Category: College Football

The Illinois football team landed a top wide receiver recruit on Thursday.

Kenyon Alston, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound receiver out of Bishop Moore Catholic in Orlando, Fla., announced his commitment to the Fighting Illini.

The Class of 2026 three-star prospect had 29 offers, and chose Illinois over Florida State, UCF, Arkansas, Missouri, West Virginia, Syracuse, Baylor, Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, Penn State and more. Illini receivers coach Justin Stepp and assistant quarterbacks coach Artur Sitkowski were the lead recruiters for Illinois.

Orlando product and 3-star receiver prospect Kenyon Alston committed to the Fighting Illini on Jan. 23, 2025.

“The relationship that I’ve built with Coach Stepp and Coach Art is a big reason why I chose Illinois,” Alston told On3. “Coach Stepp has developed some elite wide receivers and I’m excited to learn from him.

Illinois offseason news: Where Illinois football is ranked in early 2025 rankings in Bret Bielema’s fifth season

“I strongly believe the program is heading in the right direction and I definitely want to be a part of it.”

The addition of Alston — the third Florida product in the 2026 class recruited by coach Bret Bielema — upgraded Illinois to the No. 17-ranked recruiting class for this cycle.

“It feels like the right fit for me,” Alston told the Illini Inquirer.

Alston had 48 receptions for 970 yards and 14 touchdowns in his junior season. He’ll head into his senior year next season as a four-year varsity starter that has 107 receptions for 1,817 yards and 26 touchdowns. The On3 Industry tabs Alston as the No. 89 ranked receiver in the country.

Alston is the fifth high school prospect to commit to the Illini’s Class of 2026, joining offensive lineman Landen Van Seggern, in-state receiver Davon Grant of DeKalb, and two Florida players in three-star quarterback…

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The Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator job has been open for more than two weeks now, but there hasn’t been much movement on a possible hiring and now we know why: The team was waiting for Notre Dame to finish its season. Cincinnati is hiring Fighting Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden, CBS Sports/247Sports national college football reporter Matt Zenitz reports. 

Bengals coach Zac Taylor is extremely familiar with Golden, who served as the Bengals linebackers coach for two seasons (2020-21) before taking the defensive coordinator job at Notre Dame. Taylor’s defensive coordinator job came open on Jan. 6 when Taylor made the decision to fire Lou Anarumo. In the 16 days since then, the Bengals had only conducted two known interviews and both of those came in the first 48 hours of their search. The first one came on Jan. 7 with former Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and the second one came on Jan. 8 with Patriots defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington. 

After the Covington interview, the search went quiet, which led to a lot of speculation that the Bengals were waiting on their ideal candidate to become available, and as it turns out, that was the case. With Notre Dame playing in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, Golden wasn’t going to be available for a possible interview with the Bengals until after the game, which the Fighting Irish ended up losing to Ohio State, 34-23. 

Golden was actually asked about the Bengals job on Jan. 18, but he didn’t have much to say. 

“It’s humbling that your name is mentioned because of team success. But, not the time or place,” Golden said, via Fox 19. 

During the 2024 season, Notre Dame surrendered just 14.3 points per game, which ranked second in the…

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The 2024 college football season is finally a wrap. For Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, it’s been over for quite some time.

We’re a month removed from OU’s loss to Navy in the Armed Forces Bowl. It’s been two months since OSU was blasted by Colorado in its season finale.

Here’s a brief recap of what’s happened since then in Norman and Stillwater.

Mike Gundy was almost fired. Then he fired his whole staff. OSU has two new coordinators and a wide-open quarterback race. Gunnar Gundy is back — as a coach!

Meanwhile, at OU, Brent Venables poached the shiny offensive coordinator/quarterback tandem in Ben Arbuckle and John Mateer from Washington State. The Sooners lost their defensive coordinator and have yet to name a new one. Their general manager is leaving for the ministry!

More: Former OU guards Otega Oweh, Milos Uzan thriving elsewhere bad look for Porter Moser

OSU coach Mike Gundy, right, and OU coach Brent Venables talk before the 2023 Bedlam football game at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater.

