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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Top storylines for the 2025 Southland high school football season
The high school football season begins this weekend with Week 0 games. Let's examine storylines and questions to be answered: What will it take for a team other than Mater Dei or St. John Bosco to reach the Southern Section Division 1 final? The answer is luck, because it's not happening. Every season since 2016, the Monarchs or Braves have won the Southern Section Division 1 title and have met in the finals every season except for 2021, when Servite, led by its two future first-round draft picks, Mason Graham and Teteroia McMillan, beat St. John Bosco in the semifinals. Those two schools have offensive and defensive lines too big, too strong and with too much depth for others to take down in the transfer era. They face off at the end of the regular season on Halloween, then will likely play again four weeks later for the section title. What will life be like in the City Section after the collapse of Narbonne for rules violations? It's back to beating Birmingham if you want to win the City Section Open Division title. The Patriots had their 48-game City winning streak end with a loss to Narbonne but that was turned into a forfeit victory, so the streak is at 49. It's a wide-open City race. Look for Carson, San Pedro and Palisades to join the Patriots for the right to win a missing trophy (yes, put up a reward to find it). What's the strongest position in the Southland this season? It's the defensive line. There are so many elite linemen and ends capable of making an impact this season, and beyond that quarterbacks better be warned to wear extra equipment to cushion the blows about to be inflicted. From Mater Dei's Tomuhini Topui to Gardena Serra's Khary Wilder, from Sierra Canyon's Richard Wesley to St. John Bosco's Dutch Horisk, expect lots of sacks and forced fumbles. Which teams will be surprise success stories? A new campus and new football stadium has Compton excited and ready for a big turnaround after going 3-7 last season. Former L.A. Jordan coach Derek Benton has taken over at Fremont, so perhaps the Pathfinders can move up. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has received some big-time transfers, putting the Knights in position to be competitive with Sierra Canyon and Gardena Serra in the Mission League. Agoura quarterback Gavin Gray is back from a knee injury, so the Chargers are ready to roll. Servite has a group of track athletes to be unleashed in football, and speed can be a game-changer. Cathedral is poised to be a title contender as quarterback Jaden Jefferson receives help on the offensive line. Burbank was impressive in seven-on-seven competitions and will try to prove its linemen can help out. Which teams must find replacements for big-time players from last season? Newbury Park needs someone to become the No. 1 receiver for quarterback Brady Smigiel after the graduation of Shane Rosenthal. Mater Dei will be trying out a trio of running backs to take on the role previously held by Jordon Davison, who is now at Oregon. Sierra Canyon's bid to be a Division 1 contender will come down to play at quarterback (senior Chase Everett, junior Demarco Hernandez and senior Laird Finkel are competing for the starting job). Mission Viejo must find someone to duplicate Jaden Williams' 23 sacks. JSerra is turning to untested quarterback Koa Smith-Mayall to replace Ryan Hopkins, who left for Mater Dei. Which coaches will be under the microscope? Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer takes over at Santa Margarita, having put together a top staff that includes last season's interim coach, Steve Fifita. No one has a bigger task ahead than Narbonne first-year coach Doug Bledsoe, whose team is ineligible for the postseason and saw an exodus of players. Former NFL defensive back Troy Hill is a first-year coach at St. Bonaventure with no head coaching experience. Rick Clausen takes over at Westlake, which went 0-10 last season. Former Crespi coach Dameon Porter gets a second chance at Harvard-Westlake, which forfeited a game in 2023 because of a lack of players. Which freshmen could have an impact? Quarterback Thaddeus Breaux, Hamilton; quarterback Ezrah Brown, Orange Lutheran; quarterback Ford Green, Westlake; quarterback Marcus Washington Jr., Cajon; linebacker Ethan Harrington, Sierra Canyon; tight end Austin Miller, Bellflower; quarterback CJ Woods, Harvard-Westlake; quarterback Evan McCalister, Valencia; safety Tyrin Jefferson, Cathedral; receiver Mason Fowler, Corona Centennial. What are games you don't want to miss? Mission Viejo vs. Santa Margarita at Trabuco Hills, Friday; Mater Dei at Corona Centennial, Sept. 12; Mater Dei at Bishop Gorman, Sept. 19; Gardena Serra at Sierra Canyon, Oct. 3; St. John Bosco vs. Orange Lutheran, Oct. 10; San Clemente at Mission Viejo, Oct. 17; Roosevelt vs. Garfield, Oct. 24; Carson at San Pedro, Oct. 30; Mater Dei at St. John Bosco, Oct. 31. Which schools have new stadiums to visit? Garfield, Roosevelt and Hamilton have new stadiums in the City Section. Long Beach Jordan, Hawthorne, Crescenta Valley and El Rancho open new stadiums in the Southern Section. Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Why is Iowa State-Kansas State in Ireland? How ‘Farm O' Geddon' went international
