Ten Media Days live from Chicago (July 28-30)

NOTE:

• Comments by correspondents will be highlighted orange in the desktop (old) view.
• Correspondents will be delayed given the time it takes to move from one spot to another, talk to people, then get around to a writing up the full comment.
• If you add questions for today's teams, it might not be read in time give how crowded some schedules are. Don't hesitate to username ping the corresponding reporters.

ALSO: We post info as well on X (@RedditCFB), and sometimes Bsky & Threads!

/r/CFB @ B1G!

Covering Big Ten:

• /u/Honestly_
• /u/IndianKingCobra (photo coverage)

ANN ARBOR, Mich.- The start to the 2026 Michigan Wolverines football season was supposed to mark a changing of the guard for the program.

After several years of consternation about sign stealing, poor on field performance and then the fallout of Sherrone Moore's tenure as Head Coach, hiring Kyle Whittingham from Utah was supposed to keep the school off the front page news.

Their performance on Saturday night coupled with a crazy finish to their game left many in further doubt about the state of the program.

Michigan won the toss and started their first offensive possession with a bang. The Wolverines went on an 11-play, 75-yard drive resulting in a rushing TD from Bryce Underwood. This put UM ahead 7-0. From there, Western Michigan went down the field and scored on its first drive, converting on a 52-yard field goal from Dieter Kelly.

Once the Broncos got on the board, they showed the 16th ranked Wolverines why they were the reigning MAC Champions. Western Michigan returned 11 starters from the 2025 season and did not lose much in the way of the transfer portal. Having significant pieces returning to your roster with an up and coming head coach like Lance Taylor, there was little doubt that Western Michigan would go down quietly.

Most of the Broncos' success came from their defense. They did their part to frustrate Underwood & Co. on offense all night. UM finished with 276 yards of total offense, but it was the Broncos relentless attitude in the pass game that kept the game alive. It was that aforementioned defense coming through with 56 seconds left in the half and later converting an interception to points with a field goal to end the half. The Broncos went into halftime trailing 7-6 even as they were in full control.

Another story of the night was Michigan's untimely penalties. Their offense wasn't able to sustain drives because of mistakes being made after the play. Bryce Underwood was flagged for a hold at 10:59 of the third quarter that negated a 20-yard run from Bryson Kuzdzal. Michigan jumped offside late in teh third quarter and extended a drive for Western Michigan, which resulted in another field goal from Kelly.

Despite all that could go wrong for the Wolverines on this night, they were able to stay consistent on defense. Many were wondering when and if the defense would tire and they rose to the challenge. Aside from a few long runs from senior RB Jalen Buckley, they responded. The Wolverines held the Broncos to 226 yards of offense and did not give junior QB Broc Lowry any space to throw 20+ yards out. They were able to weather the storm and contained the Broncos for 40 minutes in the ball game.

Yet, the Michigan offense sputtered once again following an Underwood fumble and led to another Western field goal. Broncos led 12-7 and the thought of losing to a non-conference opponent you paid $1.5 million to play became all the more jarring to its fans.

Fans were seen leaving as early as the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter. Up in the press box, I could not distinguish the chant, but there was belief that someone started a "Fire Kyle" chant. All the stress and agony of losing to an in-state directional school was becoming all the more prominent.

Western Michigan left 35 seconds on the clock and tasked an anemic Michigan offense to drive down the field and score. Two incompletions took 16 seconds off the clock. Then Underwood converted with JJ Buchanan for a 28-yard gain. A spiked ball and an incompletion later, Western Michigan was under the belief they had done it. David had beaten Goliath.

But, the referees went to review the time on the clock and the rest is history.

NOW, I will say that from my vantage point up above, there looked to be some time left on the clock. There was a Big Ten official and some Western and Michigan staffers sitting nearby who had muttered that this might go to review because there might be a second left.

We did not have a view of the clock the Big Ten uses and synced up with his referees in the press box. We do have Big Ten staffers in the box with us should anything like this come about. Myself and the reporter next to me started to think that this game might have one more play left in it.

He also asked why Western wouldn't rush more than three guys.

The ball was hiked and immediately I noticed JJ Buchanan streaking across the middle. No one was around him and Western's lack of pressure was a bit surprising to me. You can tell Bryce Underwood over compensated on his first throw, which he admitted to postgame. Bryce made the right throw at the right time and the stadium went berserk.

I heard people audibly gasp in the press box. The fans poured out onto the field to celebrate what seemed to be an improbable victory snatched from the hands of defeat.

Kudos to Western Michigan HC Lance Taylor for making his postgame remarks about his football team and not the result. Taylor said that "Our kids showed a heart of a champion tonight. The grit that we talk about, the resilience. That was on full display."

Yet what was lost on all of this was the debut for Whittingham in Ann Arbor. I wanted to ask him about that and what this night meant for him.

He said that "The short answer is yes. As far as the anticipation that I had and the expectations, it may have exceeded it. It's a great place. The fans are phenomenal, 110 thousand strong. The environment is terrific and coming down that tunnel is special".

Both teams are back in action next Saturday. The Wolverines continue their non-conference schedule as they welcome the #11 Oklahoma Sooners to the Big House for a noon kickoff. The Western Michigan Broncos begin their 2026 home schedule with a 6:30pm game against Monmouth University at Waldo Stadium.

By Michael Mikita

PASASDENA — The #7 Ohio State Buckeyes won their ninth Rose Bowl Game in a thrilling defeat of the #10 Utah Utes in a contest that lived up to the history of the game and its dramatic setting amid the purple San Gabriel mountains.

College football will long remember the record-breaking performance of Ohio State receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, whose 346 receiving yards and three touchdowns are now not only a Rose Bowl record, but a record in all bowls. Head Coach Ryan Day summed it up best in his post-game interview when he described Smith-Njibga as having “played one of the best games probably in the history of the Rose Bowl.”

But what will set this game apart as a game to be rewatched again for years to come was a flurry of rapid-fire scoring in the second quarter, as within a span of 163 seconds of game-clock, five touchdowns were scored. Indeed, the back-and-forth volley featured a 50-yard Smith-Njigba touchdown, followed immediately by a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Utah’s Britian Covey, which was then followed by another Smith-Njigba touchdown of 48 yards, all capped off by a 62-yard quarterback scramble by Utah quarterback Cam Rising.

And the entire above sequence occurred within three minutes of game clock.

Despite the loss, fans of the University of Utah can hold their heads high, as it took an all-time effort to overcome their gritty play, as they led for much of the game. In his comments to the media following coming up just short, Utah Head Coach accurately noted, “I’m sure the fans and the networks got their money’s worth out of that one. It was a heck of a football game.” This neatly sums up the middle section of the game, where touchdowns were coming left and right, and fans were treated to an entertaining and memorable sequence of scores.

The narrative entering the game was one of how unenthusiastic the Buckeyes were to be playing in the bowl, weighed down as they were by the disappointing loss in their rivalry game against Michigan and the absence of over two dozen players from their roster. In a game where the Utah Utes had all of the excitement to be playing in their first-ever Rose Bowl, it would be the Buckeyes who proved to have the wherewithal to come back from an early deficit and win the game on a 19-yard field goal by Noah Ruggles with 12 seconds left in the game.

In front of a highly partisan audience of 87,842 fans – of whom easily two-thirds were pulling for the Utes – Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud led his team to victory behind six touchdowns, 537 yards of passing, and completing 37 out of 46 passes. Early in the game, however, the momentum and success seemed to favor the Utes, as Cam Rising threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter, one each to Covey and Micha Bernard. Stoud would follow this with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Harrison Jr. early in the second quarter. Then came the video-game theatrics of the lightning-quick touchdown exchange that saw the half end with a 35-21 Utah lead.

