Category: College Football

MADISON – More than a decade after he played his final football game at Wisconsin, Montee Ball still holds several prestigious program records.

Ball, whose last college game was the 2013 Rose Bowl, is UW’s leader in all-time touchdowns (83), touchdowns in a season (39), all-time rushing touchdowns (77), rushing touchdowns in a season (33), points in a season (236) and all-time points (500).

His rushing total of 5,140 yards from 2009-12 is the No. 3 mark in program history, behind only Ron Dayne (7,125) and Jonathan Taylor (6,174).

On Monday, Ball was among 77 players on the ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame’s 2025 class.

The 2025 class will be announced sometime early next year. It will be officially inducted on Dec. 9, 2025, in Las Vegas, during the 67th National Football Foundation annual awards dinner.

Ball was also nominated for the 2024 class.

Montee Ball struggled early at Wisconsin before blossoming

Ball, 33, was not an immediate star when he arrived at UW in 2009 from Timberland High School in Missouri.

He played in only nine games that season and finished with 391 yards and four touchdowns. John Clay led the team in rushing with 1,517 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Ball was buried on the depth chart early in the 2010 season, behind Clay and freshman James White.

After not getting a carry in UW’s 31-18 victory over No. 1 Ohio State on Oct. 16, Ball contemplated asking to switch positions.

However, he stayed at tailback and got his chance when Clay and White suffered injuries the next week at Iowa.

He caught five passes for 41 yards and scored the decisive touchdown on an 8-yard run with 1 minute 6 seconds left in UW’s 31-30 victory.

That trio finished the season with a combined 3,060 rushing yards and 46 rushing touchdowns.

Clay led the way with 1,052 yards and 14 touchdowns. White added 1,012 yards and 14…

..

[ad_2]

Read More

There’s just something about playing underdog that Mike Gundy seems to love, no matter how much he wins. Oklahoma State was picked seventh in last season’s Big 12 preseason poll. Months later, the Pokes upset Oklahoma in the final Bedlam and played for a Big 12 championship. The Cowboys have reached double-digit wins eight times under Gundy’s watch. Half came after starting the year unranked in the preseason AP Top 25. 

But in 2024, the lack of attention is head-scratching. Oklahoma State has the seventh-best odds to win the Big 12 championship, behind teams like Iowa State and Texas Tech. The Cowboys are tied with UCF, which went 6-7 during a frustrating first season as a power conference team. Ironically, the only Knights win against a legacy Power Five team came against OSU. 

Granted, Oklahoma State was by no means dominant during its run to the Big 12 title game. Bizarre losses to UCF and South Alabama came by a combined 78-10. The Cowboys needed double overtime to survive a late charge from BYU. But still, Oklahoma State steadily held its ground. Heading into 2024, last season feels far more like an early arrival than a peak. 

For one, running back Ollie Gordon II is back after a Doak Walker Award-winning campaign. Gordon rushed for 1,732 yards and 21 touchdowns during a breakout sophomore season and will enter the 2024 season as the top returning rusher in the sport by a wide margin. 247Sports ranks his offensive line No. 1 in the nation, ahead of behemoths at LSU and Georgia. The unit boasts five starters, including tackles Dalton Cooper and Jake Springfield who combine for 89 starts. 

Overall, Oklahoma State ranks No. 3 in returning production nationally per ESPN, trailing only Iowa State and Stanford. An absurd 85% of…

..

[ad_2]

Read More

One of the biggest coaching moves Ohio State made this offseason was to promote James Laurinaitis to linebackers coach.

This move has already paid dividends on the recruiting trail as the Buckeyes landed a commitment from 2025 four-star linebacker Tarvos Alford in late March.

In the 2026 class, Ohio State has put out offers to 12 linebackers thus far.  Amongst those to receive an offer is Anthony Davis who is rated by On 3 Industry rankings as a four-star recruited and 17th linebacker in the class.

Davis has already shown early interest in the Buckeyes as he visited Ohio State and received an offer in mid April.  That interest has continued as on Saturday Davis announced that he will be visiting the Buckeyes again for a visit on June 5th.

It’s still early in the recruitment process as Davis still has two full seasons of high school football left but Ohio State appears to have a chance to land the talented linebacker who has already received 28 offers from many of the other top programs in college football.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion. Follow Evan Bachman on X.

Story originally appeared on Buckeye Wire

..

[ad_2]

Read More

The United States Department of Justice announced Thursday that it filed a proposed consent decree that will prohibit the NCAA from enforcing its Transfer Eligibility Rule, or any related rules that impose restrictions on athletic transfers between Division I schools. 

The proposed consent decree — which still requires court approval — would retroactively apply to any transfers forced to sit out under the NCAA’s Transfer Eligibility Rule. One of the provisions states that Division I student-athletes deemed ineligible for any portion of a season during or since the 2019-20 academic year will be granted an extra season of eligibility by the NCAA.  

This revision is also contingent on whether the athlete is currently eligible to compete, or their eligibility expired during the 2023-24 academic year. Obviously, this latest turn opens the door for several athletes to take advantage of that extra year of eligibility. 

Here are some college football stars that could benefit from the latest change to the NCAA’s transfer policy. 

Cam Rising, QB, Utah 

This decision opens the door for Rising to return for an almost unprecedented eighth season. Whether the longtime Utah signal caller will actually do that remains to be seen, but he’s already transcended veteran status at this point. Rising initially signed with Texas in 2018 under former coach Tom Herman but transferred to Utah in 2019. Per NCAA rules at the time, he had to sit out his first year with the Utes. He was named Utah’s starter for the 2020 season opener against USC but suffered a season-ending injury that ended his campaign after just a couple of quarters. He started in 24 games from 2021-22 but a devastating injury in the 2023 Rose Bowl sidelined him for an entire season. Rising…

..

