Category: College Football

USATSI

UNLV starting quarterback Matthew Sluka is stepping away from the Rebels program and will redshirt with intentions of entering the transfer portal, he announced late Tuesday on social media. Sluka attributed the leave to “certain representations” that the school made to him when he transferred from Holy Cross this offseason.

“I have decided to utilize my redshirt year and will not be playing in any additional games this season,” Sluka said. “I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled. Despite discussions, it became clear that these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future. I wish my teammates the best of luck this season and hope for the continued success of the program.”

The Rebels are off to a 3-0 start to the 2024 season under Sluka’s watch. In the first three games, Sluka threw for 318 yards and six touchdowns and also added another dynamic as a runner, posting 253 yards rushing and a touchdown. 

UNLV is one of the top early contenders to secure the Group of Five bid to the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. The Rebels are coming off an impressive 23-20 win over Kansas and have another Power Four win over Houston.

With Sluka out, UNLV will turn to Hajj-Malik Williams or Cameron Friel as the starter for the rest of the season. Williams transferred in this past offseason from Campbell, while Friel has been with the program since 2021. Friel played significant snaps as a true freshman during the 2021 season, completing 62.4% of his attempts for 1,608 yards and six touchdowns. He has only…

..

[ad_2]

Read More

The Pac-12 officially has its seventh member.

Utah State will be joining the Pac-12 on July 1, 2026, it announced Tuesday night, becoming the fifth Mountain West school to defect to the rebuilding conference.

The Pac-12 said the conference board of directors voted unanimously to admit Utah State, which will compete in the conference in all sports beginning in the 2026-27 academic year.

“Utah State brings invaluable strategic insights and leadership that will greatly benefit our conference and its members as well as a history of competitive excellence and success. Today marks another exciting step for the Pac-12 – and it’s just the beginning of phase two,” commissioner Teresa Gould said in a statement.

The addition of the Aggies to the Pac-12 gives the conference seven universities. In addition to Washington State and Oregon State, the only two remaining members after this summer’s mass exodus, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State announced they were bolting to the Pac-12 less than two weeks ago.

The official announcement of Utah State also comes the same day the Pac-12 filed a lawsuit against the Mountain West. The two sides are in a scheduling agreement in football for this season for the Cougars and Beavers, but the Pac-12 is seeking declaratory relief from a judge over millions of dollars in penalties the Mountain West believes it is owed from the Pac-12 for acquiring its schools. The league’s current scheduling agreement with the Pac-12 calls for the Pac-12 to pay the Mountain West a withdrawal fee of $43 million if it poaches four Mountain West teams and $67.5 million if it poaches six, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

Utah State is joining the Pac-12.

With seven members, the Pac-12 is just one school shy of meeting NCAA rules for the Football Bowl…

..

[ad_2]

Read More

The top-five clash between No. 2 Georgia and No. 4 Alabama will be in the spotlight for many bettors, but the Big Ten also has several intriguing matchups involving playoff hopefuls. No. 19 Illinois takes on No. 9 Penn State, No. 8 Oregon travels to UCLA, while Wisconsin heads to No. 13 USC in the 3:30 p.m. ET Big Ten on CBS matchup. The Nittany Lions are -17.5, the Ducks are -8 and the Trojans are -14.5 in the latest Week 5 college football odds via SportsLine consensus for those matchups.

How should you play those Week 5 college football lines, and what trends do you need to know about as the Bulldogs are 2-point road favorites against the Tide? Before locking in any Week 5 college football picks on those games or others, be sure to see the college football betting guide from legendary Vegas handicapper Bruce Marshall. 

For years Vegas-based Marshall was synonymous with The Gold Sheet, the famed sports betting newsletter. With a background in play-by-play work and sports information while in college, Marshall joined TGS in 1981 when hired by the legendary Mort Olshan and served as executive editor for many years. 

An in-demand guest on numerous sports talk radio and TV shows across the country, Bruce’s vast array of editorial work has been featured in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the New York Post and many other outlets. He has won various handicapping titles and also is working on several book projects. Bruce also enters the Week 5 college football schedule on a 12-7 roll (+423) on his official SportsLine college football spread picks. 

