The new Netflix series launched last month. The Clash at the Coliseum was last week. Come Sunday, the eyes of the racing world will be on Daytona International Speedway once again.
That’s right, a brand-new season of NASCAR is right around the corner. Qualifying for the 2024 Daytona 500 begins on Wednesday night. Twenty-four hours later, the Duel kicks off to confirm the final few places in the Great American Race, and the green flag drops on Sunday.
Who better to get you primed for another season of spirited stock-car shenanigans than Marty Smith and Ryan McGee?
McGee: All right, son. Daytona is here. Is there an overarching theme for the 2024 NASCAR season that you’re watching out for?
Marty: I think the sport has a lot of momentum coming off of the “Full Speed” documentary on Netflix.
Marty: It really developed a lot of characters that I think will garner interest from people that otherwise wouldn’t have known or cared. Certainly, Denny Hamlin was the big winner in that and he’ll be a factor at Daytona. You can put that in the bank.
McGee: One of only four three-time winners. The only drivers with more are Richard Petty with seven and Cale Yarborough with four.
Marty: There always feels like there’s a new and beautiful energy down there at Daytona every time we go, because it is a new season. There is that sense of renewal, rebirth.
McGee: We say it all the time, the Daytona 500 prerace grid is Earth’s happiest place. Remember that time we got caught out there walking the length of the pit lane? The only humans on the hot side of the wall were the drivers rolling out onto the track and Marty & McGee, walking our butts off, just hoping no NASCAR officials saw us.
Marty: We were pumping our fists and walking like hell, and the Wood Brothers were like, “Hey guys … um … what are you doing out there?” But that’s that energy I’m talking about. It’s always there. But I just think that this season has so much potential. Look at a champion like Ryan Blaney. I think because he is so invested in the sport, McGee, he gives so much of his own time to grow the sport on all these different platforms.
Marty: It just feels like there’s a lot of positive momentum.
McGee: And youthful momentum. I remember the last real preseason NASCAR Media Tour, five years ago, and this huge rift opened up between Blaney’s generation of guys versus the established guard of the sport. Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch were mad because those younger guys were doing all of this marketing work and, in the minds of the veterans, hadn’t yet earned that right. We all wrote then, “Is this the changing of the guard?” But it wasn’t because the older dudes answered by winning all the next championships and races. But I feel like it’s happened now. Do you?
Marty: Yes, I do. But I also think that part of that is that all the old dudes are gone. You know, the standard-bearing guys for so many years are all retired now. Harvick is now in the TV booth. All these guys that won all these races and all these championships for so long are now ambassadors, owners, television analysts. So yeah, man, I do feel like there is this group of young drivers, and I feel like they do have personalities to grow the sport, if they want to.
McGee: That’s the key phrase: “If they want to.” I have argued with some of the guys that we’re talking about, that they have the personality, but the fans say they don’t because they haven’t actually been introduced to these guys. Period. Maybe Netflix changes that. We just saw Jimmie Johnson go into the NASCAR Hall of Fame last month, and you and I wrestled with that perception his entire career, people telling us, “Well, this guy is boring” and we’re like, “No, he’s actually the least boring person you’ll ever meet!” But for whatever reason, that connection never happened, and I feel like these guys now maybe have a better handle on that.
Marty: I look at it, Blaney is a great personality, but he’s a very unique personality in that he’s very jovial away from it all. When he puts the helmet on, he turns into an assassin. Then there’s those guys that have been around a while that still have a competitive fire, whether that’s Hamlin, Busch, Joey Logano …
Marty: All those guys, young and old, have the potential to be great factors. All of them are champions. So, you know they know how to do it, but can you put it together in this current format? It’s just so hard to win in the format right now. No Daytona 500 winner has gone on to win the championship since Jimmie Johnson in 2013.
McGee: Whoa.
Marty: Right?
