Sports

Darlington Raceway, Coastal’s McCall renew deal

Published

3 years ago

March 23, 2023

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5:11 PM ET

Associated Press

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Darlington Raceway has signed Coastal Carolina quarterback Grayson McCall to a name, image and likeness deal for a second straight year.

The track that’s “Too Tough To Tame” first partnered with McCall for the Southern 500 last year, with the quarterback using his social media accounts to promote one of NASCAR’s signature events.

Raceway president Kerry Tharp said Thursday the track enjoyed its relationship with McCall, who came to the facility about an hour or so from campus to pose for pictures and take in the atmosphere.

“We look forward to continuing this impactful relationship this year and cheering him on in all his endeavors,” Tharp said.

McCall is a senior with the Chanticleers who’s a three-time Sun Belt Conference player of the year. He has passed for 8,066 yards with 78 touchdowns against eight interceptions the past four seasons.

McCall will promote Darlington events, primarily NASCAR’s Throwback Weekend on May 12-14, which concludes with the NASCAR Cup Series’ Goodyear 400 on that Sunday.

Sports

‘It’s our tune’: How Fleetwood Mac worked with the USC marching band to create ‘Tusk’

Published

1 hour ago

November 10, 2025

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'It's our tune': How Fleetwood Mac worked with the USC marching band to create 'Tusk'

ON FRIDAY, DR. Arthur C. Bartner, the 85-year-old retired band director at USC, stood at the 50-yard line of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before the Trojans’ game against Northwestern, looking for an old friend.

Suddenly, Mick Fleetwood, the legendary drummer from Fleetwood Mac, showed up. He saw Bartner, and his face lit up. The 79-year-old drummer embraced his old friend in a huge hug.

“The look on his face was priceless,” Bartner said. “I mean, there was a genuine appreciation and love for our relationship through the years.”

In 1979, the two men joined forces to make American music history, when Fleetwood convinced Bartner to lend him the Trojan Marching Band for the recording of “Tusk,” the title track of a Fleetwood Mac album at the height of the band’s powers. It would go on to earn both bands two platinum albums and create an iconic marching band song.

Michael Barasch, the founder of College Marching, which covers bands across the country, said nobody else has what USC has in “Tusk.” He cited the popularity of “Dixieland Delight” at Alabama, “Country Roads” at West Virginia and “Rocky Top” at Tennessee as comparable examples. But there’s one big difference. “None of those bands can say they recorded the original track with the artist,” Barasch said.

That’s why Bartner became something of a star and his group became known as “Hollywood’s Band.” On Friday, he felt the need to remind Fleetwood of what the collaboration did for him.

“You made my career,” Bartner said he told Fleetwood. “You made me famous, Mick.”

Soon after, Fleetwood joined the Trojan Marching Band to play their creation together once again. For Bartner, it was a “joyous occasion.” Not only did he get to surprise Fleetwood, but he got to see Fleetwood play “Tusk” in person once again, 46 years after the first performance.

“At 85 years old, how lucky, how blessed am I to have an evening like this?” Bartner said. “There’s not many people that can live such a moment in your life and get to do it twice.”

FLEETWOOD MAC GOT whatever it wanted in 1979.

“Rumours,” released in 1977, was one of the biggest albums in history, leading to packed stadium shows around the world and putting the group on par with Led Zeppelin and The Eagles. Led by classics such as “Dreams,” “Go Your Own Way” and “Don’t Stop,” the record spent 31 weeks at No. 1 and has sold more than 40 million records.

Afterward, the band set out on an adventure in record making, exploring new sonic techniques and hoping to rebel against their record label. They were given a massive budget of $1 million, making the album, at that point, the most expensive of all time. L.A.’s legendary Village Recorders studio built the band a new studio for them to record it in, including a custom booth at Stevie Nicks’ request that was decorated to evoke a sunset in Tahiti.

But Fleetwood couldn’t stop thinking even bigger. He visited his mother and sister in Normandy, France, and while there, he couldn’t sleep. He was jet-lagged and had a few drinks. And to make matters worse, a brass band kept marching by, parade-style, outside the townhome where he was staying in Barfleur, a little fishing village. By 2 a.m., he gave up, sat on the balcony and watched the group go by. And it struck him. Wherever this little band went, even in the middle of the night, people followed.

He couldn’t stop thinking about a guitar riff that bandmate Lindsey Buckingham had been toying with that had become known as the “Stage Riff,” that he played all the time, yet they’d seemingly given up on figuring out how to make it a complete composition. Fleetwood thought, on that balcony, that he’d figured it out.

“Everyone in the band, including Lindsey, thought I was round the twist,” he told ESPN, using a British phrase for, well, being nuts. “But I said, let’s have a brass band develop that riff.”

He returned to Los Angeles, 5,600 miles from his source of inspiration, and set his plan in motion. He placed a call to the USC band’s offices, wanting to talk to someone from the Trojan Marching Band. It’s Mick Fleetwood, he said. They said they’d have to call him back.