If the first half was dominated by Utah, the second half was owned by Ohio State. Speaking to the media after the game, Coach Day gushed that he was “very proud of the coaching staff, the leaders of this team, especially in the second half and wining this game. We were shorthanded, and there were some guys who weren’t there today. For us to respond the way we did in the halftime and to play with the way we did is special.” Changes were certainly made and implemented, as the Ohio State offense came out of halftime and controlled the game, holding the previously hot Utes to only ten points in the half, while putting up 27 points of their own, behind two more touchdowns by Marvin Harrison Jr. and another by Smith-Njigba.

Yet despite the onslaught of Ohio State scoring, and hampered by the loss of their quarterback Rising to injury, Utah was still able to put themselves in a position to win the game with some more late-game theatrics. Rising suffered a scary-looking injury where his head hit the ground and he appeared visibly concussed, and was replaced by backup Bryson Barnes. Barnes appeared to struggle in the first few possessions, but with under three minutes remaining, trailing by a touchdown, Barnes led the Utes offense down the field, culminating in a 15-yard touchdown to Dalton Kincaid with 1:54 left in the game.

This proved to be just the right amount of time needed for the Ohio State offense to engineer a long drive that resulted in the game-winning field goal with a mere 12 seconds left on the clock, leaving the Utes insufficient time to do anything more than return a kickoff as time expired.

Britian Covey, an early hero of the game for Utah, spoke wistfully about the outcome, saying, “this game was a good metaphor for our team, losing a couple of players, battling back through everything.” In a game that is destined to be a Rose Bowl classic, featuring some of the most exciting back-and-forth football fans had experienced this season, there was a team that had to come up short, and it ended up being the Utes. They faced off against a player having a special night, who set new records in bowl games.

“Jaxon’s done what he’s done all year, and that’s just play within himself. Certainly some of the plays he made tonight were tremendous,” Coach Day said of Smith-Njigba. In the end, it was fitting that Smith-Njibga and Stroud joined Coach Day on the podium as the confetti blew to celebrate their Rose Bowl win. “There was a bunch of guys in that locker room that stepped up in a big way… when you have that type of leadership from within, that’s when you can do whatever you want.”

by Joe Smith

MORGANTOWN, W.VA — In your mind, take yourself back to Thanksgiving weekend in 2023. Joe Biden is the President of the United States. “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift is atop the Billboard charts. Your holiday leftovers are in the fridge. Mike Gundy is Oklahoma State’s head coach, and the Cowboys just beat BYU and are headed to the Big 12 Championship Game.

Fast forward to September 26, 2026. Over two full seasons of college football have been played since that fateful weekend, and it's been 1,036 days since Oklahoma State’s last Big 12 win. The Cowboys would go on to the 2024 Big 12 Championship Game and lose to Texas (who is now an SEC program), and they went a combined 0-18 in league play over the next two years.

So it was quite a sweet relief for Oklahoma State’s coaching staff, players, and the fan base as they were able to march into Milan Puskar Stadium, stare down a hostile road crowd in their first season under head coach Eric Morris, and knock off the Mountaineers 41-24 in front of a raucous, near-capacity crowd – securing their first conference win in a long, long time.

“1,036 days? When was the last one,” Morris said with a chuckle. “I’m extremely happy…It’s been so cool for me, even after the Oregon win, to watch our fans and celebrate and see the excitement, and Cowboy Nation just come together.”

“Brandon Weeden told me, ‘Hey coach, if you get this thing going, you’ll be surprised. If you light a match underneath this thing it will catch on fire and be incredible like you’ve never seen.’ Just to see that and see the people that care about this program so much and university so much, it's rewarding to see their faces after a win and smiling.”

Perhaps the best example of what the win meant can be found in Jaleel Johnson. Johnson is a redshirt senior in his fifth year of college football, and he is one of the rare exceptions in this age of college football who has spent his entire career with the same program. 

An Oklahoma native, Johnson went from redshirting and winning Scout Team Player of the Week in 2022 to playing in 12 games during the team’s Big 12 Championship runners-up finish in 2023. Then, he was with the Cowboys through two tumultuous seasons that both ended winless in league play. And he was absolutely beaming as that streak ended on Saturday night.

“Seeing a guy like Jaleel light up in the locker room, he was pumped,” quarterback Drew Mestemaker said. “He was just hyped, and saying ‘thank you.’ Jaleel is our guy, and having guys like him on the team still that have been through those tough times, it really makes these times a lot more enjoyable.”

“Jaleel in the locker room after that…it’s the biggest smile ever on that kid’s face,” Morris said. “I made him take a picture of it, so hopefully we’ll post that this week and you’ll be able to see how big his smile is and how beautiful it was.”

The Cowboys added insult to injury by singing “Take Me Home, Country Roads” in the locker room after the win – that idea came from Morris, according to Mestemaker. A bit disrespectful? Perhaps. But also a celebration of a monumental milestone for a rebuilding program which proved that an earlier win over a Top 25 Oregon team was not a fluke, and that they’re ready to compete in the Big 12 once again.

That was clear all evening as the Cowboys were absolutely dominant offensively against a West Virginia team that entered undefeated with a ranked win of their own. Oklahoma State compiled 606 yards of total offense, with Mestemaker completing 74% of his pass attempts for 389 yards and three touchdowns. 

There were scouts from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, and Atlanta Falcons in attendance, likely to see the NFL quarterback prospect compete. And they got a show from a Mestemaker, with Morris succinctly summing up what a lot of people think about his future: “He’s going to play for a long time.”

But it wasn’t just Mestemaker who played like a star – someone had to catch those passes, and that’s where wide receiver Wyatt Young came into play with an eight-reception, 192 yard performance, including one receiving touchdown. And running back Caleb Hawkins had an explosive night on the ground with 180 yards and one touchdown on 31 carries.

“They’re extremely tough football players,” Morris said about those three players in particular. “They’re gritty. They came from nothing, really. All those guys had one offer or no offers out of high school and they’ve earned everything they’ve gotten in this world of the portal and NIL…They still have the mentality like they have nothing and they’re going to earn something and prove something every day.”

And don’t expect the success to stop any time soon. Now that the Cowboys have a taste of what winning in the Big 12 is like and even more momentum on their side entering league play, no one in the locker room is ready to slow down.

“That was the first conference win, but that’s not the last conference win for us,” linebacker Ethan Wesloski said.

What went wrong for the West Virginia Mountaineers?

There was a near-capacity crowd of over 57,000 fans inside Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, with just a few stray seats in the upper deck empty. The bleachers across the stadium turned to a sea of gold for the Gold Rush theme.

The student section filled up early, and the Mountaineer Maniacs sang Phil Collins. A picturesque sunset in Morgantown bathed the stadium in a unique, slightly eerie glow, and gold-and-blue stadium light shows along with LED glow sticks distributed to all the fans in attendance combined to create an environment that was both impressive and intimidating in the same moment. 

Let’s Go Mountaineer chants echoed throughout the stadium, and it was one of the best home atmospheres outside last season’s Backyard Brawl in recent memory for the Mountaineers. Mestemaker called it the most hostile road environment he’s ever played in. 

It was about as perfect a night as you could ask for for West Virginia right up until the Mountaineers sacrificed a one-point halftime lead with a second-half collapse and lost the game. So where exactly did things go south for the Mountaineers? Well, it's simple, according to head coach Rich Rodriguez – the team’s plan, particularly defensively, was not good enough.