And that’s just a sampling, which sets the stage for a pivotal 2025 for both programs.

The instability in Norman and Stillwater has reached Richter-scale levels. When was the last time we entered a college football season with this much uncertainty for both OU and OSU? You’d have to go back to the ‘90s.

OU and OSU have been bastions of stability for most of this century.

Since 2000, only Ohio State and Boise State have more wins than OU. Only Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Georgia have more College Football Playoff appearances. Bob Stoops led OU to four national championship games, including a win in 2000. Stoops handed off to Lincoln Riley, who had an .846 winning percentage in his five seasons — the best mark in program history. The Sooners have slid under Brent Venables, whose .564 winning percentage at OU…

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Monday night in Atlanta, Ohio State won the first national championship of the 12-team College Football Playoff era. In the process, the Buckeyes provided the rest of the college football world with the blueprint for success going forward in this new landscape. 

Do not delude yourselves. As much as you may want it, an expanded field does not offer an opportunity for Cinderella stories in college football. Yes, Boise State and Arizona State both earned berths, and both received byes, but in the end, it was the team with the second-most national titles since 1936 (the beginning of the poll era) and second-most wins in history hoisting the trophy after defeating the program with the fourth-most wins. It’s a tournament designed to give the best teams a second — and maybe even a third — chance to prove themselves worthy of greatness.

No, the lesson to be learned here is how to become Ohio State if you’re a program that already does or hopes to compete at the elite level of the sport. The formula itself is simple, even if it isn’t easy to pull off.

Ohio State wins national championship: Where do Buckeyes’ nine titles rank on all-time college football list?

Zachary Pereles

The answer is not in the transfer portal. There was a lot of talk about how Ohio State bought its roster in the days leading up to the title game, but what wasn’t discussed as much was the fact Notre Dame had a larger class of transfers in the 2024 offseason (nine players) than Ohio State (seven). Neither team spent the offseason in the portal hunting for players to fix…

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Ohio State’s 34-23 win against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff championship game will earn the Buckeyes a spot in history as the first champion in the 12-team playoff format. Ohio State was also the first winner of the four-team playoff tournament, so this is becoming a bit of a trend.

But where do the Buckeyes rank among the national champions of the playoff era?

Regular-season losses to Oregon and rival Michigan dent theirds case for coming in atop the list of 11 teams, though the Buckeyes did achieve something no one in Bowl Subdivision history had never done: win four postseason games. That gives them a unique argument for being compared to the best of the best since the playoff debuted in 2014.

The résumé still doesn’t stack up with teams such as 2020 Alabama and 2019 LSU, which lead the way in our rankings of playoff champs:

1. 2020 Alabama (13-0)

Led by an unstoppable offense starring Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith, the 2020 Crimson Tide have an argument for being counted among the top teams in modern FBS history. Against the backdrop of the COVID pandemic, Alabama went unbeaten in games against 11 SEC teams, Notre Dame and Ohio State, scoring at least 31 points in every game, at least 41 points in every game but two and winning every game by at least 15 points. This was a dominant group and the most impressive team of the Nick Saban era.

Alabama coach Nick Saban and offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood (70) celebrates with the College Football Playoff championship trophy after beating Ohio State to win the 2020 national title.

2. 2019 LSU (15-0)

This offense will live in FBS history. Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson and others formed one of the most intimidating and explosive groups to ever grace the Power Four. Burrow threw for 5,671 yards and 60 touchdowns and won the Heisman. LSU beat…

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The College Football Playoff expanded from four teams to 12 this season and now an exciting postseason will culminate with the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship game on Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET. Ohio State cruised to victories of 14 points or more over Tennessee, Oregon and Texas to make the title game, while Notre Dame beat Indiana, Georgia and Penn State on its path. Now these college football powerhouses will go head-to-head with a chance at history on the line after playing each other in the regular season the last two years. 