USC’s band was no stranger to being in the middle of showbiz. They turned up frequently in movies and TV shows. But, still, the directors weren’t used to one of the biggest names in music cold-calling them. There were always concerns it could be a prank call from some kid. Worse, it could be someone from UCLA.

Tony Fox, the assistant director, called back. He was stunned to find it genuinely was Fleetwood on the other end.

“They were the ones who contacted us and wanted to collaborate,” Fox said. “It’s the only time that’s ever happened between a college band and a major rock group.”

So Bartner, the longtime band director, and Fox, his trusted assistant and the arranger for the band, headed to Studio D at Village Recorders. There, the two college band directors worked with Buckingham and Fleetwood, two rock music giants, to arrange the score. Then they went back to USC and fine-tuned it. They got another call from Fleetwood.

He was even further round the twist. He told them they were going to record the track live at Dodger Stadium.

“That for sure nearly ended with me being taken to a mental institution by my fellow band members,” Fleetwood said. “They said it would cost a fortune. I said, ‘I’ll pay for it.'”

But the band had a very famous fan in Dodger third baseman Ron Cey, a perennial All-Star who would become the 1981 World Series MVP. He had hung out with the band during the recording process before. And he had enough clout to call in a favor.

“He said, ‘I’ll get ’em to donate the place and open it up for you. I love this idea,'” Fleetwood said.

So on June 4, 1979, they showed up, 112 members of the Spirit of Troy, in full uniform, to record a song with Fleetwood Mac at Dodger Stadium. “Tusk” was born, and it became an iconic part of both bands’ careers — the tribal, hypnotic toms of Fleetwood, mixed with Buckingham’s riffs and screeching vocals, and a huge band behind it. Fleetwood’s vision came to life.

In December of that year, when Fleetwood Mac returned on tour for the album, the band played five shows at the Forum, home of the Showtime-era Lakers, and the Trojan band joined for each of them.

In everyone’s memories, it’s one of the most Los Angeles series of events. And it has become an iconic part of USC’s history.

“Everywhere we go,” Fox said, “people ask us, ‘Play “Tusk,” play “Tusk,” play “Tusk.”‘”

MARCHING BANDS HAVE long adopted popular music into stadium anthems. The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” has become a staple worldwide. “Neck,” started as a 1984 song by Cameo called “Talkin’ Out The Side of Your Neck,” was arranged to become an HBCU band favorite, then soared into infamy at LSU where fans inserted lyrics so explicit that the school banned the song entirely.

But, according to Bartner and Fox, there was nothing like this that had ever come before, where a band’s own directors helped create a song, then recorded the original with the band, a true collaboration.

It was no small undertaking. The band filmed a video of the surreal scene, one of the first behind-the-scenes videos ever released of a rock band’s process. Engineers ran wires across the warning track to remote trucks. Bartner stood on a ladder in the middle of the field, surveying his charges, as Rodney Davis, his drum major, held up the music in front of him to conduct.

A larger-than-life character himself, Davis was a local student from nearby Carson, California, had already been the first Black student to live on USC’s fraternity row, had been the first Black fraternity president, and now was the first Black drum major to lead the band. He served for an unprecedented three years. He hustled around making last-second changes to parts and to make sure everyone was ready to go. Davis became a star of sorts once the video, full of close-up shots of him high-stepping into Dodger Stadium, debuted on MTV in 1981.

Rehearsals were done live in the stadium: students practiced in dugouts and uniforms laid strewn in the outfield awaiting the final performance. There were on-site adjustments, not the least of which came from Fleetwood’s manic drum solo in the middle of the song, which he never seemed to play the same way twice.

“Anything I’ve ever done and still do, I haven’t got a clue what I’m doing,” Fleetwood joked. “I don’t even know what a verse or a chorus is, but I know in the moment I’m always on the edge of f—ing everything up.”

For a band with hundreds of members that couldn’t adapt on the fly, that posed a problem. The directors had to beg their new friend to try and stick to a plan.

“I remember going down on the field and I actually hadn’t been playing in quite a while and I forgot how exhausting that middle bit was,” Fleetwood said. “It’s actually freeform. Everything they did was performance learned. And that really pays tribute to the band and their discipline, knowing that it sounded like it was just made up.”

Students could freely chat up any of the members during rehearsals. Buckingham, Nicks, Fleetwood and Christine McVie were all in attendance. John McVie, however, was sailing to Tahiti. So Fleetwood called Warner Bros. and asked if they had a full-size image of him, and they delivered, so a life-size posterboard of John was carried around all day.

Nicks, famously, was captured on video adeptly twirling a baton like a college majorette. Fleetwood said that was no act, and that she had grown up as a twirler.

“Stevie, she was the real deal,” Fleetwood said. “The whole spinning thing, it’s something I never learned to do with drumsticks. So I was unearthly jealous of her, like Tommy Lee or something. That was an impromptu idea, which of course was fantastic. She took the boys into battle stomping out with high-heeled boots on. She was the official twirler of the day.”

