Inside the cracks at the center of the MLBPA — and what’s next
-
Jeff Passan, ESPN
IN THE IMMEDIATE aftermath of the Zoom call Monday night that threw the Major League Baseball Players Association into chaos, a veteran player, stunned at the mutiny that had unfolded in front of him, said to himself, “What the f— was that?” Over nearly three hours, he said, he had witnessed years of pent-up frustration from player leaders unleashed on MLBPA leadership. And one moment at the end of the meeting burned itself into his mind.
Earlier in the afternoon, a coordinated effort by players had unfolded to replace Bruce Meyer, the union’s deputy executive director and lead labor negotiator, with Harry Marino, the lawyer who had organized minor league players who eventually would become members of the MLBPA. Near the end of the call, the matter had been put to an informal poll, and a significant majority of the dozens of players in attendance raised their hands in favor of change. Faced with his hand-picked No. 2 receiving a no-confidence vote from a large portion of the union’s executive board, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark told the group that it was his decision whether Meyer would be removed from his job.
He was not wrong. Union rules grant Clark, not the players, the right to hire and fire. But the sentiment espoused by Clark in that moment roiled players throughout the game Tuesday and Wednesday, enveloping the union with the sort of palace intrigue typically reserved for a Sunday night HBO series. The veteran was among a large swath of players troubled by Clark’s comment after hearing him say consistently, over more than a decade running the MLBPA, that players run the union. The fallout cast questions across the rank and file not just about Meyer’s murky future but Clark’s long-term viability as executive director.
The call ended with no clarity on the future of union leadership. Backers of Clark have since rallied around him, attempting to whip support from players for what they believe will be a showdown for control of the MLBPA. While Clark could remain in charge of the union he has guided for more than a decade, the power play has damaged him considerably — and player leadership does wield the power to unilaterally vote him out of the position. If they do, Marino, the 33-year-old who blindsided the baseball establishment with a daring power play, could find himself not as Clark’s deputy but in the top role himself, though he’ll have to work to sway player leaders who were left in the dark about the move and know little about him.
Interviews with more than two dozen people involved in the fight — union officials, the outsiders seeking to unseat them, players on the union’s executive board and throughout the league and influence-wielding agents — offered a portrait of a union in flux amid an offseason of lower-than-expected spending on free agents. The cores of each side have been firmly established: union leadership, those skeptical of Marino and powerful agent Scott Boras advocating for status quo, while outspoken major leaguers, all of the minor league player leaders and influential player agents back the ouster of Meyer and, perhaps by extension, Clark.
Long trumpeted as the strongest union in America, the MLBPA is facing a seminal choice that will help guide the game’s future. With the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire Dec. 1, 2026, the MLBPA has plenty of time to rebuild solidarity and come equipped for its quinquennial clash with MLB. Which direction it takes might depend on which party can sell the players on its vision.
“WHY NOW?” another player leader asked Tuesday. MLB’s 2024 season was hours from beginning when the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres faced off in Seoul, and here stood the union in the throes of internal war.
There were several reasons for the urgency, but one was simply the calendar. With the end of spring training near, those who wanted change feared that players would lose interest in union politics during the season. It happened six years ago, when a group of players frustrated with a historically slow free agent market tried to form a coalition to remove Clark, the former All-Star first baseman who became the first ex-player to run the union when he took over in December 2013 after the death of Michael Weiner. It fizzled out, and Clark — who had led negotiations on the collective bargaining agreement in 2016 widely panned by players — pledged to hire help.
In came Meyer, a veteran attorney who had worked for the players’ associations of the three other major men’s professional sports. He arrived with a bulldog attitude and desire to fight the league and win back much of what the union had lost financially in 2016. Almost immediately Meyer rubbed MLB the wrong way — a point he wore with pride.
Meyer refused to accede when MLB wanted to cut players’ pay in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and commissioner Rob Manfred wound up implementing a 60-game season when the sides couldn’t strike a return-to-play deal. The hostility amplified after the 2021 season, when MLB locked the players out for 99 days. The eventual collective bargaining agreement won players a $20 million boost on the lowest threshold of the luxury tax, a 25% raise on the minimum salary, a $50 million bonus pool for arbitration-eligible players, a draft lottery to prevent tanking and incentives to not keep rookies in the minor leagues to manipulate their service time. While the executive subcommittee — one filled with Boras clients in five of the eight slots — voted 8-0 against the deal, a large majority of players supported it.
Two years later, though, the seeds of disillusionment that sprouted in those negotiations are in full bloom. After two robust free agencies following the latest CBA, the market this year slowed dramatically, from $3.9 billion guaranteed last year to $2.9 billion, and left veteran players without jobs on the eve of the season. Players have whispered about the lack of a clearly defined plan to outfox MLB’s enormous and effective labor relations unit, as well as the large salaries and travel expenses of the union’s leaders, which have only grown in recent years. The most recent defeat for some players was the San Francisco Giants’ release of J.D. Davis, the veteran infielder who received just $1.15 million of his $6.9 million salary because the collective bargaining agreement didn’t guarantee deals won in salary arbitration cases.
On top of all that, a narrative about a working relationship between Meyer and Boras has taken root. No firm evidence buttressed the notion, and both parties denied it, but among players and particularly the agents who competed with Boras, the perception hardened into a reality, though one that longtime executive subcommittee member Andrew Miller said he did not see.
“I wish it never got to this point of back and forth,” Miller told ESPN. “I was not always on the same page with Bruce, but he’s been a professional. I believe what he’s been quoted as saying about it not being true. It’s not something I ever saw that was worrying to me.”
The thought of some of those seeking change: Taking out Meyer could wound Boras, who is in the midst of an offseason when the free agent markets collapsed for numerous stars he represented. If Boras was vulnerable, Meyer could be the proxy to attack him.