McGee: I like it being hard on these guys. I’m a sick sportswriter. So, mix it up! That’s why I like what NASCAR keeps doing to the schedule, too. Really ever since 2020, they are willing to try some stuff and if it works, great. If it doesn’t, OK, they won’t do it like that again. But the idea of moving dates around, bringing back North Wilkesboro, finally sending a Cup race to Iowa Speedway, I just like the fact that they are willing to try things, and I really like the fact that it keeps teams on their toes.
Marty: I agree. And I am really fascinated to see what it really means for Jimmie Johnson’s team, Legacy Motor Club, because they have moved to Toyota and have two young drivers in Erik Jones — even though he’s been around a while — and John Hunter Nemechek. Jimmie Johnson has been in a Chevrolet quite literally his entire life, but he moves to Toyota based on the fact that they go from a team that was not considered elite tier by their own manufacturer to one that is by Toyota. So, what does that ultimately mean? They have Matt Kenseth on board in an executive role. Jimmie driving in nine races, starting at Daytona. Jimmie Johnson with something to prove is a scary idea.
McGee: Meanwhile, over at his former team, Hendrick Motorsports, Chase Elliott has something to prove, too. He’s this mix of everything we’ve talked about: a young guy but also a veteran, a former champion but facing the hurdles of the format while also coming off a brutally disappointing season in which he was hurt, suspended and missed the Playoff. Worst-case scenario.
Marty: The most popular driver in the sport. And he didn’t win a race in 2023. So, what kind of fire does he show up with? I think he probably will have a chip on his shoulder to prove some things.
McGee: As we like to say on “Marty & McGee,” we’ll get you out of here on this. We’ve talked about drivers. We’ve talked about racetracks. We’ve talked about NASCAR in general. Would you like to now have a rousing, lengthy conversation about charters and the ongoing financial negotiations between NASCAR and team owners?
It’s a new era for the College Football Playoff, with the field growing from four to 12 this season. That means three times as many programs will gain entry, but, beginning with Tuesday’s initial playoff rankings, there’s three times as much room for outrage, too.
Under the old rules, there was a simple line of demarcation that separated the elated from the angry: Who’s in?
Now, there are so many more reasons for nitpicking the committee’s decisions, from first-round byes to hosting a home game to whether your supposedly meaningful conference has been eclipsed by teams from the Group of 5.
And if the first rankings are any indication, it’s going to be a fun year for fury. There’s little logic to be taken from the initial top 25 beyond the committee’s clear love for the Big Ten. Penn State and Indiana make the top eight despite having only one win combined over an ESPN FPI top-40 team (Penn State over Iowa). That Ohio State checks in at No. 2 ahead of Georgia is the most inexplicable decision involving Georgia since Charlie Daniels suggested the devil lost that fiddle contest. Oregon is a reasonable No. 1, but the Ducks still came within a breath of losing to Boise State. Indeed, the Big Ten’s nonconference record against the Power 4 this season is 6-8, just a tick better than the ACC and well behind the SEC’s mark of 10-6.
But this is the fun of early November rankings. The committee is still finding its footing, figuring out what to prioritize and what to ignore, what’s signal and what’s noise. And that’s where the outrage really helps. It’s certainly not signal, but it can be a really loud noise.
This week’s Anger Index:
There are only two possible explanations for BYU’s treatment in this initial ranking. The first is that the committee members are too sleepy to watch games beyond the Central time zone. The second, and frankly, less rational one, is they simply didn’t do much homework.
It’s certainly possible the committee members are so enthralled with metrics such as the FPI (where BYU ranks 28th) or SP+ (22nd) that they’ve determined the Cougars’ actual record isn’t as important. This is incredibly foolish. The FPI and SP+ certainly have their value, but they’re probabilistic metrics, designed to gauge the likelihood of future success. They’re in no way a ranking of actual results. (That’s why USC is still No. 17 in the FPI, despite Lincoln Riley spending his days wistfully scrolling through old pictures of Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray and wondering if Oklahoma might want to get back together.)
To look at actual results paints a clear picture.
