Category: College Football

Jan. 28—FRISCO, Texas — Michael Wortham got his touches at Tuesday’s East-West Shrine Bowl, even if it wasn’t in the passing game. The Montana Grizzlies standout had three kickoff returns for 54 yards and two punt returns for 18 yards for the East All-Stars, who lost 21-17 to the West in a back-and-forth game at the Ford Center. Wortham, an All-American all-purpose player this past season for the 13-2 Grizzlies, was targeted once as a receiver and had no catches. His long kickoff return was 25 yards; he also had a 12-yard punt return. The West’s Mark Gronowski, the former South Dakota State quarterback who spent last season at Iowa, was named offensive MVP after completing 7 of 10 passes for 86 yards and rushing three times for 28 yards. Dom Richardson (Tulsa) who had 57 rushing yards on 10 carries, and Dean Connors (Houston) scored rushing touchdowns for the West. Richardson’s TD won the game with 6 seconds left and came after Aaron Hall (Duke) recovered a fumble — forced by Duke teammate Wesley Williams — in the end zone with 8:23 remaining to put the East up 17-15. Trey Smack (Florida) hit three field goals for the West, including a 57-yarder as time ran out in the first half to put his team ahead 12-8. That came just 26 seconds after the Jalon Daniels (Kansas) scored on a 3-yard run for the East. Only three FCS players besides Wortham were selected for the game. Incarnate World linebacker had five tackles and South Carolina State corner Jarod Washington had two stops for the East. For the West, New Mexico’s Keyshawn James-Newby — who prepped at Helena High and played at Montana Tech and Idaho before playing with the Lobos — was credited with two quarterback hurries. He was also in on a special teams tackle.

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Darian Mensah has committed to Miami, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz and Chris Hummer, finalizing one of the most consequential quarterback moves of the 2026 college football transfer portal cycle and bringing a turbulent, weeks-long legal saga to a close. The former Duke star, who helped lead the Blue Devils to the ACC Championship this past season, is set to arrive in Coral Gables, Florida as the centerpiece of Miami’s plan to keep its national title window open after finishing as the runner-up in the College Football Playoff.

Mensah’s commitment follows a negotiated settlement between Mensah and Duke that cleared the legal barriers preventing him from enrolling at another school, ending a dispute that had briefly pulled the transfer portal into the courtroom.

He ranks as the No. 18 overall player and the No. 6 quarterback in Cooper Petagna’s 247Sports transfer portal rankings, reflecting both his production and positional value in a thin quarterback market.

After transferring from Tulane, Mensah threw for 3,973 yards and 34 touchdowns in his lone season at Duke, finishing second nationally in both categories while throwing just six interceptions. Before that, he emerged as a rising star at Tulane where he threw for 2,723 yards, 22 touchdowns and six interceptions while leading the Green Wave to a 9-4 season, establishing himself as one of the most productive young quarterbacks in the country before making the jump to the Power Four in 2025.

For Miami, the timing and the stakes are clear. The Hurricanes’ rise has been built on elite quarterback play, fueled by veteran transfers who stabilized the position and accelerated the program’s return to national relevance. Cam Ward, the eventual No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft,…

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Oregon made a big splash earlier this month, nabbing themselves a Top 5 recruiting class loaded with 5-star talent. But this is modern College Football, and that’s only half the equation.

After losing a fair amount of players to transfer, many to Tosh Lupoi down at Cal, the Ducks had some gaps to fill. And speaking of gaps, they were hoping for a big filler in Offensive Tackle Jordan Seaton, who finally ended up deciding on LSU.

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Seaton would have been a great cherry on top, but without him, the Ducks still plugged in needed spots fairly well.

Even without Seaton, Oregon should be good along the offensive line, and the addition of Yale transfer Michael Bennet. Wideout Iverson hooks from UAB helps fill the void left by Malik Benson, and Tight End Markus Dixon may not be the athlete Kenyon Sadiq was (but really, who is?) However, he’ll be a great blocking addition.

Then, of course, The Ducks made sure their quarterback room would be set for the future with Dylan Raiola coming in from Nebraska to sit behind Dante Moore for a season before taking the reins himself, much like Moore did in 2024, and would have Akili Smith Jr learning behind him.

Continuity at its best.

