
David Pollack predicts college football's national champion
"I think Clemson's just gonna have a special year," Pollack said on the "See Ball Get Ball" podcast. "And I do think that defense turns it around immediately and I think they got some dudes at positions, man. Like at the most important positions, they've got some really, really good football players that are that are going to be a handful for a lot of people when they play. So give me the Clemson Tigers to win the national championship this football season."
Clemson is coming off a 10-4 season where they won the ACC championship and lost in the first round of the College Football Playoff. The Tigers return several All-Americans in quarterback Cade Klubnik, defensive tackle Peter Woods and defensive end T.J. Parker. Clemson is expected to win the ACC championship over the Miami Hurricanes and has an easier path to the playoff than most contenders.
In a note for Georgia fans, Pollack thinks it is good that the Dawgs are being doubted and knows Georgia coach Kirby Smart will use that as motivation. Pollack also added that he has been impressed with some lesser-known Georgia players in practice.
Follow UGAWire on Instagram or Threads for more Georgia Bulldogs coverage!
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Miami Herald
26 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Why the Hurricanes' run game might be key to making the College Football Playoff
When the Miami Hurricanes begin the 2025 season with their marquee opener against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Aug. 31, all eyes will be on quarterback Carson Beck and how he follows up the record-setting season produced by his predecessor in Cam Ward. From there, fans will be looking to see if the defense, particularly the secondary, will improve from a disappointing 2024 season as UM eyes its a chance for its first appearance in the College Football Playoff. But could Miami's key to success actually be hiding in plain sight? If college football history during the past decade has anything to say about what will unfold in 2025, the Hurricanes' run game might be a deciding factor in if they finally break through in Year 4 under Mario Cristobal and qualify for the 12-team playoff field. Just how important is a solid running game — particularly scoring touchdowns on the ground — to winning a national championship in the College Football Playoff era? Consider the following: ▪ Since the start of the CFP format in 2014, all but one national champion has ranked in the top 25 in rushing touchdowns. The exception was the Clemson Tigers in 2016, when they barely missed the cut by being tied for 27th in rushing touchdowns. Four teams — the 2023 Michigan Wolverines, 2022 Georgia Bulldogs, 2020 Alabama Crimson Tide and 2018 Clemson — led the country or tied for the national lead in rushing touchdowns. ▪ Nearly every national champion in the 11-year history of the CFP format has had an NFL-quality running back in the backfield. 2024 Ohio State had Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson. 2023 Michigan had Blake Corum. 2020 Alabama had Najee Harris. 2019 LSU had Clyde Edwards-Helaire. 2018 Clemson had Travis Etienne. 2017 Alabama had Damien Harris. 2015 Alabama had Derrick Henry. And 2014 Ohio State had Ezekiel Elliott. ▪ And what about when the playoff field expanded to 12 teams last season? Well, 10 of the 12 teams that reached the playoffs in 2024 had at least one 1,000-yard rusher — Georgia and Indiana were the exceptions. Additionally, 10 of the 12 — all but Georgia and Clemson — ranked among the top 30 nationally in rushing touchdowns, with six ranking in the top 14 (Notre Dame third, Boise State fourth, Alabama fifth, Indiana tied for seventh, Penn State tied for ninth, Tennessee and Ohio State tied for 11th). Ten of 25 running backs selected in the 2025 NFL Draft were chosen from teams that reached the College Football Playoff. Can Miami compete with that this year? While a lot of the focus on Miami's offense last year understandably centered on Ward and the passing game, the Hurricanes actually had a quietly good run game to complement their aerial attack. Miami ranked sixth nationally in average yards per rush (5.67) and tied for 19th nationally with 30 rushing touchdowns despite averaging just 33.31 carries per game — 98th out of 134 FBS teams. The Hurricanes will have to replace their workhorse from last season in Damien Martinez — who had 1,002 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns while averaging 6.2 yards per carry — but have a loaded backfield that should be up to the task. Mark Fletcher Jr. is entering his junior season slated to be UM's lead back after consecutive seasons as the No. 2 to begin his collegiate career. He has 1,121 career rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns in two seasons at Miami. Sophomore Jordan Lyle, meanwhile, is arguably the most explosive running back on the Hurricanes' roster, and he showed it big time as a freshman when he ran for 400 yards and four touchdowns in a limited role. Of his 54 carries, nine went for at least 10 yards. His 7.41 yards per carry ranked seventh nationally among running backs with at least 50 carries. The big question becomes whether Lyle can continue with that explosiveness as his role likely increases and he sees more touches on a weekly basis. Remember he only had double-digit carries in one game as a freshman. And then there's CharMar 'Marty' Brown, who transferred to UM after spring ball and played at a championship level with FCS North Dakota State last season. As a redshirt freshman for the champion Bison, Brown ran for 1,181 yards and 15 touchdowns en route to winning the Jerry Rice Award as the top FCS freshman. He has impressed through camp so far and should figure into Miami's running back rotation. 'I think it's gonna be phenomenal,' Brown said. 'The way we compete, we compete against each other and we coach each other up at practice day in and day out. We're all brothers and we're looking forward to challenging everyone all season.'


USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Oklahoma Sooners are a blue blood, but a rival got left out
College football has 136 programs at the FBS level for the 2025 season. Those teams are spread across 10 conferences (with two schools playing as FBS Independents), and compete for the right to go to the College Football Playoff and take their best shot at the national championship. There haven't always been this many teams at college football's highest level, but the sport has always had a large number of schools spread across the country competing for the same thing. College football has been around for over 150 years, and some programs are just better at winning than others. But which programs are the cream of the crop, and which fall below that very lofty standard? That's the question that On3 Sports college football analyst Andy Staples attempted to answer on Monday. He put out a list of college football's "blue blood" programs over the course of the sport's history. The Oklahoma Sooners were an obvious choice to make the cut, and they did so. OU is a shoo-in as one of college football's all-time historically great programs, a no-doubt inclusion in the blue blood club. Staples used two criteria to make his list of 12 true blue bloods. First, the program had to be in the top 15 in all-time winning percentage, with a minimum of 750 total games played. Secondly, the program had to have at least one national title in at least two of three eras: AP or Coaches Poll in the two poll eras, or be the winner of the final game in the BCS and playoff era. Oklahoma joined the Alabama Crimson Tide, Florida State Seminoles, Georgia Bulldogs, LSU Tigers, Michigan Wolverines, Miami Hurricanes, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Tennessee Volunteers, Ohio State Buckeyes, Texas Longhorns, and USC Trojans as the best programs of all-time. The Auburn Tigers, Clemson Tigers, Florida Gators, Nebraska Cornhuskers, and Penn State Nittany Lions just missed the cut. Taking a look at those distinctions, I feel that there are a few levels that certain teams fall into. Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and USC feel like obvious choices to me. Those five programs are the most important in telling the history of college football. Michigan, Texas, and Nebraska would easily make the cut for me as well. They fall a step behind the first five, but still should be pretty clear picks. If I'm making this list, LSU and Penn State are probably safe if we capped the list at 12, with Florida and Georgia just sneaking in for me. Staples putting teams like Florida State, Miami, and Tennessee in over a couple of teams that missed the cut is a bit of a head-scratcher, and I think Auburn and Clemson bring up the rear of the 17 teams mentioned. It's hard for me to see the argument for the Seminoles, Hurricanes, and Volunteers making the list over the Cornhuskers, especially, but also over the Nittany Lions and Gators. The resume for FSU, in particular, is tough to ignore, but the 'Huskers have got to be in there. The good news for OU fans is that there's no doubt about the Sooners' place in college football. Out of the many programs that have played at the highest organizational level over the course of the long history of the sport, Oklahoma stands tall among the best of the best elite programs in college football history. Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @Aaron_Gelvin.


NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
Sha'Carri Richardson addresses domestic violence arrest and apologizes to boyfriend
Sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson addressed her recent domestic violence arrest in a video on social media and issued an apology to her boyfriend Christian Coleman. Richardson posted a video on her Instagram account Monday night in which she said she put herself in a 'compromised situation.' She issued a written apology to Coleman on Tuesday morning. 'I love him & to him I can't apologize enough,' the reigning 100-meter world champion wrote in all capital letters on Instagram, adding that her apology 'should be just as loud' as her 'actions.' 'To Christian I love you & I am so sorry,' she wrote. Richardson was arrested July 27 on a fourth-degree domestic violence offense for allegedly assaulting Coleman at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. She was booked into South Correctional Entity in Des Moines, Washington, for more than 18 hours. Her arrest was days before she ran the 100 meters at the U.S. championships in Eugene, Oregon. In the video, Richardson said she's practicing 'self-reflection' and refuses 'to run away but face everything that comes to me head on.' According to the police report, an officer at the airport was notified by a Transportation Security Administration supervisor of a disturbance between Richardson and her boyfriend, Coleman, the 2019 world 100-meter champion. The officer reviewed camera footage and observed Richardson reach out with her left arm and grab Coleman's backpack and yank it away. Richardson then appeared to get in Coleman's way with Coleman trying to step around her. Coleman was shoved into a wall. Later in the report, it said Richardson appeared to throw an item at Coleman, with the TSA indicating it may have been headphones. The officer said in the report: 'I was told Coleman did not want to participate any further in the investigation and declined to be a victim.' A message was left with Coleman from The Associated Press. Richardson wrote that Coleman 'came into my life & gave me more than a relationship but a greater understanding of unconditional love from what I've experienced in my past.' She won the 100 at the 2023 world championships in Budapest and finished with the silver at the Paris Games last summer. She also helped the 4x100 relay to an Olympic gold. positive marijuana test at the U.S. Olympic trials.