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Fox Sports
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Texas-Ohio State should answer one burning question: Can Arch Manning match the hype?
Expect it to be a top-five matchup. Expect the Ohio State Buckeyes to act as if they are not only the defending national champions, but that they walked over a Texas corpse to earn that title. There is no denying the fact that the 2025 Buckeyes lost a lot of players who helped make their season memorable. Both the offensive and defensive coordinators left. There will be a new starting quarterback, two new bookend defensive ends, two new bell cow backs and a gaping hole in leadership and production at middle linebacker. But the program is still the standard in the sport in a conference that is growing in strength. The sport's last two national champions were both from the Big Ten Conference. The No. 1-ranked team in the AP Top 25 Poll for the final eight weeks of the 2024 season was a Big Ten team. In an era that has been defined by the SEC's dominance over the past two decades, the balance of power feels like it is shifting with a Week 1 matchup between two teams that not only met in the College Football Playoff semifinals last year, but each was ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 at least once last season. And while Texas, which went 7-1 in SEC play and earned a spot in the conference championship game in its first year in the league, has also lost plenty of important pieces on both sides of the ball, they've gained perhaps the biggest advantage in this 2025 matchup that is likely to make the game categorically different: Arch Manning will start at quarterback for Texas. Not Quinn Ewers. The NFL told us exactly how it felt about Ewers in April. A player who was once ranked as the No. 1 recruit in the country, led Texas to a double-digit win against Nick Saban's Alabama team in Tuscaloosa, won a Big 12 Championship and played in two CFP semifinals in two years, was selected in the seventh and final round of the NFL Draft. Manning, who has shown enough in limited competition in 2024, is already projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft — or 2027 — if he chooses not to enter early. This would lead many to believe that Manning's skill set could've been the difference between beating Georgia in the SEC title game or Ohio State in the CFP semifinal round. Is it a stretch? Perhaps. But only one quarterback in the FBS in the last 25 years has recorded a 75-plus-yard touchdown pass, a 65-yard rushing touchdown and another 50-plus-yard touchdown pass in the same game: Arch Manning. In a Week 3 matchup against UTSA last season, Manning completed 9 of 12 passes for 223 yards with four total touchdowns. His 67-yard TD rush was the longest by a Texas QB since Vince Young in 2005. And he did that in relief of Ewers. In his only start against SEC competition, Manning completed 26 of 31 passes for 325 yards and was responsible for two passing and one rushing touchdown. His size, his speed and his arm talent remind many not of his Super Bowl-winning and SEC-legend uncles Peyton and Eli, but of their father, Archie Manning, who was making it happen with his feet before people knew what a mobile quarterback was. At 6-foot-4, 222 pounds, Arch Manning is the closest comparison to Young that Texas has had at QB in 20 years. Since then, every quarterback from David Ash to Tyrone Swoopes has tried to reach the high-water mark Young set, but they've all fallen short in one way or another. For Manning to become the Texas QB most believe he is capable of being, he'll need to win a championship — a national championship. Steve Sarkisian and Texas have been building a program that can end the year atop the mountain since he first arrived from Alabama, where he coordinated one of the best offenses we've seen this century. This year's Texas team is stout in the middle, fast on the perimeter and loaded with a roster of players who expect to play for the national title not in a few years, but right here, right now. That is what Manning has to accomplish. That is the bar for success for a program that is running up against the ceiling Oklahoma hit during the Lincoln Riley era. It's the ceiling Ohio State broke through in Year 1 of the CFP and is now one of just four programs with multiple national titles in the playoff era (Ohio State, Clemson, Alabama, Georgia). And that is why the Week 1 matchup between Texas and Ohio State, which will take place on Aug. 30 in Columbus and air on FOX, will be so telling. With a win over the defending national champions on the road, very few will pick against the Longhorns the rest of the way. With a loss to Ohio State, though, shovels will find their way to dirt to begin digging the six-foot hole to bury what was once the mighty SEC and its newest jewel, the Texas Longhorns. RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him at @RJ_Young . Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily ! FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience College Football Texas Longhorns recommended Get more from College Football Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Alabama Football Extends Historic NFL Draft Stretch
