Category: College Football

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The Big 12 remains the most unpredictable mass of teams in college football, but it’s still worth trying to work through the weeds. Three teams are tied for first place in odds to win the conference, but no one has better than 6-to-1 odds to win the league. 

While many of the top contenders in the conference boast rosters full of returners, an offseason of movement hangs above the field. Texas Tech, for example, put together arguably the nation’s best transfer class. Utah revamped its offense with quarterback Devon Dampier and offensive coordinator Jason Beck. Houston and Colorado added high-profile quarterback transfers. 

With all the movement and a razor thin margin between success and failure in the conference, we power ranked all 16 teams heading into the second year of this version of the conference. Remember, Arizona State went from picked last to winning the league last year, so everything is subject to change. Hopefully this time around, we can be a little more accurate. 

Big 12 spring overreactions: Colorado’s focus shifts to defense under Deion Sanders, BYU remains underrated

Shehan Jeyarajah

Odds to win the 2025 Big 12 championship in parentheses, provided by FanDuel Sportsbook.

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Michigan State joins Penn State, Tennessee and others in offering 2027 LB prospect from Philadelphia

Michigan State football is the latest power program to extend an offer to a linebacker prospect from Philly.

Zykee Scott of Philadelphia announced this week that he’s received an offer from the Spartans. Scott made the offer from the Spartans known by posting on his social media X account.

Scott plays for La Salle College in Philadelphia, and is listed at 6-foot-0 and 200 pounds. He is a linebacker prospect in the 2027 class.

Scott is currently unranked and unrated on both 247Sports and Rivals. But he has already earned a number of notable offers, which indicates he’ll surely be one of the higher-rated prospects in the 2027 class.

Michigan State, Nebraska, Penn State, Syracuse, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Kent State have all extended him an offer, according to Rivals. He also has received interest from Rutgers.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.

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Texas added a major commitment to its 2026 recruiting class as Jermaine Bishop, 247Sports’ No. 1-ranked athlete in the cycle, committed to the Longhorns. The Willis, Texas, native received strong interest from Houston, Texas A&M and USC, but ultimately decided to join Steve Sarkisian’s program in Austin. 

Bishop is one of the fastest risers in the class and was named to the initial group of five-star prospects in the Top247 rankings on Wednesday. The rising senior is rated the No. 25 player in the country and No. 3 player in Texas. Despite his slight 5-foot-11 and 155-pound size, the physical gifts jump off the page.

“He’s one of the best pure football players in the country,” 247Sports scouting analyst Gabe Brooks said. “If you’re looking for an impact level on a 1-10 scale, Bishop’s commitment would be a 10. For programs competing on a national level, he represents a class-leading receiver or class-leading defensive back in our eyes.”

Bishop is likely the best two-way high school prospect since Travis Hunter. Brooks had more to say about his fit on the Horns247 message board, telling fans Bishop reminds him of Jordan Addison as a receiver and Travis Hunter as a cornerback/athlete. 

Bishop is one of the most fascinating players in the country as a potential two-way player at the college level. In two years, he has made a name for himself as one of the best wide receivers in Texas history with nearly 3,000 yards and 35 touchdowns. However, he might have even more upside on defense long term as a major cornerback prospect. 

“Being able to watch Travis Hunter do that at the college level was great for me,” Bishop told 247Sports. “Now that people know that it’s possible to do it, they know it can be done at that level. It…

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2025 will mark the fifth football season for Tennessee under head coach Josh Heupel. He has compiled a 37-15 (20-12 SEC) record since 2021.

The Vols will kick off their 2025 campaign against Syracuse on Aug. 30.

Kick off between the Vols and Orange is slated for noon EDT at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. ABC will televise the season opener.

Tennessee’s first home game at Neyland Stadium will take place Sept. 6 versus East Tennessee State. The Vols’ first SEC contest is scheduled for Sept. 13 against Georgia at Neyland Stadium.

The Vols will also host UAB, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico State and Vanderbilt in 2025. Tennessee will travel to Mississippi State, Alabama, Kentucky and Florida.

On Wednesday, Tennessee announced football game designations for the 2025 season.

2025 Tennessee football game designations

Sept. 13 versus Georgia – Checker Neyland presented by Pilot, John Henderson NFF Hall of Fame Salute

Oct. 11 versus Arkansas – Champions weekend presented by Pilot

Nov. 15 versus New Mexico State – Homecoming, Salute to Service

Nov. 29 versus Vanderbilt – Senior day

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AMELIA ISLAND, FL. — Coaches were presented a proposal for an NFL-style spring calendar during ACC meetings on Tuesday, sources confirmed to CBS Sports.. The proposal includes the addition of six official team activities (OTAs) to be conducted in the spring or early summer months, with padless practices occurring as late as June. 