Nicks walked around watching rehearsals, and in outtakes of the video shoot, asked, “Who are we to deserve the USC band?”

After lunch on the field, the band suited up and recorded the final version. Fleetwood had headphones on with his hands over them, staring at the ground. With such a large ensemble playing in such a cavernous setting, keeping time was a monumental task, and Fleetwood was pounding the ground with his foot.

“I actually remember doing that,” he said. “I had the track in the cans. I was sort of a desperate Dan. That stomping on the ground was for a very real reason, especially being a drummer. This thing’s got to be in time.”

The finished product became the first single off the highly anticipated album. Fleetwood wanted it to have an unusual sound and to signal that he wasn’t putting out a sequel to “Rumours.”

“Tusk” was released just three months after the Dodger Stadium session, with plenty of studio sounds added to it, including Fleetwood slapping a leg of lamb with a spatula. The song was Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hit in England since 1973, and the combined group became the largest ensemble ever to chart in the U.K., but could not surpass the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s 320-member recording of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” in the United States.

In October of 1979, the band performed at the dedication for Fleetwood Mac’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After the single sold more than a million copies, the album went platinum. At halftime of the 1980 homecoming game against Arizona State, members of Fleetwood Mac presented Bartner with a platinum album, the first college marching band to get such an honor. In 1997, Fleetwood Mac recorded a live reunion concert known as “The Dance” over two days at Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles. The Trojan Marching Band again performed with them, first on an updated version of “Tusk,” before closing the show with “Don’t Stop.” The band earned its second platinum album after it sold more than five million copies in the U.S.

Fleetwood calls Bartner a “total, total legend” and is proud of how close they became. In the following years, they’d go to USC games together. He takes immense pride in the collaboration.

“I think it’s a major bookend,” he said. “It’s full of drums. I didn’t get a songwriting credit, but it’s about as close as you can get, to have 80 other drummers playing with you just to say, don’t forget the drummer.”

BARTNER AND FOX are both retired from USC now. Fox left in 2016 after 45 years and Bartner in 2020 after 50. Bartner served as the director of the 800-member All-American College Marching Band for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Under their direction, the Trojan Band performed in movies such as “The Naked Gun” and “Forrest Gump,” at the Oscars three times, including once with Beyonce and Hugh Jackman and with Outkast at the Grammys. In 2009, they again performed at the Grammys with Radiohead, and found themselves rehearsing with the band at the same studio where Fleetwood Mac was rehearsing, with Buckingham calling it a “passing of the torch.”

Barasch, who documents bands on the @collegemarching Instagram account, grew up in Pennsylvania and marched at Penn State, but said he was always fascinated by the USC band, with their Trojan helmets and sunglasses showing up all over the place.

“No other program comes close to what USC has done not just on the field, but off as well in terms of exposure,” he said. “Embracing Los Angeles and saying they were open for business catapulted them from a great college band to essentially the face of collegiate marching band nationwide for many years.”

“It’s not really a rock tune, and it’s kind of hard to say what it is,” Fox said. “It’s so unique because of that drum beat. And it’s so unique because it’s our tune. I mean, they gave it to us to use in perpetuity. The collaboration is the big point. The big picture is that we were able to give those kids that participated in this thing something no other band in the country could have given them.”

Bartner said his greatest contribution to USC football is that the band essentially choreographs the game. “Fight On!” is usually played after first downs or touchdowns. “Conquest” is played after scores and victories. “Tribute to Troy” is played after defensive stops.

But “Tusk” has earned a prominent place along with all the stalwarts. It’s part of the pregame show, is almost always played in postgame, and is a favorite at any special campus events. In 2010, to celebrate Bartner’s 40th anniversary as band director, an alumni band joined the Trojan Marching Band to play “their crowning achievement,” as the band announcer called it, with 800 members performing at halftime of homecoming.

In 2015, Buckingham appeared as a guest in a Business, Administration, Entrepreneurship Program class in a packed auditorium at USC to discuss his career, play a few songs, and tell stories. He called the entire “Tusk” project a backlash against superstardom, which explained why they took such an avant-pop approach to creating it.

“It set me on the path to be an artist, and not just a craftsman doing music,” he said.

Last year, in an interview with Buckingham looking back at the artistic impact of the album, The Independent explained what made it so shocking, saying it’s arguably the most punk album. Completely nonconformist and full of experimentation. “Tusk” was described as an “experimental, often ramshackle double record full of junkyard clatter, Kleenex box drums and a full-on marching band,” and called that title track “a seemingly insane choice for the album’s first single … chosen as a showpiece for [its] uncontained, expectation-defying spirit.”

In the class, Buckingham called it his favorite album, and ended his lecture/show with the stage curtain opening behind him, and the Trojan Marching Band, led by Bartner, launching into “Tusk” and “Go Your Own Way” as Buckingham accompanied on guitar.

