Category: College Football

A little after midnight on Sunday, hours after he dazzled a national audience in his Miami debut, Cameron Ward was already breaking down film of Florida A&M — the Hurricanes’ next opponent — when he called his parents to make sure they got home safe. 

There was no big celebration after throwing 385 yards and three touchdowns in a dominant 41-17 win on the road at Florida. No relishing in the fact he immediately jumped up the Heisman Trophy gambling odds as a new favorite. 

Instead it was back to work for Ward, who is far more used to being counted out than championed during a long, winding career that took him from Incarnate Word to Washington State and finally Miami. 

“People can pat him on the back and tell him how great he is,” Calvin Ward, Cameron’s father, told CBS Sports. “He doesn’t hear it. He doesn’t want any pats on the back. All he wants to hear is for people to tell him he’s not good enough to play at this level.”

Ward has heard that plenty in his career. It powered him to the head of a Miami team that looks like a legitimate College Football Playoff contender in a wide-open Atlantic Coast Conference. There was little interest in the 6-foot-2 quarterback coming out of West Columbia, Texas, despite his parents taking him to football camps all over the country in an attempt to showcase his talents. He didn’t have much high school game film to show off his passing skills — that’s what happens when you only throw a handful of times in a Wing-T offense — and had to settle for FCS program Incarnate Word. 

Fast forward to December 2023 when Ward was the hottest prospect available in the transfer portal following a stellar season at Washington State. Quarterback-needy teams saw a player who could immediately change their…

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Florida football coach Billy Napier began his press conference by again taking accountability for UF’s 41-17 season-opening loss to Miami at The Swamp.

“Our fans showed up and did a great job,” Napier said. “We need to do our part so that they could have been more of a factor in the game. Certainly, we contributed to that.”

The loss was the sixth straight for the Florida Gators dating back to the 2023 season and dropped Napier to 11-15 in year three as Florida’s coach. It brought an onslaught of criticism on social media throughout the weekend. Napier said while the criticism is justified, the focus for Florida players and coaches needs to return to the field.

“We got to go to work on the football part,” Napier said. “I think we got to become a more consistent team and we have to execute better. If we can focus on those things and not necessarily what some guy in his basement is saying in rural central Florida on social media, then we got a chance to get better, right? I think that’s the key.

“Sometimes you deserve criticism. I think that’s one of those things I would say I have no excuses, right? We got to go get it fixed.”

Florida coach Billy Napier walks on the sideline against Miami during the second half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Florida entered the matchup against Miami with 14 returning starters and Napier stressed during the offseason that “all systems were in place” for Florida to enjoy future success. Florida was outgained 529-261 in yardage against the Hurricanes and trailed by as many as 28 points in the fourth quarter.

“The reality here is that execution wins,” Napier said. “We did not do enough to be competitive in the game. We got to go do it when it counts. That’s reality.”

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Florida State will open its home season on Labor Day with a bigger sense of urgency than some might have expected. The Seminoles hope to avoid falling to 0-2 when they face Boston College on Monday night.  

Last week’s 24-21 last-second defeat against Georgia Tech in Ireland threw a wrench in Florida State’s plans to march through the ACC for a second straight season, and though the ‘Noles have an extra couple of days to adjust following the international travel, there’s little let-down time with another conference opponent up next on the schedule. Boston College is now led by former Penn State and Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien, who after three seasons as an offensive coordinator at Alabama and in the NFL is returning to his home state for his next head coaching gig. The Eagles were a bowl team a year ago and do return a dynamic quarterback in Thomas Castellanos, but whether they’re prepared to repeat Georgia Tech’s Week 0 feat won’t be known until after kickoff on Monday. 

So with Florida State looking to get back on track after a stunning loss and Boston College eyeing a strong start to the Bill O’Brien era, there’s plenty at stake for this standalone ACC showdown in Tallahassee. 

Florida State vs. Boston College: Need to know

Florida State’s offense eyes more consistency: The Seminoles…

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Sep 1, 2024; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Southern California Trojans running back Woody Marks (4) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the LSU Tigers during the second quarter at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

LAS VEGAS — Ever been to a good Vegas show? The singing, dancing and theatrics. The smoke, lights and smells.

We saw one on Sunday night, not in some dingy casino ballroom or a dark hotel lobby, but in a football palace erected just off Las Vegas Boulevard. There was plenty of smoke (pregame fireworks caused a haze to linger for three quarters). There were lead characters and main actors (Heisman Trophy replacement quarterbacks Miller Moss and Garrett Nussmeier). There was even dancing (one LSU player was flagged for a hip-thrusting jig in the second quarter).

Singing, chanting and swaying? Had that too, a pair of boisterous fan bases, two of college football’s biggest brands colliding before them.

It had it all right down to a sensational closing act — a late-game drive, a heroic catch and gut-busting run for a winning touchdown.

USC and LSU delivered to millions watching a playoff-worthy performance, with a championship vibe, all unfolding on a holiday weekend Sunday evening — a thrilling, heart-pounding Vegas act that Wayne Newton himself would proudly endorse.

The score — USC 27, LSU 20 — doesn’t justify the beauty of it all, the intense moments, the stellar quarterback play, momentary defensive lapses and waves of side-splitting momentum swings.

And now we are left to dissect the show and review — or overreact — to a Week 1 game between two teams that, let’s be real, we don’t really know much about.

Can USC now seriously contend in its big bad new league?

Can LSU rebound to make a 12-team playoff?

What we saw on Sunday night was a Trojans defense,…

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Twenty-one years after they split a national championship, LSU and USC will finally meet on the field on Sunday evening. In 2003, LSU won the BCS Championship but USC topped the AP Poll, leading to the last split national championship in college football. The programs haven’t met since then, and this will be just the third all-time matchup between two of the biggest brands in college football. They split the prior two, with the last being an LSU victory in 1984.