If any of this change was going to happen, it needed to do so quickly. And Marino and his supporters believed he was the one to spur it on.
A left-handed reliever, Marino had spent two seasons in the early 2010s in the Arizona and Baltimore organizations. The paltry salaries paid to minor league players appalled him, and after going to law school at the University of Virginia, he left a law-firm job to attempt what no one previously had the gumption to try: unionizing minor league players. As the executive director of Advocates for Minor Leaguers, Marino married moral arguments with social-media savvy to affect change, securing minor league players housing paid for by teams. The work caught the eye of the MLBPA, which provided funding to the group, and Clark’s support of Advocates’ efforts — both offering advice to Marino or talking with players — paved a partnership that would ultimately imperil his job.
With minor leaguers prepared to unionize, the MLBPA offered to bring them under its umbrella and form a minor league unit alongside its big league group. It would be one of Clark’s signature achievements as executive director. He had toiled for seven years in the minor leagues. He lived the grind. He knew that unionization would drastically improve the lives of more than 5,500 players.
In early September 2022, the MLBPA sent out union-authorization cards. Soon thereafter, MLB voluntarily recognized the minor league unit, and Clark told The Wall Street Journal about Marino: “His consistency to the cause is as high as anyone that I’ve been around. It comes through loud and clear in how he fights for players and how he’s been willing to engage on any and all of the issues that are front and center. … [I]f this was going to become a possibility, Harry is someone you want to be a part of the equation.”
The minor league unit received 34 seats — one player from each team and four subcommittee members — to join the 38 major league players on the executive board. It bewildered some union officials, who worried that giving 47% of voting power to players who hadn’t spent a day in the major leagues could lead to a disastrous outcome. Especially if someone like Marino mobilized the group.
In recent weeks, he did. Marino, who joined the MLBPA as an assistant general counsel following the unionization efforts, left the union in July 2023, three months after negotiating the first minor league collective bargaining agreement. Though he had clashed with Meyer, with whom he worked on the agreement, and other union officials, he remained on the radar of a group of major league player leaders impressed by his work with minor leaguers.
They reached out to him earlier this year with a plea: Come fix the union. The coalition seeking change spanned players present and past. Former players such as Daniel Murphy, an executive subcommittee member in 2020, backed new leadership, telling ESPN on Wednesday: “Whether they get uprooted from their positions is not up to me, but I think guys are finally seeing the truth.”
With widespread minor league support, Marino knew he’d need a wider swath of current big leaguers. If he could map out a compelling vision, his supporters believed, MLB players were bound to join a campaign to replace Meyer. During spring training, Marino held secret meetings with player representatives in Arizona and Florida, avoiding Boras clients out of fear that they would kibosh his efforts. In recent days, he outlined his strategy in a one-page document distributed to some players and obtained by ESPN. In it, he criticized the MLBPA’s “mediocre staff and lack of clear bargaining strategy,” said it had “unproductive relationships with both the agent community and the league” and denounced its “inexcusable spending habits.” He pledged to “shift power back to the members” through “informed recommendations backed by data and reasoning” and “trim the waste and excess,” writing: “Our job is to make you rich, not the other way around.”
Marino also laid out a plan for his first 250 days as part of union leadership. He would hire an outside firm to perform an audit on the MLBPA’s finances, conduct a survey of players to learn about their issues with the union and bargaining priorities, and begin a nationwide search for senior leadership and a collective bargaining team “under supervision of the Executive Board.” At the MLBPA’s board meeting in November 2024, the document said, Marino would introduce the new hires and present goals and strategy for bargaining, propose a new budget and offer a plan for better communication.
His consortium grew, and by Saturday, a majority of player leaders — major leagues and minor leagues combined — expressed privately they were in favor of swapping Meyer for Marino. Marino took that information to Clark and proposed a plan: Marino would take over bargaining and build a team of veteran labor lawyers. He believed Clark would see the binary nature of the offer: Clark could say yes, and theoretically unify the group, but to say no could throw the union into conflict and put himself at risk. Clark asked for time to think.
On Sunday, a text chain among major league player leaders asking whether they wanted to replace Meyer with Marino — created to form a record of players’ votes — confirmed Marino had a majority. A day later, after union officials finished their final in-person meeting on their 30-team spring tour, Marino’s camp reached out to Clark and reaffirmed that they wanted to work with him as the executive director and Marino his deputy. Shortly thereafter, Clark called for the Zoom meeting.
It soon became clear that Marino’s read on the situation — that Clark would acquiesce and dismiss Meyer — was wrong. Clark backed Meyer, who was also on the call. They listened as players levied complaints on a variety of topics, from the dip in free agent spending to exasperation that some high-ranking players didn’t know that Clark had been given a new five-year contract in November 2022 until reading about it online. Players harped on union leaders’ poor communication.
Other players chimed in about Marino’s hypocrisy on the same subject. His campaign had intentionally left some players — and, by extension, their teams — in the dark. It was antithetical to the solidarity they preached, and the approach by Marino — who asked Clark to be included in the call but was not granted access — particularly bothered some players who were not familiar with Marino. Though Meyer’s support was limited, players asked why the union needed change and how Marino, with minimal experience, would make them better.
By Monday night, reports of the meeting circulated among players. On Tuesday morning, it dominated conversations in clubhouses across the game. A range of emotions revealed themselves: livid, confused, emboldened. Some player representatives knew about Marino’s play and didn’t inform their clubhouses. Others, left in the dark, didn’t have answers to questions asked by teammates. Officials from both parties spent the day on the phone, making their case to players. Boras went public, shredding Marino to The Athletic.
“If you have issues with the union and you want to be involved with the union, you take your ideas to them,” he said. “You do not take them publicly, you do not create this coup d’etat and create really a disruption inside the union. If your goal is to help players, it should never be done this way.”
