Missouri State Bears play the Minnesota Golden Gophers in second round
Minnesota Golden Gophers (21-11, 8-11 Big Ten) at Missouri State Bears (26-8, 17-5 MVC)
Springfield, Missouri; Sunday, 3 p.m. EDT
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American Press
2 hours ago
- American Press
Cowboys learn tourney schedule
Last November, the Cowboys used a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands to help build the camaraderie that led to a historic season. McNeese State hopes to do that again this year. The Cowboys will be the headline act at the four-team field for the 2025 Cayman Islands Classic, which runs November 23-25. 'We're thrilled to participate in such a prestigious event, set in one of the most beautiful locations in the world,' said McNeese head coach Bill Armstrong. 'Competing against three programs with strong traditions of postseason success will be a significant early test for our team. Each matchup will present unique challenges and provide a valuable gauge of our current standing. 'It's a great opportunity to learn, grow, and identify the areas we need to improve as we prepare for conference play.' McNeese is coming off a 28-7 campaign that saw the Cowboys win their second straight Southland Conference championship, marking the first time in program history. The Cowboys also won their first NCAA Tournament game ever, upsetting Clemson 69-67 in the opening round of the Midwest Regional in Providence, Rhode Island. McNeese would lose its second-round match against Big Ten powerhouse Purdue. Armstrong takes over the Cowboys following Will Wade's departure for North Carolina State last March. He was able to retain four key members from last year's team, including starters Javohn Garcia and sharpshooter DJ Richards. Garcia was the Southland Conference's Player of the Year last season. With eight or nine new players on the roster, Armstrong will use this trip to continue building the Cowboys' team unity. 'It is important that we use trips like this to come together as a team,' Armstrong said. 'It will be great for an educational experience and a chance for us to bond as a group. 'We will also get a chance to play some good teams at a time when we are still trying to figure things out. I would rather play a tournament setting because there is a prize, but getting these three games against like competition will be big for us.' McNeese will be joined by George Washington, Murray State and Middle Tennessee State in the round-robin event. 'We're excited to welcome these outstanding programs to this year's Cayman Islands Classic,' said Joe Wright, owner and chief executive officer of Caymax Sports Ltd. 'They're in for a first-class experience — both on the court and in the beautiful Cayman Islands. It's going to be a special week of competition, camaraderie, and unforgettable memories for teams and fans alike.' The Cowboys will open the tourney, which is in its seventh year, against George Washington on Sunday, Nov. 23, at 4 p.m., Lake Charles time. Middle Tennessee State and Murray State will play the night's second game. The following night, the Cowboys will play Murray State in the late game, roughly 6:30 p.m., with Middle Tennessee and GW in the opener. McNeese will open the final night with a 4 p.m. game against Middle Tennessee in John Gray Gymnasium in George Town, Grand Cayman. Middle Tennessee State went 22–12 in 2024-25, advancing to the National Invitation Tournament under head coach Nick McDevitt. Chris Caputo returns for his third year as head coach at George Washington, which plays in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Ryan Miller enters his first year as head coach at the Missouri Valley Conference's Murray State, looking to improve on the team's 16–17 record from last year. The Cowboys are still looking to fill the final two games of their schedule in hopes of finding a pair of Power 4 opponents. Tournament Schedule (all times central) Sunday, Nov. 23 McNeese vs. George Washington, 4 p.m. Middle Tennessee vs. Murray State, 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 24 Middle Tennessee vs. George Washington, 4 p.m. McNeese vs. Murray State, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 25 Murray State vs. George Washington, 4 p.m. McNeese vs. Middle Tennessee, 6:30 p.m.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Lane Kiffin has 16-team College Football Playoff model. It sounds better by minute
MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. – The man with the tan came with a plan. Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin, his skin so bronzed he looked as if he just came off the sunny beach here, entered his session with reporters on Tuesday ready to pitch his idea for a 16-team College Football Playoff. Advertisement Kiffin's playoff plan looks like this: Sixteen teams. Four rounds. No automatic bids. Every team must earn at-large selection. The selection process would involve analytics, combined with a human element. This wasn't my first time hearing Kiffin's idea. He ran this plan past me when we spoke in March. At the time, I didn't love Kiffin's idea. I detect no irreparable flaw with the current 12-team playoff. I didn't hate his idea, though. And I'm starting to like it more. Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin waves to fans after his team's defeat of Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium in 2022. In the months since Kiffin first floated his idea, the possibility a 16-team playoff beginning as soon as 2026 has gained steam across conferences. While the future format continues to be debated, it's clear that expansion is likely coming, in some shape and form. I'm beginning to relinquish my grip on the 12-team playoff and accept the reality of a 16-team future. Advertisement As I listened to SEC muckety-mucks debate the merits of the leading 16-team ideas at the conference's spring meetings here this week, it struck me that maybe Kiffin's proposal remains the best 16-team proposal. CFP DEBATE: How SECs Greg Sankey has chance to be hero instead of villain FRIENDLY FOES?: LSU's Brian Kelly issues schedule challenge to Big Ten Kiffin's idea certainly trumps the 4+4+2+2+1 model the Big Ten favors. That rigged math equation would preassign four auto-bids to the Big Ten, plus four more to the SEC, two to the Big 12, two to the ACC, one to the top remaining conference champion, and then leave three at-large bids. This crock of a plan would reward preseason conference prestige as much as in-season results. No thanks. Someone, please shove this Big Ten brainchild into the woodchipper, and scatter the ashes on the surface of the sun. Advertisement Kiffin's plan more closely resembles the 5+11 model that the Big 12 publicly supports. The ACC also reportedly favors a 5+11 system, and some SEC coaches took a shine to the idea this week, even while SEC athletic directors collectively seem more interested in the auto-bid plan favored by the Big Ten. In the 5+11 model, the top five conference champions would secure bids, leaving 11 at-large bids. That model would produce brackets that likely would resemble Kiffin's plan, but the Ole Miss coach prefers no auto-bids. So, let's play out his idea with a look in the rearview mirror. Here's how the bracket would have looked in Kiffin's model last season, using the final CFP rankings as the guide for determining the 16 qualifiers. No. 16 Clemson at No. 1 Oregon Critics of a 16-team playoff say there aren't 16 teams deserving of playoff and that too many first-round games would be duds. But, here we have the Big Ten champion against the ACC champion. Dan Lanning vs. Dabo Swinney. This would have been appointment viewing, not a dud. No. 15 South Carolina at No. 2 Georgia SEC expansion and the elimination of divisions took the Georgia-South Carolina rivalry off the schedule in 2024. Could a red-hot Gamecocks team have upset a Georgia squad starting Gunnar Stockton? It's plausible. No. 14 Ole Miss at No. 3 Texas Conferences are so big now that teams don't play half the other teams in their own league. Here we have another matchup of two SEC teams that didn't play in the regular season. The Jekyll-and-Hyde Rebels whipped Georgia but lost to Kentucky. If the good version of Ole Miss showed its face, this game could have been a doozy. No. 13 Miami at No. 4 Penn State Are you liking these matchups yet? How about this one, pitting Cam Ward against Penn State's stout defense. In the playoff that actually happened, Penn State waltzed to the semifinals by beating SMU and Boise State. This billing with Miami would have been a better matchup. No. 12 Arizona State at No. 5 Notre Dame In the playoff, the Sun Devils gave Texas all it could handle in an overtime loss in the playoff quarterfinals. In this revised bracket, Cam Skattebo would have tested the strength of Notre Dame's defense. Chalk this up as another game I would've enjoyed seeing. No. 11 Alabama at No. 6 Ohio State Holy, moly. What a dream matchup of two college football monsters. Ohio State proved throughout the postseason it was the nation's best team. If Alabama couldn't score a touchdown against Oklahoma, I don't see how it could have solved Ohio State's defense. The game probably wouldn't have lived up to the hype. No. 10 SMU at No. 7 Tennessee The Vols looked pitiful in a playoff loss at Ohio State, but this draw at Neyland Stadium probably would have produced a much different fate. The committee flubbed by awarding SMU a playoff spot. Ten-win Brigham Young, which beat SMU during the regular season, possessed better credentials, but I digress. Alas, we'll live with the committee's choice and figure SMU-Tennessee at least wouldn't have been any worse than what we saw in the playoff with SMU-Penn State or Tennessee-Ohio State. No. 9 Boise State at No. 8 Indiana I detect upset potential. Indiana built its playoff case by consistently beating bad or mediocre teams. That's not nothing, but Boise State showed in a 37-34 loss at Oregon in September it's up for a challenge. This matchup featuring Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty would have pitted an O.G. Cinderella, Boise State, against the 2024 slipper-wearing Hoosiers. No perfect College Football Playoff plan The Kiffin plan and the 5+11 model would have produced the same qualifiers last season. In the 5+11 construct, auto bids would have gone to Oregon, Georgia, Boise State, Arizona State and Clemson. Advertisement Once I assigned teams to Kiffin's idea and saw the matchups, I liked his plan more. I daresay these first-round matchups, on the whole, would have been better in quality than those served up in last season's 12-team playoff. 'There's still flaws in every system,' Kiffin said, 'but the best system should be 16, and it should be the 16 best' teams. 'Get rid of automatics, and figure out a system to get the best 16 teams in.' Doesn't sound half bad. The man with the tan cooked up a worthy plan. Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@ and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lane Kiffin's College Football Playoff plan sounds tempting
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Who benefits from College Football Playoff expansion to 16 teams?
