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The best upsets are the ones no one sees coming.

Northern Illinois‘ stunning defeat of Notre Dame certainly fits the bill. Just a week ago, the Irish looked like a surefire playoff team after upending Texas A&M on the road.

The best upsets aren’t about luck.

There was nothing unconventional in NIU’s game plan. The Huskies were the more physical, more fundamentally sound, more deserving team Saturday.

The best upsets cast our collective consciousness backward, toward the other moments when the seemingly impossible suddenly became real.

In this case, NIU didn’t have to work too hard. Notre Dame is good for one of these every few years.

OK, so maybe Saturday’s stunner didn’t check every box — much of the game felt like watching two aging walruses attempt to nudge each other off a rock — but after a Week 1 that was mostly chalk, it served as the first serious twist in the story of the 2024 season.

(Technically Florida State‘s Week 0 defeat was the first big upset, but the Noles’ lawyers have filed a motion to quash any mentions of the 2024 season.)

It was a fitting release for a nation primed for chaos after Saturday’s early slate teased so many near misses.

In New Orleans, Tulane had No. 17 Kansas State on the ropes well into the second half, and only a controversial penalty kept the Green Wave from tying the game in the final moment.

In Happy Valley, James Franklin tried to put to rest the narrative that he beats all the pushovers but can’t win the big one by, instead, losing to one of those pushovers. Bowling Green took a 24-20 lead well into the third quarter before No. 8 Penn State finally found its footing.

In Stillwater, Oklahoma, Bobby Petrino’s subtle attempt to orchestrate his own Macbeth-like takeover at Arkansas took some wild turns, as the Razorbacks looked poised to actually win on the road against No. 16 Oklahoma State. But the Cowboys reeled off 21 straight points to open the second half and finished off the come-from-behind win with an Ollie Gordon II touchdown in overtime.

Shortly after kickoff in South Bend, Indiana, order had been restored elsewhere, leaving the Irish center stage, just in time for the nation to watch them run headlong into a brick wall.

It was beautiful.

Not because people were eager to laugh at Notre Dame’s misfortune. That’s just a pleasant byproduct. But because, for all the excitement of the sport’s return in Week 1, the real race to the playoff doesn’t begin until we get a massive dose of the unexpected, a twist so unlikely it forces us to reconsider everything we’d held as inherently true, a moment when we all sit back and think, “Jesus, take the wheel.”

Or, maybe that only happens after watching Payton Thorne throw another interception.

The offseason, after all, is an endless parade of assurances that this ridiculous sport is still girded by some measure of logic, but deep down, we know better. Every year, some poor team wanders onto a field some September Saturday assuming the day will unfold like every Saturday before, and then some upstart from the MAC drops a piano on its head.

On this Saturday, that piano was destined to find Notre Dame.

Riley Leonard, a hero just seven days ago, threw costly interceptions.

The Notre Dame defense, which had utterly bludgeoned Texas A&M a week ago, couldn’t get off the field as Northern Illinois marched 31 yards on 11 plays, chewing up clock before ultimately booting a short field goal to take the lead with 31 seconds to play.

On a field where some of the most legendary players in the sport’s history have suited up, it was NIU’s Antario Brown who stole the spotlight with 225 total yards and a touchdown.

It would’ve been enough to shock the fans at Notre Dame Stadium to their core, if many of them hadn’t also been on hand for the Marshall or Stanford games in 2022.

But the good news for Notre Dame is, while it was the first to suffer the cruelty of college football’s fickle nature, it will not be the last.

It might be Alabama. The Tide flirted with disaster against South Florida, as Alabama put on a near shot-for-shot remake of last year’s quagmire as a gift to Nick Saban, who had the field at Bryant Denny named after him Saturday. Instead, Alabama scored 28 in the fourth quarter and won 42-16.

It might be Oklahoma. The Sooners couldn’t muster a lick of offense against lowly Houston but survived after forcing a safety on the Cougars’ last-gasp drive.

It could surely be Oregon, who for the second straight week struggled to put away a team from Idaho, needing a field goal in the final minute on Saturday to escape Boise State, 37-34. The Ducks needed a punt return and a kick return for a touchdown to stay undefeated, which is probably not ideal before they’ve played a single Big Ten game.

It might be Georgia or Ohio State or Ole Miss. They all won handily against overmatched opposition in Week 2, but the odds will shift again in the future, and eventually, we’ll be blindsided again by a score we never could’ve imagined.

That’s the other great thing about a truly stunning upset. In illuminating how wrong our assumptions were, it also serves to remind us that we’ll be wrong again.

And it will be glorious.

Jump to:
Back to the future | Vibe shifts | Cy-Hawk thriller
Tennessee-NC State takeaways | Who wants to win?
Heisman five | Leaf it to the refs | Under the radar

Back to the future

Physicist Stephen Hawking theorized that, although likely unprovable, time travel was indeed possible.

Well, he was wrong. The first two weeks of this season have proved not only that it is possible, but also that we’ve somehow all tumbled through a wormhole back to 1994.

The proof? Texas is 2-0. Nebraska is 2-0. Miami is 2-0. Also Oasis is getting back together.

The Longhorns went to Ann Arbor and dispatched Michigan with ease. Quinn Ewers threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns, the defense created three takeaways and the social media department delivered the dagger.