“We definitely did not play as fast,” Rodriguez said. “The film will show if they played as hard. The plan we had failed. That's pretty obvious. I'm the head coach, so that falls on me. It failed for sure. That's pretty obvious.”

“We got to have a better plan for our guys. Then, we got to have the ability, if that plan ain't working, go to a plan B. I failed to have us Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. Normally, we have that pretty locked down but, evidently today, that wasn't the case.”

But if you had asked many West Virginia fans at the beginning of the season if they’d be happy with 3-1 to start the season, they would have said yes. They’re still just one win away from matching last year’s win total, and they have several winnable games in the coming weeks.

The offense looked decent, earning 467 yards themselves, and the Mountaineers ran for 335 yards, with both quarterback Mike Hawkins Jr. and running back Cam Cook going for over 100 yards apiece on the ground. Now, the Mountaineers will look to take the positives, learn from the negatives, and get back on track against Iowa State next week.

“One game is not going to define us,” Rodriguez said. “We got a lot to learn. We got a lot of guys playing for the first time. Typically we take 24 hours to move on to the next one, but I don't want to take that long. Maybe twelve hours and move on to the next one.”

By Ryan Parnow:

This game was bittersweet for me. I have been Iowa State fan since my freshman year there almost 30 years ago. The day that Matt Campbell left and the following few weeks with all of the players we knew and had come to love announcing they were leaving we really hard. I think most Cyclone fans were very concerned about the future of the program. The most successful coach in Iowa State history was leaving. Like an ex girlfriend, part of you wants to see them fall flat on their face and learn that they had it pretty good with you and part of you really cares about them and wants to see them do well and to prove that "Iowa State" CAN compete in the Big 10. (I mean we already know they can, Becht was 2-1 against Iowa).

Aside from that, this was an awesome experience. This was Northwestern's first game in their new stadium. It was beautiful. The design of the stadium made it so loud I regretted not bringing ear plugs. Even with capacity at only 35k it was every bit as loud as Kinnick or Jack Trice. The student section is standing only and took up the whole end zone and they brought the energy from the beginning.

The Ground Game Was Unstoppable: Northwestern gashed Penn State's defense for a staggering 413 total rushing yards. 

Backfield Stars: Caleb Komolafe led the charge with 25 carries for 188 yards and a touchdown, while Joseph Himon II added 162 yards and two scores on just 10 touches. 

Becht's Struggles Under Center: Quarterback Rocco Becht finished the night completing 26 of 41 passes for 243 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 costly interceptions, while failing to spark any consistent offensive momentum. 

I don’t think this game was as close as the score.

Since it was announced that Campbell was leaving I’ve said he isn’t the guy to get Penn State to the highest levels. He is not at good game day execution. He wants to play like Ferentz but the teams lacked the discipline you typically see from Iowa. Overly conservative. Terrible at clock management. His success at Iowa State was aided by the fact that he had the best recruiting classes in history. Penn State doesn’t have to work as hard to get top recruits as ISU does. Also expect injuries to be a thing. Iowa State had entire position groups wiped out season after season. Finally, consistency. Last year Iowa state started 5-0 and then lost to Cincinnati (7-6) and Colorado (3-9). In 2024 they made it to the Big 12 title game but lost to Kansas (5-7) during the season.

Photos of the stadium

Photos of the game

The Audacity of Hope (as a Michigan fan); Michigan defeats Northwestern 33-7

By David Woelkers

You’re probably expecting me to write a column on the results of yesterday's game. I’ll get to that, don’t worry. But indulge me for a second here as I talk about what surrounded it:

If you don’t know who George Jewett is, or why he’s important enough a figure to warrant a trophy in his honor being made, that’s okay. I didn’t either, and I’ve been baptized in the maize and blue tradition since before I was born.

George Jewett was born in Ann Arbor in 1870. He was the valedictorian of his graduating class, captain of the debate, football and baseball teams, fluent in four languages, and won the AAU championship in the 100m sprint. 30 years after his death in 1908, and despite only playing two seasons in Ann Arbor, he was still regarded as one of the greatest players in the pre-Fielding Yost era of Michigan football.

He did all of this while being a black man in Jim Crow era America. The ugly reality of Jewett’s sudden move from Michigan to Northwestern is that Dr. Victor C. Vaughan, the dean of Michigan’s medical school and a prominent eugenicist, made clear to Jewett he believed no black man was of an able enough mind and body to both play football and study medicine. In all likelihood, Vaughan probably didn’t want a black man studying medicine at his institution under any circumstances, and simply used Jewett’s football career as a cover. Even after proving Vaughan wrong in Evanston, Jewett was unable to find steady employment as a doctor due to the color of his skin, and returned to Ann Arbor to instead run a dry cleaning and pressing business.

The surprise even the most diehard Wolverines have had at learning about the incredible and somewhat tragic story of George Jewett is part of a larger problem within Michigan’s carefully curated image of their own history. People like Jewett, Moses Fleetwood Walker, the first ever black athlete at Michigan, and Willis Ward were left to faded pages, while eugenicists and racists like Vaughan, President C.C Little, and Fielding Yost were engraved in marble and brick.

Even now, despite having a trophy made in his honor and the induction ceremony taking place literally the night before the game, George Jewett is not an inductee in the Michigan Athletics Hall of Honor. Nor is Moses Fleetwood Walker. While Willis Ward is an inductee, and was honored with a room in the Michigan Union following the Union’s 2020 renovation, there are no athletic buildings named after a person of color anywhere on campus.

The George Jewett Trophy is an admirable start by the University, but a start that has come all too late, and is all too little in the grand scheme of the quote-on-quote “Michigan Difference”. I’m hopeful Warde Manuel will continue to build on the precedent he has now set, as will Dr. Derrick Gragg at Northwestern.

Now, onto the game.

As is the old adage in sports betting; good teams win, great teams cover. There is no truer test of that than when you’re favored by 23.5 points, in a conference rivalry where it’s most famous game involved a half-M00N.

Against Northwestern, Michigan proved it’s a great team. Granted, they only just managed to cover, but on a day that included No. 3 Oklahoma (-38.5) barely scraping by Kansas, No. 2 Cincinnati (-27.5) never being able to separate themselves from Navy, and No. 7 Penn State (-24) outright losing to Illinois, beating an unranked opponent against the spread was apparently not a guarantee for any top ten team, and should be treated at a premium.

The statline confirms just how dominant Michigan was: the Wolverines posted 457 yards to Northwestern’s 233, contained the Northwestern offense to a sub 30% third down conversion rate, and dominated the time of possession by a staggering 20 minutes. Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum continued to show how much of a problem they are when given even a sliver of opportunity as both finished with two touchdowns and over 110 yards rushing. There was even a blocked punt!

And yet, despite the mountain of the evidence to the contrary, this game still felt uncomfortably close. Until midway through the third quarter, the score didn’t match the stats, and while Michigan has now finished six of seven games with over 30 points scored, I can’t shake the feeling the shoe is about to drop.

Maybe I’m just cynical, and the black pit of negative expectations has still got me in it’s grasp. But one particular stat stood out to me; despite having just 5 pass attempts all game, and despite passing for almost a hundred yards less than his counterpart, J.J. McCarthy finished with a passer rating three points higher than Cade McNamara. The explanation for this is simple; McCarthy, in his few opportunities, did what McNamara either can’t do, or is uncomfortable doing in the dozens of attempts he’s received.

McNamara is supposed to be a steady presence in the pocket. In the post-game press conference though, McNamara seemed uneasy, even almost combative, answering questions about his performance. In turn, I am still uneasy with McNamara manning the helm for this team. The time has come and gone for McNamara to find a groove and stay in it, and with a top 10, perhaps even a top 5 showdown with Michigan State six days away, that is a dangerous tightrope to be walking.

