Latest news with #McMurphy
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
ASU football projections: Sun Devils among 5 teams favored in every game
The Arizona State football is in some elite company for the 2025 season. According to projections from one site, the Sun Devils are among five college football teams expected to be favored in all 12 regular-season games in 2025. On3's Brett McMurphy first reported the projections, which are based on power rankings from Brad Powers of the Bet the Board Podcast. Who are the four other teams projected to be the favorite in every game this season? Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame and Ohio State. Elite company, indeed. McMurphy wrote of Arizona State's upcoming season: "While Arizona State is favored in every game, the Sun Devils don't have much margin of error. Arizona State is less than a one-score favorite in six games: at Baylor (-1) on Sept. 20; home vs. TCU (-6½) on Sept. 26; at Utah (-1) on Oct. 11; home vs. Texas Tech (-5½) on Oct. 18; at Iowa State (-2) on Nov. 1; and at Colorado (-8) on Nov. 22." Big 12 football game picks: Arizona | Arizona State | Baylor | BYU | Cincinnati | Colorado | Houston | Iowa State | Kansas | Kansas State | Oklahoma State | TCU | Texas Tech | UCF | Utah | West Virginia | Projected Big 12 standings, records Interestingly, one Big 12 team was also projected to be favored in every game at the beginning of the 2024 season: Kansas State. The Wildcats went 8-4 in the regular season, but are considered a favorite, along with Arizona State, in early Big 12 football title odds this season. Georgia, Liberty, Miami and Oregon were also projected to be favored in every game last season, according to McMurphy. Georgia and Miami both went 10-2. Liberty finished 8-4. Oregon, however, did end up 12-0 in the regular season. Big 12 football win total odds: Arizona | Arizona State | Baylor | BYU | Cincinnati | Colorado | Houston | Iowa State | Kansas | Kansas State | Oklahoma State | TCU | Texas Tech | UCF | Utah | West Virginia | Big 12 rankings Reach Jeremy Cluff at Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff. Support local journalism: Subscribe to today. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State football projections: Sun Devils favored in every game
USA Today
5 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Michigan football vs. Western Michigan set to take place in Germany per a report
Get your passports ready, Michigan football fans, the Wolverines are going international. And this time, not just for a vacation. The Wolverines have not been one of those teams that have played a neutral-site game outside of America, though it has had quite a few throughout the country. According to On3's Brett McMurphy, that's about to change. McMurphy reports that the 2026 season opener against Western Michigan will no longer take place at The Big House and now will be played in Germany. Michigan and Western Michigan will open the 2026 season on Saturday, Aug. 29, in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany, sources told On3. The game will be held at Deutsche Bank Park, a 55,000-seat retractable roof soccer stadium that has hosted five NFL games. It's interesting to see Michigan willing to lose a home game in favor of an international one. Also odd is that it's against a Group of Five team rather than a more prestigious opponent. Either way, it will be interesting to see the Wolverines suiting up on foreign soil for the first time — outside of the practices the team had in Rome back in 2017. Update: Michigan has confirmed that this is in progress via press release: The University of Michigan Football program is engaged in ongoing discussions to kick off the 2026 season on foreign soil, playing host to Western Michigan at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany, on Saturday, Aug. 29. This non-conference matchup would become the first game played by the Wolverines outside of North America. Also known as Waldstadion, Deutsche Bank Park is the home field for Eintracht Frankfurt of the Bundesliga, which is the top tier of the German football (soccer) league. The retractable roof stadium has a capacity of 55,000 seats and was opened in 1925. Germany has hosted five previous NFL games in the country, with Deutsche Bank Park hosting two regular-season games during the 2023 season: Kansas City Chiefs 21, Miami Dolphins 14 (Nov. 5) and Indianapolis Colts 10, New England Patriots 6 (Nov. 12). "We are in advanced discussions to create this first-of-its-kind opportunity for our student-athletes and fans," said Warde Manuel, the Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics. "The University of Michigan is one of the few worldwide brands in college athletics and the interest in playing an international game would be unique. This would be a great opportunity to teach 'Go Blue' to a new group of fans in Germany." "I am excited about the football and educational experience this game could provide for our players," said Sherrone Moore, U-M's J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach. "We are always looking for unique opportunities to expose our student-athletes to other cultures. In the last 10 years, our program has been to Italy, France and South Africa, and this game would provide another chance to grow our international fanbase." The matchup with the Broncos was originally scheduled to be played at Michigan Stadium on Sept. 5. This would become the first time that Michigan has played a Mid-American Conference school at a location other than Michigan Stadium. More details will be forthcoming regarding the date and location of Michigan's 2026 opener.