BYU (No. 4) has a better strength of record than Ohio State (No. 5), has played roughly the same quality schedule as Texas and has two wins against other teams ranked in the committee’s top 25 — as many as Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, Tennessee and Indiana (all ranked ahead of the Cougars) combined.
Indiana’s rags-to-riches story is wonderful, of course, but how can the committee compare what BYU has done (wins over SMU and Kansas State) against Indiana’s 103rd-ranked strength of schedule?
And this particular snub has significant effects. The difference between No. 8 and No. 9 is a home game in the first round, of course, though as a potential conference champion, that’s a moot point. But what if BYU loses a game — perhaps the Big 12 title game? That could not only doom the Cougars from getting a first-round bye, but it could quite likely set up a scenario in which the Big 12 is shuffled outside the top four conferences entirely, passed by upstart Boise State.
What’s clear from this first round of rankings is the committee absolutely loves the Big Ten — with four teams ranked ahead of a subjectively more accomplished BYU team — and the Big 12 is going to face some serious headwinds.
There’s a great, though little watched, TV show from the 2010s called “Rectify,” about a man who escapes death row after new evidence is found, only to be constantly harassed by the same system that fraudulently locked him away for 20 years. This is basically the story of SMU.
Let’s do a quick blind résumé here.
Team A: 8-1 record, No. 13 strength of record, two wins vs. ranked opponents, loss to SP+ No. 22, .578 opponent win percentage
Team B: 7-1 record, No. 15 strength of record, two wins vs. ranked opponents, loss to SP+ No. 91, .567 opponent win percentage
OK, you probably guessed Team A is SMU. The Mustangs have wins against Louisville and Pitt — both relatively emphatic — and their lone loss came to No. 9 BYU, which came before a quarterback change and included five red zone drives that amounted to only six total points.
Team B? That’s Notre Dame. The Irish have the worst loss by far (to Northern Illinois) of any team in the top 25, beat a common opponent by the same score (though, while SMU outgained Louisville by 20 yards, the Cardinals actually outgained Notre Dame by 115) and have played one fewer game.
The difference? SMU has the stigma — of the death penalty, of the upstart program new to the Power 4, of being unworthy. Notre Dame is the big brand, and that results in being ranked three spots higher and, if the playoff were held today, getting in, while the Mustangs are left out.
There are three two-loss SEC teams ranked ahead of Ole Miss, which seems to be a perfectly reasonable consensus if you look at the AP poll, too. But are we sure that’s so reasonable?
Two stats we like to look at to measure a team’s quality are success rate (how often does a team make a play that improves its odds of winning) and explosiveness. Measure the differentials in each between offense and defense, then plot those out, and you’ll get a pretty clear look of who’s truly dominant in college football this season.
Explosive Play differential vs. Successful Play differential
Auburn & Ark make no sense Iowa & Iowa St are twinsies! Is Ole Miss undervalued? pic.twitter.com/h87SKCdOtr
That outer band that features Penn State, Texas, Miami, Ohio State and Indiana (and notably, not Oregon, Alabama, LSU or Texas A&M)? That’s where Ole Miss lives.
The Rebels have two losses this season, each by three points, both in games they outgained the winning team. They lost to LSU on the road and, yes, somehow lost to a dismal Kentucky team. But hey, LSU lost to USC, too. It has been a weird season.
SP+ loves Ole Miss. The Rebels check in at No. 4 there, behind only Ohio State, Texas and Georgia.
The FPI agrees, ranking the Rebels fifth.
In ESPN’s game control metric, no team is better. Ole Miss has the third-best average in-game win percentage. That suggests a lot of strange twists, and bad luck was involved with its losses. These are things the committee should be evaluating when comparing like teams.
But how about this comparison?
Team A: 7-2, 23 points per game scoring margin vs. FBS, 1 loss to unranked, three wins vs. SP+ top 40
Team B: 7-2, 19 points per game scoring margin vs. FBS, 1 loss to unranked, three wins vs. SP+ top 40
Pretty similar, eh?
Of course, one of them is Ole Miss. That’s Team A this time around.
Team B is Alabama, ranked five spots higher.