Ultimately, a win is a win, and Michigan has found plenty of them as we approach the final turn of the season. The Wolverines control their own destiny in late October, something I never thought I’d be saying two months ago. There is genuine reason to maybe, just maybe, have a sliver of hope that this year will be different.

I’ll still be unable to sleep soundly on Friday night though.

Like it? Hate it? Reach out to me via DM or on twitter at @dawjr98!

Ethan Grunkemeyer threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns as Virginia Tech snapped Maryland’s 20-game nonconference winning streak with a 35-26 win Saturday night in College Park. 

The Hokies converted eight of nine first downs in the first half and scored touchdowns on their first three possessions, keeping Maryland’s defense on the field and its offense on the sideline. Head coach James Franklin called it “really good complementary football: offense, defense, and special teams.” Meanwhile, Maryland head coach Mike Locksley pointed to two things instead: “time of possession” and “our inability to control the line of scrimmage.”  

Franklin, a former Maryland assistant under Ralph Friedgen, improved to 10-2 all-time against the Terrapins. The two coaches last met in 2024, when Franklin’s Penn State team scored on the final play of a 44-7 win and the postgame handshake between the pair turned scrappy. 

For his part, Franklin down-played tensions that had arisen during the week prior this game as his players criticized Terrapins quarterback Malik Washington: “I think that quarterback's really good. I don't know why we made the comments we did during the week. I didn't agree with them when they were said and I don’t agree with them now."

Maryland deferred, and the Hokies scored on the opening drive, with Grunkemeyer finding Luke Reynolds for a touchdown after Jeffrey Overton Jr. 29-yard touchdown run was erased by an offensive holding. Grunkemeyer added a scrambling 18-yard score under heavy pressure, and though the extra point was blocked, Tech led 13-0. Maryland answered with a 75-yard drive capped by an Iverson Howard touchdown, but Overton turned a short pass into a 49-yard score to restore their early cushion. 

Maryland kept pushing. Washington and Chris Durr Jr., who passed 1,000 career receiving yards, cut the deficit to 20-14 late in the second quarter, but Tech answered in under two minutes on a 2-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Ricous Hairston. The Hokies led 27-14 at the half. 

After a Maryland three-and-out to open the third quarter, Tech ate 6:12 on an 11-play, 67 yard drive that ended with an Overton touchdown run, making it 35-14. The Terrapins turned the ball over on downs on a failed shovel pass, then found the endzone two more times in the fourth quarter, on touchdown passes to Dorian Fleming and Durr, to trim the score to 35-26.

Tech closed it out on a fourth-and-1 catch by Reynolds that survived review. He finished with 12 catches for 107 yards, and Grunkemeyer threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns. 

Virginia Tech (3-0) opens ACC play next Saturday on the road against Boston College. Maryland (2-1) begins Big Ten play the same day, hosting UCLA.

By Stuart Johnsen

One might wonder if the Pac-12 is reconsidering not inviting BYU to join the conference. The Cougars looked right at home competing with Pac-12 teams in their opening three weeks of the season, winning all three against Arizona, Utah, and most recently #23 ASU. The #20 Cougars looked every bit the part of a top 25 team as they capitalized on ASU penalties and big plays to win 27-17 in Provo, while the Pac-12 reels from another abysmal weekend showing.

The night could not have started any better for the Cougars or worse for the Sun Devils, as the opening kick return by ASU was jarred free by Gunther Talmadge and recovered by BYU at ASU's 12 yard line. Under a minute later BYU punched in their first score of the game on a four yard rush by running back Tyler Allgeier and the Cougars never looked back and never trailed the Sun Devils, breaking away for good in the 2nd quarter. BYU quarterback Jaren Hall threw two touchdowns and backup quarterback Baylor Romney threw one to ice the game for good. Tight end Isaac Rex was the recipient of two of those touchdowns, continuing his prolific collegiate career after 12 touchdowns last season.

The most memorable play of the night was nearly a disaster for the Cougars but instead will be remembered for player perseverance and a bit of amazing luck. Leading 21-17 in the 3rd quarter, Jaren Hall threw an interception on a short out route that looked like it was going to be returned for a touchdown by ASU’s Merlin Robertson. A score at that point would have given ASU their first lead of the game and would have been a major momentum swing, but in an incredible show of speed Tyler Allgeier ran down the play to jump on Robertson and in an even more incredible show of awareness, he fired a punch straight at the ball that jarred it loose. Jaren Hall had also ran down the field to try to save the play and recovered the ball back for BYU, resulting in a play that began at ASU's 26 yard line ended at BYU's 15 and with BYU regaining possession.

While BYU won the game, ASU actually outgained BYU in the contest, gaining 426 total yards to BYU's 361. ASU started with a more pass-heavy attack but adjusted their game to an extremely effective rushing offense behind running back Daniel Ngata, who gained 82 yards for the Sun Devils on just 8 carries. ASU quarterback Jayden Daniels completed 21 of 29 passes for 265 yards on the night, but was intercepted twice on overthrows. Those two offensive turnovers weren't where the Sun Devils lost though - ASU's advantage in offensive yardage was more than offset in penalties, with 121 yards of field position conceded to BYU. The penalties, as they so often do, ruined multiple drives for the Sun Devils and kept them from building any sort of lasting momentum on offense. A key drive in the 4th quarter for ASU in particular stands out as an illustration: ASU started on its own five yard line and was effective enough to move the ball, but four false starts and a burned timeout the drive to try and regroup resulted in a 3rd and 24 and an eventual punt back to the Cougars. Post-game, BYU head coach Kalani Sitake credited fans with creating an incredibly loud and disruptive environment that inhibited ASU's offensive cadence.

BYU's undefeated record against Pac-12 opponents in their first three games of the season bears mentioning, as the Pac-12's woeful weekend showing continues to degrade the conference's reputation. The Pac-12 South in particular had a very rough time, with only USC's win over Washington State saving the division from a winless week. Weakness in the regional power 5 footprint may prove to be the boon of the Cougars, who will still face two more Pac-12 opponents in Washington State and USC. BYU player health may be an issue as Hall, Allgeier, and starting linebacker Keenan Pili all exited the game with injuries and added to an already lengthy injury list for the Cougars. Hall and Allgeier both appeared in the post-game press conference and appeared to be well (Hall claimed his exit was simply having the wind knocked out of him), but BYU's rash of injuries may prove to be a sticking point if they do not have healthy players late into the season. The Cougars schedule may help them here though, as they do not leave the state of Utah next until their October 16th meeting with Baylor in Waco. BYU will still have to contend with a currently 3-0 Utah State and rival Boise State, but if they are able to navigate their respectable but also very reasonable remaining schedule with healthy players, the Cougars may be poised for big things this season and into the postseason.

ASU will return home to Tempe next week to start its conference slate against Colorado, fresh off its shutout loss to Minnesota. The Cougars will welcome USF to Provo next week.

The TL/DR on this game was real simple. UCLA's defense had no answers for the Utes offense.

Utah had a 20 play, 80 yard, nearly 10 minutes of position TD drive and a 5 play, 50 yard, 2:12 TD drive, and seemingly every type of scoring drive in between. Devon Dampier, the transfer QB from New Mexico, was practically unstoppable, as the Utes finished with 492 total yards of offense including 206 in the air and an additional 87 on the ground by Dampier. The Utes, as a team, ran it for a total of 286 yards.

Utah got the ball first and wasted no time setting the tone and theme of the game by marching 75 yards on 11 plays and scoring on a Wayshawn Parker 13 yard TD run. The extra point was missed and that was about the only negative thing to happen to Utah's offense all night.