To those convinced the Boras-Meyer link was real, the comments served as affirmation, further harming Meyer — and Clark as well — in the eyes of players. While it would be malpractice for the two top officials at the players’ union not to have a relationship with the agent who represents more major league players than any, power struggles often turn dirty, every small thing growing outsized.
Marino wasn’t immune, either. Critics painted him as a Svengali whose power over minor league players carried little weight, even if it would carry votes. They argued that he would bend to MLB and implement a salary cap. That he’s tied to CAA and WME, agencies whose clients have among the strongest voices, in the same way Meyer is to Boras. That his approach was an act of aggression, unseemly, in defiance of history and protocol.
In a statement, Marino told ESPN: “I have spent the entirety of the past two weeks in meetings and phone calls with Major League Players. From those conversations, three things have become clear. First, Players want to know how their hard-earned money is being spent. They deserve a full audit of the MLBPA’s financials. Assuming the staff has nothing to hide, this should not be a problem. Second, Players have lost confidence in the MLBPA’s current collective bargaining team and want to move in a new direction.
“Third, some Players have questions about me and what that new direction might look like. That’s totally fair. While the Players’ desire for change has been simmering for some time, over the past week it has come to the surface in a manner unexpected to everyone, myself included. As always, I will make myself available to speak to any Player who wants their voice heard and their questions answered.”
THE POSSIBILITY OF a Clark-Marino pairing running the union together died Monday. Perhaps it was never feasible, a half-measure, but that reality forces players into the sort of uncomfortable position that could conceivably save Clark. Because for all the warts players suggest the union has, all the dissatisfaction percolating, they like him personally. They liked him enough to extend his contract through 2027. And they might like him enough to let him see it through.
“The MLBPA has been and always will be fully transparent with its Players,” Clark said Wednesday in a statement to ESPN. “We recently negotiated two collective bargaining agreements on behalf of our members: a Major League agreement that made tangible Player gains in the face of an ownership lockout, and a first ever agreement on behalf of Minor League Players. An attempted takeover coordinated by a disgruntled former employee does nothing to change those facts.
“The question before us now is how we build from here. Those are conversations that we are having, and will continue to have with our membership.”
When the politicking settles and votes on the future of the MLBPA are taken, it will come down to the numbers. Though the board consists of 72 seats, currently 11 minor league representative positions are unfilled, cutting into Marino’s count for the potential removal of Clark. It’s unlikely Clark will be able to poach any of the 23 minor leaguers who do have a say — even if he makes the case that they would not be union members without him having pushed for a minor league unit — which leaves eight votes to give a majority to Marino’s side. If Clark were deposed and Marino made a play for the job, though, coming in to run the union on the strength of barely a quarter of big league clubhouses would leave him weak from the moment he started.
Knowing that — and knowing if he ties himself to Meyer, Clark could conceivably write his own end — Clark’s maneuver could be a repeat of 2018: Agree to dismiss Meyer or accept his resignation, then conduct a search for a new deputy executive director, only this time with more help from the executive board. At this point, it might be the clearest path to his survival. It is also not one Clark has made five days after Marino’s first meeting with him, indicating a bond with Meyer.
Clark started to do damage control Tuesday, telling players that his words about the decision to keep or fire Meyer being his did not reflect his true feelings that the will of players runs the union. How that lands — whether players believe Clark is genuine or simply a man trying to save his job — will color his attempt to survive in the coming days. The executive subcommittee met Wednesday night as well.
Next will be more phone calls, more canvassing, more impassioned rhetoric. Clarity will come soon enough. In an email sent to players Tuesday afternoon obtained by ESPN, Clark told players to reach out to him with any questions and that they will reconvene as a group in the coming days.
“The focus of this union,” he wrote, “has always been, and always will be, the Players.”
-
Bill Connelly
It took a while for college football to orient itself this season. Three of the top four teams in the preseason AP Top 25 poll started poorly, and only one really recovered. Nine of the preseason top 17 went 8-4 or worse. Meanwhile, some teams that were expected to be good — preseason No. 20 Indiana, No. 21 Ole Miss and No. 23 Texas Tech — turned out to be playoff-caliber dynamite.
Things were pretty messy for a while as the sport figured itself out, but once the hierarchy was established, it was established. Over the past three weeks, teams ranked 14th or higher in the AP poll have gone a combined 35-3, and all three losses were to opponents ranked 16th or higher.
The ACC and the coaching carousel did their best to ensure that there was always something messy and/or chaotic happening, but we’ve reached Championship Week with the balance of power firmly set. Now we get to find out if college football decides to offer one last burst of absolute nonsense. Here’s everything you need to follow during what is likely to be either a very orderly or incredibly fraught Championship Week.
All times Eastern
Championship Week chaos scenarios
This weekend is basically setting up like college football’s version of one of those “We can do this the easy way or the hard way” moments in a mob movie. If Texas Tech and Virginia win as favorites in the Big 12 and ACC championship games, respectively, and if Alabama beats Georgia as it almost always does — since 2017, Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs are 1-7 against the Crimson Tide and 107-8 against everyone else — then college football will have chosen the easy way.
If it unfolds that way, we’ll be able to predict with near certainty who will be in the College Football Playoff. The at-large bids will go to current No. 1 Ohio State or No. 2 Indiana (whichever loses the Big Ten championship game), No. 3 Georgia, No. 5 Oregon, No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 8 Oklahoma and either No. 10 Notre Dame or No. 12 Miami, depending on how much overthinking the playoff committee decides to undertake. Per SP+, however, there’s only a 22% chance we get those three results. And things could get weird if we stray from the script.