Now, using his Tech Corner technique that evaluates all the trends and the latest college football odds, Marshall has turned his attention to college football betting for Week 5 and revealed picks…

..

[ad_2]

Read More

EAST LANSING — Of all the consternation over Aidan Chiles’ continuing interception issue, coach Jonathan Smith feels his young quarterback could use a little help from his friends.

Particularly when it comes to Michigan State football’s struggling ground game.

“We could help him out a ton by running the ball more effectively, efficiently,” Smith said Monday in his weekly news conference. “Not getting into some of these situations where it’s third-and-10 again and asking him to get us out of that.

“So it’s a group effort to avoid the negative plays and try to keep them out of a situation where it’s all on him.”

Easier said than done, especially with No. 3 Ohio State visiting Spartan Stadium on Saturday (7 p.m., Peacock) in a rivalry that has been one-sided for the past eight years.

Michigan State Spartans head coach Jonathan Smith watches from the sideline during the first half against the Boston College Eagles at Alumni Stadium, Sept. 21, 2024 in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

During an eight-game win streak dating back to 2016, the Buckeyes have outscored the Spartans, 320-77 — including 205-42 the past four years.

But equally as alarming for MSU (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) going into this primetime showdown is how much Ohio State (3-0, 0-0) has neutered the Spartans’ rushing attack that, during the height of Mark Dantonio’s tenure. allowed them to go blow-for-blow with the Buckeyes in big games in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Since 2016, MSU is averaging 80 rushing yards to the Buckeyes’ 243 in their meetings. Take out the 2016 game, when the Spartans ran for 207 yards, and the disparity is far greater — 61.9 on the ground at 2.4 yards per attempt for MSU to OSU’s 245.7 rushing yards and 5.6 a carry.

Through four games this season, the Spartans average 153.8 yards rushing, 75th in the nation. Starting junior…

..

[ad_2]

Read More

This latest round of conference realignment has turned into a struggle for College Football Playoff access primacy. The current Mountain West is regarded as the best of the Group of Five conference and its champion would likely earn an automatic CFP bid in most years under the current format. 

That was before the Mountain West was raided by the Pac-12 earlier this month. What’s at stake in the future is essentially the fifth automatic bid to the new 12-team College Football Playoff. 

The current CFP format will award the top five-ranked conference champions an automatic bid with the four highest-ranked conference champs earning a first-round bye. Most years, those byes will go to the champions of the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12.

The reinvention of the Pac-12 has made it a mad scramble for that fifth spot because no one below it is guaranteed anything. 

That’s not to say the other Group of Five conferences will be excluded from the CFP. There are, after all, seven at-large bids. But the Big Ten and SEC are expected to overwhelmingly dominate access to those 12 spots annually in the playoff based on previous seasons, according to CBS Sports research. 

CBS Sports plugged in the teams over the past 10 years as if a 12-team bracket had been in place. An average of 7.73 teams each season combined would have come from the Big Ten and SEC. 

That essentially leaves four spots for around 100 remaining FBS schools after the Big Ten and SEC get their share. 

Following last week’s raid of the Mountain West, the new Pac-12 and American Athletic Conference are basically at a standoff in realignment to see who comes out as the fifth league champion to receive a berth to the CFP each season.  …

..

[ad_2]

Read More

STATE COLLEGE − Coach James Franklin offered a strong, succinct proclamation about his senior tight end in the postgame interview room:

“Tyler Warren is the best tight end in college football.”

Could Penn State football also have the best tight end group, too?

Start with Warren, after he helped the Nittany Lions tear through Kent State, 56-0, Saturday in Beaver Stadium.

Two weeks after breaking a school record for receiving yards by a tight end, Warren dominated the Golden Flashes in almost every way imaginable.

He caught a touchdown. He threw for a touchdown. He even ran for a first down as a wildcat quarterback.

Sep 21, 2024; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions tight end Tyler Warren (44) makes a catch in the end zone for a touchdown during the first quarter against the Kent State Golden Flashes at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren-Imagn Images

He topped it off by stabbing a Drew Allar pass with one hand along the sideline — somehow holding onto the ball while absorbing a wicked hit.