UCLA's 1st drive showed some promise as the well publicized transfer QB from Tennessee, Nico Iamaleava, led the Bruins to Utah's 40 yard line. On 4th and 2 from the 40, Iamaleava's pass was incomplete, and Utah took the ball back on the turnover on downs.

Utah's 2nd drive looked like the first drive, with a well balanced mix of run and passing, capped by a Smith Snowden 8 yard TD run. This time the PAT was good and Utah had a 13-0 lead late in the 1st qtr.

After a UCLA 3 and out, The Utes had a quick strike drive of just 2:12 time of possession that was finished off by a Devon Dampier 14 yard TD pass. UCLA's offense would then show some life. Their lone touchdown drive of 75 yards, was capped by a 19 yard Nico Iamaleava pass. Utah got back 3 points by kicking a FG to end the half and giving us a score of 23 - 7 at halftime. .

UCLA opened up the 3rd quarter with a FG drive, and then Utah put this game to sleep. The Utes would go on a 20 play, 80 yard, 9:44 time of possession touchdown drive. That was finished off on a 4th and goal, 2 yard TD run, by Devon Dampier. Everything after that drive was pretty academic.

Post game, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said about that drive: "Our front really took control of that drive, they had control the whole night, but that's a statement drive. We can lean on you and oppose our will if we want." And that is exactly what happened in this game.

A couple of stats to note:
Utah was 14 of 17 on 3rd downs and 1 for 1 on 4th downs.
Utah's total time of possession was 37:28

by Bobak Ha'Eri

During the break-out podium interviews here at Big Ten Media Day, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule was asked about the much-publicized comments by his predecessor and now-UCF head coach Scott Frost, that he had taken the "the wrong job" when he returned to take over his alma mater.

It was a long, interesting answer about the state of Nebraska football, sympathy to the situation Frost was in, that also wove in the sort of boosterism we see from almost all coaches at pre-season media days (which are about selling the program to the press before the season).

Below is the full answer with some slight edits for flow and clarity:

First of all, I have a ton of respect for Scott, and I've always been very empathetic for what he went through. Because this was his home, you know.

If you guys fired me tomorrow, like, I'm just gonna go back to Cape May and sit on the beach and go back to where I'm from. But this was his home, right? And so, this off season, we put up a huge picture of Scott as a player in the coach's area, because I took a picture and I sent it to Ryan Callaghan [UCF Senior Director of Football Operations and Recruiting] down there, because I can't imagine what that feels like for him, right?

I know what it felt like to get run out of Carolina. And I would say to people: "I don't think I took the right job for me. It wasn't the right fit." That doesn't mean it's bad, no.

I will say this: [Nebraska] was not a good job when I got it. Like, we were behind on NIL. The facilities weren't what they were—everything was behind.

Trev [Alberts, then AD] convinced me: "Hey, Matt, this is gonna by the time we get to the point where we're gonna be able to pay players like this is the only Big Ten school with no debt." We're talking about 2025—[the cap]'s gonna go up percentages every year. And we're at a place where we have the best facility in football. We have everything that we could want. We make more of an investment in nutrition than any other team in the country. I mean, look at all of our sports. Look at how they're all blossoming right now because of the investments we're making in nutrition Sports Science.

There wasn't a sauna in the facility when we first got there, and now you got to pick between a steam room, a sauna and infrared sauna and personal sauna — But that those were investments. Scott came at a time he had [to deal with] COVID, he had all these different things. I can't talk about his time, but what I can say was, this wasn't a good job.

It was not a good job, and, but we've made it a good job, and we're about to make it a great job. This will be one of the best jobs in the country. And, that's why sometimes recruits will say, "Coach, if you win, what are you gonna do?" I'm like, "I'm gonna, I'm gonna stay right here." The only thing I ever think about is getting a lake house in one of these lakes in Nebraska I keep hearing about, no one ever invites me.

The thing is, is, like, you walk in and everyone's like, "Well, that was Scott's fault", you know? And Carolina said "that was Matt's fault." But, good programs, it's everybody.

So why are we gonna win now? We're gonna win because of Troy [Dannen, athletic directory]. We're gonna win because of [megadonor] Tom Peed. We're gonna win because of [megadonor] Shawn Peed. Like, if the Peeds don't do what they did with 1890 [Official NIL Collective of Nebraska Athletics] and the investment they made, the investment they made this spring... we're dead, like, we're dead — because these other schools they have all of this.

And so the investment the Peeds made, the investments we're about to make in this stadium — and I don't know what the stadium [plans are], so don't ask me. [. . .]

Trev articulated [the plan], and what Troy's done is Troy's come in and he's not been afraid to take heat. He's made decisions that he feels like are right, and that's what makes it a good job. When your leaders are going to make decisions that they think are right, no matter what the public outcry is, then you have a chance to be really, really successful.

So think about the job I took: Trev's gone, Admiral Carter's [former school President Ted Carter] gone, but now I got [current President] Jeff Gold. I got Troy Dannon and I got [other staff], I've got all the things that you could need.

So, I think Scott was just talking about for him wasn't the right fit. And I respect that, and I feel for him, and I want him to always know, like, man, the things he did at this school: I want him always to feel like he could come back and has a home there.

That being said, it's the right job for me. And Julie [wife] knew it — she told me the day we interviewed. She's like, "that's the right job for you." Because I like to go into a place that needs fixing, and try to start. I like starting with the nutrition program. And I like starting with the sports science. Like, even if there is, there was no Sports Science [here], really — but I like starting with all that stuff. And there were 24 ACL [injuries] in the four years before I got there, there were 49 major knee injuries. There was an old, beat up turf field outside. There was a bad grass field outside, and that cost money to fix. You should see our grass right now. It looks like Augusta out there, the grass practice fields. And so I just want to make sure I always say, everyone can point and say, "What went wrong? What went wrong?" It takes everybody saying, "Hey, what's my area?" Hey, even just making sure we have everything we need. And so I think it's a great job now.

Catch-up with the regular updates from both Big Ten and ACC media days in this week's post here.

Ever since I wrote my original, off-the-cuff exposé on the fake schools that were appearing on the periphery of college football—/r/CFB was among the very first to draw serious attention to the existence of these schools—I like to occasionally check-in to see what they've been up to.

Now that the regular season is over, I decided to do a follow-up on the post I did before the season where I tried to track the guilty programs who were still paying for wins against the most dubious teams that they've long known (or should have known) do not even count under NAIA or NCAA rules.

Thankfully, there's never a dull moment with these fake programs—and this season was no different! We had several major things happen:

• College of Faith (AR), the original College of Faith which had taken a 2 year break from football to focus on basketball while College of Faith (NC) played football, did not play a single one of its scheduled games. Instead:
• The College of Faith missed its first two games: The first was a forfeit, the second was canceled (purportedly due to Hurricane Matthew)
• The affiliated University of Faith (FL) filled in for a few games of College of Faith's remaining schedule, plus...
• An entirely new team materialized this season: Haywood Crusaders (more below) claims to also be affiliated with College of Faith and filled in for one game and apparently played a make-up game for the forfeited game by College of Faith at the beginning of the season.
• The University of God's Chosen played all three of its scheduled games against real universities, as planned

As usual, none of these teams won or even played competitively because they are not coached or supported in any credible, competent fashion. They are attached to complete sham “universities” that are nothing more than vanity projects for people who should have never been put in charge of the futures of young men who are being cheated at believing they're part of a college and put at risk due to lack of medical staff or facilities. The administrators of bona fide colleges who are scheduling these teams are complicit in this sham, pure and simple.