The first time a Kansas State-Iowa State football game was referred to as 'Farmageddon' was the summer before their 2009 neutral-site matchup at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium. Two years ago, the nickname morphed into 'Snowmageddon' when six inches of snow fell during a 42-35 Cyclones win in Manhattan, Kan. Last November, 20-degree temperatures and brisk wind turned Ames, Iowa, into Frozen Farmageddon, and the Cyclones' victory sent them to the conference title game. Advertisement This week, one of the great rivalry series nicknames gets yet another temporary makeover: Farm O'Geddon. With Dublin's Aviva Stadium serving as the backdrop for the 2025 college football season kickoff, the two Big 12 title contenders will open the season on Saturday in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. Ireland has leaned into early-season college football as a way to attract tourists from the U.S. What once was an occasional event involving Notre Dame and teams from the eastern United States — capitalizing on a special international game exemption to NCAA rule 17.11.4, which forbids teams from kicking off their seasons any earlier than the Thursday before Labor Day — has become an annual opener as the showcase game of Week 0. It's the fourth consecutive year the Emerald Isle has staged a college football game, and there are additional ones scheduled through 2027. But before Kansas State and Iowa State lock helmets for the 109th consecutive year, it's important to note none of the 10 previous Ireland games featured a rivalry like this or two ranked opponents. The No. 17 Wildcats and No. 22 Cyclones combined for 20 wins last season and feature two of the league's best quarterbacks in Avery Johnson (Kansas State) and Rocco Becht (Iowa State). So how did a rivalry with such historic importance end up as a neutral-site battle, with Kansas State giving up home-field advantage? It boils down to one person saying yes: K-State coach Chris Klieman. 'We had reservations about taking a home game out of our community and our economy,' Klieman said. 'But just talking to our athletic director (Gene Taylor), it just gave our kids an opportunity. There's (110 players) on the roster that are going to get a chance to go abroad.' But the idea traveled a long way before Klieman had his chance to bless this trip overseas. With one of the better traveling fan bases and a home attendance that has exceeded 50,000 in 85 consecutive games, Iowa State was a natural target for game organizers. In 2022, Aer Lingus staff approached Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard about moving a 2025 Big 12 game to Dublin. But the Cyclones have only four conference home games this season and six overall. Moving one to a neutral site would not only impact Iowa State competitively but also deal a blow to the Ames economy. Pollard politely declined. Advertisement 'For us to be the home game, it just didn't work,' Pollard said. 'But we wanted to be part of it, and so we offered to be part of it as the visitor. We just had to find the right team to give up a home game.' The Cyclones' 2025 road schedule included trips to Cincinnati, Colorado, TCU, Oklahoma State and Kansas State. Game organizer John Anthony had approached Taylor previously about playing in Ireland, but the Wildcats had no interest in an early-season contest not involving another power-conference squad. At an athletic directors convention in 2022, Anthony met with Taylor again and asked if he'd consider shifting Farmageddon to Dublin. 'I'm like, 'What?'' Taylor said. 'He goes, 'Would you think the Big 12 would move it?' I said, 'There's no way Klieman is moving the Iowa State game to a neutral site in Ireland.' And he said, 'Would you just ask?'' Anthony brought his staff to Manhattan for a presentation. Taylor and Klieman went over the details, and the coach polled his colleagues at Northwestern and Nebraska, which played in Dublin in 2022. The feedback was encouraging. One of the coaches called it 'the greatest experience their kids have ever had.' That sealed it for Klieman. 'Chris came down to my office, and said, 'Let's do it,'' Taylor said. 'I was shocked, literally, because of the importance of the game. It's a conference game. It's the first game of the year. I didn't think he'd do it.' Iowa State and Kansas State pull together multi-day road trips almost every December for bowl games. This one is different in both vibe and process. For road trips or bowl games, the teams usually load their equipment into a semi-truck and haul it wherever it needs to go. In this case, they had to prepare a cargo jet well in advance to fly their equipment to Dublin. On most road trips, teams pack gameday helmets and shoulder pads in the truck. This time, those items, in addition to knee braces and cleats, will travel with the players. Advertisement 'It's kind of like a bowl game, kind of not like a bowl game,' Iowa State associate athletic director for football Greg Brabenec said. 