Since 2008, the Alabama football program has finished inside the final AP Top 25 Poll each season. Coincidentally, Alabama has become the pinnacle of top-end professional talent during that span. Although the Crimson Tide failed to win double-digit games in 2024 for the first time in 17 seasons, NFL franchises did not shy away from the pedigree associated with the program. On Thursday, during night one of the 2025 NFL Draft, the Dallas Cowboys selected Alabama guard Tyler Booker with the 12th overall pick. With the 31st pick, the Philadelphia Eagles traded up for former Crimson Tide superstar linebacker Jihaad Campbell. Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Booker (52) celebrates after the offense scored a touchdown during the A-Day scrimmage at Bryant-Denny Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images With the selection of Campbell and Booker, an Alabama player has gone in the first round for a record 17th consecutive season. In second is Ohio State, who has had a first-round pick for nine straight seasons, while Georgia is at eight years. Advertisement After failing to have any selection during the 2008 NFL Draft, Alabama offensive tackle Andre Smith went to the Cincinnati Bengals with the sixth overall pick in 2009. Rolando McClain and Kareem Jackson went in the first round in 2010, while a then-record four players (Marcell Dareus, Julio Jones, James Carpenter, and Mark Ingram) went during the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft. 2015 (Ryan Kelly) and 2016 (Amari Cooper) are the only years since 2009 in which only one Alabama player went in the first round. Meanwhile, following an undefeated 2020 campaign, six Crimson Tide players (Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith, Patrick Surtain, Mac Jones, Alex Leatherwood, and Najee Harris) went in the subsequent draft. Related: Jihaad Campbell Drafted by Super Bowl-Champion Eagles
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Kentucky makes a big jump in the final AP and Coaches Polls
Big Blue Drew - A Sea of Blue Mark Pope's first season as the Kentucky Wildcats head coach saw his team make the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019. That also earned them a top-15 finish in the final edition of the major college basketball polls. Advertisement The last AP Top 25 Poll has the Cats checking in at No. 12, while the Coaches Top 25 Poll has them at No. 14. They were No. 18 in the AP Poll and No. 21 in the Coaches Poll ahead of the NCAA Tournament. The national champion Florida Gators claimed the top spot, followed by the Houston Cougars, Duke Blue Devils, Auburn Tigers, Tennessee Volunteers, Alabama Crimson Tide, Michigan State Spartans, Texas Tech Red Raiders, and Maryland Terrapins, as both polls had the exact same top 10. Speaking of, Kentucky ended up notching four wins over top-10 teams this season, including one vs. Florida. For your amusement, Louisville, who was 10 spots ahead of Kentucky in the pre-NCAA Tournament Coaches Poll and eight spots ahead in the AP Poll, fell all the way down to No. 21 following a Round of 64 shellacking at the hands of Creighton. Advertisement Follow our Twitter page and like us on Facebook for more Kentucky Wildcats content! And Go CATS!! More from
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Jahmai Mashack launches food drive after epic buzzer beater, raises over $20,000
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Coming off of a stunning last-second shot to beat Alabama, Tennessee basketball standout Jahmai Mashack is celebrating by raising thousands for a local food bank. Mashack's three-pointer lifted Tennessee over the Crimson Tide in dramatic fashion and kept Tennessee's hope of securing the team's first-ever No. 1 seed at the NCAA Tournament alive heading into the final week of the regular season. On Monday, He launched 'Mashack March Madness Virtual Food Drive' to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee. Tennessee moves up to No. 4 in AP Top 25 Poll after last-second Alabama win The fundraiser initially set a goal of $7,900 in reference to the 79 points Tennessee scored against Alabama. As of Monday afternoon, the total amount raised has surpassed $21,000. A new goal has now been set at $23,700, triple the original goal. The fundraiser has already raised enough to provide over 60,000 meals to families in East Tennessee. Click here to visit the virtual food drive page. Donations will be accepted through March 31. THE LATEST: University of Tennessee Basketball news Mashack is a senior guard and was recently named to the 2025 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List. He was also nominated for the 2025 Allstate NACDA Good Works Team, which recognizes college athletes for excellence in academics, sports, and community impact. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
UConn's Geno Auriemma on his 40 years at the top and how the NCAA has evolved
Geno Auriemma has been a stalwart of women's college basketball for four decades, achieving success most coaches could only dream of. In 1985 he took over a UConn program with just one winning season and has since led it to 11 NCAA Division I titles – the most in NCAA history. He also has the most wins of any NCAA head coach after surpassing Tara VanDerveer last November. But the fire inside the 70-year-old remains as fierce as when he first arrived in Storrs 40 years ago, as his Huskies beat defending champions South Carolina 87-58 on the road last weekend. On the latest episode of 'The Athletic Women's Basketball Show,' Auriemma joined Zena Keita, Chantel Jennings and Sabreena Merchant to chart how the game has changed over his four decades at the top. Below are a few highlights from the conversation, you can listen to the full interview on the podcast feed. Jennings: I'm curious looking at the current state of women's college basketball and the changes that we've seen in the last few years. How would 2025 Geno Auriemma explain the college basketball landscape to the 1985 Geno, who took the job at UConn without even seeing what the gym looked like? Auriemma: Yeah, that's like