Fox said it’s a testament to Bartner’s style that all of this magic combined to create one of the most iconic songs played by a college marching band, and the beginning of a rich new tradition at USC.

“Art is a showman,” Fox said, noting that Bartner led a college band program at Disneyland from 1974-2005. “That showmanship gets into the band. These kids just love entertaining and dancing around and just having fun. And it’s infectious and it’s very unique. And in some ways, I think it just manifested itself. We just said, ‘Yeah, that’s it.’ A synchronism.” Both Bartner and Fox said they recall a modest flat fee for the involvement of the band, something like $10,000. For them, it was more about the chance for their students to make history and be a part of something unforgettable.

Bartner, whose first job was directing a band of 80 students at a small high school in Michigan, was overcome with emotion with the chance to reminisce with Fleetwood. They talked about Buckingham, about the band, about life and their careers.

“From North Adams, Michigan to Los Angeles, California, and Fleetwood Mac, if you were planning your career, who would’ve ever thought that this would ever happen?” Bartner said. “I just feel very fortunate to have had a band willing to do these kind of things. These kids were full-time students. I think 90%, 80% are non-music majors. And here they’re doing all these gigs in Los Angeles. I’m very thankful.”

Fleetwood, who spends most of his time in Maui, says it’s a “long swim” back to Los Angeles, so he doesn’t get back as much as he used to. But he was thrilled to once again return in front of the Trojan Marching Band and hear their creation in person again after nearly half a century.

Fox said it forever will remain one of the most unique parts of USC lore.

“It’s Mick’s baby,” Fox said. “He gave birth to it, and we helped. But Mick is an honorary member of the band. He is part of our history.”

As proud as he is of his own role in the creation of “Tusk,” Fleetwood is even prouder it that had such a legendary second act back in the marching band setting where his idea first arose. At USC, students have added their own chorus, chanting “U-C-L-A SUCKS.” Alabama’s Million Dollar Band has also adopted it as somewhat of an unofficial fight song. It’s become an American institution.

Fleetwood remains a fan of his adopted college. He used to hit Bartner up for tickets and come to games when he was in L.A. This time, while invited to be a guest of the music school, it was Fleetwood’s own request to play with the Trojan Marching Band, something Bartner found particularly endearing, that it still means so much to him.

Fleetwood said he keeps up with the Trojans on television. And then, every so often, he’ll hear that rhythmic beat, the one inspired by the marching band in Barfleur, played as a fight song in a college football stadium, and it always hits him.

“Oh my God,” he said. “They’re still playing it.”

And Bartner realized recently just how long of a lifespan it’s had too. He went to his granddaughter’s wedding in Washington D.C. earlier this month, and an 84-year-old man, the groom’s grandfather whom he’d never met, came up to him and told him that he’s a huge Fleetwood Mac fan.

“He says, ‘Do you know that I play ‘Tusk’ every time I wash the dishes?'” Bartner said. “Some man in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, washes dishes to ‘Tusk.’ This is its far-reaching value. That’s the ultimate compliment.”

Sports

Report: Kelly rejected LSU buyouts, seeks $54M

Published

4 hours ago

November 10, 2025

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Report: Kelly rejected LSU buyouts, seeks M

Mark SchlabachNov 10, 2025, 07:20 AM ET
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- Senior college football writer
- Author of seven books on college football
- Graduate of the University of Georgia

Former LSU football coach Brian Kelly rejected two financial settlement offers from the university, and his attorneys have given LSU officials a Monday deadline to confirm in writing that they’ll pay him the $54 million he’s owed under the terms of his contract.

Kelly, who was fired on Oct. 26, was in the fourth season of a 10-year, $95 million contract.

According to documents obtained by the Baton Rouge Advocate, former LSU athletic director Scott Woodward offered Kelly a lump-sum payment of $25 million on the day he was fired. Woodward also offered to remove the mitigation language in Kelly’s contract, which would have reduced the buyout amount if he coached again.

LSU executive deputy athletic director Julie Cromer later increased the settlement offer to $30 million in two payments, according to the documents.

Kelly, who had a 34-14 record at LSU, rejected both offers, according to the report.

In a Nov. 5 letter to new LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry and Board of Supervisors member John Carmouche, Kelly’s attorneys said they want university officials to confirm by 6 p.m. ET Monday that the school intends to “fulfill its contractual obligation” to pay Kelly the “full liquidated damages.”

“Absent this written confirmation by that date, Coach Kelly will pursue all available legal remedies,” the letter said.

Kelly’s attorneys said in the letter that LSU officials previously confirmed that the coach was fired without cause, meaning he would be owed 90% of his remaining compensation.

If a lesser amount isn’t negotiated, the university would owe Kelly $54 million in monthly payments through 2031, minus any future salary he receives in coaching.

Kelly’s lawyers told LSU officials that the coach was still “open to additional offers” if the university provided written confirmation that it intends to pay the $54 million he’s owed.