NFL-style OTAs were also a hot topic in January at the American Football Coaches Association’s annual convention as schools looked for alternatives to spring games. 

The new proposal would provide teams 21 total days of on-field activities in the spring and early summer, with 15 traditional spring practices. Programs would have the flexibility to use those 21 allotted days across five weeks early in the spring semester or when summer classes begin in May.

The proposal comes just days before the expected final court settlement in the House v. NCAA case. Most proposals related to the college football calendar, including the transfer portal, have been tabled until the $2.8 billion settlement is finalized. Judge Claudia Wilkens has set a Friday deadline for filing briefs in the case before she decides whether to grant final approval, perhaps as early as next week. The settlement will open the door for schools to directly share revenue with athletes. Schools will be allowed to pay as much as $20.5 million to players across all sports, with football players expected to fetch most of the money.

ACC coaches also appear to be in lockstep with the AFCA’s unanimously approved proposal to move the transfer portal window to Jan. 2-12, eliminating…

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New Mexico State is still working to add players from the transfer portal for its 2025 season, and coach Tony Sanchez has already secured several who will be crucial to its success.

The Aggies have signed 20 transfers from fellow NCAA programs from the winter and spring portal windows, with potentially more to come. NM State leaned on many transfers to play key roles last season, such as starters like safety Da’Marcus Crosby, running back Mike Washington and defensive tackle Naki Fahina, and will likely need to do so again in 2025.

See who NMSU signed in the winter: Aggies football transfer portal tracker for winter window

See who NMSU signed in the spring: 2025 Aggies football spring transfer portal tracker

Reloading after losing players to the portal is the new reality for every Group of Five team, including NM State. But there are incoming transfers to be intrigued by.

Here’s a look at five transfers that could make the biggest impact for the Aggies in 2025:

QB Logan Fife (Montana)

Having been announced as “the guy” for the Aggies’ starting quarterback position by Sanchez, Fife has the biggest impact potential of any NM State transfer.

Fife appeared in all 14 games and made eight starts for a Montana team that reached last season’s FCS playoffs, finishing 2024 with 1,890 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and two interceptions. His most notable performance came in a 384-yard, five-touchdown game against Eastern Washington that earned him Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Fife will look to bring balance to an Aggies offense that struggled to pass last season, having played four total quarterbacks that produced Conference USA’s second-worst passing offense. Success from him can bring NM State back to bowl eligibility.

MORE AGGIES FOOTBALL: Logan Fife ready to fix New Mexico State’s quarterback problems

RB…

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We’re still in the early stages of an expanded College Football Playoff era, so much so that the final format hasn’t even taken shape. There’s a chance this year’s playoff will look different than last year’s, and there’s no doubt the 2026 format will change significantly after that.

The teams that will be in the bracket are what interest me, however. Will we see the same eight or nine teams making it every year, with a few newbies mixed in? Or will NIL, the transfer portal, and all the other possible changes on the horizon lead to an age of true parity that has the CFP resembling the NFL playoffs?

My guy says it’ll be the former, but I won’t rule out the latter. Either way, we won’t have enough evidence to make a decision one way or another for a decade, but I’m an impatient man. And an impatient man wants to make decisions now. I decided to look at last year’s 12-team field and break them down into tiers of how surprised we should be if they miss next season’s College Football Playoff. We’ll start with the highest level of surprise, and teams are listed in alphabetical order by tier.

Returning from the store to find Bigfoot sitting on your couch, in your robe, smoking a pipe

Ohio State

Another of my theories involving the expanded playoff era is that it will be damn near impossible to repeat as champion; any program that does will be a truly special one. Given all Ohio State lost off last year’s champions, it’s difficult to see the Buckeyes hoisting the trophy again. But they can.

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Michigan State football has extended a scholarship offer to an edge rusher from Texas in the 2027 class.

Alexander Coey of Conroe, Texas announced earlier this week that he’s received an offer from Michigan State. Coey made the offer from the Spartans known by posting on his social media X account.

Coey is an underrated prospect in the 2027 class. At this point, he is currently unranked on both 247Sports and Rivals. He is listed at 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, and plays for Conroe High, according to 247Sports.

Michigan State is one of nearly 10 schools to offer Coey, according to 247Sports. He also holds offers from Duke, Stanford, Oregon State, Texas State, UNLV, Sacramento State and Utah State.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.

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