trying to explain in 2025 what it was like to live in the Roman Empire. It's ancient history and hard to describe to anyone that wasn't there because you had to be there to believe the landscape now relative to then. At Connecticut, we were just trying not to finish eighth or ninth in our league. There were nine teams in the Big East, so we were trying to make sure we didn't finish eighth or ninth because that's where they finished every year. That was the play-in game in order to get into the Big East tournament. And we accomplished that goal as we didn't finish eighth or ninth. Teams like Providence, Villanova, Syracuse, BC (Boston College) and Saint John's were good teams back then, but none of them were national players by any stretch of the imagination in the national landscape. I don't even know if there was a Top 25 Poll back then by Mel Greenberg (the reporter who pioneered the first AP Top 25 Poll for NCAA Division I women's basketball in 1976). That's how old this thing is. There may have been Tennessee, Old Dominion, Louisiana Tech, Virginia, NC State and Maryland. It was all very regional and there was a very non-national view of women's basketball. The NCAA Tournament was 32 teams, I want to say. Just to give you an idea, we went to the Final Four in 1991, which meant that we were the first team ever from north of the Mason-Dixon line to go to the NCAA Final Four. The first team from north of Philadelphia at least. There were 8,000 people at the Final Four played in Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, and there was one TV camera there that I know of that came from Connecticut. So compared to today, it was intramurals versus what is now major news, major coverage and major interest. And it's only taken 40 years. Merchant: Where was the Big East tournament those days when you were trying to get out of the eight, nine play-in games? Auriemma: The Big East tournament used to rotate among each member school, so every school got to host it which is crazy. We just played at Seton Hall last night — it seats 1,800 people — and that was the first Big East tournament that Connecticut won in 1985. I'm sorry, 1988-89 was our first Big East championship, and it was at Seton Hall. The game wasn't even on the radio, I think it might have been on the WHUS campus radio station who might have broadcast the game. Then the tournament came back there 10 years later in 1995 and everything had changed. We were undefeated, we were favorites to win the national championship, and still, it's the Big East tournament played in front of 1,800 people. And 1,700 of them were bused down from Connecticut. A lot has changed, and in so many ways the world is different. There was no way to communicate back in 1985, there was no (cell) phones (laughs), so you found out the next morning how everybody did. Every kid that was on our team was from within driving distance. The kid who lived farthest away on our team in 1985 was from New Jersey when I first started. My mother was a teenager during World War II living in the hills because the Germans took over their house in Italy. Then the day she died in 1992 she had a cell phone. So UConn women's basketball and the rest of basketball is living in a place that didn't exist in 1985, not even in people's imagination. Jennings: How would you have explained NIL, the transfer portal and revenue share to that guy who was playing in Seton Hall in front of five people and a bunch of reporters with typewriters? Because that's what it sounds like. Auriemma: It's hard to explain. I shouldn't say it's hard to explain, but maybe it is. Anybody that doesn't want to understand, won't understand. But coaching in 1985 and coaching today, at least the level that we're coaching at in college basketball, is the difference between riding a tricycle and flying a jet plane. You can't even imagine the difference, the landscape, how it's changed and why so many coaches are dying to get out of the game because it's unmanageable. … It's unfair to the mid-majors. It's unfair to the schools that don't have the money. It's unfair to everybody except the 40 or 50 schools in the country that can afford to live in that world. It's unfair to the rest of college sports. But it's also unmanageable. You can't manage it because there's no rules, and no one can operate when there's no rules. We try to have rules on our team, but it's hard for those kids to understand the rules of the team when in the rest of their college experience, there is no rules. Whatever you want to do or have the ability to do at your school, that's what you do. Nobody worries about any ramifications, so it's unmanageable. Each and every year that this lasts (it becomes more difficult). The unmanageable part of it — and I'm not saying kids shouldn't get paid, I'm not saying they shouldn't make money off their ability to play basketball — but their ability to just pack up and leave anytime they want makes it unmanageable for the coaches. Everybody will say, 'You have parity because more players move from one place to another.' But in reality, that parity is going to go away when the teams that can spend the most money end up with the best players, so that parity is going to start going away. They say there's parity in college football – that is the biggest joke in the history of sports that there is parity in college football. There's only one sport that has parity and that's the NFL. Everybody else is fooling themselves that there's parity. So let's see what happens. This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Connecticut Huskies, Women's College Basketball, The Athletic Women's Basketball Show 2025 The Athletic Media Company
