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Big Ten Media Days: Tony Petitti pushing for four automatic bids
Big Ten Media Days: Tony Petitti pushing for four automatic bids

Miami Herald

time16 hours ago

  • Sport
  • Miami Herald

Big Ten Media Days: Tony Petitti pushing for four automatic bids

LAS VEGAS -- At the Big Ten's first-ever media day in Nevada on Tuesday, a portion of commissioner Tony Petitti's opening address suggested College Football Playoff odds are stacked against his conference. "It's really simple math," Petitti said at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the first day of the Big Ten Media Days gathering. "With 18 schools (in the Big Ten) and nine conferences (eligible for FBS playoffs), we're losing nine more games to start." Nine- vs. eight-game conference scheduling is a debate predating any iteration of the playoff, beginning in 2006 when the FBS season expanded to 12 regular-season dates. Petitti's position that playing more conference games than the Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference puts Big Ten teams at greater risk of stumbling has merit when referring to the Bowl Championship Series and four-team playoff for reference. Most notably, teams from the old Pac-12 -- one-third of which the Big Ten absorbed -- routinely missed out on national-title opportunities because of conference losses. Ironically, though, the 2024 season played out much differently: It was the SEC's eight-game schedule and playoff hopefuls Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina being tripped up that impacted the bracket. Meanwhile, the Big Ten's Indiana Hoosiers reached the playoff despite finishing the regular season with no Top 25 wins and two defeats total of conference opponents that produced winning records. The commissioner defended Indiana's playoff inclusion, noting that, "when Indiana's schedule was made ... (there) were the two teams that played in the (national) championship game the season before, Michigan and Washington." Be that as it may, the Hoosiers finished with a Sagarin strength of schedule ranking of No. 66, easily the worst of the power-conference playoff teams. The nine-game slate did not hurt the Big Ten in 2024, but Petitti inferred the Big Ten beat the odds. To adjust the odds going forward, Petitti's math factors into a postseason equation the commissioner has touted throughout the 2025 offseason: 16 equals four times two. With talk of expanding the College Football Playoff to 16 entrants after just one year of the 12-team format, Petitti is pushing for a format that grants both the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference four automatic bids. That ensures the two most prominent leagues in the sport comprise half of the field every year. The Petitti plan also includes the concept of a play-in round where conference championship games currently reside on the football calendar, the weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday. He presented the idea as something "fans will really gravitate to ... providing games that are do-or-die on the field." Petitti's suggestion faces resistance, including from SEC commissioner Greg Sankey. At his conference's media days last week, Sankey pushed for a playoff format with automatic qualifiers for five conference champions -- as exists now in the 12-team Playoff -- and 11 at-large berths. As for Petitti's position on when to reformat the postseason, the commissioner sounds content on slow-rolling it. "I'm not going to put any deadline on it," he said. --National champs tabbed as unlikely underdogs Before a rematch on Aug. 30 in Columbus, plenty will be made of Ohio State's 28-14 win over Texas in January's Cotton Bowl, which propelled the Buckeyes to the national championship game against Notre Dame. At Big Ten media days, however, Ohio State coach Ryan Day made clear the marquee matchup on Week 1 is a new chapter. "The team we have currently wants to leave their own legacy behind, and they made that clear a week after the national championship game," Day said. "We've said it before, we're not defending national champions, because we're not defending anything ... We're looking to attack." It's not uncommon for spokespersons of highly regarded and championship-winning teams to claim to be an underdog, even if the role does not fit. But despite rolling through the inaugural 12-team playoff with four double-digit-point wins, Ohio State was unveiled at Big Ten media days as an underdog in its own conference. The Buckeyes garnered 431 total points and 10 first-place votes in the league's preseason media poll, sitting in second behind Penn State with its 435 points and 11 first-place votes. Reigning Big Ten champion Oregon is third at 405 and two. Ohio State returns the Preseason Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, but the quarterback targeting Smith remains undecided. Day said at his session on Tuesday candidates Julian Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz head into August in a dead heat. The two are vying to replace Will Howard, who passed for 289 yards and a touchdown in the Cotton Bowl win over Texas. The new QB1 will share a backfield with new primary running backs, too, as Quinshon Judkins -- who scored two Cotton Bowl touchdowns -- and TreVeyon Henderson, who went 75 yards on Howard's touchdown pass vs. the Longhorns, are gone. The roster turnover at skill positions explains Ohio State's polling at No. 2, but hasn't entirely relegated the Buckeyes to the role of underdogs. As of Tuesday, they are consensus three-point favorites vs. Texas. --'Stand up' for the Big Ten Ahead of December's Citrus Bowl, a lion's share of attention focused on whether participating South Carolina should instead have been preparing for a playoff game. Overshadowed was an Illinois team that had its best regular season since 2007. The Illini proceeded to beat the Gamecocks, 21-17, for the program's first 10-win finish since 2001. With the win, Bret Bielema's squad contributed its own measure of bragging rights for the Big Ten in its ongoing war of perception with the SEC. "I learned early in life, right, if you don't stand up for yourself, no one else will," Bielema said on Tuesday. His stance is that the Big Ten is in a position to tout its quality off the field, but that starts by backing it up on the field. Big Ten teams have some high-profile opportunities to do just that opposite the SEC early in the 2025 campaign, starting immediately with a playoff rematch between Ohio State and Texas. The showdown between the reigning national champion Buckeyes and preseason SEC favorite Longhorns sets the stage for three straight weeks of noteworthy Big Ten vs. SEC matchups. In Week 2, Michigan travels to Oklahoma. Week 3 features Wisconsin visiting Alabama. --Field Level Media Field Level Media 2025 - All Rights Reserved