Sure, this situation can be resolved quite easily this weekend with a win over Georgia, but Ole Miss starting at the back of the pack of SEC contenders seems like a miss by the committee, even if the math will change substantially before the next rankings are revealed.
Oh, thanks so much for the No. 25 nod, committee. All Army has done is win every game without trailing the entire season. Last season, when Liberty waltzed through its weakest-in-the-nation schedule, the committee had no objections to giving the Flames enough love to make a New Year’s Six bowl. But Army? At No. 25? Thirteen spots behind Boise State, the Knights’ competition for the Group of 5’s bid? Something tells us some spies from Air Force have infiltrated the committee’s room in some sort of Manchurian Candidate scenario.
Sure, the Seminoles are terrible now, and yes, the committee this season has plenty of new faces, but that doesn’t mean folks in Tallahassee have forgiven or forgotten what happened a year ago. Before the committee’s playoff snub, FSU had won 19 straight games and averaged 39 points. Since the snub, the Noles are 1-9 and haven’t scored 21 points in any game. Who’s to blame for this? Mike Norvell? The coaching staff? DJ Uiagalelei and the other struggling QBs? Well, sure. But it’s much easier to just blame the committee. Those folks killed Florida State’s playoff hopes and ended their run of success. The least they could do this year is rank them No. 25 just for fun.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Alabama A&M linebacker Medrick Burnett Jr. remains hospitalized after sustaining a head injury during a game.
Burnett was still in the hospital Tuesday, according to an Alabama A&M spokesperson. The school hasn’t disclosed details of the injury Burnett suffered during a collision against Alabama State on Oct. 26.
A fundraising request on gofundme.com had raised more than $17,000 of a $100,000 goal as of Tuesday, and the school also set up an emergency relief fund. The gofundme goal included money to help the family pay for housing so they could be with him.
“He had several brain bleeds and swelling of the brain,” Burnett’s sister, Dominece, wrote in a post on the page. “He had to have a tube to drain to relieve the pressure, and after 2 days of severe pressure, we had to opt for a craniotomy, which was the last resort to help try to save his life.”
An update on Saturday said Burnett had had complications, but didn’t elaborate.
Burnett is a second-year freshman from Lakewood, California. He transferred from Grambling State during the offseason.
College Football Senior Writer for ESPN. Insider for College Gameday.
Nebraska is adding former Houston and West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen to the staff as an offensive consultant, sources told ESPN.
Holgorsen will work with the offensive staff in a role that will evolve as the season goes on, per sources. Holgorsen joins the staff after spending this season with TCU as an offensive consultant.
He joins Nebraska at a time when the offense — and freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola — have been mired in a rut of uneven play and the team is on a three-game losing streak.
In Nebraska’s six conference games, the Cornhuskers rank No. 12 in the Big Ten in offense, No. 14 in rushing offense and No. 11 in passing offense. Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield has drawn criticism during Nebraska’s recent offensive slump, which has seen a dip in the passing game of Raiola, who was ESPN’s No. 11 recruit and the top pocket passer in the 2024 recruiting class.
Raiola has the third-most interceptions among Big Ten quarterbacks with eight, trailing Michigan State‘s Aidan Chiles (11) and USC‘s Miller Moss (9), who is being benched by the Trojans in favor of Jayden Maiava for next week’s matchup with the Cornhuskers.
In the past four games, Raiola has thrown just one touchdown and six interceptions. After starting 5-1, Nebraska is 5-4 and needs a win during a tough closing stretch to clinch the program’s first bowl game since 2016. That’s the longest drought of any team in power conference football.
Nebraska has a bye this week before next week’s visit to USC.
In adding Holgorsen, they are bringing in a coach who is a noted quarterback tutor and author of prolific offenses. Over the years he has worked with a slew of top college quarterbacks as an assistant and head coach — Graham Harrell, Case Keenum, Brandon Weeden, Geno Smith, Will Grier and Clayton Tune.
Holgorsen arrived in Lincoln on Monday, per sources.