'I've had a year and a half to plan. Where a bowl game, you have like 10 days to plan. So that's one major difference.' As the home team, Kansas State was more involved, with a February visit that included a tour of the hotel, stadium, practice field and airport. Aer Lingus provides the team planes, which will fly Iowa State from Des Moines (40 miles) and K-State from Kansas City (130 miles). Unlike other charters, the players will go through the airport's main terminal and, of course, customs. There's also the challenge of dealing with passports for the entire team. That process began a year ago. 'For the players who did not already have passports — about 50 percent of the roster — we scheduled individual appointments in January and February to complete and submit their applications,' said Kacey Feldkamp, Kansas State's director of football operations. This is night before your packing list due for your overseas trip where they pickup your equipment week + before the game. — K-State Equipment (@KStateSWAG) August 1, 2025 The teams are scheduled to fly out Wednesday and will return Sunday morning. Iowa State coach Matt Campbell spoke with Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni and New England's Mike Vrabel about the logistics. Campbell compared this trip to what the Eagles experienced last September in traveling to Brazil for the season opener. The Iowa State staff spoke with nutritionists and sports science professionals about not only preparing for this game but returning to a regular-season routine the following week. Klieman and his wife went on the Ireland trip in February, which he called 'a great opportunity.' Campbell echoed that sentiment: 'You're very honored to play in this game. It just makes it a really unique opportunity.' Each fan base has bought more than 10,000 tickets for what will be the Cyclones' first international trip and Wildcats' first since 1992. Kansas State's helmets feature a unique 'Celtic' design to commemorate the trip. Iowa State chose to wear traditional road attire with cardinal helmets and pants rather than spend $75,000 for a special jersey. Fan requests for the Cyclones to add a fourth color were rejected for non-monetary reasons. 'They can pick yellow uniforms or Coach Campbell,' Brabenec said. 'You can't have both.' See you in 15 days @kstatesports — Iowa State Athletics (@CycloneATH) August 8, 2025 Jokes may surface on Saturday that the proud land-grant institutions now will include potatoes or clover as staple crops alongside corn and wheat. But when the rivals kick off at noon ET, there's plenty at stake. The winner will certainly remain ranked and likely become the Big 12 frontrunner. Ultimately, there's nothing more important than victory. 'Eighteen months ago, this is the greatest thing,' Klieman said. 'Now it's coming up on us pretty fast.' Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Mandel's Mailbag: Wrapping up the Michigan scandal and Week 0 Big 12 stakes
Are you ready for some football? Good, because on Saturday, we have a Week 0 big-network tripleheader. Noon ET on ESPN: No. 17 Kansas State vs. No. 22 Iowa State in Ireland 6:30 ET on Fox: Fresno State at Kansas 7:30 ET on CBS: Stanford at Hawaii But first, let's put a bow on the whole Michigan-NCAA thing. (Note: Some questions have been lightly edited for length and clarity.) Advertisement With Michigan's light-tap-on-the-wrist 'penalty,' why don't more major programs just cheat and dare the NCAA to do anything about it? — Mia-Do' A Call me crazy, but I don't consider a $30 million-plus fine to be a tap on the wrist. In fact, if you gave Michigan AD Warde Manuel truth serum, he'd probably tell you he'd rather be banned from the Citrus Bowl this year than add that considerable expense to an athletic department already projecting a $15 million deficit in the first year of revenue sharing. But I get it. If you're someone who wanted blood over the sign-stealing scandal, you've been conditioned for decades to expect postseason bans and vacated wins when a school gets in trouble. Personally, I'm glad the membership has finally realized that the people most affected by postseason bans are athletes who weren't even on the team at that time and had nothing to do with the infractions. Some of the players on the 2010 and '11 USC teams who got banned over Reggie Bush's extra benefits were in junior high when Bush played there. Which is why USC fans — and Ohio State fans, and Miami fans, and any other fan base that suffered through a postseason ban — may be furious Michigan didn't get one. However, even though I think an eight-figure fine is plenty punitive, it's not exactly a deterrent. That money is not coming out of Jim Harbaugh's, Sherrone Moore's or Connor Stalions' pockets. And generally speaking, it's not 'programs' that cheat, it's individuals. I wonder how differently this would all feel if Harbaugh weren't already long gone to the NFL. The guy is effectively banned from college coaching for 14 years. That's unheard of. In this case, it doesn't matter because the guy wasn't coming back to college regardless. But if this were a college-only guy (Dabo Swinney, Kalen DeBoer, Josh Heupel) or someone still early in their career (Dan