Ranking best active college football head coaches in 2025
Ranking best active college football head coaches in 2025

USA Today

timea day ago

  • Sport
  • USA Today

Ranking best active college football head coaches in 2025

The 2025 college football season will kick off Aug. 23 with Week 0 games. Iowa State and Kansas State will open the 2025 campaign in Dublin, Ireland (noon EDT, ESPN). Tennessee will kick off its season Aug. 30 versus Syracuse at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The season opener between the Vols and Orange is slated for noon EDT and will be televised by ABC. Josh Heupel enters his fifth season as Tennessee's head coach in 2025. In four seasons with the Vols, he has compiled a 37-15 (20-12 SEC) record, including a 2-1 record in bowl games. Heupel also guided the Vols to their first College Football Playoff appearance in program history last season. Ahead of the 2025 campaign, ESPN SP+ released rankings for the best active FBS head coaches with a minimum of four years experience. ESPN SP+ ranks Heupel as the second best active FBS head coach in 2025. He ranks behind Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. Kirby Smart (Georgia), James Franklin (Penn State), Dabo Swinney (Clemson), Dan Mullen (UNLV), Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss), Brian Kelly (LSU), Jeff Traylor (UTSA) and Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State) are the remaining head coaches ranked in the top 10. More: 2025 win-loss record projections for all 16 SEC football teams 2025 best active college football head coaches (FBS) Follow Vols Wire on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).

College football QB rankings: The most fascinating players to watch in our tiers
College football QB rankings: The most fascinating players to watch in our tiers