Woodward, who oversaw LSU’s athletic department since 2019, stepped down from his position Oct. 30, a day after Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry criticized him for giving Kelly such a one-sided contract. Landry also suggested that Woodward wouldn’t select the Tigers’ next football coach.

“We are not going down a failed path. And I want to tell you something: This is a pattern,” Landry told reporters during a news conference at the state capitol on Oct. 29. “The guy that’s here now that wrote that contract cost Texas A&M 70-some million dollars. Right now, we’ve got a $53 million liability. We are not doing that again. And you know what? I believe that we’re going to find a great coach.”

Landry criticized Woodward for agreeing to a similar one-sided coaching contract when he was Texas A&M‘s athletic director. The Aggies owed football coach Jimbo Fisher more than $76 million when they fired him in November 2023, which was nearly triple the highest-known coaching contract buyout at a public school at the time.

However, it was Ross Bjork, who succeeded Woodward at Texas A&M in 2019, who gave Fisher a four-year extension just before the 2021 season that made his 10-year deal worth more than $90 million. Woodward originally gave Fisher a 10-year, $75 million contract when he was hired away from Florida State.

Ausberry, LSU’s former deputy athletic director, was named interim AD and then promoted to replace Woodward on Nov. 4.

Frank Wilson is LSU’s interim coach. The Tigers lost 20-9 at No. 4 Alabama on Saturday, dropping their record to 5-4.

Sports

Projecting the CFP top 12: Who’s No. 2?

Published

6 hours ago

November 10, 2025

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Following the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season, selection committee chair Mack Rhoades wanted to make sure reporters understood the most integral part of the ranking process.

“We’ve watched the games,” he said on the weekly teleconference. “Let me repeat that; we watch the games.”

That won’t make it easier to decide who should be No. 2 on Tuesday night: Indiana, which escaped a 3-6 Penn State team, or Texas A&M, which soundly beat a CFP top-25 team in Mizzou. A deeper dive into the statistics and résumés of both undefeated teams — plus the context of why the group ranked them No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, last week — will factor into their discussions. It might be a bigger debate than how far No. 7 BYU should fall this week after a 29-7 loss to No. 8 Texas Tech.

Here’s a prediction of what the selection committee will do when it reveals its second of six rankings Tuesday night (7 ET, ESPN).

Jump to:
Ranking | Bracket

Projecting the top 12

Why they could be here: Ohio State earned its fourth Big Ten road win of the season Saturday, albeit against a 2-8 Purdue team that hasn’t won since Sept. 6 against Southern Illinois. The Buckeyes entered Saturday ranked No. 33 in strength of schedule, according to ESPN Analytics, but No. 1 in game control and No. 3 in strength of record. “So it was certainly close [between Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M], but when we looked at film, and we’re blessed to have committee members and coaches that do a lot of film work, we just felt like Ohio State had a slight edge when we think about offensive line play and then a slight edge defensively,” Rhoades said after the first ranking release Tuesday. “That was really the outcome. Ohio State has some, I’m going to call them explosive players, that probably stood out as well.”

Why they could be lower: It would be difficult for the committee to justify dropping the Buckeyes below Indiana after the Hoosiers were fortunate to escape Penn State with a win Saturday, but undefeated Texas A&M continues to make a case for the top spot. The Aggies, who entered the week ranked No. 1 in strength of record, earned another CFP top-25 win at Mizzou on Saturday.

Need to know: Ohio State entered Week 11 with the best chance in the country to reach the playoff (99.2%), the best chance to earn the No. 1 seed (41.1%) and the best chance to win it all (27%).

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 29 at Michigan. It’s the only CFP top-25 team left on Ohio State’s regular-season schedule. The Buckeyes are trying to avoid a fifth straight loss to their rivals.

Why they could be here: The road win against Penn State isn’t going to help the Hoosiers’ résumé much, but they narrowly avoided putting their first-round bye in jeopardy. Indiana should remain safely in the top four, thanks to a double-digit road win against No. 9 Oregon and another CFP top-25 win at Iowa. The Hoosiers beat two teams that were in a nailbiter Saturday before Oregon won on a game-winning field goal at Iowa. Penn State and Iowa are the only opponents Indiana hasn’t defeated by double digits. The historic 63-10 win against 6-3 Illinois is another respectable résumé booster, even though it’s not against a CFP top-25 opponent.

Why they could be lower: Texas A&M continues to make a push to move up after its 38-17 win at Mizzou on Saturday. The Aggies entered Week 11 ranked higher than Indiana in strength of schedule and strength of record.

Need to know: Both of Indiana’s remaining opponents — Wisconsin and Purdue — have six losses. The Hoosiers entered Week 11 with the best chance in the Big Ten to reach the conference championship game.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 28 at Purdue. It’s on a Friday night against an in-state rival — and Indiana still has at least a 97% chance to win, according to ESPN Analytics.