It was a reminder that life has changed in short order for the Wolverines, who went from a national title in January to an utter lack of identity in September. The offense has struggled under QB Davis Warren, who in ’80s movie fashion somehow was elevated from the mailroom to the C suite, possibly due to a wish on an enchanted fortune teller machine or a mannequin coming to life. The defense, supposedly a strength, did little to disrupt Texas’ attack. And head coach Sherrone Moore has been hampered by not having the signals for every opponent Michigan faces.

Nebraska’s rise back to coherence took a big step forward Saturday with a 28-10 win over Colorado. The outcome was particularly surprising to Buffs coach Deion Sanders, who felt his team dominated in all three phases of the game: TikTok, Instagram and number of players related to Deion. Instead, it was Nebraska’s freshman phenom Dylan Raiola who led the charge by throwing for 185 yards and a touchdown and winning a Patrick Mahomes lookalike contest at halftime.

And Miami kept rolling in a 56-9 dispatching of Florida A&M, rushing for 225 yards and four touchdowns.

Texas, Nebraska and Miami are all 2-0 for the first time since 2016, which as long as you don’t look up the results for the rest of that season is great news for three programs eager to return to historic success.


Week 2 vibe shifts

Each week of the college football season results not only in major shake-ups to the rankings, but also subtle tweaks that might not be so obvious. That’s why we track not just wins and losses but vibes. We’re here to capture the next big trends and anticipate the next stunning collapses before they happen.

Trending up: Champagne shortages in Central New York

After Kyle McCord threw for 354 yards and four touchdowns in a Week 1 win over Ohio, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown said he planned to send a bottle of champagne to Ohio State‘s Ryan Day for allowing McCord to hit the transfer portal.

We’ll expect a full magnum of the good stuff headed to the Buckeyes’ coach after Saturday’s performance by McCord, who threw for 381 yards and four touchdowns in an upset over No. 23 Georgia Tech. McCord is the first ACC QB to throw for 350 yards and four scores in consecutive games since Kenny Pickett did it in three straight for Pitt in 2021. He ended the season as a Heisman finalist.

Reminder: A QB can’t be a real champagne player if he didn’t transfer from the Columbus region of Ohio.

McCord was widely cast as the fall guy for Ohio State’s inability to beat Michigan last season, and the Buckeyes moved on to Kansas State transfer Will Howard, which feels a lot like taking a major media company with international name recognition and rebranding as X. But who would do that?

Regardless, Brown has Syracuse riding high at 2-0, but that’s nothing new. Syracuse is now 13-2 in August and September games since 2021. The problem? The Orange are just 7-18 after that.

Trending down: Fast-food metaphors

After a Week 1 win against West Virginia, Penn State OC Andy Kotelnicki compared his offense to a Dairy Queen Blizzard — vanilla ice cream with a few of your favorite candies mixed in — but Saturday’s performance against Bowling Green often looked more like something ordered from a late-night drive-through at 2 a.m.

Drew Allar was just 13-of-20 passing with a late interception, and Penn State trailed Bowling Green well into the second half. Luckily for Penn State, Kotelnicki remembered that Nicholas Singleton is the Twix bar of offensive mix-ins, and the tailback scored twice in the final 22 minutes of the game, including a game-clinching 41-yard scamper with 4:09 to play, and the Nittany Lions survived 34-27.

Trending up: Finding a true friend in this cruel world

It’s a cliché of melodrama to have two star-crossed lovers finally find each other, running across a verdant field or a sandy beach before a long-awaited embrace.

But change the setting to a blocked field goal return and suddenly what was once a trope of cheesy TV now feels like a heartwarming moment of pure joy.

Well, not for Baylor.

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Utah blocks a Baylor FG and returns it for a TD

After Utah blocks Jack Bouwmeester’s field goal kick, Tao Johnson returns it 77-yard for a touchdown.

The 77-yard return for the score put Utah up 7-0, and the Utes went on to win 23-12. On the downside, QB Cam Rising left the game in the second quarter with a hand injury after a shove from a Baylor defender forced him to burst through a bank of watercoolers like the Kool-Aid man. So, probably shouldn’t high-five him for a while.

But for the losing Bears, maybe the real field goal was the friends we made along the way.

Trending down: Auburn boosters’ liquid assets

There is some good news for Auburn after another embarrassing home loss, this time 21-14 to Cal. Hugh Freeze was hired in the hopes the Tigers would finally have a coach who could beat Nick Saban, and as of 2024, there’s a strong chance Auburn will not lose any more games to Saban. So, mission accomplished.

On the downside, however, Auburn does seem to be losing a whole lot to everyone else.

Payton Thorne threw four interceptions in Saturday’s loss, a seemingly adamant statement that, no, the Auburn offense won’t be much better in Year 2 under Freeze. Auburn is now 24-27 over the past five seasons, and the War Eagle has been downgraded to a pigeon with a mild gluten intolerance.

But Freeze, himself, should be particularly concerned. In his past 16 games vs. FBS competition — a span dating back to his Liberty tenure — he’s just 5-11 with two home losses to New Mexico State and an offense that has averaged less than 24 points per game.

Trending up: Fashion fights

Each year, Western Kentucky turns its home opener into a “white out,” with the team donning white helmets and jerseys and fans showing up wearing white.