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Defensively Oregon basically plugged in a similar level talent to replace Dillon Theniman by grabbing Koi Perich from Minnesota. Corner Aaron Scott Jr from Ohio State fits right in with Oregon’s incredibly talented young secondary, and Bleu Dantzler hopping over from Corvallis gives the Ducks in all likelihood the most loaded Edge room in the nation, as he’ll join Matayo Uiagalelei and Teitum Tuioti.

So, in the words of Brad Pitt as Achilles: “IS THERE NO ONE ELSE??”

The only loss that one would think might have been a bigger priority to fill is the departure of Bryce Boettcher in the linebacker corps.

While Oregon has a great…

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The ACC Championship Game will move from its Saturday night time slot to a noon kickoff for the 2026 college football season. The move comes after the Big 12, which previously occupied the noon time slot, switched its conference title game to Friday night. That change came as part of the ACC’s schedule release on Monday, which laid out every matchup for the 2026 season.

Miami reached the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history last season and lost in the national title game to Indiana. However, the Hurricanes didn’t play in the ACC title game due to tiebreakers. In a release by the ACC last month outlining the nine-game conference schedules, a new tiebreaker policy was tucked away. 

Twelve members of the ACC will play nine conference games, while the other five will play eight conference games.

Instead of Miami — the highest-ranked team in the CFP rankings — playing for the ACC title last season, Duke and Virginia faced off in Charlotte. Duke pulled off a thrilling win over Virginia in that title game. However, the selection committee shut the Blue Devils out of an automatic berth due to five losses already on their resume.

Week 0 will feature a handful of teams from the ACC facing off. NC State faces Virginia on Aug. 29 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, while North Carolina faces TCU in Dublin, Ireland. On the same day, Florida State hosts New Mexico State and Stanford faces Hawaii.

While conference championship odds have yet to be released, the early 2026 CFP National Championship odds indicate the projected pecking order at the top of the ACC. After falling one game short of capturing its first national title since the early 2000s, Miami opens the 2026 campaign with the 10th-best odds (16/1), per FanDuel, to win the…

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The Indiana Hoosiers authored college football’s ultimate turnaround. Curt Cignetti took the team from a 3-9 record in 2023 to a 16-0 undefeated run in 2025. Their first national championship win over Miami demanded a citywide celebration. But the weather gods had other plans, and Bloomington’s 80,000 couldn’t fully answer the call.

“Views from the field ahead of #iufb’s championship celebration,” wroteIU Sports Media analyst Colin McMahon. “Small, but loud crowd as it feels like 0 degrees here at Memorial Stadium.”

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The Memorial Stadium has a capacity of 53,534. However, given the images going around on social media, most of the stands went empty.

The National Weather Service dropped a winter storm warning on Jan. 23, set to kick in at 7 p.m. on Jan. 24 and stretch through 7 a.m. on Jan. 26. With travel conditions expected to worsen, officials urged residents to carry extra food, water, and a flashlight in case of emergencies.

But Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers turned Saturday, January 24, into a celebration. With temperatures barely cracking 10 degrees, subzero wind chills, and a looming foot of snow, they took the stage to celebrate their emotional moment after their first perfect 16-0 run in more than a century.

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Cignetti was spotted wearing a white Hoosiers cap. However, the cold could not dampen his spirit. As per the reports fromWTHR.com, Cignetti and Co. expected more than 40,000 people to attend the Championship Celebration. But due to the dangerously cold conditions, approximately 15,000 fans filled Memorial Stadium on Saturday, as per IndyStar’s reports.

However, Curt Cignetti had made it clear to rev up the fans’ spirits with his fiery speech.

“Chapter 3 begins tomorrow!” said the head coach.

Rock band AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” tried to boost the energy of the…

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Former TCU coach Gary Patterson is USC’s primary target to become the Trojans’ new defensive coordinator, CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz and Chris Hummer report. Patterson, 65, led the TCU program from 2000 to 2021 and most recently worked as a special assistant to Texas coach Steve Sarkisian in 2022 and a consultant at Baylor in 2024

At USC, Patterson would replace D’Anton Lynn, who left Lincoln Riley’s staff in December for the same position at his alma mater, Penn State. Patterson, known as a defensive guru, went 181-79 at TCU and is the winningest head coach in program history. The Horned Frogs went undefeated and won the Rose Bowl under Patterson in 2010 and just missed out on a College Football Playoff bid in 2014 — the first year of the four-team era. 

