Category: College Football

If looking for ranked contests to make Week 9 college football picks on, you’ll have to look at the SEC, as the conference has all three such matchups. No. 3 Texas A&M vs. No. 20 LSU (+2.5), No. 8 Ole Miss vs. No. 13 Oklahoma (-5.5) and No. 10 Vanderbilt vs. No. 15 Missouri (+2.5) will help shape the conference’s hierarchy, but there are intriguing matchups outside of the SEC. The latest Week 9 college football odds have No. 2 Indiana at -26.5 versus UCLA in the Big Ten, No. 9 Miami at -29.5 versus Stanford in the ACC and No. 11 BYU at +2.5 versus Iowa State in the Big 12.

The Group of Five shouldn’t be overlooked with any college football predictions either with South Florida of the American the highest-ranked team outside the Power Four. The 18th-ranked Bulls are favored by 6 points over a Memphis squad coming off its first defeat, according to the latest Week 9 college football spreads. Before locking in any Week 9 college football picks on those games or others, be sure to see the latest Week 9 college football predictions from SportsLine’s proven model. 

New users can also target the latest Underdog promo code, good for $100 in site credits when you play $5 with the promo code CBSSPORTS2 in select states.

The model simulates every FBS game 10,000 times. Since its inception, it has generated a betting profit of over $2,000 for $100 players on its top-rated college spread football picks, and is a profitable 42-30 combined on money-line and over/under college football picks since the beginning of 2024. Anybody following its college football betting picks at sportsbooks and on betting sites could have seen strong returns.

Now, it has turned its attention to the latest college football odds and Week 9 college football betting lines on the spread, money…

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Tony Vitello mentioned many people in his statement Oct. 23 about leaving as Tennessee baseball coach to manage the San Francisco Giants.

There was comedian Leanne Morgan, Grizzlies star Ja Morant and Tennessee legend Peyton Manning.

He also mentioned Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin, who was Tennessee’s coach for one season.

“It’s the right decision and I just hope it doesn’t give me Lane Kiffin status around here, because I feel like I’m a VFL,” Vitello said in the statement. “I think if someone truly invests in being a VFL for any amount of time, they’re just that — a Vol For Life. That’s what I am in my mind.”

Why did Lane Kiffin leave Tennessee?

Kiffin led Tennessee to a 7-6 record in what turned out to be his only season as the Vols coach in 2009.

When the Southern Cal job opened up, Kiffin took it on Jan. 12, 2010.

An estimated crowd of 1,000 fans gathered on the UT campus to protest Kiffin’s decision to leave, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Fans burned Lane Kiffin T-shirts, a mattress and chanted obscenities.

Lane Kiffin to Florida rumors continue

Kiffin is in the news again for another possible job change. He continues to be a favorite in media speculation about who will replace fired Billy Napier at Florida.

On Oct. 19, Kiffin was asked about the Florida job and Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter’s recent comments about wanting to extend Kiffin’s contact.

“I don’t comment on these other jobs or these ongoing things in-season,” Kiffin said. “That’s awesome that Keith said those things and I don’t take that for granted. I’m extremely appreciative of how everyone has been here. The chancellor (Glenn Boyce), everybody. I’m flattered that that would even be discussed halfway through the season, but I don’t deal with that.”

No. 8 Ole Miss (6-1, 3-1) plays at No. 11 Oklahoma (6-1, 2-1) on…

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The SEC has suspended referee Ken Williamson for the rest of the season following his crew’s performance in Georgia’s win over Auburn on Oct. 11, ESPN reports. Williamson was the crew chief for that game, a 20-10 win for the Bulldogs, which featured a number of questionable calls.

CBS Sports’ John Talty reached out to the league for comment, but was told the SEC “does not comment on personnel matters”. CBS Sports can confirm that Williamson did not officiate last week, but the rest of his assigned crew did — and will not officiate another game for the rest of the season for the league. 

Williamson and his crew took center stage for all the wrong reasons in the Auburn vs. Georgia game. Late in the first half, with Auburn leading 10-0, quarterback Jackson Arnold appeared to score before the ball was knocked out of his hands on the goal line. However, officials ruled it a fumble on the field, and the call was upheld despite replay appearing to show Arnold breaking the plane with possession.