Kickoff from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. The Tigers are favored by 4.5 points in the latest USC vs. LSU odds via SportsLine consensus, while the over/under for total points is 64.5. Before making any LSU vs. USC picks, be sure to check out the college football predictions and betting advice from the SportsLine Projection Model.

The model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Since its inception, it has generated a profit of well 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. Anyone who has followed it has seen strong returns.

Now, the model has set its sights on USC Trojans vs. LSU Tigers and just locked in its picks and CFB predictions. You can visit SportsLine now to see the model’s picks. Here are the college football odds and betting lines for LSU vs. USC:

USC vs. LSU spread: LSU -4.5USC vs. LSU over/under: 64.5 pointsUSC vs. LSU money line: LSU -186, USC +155USC: The Trojans are 2-8 against the spread over their last 10 gamesLSU: The Over went 12-1 for the Tigers last season, with the best Over percentage (92.3%) in FBSUSC vs. LSU picks: See picks at SportsLine

Why LSU can cover

While LSU has the No. 9 incoming…

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Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz and Caroline Fenton react to the Bulldogs’ 34-3 win over the Tigers and discuss the state of Clemson’s program. Subscribe to the “College Football Power Hour” podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen.

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Video Transcript

In a defensive shootout in the first half where points and yards in offense was kind of hard to come by.

Georgia figured things out in the short passing game late in the first half and Georgia takes down Clemson 34 to 3 to kick off.

Week one fits some of your initial reactions from this game.

Now, this proves that Clemson is no longer part of the elite in college football and that’s pretty basic because what do we see week one for programs that aren’t at that level at halftime?

Second half, they just can’t keep up anymore.

And that’s exactly what happened here.

Georgia in the second half came out with the Thunder of the Gods and they showed that they are one of the nation’s elite programs.

And Clemson showed that they’re one of the pretty good programs.

They could keep it close for a half, they can’t keep it close for a second half.

We saw that repeatedly throughout the course of week one.

We’re just not used to seeing that from Clemson.

This is a reminder Caroline that we to recalibrate what we think of where that program is moving forward to me this year in college football, I heard a lot of talk before the game about how Clemson’s quote unquote demise.

If you want to use that word is maybe a little bit over exaggerated.

I think what we saw on the field on Saturday was maybe that demise actually isn’t over exaggerated.

Look at the two wide receivers that scored touchdowns for Georgia today, two wide receivers that were transfers into Georgia this season.

So I think it just goes to show that when you ignore the portal entirety, everybody else starts to…

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Oklahoma didn’t panic when Dillon Gabriel, who has nearly 15,000 passing yards in his career, hit the transfer portal after two prolific seasons with the Sooners. Instead, Oklahoma rallied around former five-star  recruit Jackson Arnold and turned an anticipatory eye towards the future. 

That future finally arrived Friday in the No. 16 Sooners’ (1-0) season-opening 51-3 victory vs. Temple (0-1) as Arnold took the field for his first regular-season start and showed that his coaching staff’s faith might just pay off. 

Oklahoma lost Gabriel, who transferred to Oregon, but may have gained what looks like one of the SEC’s top arms. 

Sure, it’s fair to consider the level of competition. Temple has nine total wins since 2021. The Owls haven’t had a winning season in almost five years, a fact that probably won’t change anytime soon. 

But Arnold, who completed 17 of his 25 pass attempts for 141 yards and four touchdowns in three quarters of play, made throws and displayed traits that are applicable no matter the opponent. He also did it with a relatively shorthanded supporting cast. 

Top wide receiver Nic Anderson was held out with an injury. Jalil Farooq left early in the first quarter after breaking his foot, an injury that coach Brent Venables said will sideline him for six to eight weeks. The Sooners also entered the game without offensive tackle Jake Taylor, and lost starting center Branson Hickman early due to an injury of his own. 

Not that any of it was enough to knock Arnold out of phase. On his very first pass attempt of the night, Arnold stepped into an oncoming defender and delivered a beautifully layered ball over two Temple defensive backs into the arms of Farooq — prior to his injury — for a 47-yard connection. 

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No. 6 Ole Miss hosts Furman Saturday at 6 p.m. to open a much-anticipated 2024 season for the Rebels. Here are four keys to an Ole Miss victory.

Stay healthy

The most important part of an early-season game — particularly one against a team you’re heavily favored against — is to make sure there are no major injuries to key pieces. The best way to do that? Build up a big lead and let your backups get some experience.

Build some continuity on the offensive front

As much hype as Ole Miss’ defensive line transformation has gotten this offseason, the Rebels’ offensive line has a lot of new faces as well. The Rebels returned three starters but brought in several new pieces in the transfer portal. While only five can start at a time, offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. said that he’d like to see his linemen be able to rotate. This is the kind of game where the Rebels can see what combinations provide the best results while also getting various pieces valuable experience.

Show off your new toys on the defensive line

About that defensive line …

There’s no better way to get people excited in a game that shouldn’t be close than by showing off new additions like Walter Nolen and Princely Umanmielen. They should have a field day, regardless of how much they wind up playing.

Umanmielen wasn’t at full speed for most of the early-season practices available to media, so Saturday might be a way for him to get some of the rust off and to learn on-the-fly. The Furman game is also a chance for some of the other defensive linemen brought in, such as Jacksonville State transfer Chris Hardie or freshmen like William Echoles and Kam Franklin, to find their rhythm before the slate of games gets tougher. A few early sacks or tackles for loss can build up a lot of confidence going forward.

Play as many defensive backs as…

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