Lanning, Marcus Freeman, Kenny Dillingham), it would be devastating for them. Advertisement As for Stalions himself, if you read that report, he is the clumsiest saboteur since the 'Home Alone' burglars. I can't say his eight-year show cause will be a deterrent to fellow GAs and analysts as much as it will be comical reading material around their offices. Stewart, why can't Michigan's fans understand why we all think they have no integrity left anymore? They all claim to be so much better than every other team when they obviously aren't. Signed, your friends in SEC country. — Bob D. No idea what you're talking about, Bob. Haven't most Michigan fans accepted the punishment and expressed ample disappointment in the stain this story brought on their university? Do you and The Athletic refer to the Michigan 'situation' as the sign-stealing scandal to sensationalize and draw engagement, or because it is easy (and a bit lazy)? — Todd D. Oh, I see. Several prominent coaches have the 'can't win the big game' label, like James Franklin. However, it would seem that if you keep getting close consistently, you eventually break through (e.g. Ryan Day last year). Tom Osborne couldn't win the big game … until he did. Now we only remember the dominance and the titles. Are there any coaches who have consistently had winning top-10 programs yet never broken through? — Cullen The first guy that comes to mind in my time covering the sport was Georgia's Mark Richt. For most of his 15 seasons (2001-15), you could count on the Dawgs to field a top-10 team and compete for SEC titles. However, they never climbed that last rung to the national title game and suffered some pretty bad luck along the way. The 2002 team went 13-1, but it just so happened Miami and Ohio State were undefeated. In 2007, they were No. 4 heading into championship Saturday. No. 1 and No. 2 both lost, but they got passed by LSU when the Tigers won the SEC title game. And in the 2012 SEC championship game, they were four yards and six seconds short against Alabama from advancing to the BCS title game and playing overmatched Notre Dame. Advertisement Most of all, his bad luck was that only two teams reached the 'playoff' back then. Contrast that with successor Kirby Smart, who began his tenure with a 'can't win the big one' run, specifically with Nick Saban and Alabama. There was a second-and-26 in the 2017 national title game, the infamous Justin Fields fake punt in the next year's SEC title game, a blowout loss in 2020 and the inexplicable 2021 SEC title game meltdown. Then the Dawgs won the rematch, and all anyone mentions about Smart now is the back-to-back championships. (And lots and lots of player arrests.) I do believe the 'getting close consistently' theory is correct. Franklin is a particularly extreme case, though, as his big-game record is truly atrocious (1-15 against top-five teams), and even with five top-10 finishes in 11 seasons, even after reaching the CFP semifinals last year, it doesn't feel like he's come close to the top yet. The Nittany Lions have been consistent, but not dominant. However, in most, if not all, of those top-10 losses, he did not have the better team. Simple as that. This year, he may well have the best team in the country. How does a Farmageddon loss this weekend shape either Iowa State's or Kansas State's season outlook? — Jon S. It'd be bad! We're only one season in the expanded CFP era, but I think you can assume for now that anyone other than the Big 12 champ is going to face tall odds to be a CFP participant. The loser of this game will not have the same margin for error as the losers of Texas-Ohio State or LSU-Clemson. An 8-1 Big 12 record likely gets you to Arlington, but it's asking a lot to win eight straight in a conference with more parity than any of the other P4 leagues. However, you could also have a situation like last year, where everyone goes 7-2 and it's tiebreakers galore. Advertisement I've noticed over the years that these big Week 0 games tend to foreshadow the rest of the teams' seasons. Nebraska's season-opening loss to Illinois in 2021 was the moment you began to realize, this isn't getting better, is it? And the 2022 loss to Northwestern, coupled with a Week 2 loss to Georgia Southern, led to Scott Frost's firing. (That was also Pat Fitzgerald's last Big Ten win at Northwestern before he, too, was fired the following offseason amid a hazing scandal.) In 2023, Sam Hartman threw it all over Navy in his Notre Dame debut. The Irish went 10-3, the Midshipmen 5-7. And Georgia Tech running all over Florida State last year was the most telling Week 0 precursor yet. Doubtful either Matt Campbell or Chris Klieman will lose their job anytime soon, but they need this win. And whoever loses might become a bit nervous about the rest of the season. The coverage of Michigan's sign-stealing scandal has been bad journalism all around. Michigan has been the victim of at least two known instances where their previous week's opponent deciphered all of their signals by game's end and then handed that information over to the next opponent. On a scale of 1 to 10 in the cheating department, this is a 10, and what Michigan did is a 3. — Adam L. Oh, those