And this year, Eastern Kentucky decided that it had a tradition to uphold, too: Spiting a rival over something really petty.

That the whole thing feels like the B-plot of a “Sex and the City” episode is just delightful (EKU is such a Samantha!) but the Hilltoppers got the last laugh, winning 31-0, and finally decided to settle down with Mr. Big.

Trending down: The water table in Florida

What do you have to say for yourselves now, rural Central Florida basement dwellers?

Oh, it was fun having Billy Napier to kick around for a week after Florida was trounced by Miami at home, but it just goes to show how little the basement bloggers really know. Napier was never in any real danger because former university president Ben Sasse had already used Napier’s buyout money on a walk-in humidor and a bunch of Powerball tickets.

Regardless, Napier is back on the right track after the Gators dispatched with Samford 45-7 on Saturday behind 456 yards and three touchdowns from program savior DJ Lagway. Oh, sure, Samford is an FCS team, but we bet nobody said that to Will Muschamp in 2013.

The point is, if you cellar dwellers can hear Napier over the constant humming of your dehumidifiers and the infernal chugging of your sump pump, he’s just fine in spite of what you think.

Holding steady: Dabo

Clemson utterly dominated App State on Saturday, 66-20, behind five touchdown passes from Cade Klubnik. It was a stark contrast from the Week 1 drubbing by Georgia when the offense couldn’t string together a decent drive. Clemson was so much better in Week 2, it was almost as if it had transformed somehow, stepped through some — doorway? gateway? window? — ah, we can’t think of any word that would describe moving from one unhappy place to a new, better place. Alas, Swinney wouldn’t have read it anyway.

Trending up: Pillaging mishaps

Colorado State debuted its battering ram on Saturday, and here’s an important lesson for you kids out there considering going to war with Scotland in the 15th Century: Watch the recall on these bad boys.

While we typically endorse all sideline weaponry — Oregon State‘s chainsaw, Nevada‘s trident, Brian Kelly’s temper — bruising the kidney of a random game ops guy with your battering ram continues an early season trend of epic fails for teams hoping to storm a castle after USC‘s Week 1 hype video got the history of the Trojan horse all wrong.

If this keeps up, by Week 10, Wisconsin will install an iron maiden at Camp Randall and Dabo Swinney will have accused the rest of the ACC of witchcraft.

Trending up: Celebrity naming rights

FIU kicked off its first game at the newly minted Pitbull Stadium in Week 2, demolishing Central Michigan 52-16. It was FIU’s biggest margin of victory against an FBS foe since 2019.

Clearly Mr. Worldwide was an inspiration to the Panthers, which should now be a model for other struggling programs. UMass should sell naming rights to The Pixies (or at least have them play “UMass” at halftime, it’s a banger), Akron could turn things around with a cash infusion from LeBron James, and Temple could be an American Conference contender if it played its home games at Hitchhiking Robot Memorial Stadium.


Ferentz returns, Iowa falters

Kirk Ferentz returned from a one-game suspension to much fanfare — and also 50 Cent’s “Many Men (Wish Death).” He then made it rain from the press box, which in Iowa terms translates into nine punts and less than 100 yards passing.

Still, the Hawkeyes welcomed their coach back by jumping out to a 19-7 lead midway through the third quarter — a seemingly insurmountable margin given Iowa State hadn’t topped 17 in a Cy-Hawk game since 2017.

But times are changing in Iowa. Brian Ferentz is gone, which means plenty of offensive excitement like interceptions, runs up the middle for 2 yards and all the time of possession you can stand. In other words, Iowa didn’t score again.

The Cyclones, on the other hand, found some late mojo thanks to a 75-yard TD pass from Rocco Becht to Jaylin Noel, then in keeping with state law, limited the fourth quarter to just two field goals, including a 54-yard game winner with just 6 seconds to go.

After losing six straight in the series, Iowa State has now won two of the past three meetings with Iowa. But even more embarrassing for the Hawkeyes, Iowa State also finished with 21 more punt yards.


1. Nico Iamaleava is the clear face of the Vols, and hanging more than half a hundred on a top-25 opponent is genuinely impressive, even if he wasn’t at the top of his game in Saturday’s 51-10 win. He threw for 211 yards and two touchdowns and tossed two picks.

But the real story as Tennessee sets its sights on a playoff berth — or perhaps something more — is this defense is going to be a problem for a lot of teams. James Pearce Jr. is a magnet for double-teams, but he’s hardly alone on the Vols’ front, which racked up 13 tackles for loss against the Wolfpack. In all, NC State managed just 10 first downs, 143 total yards of offense and coughed up three turnovers. And somehow it was worse than those stats suggest.

Anyway, here’s hoping for the defense to shine in some low-scoring affairs the rest of the way, because once you’ve heard “Rocky Top” for the 200th time in the same game, you really don’t need to hear it again for a while.

2. Never trust a giant tub of mayonnaise with your special lady.

3. Tubby did deliver a few boxes of mayo-infused chocolate ganache macarons to the press box at halftime. Aside from Mr. Peanut, you rarely see that type of sophistication and class in a mascot.