In games they actually played, the fake schools were a combined 0-9 [see edit note at bottom], outscored by an abysmal 420-21.

University of God's Chosen Disciples: Compared the the rest there was little drama, just their regularly scheduled paychecks for showing up and losing badly for small teams looking for an extra home game.

Record 0-3, outscored 137-3

College of Faith "Arkansas - Texas" [unknown nickname]

* The University of Fort Lauderdale is a small school, run out of a converted strip mall, that seems to genuinely be trying to become a real college—but this very last-minute decision to have an inaugural season has been impossible to track after their first 3 games (they ceased updating their website or social media accounts about it). College of Faith was scheduled as the finale. It's safe to assume it didn't happen or one of the other fake schools stepped in to cover for them. ‡ Where Morthland originally only had College of Faith (AR), that game was a forfeit and, a month later, a game vs CoF-affiliated Haywood was scheduled in

University of Faith Glory Eagles: Before the season we couldn't find any schedule for UoF, and as it turns out they mostly filled in for College of Faith's schedule.

Record 0-4, outscored 181-18

† Originally scheduled as College of Faith (AR); University of Faith (FL) actually showed up to play

Haywood Crusaders, based out of Brownsville, Tennessee, were the surprise program this season: We can't find any version of their name using University, College, Institute, anything other than “Haywood Crusaders” (Brownsville is in Haywood County); they are the McLovin of college football. Morthland tossed a “Prep.” in their recap, but I can't find it anywhere else, including this local paper that did little to no critical examination of them in a puff piece (because real journalism is too hard to do anymore). Incidentally, their logo is ripped straight off of Holy Cross, they didn't even bother to change the color.

Record 0-2, outscored 102-0

† Originally scheduled as College of Faith (AR); University of Faith (FL) actually showed up to play
‡ Where Morthland originally only had College of Faith (AR), that game was a forfeit and, a month later, a game vs CoF-affiliated Haywood was scheduled in

EDIT: this preview in Malone's local newspaper came to the correct conclusion. Good work by that writer seeing a team they couldn't explain on the schedule and then working out who exactly they were rather than simply glossing over it (or making up info, which I've seen before).

Additional Notes:

• Fake school College of Faith-Charlotte no longer plays 4yr schools and calls itself a "Christian based sports trade school"
• Fake school Central International apparently did not field a team this season.
• Both rival fake Redemption schools (which caused scheduling confusion for opponents last season) are apparently gone
• I am not listing Virginia University-Lynchburg because of their status as a real school on life support rather than a fake school: they have a full schedule out there, and opponents can't count them, but the aim here is to target the schools that clearly have no business being scheduled.
• The G-MAC of NCAA D2 currently has only 3 football-playing members but is scheduled to have a bunch more join in the next year; that will help previously D2 Independent Alderson-Broaddus and Malone get home games that aren't non-countable opponents (it's very hard for small schools without conferences to schedule these teams). The 3rd G-MAC team, Kentucky Wesleyan, steered totally away from non-countable opponents after having to deal with the aftermath of having 4 games declared non-countable when the NCAA made its initial ruling on this issue. They are scheduled to have new teams join next season and should help those 3 teams fill up their home schedules without resorting to fake schools.

Final Thoughts

How do we stop these fake schools from putting vulnerable players at risk and making a sham out of college football? Publicity. By bringing this story to light whenever relevant. If you're a fan or alum of the teams the schedule them: let administrators know these games aren't okay. I don't mind that many in the media take facts from my write-ups without citing us, or avoid citing us for fear that we're /r/CFB: the goal is to get the word out.

Now, when an AD or administrator does an internet search on the school they've never heard of that's calling to try and arrange a game, they can find posts like this or articles in other media and see they should not schedule them. If they decide to anyway (see above), they can be rightfully ridiculed for putting their dignity and credibility aside to schedule a fake team they hope no one notices.

These programs are better suited as purely developmental football teams aimed to help players who, for whatever reason, chose not to attend college can use to develop their football talent. At the same time, how they are currently run: as extremely underfunded vanity projects out of the coach's houses or local churches, they are in no state to be a viable alternative to college football. By continuing to go on with the charade of being schools, they create problems for everyone involved: risk for players, useless non-countable games for real colleges, and feeding the demand for their existence in this current, extremely inadequate state.

[EDIT: thanks to /u/EeveekielElliott we found UoF also played Texas A&M–Commerce. It's been updated.]

by Bobak Ha'Eri

The future of the USC-Notre Dame football rivalry is uncertain, with the present contracts only going until 2026.

Both programs have stated interest in having it continue, though USC is the party wavering in its commitment to the storied intersectional rivalry.

Big Ten Media Days gave USC head coach Lincoln Riley plenty of opportunities to discuss the matter, and from his explanations it's clear he sees it as his duty to place the USC's chances at a College Football Playoff berth over one of its oldest traditions — that is, unless, the rest of college football accedes to the automatic-qualifier playoff format being pushed by the Big Ten Conference.

Below are key summaries, followed by the extended answers so Riley can explain it himself.

Takeaways:

• Riley asserts there is unlikely to be a long-term contract for USC-Notre Dame rivalry without the automatic-qualifier playoff format being pushed by Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti (and to varying degrees by the other Big Ten coaches).

• Notre Dame's lack of conference is held to give it an advantage, something heard from other coaches.

• Riley thinks having a automatic-qualifier playoff format would save non-conference rivalry games across college football. This obviously is a mixed bag as some are continuing without issue, while others have been lost. While SEC teams have kept several non-conference rivals, they also play one less conference game.

• Riley, following the lead of Petitti, asserts that human biases would negatively affect Playoff selections [more on this below]

• Riley is less committal to the route of a "standardized schedule" as a way to avoid losing traditional non-conference rivalry games. (e.g. both SEC/Big Ten playing the same number of conference games)

• Riley implies that people within USC and its sphere agree with him, and only outsiders disagree. [No one has a clear answer when it comes to USC donors or fanbase, though there are plenty of anecdotal stories, both reported and on message boards, that differ with his position.]

Tony Petitti has made concerns over subjectivity a major point in his push to move to an automatic-qualifier playoff model over a 5+11 model. While he was on the podium, I asked him whether there were issues with subjectivity in the committee this past season (if anything Indiana getting in over SEC name brands showed the system worked in the Big Ten's favor), he sidestepped to say that there had been a long history of human flaws leading to bad selections in both the BCS and 4-team playoff eras. One thing to keep in mind: the Alabama over Florida State controversy does appear to be a direct argument against one of Riley arguments that humans will always favor an undefeated schedule over one with a loss.

Long Answers:

After his remarks on the podium, Riley was asked about the rivalry question by one of the better USC-focused journalist-podcasters — crafted to avoid making it too accusatory, and letting Riley explain himself a bit:

Q: Talk about the importance, the significance of the USC-Notre Dame rivalry. Does it matter when that game is played during the schedule?

Lincoln: [After briefly saying the date in the schedule doesn't matter, as well as talking about how excited he was to coach in the USC-Notre Dame Rivalry, comparing it to the excitement he had when he first found out he'd get to be a head coach in the Texas-Oklahoma rivalry]

But, also, my allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame, and it's not to anybody else. I'm the head football coach at USC, and I'm going to back USC, and I'm going to do everything possible that I can in my power to make USC as good as it can and not going to let anything stand in between that.

I'm very hopeful we can get to a point where it makes sense. It's one of those situations right now where the two schools are in radically different situations. I think we can all agree with that with one having a conference affiliation and one not.