Why they could be here: With Saturday’s win at Mizzou, the Aggies have won three straight SEC road games to go along with their Sept. 13 win at Notre Dame. The committee will discuss, though, that Missouri was without injured starting quarterback Beau Pribula, and the Aggies easily handled freshman quarterback Matt Zollers, who was making his first start. Texas A&M entered Week 11 ranked No. 18 in defensive efficiency, behind Ohio State (No. 3) and Indiana (No. 2), and that played a role in the committee’s decision last week. “What we saw in A&M is a really, really good football team,” Rhoades said Tuesday. “They went into Death Valley, I thought dominated a good LSU team. You have a dynamic playmaker at quarterback, Marcel Reed. He can beat you with his arm. He can beat you with his feet. Impressive win, certainly going on the road, South Bend. I think you’re talking about really small margins when you think about the difference between Ohio State, Indiana and A&M, and then I think statistically, when we looked at A&M defensively, they’re just lower than both Ohio State and Indiana. We had to make a hard decision, and you’re trying to find separators, and that was a separator for us.”

Why they could be higher: Though Indiana was fortunate to escape Penn State with a win, Texas A&M went on the road and beat the committee’s No. 22 team soundly, scoring 24 points in the second half against Mizzou.

Need to know: Texas A&M entered Saturday with a 56.7% chance to earn a first-round bye but had less than a 50% chance to beat Texas in the regular-season finale.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 28 at Texas. It’s the only ranked opponent remaining on the Aggies’ schedule, and their last road game.

Why they could be here: If the Tide didn’t start any higher in the first ranking, it’s unlikely a home win against LSU on Saturday will boost them above any of the undefeated teams. The head-to-head win will keep them above Georgia, though, as the committee’s highest-ranked one-loss team. The Tide’s road win against the No. 5 Bulldogs is one of the best in the country — arguably better than any win the teams above them can claim — but their season-opening loss to Florida State is holding them back. The Oct. 11 victory at Mizzou is still good, even if the Tigers fall out of the top 25 this week, and the committee will recognize Bama beat Mizzou when starting quarterback Beau Pribula was healthy. The Tide also have a CFP top-25 win against Tennessee, which had a bye this week. “I’m not sure, when you look at a résumé, anybody had a better stretch of four games,” Rhoades said of the Tide on Tuesday. “When you think about Alabama, really, really impressive, two of those wins on the road. Going into Athens, one of the hardest, toughest environments to be able to get out of there with a win. There was certainly discussion about the Florida State loss early on, but just felt like that four-game stretch — which by the way, historical in the SEC. Nobody has beaten four straight ranked teams without a bye.”

Why they could be lower: It would be hard for the committee to justify any movement up or down this week, given the teams around them won, the head-to-head results and last week’s ranking.

Need to know: Alabama’s strength of schedule was No. 4 in the country heading into Week 11 — better than every team ranked ahead of it. The Tide was No. 5, though, in strength of record, trailing the committee’s top three teams.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 15 vs. Oklahoma. This is the last ranked opponent Alabama will face.

Why they could be here: Georgia didn’t need a second-half surge at Mississippi State, after rallying from a tie or from behind during its previous three games. The committee likes what it sees from Georgia, but it has to account for head-to-head results, which is why Georgia should continue to be sandwiched between Alabama and Ole Miss again Tuesday night. “I think Gunner Stockton at quarterback has really progressed,” Rhoades said Tuesday. “It certainly feels like they have more confidence in him, doing a lot more with him. Again, he’s another maybe similar to Marcel Reed where he can beat you with his arm, he can beat you with his feet. The head-to-head against Ole Miss, obviously we took that into account. We absolutely took into account the loss at home versus Alabama.”

Why they could be lower: It would be surprising to see the Bulldogs move Tuesday night, given that nothing drastic happened around them.

Need to know: Georgia will play its last SEC game of the season Saturday against Texas, as it finishes the month against Charlotte and rival Georgia Tech.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 15 vs. Texas. The Longhorns beat Vanderbilt on Nov. 1 and enter this game on a four-game winning streak. They also had a bye to prepare for the trip to Athens, while Georgia is coming off a road win against Mississippi State.

Why they could be here: A lopsided win against The Citadel won’t impress the selection committee, but the Rebels already earned their respect in the first ranking. Ole Miss will still be ranked behind Georgia because of its head-to-head road loss to the Bulldogs on Oct. 18. The Rebels entered Saturday with a slight edge over Texas Tech in strength of record, but with greater separation in strength of schedule, where Ole Miss was No. 25 and Texas Tech was No. 58. The committee will also consider the Rebels’ road defeat to Georgia is a better loss than the Red Raiders’ road setback to Arizona State, which has lost two of its past four games.

Why they could be lower: Texas Tech earned a CFP top-10 win Saturday when it beat previously undefeated BYU. Ole Miss’ best win was Oct. 25 at No. 12 Oklahoma.

