The Thursday night football offering this week is perhaps the best since a loaded Week 1. On tap: a classic trap game; a possible de facto conference championship game; and a surprising upstart facing a one-time favorite now on the brink. Undefeated Temple kicks off Thursday night football, and I have just one thing to […]
Tonight’s installment in the mid-October tradition that is #FunBeltTuesday features burgeoning rivals Arkansas State and Louisiana-Lafayette in familiar roles. The Red Wolves host the Ragin’ Cajuns with both teams undefeated in early Sun Belt Conference play, and each as leading contenders for the league title. In much the same vein November Tuesdays and Wednesdays gave […]
Utah State’s blowout of Boise State threw much of the Group of Five picture into flux, but not for at the top. The American Athletic Conference has consistently looked like the cream of the Group of Five crop, and Week 7 only furthered that perception. Memphis’ 37-24 defeat of Ole Miss scored the entire Group […]
The Bowl Championship Series came back from summer break upgraded to College Football Playoff and had become too good for the American Athletic Conference. Since their break-up, the American loaded up with great coaches, began maximizing the potential of some of its programs, and has come back smoking hot. The Playoff didn’t know what it […]
So…that was an eventful week. A Top 10 team lost its quarterback, a preseason College Football Playoff pick lost its head coach and one of the game’s all-time coaching legends abruptly retired. Oh, yeah! There are still games to be played, too. The chaos with which Week 7 began carried over in its first game, […]
The MLB Playoffs technically begin tonight with the New York Yankees hosting the Houston Astros. I say technically because the one-game Wild Card matchup doesn’t yet feel to me like a real part of baseball’s October tradition. It functions to the MLB Playoffs as the First Four does to the NCAA Tournament — only the […]
Upsets become epidemics in college football. Every few weeks each season, there’s an Upset Saturday. Week 3 provided the 2015 season’s first. A pair of Top 10 teams lost, top-ranked defending champion Ohio State narrowly escaped a stiff challenge from Northern Illinois and a host of games either came down to the final possession or […]
FIRST DOWN: Appreciating Michigan State In the past 21 months, Michigan State football has wins Ohio State, Stanford, Baylor and, as of Saturday, Oregon. That’s four opponents ranked no worse than No. 7. No other program can claim as many wins over teams ranked in the Top 10 at the time of their meeting in […]
Another season opener, another overtime thriller. This is getting to be old hat for Tulsa, which matched last year’s 38-31 double overtime defeat of Tulane with a 47-44 overtime win over FAU Saturday. Wide receiver Keevan Lucas was the hero a year ago with 13 receptions, three touchdowns and 233 yards. He was the hero […]
A scary headline surfaced Wednesday, which would have put a serious damper on kickoff of the college football season. Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones was rushed to the hospital with “head pain.” You read head pain in football, and your mind likely goes to a very unpleasant place. Not that Cardale Jones’ actual prognosis was […]
America’s insatiable hunger for football is the demand. There’s no shortage of supply, with 128 programs in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and another 125 in the Championship Subdivision. However, finding distribution for the product — vis a vis, live-game telecasts — can bit a struggle. Even with more channels dedicated to sports than at any […]
So much for my bright idea of the winner of November’s Coastal Carolina-Liberty game earning a spot in the Sun Belt. While that remains a biggie for FCS purposes, likely serving as the de facto Big South Conference championship game, Coastal Carolina is bound for the Sun Belt regardless. Coastal Carolina will join Sun Belt […]
It may still be summer, but Friday night made it feel an awful lot like autumn. High school football kicked off around the nation, and plenty of top college football recruits were in action. Sam Bruce throwing up #TheU after his 2nd TD pic.twitter.com/Hoh59RRCqw — StateOfTheU.com (@TheStateOfTheU) August 29, 2015 They’re playing for their high […]
With details of Sam Ukwuachu’s transfer from Boise State to Baylor still surfacing, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby tells Ralph D. Russo of the Associated Press conference brass favors restrictive transfer regulations for candidates with histories of violence. Russo writes Bowlsby describes “unanimous” support for “a policy draft similar to that of the (Southeastern Conference).” […]
Art Briles and Chris Petersen exchanged versions of events leading to defensive end Sam Ukwuachu’s transfer from Boise State to Baylor. On the same day Ukwuachu was sentenced to six months in jail and 10 years of probation for the rape of a former Baylor women’s soccer player, a retelling of Art Briles and Chris […]