New York Times

time5 days ago

  • Sport
  • New York Times

College football QB rankings: The most fascinating players to watch in our tiers

Putting together The Athletic's College QB Tiers illustrated that there is no shortage of fascinating quarterbacks and their situations across the country. Some of these players are worthy of deeper examinations than we were able to provide in our initial rankings. So, after sorting through all 136 projected FBS starting quarterbacks, let's examine the most fascinating quarterback in each of our seven tiers. These quarterbacks range from high-profile names who are finally receiving their turn in the spotlight to high-profile returning starters to familiar names looking to re-establish themselves at new homes. Advertisement Also, check out our rising quarterbacks to watch and the most difficult debates. Ranking: 10th Forget Tier 1, Manning is the most fascinating quarterback in college football. It's very easy to understand why expectations are so high. Duh, his last name is Manning. He's also a former five-star prospect who is a gifted athlete, and there aren't a lot of quarterbacks who can make throws like this: Listen, Arch Manning wasn't perfect last week, and UTSA helped too, including a safety falling down on a TD. But this throw? C'mon! — Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) September 19, 2024 However, it's reasonable to believe the hype train has gotten a little too wild for the betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. Manning played at a smaller private school in New Orleans, Isidore Newman, and didn't face very tough competition at the high school level. He has thrown just 95 passes in two years at Texas and 75 percent of those throws have come against two Group of 5 schools (UTSA and ULM, which combined to go 12-13 last year) and Mississippi State, which went 2-10 and didn't win an SEC game in 2024. And whenever there's a quarterback who has played as little as Manning has, there's naturally bound to be growing pains — perhaps starting with a Week 1 trip to defending national champion Ohio State. Quinn Ewers was a five-star recruit who led Texas to a Big 12 championship, an SEC title game appearance and back-to-back trips to the College Football Playoff semifinals. Even though Manning has played little, the widely held assumption is that Texas is upgrading at the quarterback position. He's a significant reason why Texas has the best national title odds, according to BetMGM, and could be the preseason No. 1. The discourse about Manning has become exhausting. As Manning said himself at SEC media days, he has to go onto the field and 'prove it.' We're just a few weeks away from starting to find out whether or not he can meet the hype. Advertisement Ranking: 12th A year ago, Beck would've checked in near the top of our rankings. Most expected him to be in the NFL at this time. However, he regressed on the field as Georgia lost its top playmakers from 2023 and then suffered an ugly elbow injury in the SEC Championship Game. Instead of declaring for the draft, he opted to stay in school. Georgia had already prepared for life after him at quarterback, so he entered the portal and landed at Miami, which rewarded him with an NIL deal worth more than $3 million. The Hurricanes went 10-3 last season and are desperate to finally break through and reach the College Football Playoffs under coach Mario Cristobal. Beck is desperate to improve his draft stock after a disappointing season, so there's urgency on both sides here. Coaches and staff members we spoke to acknowledge the high-level flashes Beck has shown, but they also point out his limited mobility and the mistakes and turnovers he needs to clean up. Some also weren't fans of Beck's off-field headlines, including his relationship and breakup with former college basketball player/prominent influencer Hanna Cavinder, as well as his decision to purchase a high-priced Lamborghini, which was stolen this spring. Beck went 24-3 as Georgia's starting quarterback. He's won at a high clip, but it's reasonable to be concerned about the elbow surgery and the short window of time he has to build a rapport with a new set of receivers after missing spring practices due to the injury, while also learning a new offense. Beck and Miami both failed to achieve their ultimate goals in 2024. Will their marriage help them reach their desired outcome in 2025, or will it be more disappointment for both this season? Ranking: 27th Texas Tech will be one of the most polarizing teams in the country this season. The Red Raiders spent a lot of money to upgrade their roster through the transfer portal this offseason to establish themselves as a front-runner in a wide-open Big 12. There will be those who will appreciate a non-traditional power trying to better itself and do everything possible to make a run for a CFP bid. Some will view the offseason spending as a desperate play from a program trying to buy a conference championship. Advertisement What