Need to know: The Rebels’ 45-10 win against Tulane on Sept. 20 continues to enhance their overall record strength, even though it’s not a CFP top 25 win. The Green Wave earned an important win at Memphis on Friday, keeping their playoff hopes alive. Tulane also beat Northwestern and Duke this season, and the committee pays attention to opponents’ opponents (yes, you read that right).

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 28 at Mississippi State. The Egg Bowl isn’t a gimme, even after the Bulldogs were beaten soundly Saturday by Georgia. A loss could mean a first-round road trip instead of a home game for Ole Miss — or getting bumped out of the bracket.

Why they could be here: The Red Raiders looked like the best team in the Big 12 on Saturday, and the committee will likely reflect that in its second ranking. The double-digit win against previously undefeated BYU is better than Oregon’s best win, but the loss to Arizona State could play a role in the committee keeping Texas Tech behind Ole Miss. Still, the committee factors in injuries to key players, and the Red Raiders were without starting quarterback Behren Morton (knee) on the road in their close defeat to the Sun Devils. “The loss at Arizona State without Behren at quarterback, Arizona State wins that late, so we do talk about quality wins,” Rhoades said Tuesday. “We also talk about quality losses.”

Why they could be higher: The selection committee also rewarded Texas Tech for its road win against No. 13 Utah. On Saturday, Texas Tech earned its ninth victory by at least 20 points this season, showing the committee its ability to win convincingly consistently. The Red Raiders’ defense held BYU to its fewest points in any game over the past two seasons.

Need to know: Texas Tech and BYU are still the most likely matchup in the Big 12 title game. According to ESPN Analytics, Texas Tech has a 93% chance to reach it, BYU is second with a 55% chance and Cincinnati is third (19%). If BYU captures the Big 12, Texas Tech could claim a regular-season win against the eventual Big 12 champ, which would help boost its résumé and the case for playoff inclusion as the league runner-up.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 29 at West Virginia. The Red Raiders have at least an 80% chance to win their two remaining regular-season games, but this one is slightly more difficult than against UCF because it’s on the road at a difficult venue.

Why they could be here: The Ducks got a much-needed résumé boost with Saturday’s win at Iowa, their first against a CFP top-25 team. Rhoades had said last week that Oregon had the lowest record strength of any team in the committee’s top 10. Saturday’s win also showed the group some impressive depth and grit, with the Ducks winning on the road in horrible weather and without multiple injured starters, including three of their top receivers. The question is whether Iowa will still be a top-25 team Tuesday now that the Hawkeyes have three losses.

Why they could be higher: Oregon has been passing the eye test, ranking in the top five in offensive and defensive efficiency entering Saturday. With the exception of the two close road wins at Iowa and Penn State, the Ducks have dominated their opponents, ranking No. 4 in the country in game control — trailing only Ohio State, Indiana and Texas Tech.

Need to know: Oregon has at least a 70% chance to win each of its remaining games (Minnesota, USC and at Washington), according to ESPN Analytics, but it’s still unlikely to reach the Big Ten title game. The Ducks’ head-to-head home loss to the Hoosiers is a major reason.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 22 vs. USC. The Trojans are 7-2 with one Big Ten loss and opportunities to climb in the ranking. A win at Oregon would flip the script in the conference pecking order, and if USC can beat Iowa Saturday, this game will be the Trojans’ Super Bowl.

Why they could be here: Notre Dame had no trouble dismantling an overmatched Navy team that was playing without injured starting quarterback Blake Horvath. It was Notre Dame’s seventh straight win since starting the season 0-2. The committee considered that those two losses in last week’s first ranking were by a total of four points to two CFP top-25 teams, including No. 3 and unbeaten Texas A&M. The committee was also impressed with Notre Dame’s 34-24 win against USC on Oct. 18, and that will continue to resonate with the Trojans improving to 7-2 after Friday’s win against Northwestern. Rhoades said Notre Dame had been “much, much better defensively” of late. “You look at their backfield, Jadarian Price, Jeremiyah Love, probably the best backfield in the country when you think about one-two punch,” Rhoades said. “Going into the Southern Cal game, they lost their starting center for the year, and they were able to overcome that and run for a bunch of yards, again, against Southern Cal.”

Why they could be lower: This all depends on how far BYU drops. The Cougars will most likely be at No. 10 above Notre Dame and the two-loss pack of teams, or at No. 12, and below OU and Texas but above Utah. If the Cougars drop to No. 12, Notre Dame would get a slight promotion by default this week.

Need to know: Notre Dame still has the best chance of any team to win out, according to ESPN Analytics.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 15 at Pitt. The Panthers might be playing the best of any team in the ACC during their five-game winning streak. They also had a bye week to prepare for the Irish.

Why they could be here: The Longhorns had a bye after earning a top-12 spot in the first ranking. Texas has won four straight, including CFP top-25 wins against Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. Vandy needed overtime to beat a 4-6 Auburn team Saturday, but that win should continue to help the Longhorns’ résumé. The Oct. 4 loss at Florida remains a stain on that résumé, though. The Longhorns’ 14-7 season-opening road defeat to No. 1-ranked Ohio State isn’t what keeps Texas out of the playoff.