(* If No. 11 BYU’s ranking slips, therefore putting Notre Dame and Miami next to each other in the rankings, the committee could decide to move Miami ahead because of the Hurricanes’ head-to-head win. It’s what they tend to do when teams with a head-to-head result end up next to each other. I personally think that win is the only reason Miami deserves to rank even as high as 12th — they have neither played nor beaten any other ranked teams, and they lost to two unranked teams in by far the worst of the power conferences. Notre Dame’s résumé undoubtedly has similar holes, but the committee had many weeks to rank Miami ahead of Notre Dame and didn’t do it, and it would be impossibly silly to do it after a week in which neither team — and only one of their 2025 opponents — played a single game. I’m extremely ready to go back to a BCS-like formula.)
What if BYU beats Texas Tech (23% chance, per SP+)? Last year, Clemson became the first official bid thief of the 12-team playoff era with its win over SMU in the ACC championship game. This year, BYU appears to be the designated thief. The Cougars have lost only to No. 4 Texas Tech and, at 11th, could claim to have been slighted by the committee. They clearly need to win to get in, and if they do, they will likely steal Notre Dame’s (or Miami’s?) ticket. The Fighting Irish, who have won 10 straight games by an average of 43-14, were ranked ninth for three straight weeks before mysteriously slipping to 10th on Tuesday. That puts them in line to get snubbed with a Big 12 upset.
What if BYU wins and Alabama loses (13% chance)? Last season, SMU made the CFP despite losing in the ACC championship game; from that, we derived that the committee had decided not to punish a team for earning a 13th game when others around it in the rankings had not. The Mustangs did fall from eighth to 10th, however. It wasn’t enough to knock them from the playoff field, but they still dropped.
So what will happen if Alabama loses to Georgia, perhaps by a solid margin? Will Bama fall behind Notre Dame? And if BYU has also won … will that mean the Cougars steal the Tide’s bid?
Tuesday’s rankings give us reason to doubt that Bama would move at all, of course. In fact, the only real justification for the Tide jumping Notre Dame this week is that the committee was giving itself a cushion in case of a Bama loss. There is, after all, no universe in which the Tide beating 5-7 Auburn in the last minute was more impressive than Notre Dame beating 4-8 Stanford by 29, and I wouldn’t think that A&M falling from third to seventh would make the Irish’s loss to the Aggies look significantly worse. Regardless, now the committee might not have to worry about eliminating Bama with a bad performance in Atlanta. But what if BYU wins and the Tide lay an absolute egg?
What if Duke wins (32% chance)? BYU aside, Championship Week’s biggest chaos agent is clearly Duke. Manny Diaz’s 7-5 Blue Devils eked out an ACC championship bid thanks to a set of tiebreakers that will almost certainly be redrawn soon. They are only 3.5-point underdogs against Virginia, and a Blue Devils win could give a playoff ticket to a second Group of 5 champion. James Madison would be first in line, though an 11-2 UNLV team will be intriguing if JMU loses and the Rebels finally figure out how to beat Boise State for the Mountain West championship.
Of course, with the lengths the committee went to avoid ranking another G5 team besides Tulane — JMU and North Texas didn’t make it in until this week, and barely at that — Duke itself could still simply hop JMU. The Blue Devils hold about four teams’ playoff hopes in their upset-minded hands.
And before you complain about undeserving teams making the field, this is how playoffs work! Teams with bad records reach the high school playoffs all the time. So do the champions of various lower-budget FCS, Division II or Division III conferences. Four teams with losing records have made the NFL playoffs since 2010. This is the way it should be. We should let more conference champs in, actually.
These are the chaos scenarios to watch for. Now let’s talk about the actual games.
Saturday, 8 p.m., Fox
Back in the BCS days, the people in charge would change the way the computer ratings portion of the BCS formula worked anytime they disagreed with the results. Constantly saying, “I don’t like that, let’s change something” creates a worse process as often as not.
One year into the 12-team playoff era, the college football world declared, “I don’t like that, let’s change something.” When the “top four conference champions receive first-round byes” rule produced odd results in Year 1 — namely, byes going to No. 9 Boise State and No. 12 Arizona State — the title-winner byes were immediately ditched. As a result, we get the most low-consequence No. 1 versus No. 2 December game imaginable. Barring an absolute blowout, Ohio State and Indiana are likely to receive top-four seeds and first-round byes no matter what happens in Indianapolis on Saturday.
Now, Indiana is playing for its first Big Ten title in 58 years; that’s pretty big. Plus, since both quarterbacks, IU’s Fernando Mendoza and OSU’s Julian Sayin, are among the three betting favorites in the Heisman race, it’s hard not to look at this game as a winner-take-all situation for that award. (Root for a defensive slugfest, Diego Pavia!) But this might turn out to be the first of two Hoosiers-Buckeyes games, and the second one will be much bigger.
This one will still be educational, though, and I have two huge questions:
Will Indiana’s offensive line hold up? In 2024, the Hoosiers lost to only the two national title game participants, Ohio State and Notre Dame. In both games, the IU defense mostly held up, but the offense vanished: Whereas the Hoosiers averaged 464 yards in wins, they gained a total of 429 yards in the two losses. Quarterback Kurtis Rourke’s injury limitations didn’t help, but IU running backs averaged only 4.0 yards per carry, and Rourke took eight sacks in 60 pass attempts.
This season, Indiana ranks first in rushing success rate* and a solid 35th in sack rate allowed. Backs Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black keep the Hoosiers on schedule, and Mendoza gets the ball out of his hands quickly. The offense performed well enough against a pair of SP+ top-10 defenses (Iowa and Oregon), but Ohio State’s defense is the best in the country. How well will the Hoosiers hold up, especially up front?
(*Success rate: How frequently an offense is gaining 50% of necessary yardage on first down, 70% on second and 100% on third and fourth.)