can't be argued is that the spending places significant pressure on several key figures within Texas Tech's program, including head coach Joey McGuire. For all the money the Red Raiders spent, one position they did not address was quarterback. Morton posted solid numbers last season: 3,335 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and eight interceptions while completing 63.3 percent of his passes. Morton isn't viewed as a top-five QB in the Big 12 (he's eighth in the conference in our rankings). Still, with the improved roster, expectations are much higher this year — winning the Big 12 for the first time at a program that has never finished ranked in the top 10, which puts a lot of pressure on Morton to deliver for a program and fan base that is now striving for more. Rank: 38th There's an element of mystery with Pribula. He rushed the ball 94 times and attempted 56 passes across the past two years at Penn State, which mainly utilized Pribula as a gadget player behind Drew Allar (No. 6 in our tiers) last year. We haven't seen much of him in extended action outside of a stellar performance in relief of the injured Allar at Wisconsin last October. However, a head coach and a general manager at separate programs both told The Athletic that Pribula would have been their No. 1 QB target in the transfer portal if the circumstances had lined up right. The GM was high on Pribula's toughness and competitiveness. The skill set was good enough for Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz, who has a proven track record of working well with quarterbacks. Even though Pribula is relatively unknown, there were plenty of programs willing to take a chance on him. Rank: 69th Rebels coach Dan Mullen almost always gets the most out of his quarterbacks, no matter how flawed they may be. Next up on his list: Colandrea, who threw 26 touchdown passes and 20 interceptions in two seasons as Virginia's starter before transferring to UNLV this offseason. There is plenty of entertainment in the carefree scrambling and erratic play of Colandrea. Still, if UNLV is going to maintain the same sort of success it achieved under former coach Barry Odom and remain one of the best G5 teams, then Mullen will have to tame some of the wild play from Colandrea. If it doesn't work out, Michigan transfer Alex Orji is an intriguing backup option. At the very least, this situation won't provide the same sort of drama UNLV's most recent transfer quarterback, Matthew Sluka, did last season when he left the program (before landing at James Madison this offseason) amid a 3-0 start because of a dispute about an NIL agreement. Advertisement Rank: 108th The Cougars were essentially thrust into the wilderness due to conference realignment and were left to help remake the Pac-12, along with Oregon State. Despite the less-than-ideal circumstances, Washington State has lived a good life at quarterback, going from Cam Ward (who became the No. 1 pick at Miami) to John Mateer (who transferred to Oklahoma this offseason). Now it'll be Eckhaus' turn to show what he can do. Eckhaus was an FCS standout at Bryant in 2023 and passed for 363 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for a score in a Holiday Bowl start last season. Eckhaus has the chance to be very productive. Still, he's going to be working with a new coaching staff led by Jimmy Rogers, who became Washington State's head coach this offseason after two seasons and an FCS national championship at South Dakota State. Rogers is likely to bring a more balanced offensive system, which Eckhaus and the fan base will have to adjust to. Washington State is a program that has often punched above its weight class, and it has achieved most of that success with pass-heavy, air-raid offenses. The Cougars are an interesting, plucky underdog. This is the last year of the unofficial Pac-2, and they'll be playing an independent-like schedule before the conference adds the likes of Boise State, San Diego State and others next year. Washington State has exceeded expectations, even though it was left for dead, and now it'll start over with Rogers, who has turned over the roster and brought several South Dakota State transfers with him. Eckhaus will be key to ensuring the program stays afloat in Rogers' first year. Rank: 113th Howard was a top-50 prospect and the fifth-ranked quarterback during the 2022 recruiting cycle, but he hasn't received much playing time in three seasons across two schools (LSU and Ole Miss) with just 10 career pass attempts. Howard, a Lafayette, La., native, dropped to the G5 to find a place to play and transferred home to Louisiana. The Ragin' Cajuns are coming off a 10-win season and a Sun Belt title game appearance, so expectations are high. They'll provide Howard with an opportunity to showcase his skill set and talent, finally, but it'll come with the pressure of delivering some team success, too. (Top photos of Arch Manning and Behren Morton: Tim Warner, Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