Why they could be lower: It depends on how far BYU falls after losing 29-7 to Texas Tech on Saturday. BYU’s lone win against a CFP top-25 team was a 24-21 decision at home over Utah on Oct. 18. BYU entered Week 11 ranked No. 45 in strength of schedule, while Texas was No. 11. BYU didn’t lose to Florida, though — its lone defeat is to a CFP top-10 team.

Need to know: No team has a better opportunity to impress the selection committee in the final three weeks of the season than Texas, which will face two CFP top-five teams in No. 5 Georgia and No. 3 Texas A&M. If Texas splits those games and finishes as a three-loss team, it could still be ranked in the top 12 but might not make the playoff. It would be a similar situation to what happened to three-loss Alabama last year, which finished No. 11 on Selection Day, but was excluded from the playoff to make room for ACC champion Clemson. If Texas wins both games, it could jump Notre Dame and put the Irish in a similarly precarious position at No. 11 or No. 12.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 28 vs. Texas A&M. It certainly won’t be easy to win at Georgia on Saturday, but the Longhorns had a bye week to prepare for it while the Bulldogs were on the road. Texas will face in-state rival Texas A&M on a Friday night in the regular-season finale, the second top-five team it will face in a three-week span.

Why they could be here: The Sooners had a bye but are stuck behind Texas because of their head-to-head loss to the Longhorns on Oct. 11. Wins against Tennessee and Michigan, though, have them within range of making the 12-team field, and it helped that the committee ranked the Vols No. 25 as its highest-ranked three-loss team.

Why they could be lower: The selection committee probably wouldn’t shuffle this order, considering Texas and Oklahoma were off this week, but OU could stay at 12 in the second ranking if the committee keeps BYU in the top 10.

Need to know: If the playoff were today, Oklahoma would still be bumped out of the field during the seeding process to make room for the ACC champion, which is still projected to be ranked outside of the committee’s top 12 but guaranteed a spot as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 15 at Alabama. The Sooners will be in a must-win situation in Tuscaloosa, as the rest of their résumé likely won’t be enough to compensate for a third loss, given that they’re already on the bubble in the eyes of the committee.

Why they could be here: The Cougars have a good win (Oct. 18 against Utah) and an eyebrow-raising defeat (Saturday). Texas Tech is a good team, but how BYU lost to the Red Raiders will matter. BYU was outplayed, and its offense was stifled: 67 rushing yards, 3 turnovers, 4.9 yards per pass, while converting just 3 of 14 third downs. A drop behind two-loss Texas and Oklahoma isn’t unreasonable. The Cougars have three wins against teams with fewer than four losses: Utah (7-2), Arizona (6-3) and East Carolina (6-3). But they entered Saturday ranked No. 45 in strength of schedule — significantly behind Notre Dame (23), Texas (11) and Oklahoma (13). The loss to Texas Tech opens the door for the committee to reevaluate BYU’s body of work. The committee would still likely honor BYU’s head-to-head win against Utah, though, giving the Cougars a safety net to stay in the top 12.

Why they could be higher: It was BYU’s first loss of the season, on the road, and to a top-10 team leading the nation in defensive efficiency.

Need to know: If BYU runs the table and reaches the Big 12 title game, it would clinch a spot in the playoff with a win. What happens if the Cougars finish as a two-loss runner-up with a second lopsided loss to Texas Tech? Where they’re placed in the committee’s second ranking Tuesday night will provide some insight and show how much margin for error they might have. If they land at No. 12 on Selection Day, even as the Big 12 runner-up, they’d be excluded to make room for the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion, which is projected to be South Florida out of the American Conference.

Toughest remaining game: Nov. 22 at Cincinnati. The Big 12 race isn’t over yet, and Cincinnati might have something to say about it — unless the Bearcats play the way they did during a 45-14 loss at Utah. Cincinnati still has the third-best chance to reach the Big 12 title game behind Texas Tech and BYU.

Bracket

Based on the rankings above, the seeding would be:

First-round byes

No. 1 Ohio State (Big Ten champ)
No. 2 Indiana
No. 3 Texas A&M (SEC champ)
No. 4 Alabama

First-round games

On campus, Dec. 19 and 20

No. 12 South Florida (American champ) at No. 5 Georgia
No. 11 Georgia Tech (ACC champ) at No. 6 Ole Miss
No. 10 Texas at No. 7 Texas Tech (Big 12 champ)
No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oregon

Quarterfinal games

At the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl Presented by Prudential and Allstate Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

No. 12 South Florida/No. 5 Georgia winner vs. No. 4 Alabama
No. 11 Georgia Tech/No. 6 Ole Miss winner vs. No. 3 Texas A&M
No. 10 Texas/No. 7 Texas Tech winner vs. No. 2 Indiana
No. 9 Notre Dame/No. 8 Oregon winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State