4. Grayson McCall‘s final line: 15-of-22 for 104 yards and a pick-six.

It’s the worst performance Tennessee fans have seen by someone with a mullet not involving Billy Ray Cyrus.

5. NC State has perpetually lived at a base camp below college football’s summit, and each time it sets off for the peak, it’s kicked back down in the most agonizing way possible. So it was again on Saturday, with the Wolfpack’s latest chance to prove they belong on the short list of playoff contenders consumed by an avalanche of turnovers and busted coverages.

That’s the nice thing about NC State. It stays the same, so the rest of us can see how far we’ve come.


Anybody want to win?

Normally, a PittCincinnati game would simply be the easiest way to measure whether it’s better to put French fries inside a sandwich or cinnamon-flavored ground beef on top of spaghetti, but Saturday’s showdown was something so much more nauseating.

First, Cincinnati used an ugly Pitt interception and a failed fourth-down try near midfield to build a 27-6 lead with less than 5 minutes to play in the third quarter. Then its defense fell apart. Pitt engineered three straight touchdown drives but opted to go for two on each of the last two scores. It failed both times, thus leaving the Bearcats ahead 27-25.

But Cincinnati looked that gift dead in the eye and said, “No, thanks.” Then it immediately got its foot stuck in a bucket and tumbled down a flight of stairs. Worse, Pitt faced a fourth-and-3 with 1:22 left to play, but Cincinnati was flagged for disconcerting signals (which, to be fair, was about the least disconcerting thing Cincinnati had done in the fourth quarter) giving the Panthers a first down and, ultimately, setting up a go-ahead field goal.

The end result: Pitt 28, Cincinnati 27. Afterward, Pat Narduzzi and Scott Satterfield retreated to the parking lot and took turns stepping on a rake.


Leaf it to the refs

Kansas State‘s offense was far from crisp early Saturday, but linebacker Austin Romaine ensured it was still salad days in Manhattan, Kansas. Lettuce tell you how the Wildcats pulled off the comeback win.

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0:40

K-State takes 4th-quarter lead on thrilling scoop-and-score

Kansas State goes ahead in the fourth quarter thanks to a clutch forced fumble, recovery and touchdown against Tulane.

Tulane was driving deep into Wildcats territory when Romaine remained as cool as an iceberg, shredding the O-line, sacking QB Darian Mensah and forcing a fumble. He scooped the ball, and with a full head of steam, he sprinted down the field endived into the end zone for the go-ahead TD. The play was downright radicchio-lous.

But lest any fans leaf early, Tulane wasn’t ready to kale it a day. Mensah wedged a throw to Yulkeith Brown just beyond the goal line for what appeared to be a game-tying touchdown, but the refs threw a flag for offensive pass interference, reversing the play before VJ Payne collard one last heave for an INT to seal the 34-27 win.

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0:38

Tulane’s late TD catch called back for offensive pass interference

Tulane nearly ties the game against Kansas State with a last-second touchdown effort, but the score gets reversed due to a pass interference call.

There’s no dressing this up: For K-State, the victory was no little gem, even if Tulane will be green with envy for weeks to come.


Heisman five

Two weeks into the season is far too soon to properly handicap the Heisman race, but it seems unlikely anyone at NC State is going to win it.

1. Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty

The best player through two weeks has unquestionably been Jeanty. After rushing for 267 yards in the opener against Georgia Southern, Jeanty came within an eyelash of pushing Boise State past No. 7 Oregon with another 200 yards of offense and three touchdowns. Jeanty’s 459 rushing yards is the most by an FBS player through two games since Navy’s Shun White had 476 in 2008.

2. Miami QB Cam Ward

Sure, Miami played FCS Florida A&M in Week 2, which was hardly a major challenge. On the other hand, the No. 12 Canes were just 13-12 as a top-12 team since 2006 entering Saturday’s action, so anything that isn’t an epic disaster seems like progress. Ward was good — 304 passing yards, four total touchdowns — but the most important takeaway is, in the year 2024, Miami is the ACC’s standard bearer. Better late than never.

3. Texas QB Quinn Ewers

Three years ago, Ewers was college football’s version of the kid who hangs out in front of a 7-11 and bums smokes off people. Now, he’s a deputy sheriff in Fansville and just shredded one of the supposed best defenses in the country. It’s affirming to see such growth in our nation’s youth.

4. Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter

He had nine catches for 89 yards, broke up a pass and had a tackle for loss. It all begs the question: Why doesn’t Colorado just build the whole team out of Travis Hunter?

5. Syracuse QB Kyle McCord

There’s a lot of John Hughes plotting to what’s happening at Syracuse right now. McCord gets dumped by the cutest girl at school (Ohio State), unexpectedly shows up at prom with one of the kids from the loser’s lunch table (Syracuse) and suddenly everyone sees things in a new light. McCord finds happiness in a relationship that isn’t purely about status, while Syracuse borrows its dad’s 1963 Corvette and starts wearing sunglasses indoors. We haven’t figured out how to get Molly Ringwald involved yet, but there’s a lot of season left to go.


Under-the-radar game of the week

It had been nearly five full years since the Division II Clarion Golden Eagles won on their home field. In the interim — a span of 1,798 days or three Ben Affleck-Jennifer Lopez marriages — we endured a global pandemic, the milk crate challenge and the entire Jeff Hafley era at Boston College.