In the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs led 13-10 when Kirby Smart ran up to the side judge and appeared to call a timeout. Once the clock was blown dead, Smart argued he was telling he official that Auburn defenders were clapping in an attempt to create a false start for the offense. The broadcast replay showed Smart making what looked like a timeout signal with his hands, but he and the Bulldogs were allowed to keep the timeout anyway.

Auburn coach Hugh Freeze and Arnold both downplayed the controversial calls’ effect on the game, but the seven-point swing was an obvious turning…

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With the end of the season approaching, the College Football Playoff is close to commencing, and the time for teams to bulk up their playoff resume is ending. ESPN’s Projection Models can predict which teams will make the playoff, if people splice the numbers carefully. Are the Georgia Bulldogs in good position to make the playoff?

First, we’ll look at the highest percentage to win conference for all Power Four conferences. Alabama (57.1%), Ohio State (53.8%), Texas Tech (38.1%), and Georgia Tech (33.0%) all make the playoff by this logic. However, the NCAA made it a rule this year, where teams that win their conference get automatic bids, but not automatic byes.

Georgia (18.2%), Indiana (34.5%), BYU (33.1%), and Miami (19.3%) all lose their respective conference championships by this logic.

For the Group of Five participant, we’ll see the group of Five teams with the highest playoff percentage. That’s the USF Bulls (46.2%), who make the playoff by winning over the North Texas Mean Green in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) and finishing with a higher playoff percentage than the James Madison Dukes (8.0%) and Boise State Broncos (9.6%).

That same logic is applied to all the at-large bids. The seven teams with the highest playoff percentage, outside of the conference champions, all make the playoff. That means Indiana (94.3%), Texas A&M (84.4%), Georgia (81.6%), Oregon (75.8%), BYU (52.6%), Ole Miss (48.6%), and Miami (44.1%) all make the playoff. Oklahoma, Texas, Vanderbilt, and Missouri are all the first ones out, by this logic.

For seeding, we can look at projected record for each of the playoff teams. The Georgia Bulldogs have a projected record of 10.2-2.2, which is the No. 11 highest number. However, it’s likely they’ll give the Group of Five teams the No. 12 seed.

There are some discrepancies to this data. The…

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AUSTIN, Texas — Texas won an SEC game it shouldn’t have Saturday night in Lexington. Those aren’t my words. Longhorn QB Arch Manning said as much Monday after the Wildcats more than doubled Texas’ yardage (395-179) in an overtime loss.

But, at least to All-American safety Michael Taaffe postgame, the vibes from the media weren’t positive enough.

“These questions seem a little bit negative, I’m not going to lie guys, to the offense,” Taaffe said postgame sitting next to Manning. “I’ll say this, it’s freaking hard to win in the SEC … We freaking won. Let’s put some smiles on our face. We won. The show goes on.”

You get it from one of Texas’ captains. Emotions are high after a game, and he’s protecting his friend.

Thing is, this wasn’t a one-off result.

Texas is averaging just 16.8 points per game against Power Four competition. The Longhorns rank No. 98 nationally in offensive EPA, 89th in points per drive and 114th in average drive distance (27.9 yards).

Find an offensive category and Texas struggles in it.

Thus, despite Taaffe’s stern messaging, the media questions kept coming. Here’s a sampling of a few queries head coach Steve Sarkisian fielded Monday at his weekly presser ahead of a road game against Mississippi State:

How much is the offensive line limiting Manning’s growth? Have you thought about giving up play-calling? What’s your message to the fan base that seems to be panicking after a win? What went into benching Quinn Ewers against Georgia last year and not sitting Manning after his struggles? Can Texas’ issues be fixed in season or do they have to come in the offseason?

Manning wasn’t spared either:

How much faith do you have in Sarkisian as a play-caller?Do you worry about losing your job?Are you still having fun?

Not…

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With Kentucky football continuing to falter under Mark Stoops, many are wondering if this will be the last season we see him screaming at the refs on the Kroger Field sidelines.

