Category: College Football

The Big Ten’s radical idea to expand the College Football Playoff from 12 to 28 teams is already off to a rocky start, according to industry sources who spoke to CBS Sports on the condition of anonymity.

News of the Big Ten’s internal socialization of an early blueprint to expand the College Football Playoff came to light on Saturday before many of the commissioners in the other nine FBS conferences were informed personally by Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti. Leaks around CFP formats over the last year are nothing new, but the timing — with a Dec. 1 deadline looming for a new agreement — intensified frustration.

“We sound like immature children throwing garbage against the wall,” one upset CFP executive told CBS Sports.

“It’s frustrating that these topics can’t be discussed behind the scenes and brought out to the public once they’ve been vetted,” an SEC administrator said.

Big Ten discussing College Football Playoff expansion proposal to 24, 28 teams

Brandon Marcello

Petitti floated 24- and 28-team playoff models with Big Ten athletic directors last week, sources told CBS Sports. The SEC was informed later, but other conferences were left out until the leak surfaced. Administrators had been focused on 16-team formats in recent negotiations, making the Big Ten’s larger proposals a surprise.

What remains constant is the Big Ten’s desire for multiple…

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 It’s becoming very obvious that the Philadelphia Eagles have a thing for the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Sunday afternoon, the Eagles added former Crimson Tide receiver John Metchie III. Metchie, who had fought cancer while he was with the Houston Texans, becomes the ninth player to join the squad from Alabama.

Is there a reason why the Eagles like Crimson Tide players!?! Well, yeah, their production.

Quarterback Jalen Hurts has led the Eagles to two Super Bowls in the past three years, winning one, and was named MVP of this past year’s Super Bowl. At Alabama, he led his team to a comeback victory over the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship game, and he’s also a national champion.

DeVonta Smith is a Heisman winner who averaged 150 yards in his senior season and is also a national champion, along with offensive lineman Landon Dickerson, who is also a starter for the Eagles. 

They also just added linebacker Jihaad Campbell from this year’s draft, who has already made an impact on the team and is expected to start. 

Hurts gets to add yet another weapon to this loaded Eagles offense, which has not been used a lot recently by the Texans. 

Metchie totaled 40 catches for 412 yards and one touchdown during his time with the Texans. That included career-best marks in catches (24), receiving yards (254) and touchdowns (1) in 2024. Oh, and in college, he also won an SEC Championship.

He was one of Bryce Young’s go-to guys, whose most memorable moment was a game-winning 2-point conversion catch he made in a four-overtime game against Auburn in the 2021 Iron Bowl.

He was later drafted in the second round by the Houston Texans, but a cancer diagnosis almost put an end to his promising career.  

Now, he gets a second with the Super Bowl champs and gets to be reunited with his former Bama…

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Football: Jaquatin Victrum leads Miami Northwestern past Lakeland

Northwestern football coach Jaquatin Victrum led the Bulls to a 40-3 win against Lakeland in his first game since taking over for Teddy Bridgewater.

VERO BEACH — Preseason games don’t count, but they do matter.

The adage was certainly true for Miami Northwestern’s football team as interim coach Jaquatin Victrum guided the team to a dominant 40-3 against Lakeland in a Kickoff Classic on Aug. 16.

“I always tell the guys, adversity is going to strike,” Victrum said. “It’s about how we respond to it. I think they responded well. They continue to grow. They grew a brotherhood. They still came to work even when adversity did strike. And when adversity poured on more, they worked harded. To see them flourish (against Lakeland), it feels really good.”

Northwestern’s players already had their hands full with their quest to repeat as Class 3A state champions.

Unfortunately, the Bulls had to deal with off-the-field drama that saw former coach Teddy Bridgewater suspended for alleged impermissable benefits and ultimately leave the team to return to the NFL. Northwestern’s program was thrown into a national spotlight for something that had nothing to do with football.

But, less than two weeks after Bridgewater signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Victrum led the uber-talented team he inherited to a statement win against a perennial power.

“It feels awesome,” Victrum said. “I’ve been around the program for a while, but as head coach it feels awesome to get my first one under my belt. But I’m more happy for the kids and the community because that’s ultimately who we’re doing it for.”

While it wasn’t a perfect performance — a scary thought for future opponents — Northwestern showed why it opened the season at No. 2 on the USA Today Florida Network Super 25.

The…

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We’re just one week away from Week 0 and the start of college football season, so it’s time squeeze in conference championship game predictions across the Power Four and Group of Six ranks before the 2025 campaign kickoff.

For the first time, College Football Playoff seeding this fall will be entirely up to the selection committee with four automatic bids going to champions of the ACC, Big Ten, SEC and Big 12 along with the Group of Six’s highest-ranked team.

First-round byes are back for the top four seeds, but those no longer have to hold the conference champion distinction. That emphasizes the importance of scheduling and quality wins, and makes the margin for error extremely small for those battling for a lone G6 spot.

Bowl projections: Preseason outlook for College Football Playoff field as SEC leads way in projected bracket

Brad Crawford

Five conference title games will be played a neutral sites in December and the four others are hosted by the regular-season champs of the CUSA, American, Sun Belt and Mountain West.