When Oregon State went 9-3 during the 2022 regular season – its best season in 16 years – the Beavers earned a trip to the Las Vegas Bowl. If a 16-team College Football Playoff had been in place that season, the Beavers would have qualified. Conference commissioners are debating the playoff's future format for 2026 and beyond, and momentum swells behind growing the playoff from 12 to 16 teams. Advertisement If the playoff indeed expands by four teams, it will become a more attainable destination for three-loss teams from coast to coast. No two-loss team ever qualified for the playoff until the playoff grew from four to 12 teams. No three-loss team has ever qualified, but my analysis of the 11-year playoff era shows that at least two three-loss teams would have made the playoff each year if a 5+11 playoff format had been in place during those seasons. That 5+11 model is the favored format by the Big 12 and ACC, and it's gaining support within the SEC, too. In that model, the top five conference champions would gain automatic bids, and the remaining 11 spots would be filled via at-large selection. The Big Ten favors a different 16-team model in which most qualifiers would gain entry via an auto-bid process. For the purposes of my analysis, I used the 5+11 framework. South Carolina linebacker Bam Martin-Scott (22) pursues Alabama wide receiver Germie Bernard (5) as he carries the ball during the first quarter at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The analysis became tricky, because so many teams changed conferences in the past 11 years. I counted teams in the conferences that they'll call home in 2026. So, a bid for Texas counted toward the SEC, a bid for Oregon counted for the Big Ten, and so on. In some years when Texas or Oklahoma, now in the SEC, won the Big 12, I awarded an automatic bid to the Big 12's runner-up. Other years, I assigned the Big 12's auto bid to Central Florida or Cincinnati – those schools are now in the Big 12 – when those schools were highly ranked and won conference championships. Assigning the Group of Six's automatic qualifier became a chore in certain years, too, because of conference realignment. Advertisement You could conduct this analysis in slightly different ways, but it wouldn't change the upshot that a 16-team playoff would have been a boon for three-loss teams these past 11 years. FALL FROM GRACE: SEC explanations shows its no longer top playoff dog NO CUPCAKES: If SEC wants playoff respect, it needs tougher games Last season, a trio of three-loss SEC teams – Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina – would have qualified. The SEC and Big Ten would have benefited most from the four extra at-large spots, as compared to a 12-team playoff, but teams from the Big 12, ACC, the reconstructed Pac-12 and Notre Dame also would have grabbed last-four-in spots in some years. Advertisement In 2014, a whopping seven teams with three losses scattered across each of the Power Four conferences would have qualified for a 16-team playoff using the 5+11 format. Oh, and how about this: The playoff would have featured its first four-loss teams. Auburn (2016), Stanford (2017) and Texas (2018) were four-loss teams ranked high enough to crack a 16-team playoff. In other words, once the playoff hits 16 teams, it's no longer a destination reserved for the elite. Kentucky, Northwestern could have made 16-team playoff Based off past results during the playoff era, the four extra at-large bids would have helped teams ranging from Northwestern, Kentucky, UCLA, Washington State and Georgia Tech to blue bloods like Alabama and Michigan. Advertisement 'Sixteen teams, you'd get more people excited about it, more people in play,' said Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin, a proponent of a 16-team playoff. Beyond the 16 teams that qualify would be many more remaining in playoff contention into November. The 12-team playoff "created a lot of interest," Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said during a call with reporters. "Going to 16 teams, I think, there's more of that.' The four-team playoff became an exclusive party reserved for top-perch programs like Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Clemson. A 16-team playoff would broaden avenues of access to the middle class and even traditionally lower-tier teams within power conferences that could align the stars and crack the bracket with a 9-3 record. Advertisement Blue-blooded Alabama twice would have been among the last-four-in in a 5+11 playoff format. That's also true of fellow blue bloods like Michigan and Notre Dame. Also, though, Northwestern twice would have qualified in the last-four-in. Three times in the past 11 years, Ole Miss would have been in the last-four-in of a 5+11 playoff, ranking the Rebels as the biggest beneficiary of the playoff expanding by four teams. Is it any wonder Kiffin wants 16 teams? Expanded College Football Playoff would help blue bloods, too Here are some other findings from my analysis applying the 5+11 format to the past 11 seasons: Advertisement ∎ Alabama and Ohio State never would have missed the playoff. Georgia would have qualified in nine of 11 seasons, and Clemson would have qualified eight times. ∎ Notre Dame is among the programs that would have qualified seven times. ∎ The Big Ten would have led with 53 bids, followed by the SEC's 51, meaning each conference would have averaged more than four bids per year. The Big 12 and ACC would have averaged more than two bids per year. ∎ Fourteen of the SEC's 16 programs would have qualified at least once, with Arkansas and Vanderbilt as the only exceptions. ∎ Twelve of the Big Ten's 18 programs would have qualified at least once. The non-qualifiers would have been Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue and Rutgers. Advertisement ∎ The Big Ten would have peaked at six bids but never qualified fewer than four teams. ∎ The SEC's bid total would have bottomed out at three bids but peaked with seven bids in 2018 and again in 2023. ∎ Thirty-one programs would have qualified as a last-four-in team at least once throughout the 11 years. No wonder the 16-team playoff concept gains steam. The four extra spots would help a wide range of programs gain playoff access. College football accelerates away from an era that demanded an undefeated or one-loss record to make an elitist playoff, and toward a terrain in which 9-3 equals a playoff berth instead of a mid-tier bowl bid. Advertisement Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@ and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College Football Playoff expansion to 16 teams. Who benefits most?