Can Ohio State turn on the explosiveness? Ryan Day and coordinator Brian Hartline have created a sturdy offensive structure for maximizing Sayin’s ridiculous accuracy and keeping the redshirt freshman out of awkward downs and distances. The Buckeyes operate with one of the nation’s slowest tempos, and Sayin throws the ball as quickly as possible. He has completed a record 78.9% of his passes, and with a good-not-great run game as a complement, Ohio State ranks second nationally in success and three-and-out rates.
The tradeoff, however, is a major lack of big plays.
The Buckeyes rank just 111th in yards per successful play (11.5), and while we know all about the epic talent of receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, Sayin very selectively looks deep. That keeps both the negative and big-play counts low.
Big plays are the way to score on Indiana, however. The Hoosiers have allowed only 11 offensive touchdowns this season: Six were from 44 yards or longer, and two more were set up by gains of 40-plus. IU is fifth in success rate allowed and ninth in sack rate — the Hoosiers don’t let you dink and dunk all the way down the field. Can Ohio State create chunk plays without exposing Sayin to hits and mistakes?
Current line: OSU -4 (down from -5.5 at open) | SP+ projection: OSU by 0.9 | FPI projection: IU by 0.1
Saturday, 4 p.m., ABC
If Alabama beats Georgia, we could end up with a situation in which a) the extremely top-heavy Big Ten gets only three CFP teams, but they all get top-four seeds and first-round byes, and b) the SEC gets five teams, but none of them are in the top four. Granted, there’s also a chance that the committee surges Bama up to fourth in this scenario, but based on the season the SEC has had, “five bids and no byes” would be apt. It currently has no top-five teams in the SP+ rankings, but it still has seven of the top 13 and, comfortably, the best average rating.
Of course, for all the talk of parity within this conference, we’re getting our fourth Bama-Georgia title game in eight years, and a Georgia win — the Dawgs are favored — will be its third title in four years. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose and whatnot.
Writing about Alabama this season has been a strange experience. The Crimson Tide have mostly been “little things” masters, owning the red zone on both ends, winning the field position and turnover battles and closing games out beautifully, going 4-1 in one-score games. But they have also only rarely looked dominant despite the legion of former blue-chippers on their roster. They’ve ranked between ninth and 12th in SP+ for the past seven weeks, and in that span, they’ve played almost precisely to projections (which suggests that the ranking is pretty accurate).
They beat Georgia 10 weeks ago, however, and that brings them back to Atlanta to face a Georgia team that … has rarely dominated despite the legion of former blue-chippers on their roster. The Dawgs are also 4-1 in one-score finishes, and while they had to lean heavily on offense early in the season — they beat Tennessee 44-41 and beat Ole Miss 43-35 — they’ve allowed just 22 total points in their past three games, a run that includes their one truly resounding performance, a 35-10 blowout of Texas.
In the teams’ first meeting, two major habits came to bear. Alabama, which ranks eighth nationally in points per drive in the first half (and only 33rd in the second), bolted to a 14-0 lead and led 24-14 at halftime. In the second half, however, Georgia took control, tilting the field and creating a pair of red zone opportunities to Bama’s zero. A fourth-down stop in the fourth quarter, however, made the difference in a 24-21 Tide win. For the game, the Dawgs averaged 6.7 yards per play to Bama’s 5.2, but the Tide won 19 of 27 total third downs and finished plus-1 in turnovers. That was just enough.
This was one of five games in which Georgia took snaps while trailing in the second half. It was the only one the Dawgs didn’t win. For whatever their upside might be this year, there’s never going to be any question about their ability to brawl for 60 full minutes.
Georgia’s defense has rounded into form of late, but the Dawgs still face an awkward matchup with the Tide offense, in that it defends the run far better than the pass and Bama is happy to abandon the run and put the game in Ty Simpson‘s hands. Regardless, the early going will be huge: Georgia is more experienced and more effective at playing from behind. And if you’re rooting for the “What happens if Bama gets genuinely thumped?” scenario, Georgia going up early is an obvious step one.
Current line: UGA -2.5 | SP+ projection: UGA by 2.8 | FPI projection: Bama by 0.3
Saturday, noon, ABC
I don’t think we’ve talked enough about how good Texas Tech is this season. I mean, everyone knows the Red Raiders are good — they’re 11-1, they’re fourth in the CFP rankings and defenders Jacob Rodriguez and David Bailey are surefire All-Americans. They aren’t exactly flying under the radar. But while SP+ has locked in pretty well on most teams, it continues to underestimate Tech’s capabilities, even while ranking it third nationally. The Red Raiders overachieved against projections by an average of 14.0 points in November, winning four games (including one against BYU) by an average of 42-9. In fact, the only time they’ve really underachieved all season was in their 26-22 loss to Arizona State, when they were without starting quarterback Behren Morton. They even managed to overachieve in three other partial or whole games without Morton. This is a scary team.
BYU has all the motivation in this one, however, knowing that its playoff hopes are now fully win or bust. (The Cougars might also get an “Our head coach just chose us over Penn State” boost.) Will that make a difference? Or is Tech just too damn good?
BYU’s defense played brilliantly in the teams’ first meeting, a 29-7 Tech win on Nov. 8. The Cougars held Tech to just a 33.3% success rate, 13 percentage points below its season average, and allowed the Red Raiders just two touchdowns in seven red zone trips. The score was only 13-0 at halftime, and wasted opportunities made it seem like Tech could be vulnerable to a comeback, but the BYU offense just couldn’t deliver. For just about the only time all season, BYU’s Bear Bachmeier looked like the true freshman he is, throwing for just 188 yards at 4.5 yards per dropback and losing an interception and fumble. Given enough opportunities, Tech finally put the game away.
An upset will require the same high level of defensive play and far better execution on offense. Having running back LJ Martin at full strength will help — Martin was hurt the week before the first matchup and gained just 35 yards in 10 carries against Tech. His 222-yard performance two weeks ago against Cincinnati suggests he’s playing at a high level, and BYU should get another couple of recently banged-up starters back as well. But we just don’t know what exactly will beat the Tech defense because almost nothing has.