The latest CFP National Championship game odds via SportsLine consensus list Ohio State as an 8.5-point favorite against Notre Dame, while the over/under for total points scored is 45.5. The Buckeyes are -389 (risk $389 to win $100) on the money line, while the Fighting Irish are +305 (risk $100 to win $305). Before locking in any 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship game picks, be sure to see the top CFP title game expert picks, predictions and best bets from Thomas Casale.

A frequent guest on national radio and TV shows to discuss college sports, Casale has been sports betting — and winning — for more than 30 years. Dating back to Week 13 of the regular season, he’s 14-7 in his best bets column, including a perfect 3-0 week late in the season that landed a +600 parlay. Anybody who has followed those picks could have seen huge returns.

Now, he has turned his attention to the CFP bracket and the third round college football odds and is sharing his top two betting picks. If you parlay these college football betting picks, you could be looking at a return of nearly +300. Get his top college football picks at SportsLine.

Top College Football Playoff expert predictions

One of Casale’s top…

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Lou Holtz appears to be back at it again.

Someone alert Ryan Day.

Last week, the former Notre Dame coach renewed his “friendship” with Day with a jab in a quote tweet from ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.” Holtz also appeared to announce his plan to be in attendance for Monday’s CFP championship game vs. Ohio State.

“If Notre Dame doesn’t win, it’s because we want to preserve Ryan Day’s job,” Holtz said on X (formerly Twitter). “I was originally going to be at the game in spirit, but now I’ll be dragging my body along as well.”

If Notre Dame doesn’t win, it’s because we want to preserve Ryan Day’s job.

I was originally going to be at the game in spirit, but now I’ll be dragging my body along as well. https://t.co/VF6WOuNzhB

— Lou Holtz (@CoachLouHoltz88) January 15, 2025

Holtz’s feud with Day began during an appearance he made on “The Pat McAfee Show” the day leading into last year’s game between Notre Dame and Ohio State.

Being interviewed by Ty Schmidt, one of Pat McAfee’s co-hosts who was impersonating Holtz, the now 88-year-old coach took a shot at Ohio State and Ryan Day. The shot was an added thought to Holtz answering Schmidt’s question whether the Irish’s 2023 roster reminded him in any ways of his 1988 championship roster at Notre Dame.

“Defensively, our defensive line is better. You look at Coach Day. I coached at Ohio State under Woody Hayes. We won the national championship when I was there. I’m proud of that,” Holtz said. “However, he has lost to Alabama, Georgia, Clemson and Michigan twice. Everyone that beats him does so because they’re more physical than Ohio State. I think Notre Dame will take that same approach.”

Notre Dame, of course, lost that game to Ohio State last season in South Bend. Appearing to be on their way to a victory, after Sam Hartman threw a touchdown to put the Irish up…

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The inaugural 12-team field is down to two and the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship game is set for Monday, Jan. 20 between the No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes (13-2) and No. 7 Notre Dame (14-1). Ohio State breezed past Tennessee and Oregon in the CFP bracket before grinding out a 28-14 win over Texas in the semifinals thanks in large part to defensive end Jack Sawyer’s late 83-yard fumble return for a touchdown. Notre Dame has leaned on its steady defense and some timely plays on offense to get past Indiana, Georgia and Penn State to advance to the national title game. Notre Dame starting offensive tackle Anthonie Knapp (ankle) and defensive lineman Rylie Mills (knee) have both been ruled out. Notre Dame receiver Beaux Collins (calf) is questionable. 

Kickoff from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta is set for 7:30 p.m. ET. The Buckeyes are 8.5-point favorites according to the latest Ohio State vs. Notre Dame odds via SportsLine consensus, while the over/under for total points scored is 45.5, down a point from the opening line. Before making any Notre Dame vs. Ohio State picks, check out the college football predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.

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. It went 43-36 on top-rated college football picks in the 2024 season, and was a profitable 27-16 combined on money-line and over/under picks. It also called seven of the eight outright winners in the College Football Playoff bracket thus far. Anyone following at sportsbooks and on betting apps could have seen impressive returns.

Now, the model has set its sights on Ohio State vs. Notre…

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