Category: College Football

Florida State and Miami will meet on the football field for the 70th time on Saturday, facing off in the first ranked matchup in the series since 2016 (first in Tallahassee since 2013).

The No. 18 Seminoles (3-1, 0-1 ACC) enter the game hoping to get their season back on track after last week’s upset to Virginia while the No. 3 Hurricanes (3-0) are coming off a bye following their 26-7 victory over the Florida Gators two weeks ago.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., with the game to be broadcast on ABC.

According to FanDuel, FSU is a 4.5-point underdog, with the over/under set at 54.5 points.

Florida State Seminoles vs. Miami Hurricanes: How to watch

FSU vs. Miami: Game notes

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A Friday night Big 12 clash features the No. 23 BYU Cougars hosting the West Virginia Mountaineers. The Cougars (4-0, 1-0 in Big 12) are one of 20 FBS teams still undefeated and are coming off a 24-21 victory over Colorado to kick off conference play. West Virginia (2-3, 0-2) has dropped back-to-back Big 12 contests and is coming off a Week 5 defeat to Utah, 48-14. These programs have faced off twice before, with WVU prevailing both times.

Kickoff is at 10:30 p.m. ET from LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah. The Cougars are 19.5-point favorites in the latest West Virginia vs. BYU odds, while the over/under for total points scored is 46.5 via SportsLine consensus. Before making any BYU vs. West Virginia picks, check out the college football predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model. 

New users can also target the DraftKings promo code, which offers $200 in bonus bets instantly if your initial $5 wager wins.

The model simulates every FBS game 10,000 times. Since its inception, it has generated a betting profit of well over $2,000 for $100 players on its top-rated college spread football picks, and is a profitable 37-24 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, the model has set its sights on West Virginia vs. BYU. You can visit SportsLine now to see the picks. Here are the FBS college football odds and trends for BYU vs. West Virginia:

West Virginia vs. BYU spread

BYU -19.5 at DraftKings Sportsbook

West Virginia vs. BYU over/under

46.5 points

West Virginia vs. BYU money line 

BYU -1316, West Virginia +783

West…

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STILLWATER — When Oklahoma State football coaches came to Grant Seagren the night before the Oregon game and told him he’d be starting the next day, Seagren was rightfully puzzled.

They told him starting offensive tackle Markell Samuel had suffered a broken foot.

During a walk-through.

At the hotel.

“Never seen that,” OSU interim head coach Doug Meacham said. “That was a new one. Broke his foot in a walk-through in a hotel lobby. I didn’t even know it.”

More: Oklahoma State football staffer Richetti Jones suspended after verbal altercation, per report

A 6-foot-6, 311-pound redshirt sophomore, Seagren went to work preparing for his first college start in one of the sport’s most intimidating environments.

“It wasn’t as overwhelming as I thought it was gonna be,” Seagren said. “It turns out, football is football at the end of the day.”

Samuel looked ready to be a central figure on the OSU offensive line after transferring from Appalachian State and winning the starting job at left tackle.

But the injury resulted in some shuffling, with redshirt freshman Nuku Mafi moving from right tackle to left, and Seagren stepping in on the right side.

Now, Seagren is set for his fourth start, with the Cowboys facing Arizona at 2 p.m. Saturday in Tucson. According to Pro Football Focus grades, Seagren has been OSU’s second-best offensive lineman this season, behind guard Noah McKinney and just ahead of center Austin Kawecki.

That’s a good sign for a player who had been a tight end in high school and walked on at Nebraska two years ago, not knowing what position he’d play for the Cornhuskers.

More: Oklahoma State AD Chad Weiberg believes ‘fit’ will be critical in football coach search

“They just said come in and be ready to play whatever,” Seagren said. “The first day, they told me I was going to focus on…

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Coming off a college football weekend featuring losses by three teams in the AP poll’s top 5, things should settle down a bit in Week 6. Keyword there? Should. Changes across the board within our latest College Football Playoff projection signals conference title races within the Big Ten and SEC leading off what to watch moving forward this fall.

There’s not many matchups this weekend pitting nationally ranked teams, but we found 10 games worthy of mention where prediction value is there for the taking.

Last week’s results: Brad Crawford (7-3 straight, 6-4 ATS); Chris Hummer (4-6, 2-8 ATS). After losing the first two picks of the weekend with Virginia and Arizona State upsets, my wagers settled down for a winning mark at 6-4 overall. Notre Dame hammering Arkansas, Auburn keeping it within the number in College Station and Oregon’s outright victory at Penn State helped.

Season totals: Crawford (36-14 straight, 30-20 ATS); Hummer (36-14; 20-30).

For clarity, these lines were taken from FanDuel Sportsbook on Sept. 28. New users at FanDuel Sportsbook get $300 in bonus bets with a winning $5 wager.

Hummer (Clemson -13.5): These are two of the most disappointing teams in the FBS for different reasons. North Carolina just isn’t living up to the Bill Belichick hype at 2-2 and having been outscored 82-23 against Power Four competition. Clemson, for its part, went from preseason national title contender to a disastrous 1-3. Still, Clemson isn’t a bad team. North Carolina might be. The Tigers win the lines of scrimmage and finally look more like themselves coming out of a bye week. — Clemson 38, North Carolina 20.

Crawford (Clemson -13.5): Is Clemson capable of covering any spread the remainder of the season as a favorite? I have questions….

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Kentucky Wildcats (2-2, 0-2 SEC) head coach Mark Stoops is winless in his career against the Georgia Bulldogs (3-1, 1-1 SEC). Stoops’ 0-12 record against Georgia does not indicate how difficult of an opponent the Wildcats have been for Georgia.