I think it's another — I think there's a million reasons why that we should very seriously as a college football community, that we should adopt the automatic qualifying in terms of the College Football Playoff. This might be the most important one, right, is that we give every reason for college football to preserve nonconference games that mean a lot to the history of the game and to the fan bases and the former players and everybody that's been associated with it.

I'm very hopeful that we can get there, and I'm very hopeful that we play this game forever.

Jumping to the breakout session, he was asked about it several times from slightly different angles. I directed one question, followed-up by the same reporter as above.

Quick logistical aside: The breakout sessions placed multiple coaches and players around the room simultaneously. I needed to rotate around. However, I went back and listened to the audio of when I wasn't by Riley to catch all the questions on the topic [this is also why some questions repeat in media day pressers, people rotate around and may miss the earlier answer – it's just the nature of logistics so no one gets too annoyed]:

Q: [poor audio, but asking about the tradition of the rivalry]

Riley: [First reiterates how much he's loved rivalries since being a player.]

The unfortunate part right now is we're all put in a little bit of an impossible situation where you got to make decisions on something that you care about: something that's so important to the history, the fans, and all that as a rivalry — while also doing competitively relative to the Playoff and the chance to win a National Championship. What's best for your own program? And that's not an easy situation to be in.

And this one is certainly more complicated because one team is in a conference and one team is not in a conference. It is what it is. I'm not throwing shade at anybody. It's just the truth. It makes it — the value relative to the Playoff for the two teams is radically different. Radically different.

So, our hope is obvious that we can get this Playoff system to the automatic-qualifying model and if that happens that will pave the way to any rivalry that loses its conference affiliation — there's a bunch of them out there — will have a chance to live on forever. It's a real simple solution.

Certainly, hopeful we can get to that point. I want the game to be played forever, I think it would be really sad if SC-Notre Dame was ever not played. But I'm also not the head coach of Notre Dame, I'm not some person in the middle of it. My allegiance is to SC and that's not going to change.

Q: In that 4 automatic-qualifier format — is anything lost when those games aren't really going to matter for the actual Playoff? —because that will just be based on conference schedule... Do you lose something by those games not having those same Playoff stakes?

Lincoln: I don't think so. In fact, I even think it incentivizes you even more to plan because…I just don't think any SC-Notre Dame…any team, or fanbase, or coaching staff is ever going to walk out on the field in that game and not want to do everything that they possibly can to win that thing.

I just think it incentivizes you more to plan, prepping your team, playing another really good program, playing in big time atmospheres, exposure that they get — everything it's so meaningful to the former players, the fans, and everyone. I just think competitiveness is too high in this game for that to happen.

The other thing I want to stay on that, too: The game would still affect [Playoff] seeding, and that's really important. You get value for winning the game. You win the game and go in the Playoff — well that's another thing that will help your seeding.

It's great, it just doesn't put you in a competitive disadvantage on access to the Playoff. I think that's the key right now.

Q: Do you think that the College Football Playoff Committee actually said [inaudible] "We're going to focus on the schedule", just not just use the words?

Lincoln: It'll never happen. On one of the shows today, one of the 74 I've done <chuckle> I gave this analogy: If last year after the first game — take our LSU game last year — and you're evaluating LSU, and they lose to a ranked opponent in a heck of a football game, lose right at the end. All right, so they're 0-1 and somebody else played an FCS team and they won by 31 points. All right. Everybody wants to say, well, it may be more impressive to play a really good game that came right there to the end. And it probably is. But at the end of the day, nobody's going to pick a loss over a win. It's like not going to happen. You can't justify it. People are not going to look, if they're making a Committee decision, are not going to look at this record versus that record and put the other team in. And we saw proof of it. We've seen proof of it forever.

At the end of the day, when it's humans, it's going to be win-loss record and that's it. I just don't think that's going to change — and it's not fair to those people because how do you make that decision? It's an impossible. We have put some of the brightest, smartest people with incredible histories in this game. You're giving them an impossible task. You're trying to compare things that aren't the same. And so, the only way to do it is either you put everybody under the same, you know, whatever, which I don't know that that's anywhere near, I'm not like projecting anything — or you make it to where the conferences can still have kind of their own little individual things like they have right now, and the conferences decide who represents them in the playoffs.

College football's changed. The SEC is not the same SEC that it was: you added two blue bloods, you know what I mean? The Big Ten's not the same Big Ten that it was. Now everybody's playing big players instead of just some people. It's the truth; again, I'm not throwing shade at people. Evaluating older models and "this would have happened 15 years ago" don't matter because this ain't the same. This is different. And if I just think if we want to preserve these things, and we want to take the human element out of the decision making on who gets in or not — that's where this comes from. It makes a lot of sense. I really hope we get there.

[unrelated questions]

The momentum for the 4-4-2-2-1 and similar automatic-qualifier variants seems to have fallen out of favor before Big Ten Media Days began, so I wanted to ask about the contingency plan (Petitti himself says the conference is fine with simply sticking with the current 12-team model).

Q (me): Lincoln, if the playoff expands and they don't do the automatic qualifiers that you favor, what do you envision a USC schedule in the non-conference being like?

Riley: I mean, hard to say. It definitely will put a different type of — I don't know if "pressure" is the right word — but it'll put it'll put all the Big Ten teams in a unique scenario. Because if we stay where it's just us playing 9 [conference games] in terms of the big two conferences, you know, and it's just us playing nine, our outlook and what we'll need is probably going to be quite a bit different than the others. That's a little bit of the unfortunate part that we're trying to avoid. So if it happens, we'll deal with it. But I have a hard time believing we're going to get to that, I really, really do.

Q: Is the only way to save the game — the tradition of the game [implied Notre Dame, same reporter who asked the first question at the podium] — is to standardize the schedule?

Riley: It would help. None of us got in this to try to disrupt traditions or eliminate rivalry games. That's the anti- of what we got into this for. Nobody wants that.

We also want to do our job for the places that hired us, too. So, yeah, it would be a huge step, and I hope we all — as some of these things that college football have been withering away a little bit, right, some of these traditions. Maybe it's an effort, or calling, for all of us in it. Let's do something truly good for the game.

Towards the end of the breakout there was a very friendly question by an access-reliant team site was clearly going for brownie points:

Q: Going back to that Notre Dame rivalry for a second: Are you at all surprised that there's pushback to not agreeing to a long-term deal when that could potentially put you guys at a massive disadvantage with so many changes and other teams not scheduling a game like that years down the road?

Riley: I'm not surprised that there were opinions on it on the outside. I mean, with SC football there's always gong to be an opinion one way or another. I get it, nobody wants to see it go away. Me included. I get it.

I think most of the people that have opinions aren't in our shoes, though. Most of the people if you put that same scenario and put it in their own household would probably think about it a lot differently.

We chose, unlike the other side, we chose to just not sit there and make a big public outcry. We wanted to see how this stuff evolved and have a good calm head about it and then get our chance to speak on it at the appropriate time and that's what we did.

Although Riley stated he wasn't trying to "throw shade" in earlier answers, that last paragraph was squarely aimed at Notre Dame.

After this season, the Big Ten and SEC will get to decide what the future of the College Football Playoff looks like. The two are currently at odds with how it would be structured, but general consensus is they will eventually come to some agreement. It could be the existing 12-team format, a 16-team in the 5+11, 4-4-2-2-1, or even something in-between. When that happens, non-conference rivalries like USC-Notre Dame will have more clarity in how they fit.

USC's non-conference slate for 2025 is hosting Missouri State's first game as an FBS program, Georgia Southern (Helton's return), and at Notre Dame. It's present 2026 slate hosts Fresno State and Notre Dame, with a 12th regular season game TBD.