Meet the Nebraska school producing an unusual number of FBS commits — including a future Alabama QB
Meet the Nebraska school producing an unusual number of FBS commits — including a future Alabama QB

New York Times

time6 days ago

  • Sport
  • New York Times

Meet the Nebraska school producing an unusual number of FBS commits — including a future Alabama QB

OMAHA, Neb. — Hidden from the view of traffic near a busy intersection and crammed between tennis courts and a softball complex, the single practice field buzzed with intensity on a Thursday in early July. A defensive coach barked instructions and stopped a play mid-flow. The football players, many larger and more developed than the norm for their ages, returned to the line of scrimmage. The same coach chastised one defender for moving slowly. Advertisement 'Do it again.' His words tore through the morning air. 'Do it right.' The threat of complacency rates as a primary enemy of the Millard South football team in 2025. From 2008, when seniors in the graduating class of 2026 were born, until 2020, the state of Nebraska annually produced between three and 10 FBS signees. An increase in developmental opportunities and exposure to college recruiters sent that number soaring to 15 on average since 2021. This year, at Millard South alone, 12 seniors hold Division I offers before they've conducted an official preseason practice. Nine are committed to FBS programs — including Alabama quarterback pledge Jett Thomalla. It is likely the greatest collection of talent to assemble on one Nebraska high school football team. And this surge came, seemingly, from nowhere. Millard South produced four FBS signees in the past five years. 'It's obviously something special,' said tight end Isaac Jensen, who turned down Nebraska, Notre Dame, Florida State, Texas A&M, LSU and Auburn to commit to Missouri in June. 'But that's not how you win games.' To be clear, Millard South is not Bishop Gorman nor IMG Academy, the highly resourced, private powers that routinely produce top recruits. Millard South, a public school, is notably understated in appearance, unlike the modern high schools in suburban Omaha built near it in recent years. It is housed in a 55-year-old building, the oldest facility in a district with three high schools. So how did it put together a roster full of all-stars? 'Most of the guys played together in sixth, seventh, eighth grade,' first-year coach Taylor Mendenhall said. 'On top of that, high school football is still about becoming better teammates, becoming men and stuff like that. 'Their competitiveness within position groups and within the team has elevated them all.' Advertisement Former coach Ty Wisdom, in four seasons, employed an aggressive approach to player development. His attitude attracted the likes of tight end Chase Loftin, who transferred to Millard South from Elkhorn North in Omaha before his senior year. Loftin signed with Florida State last December. Wisdom coached previously at Horizon High in Phoenix. He used Arizona connections to schedule a season-opening contest last year at prep power Basha High. Millard South lost 39-25 but then rolled to 12 wins against Nebraska competition. It won 27-10 in the Class A title game against two-time defending champion Omaha Westside — a school with four alums on the Nebraska roster. Thomalla threw for 222 yards and three touchdowns. The quarterback received his first scholarship offer in January from San Diego State. Thomalla said he 'realized something was happening' when Missouri offered in February. He committed to Iowa State in April. The next day, Alabama quarterbacks coach Nick Sheridan followed him on Instagram. An offer from the Crimson Tide followed. Thomalla visited Tuscaloosa in late May. He flipped to Alabama on June 17, the morning before his check-in at the Elite 11 finals in Manhattan Beach, Calif. 'Once you commit to Alabama, you're automatically going to get more attention,' Thomalla said. 'Not a lot of kids have my problem that they're too busy to hang out with friends. I just try to soak everything up and realize that I'm blessed.' Wisdom left Millard South in December, returning to Arizona to run the program at Chandler High. Mendenhall, 30, a former Millard South defensive lineman who spent five seasons as an assistant coach at the school, took over. He got word in his first days at work that Basha — against which Wisdom had scheduled a home-and-home arrangement — was not coming to Omaha this fall. The Arizona trip last year benefited the Patriots competitively and in generating notice for their players in recruiting. Advertisement 'For this senior class, we owed it to them to do something special,' Mendenhall said. So next month, Millard South will open at Arbor View of Las Vegas, which finished 10-2 in 2024 with a pair of losses against national power Bishop Gorman. 'We're going to treat it like a business trip,' said Nelsyn Wheeler, the running back who committed to Illinois last month over offers from Wisconsin, Maryland, Michigan State and Kansas. 'We're going to stay smart, because we're going there to compete. And we're going there to put Nebraska on the map. We're going there to win.' Among the FBS commits at Millard South, Wheeler is the only player who's new to the Patriots this year. He rushed for 114.7 yards per game last season at Grand Island, a Class A program 140 miles to the west of Omaha. 'First lifting session,' Wheeler said, 'I realized I was no longer the strongest one. You had four-star O-linemen lifting four plates. It's a different level, which is exactly what I came for.' The spring recruiting spotlight at Millard South paid dividends immediately. Illinois offered Millard South offensive lineman Landen Von Seggern last fall. Von Seggern committed to the Illini in January. Wheeler's offer came in May. He couldn't turn down Illinois coach Bret Bielema after they watched film together of Illini assistant James White. Bielema told Wheeler that his running style reminded the former Wisconsin coach of White, who rushed for 4,015 yards with the Badgers. Wide receiver Amarion Jackson is committed to Iowa State, offensive lineman Carter Glab and defensive back Dayton Gaius-Anyaegbu to Army, and defensive end Solomon Baker and tight end Dallas Gaius-Anyaegbu to Fresno State. Defensive back Toris Rudd pledged to North Dakota of the FCS. Wide receiver DaShawn Prince was offered by Nebraska as a freshman, and linebacker Teagan Urban counts FCS-level Drake among his suitors. Advertisement There's more talent hidden on the Patriots' roster, Mendenhall said. The Patriots' opener in Nevada and opportunities in the fall to play in front of college coaches figure to produce another wave of scholarship offers. 'They're hungry,' Mendenhall said. 'But like all high school kids, they need to be reminded.' That need for a reminder explains the tension on the turf behind the high school building at a July workout — still several weeks before the Patriots don pads early in camp. The pressure applied by coaches didn't stop with a demand to repeat one play. Mendenhall experienced a state championship in 2009 during his time in uniform at Millard South. The program later endured some rough times, but its players maintained a work ethic that pushed the Patriots over the top when an abundance of talent arrived with the senior class of 2026. 'The coaches need to stay on us,' Wheeler said, 'because we're going to be everyone's national championship this year.' The Patriots spent most of last season ranked No. 2 in their own state, downgraded because of the loss to Basha. Did it matter that other teams in Nebraska played no such competition? 'No,' said Baker, the defender committed to Fresno State. 'Losing our first game gave us a lot of our motivation. Being ranked No. 2, that's the first-place loser.' They'll be favored heavily to repeat in 2025. Some motivation this year might involve an interesting subplot: Nebraska, in putting together its 2026 class, pursued only Jensen, the Mizzou-bound tight end, from Millard South. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Thomalla, the state's top-rated prospect according to the 247Sports Composite, did not receive an offer because the Huskers took the commitment of 2026 QB Dayton Raiola — brother of starting QB Dylan Raiola — last September. The Huskers, in fact, went after just three prospects from Nebraska, landing only Elkhorn North linebacker Jace Reynolds in their 12-player class. 'They're not just going to offer because a kid is from Nebraska,' Jensen said. 'It was a blessing that they gave me a chance. But we will all keep our heads down and keep working.' To date, their work has produced unprecedented results.