All conference champion odds are courtesy FanDuel Sportsbook.

Conference USA Championship (Dec. 5, campus site)

Projected matchup: Liberty vs. Louisiana Tech 
Winner: Liberty (+120)

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Another Ohio State freshman has just been welcomed into the Brotherhood, with the season just a little over two weeks away. Four-star running back Bo Jackson has shed his black stripe.

Jackson entered his freshman season at OSU with a college-ready frame, standing at 6-foot and 205 pounds. He is an electric back with speed and wiggle and was rated as the No. 11 running back in the country according to 247Sports. The Cleveland native would suffer a knee injury that would rob him of a full senior season, but his junior year numbers were impressive to say the least. Jackson lit up scoreboards with 30 total touchdowns at Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School, while averaging over 10 yards per carry for over 1,700 rushing yards.

The Buckeyes beat out both Alabama and Georgia, among others, to land Jackson’s pledge.

James Peoples and West Virginia transfer C.J. Donaldson are expected to take the lion’s share of carries for the Ohio State backfield, but don’t count Jackson out. All it takes is one small injury, and it’s “Next man up.” He’s had an excellent spring and summer camp and should be ready if called upon.

Jackson becomes the fifth Buckeye freshman to shed his black stripe this year.

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The 2024 college football season brought widespread upheaval with conference consolidation, the eradication of divisions in the ACC, Big Ten and SEC, the expansion of the College Football Playoff and 14 Power Four coaching changes. While the college sports enterprise as a whole remains in a period of transition, the 2025 football season is lighter on change.

There are no membership changes in any Power Four conference and just six P4 head coaching changes are taking hold. The CFP is also holding steady at 12 for at least one more year. Arguably, the most significant winds of change are at the quarterback position, as seven of the top 10 teams in the CBS Sports 136 preseason rankings will be debuting new starting quarterbacks.

Indiana and Tennessee are playoff teams from last season that are in the same boat, and mighty Michigan may start a true freshman, Bryce Underwood, under center. QB changes are also in store at Ole Miss, Oklahoma and Utah, just to name a few more. As such, many team win total bets hinge, in large part, among on talent at the game’s most important position. 

Bowl projections: Preseason outlook for College Football Playoff field as SEC leads way in projected bracket

Brad Crawford

We aren’t shying away from that reality in this year’s edition of the best win total bets, as all five plays are on teams with new starting quarterbacks. The track record…

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As USC football gets set to kick off its 2025 season in just a few weeks, the Trojans do so without much national hype surrounding this year’s team. 20 years ago this time, however, the complete opposite was the case. 2005 USC was coming off back-to-back national championships, returning the Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, and was the consensus preseason No. 1 team as it pursued a historic third consecutive title.

While the 2005 Trojans would come up just short of achieving their ultimate goal, they did play in two of the greatest college football games of all time. Earlier this offseason, The Athletic released a list of their top 25 college football games of the 21st century thus far. Two of the top five contests featured 2005 USC.

Coming in at No. 4 was the Trojans’ 35-31 victory that October over archrival Notre Dame—a.k.a. the “Bush Push” game. Here is what writer David Ubben had to say about the contest:

“Two-time national champions brought a 27-game winning streak to Notre Dame Stadium for a top-10 showdown that lived up to the hype,” Ubben wrote. “Notre Dame took a 31-28 lead on a Brady Quinn 5-yard run with 2:04 to play that capped an 87-yard drive. USC responded, and QB Matt Leinart floated a perfect ball over the top to single-covered Dwayne Jarrett for a 61-yard gain on fourth-and-9 to get the Trojans into the red zone.

“USC had no timeouts, and on first-and-goal from the 3-yard line with eight seconds left, Leinart dived for the pylon, but a helmet on the ball forced it out of bounds at the 4. The clock ran out, and fans rushed the field to celebrate the win. But the officials huddled and correctly put seven seconds back on the clock, spotting the ball at the 1-yard line.”

“Leinart decided to sneak it, an attempt that was initially stoned before he spun to his left and Reggie Bush pushed him over the…

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Tennessee athletics is officially making the switch back to Adidas as its apparel and equipment partner, the school announced on Wednesday. In addition to the traditional apparel partnership, Adidas will be providing Tennessee athletes with NIL opportunities throughout the deal.

The Volunteers were originally partnered with Adidas from 1995-2014, at which point they made the jump to Nike. Just over a decade later, Tennessee and Adidas are reuniting on a 10-year deal, which will take effect in July 2026.

During its original run with Nike, Tennessee was no stranger to success on the national stage, including championships in football and basketball. While those memories are nice to have, one of the biggest factors in this deal for the Vols was Adidas’ support in the NIL landscape.

“This partnership provides us with a significant advantage in the ever-evolving landscape of college sports,” Tennessee athletic director Danny White said in a statement. “We take pride in our fan base and the competitive edge they offer us. We refuse to partner with someone who does not feel the same way.”

CBS Sports Preseason All-America team: College football’s best and brightest entering the 2025 season

CBS Sports Staff

In its announcement, Tennessee said that Adidas would provide “unprecedented” NIL opportunities for athletes across all 20 of the school’s varsity sports. In fact, Adidas…

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