The Red Raiders have given up more than 17 points just twice all season and only allowed one team, Kansas State, to top 4.8 yards per play (the Wildcats averaged a still pedestrian 5.2). BYU might be able to hold Tech under 28 points with another strong effort, but it might take the best performance of Bachmeier’s life to hit 28 or more.
Current line: Tech -12.5 | SP+ projection: Tech by 11.7 | FPI projection: Tech by 4.3
Saturday, 8 p.m., ABC
As fun as it’s been to envision wild scenarios that might unfold if Duke wins the ACC, Virginia could put an end to all of this creativity by simply repeating what happened the last time the Cavaliers met the Blue Devils. Three weeks ago, they put together probably their most complete performance of the season in a 34-17 romp.
Success rate: Virginia 40.3%, Duke 31.0%
Yards per play: Virginia 7.0, Duke 4.4
Field position margin: Virginia plus-6.7 per drive
Third downs: Virginia 12-19, Duke 4-15
Sacks: Virginia 4, Duke 0
Turnovers: Virginia 2, Duke 1
UVA played far more efficient ball than the Blue Devils, enjoyed eight gains of 20-plus yards to Duke’s three and won 23 of 34 total third downs (67%). The only reason the game finished as close as 17 points was because of two Hoos turnovers, one of which was a pick-six.
Virginia has been the better team in 2025, but these teams’ first game was a bit of an outlier. UVA’s seasonlong averages aren’t quite as advantageous, and Duke’s offense has been especially strong down the stretch. The Blue Devils have scored more than 30 points in four of the past five games (UVA being the exception), and Darian Mensah finished the regular season first in the ACC in passing yards and third in Total QBR.
Mensah has been a high-volume, high-accuracy playmaker, and Duke has improved from 71st to 23rd in offensive SP+ in a single season.
Unfortunately for Duke, the defense has fallen from 31st to 91st. Against seven top-60 offenses this season, including Virginia’s, Duke allowed 36.4 points per game. Virginia’s offensive production trailed off over the back half of the season, but the Hoos still torched the Blue Devils: Chandler Morris threw for 316 yards, Trell Harris caught eight balls for 161 yards and J’Mari Taylor rushed for 133 yards in 18 carries.
Mensah and receivers Cooper Barkate and Que’Sean Brown torched Clemson and Wake Forest — defenses that grade out about as well as UVA’s — and Duke could absolutely turn this into a track meet. But Virginia probably has the advantage in a track meet too.
Current line: UVA -3.5 | SP+ projection: UVA by 7.3 | FPI projection: UVA by 1.5
Friday, 8 p.m., ABC
With four of five Group of 5 title games taking place Friday night, we’ll have a clear view of the stakes of Virginia-Duke by Saturday morning. But it’s safe to assume that the winner of this game, pitting two ranked teams with soon-departing head coaches (UNT’s Oklahoma State-bound Eric Morris and Tulane’s Florida-bound Jon Sumrall) in potentially very rainy conditions, is in.
For all of the money being thrown around to stars in today’s college football landscape, the best offense in the country, per SP+, was crafted in Denton, Texas, and features a true freshman (RB Caleb Hawkins), a redshirt freshman who didn’t start in high school (QB Drew Mestemaker) and transfers from Kent State, Abilene Christian, Shepherd University and the now-closed Limestone University. North Texas is averaging 46.8 points and 511.8 yards; the Mean Green have topped 50 points seven times and even scored 36 in their lone loss.
The Mean Green’s schedule, however, has lacked. They’ve played only one team currently ranked higher than 57th in SP+ (South Florida), and they lost to the Bulls by 27 points. Granted, that margin was mostly due to the worst middle eight of all time — USF went on a 28-0 run between the 0:02 mark of the second quarter and 11:35 of the third — but it still counts, and UNT hasn’t had another chance to prove itself against a particularly good opponent.
Tulane is good. Granted, the Green Wave have allowed 38.5 points per game and 7.1 yards per play to the only two top-20 offenses they’ve faced. But they’re improving on D — they solidly overachieved against defensive projections down the stretch — and they have an offense that can keep up in a track meet: They’re 10th nationally in passing success rate, with Jake Retzlaff combining 2,717 passing yards with a solid 621 non-sack rushing yards.
Neither of these defenses is amazing, but neither gives up a ton of big plays either. This one will probably come down to which defense allows the fewest big shots and easy points
Current line: UNT -2.5 | SP+ projection: UNT by 8.2 | FPI projection: UNT by 2.0
Friday, 7 p.m., ESPN
Troy has reached the Sun Belt championship game through sheer perseverance. Gerad Parker’s Trojans won three straight wild one-score games early in the season. They also overcame an early-season QB injury, with Tucker Kilcrease filling in for Goose Crowder, who is back in the lineup and slinging the ball around well. Good pass defense and random offensive spurts have given them a chance at a third Sun Belt title in four years.
The odds, of course, aren’t great. JMU did lose four times as a favorite last year, and distractions can always strike when your coach is leaving, but Troy is a three-touchdown underdog, and JMU will be hunting for style points in super-chilly Harrisonburg.
JMU’s defense ranks first in success rate allowed and has allowed more than 5.1 yards per play just once all season. They boast difference-makers at each level, from defensive ends Sahir West and Aiden Gobaira up front to safety Jacob Thomas in the back. The offense was surprisingly inconsistent early in 2025 but ignited against Old Dominion and hasn’t looked back: In their past six games, the Dukes have averaged 48.5 points and 7.4 yards per play. Alonza Barnett is 14th nationally in Total QBR in that span, distributing the ball beautifully to five different pass catchers.