The Athletic's quarterback tier rankings reveal high potential for Notre Dame's CJ Carr
The Athletic's quarterback tier rankings reveal high potential for Notre Dame's CJ Carr

USA Today

time6 days ago

  • Sport
  • USA Today

The Athletic's quarterback tier rankings reveal high potential for Notre Dame's CJ Carr

As is naturally the case at Notre Dame, all eyes during the college football season usually fall on whoever is under center in South Bend. The Athletic recently broke down every projected FBS starting quarterback (subscription required), from 1 to 136, into seven tiers. The publication surveyed more than 40 coaches and staffers from across the sport to get their opinions, and the writers relied heavily on that feedback for their list. The rankings are based on a combination of coaches' perspectives, the players' physical abilities, on-field performance to date and a projection of what 2025 could entail for them. These are college-based only and not a projection of how these QBs would fare at the NFL level. Fighting Irish projected starter CJ Carr ranked No. 49 overall and slotted into tier-4, which is comprised of either young, unproven new starters with a lot of potential or veterans who have shown a lot of talent but may have been hurt or had a bad stretch at some point. Obviously Carr falls into the former category. From the story: Carr emerged as the leader in the QB competition coming out of spring practice. He took only four snaps last season and didn't attempt a pass as he recovered from an injury to his throwing elbow suffered during preseason camp. But in the Blue-Gold game, the former Elite 11 QB showed touch and accuracy on downfield throws and a good feel for the offense. He'll make mistakes as a first-time starter. How he handles those, along with the pressure that comes with being QB1 at Notre Dame, will be telling. Carr has yet to attempt a pass at the college level, but head coach Marcus Freeman and his staff have full confidence in the grandson of former Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr, especially with a deep backfield, a good offensive line and an expected higher level of play at the wide receiver position. Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions. Follow Dave on X: Miller_Dave

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