⚠️🏈⚠️🏈 GAME PICTURES LINKED HERE ⚠️🏈⚠️🏈

By Josh Priddy

What's the more accurate statement?

A) LSU is very good.

B) Clemson is very bad.

For the first two plays, this game looked like it could have the makings of a great one. Any hope of a competitive game faded soon thereafter, and it faded fast. After Clemson's initial field goal to take a 3-0 lead, Dabo's Tigers wouldn't score again until a garbage time touchdown in the 4th Quarter.

NFL players or not, LSU appears to be the real deal. The Lane Kiffin era in Baton Rouge was kicked off with a, "taking candy from a baby" level performance. With the exception of an opening drive, tipped ball interception, LSU moved the ball up and down the field at will. They manhandled Clemson defensively, not allowing them to even cross midfield until the 4th quarter.

An absolute bloodbath, and a game that wasn't very exciting for anyone to watch. Even for the biggest of LSU fans, the stadium was nearly empty by time the clock hit triple zeros.

Could this be Dabo's final season wearing the Clemson Orange?

Seattle, WA -

It was a beautiful sunny day on Lake Washington. Clear skies, low 70s, gentle breeze – an unfamiliar sight for fans of the Washington Huskies and Washington State Cougars in their traditional rivalry game. The rivalry, commonly referred to as the Apple Cup, has traditionally been played in late November, either on the cold snowy Palouse or in the grey rainy Seattle late fall. Due to conference realignment the Cougs and Huskies found themselves playing each other to open up the season for the first time ever. The Huskies would prevail in the 118th meeting of the two schools, 24-10.

Washington comes into the season ranked #17 in the AP poll, coming off a 9-4 (5-4 Big 10) season and a win in the LA Bowl against Boise State. The Big 10 school is led by Jedd Fisch, in his 3rd season at the helm. There was some controversy in the offseason for the Huskies when star QB Demond Williams Jr. communicated he was going to enter the transfer portal. After threatened legal action he withdrew his name a few days later and committed to playing another year at Washington. With the return of the QB locked down, some have predicted Washington as a potential dark horse in the playoff race.

Washington State however finds themselves with their third new coach in as many years. After having seen Jake Dickert leave for Wake Forest in 2025, Jimmie Rogers departed the Palouse for Iowa State. After a search, the Cougs hired Kirby Moore, Missouri OC and brother of Boise State legend, Kellen Moore. Moore, just 36, hopes to bring some stability to WSU in a time where they could really use some. After two years in a conference of two, the Pac-12 has brought in six new members, and Washington State wants to be in a position where they can establish themselves in the upper echelon of the new Pac-12.

The game seemingly started off hot, with Washington State QB Cade Pinnick rushing for 25 yards on the first offensive play of the game. Unfortunately the offensive firepower quickly found itself snuffed as the drive would stall out shortly, and WSU had to settle for an FG attempt. Jack Stevens lined up for the 52 yard attempt only for it to go wide right and be well short. This would set the mood for much of the game. Washington’s first drive did not produce much, only gaining 4 yards and being forced to punt.

The story of the day was defense, with the Huskies holding the Cougars to zero successful conversions on 3rd down, outside of penalties. The Huskies additionally forced 3 turnovers and held Washington State to just 242 total yards of offense. The new Washington State defense also shone today, stopping the Huskies on 4th down twice, and holding them to just 10 points through 3 quarters.

Despite the rough start the Huskies would eventually find success, but it was marred by penalties. The Huskies collected 12 flags for 130 yards of penalties today. When asked about this postgame, Huskies head coach commented “It’s concerning, y’know, when you’re giving first downs away. I think that we play with an edge, there’s going to be a time where that edge is gonna get you.” Washington State had 6 penalties today for 50 penalty yards, bringing the collective total to 18 flags and 180 yards of penalties. Officiating was a subject on the mind today after the controversy last night before in Ann Arbor. There were multiple times a play would be blown dead well after starting, either from a challenge, review, or a penalty. Ultimately they proved to be moot, with the Huskies establishing firm control in the late fourth quarter.

Summarizing his team’s performance, Washington head coach Jedd Fisch said, “We have a lot to learn. Week one, young players, young team.” On his first year players, “[...] to be a true freshman and play the way they did, was pretty special.”

The result of this edition (and the previous two editions) of the Apple Cup has brought about some discussion in the fanbases. Despite such a longstanding rivalry, there is rising sentiment in the fanbases of each team that it may be time to move on from the yearly series. The departure of Washington from the Pac-12 to the Big 10 has forced the change in the schedule from the traditional Thanksgiving setting to the early season, and many feel that it is just not the same. Many also believe that the rising gap in skill, finances, and recruiting is creating an expectation that Washington is simply the better team, and that Washington State would be better off playing a team similar in stature. Discussion between the schools has not announced anything official, but the future of this long standing rivalry seems murky at best.

By Stephen Ferguson

BLACKSBURG, Va. – The James Franklin era of Virginia Tech football started with a bang, as the Hokies trounced the VMI Keydets 73-3 at Lane Stadium Saturday evening.

This game marked the 80th matchup between the two I-81 neighbors, and the first since 1984. VMI (0-2) last triumphed in 1981.

“[I have a] ton of respect for VMI, the institution, the football program, Coach Ingram – got a ton of respect for him and wish them the best of luck as the season goes on,” said Franklin postgame.

Virginia Tech (1-0) set the pace early, with a 50-yard touchdown dash from sophomore RB Jeffrey Overton, Jr. A blocked punt set up 5th-year RB Marcellous Hawkins, Jr. for his own 9-yard touchdown run. Overton would take another 23 yards to the house for a 21-0 Hokie lead. The Virginia Tech ground game would crack 100 yards in the first quarter alone.

“We think we got a one-two punch that we had a lot of confidence coming into camp and throughout camp, but you never truly know until you get into the games,” said Franklin. “Those guys, they ran hard, they made people miss, they broke tackles, they fell forward, and we got two backs that that we got a ton of confidence in.”

With the ground game established, the second quarter saw more passing. After a 1-yd punch-in touchdown from Hawkins, his second of the game, junior transfer QB Ethan Grunkemeyer hit Duke transfer WR Que'Sean Brown for a 51-yard touchdown strike. Grunkemeyer (17-20, 224 yards, 2 TD) would do almost all his damage in the first half.

Special teams would round out the first half Hokie scoring: a 32-yard field goal by K John Love and a touchdown return off another blocked punt from sophomore Knahlij Harrell.

“I was very very pleased with our special teams um to be able to block two punts, to be aggressive,” said Franklin. Tech’s two blocked punts were the most in a single game for the Hokies since at least 1987.

With the game well in hand, the second half saw the Hokies take the opportunity to dig into the depth chart. It didn’t seem to let up on the scoring.

Grunkemeyer linked up with TE Luke Reynolds for a 21-yard score before exiting the game, and Hawkins would add a third touchdown before doing the same. Backup QB Bryce Baker would hit WR Chanz Wiggins for a 40-yard bomb, and A.J. Brand rounded out the scoring on a 1-yard run.

VMI would only break the shutout midway through the 4th quarter on a 50-yard field goal by K Jack Joyce.

“Offense did what they were supposed to, defense did what they were supposed to,” said Franklin. “It is difficult to play an option team that specializes in running the ball, uh, and hold them to negative rushing yards.

I was very, very pleased with that.”

Both teams will be back in action at home next Saturday, 9/12. VMI hosts Bucknell in Lexington for a 1:30 kickoff. Virginia Tech welcomes another in-state rival, Old Dominion, for a noon game at Lane Stadium.