Patterson guided TCU’s transition from Conference USA to the Mountain West and into the Big 12, winning at least a share of the conference crown in each of those leagues. In all, he led the Horned Frogs to 17 bowl games, six top 10 finishes and 11 seasons with double-digit victories before the school relieved him of his duties in October 2021 amid a four-year stretch of uneven play. 

In November 2023, Patterson said he had an itch to return to the sideline in the future.

“I still have a lot of ballgames left in me,” Patterson said. “If I ever get a to a place, everything in place you’d have a chance to play in the playoffs and win a national championship … I’ve keep my eyes open. I took great notes when I was at Texas. With Sark being in the NFL and being with Coach (Nick) Saban, I went down there to learn. There were things I felt like that we did better at TCU than maybe they did there, but not that anything was bad. To Xs and Os, to recruiting, to NIL, portal, you name it. I’m…

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From the Heisman stage to the Hall of Fame, former Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch continues to be immortalized by the sport he once mastered.

On Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, Lynch was named one of 22 new inductees (18 players, 4 coaches) to the College Football Hall of Fame class of 2026. Lynch is the third former Northern Illinois player to qualify for the College Football Hall of Fame, joining quarterback George Bork (1960-63, inducted 1999) and quarterback/halfback Tom Beck (1959-61, inducted 2004).

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Lynch suited up for the Huskies from 2009-13. After three seasons of backing up NFL Draft selection Chandler Harnish, Lynch took over the starting role and took the college football world by storm. He guided the Huskies to a 2012 MAC championship and a subsequent Orange Bowl appearance — becoming the first MAC team to earn a BCS Bowl berth. Lynch’s dual-threat abilities were well-documented by defenses that season. He threw for 3,138 yards and 25 touchdowns while rushing for 1,815 and 19. He ranked fourth in the FBS in rushing yards and first among quarterbacks as the ultimate zone read threat.

Lynch entered the 2013 campaign with plenty of eyeballs on him after a spectacular 2012, and the quarterback didn’t disappoint. He led NIU to a 12-0 regular season record, climbing as high as No. 16 in the AP Poll. Meanwhile, Lynch was lighting up stat sheets in the process, firing for 2,892 yards and 24 touchdowns while adding 1,920 yards and 23 scores as a rusher. Lynch finished second in the FBS in rushing yardage (only trailing Boston College running back Andre Williams) and third in rushing touchdowns. During 2013, he rushed for 100+ yards in 10 of 14 games and even crossed the 300-yard threshold twice.

On Oct. 19, 2013, Lynch set an FBS record for most single-game rushing yards by a quarterback,…

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Washington star quarterback Demond Williams Jr. announced that he was entering the transfer portal on Tuesday night. Williams will have a do-not-contact tag when he officially enters. In a post shared to social media, Williams thanked Washington coaches, teammates and fans before announcing his departure.

“I have to do what is best for me and my future,” Williams wrote. After much thought and prayer, I will be entering the transfer portal.”

News of Williams’ intention to enter the portal comes just days after the star QB signed a new deal to return to Washington for the 2026 season. The Huskies are prepping to pursue any and all legal avenues to enforce the terms of that contract, according to ESPN. 

Sources tell CBS Sports’ Matt Zentiz and Chris Hummer that LSU will be one of the teams to watch as Williams explores other options in the portal. The Tigers do have a need at quarterback, especially after Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss chose to remain with the Rebels instead of following Lane Kiffin to Baton Rouge should he be granted a waiver for an extra year of eligibility that’s still pending.

One of the best available playmakers hits open market

As a sophomore in 2025, Williams ranked sixth in the Big Ten with 3,065 passing yards, and his 25 touchdown passes ranked fourth. He also showed off his mobility with 611 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. Williams did all that while leading Washington to a 9-4 record, which included a win over Boise State in the LA Bowl.

Coming out of high school in Arizona, Williams was a four-star recruit and the No. 19 quarterback in the 2024 signing class, according to 247Sports. Although Williams didn’t start for most of his true freshman season, he did play in every game before starting…

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