As things currently stand, if the season were to end today, I believe that Stoops would return for the 2026 season, largely due to athletics director Mitch Barnhart. Kentucky has shown ‘just’ enough promise to think things may get better with a new offensive coordinator, though we have seen that move play out several times. The bigger influence is that Kroger Field has continued to draw big crowds, even though they have lost nine straight home SEC games.

Barnhart, who is typically very conservative when it comes to making coaching changes, will look for any and every excuse to bring Stoops back next year. A big reason for that, especially in the case of Stoops, is that Barnhart wants to make sure UK saves every penny imaginable for things like new projects and stadium renovations, not firing coaches.

I do believe it’s possible UK can get Stoops’ buyout down lower than the $38 million it’s currently at. However, even if the school were to get it somewhere between, say, $20-30 million, it would be a bigger black eye for Barnhart to pay anything of that sort than to endure a 2-10 season next year after giving Stoops one last chance. He’d much rather take one more chance on Stoops and have it go awry than pay the buyout now and have that kind of stain on his resume.

Mitch very much cares about his legacy, which is why he locked up both Cal and Stoops, two guys he felt would lead UK until they retire. Both men stumbled, and luckily, Cal left for Arkansas, saving UK a potential buyout of around $33 million.

Now, Mitch is clinging to what he sees as “his guy.” It’s easy to forget that Stoops was nearly fired in 2016 after a disastrous…

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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Jimbo Fisher, who won a national championship at Florida State in 2013, still believes Mike Norvell is a good coach amidst a four-game losing streak that has cranked up the hot seat talk in Tallahassee.

Florida State athletic director Michael Alford issued a vote of confidence in Norvell on Monday morning, saying “we are fully committed to helping Coach Norvell and the 2025 Seminoles strongly rebound in the coming weeks.” Alford said a “comprehensive assessment” of the program would be conducted at the conclusion of the season. 

That came off as an attempt to tamp down the considerable smoke Sunday that Norvell’s job security could be in question after a 20-13 loss to Stanford as influential boosters expressed displeasure with the program’s current trajectory. CBS Sports previously reported Norvell even addressed during a Sunday staff meeting that conversations about his future were happening. 

Why did Florida State decide against firing Mike Norvell? Examining pros, cons as ‘Noles back struggling coach

Chip Patterson

Fisher, who was speaking at Birmingham’s Monday Morning Quarterback Club, was asked to assess what is wrong with the Florida State program that he led from 2010-17. 

“It’s easy to point fingers when you’re outside or try to assess things but until you’re inside you never really know because there are so many…

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COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Remember the Swagcopter?

In a different era of Texas A&M football, it was merely a way for Kevin Sumlin and his staff to hop from one high school game to another but became a symbol of the program’s largesse and ultimately its superficiality as the recruits it helped sign didn’t translate to enough wins.

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Remember the faux national championship trophy with a space left blank to fill in the year Jimbo Fisher and his groundbreaking $75 million contract were supposed to bring one back here?

It became, yet again, the emblem of a school trying to speak something into existence that nobody around here realized had to be earned rather than bought.

For its first dozen years in the Southeastern Conference, Texas A&M and its supporters would stand on their proverbial mountain of cash and shout to the masses how they had everything needed to win championships.

Now, as undefeated and third-ranked Texas A&M pushes for its first appearance in the College Football Playoff, it seems the Aggies finally have the one thing money can’t buy in this sport. After all the choreographed attempts to turn this program into an image of something it could never be, it took an accident to fill the void with the substance it needed most.

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“People always want to take the elevator to success,” said Mike Elko, the Jersey-born, Ivy League-educated 48-year-old head coach that Texas A&M never knew it needed. “That’s not really how it works for anybody. You want your program to be this but it’s actually that and there’s a slow and steady climb that gets you where you want to go. It’s not, ‘We’re going to hire this coach and he’s a magician and we got him in here and tomorrow we’re a national championship program.’ It doesn’t work that way anywhere.”

Texas A&M head coach Mike…

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