But, thankfully, our long national nightmare is over. Clarion gave the home crowd (though no attendance was actually reported) something to cheer about, knocking off Lincoln (Pa.) University 20-9 on Thursday.

Clarion is actually off to a 2-0 start to the season, despite finishing with a losing record every year since 2015.

Clarion’s home-field win bodes well for other things that have been dormant since 2019, including Fyre Festival documentaries, basic cable and Clemson‘s offense.

So, pop on your favorite version of “Old Town Road” and crack open a White Claw. It’s feeling like old times.


Under-the-radar play of the week

There wasn’t a ton of speed on the field for Duke‘s double-OT win over Northwestern, but a rabbit loose in the end zone provided some needed athleticism in the second half.

So, to sum up: A cat mascot chasing a wild rabbit was followed immediately by a fumble that led to a game-tying field goal. After that, all that happened was a field goal with 14 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime, a 25-yard Maalik Murphy TD pass to send it to a second OT, another Murphy score and a Duke sack that sealed the game sometime around 2 a.m. Eastern, all on a field Northwestern built next to the lake using Lincoln logs and some loose wiring swiped from O’Hare Airport.

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Areas of concern: What could trip up each of our top 25 teams

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Areas of concern: What could trip up each of our top 25 teams

While optimism runs high at most every college football program this time of year, even the rosiest picture has some lurking shadows.

That is true even for the 25 teams in our post-spring Power Rankings. No matter how deep the rosters seem, everyone has some question marks or potential weak spots.

Our college football reporters take a look at the biggest areas of concern for each of the top teams, the potential Achilles’ heel that could keep them from reaching their goals for the season.

Area of concern: Wide receiver

The Nittany Lions addressed the wide receiver spot in the portal with Syracuse’s Trebor Pena and others, but until they actually elevate their production, questions will linger. Penn State has had only one wide receiver rank among the top 10 in the Big Ten in receiving in the past three seasons (Tyler Warren played tight end). Both Warren and top receiver Harrison Wallace III are gone, and Penn State needs its portal haul — Pena, a second-team All-ACC wideout in 2024, as well as Devonte Ross (Troy) and Kyron Hudson (USC) — to give quarterback Drew Allar enough capable targets this fall. Although Allar’s big-game struggles are also concerning, he hasn’t had a great group of receivers at his disposal during his Penn State career. — Adam Rittenberg


Area of concern: Running back

The position group that has been discussed more than any other since the spring at Clemson is running back — the only position on offense that loses the bulk of its production with Phil Mafah off to the NFL. But the Tigers have plenty of depth at running back, and that should help ease any concerns as they move into fall camp. Particularly because running back traditionally has been an area where Clemson has excelled, even when other groups on offense took a step back. (Clemson has had a 1,000-yard rusher 11 of the past 16 years, and that does not include 2023, when Mafah and Will Shipley split the carries nearly evenly and combined for more than 1,700 yards.) It is easy to see true freshman Gideon Davidson as a breakout player, considering the success Clemson has had with true freshman backs since Dabo Swinney arrived. Clemson also has receiver Adam Randall taking reps at running back to help round out the depth in a room that also features Keith Adams Jr. and David Eziomume. Jay Haynes continues to rehab a knee injury. — Andrea Adelson


Area of concern: Offensive line

The Longhorns lost four starters on the O-line to the NFL draft and are breaking in a new quarterback, although Arch Manning made two starts last season, as well as several key receivers with the losses of Matthew Golden, Isaiah Bond and tight end Gunnar Helm. They lost tackle Kelvin Banks Jr., the 2025 No. 9 draft pick, but Trevor Goosby got some key playing time last year at the position when Banks was injured. The Longhorns also lost 56-game starter Jake Majors at center and face Ohio State in Week 1, posing a quick learning curve for an almost completely new offensive line group. — Dave Wilson


Area of concern: Pass rush

The Bulldogs lost six veteran contributors on their front seven on defense, none more important than edge rushers Jalon Walker, Mykel Williams and Chaz Chambliss. Walker and Williams were first-round picks in the NFL draft, and Chambliss was an unheralded contributor over four seasons. They combined for 18 sacks and 28.5 tackles for loss in 2024. Making matters worse, Damon Wilson, a projected replacement on the edge, transferred to Missouri. Georgia feels good about Gabe Harris Jr., and it added Army transfer Elo Modozie, who had 6.5 sacks for the Black Knights last season. — Mark Schlabach


Area of concern: Quarterback

Quarterback Will Howard was everything the Buckeyes could have hoped for last year in his lone season at Ohio State. He was spectacular during the College Football Playoff, posting a QBR of 97.2 over four games during the Buckeyes’ march to the national championship. With Howard now in the NFL, the Buckeyes will be turning to either former five-star freshman Julian Sayin or Lincoln Kienholz this season, pending who wins the job during camp. Throwing to all-world wideout Jeremiah Smith will bolster whomever the starting quarterback winds up being. But even with Smith and All-American safety Caleb Downs anchoring each side of the ball, it’s difficult envisioning the Buckeyes truly contending again unless Ohio State gets good-to-great quarterback play like it did last season. — Jake Trotter


Area of concern: Offensive line

I don’t know that LSU has to necessarily worry about the offensive line because of moves made this offseason, but it has to be something to keep an eye on just because of the magnitude of the losses. The Tigers had one of the best tackle duos in all of college football last season in Will Campbell and Emery Jones, who were first- and third-round NFL draft picks. They lost four starters across the line in total. DJ Chester and Tyree Adams are back in different spots, while Brian Kelly added Braelin Moore from Virginia Tech. — Harry Lyles Jr.