The only close call JMU has suffered since the offensive ignition came against Washington State: The Cougars kept the tempo at a crawl, won third and fourth downs and limited the Dukes to just 50 snaps. It still didn’t work — JMU scored on two long second-half touchdowns and won 24-20. But if Troy pulls a scare, it will be from a similar recipe. The Trojans can land some shots defensively, and they’re pretty good on third down and willing on fourth. But the margin for error here is minimal.
Current line: JMU -23.5 (up from -21.5) | SP+ projection: JMU by 20.2 | FPI projection: JMU by 18.4
Friday, 8 p.m., Fox
Since the start of 2023, UNLV is 30-10 overall, an incredible run for a program with minimal historical success. The Rebels have gone 5-3 against power conference programs in that span, and they’re 18-7 in the Mountain West. Just imagine how great things might be if they could actually beat Boise State: The Rebels are 0-4 against the Broncos in this span, including losses in back-to-back MWC championship games. If momentum means anything in this sport, however — I often doubt it does — and the Rebels can adapt to cold and rainy conditions in Boise, the timing might finally be right.
Five weeks ago, this matchup seemed unlikely. UNLV had lost two straight games, giving up 96 combined points to Boise State and New Mexico and falling to 123rd in defensive SP+. BSU, meanwhile, had just lost quarterback Maddux Madsen to injury and had fallen 30-7 to Fresno State. The Broncos would lose to San Diego State in their next game, too.
BSU quarterback Max Cutforth found his footing, however, and helped to lead a blowout of Colorado State and a comeback win at Utah State. UNLV, meanwhile, suddenly found a defense and beat its past four conference opponents by an average of 38-16. The Rebels have looked so good that they rose from 71st to 41st in SP+ in just four weeks.
Madsen, who is scheduled to return Friday, threw for 253 yards and four touchdowns in BSU’s 56-31 win over UNLV in Week 8, while Dylan Riley rushed for 201 yards in just 15 carries. Even in the Rebels’ improved state, they still aren’t defending the run well. UNLV can keep up in most track meets, and holding the Broncos under 35 will give it a chance. But that might not be guaranteed.
Current line: BSU -4.5 (up from -1.5) | SP+ projection: UNLV by 0.4 | FPI projection: BSU by 4.0
Friday, 7 p.m., CBSSN
For the second straight season, a second-year FBS program will play for the CUSA title. Last year, second-year Jacksonville State wiped the floor with Western Kentucky; now Kennesaw State gives it a go against the champs.
Jerry Mack’s first KSU team has found success by raising its floor: The Owls don’t rank high in many of the categories I track, but they’re also near the bottom in almost none. They defend the run well — linebacker Baron Hopson is ridiculously good in this department — they hit on some deep passes to Gabriel Benyard and Christian Moss, and they wait for you to make mistakes.
JSU lost a ton from last year’s conference title squad, but after a wobbly 3-3 start, the Gamecocks found an offensive rhythm by running the hell out of the ball: Cam Cook has rushed for 1,588 yards, and not including sacks, quarterback Caden Creel has added 1,008. The defense is decent but clutch offensive play has allowed the Gamecocks to win six of seven games despite five finishing within one score.
These two met three weeks ago in a game decided by big plays and turnovers. Jax State scored on a second-quarter Hail Mary, Creel produced completions of 50 and 52 yards (plus a 40-yard rush), and the Gamecocks picked off three passes in the red zone in a 35-26 win. None of that’s particularly sustainable, though, especially since KSU has been the better overall red zone team in 2025.
Current line: KSU -2.5 (flipped from JSU -1.5) | SP+ projection: KSU by 1.4 | FPI projection: KSU by 0.3
Saturday, noon, ESPN
Miami is playing in the MAC championship game for the third straight season — the Redhawks won in 2023 and lost last year — while WMU is enjoying its best campaign, and first title game appearance, since 2016.
Chuck Martin’s Redhawks lost basically every offensive starter and half the defense after last season and landed only a few major contributors from the transfer portal. But they got rolling after an 0-3 start, and when quarterback Dequan Finn left the program in November, redshirt freshman Thomas Gotkowski took over and led comfortable wins over Buffalo and Ball State.
WMU also started 0-3, but the Broncos have since won eight of nine — losing only to Miami, in fact. Thanks in part to otherworldly outside linebacker Nadame Tucker (18.5 TFLs, 12 sacks, 4 forced fumbles), their defense ranks 46th in defensive SP+, their highest ranking since 2000.
Miami turned the tables late in their Week 9 matchup. WMU took a 17-9 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Redhawks outgained the Broncos 160-61 in the fourth, forced a turnover and finished the game on a 17-0 run. Gotkowski has gotten away with mostly quick passes to the sideline, but the Redhawks might need him to ramp up the playmaking to maintain their Week 9 advantages. Otherwise WMU could seize its first title in nine years.
Current line: WMU -2.5 | SP+ projection: Miami by 1.2 | FPI projection: WMU by 0.2
Smaller-school showcase
Let’s once again save a shout-out for the glorious lower levels of the sport. The smaller-school playoffs are hitting top speed, so here’s a game you should track at each level.
Division II quarterfinals: No. 16 Newberry at No. 13 Albany State (ESPN+, 1 p.m.). The Division II quarterfinals feature projected blowout wins for the three best teams — Ferris State, Harding and Kutztown — but the last semifinal spot will go to one of two upstarts.
Both Albany State and Newberry are seeking their first D-II semifinal appearance. ASU is the projected favorite because of defensive end Derrick Drayton and a defense that allows just 13.3 points per game. Newberry, however, just upset No. 4 West Florida thanks to 416 passing yards and two touchdowns from quarterback Reed Charpia. Do the Wolves have another upset in them?