[ad_2]

Read More

It’s no secret that the Ohio State football team has a ton of talent coming back. And while everyone likes to talk about how talented the defense will be, there’s plenty of it on the offensive end as well.

Look no further than the duo at the running back position as proof of the talent at the skill positions on that side of the ball. It could be argued that the Buckeyes have one of the best backfields in the country with both TreVeyeon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins looking to make opposing defensive coordinators scratch their heads.

But don’t just take our word for it. In fact, Pro Football Focus released its top ten backfields in college football for 2024 and Ohio State was at the very top. Rounding out the top ten was UCF (2), Georgia (3), Penn State (4), Ole Miss (5), Miami (FL) (6), Oregon (7), Kansas (8), Kansas State (9), and West Virginia (10).

While the Buckeyes are in great shape in the running back room, they will need the quarterback position and offensive line to have improved play from last season to crush all of the goals for this season.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.

Story originally appeared on Buckeye Wire

..

[ad_2]

Read More

DESTIN, Fla. — In a college world increasingly filled with empty suits, flapping gums and celebrity lawyers, Greg Sankey carved out some space Thursday to declare he is not a member of those distinct clubs.

The 59-year-old SEC commissioner, in his ninth year, did more than that at the conclusion of the SEC spring meetings. It was both about time and about his time.

In his own low-key way, Sankey simmered, declaring his frustration at a system he is both part of and increasingly despises. His comments came after a question at a final press conference regarding the SEC’s recent partnership with the Big Ten.

To backtrack: After January’s College Football Playoff Championship Game, Sankey flew to Phoenix for a series of NCAA meetings “where we accomplished little.” It was then he decided to call Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti.

“Afterwards traveling home, [I thought], ‘You know, we have some really big problems. It didn’t seem to me that we were working to solve some of the medium problems,’” Sankey said Thursday. “I have thought for a long period of time that if the two conferences could agree, you could fulfill a leadership responsibility. That was the genesis of the phone call.”

The two commissioners have since stressed they are not uniting to take over the world. They have decided agendas have to be set nationwide. The NCAA’s inattentiveness to, well, everything, sent the association into a legal spiral where it is currently trying to figure out the ramifications of the House settlement.

In the end, the SEC and Big Ten schools can pretty much afford the damage. But that’s not the point. The leadership void in the system is massive.

It just happened to be Sankey’s turn to fill it on Thursday.

“We need to have more…

..

[ad_2]

Read More

In the summer of 2021, Red River Rivals Oklahoma and Texas made a landscape-shaping announcement. The Sooners and the Longhorns would be moving to the SEC. Nearly three years later, that move is just over a month away from being official. But with Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione and Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte in Destin, Florida this week for SEC meetings, it feels like the move has already happened.

The league has already shared the new logo featuring OU and Texas.

During their time in Destin, Castiglione and Del Conte sat down with Paul Finebaum of ESPN and discussed the move. It was during the COVID-19 pandemic when the two athletic directors really began to rethink their institutions’ standing.

Reflecting on the state of college football, including name, image, and likeness, attendance, the Alston vs. NCAA case, two of the most powerful administrators in college football came to the conclusion that it was time to make the move.

“We had great respect for the Big 12,” Castiglione told Finebaum. “We also had to see where the world was going and what was best for our two universities. So there was no animosity, but you still have to lead. This was something, between us and our presidents, that we had to do for the best interest of our universities in the long run.”

There’s no doubt that the sport has changed dramatically since 2020. From the introduction of name, image, and likeness, the transfer portal, and the escalating television contracts, it was wise for Castiglione and Del Conte to be proactive.

Oklahoma and Texas have more in common with the SEC. From stadium capacity to branding and historical success, it was a move that made a ton of sense from a variety of angles. And it’s a move that’s been well received by the SEC’s other 14 programs.

“It wasn’t initially,”…

..

[ad_2]

Read More

The hype and anticipation around the release of EA Sports’ “College Football 25” is building ahead of the July 19 release date. Information about the game has been trickling out since the company officially confirmed the franchise’s return this summer after an 11-year hiatus.

Earlier this month, EA Sports announced Michigan’s Donovan Edwards, Colorado’s Travis Hunter, and Texas’ Quinn Ewers would serve as the cover athletes. Fans also got their first real look at the game when the company released an official trailer hours after the cover announcement. 

All the footage and rumors of newfeatures have only stoked excitement for the return of the franchise. Fans have been lighting up message boards and social media asking about gameplay, Dynasty mode, Road to Glory, stadium models, how NIL will factor in and more. 

Luckily, we have a few answers for you. 

CBS Sports’ Bud Elliott was one of a few select reporters invited to play the game early and was kind enough to answer the most pressing questions ahead of the official release in less than two months.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Cameron Salerno: What were your initial thoughts after playing the game?

Bud Elliott: As someone who last played the last iteration and kept playing it for a while, the gameplay is just so much smoother. It feels like it was gone for about a decade and is now back. Yet it does feel different than how Madden plays. It’s a little bit faster. In the old game, you could wait until the last possible second to pass and the guy would usually get it off. That is noticeably different.  They [also] put a ton of time and energy into really trying to make each playbook distinct. 

The No. 1 thing that you get from this is that these guys who make…

..

[ad_2]

Read More