Area of concern: Tight end

Since 2011, the Fighting Irish have had a whopping 10 tight ends selected in the NFL draft, including last season’s leading receiver, Mitchell Evans, who had 43 catches for 421 yards with three touchdowns. While the Irish feel they’ve upgraded their wide receiver group with the additions of Virginia transfer Malachi Fields and Wisconsin’s Will Pauling, tight end remains a bit of a question mark heading into preseason camp. Senior Eli Raridon has the size (6-foot-7) and hands to excel at the position, but he was plagued by injuries during his first couple of college seasons, after tearing an ACL as a freshman. He had 11 catches for 90 yards with two touchdowns in 2024. The status of another tight end, Cooper Flanagan, who tore his left Achilles tendon in the Sugar Bowl, is in question. — Mark Schlabach


Area of concern: Defensive line

It’s hard to say whether this is an area of concern just yet, but there are question marks with Oregon’s defensive line as the Ducks lost both Derrick Harmon and Jordan Burch from last year (as well as Jamaree Caldwell). Defensive end is a strength with Matayo Uiagalelei holding down the edge, but the rest of the line will require some newcomers to step up, such as USC transfer Bear Alexander and rising lineman Aydin Breland, who could be in line for a breakout season. A’mauri Washington, one of the few returning players, will likely be a fixture of the new-look line as well. — Paolo Uggetti


Area of concern: Pass rush

Alabama finished 13th in the SEC last season in quarterback sacks, and while sacks aren’t the end-all when it comes to rushing the passer, the Crimson Tide need to be more consistent in getting to the opposing quarterback. There’s not a pure edge pass rusher in the mold of Will Anderson Jr. or Dallas Turner on this roster, meaning Alabama will need to get more pressure from its interior linemen and perhaps a breakout season from redshirt sophomore outside linebacker Qua Russaw. — Chris Low


Area of concern: Quarterback

When the season ended, quarterback figured to be an obvious strength for BYU considering Jake Retzlaff was set to return. But with him expected to transfer as of late June, the Cougars are left without an established starter. McCae Hillstead showed flashes at Utah State in 2023, Treyson Bourguet started eight games in two years for Western Michigan and true freshman Bear Bachmeier was a big-time recruit who enrolled briefly at Stanford earlier this offseason before leaving for Provo. The expectation is that all three will have a chance to earn the starting job in fall camp, without a clear-cut front-runner. — Kyle Bonagura


Area of concern: Offensive explosiveness

The Illini had a good and efficient offense in 2024, but they weren’t particularly explosive, tying for 64th nationally in plays of 10 yards or longer and tying for 66th in plays of 20 yards or longer. Although quarterback Luke Altmyer and a veteran offensive line return, Illinois needs to replace its top two receivers in Pat Bryant and Zakhari Franklin, who are off to the NFL, and leading rusher Josh McCray, who transferred to Georgia. Offensive coordinator Barry Lunney thinks Collin Dixon, who averaged 14.7 yards per catch in limited work last fall, and incoming freshman Brayden Trimble can spark the offense. “Overall, we’re going to have a little bit more vertical speed in what we’re doing to stretch the defense than what we did,” Lunney told me. “That’s no slight on Zakhari or Pat at all. Those were just kind of bigger, stronger guys.” — Rittenberg


Area of concern: Pass rush

ASU’s late-season surge, from a decent team to one capable of coming within one play of the CFP semifinals, took place primarily thanks to players who are returning in 2025. Obviously losing star running back Cam Skattebo hurts, but the Sun Devils have some of the best overall returning production numbers in the country. We don’t know that they have a pass rush, though. It was an issue last season — ASU ranked just 110th in sacks per dropback — and while both of their sacks leaders (Clayton Smith and Elijah O’Neal) return, that duo combined for just 8.5 sacks between them. Kenny Dillingham evidently thought he had the answers in house, as he didn’t add a single edge rusher in the transfer portal, but while the secondary is sound and experienced, giving QBs too much time to find receivers can bring down even the most seasoned defense. — Bill Connelly


Area of concern: Defensive front

What was perhaps South Carolina’s biggest strength last season could be its biggest concern going into 2025. Gone up front are stalwarts Kyle Kennard, Bam Martin-Scott, Demetrius Knight and TJ Sanders, among others. That left a lot of holes to fill, and the Gamecocks largely addressed them by hitting the portal hard. Rising star Dylan Stewart will be the flashiest player and Bryan Thomas is the lone established senior, with transfers Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy, Davonte Miles and Justin Okoronkwo filling a big void. But perhaps the biggest name to know is sophomore Fred “JayR” Johnson, a rangy linebacker with lauded leadership skills who South Carolina hopes will blossom into the centerpiece of the defense after playing a small role as a freshman in 2024. — David Hale