poor victims. Will no one think of the innocent children whose signs were stolen? Which do you think is the most likely reason for the Big Ten/Tony Petitti pivoting to their new proposed 28-team Playoff? A. They think it's the best way to maximize revenue. B. It's a ploy to make the original 16-team proposal seem better or C. Spite for everyone making fun of him for his last proposal. — Tyler S. At this point, I'm beginning to think it's D: Petitti is making his own elaborate Borat-style troll documentary and we're all unwitting subjects in it. Behind the scenes, folks are insistent this latest version is just an 'idea,' not a formal proposal. However, many important people around the sport are still ticked about it, given that they found out through the media and the entire operation looks buffoonish by association. 'We sound like immature children throwing garbage against the wall,' a CFP executive told CBS Sports. Advertisement Somehow, the lesson Petitti took from the 4-4-2-2-1 backlash wasn't 'people hate the idea of predetermined Playoff berths'; it's 'maybe they'd accept it if we just gave out more of them.' Rather than 'Jeez, people aren't as fired up about play-in games as I thought they'd be,' it's 'OK then, what if we just did more of them?' Whatever his motives, it's clear Petitti views college football not as a fixer-upper but a full-on teardown project. Where most of us see a wonderfully unique and charming home with room for improvement, Petitti sees an archaic structure in desperate need of a refresh. The same guy who put the final nail in the Pac-12's coffin would apparently be fine doing the same to the 120-plus-year tradition of bowl games. Bye-bye, college football. Hello, NFL Junior. To be clear, he's not on a total island. There are pockets of ADs and coaches around the country, including in the SEC, that quietly love the idea of their 8-4/7-5-type programs becoming annual CFP contenders. They likely assume there's a golden pot of TV revenue waiting for them as well. (In reality, TV doesn't want this, either.) Fortunately, there are far more people in important positions who don't want any part of this tomfoolery. Because they happen to think college football is pretty great as it is. Will you refund my subscription money? The Athletic CFB coverage is becoming an outrage click farm. Ironic that you are lambasting Michigan about lacking integrity. Surely it isn't lost on you. — Ian S. @Ian S.: Because the trending questions are all Michigan-related. Michigan has a huge fan base because it's a great school *and* the all-time winningest program, so anything Michigan-related gets eyeballs and anti-UM outrage provokes engagement. Stew's strategy is Internet Trolling 101. —Steve S. Stew's strategy is to write about the topics readers care about most. And the readers have universally told me, 'It's not the sloppy espionage and the cover-ups that interest me about this Michigan story; it's their academic reputation and all their wins from 1902.' In the last 40 years, no coach has gone more than six years between two national titles (Barry Switzer is the last coach to do so, winning his third title in 1985 after winning his second a decade earlier). Dabo Swinney last won a title in 2018. Has his window closed? — Brian I think so. But many, many people disagree. Advertisement It feels like the entire narrative around Clemson's program has shifted over the past eight months, starting with, strangely, a two-touchdown loss to Texas in the CFP first round. The Tigers head into this season with the sixth-best odds to win the national championship, and they got the second-most votes in The Athletic's staff survey predictions behind only Texas. While that wasn't my vote (I cast one of the three Penn State ballots), I did have Clemson No. 3 in my post-spring Top 25. That was because Dabo has more high-level players returning than at any time since the last Trevor Lawrence-Travis Etienne team in 2020. Quarterback Cade Klubnik, receiver Antonio Williams, defensive linemen T.J. Parker and Peter Woods and cornerback Avieon Terrell are all projected first-round picks. And new defensive coordinator Tom Allen should be a big upgrade from Wes Goodwin. But once it came time to make 'official' picks, I backed off a little. I picked the Tigers to win the ACC, but with an 11-2 record, including a home loss to LSU in the opener. Which would put them more like the low top 10. The main reason: What evidence has Clemson given us recently to suggest it can still compete at the highest level? Clemson got drilled by Georgia 34-3 to open last season. The Tigers went on to lose to two more SEC foes, South Carolina (17-14) and Texas (38-24). To their credit, the Tigers beat CFP team SMU in the ACC title game, but no one thought SMU could win the national championship. Over the past four seasons, Clemson has had one 'big' non-conference win: at home against Notre Dame in 2023. And as those struggles mounted, many others and I criticized Dabo for stubbornly steering clear of the transfer portal. He relented a little this offseason, landing a couple of possible key contributors, but his lineup will still be comprised almost entirely of homegrown guys