Kentucky always plays a physical game against Georgia and came just one play away from defeating Georgia last season (UGA won 13-12). The Wildcats are coming off a 35-13 loss at South Carolina while Georgia is fresh off a 24-21 home loss to Alabama. Both teams are looking to rebound with a key SEC win in Week 6.

Stoops knows Georgia will be a major challenge for Kentucky, who is trying to snap Georgia’s 15-game winning streak in the series.

“Another great challenge this week, going on the road playing a great Georgia team,” Stoops said. “Always a very big challenge. Georgia is coming off a loss. I’m sure they’ll be in a bad mood, like our players are.”

Stoops on having close games, but no wins against Georgia

“We just try to be who we are,” Stoops said. “Through the years, we’ve always tried to be very tough and very physical and play the game the right way. They’ve been, certainly, on the right side of the wins and losses. They have a great team. They’ve beat a lot of people and they’ve had a great program for a long time.”

Who is Kentucky? The Wildcats are a physical team that prefers to rush the football and tries to stay out of obvious passing situations.

What Stoops said about Georgia QB Gunner Stockton

“Gunner (Georgia QB Gunner Stockton) is a guy that is most definitely a dual-threat guy, and he operates this offense very well,” Stoops said. “He’s a guy that makes very good decisions, he could hurt you with his legs and buy himself enough time. He has just enough speed and athletic ability to really hurt you when he wants to but he also operates the…

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Oregon State is in the throes of a winless season, off to an 0-5 start for the first time since 1996. It is a low point for a program that has been through the wringer over the last two years. The Beavers looked rudderless across their first five games with costly special teams gaffes aplenty and an offense unable to pull its feet out of the mud. Despite all the turmoil, second-year coach Trent Bray likely still has some runway ahead of him.

This season’s failures have been in the making for some time. It was just two seasons ago that Oregon State was a born-again Pac-12 contender and mainstay in the national rankings, a status it held for much of the 21st century before a period of dormancy. But then 10 schools left the Pac-12, leaving the Beavers and Washington State in the dust. Jonathan Smith left his post atop the program to take the Michigan State job. The transfer portal gutted the roster of its best players, including promising QB Aidan Chiles, who followed Smith to East Lansing. 

Bray, an institution in Corvallis as a former star linebacker and longtime standout assistant coach, stepped up when Oregon State needed stability. His rise to the head coaching role sparked enthusiasm because of his track record as a winner, contagious energy and passion for his alma mater.

Things haven’t panned out. The Beavers fell short of expectations in Bray’s five-win debut season, and barring a sharp turnaround, Year 2 is on pace to be a campaign of further regression.

Whether the Beavers should move on from Bray and whether they will are two different questions. A downtrodden program seeking to find its footing in the new college football landscape has to have the right leader in place, and nothing the Oregon State staff showed over its first…

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How much damage was done to Penn State’s postseason outlook after losing at home in double overtime to Oregon in Week 5? The Nittany Lions took a bit of a soft fall in the national rankings this week, and the analytics from ESPN suggest the season could be heading to a possible 9-3 regular season record, which would more than likely be enough to keep Penn State out of any College Football Playoff conversation. But that still remains up in the air for now. According to some updated playoff projections, Penn State may still be in the mix for a playoff spot at the end of the year after suffering a heartbreaking defeat to the Ducks.

It is safe to say Penn State’s playoff picture looks much different this week than it did a week ago. USA TODAY’s updated postseason projections still have Penn State in the College Football Playoff, but they would be hosting a first-round game instead of getting a bye as a top-four seed. And who would they be playing? According to Erick Smith’s updated projections, Penn State would host the Texas Longhorns in the first round. That would be quite a first-round matchup in Happy Valley with Penn State’s defense looking to rattle Texas quarterback Arch Manning in Happy Valley in December.

Smith has Penn State advancing past Texas to set up a rematch with Oregon in the Cotton Bowl for the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. But Smith has Penn State coming up short against Oregon for a second time.

Penn State is still a playoff team according to ESPN’s updated projections from Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach as well, although each has a different first-round matchup in mind right now. Bonagura has Penn State as the No. 6 seed hosting Iowa State in the first round, but Schlabach has Penn State hitting the road as the No. 11 seed to play at Texas Tech. Both ESPN experts have Penn State facing…

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When former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava hit the transfer portal earlier this spring, it unexpectedly made one of the top-ranked players from the 2023 recruiting cycle available. Iamaleava was the No. 1 overall player in the 247Sports transfer rankings, and on paper, it seemed like a good fit for him to get a fresh start close to home at UCLA.

Through the first month and change of the 2025 college football season, that decision hasn’t paid dividends for either side in hindsight. The Bruins fired their (former) coach DeShuan Foster after a disastrous loss to New Mexico and Iamaleava has been one of the most pressured quarterbacks in the FBS. 

UCLA is 0-4 ahead of a matchup against No. 7 Penn State on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET on CBS), and the outlook for the remainder of the season looks bleak when trying to find a surefire win on the schedule. Iamaleava, obviously, hasn’t been the sole reason for the slow start, but UCLA had high hopes that the former blue-chip quarterback would bring new life to a program that was starving for success.

While Iamaleava is a cautionary tale of the grass not always being greener on the other side, in-state rival and former Pac-12 foe Cal has found success at the quarterback position via the transfer portal despite Heisman hopeful Fernando Mendoza transferring to Indiana. Despite a rollercoaster journey to get to Cal, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele has been one of the best stories of the season and looks primed to be one of the top quarterbacks taken in the NFL Draft as early as 2028.

With that said, here are three transfer quarterbacks who have found immediate success at their new stop and three others who need to improve throughout the remainder of the season. Transfer rankings from Cooper Petagna of…

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