“The tight end position isn’t supposed to be about (just) receiving yards, it’s about complete players, blockers, receivers, rushers, throwing the ball,” Franklin said, smiling. “I told him that was one of the ugliest touchdown passes I’ve ever seen, but it went for a touchdown, which is all that matters.”

Of course, Warren was a left-handed quarterback in Virginia before coming to Penn State. But it still was an unexpected wrinkle when the 6-foot-6, 260-pound tight end took a second-quarter snap behind the center Saturday and quickly threw to tailback Nick Singleton sprinting to his left.

Singleton easily jogged into the end zone for the 17-yard score.

Warren led the Lions with five catches for 50 yards and had his own 16-yard TD reception. He leads the team with 16 catches on the season for 226…

..

[ad_2]

Read More

The top-ranked Texas Longhorns will take on the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Texas is 3-0 overall and 2-0 at home, while UL Monroe is 2-0 overall and they finished last season 2-10. Redshirt freshman Arch Manning will get his first start as Quinn Ewers is out due to an abdominal muscle injury. This is the first time Texas has been ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll since 2008.

After opening at -48, the Longhorns are now favored by 43.5 points in the latest Texas vs. UL Monroe odds via SportsLine consensus, and the over/under is up to 54 points after opening at 52.5. Before entering any Texas vs. UL Monroe picks, you’ll want to see the college football predictions from the model at SportsLine.

The model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Since its inception, it has generated a profit of over $2,000 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. It is also coming off a profitable 13-9 season on top-rated spread picks and is off to a 5-2 start on over/under picks this season. Anyone who has followed it has seen strong returns.

The model has set its sights on UL Monroe vs. Texas. You can head to SportsLine to see its picks. Here are several college football betting lines on the spread, money line and over/under for this Texas vs. UL Monroe game:

Texas vs. UL Monroe spread: Texas -43.5Texas vs. UL Monroe over/under: 54 pointsTexas vs. UL Monroe picks: See picks here

Why Texas can cover

The Longhorns have been perhaps the most impressive team in the nation, winning and easily covering in all three games thus far. They leapfrogged Georgia in the AP Poll this week after the Bulldogs got a scare at Kentucky. Normally the star quarterback being out would be a huge…

..

[ad_2]

Read More

It’s only fitting that Auburndale and Bartow would have a competitive game down to the wire, especially since current Auburndale starting quarterback Amari Turner played for Bartow just a year ago.

Up 18-16 with 14 seconds left, freshman defensive end Carmello Harden, who had a defensive touchdown last game, sacked Turner, who was banged up on the play. This sealed the deal and an 18-16 score, which put Bartow at 2-2 on the year.

“I’m proud of the way our guys are moving forward in the right direction. It’s exciting to see,” Bartow head coach Tyler Eden said. “…Played a really good game with Auburndale High School. They are a really good team. … Thomas is doing a phenomenal job over there…”

But it was Bartow that executed first thanks to a 43-yard screen pass reception by Cam Thomas.

Near the end of the second quarter, Auburndale had the ball on the 5-yard line, but the defense recovered a fumble, which cemented a 6-0 lead at the break.

Down 7-6, Bartow immediately responded with an Avis Brown Jr. 62-yard touchdown run to give the Yellow Jackets a 12-7 lead.

The Yellow Jackets then responded with a defensive stop, which led to a Corey Butler slant reception touchdown — his sixth of the year — from quarterback Blake Johnson.

Scores: Live updates: Get Week 5 high school football results from Polk County here

Berry: ‘I have a chip on my shoulder’: Lakeland Christian football’s Trey Berry back after hamstring injury

On the other side, Auburndale linebacker Elijah Dias forced a safety. The Bloodhounds are 2-2 as well.

Lake Gibson 14, Lake Minneola 7

Winning its second game of the year was Lake Gibson, as the program beat Lake Minneola by a touchdown on the road.

Quarterback Collin Henderson threw a 7-yd touchdown to Derrick McBride, while Xavier Norfleet mustered up a 2-yard rushing touchdown.

Defensively,…

..

[ad_2]

Read More