USA Today
12-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Connor Stalions fires back at TCU coach's sign-stealing narrative
Brett McMurphy has just started his new job at On3 and felt like he had a bit of a juicy story, even if it's one that's already been told. All the way back in October 2023, a TCU contingent told ESPN that the Horned Frogs were aware of Michigan football's Connor Stalions and his sign-stealing ways, and that they had devised a clever plan which made the Wolverines' machinations backfire on them. Now, years removed, TCU head coach Sonny Dykes is adding gasoline to the flames by telling McMurphy and On3 at Big 12 media days about the countermeasures that the Horned Frogs took against the Wolverines in that 2022 Fiesta Bowl. 'We had some intel that (the sign stealing) was going on,' Dykes told On3 from Big 12 media days. 'Look everybody does it to an extent, but we had some intel that it was kind of next level there.'Dykes' solution? 'We changed some signs, we left some the same,' Dykes said. 'We found out early enough (before the game) where we could change a lot of our signals and then we had some dummy signals and some things where we checked a dummy signal to a signal that we knew they knew. 'We got some favorable matchups because of that and, yeah, there was some big plays in the game. No one who was a part of that Michigan football team had been able to fight back on the allegations publicly. But now, as he waits for the NCAA to levy its punishment for the advanced scouting scandal, Stalions isn't letting this one go by idly. Stalions took to X (formerly Twitter) to rebut McMurphy's story on Dykes, responding to the article post in great, great detail about why this account from the Horned Frogs coach is erroneous. To be 'tipped off' that your next opponent is good at stealing signals is like saying you were tipped off that you had an upcoming game. To save everybody's time so we can move on from the same recycled story from Coach Dykes, I'll provide some more details and we can wrap this up: We lost because we turned the ball over & had a poor game tackling. And TCU played well. Congratulations. The same way we won the Natty (when I was not with the program) because we blocked well, tackled well, and took care of the rock. Welcome to the game of football. Since people are so intrigued by signals…The entire Air Raid communication system is the offensive coordinator signaling to the QB, then the QB signaling to the Receivers. USC, TCU, etc. It's all the same. They're all the same signals too. And TCU kept everything from the coordinator to QB the same, but had dummy signals & some new signals from the QB to Receivers. But that didn't matter because I'm watching the coach and seeing what they changed in real time. Similar to Ohio State 'changing their signals.' They changed their route concepts & some run concepts — not their formations & pass protection signals, which is all I cared about. To say anyone 'fooled' me is admitting that you have no idea how signal deciphering & protecting works. No team has ever 'changed' signals — meaning they don't recycle the same signal to have a different meaning because that would confuse the 18-year olds on the field more than it would confuse me. They simply create new signals. And if I see a new signal, I'm not guessing what it means. There were games where I relayed information 0% of the time, all the way through 99% of the time. No one is forcing you to signal. Rutgers & Minnesota huddled (didn't signal). Nebraska didn't signal until the 2nd quarter when they were down 14-0. Even we, Michigan, didn't signal on offense. If you don't want teams to steal your signals, then don't signal. Any team that signals on offense is trying to force the defense to signal so they can steal it. There's really no other advantage unless you're trying to prevent a sub, or it's 2-minute. If that weren't true, you'd see the entire NFL go up tempo to find advantages. But you don't. And it's still going on today in college with coach comms. Notice how teams still signal — it's because they're going up tempo. The continuous attempt to correlate signals to any wins & losses at Michigan is funny. There were 7 games in my time at Michigan where I knew almost every signal the whole game: 2021 MSU, 2022 MSU, 2022 PSU, 2022 OSU, 2022 TCU, 2021 Georgia, and 2021 Wisconsin. We lost 3 of those games because we didn't tackle well, and Georgia was historically good. We won the four other games because we dominated the line of scrimmage & tackled well. Blocking, ball security, tackling, run fits & coverage tools. That's football. This is not rocket science. That is true -- it wasn't so much that TCU took great advantage of Michigan being in the wrong place throughout the game. The Wolverines struggled throughout the entire College Football Playoff semifinal with the fundamentals, and ultimately found themselves making mistake after mistake -- from J.J. McCarthy's two interceptions, to a fumble at the goal line, to running the Philly special on a fourth down. Then, when TCU had the ball, Michigan struggled to finish tackles or whiffed entirely. It wasn't a case of catching the Wolverines off guard; it was a case of Michigan not being able to get out of its own way. Even still, the game came down to the maize and blue's final possession. Of course, narratives will persist, regardless, especially since Stalions didn't start going on the record until Netflix's 'Sign Stealer' was released in August 2024. He's since made a trio of podcast appearances and is becoming more and more of a social media presence.
USA Today
02-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
On3's Brett McMurphy projects Notre Dame as the top overall seed in the CFP
While nothing major has changed for Notre Dame football over the last few months, the perception of the team has certainly done so, which was enough to push On3's Brett McMurphy to name them as his top overall seed in his latest College Football Playoff projection. The Irish are now able to qualify for one of the four first-round byes, and McMurphy believes that they'll take full advantage of the new seeding rules. In his projection, Notre Dame would face the winner of the first-round matchup between LSU and Oregon, the No. 8 & 9 seeds. It would be great to stick it to Brian Kelly, but he doesn't have it playing out that way, as the Irish would take on the Ducks in the quarterfinals. McMurphy has Notre Dame winning that game, setting up its fourth-straight season playing Ohio State. Unfortunately, the projection has this hypothetical game playing out like the last three, with the Irish on the losing end of it. He doesn't have the Buckeyes winning back-to-back titles however, as McMurphy has the Georgia Bulldogs winning it all. While this would still be a great season for Notre Dame if it plays out this way, the championship drought would continue to rear its ugly head.
USA Today
01-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Early projection has Oregon Ducks falling short in 2025 College Football Playoff run
The Oregon Ducks are in an interesting position going into the 2025 college football season, with a lot of mixed hype to go around. In Eugene, there is a lot of confidence that Dan Lanning will have this Ducks team up and running after a major offseason roster overhaul, once again competing for a Big Ten Championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff. Meanwhile, there is some skepticism outside of Eugene that a team that lost 10 players to the NFL Draft will be able to reach the same heights again this year. While the Ducks' roster may feature a lot of unproven talent, expectations for Oregon to remain in the mix are still present. In what has become an annual tradition, college football analyst Brett McMurphy — now with On3 — released his bowl game projections for the upcoming season, slotting all 82 teams in postseason play. In those projections, McMurphy has the Ducks making the CFP as a No. 9 seed, but losing in the first round to the No. 8 LSU Tigers. In McMurphy's projections, the seeding is as follows: The ultimate final four for McMurphy are Notre Dame vs. Ohio State and Penn State vs. Georgia, with the Bulldogs defeating the Buckeyes in the national championship game. Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions.