SP+ projection: Albany State by 7.3
Division III round of 16: No. 6 Saint John’s (Minn.) at No. 4 Wisconsin-River Falls (1 p.m., ESPN+). Saint John’s has been to only one semifinal since winning the 2003 D-III national title, but the Johnnies are flying thanks to quarterback Trey Feeney and an offense averaging 50.4 points per game. UWRF, meanwhile, is looking for its first quarterfinal appearance in 30 years, and Kaleb Blaha and the Falcons also wing the ball around like crazy and score lots of points (47.5 PPG)! Track meet in River Falls!
SP+ projection: Johnnies by 1.4
NAIA quarterfinals: No. 7 Lindsey Wilson at No. 1 Grand View (1 p.m., local streaming). It’s the No. 1 team in the NAIA polls vs. the No. 1 team in NAIA SP+. Grand View is NAIA’s standard bearer; the Vikings are the defending national champions and have gone a cool 83-5 since 2019. The defense allows 8.4 points per game thanks to ace pass rusher Jackson Filer (23 TFLs, 11 sacks). But Lindsey Wilson is scoring 44.8 points per game with absurd run-pass balance. And there’s a chance of afternoon snow in Des Moines!
SP+ projection: LWU by 1.5
FCS round of 16: No. 18 South Dakota State at No. 4 Montana (2 p.m., ESPN+). So is South Dakota State suddenly South Dakota State again? The Jackrabbits needed a miracle finish against North Dakota to assure themselves a spot in the playoffs, but with quarterback Chase Mason healthy and back in the lineup, they crushed New Hampshire 41-3 in last week’s first round. Mason’s in-season injury might end up being Montana’s misfortune — SDSU is unbeaten when he starts, and now the Grizzlies have to beat the Jacks just to reach the quarterfinals. Luckily they have quarterback Keali’i Ah Yat and a pretty fantastic offense themselves.
SP+ projection: Montana by 5.6
GRAPEVINE, Texas – Welcome to the College Football Playoff, Tulane.
The No. 20 Green Wave dismantled No. 24 North Texas, providing the selection committee with its first answer of conference championship weekend.
The committee gathered Friday night at its headquarters in the Gaylord Texan resort to watch Group of 5 conference championship games that will impact its final ranking on Selection Day. It was only the beginning of conference championship weekend, but how these games unfolded with the committee watching will determine its five highest-ranked conference champions — and how that order will impact the contenders around them.
Here’s an early look at what Friday night’s results meant to the playoff race, starting with the Sun Belt and the American Conference.
Tulane 34, North Texas 21
With Tulane’s win against North Texas, the American champs locked up a spot in the playoff, as they will be the committee’s fourth-highest ranked conference champion. The Green Wave will earn the No. 11 seed and face the committee’s No. 6 team on the road in the first round. If the committee keeps Ole Miss at No. 6, Tulane will get a rematch against the Rebels. Ole Miss beat Tulane 45-10 on Sept. 20 in Oxford and will have home-field advantage again as the higher seed.
James Madison 31, Troy 14
With Friday’s win against Troy, JMU‘s path to the playoff is straightforward: Duke needs to beat Virginia and win the ACC. If that happens, the committee will reward JMU with the No. 12 seed as its fifth and final conference champion — and it would come at the expense of the ACC champion, which would be excluded. The question is if the conference will be excluded entirely, though — or if No. 12 Miami will still sneak in, even without playing this weekend. That could happen if BYU loses to Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game and drops behind Miami — putting the Canes right below No. 10 Notre Dame. In that scenario, the committee could look at Miami’s season-opening win against the Irish as one of several tiebreakers it uses to separate comparable teams.
-
Andrea Adelson
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Duke coach Manny Diaz says his team has embraced all the doomsday scenarios that have been laid out this week as his 7-5 team prepares to play No. 17 Virginia in the ACC championship game.
If Duke wins the game, there is the possibility the ACC champion would get left out of the 12-team College Football Playoff, as three Group of 5 teams are ranked higher than the Blue Devils. No. 24 North Texas and No. 20 Tulane play in the American title game, while No. 25 James Madison plays Troy in the Sun Belt title game, both on Friday.
“We love it, doomsday scenario and nightmares and this and that the other,” Diaz said. “Our guys deserve to be here. That’s the first thing. There’s a notion that we won a scratch-off lottery-ticket-type deal to get here. We won by the most objective metric possible. We won the second-most games in the league, and everyone else who won the same amount of games that we won, we had the hardest schedule.
“We complain all the time about the subjectivity in college football and rankings and committees and whatnot, and this is the most objective way to determine who the champions are, and the two teams are here that deserve to be here. We’re one of them.”
Duke finished in a five-way tie in the ACC at 6-2. One of the teams that finished in that tie was No. 12 Miami (10-2), a team on the bubble for an at-large CFP berth. The Blue Devils won the fifth tiebreaker, which was conference opponent win percentage. Miami coach Dan Radakovich said earlier in the week the ACC should revisit its championship game tiebreaker policy to ensure the league was putting its “best foot forward.”
Diaz noted his team finished plus-16 in turnover margin in conference games, one of the biggest reasons it is in Charlotte.
The two teams met earlier in November, with Virginia winning 34-17. The top five conference champions are guaranteed a spot in the CFP, regardless of conference. Duke lost three nonconference games, including two on the road to teams outside the Power 4 — at Tulane and at UConn.
Diaz has remained adamant that despite seeing three Group of 5 teams ranked, if his team wins the ACC, it deserves to make the field.
He also noted the point spread in the Big Ten title game between Indiana and Ohio State is the same as the point spread in the ACC title game. Ohio State and Virginia are each favored by 4.
“Those guys in Vegas, they tend to know things,” Diaz said. “No one’s talking about how Indiana doesn’t deserve to be in the Big Ten championship game, because, of course, they do. And I think Duke deserves to be here the same exact way.”
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment3 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024