Area of concern: Wide receiver

With receivers Jaylin Noel and Jayden Higgins both off to the NFL — having been drafted by the Houston Texans in back-to-back rounds — receiver is a good place to start. Noel and Higgins combined for nearly 2,400 receiving yards last season and that type of production will need to be replaced by more than just two players. But even with those holes to fill, the lack of a pass rush last season remains a glaring question mark. If the Cyclones can’t improve upon their conference-worst sack total, it’s hard to see how they can make a run at the Big 12 title, especially given the unknowns at receiver. — Bonagura


Area of concern: Defensive line

One of the most underappreciated keys to SMU’s playoff run last season was the veteran talent up front on defense. Elijah Roberts, Jared Harrison-Hunte and Jahfari Harvey all came from Miami and had multiple years as a starter under their belts in 2024. There won’t be nearly so much experience this year. Add in the departures of Ahmad Walker and Kobe Wilson at linebacker, and there’s a vacuum waiting to be filled in terms of leadership. SMU does return safety Isaiah Nwokobia, who was an All-ACC performer last season, and there’s buzz surrounding East Carolina transfer Zakye Barker at linebacker, but establishing some key voices — and performers — on the D-line remains a question. — Hale


Area of concern: Defense

Does the defensive makeover actually work? The Red Raiders’ D can’t get much worse than what it was in 2024, and that’s not hyperbole. Texas Tech finished 126th in total defense in 2024. The secondary was 132nd in passing yards per game. Shiel Wood takes over as defensive coordinator, and there have been tons of portal additions to this side of the ball. Players such as Stanford linebacker David Bailey and Georgia Tech end Romello Height stand out, along with five transfer defensive backs. There’s really only one way for this group to go, and it’s up. — Lyles Jr.


Area of concern: Defense

Despite the fact that talented defensive end Mikail Kamara is returning, the transfer-heavy unit that allowed the fewest rushing yards per game in the Big Ten last season lost some key contributors. Gone to the NFL are CJ West and James Carpenter, and while Indiana did not hesitate to dip into the transfer portal to reload with players such as Hosea Wheeler (Western Kentucky), Stephen Daley (Kent State), Dominique Ratcliff (Texas State) and Kellan Wyatt (Maryland), one of the Hoosiers’ strongest position groups last year has a lot to prove and live up to in 2025. — Uggetti


Area of concern: Stopping big plays

K-State’s offense was delightfully explosive last season, but the defense often gave up as many big plays as the offense created. The Wildcats blitzed a lot and harassed QBs well, but they ranked 110th in Total QBR allowed and 107th in completions of 10 or more yards allowed. That’s a concern considering the defense lost both leading pass rusher Brendan Mott and four of last year’s five starters in the secondary. Defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman might have to fiddle with the risk-reward balance to get the most out of this defense and help the Wildcats contend in the ultracompetitive Big 12. — Connelly


Area of concern: Wide receiver

One of the reasons Florida is expected to improve in 2025 is because of the talent that quarterback DJ Lagway brings. But the Gators’ top receivers from last season, Elijhah Badger and Chimere Dike, left for the NFL. Eugene Wilson III is back, but also coming off season-ending hip surgery. It will be up to Vernell Brown III, Dallas Wilson, Naeshaun Montgomery and J. Michael Sturdivant (UCLA transfer) to help establish themselves. — Lyles Jr.


Area of concern: Wide receiver

The Wolverines ranked 129th last season with just 1,678 passing yards. Quarterback play was part of the issue, as Michigan cycled through three quarterbacks (Davis Warren, Jack Tuttle and Alex Orji) in its first season after losing national champion JJ McCarthy. But Michigan’s receivers collectively didn’t make enough plays, as no wideout caught more than 27 passes or totaled more than 248 yards. The onus will be even greater on Michigan’s receivers with tight end Colston Loveland — the Wolverines’ only reliable target last year — now playing for the Chicago Bears. Instant impact from transfers Anthony Simpson (UMass) and Donaven McCulley (Indiana), combined with internal improvement from the likes of Fredrick Moore and Semaj Morgan, will be paramount if Michigan is going to threaten opposing defensive backfields in 2025. — Trotter


Area of concern: Linebacker

The Hurricanes did another fantastic job shoring up positions across the roster in the transfer portal, especially considering how much turnover they had from last season. But if there is one position that still has some questions, it is linebacker, mainly because depth may become an issue as the season wears on. Miami returns three key veterans in Wesley Bissainthe, Jaylin Alderman and Popo Aguirre, and signed NC State transfer Kamal Bonner and Rutgers transfer Mo Toure. Miami often looked slow and out of position at linebacker last season, but the new scheme from defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman should help. The player to keep an eye on here is Toure, whom Hetherman coached while he was at Rutgers. Toure is coming off a knee injury (his second torn ACL in three years), but his potential to fit into this defense, considering his past with Hetherman, is huge. — Adelson


Area of concern: Defensive end

For the past three years, Louisville was able to rely on a genuine star off the edge in Ashton Gillotte, who racked up 21.5 sacks from 2022-24. Gillotte is off to the NFL now, a third-round pick by the Chiefs. That leaves a major void at defensive end. Louisville has a couple of transfers — Wesley Bailey from Rutgers and Clev Lubin from Coastal Carolina — hoping to fill the void, but the strength of the D-line will certainly be on the interior, where the Cards have much more established depth. As Louisville works to remedy issues defending the pass, finding someone — or, ideally, a few guys — who can get after the QB will be one of the most critical jobs for the defense as it prepares for 2025. — Hale


Area of concern: Wide receiver

Just like last season, a big question for the Aggies’ potential is how their wide receiver room will shake out. The Aggies lost Noah Thomas, a bright spot in an otherwise spotty position for A&M and new offensive coordinator Collin Klein, to Georgia after Thomas caught 39 passes for 574 yards and eight touchdowns last year. No other player caught more than two TDs or eclipsed 400 yards on the season as the Aggies fought through a QB change from Conner Weigman to Marcel Reed. This year, the Aggies are looking toward NC State transfer KC Concepcion (71 catches, 839 yards, 10 TDs in 2023, 53-460-6 last year), Mississippi State transfer Mario Craver (17-368-3 as a freshman), as well as returners Ashton Bethel-Roman, 6-2, 220-pound freshman four-star recruit Jerome Myles and dynamic 2024 five-star recruit Terry Bussey, who played something of an all-purpose role last year. As this group goes, so will Reed and the offense. — Wilson


Area of concern: Quarterback

Austin Simmons seems like a talented individual — we’re talking about someone who is athletically gifted enough to play baseball for Ole Miss as well. But anytime you are replacing one of the better quarterbacks in your conference, in this case Jaxson Dart, who was a first-round NFL draft pick, there has to be some level of concern. But from what we’ve seen out of Simmons, there’s promise. His drive against Georgia last season, where he led a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to tie the game while Dart was injured, should give the Ole Miss faithful something to be excited about. — Lyles Jr.


Area of concern: Tight end

It’s been a struggle at tight end for the Sooners, and there’s again uncertainty around the position heading into the 2025 season. Granted, there was plenty of blame to go around for Oklahoma’s struggles on offense last season, but finding more consistency at tight end in both the receiving and blocking categories would be a big boost for an offense that has tons of new faces. There isn’t a definitive starter at tight end entering preseason camp. Transfers Will Huggins (Kansas and Pittsburg State) and Carson Kent (Kennesaw State) are expected to battle with converted linebacker Jaren Kanak for the job. — Low

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UCF’s Frost: Nebraska job ‘wasn’t a good move’

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UCF's Frost: Nebraska job 'wasn't a good move'

FRISCO, Texas — Scott Frost’s celebrated return as coach at UCF comes with the backdrop of a failed tenure at Nebraska, the alma mater he said he didn’t want to talk about at Big 12 football media days Tuesday. Even though he did.

Frost said, “I really want to keep it about UCF,” just a few hours after telling a reporter from The Athletic that he never wanted to take the Nebraska job in the first place coming off a 13-0 season in 2017 that sparked debate about whether the Knights should have had a chance to play for the national championship in the four-team playoff.

“I said I wouldn’t leave unless it was someplace you could win a national championship,” Frost told The Athletic. “I got tugged in a direction to try to help my alma mater and didn’t really want to do it. It wasn’t a good move. I’m lucky to get back to a place where I was a lot happier.”

When the same reporter asked Frost in a one-on-one interview what he learned from his time in Nebraska, the former Cornhuskers quarterback said, “Don’t take the wrong job.”

Frost’s tone was quite a bit different in two settings with reporters at the 12,000-seat indoor stadium that is also a practice field for the Dallas Cowboys.

“When you go through something that doesn’t work, just ready for another chance, and I’m ready for another chance,” Frost said. “This is about the Big 12. This is about UCF. Everybody has success in life and has failures in life, for all sorts of different reasons. I’m excited to get back in a place where my family and I get treated well.”

Frost inherited an 0-12 team at UCF and turned it into an undefeated American Athletic Conference champion in only two years. Nebraska fans were ecstatic when he made the move 20 years after leading the Cornhuskers to a perfect 1997 season and a split national title with Michigan in the final season before a championship game was established.

Three games into his fifth season in Lincoln, Frost was fired with a 16-31 record. Almost three full college seasons later, it’s back to Orlando — after one year working under Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay.

“I really enjoyed two years off,” Frost said. “I got to spend a whole year with Ashley and the [three] kids, and I’ll never get that time back. I played more catch with my son and touch football in the yard with him and going to little league and seeing my daughter do gymnastics. And then some time out in L.A. really, really helped reset me, too.”

Images endure of Frost celebrating a 34-27 Peach Bowl victory over Auburn that clinched UCF’s perfect 2017 season almost a month after he had been named the coach at Nebraska.

Fast-forward almost eight years, and Frost was delaying a scheduled roundtable with reporters to take a few pictures with the players he brought with him to media days.

“Yeah, being around the guys,” Frost said of that moment. “I’m sorry, I’d rather be around the guys than you guys.”

And there are times when Frost brings up the old days with his new guys.

“We talk to them about all those things,” Frost said. “What happened in 2017 is at times relevant, but this is a new team. So we only point those things out, not to live in the past, but just to help them with any lessons that we want to learn.”

Frost wasn’t sharing the lessons he learned in Nebraska with everyone.

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Big 12’s Yormark ‘doubling down’ on 5+11 model

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Big 12's Yormark 'doubling down' on 5+11 model

FRISCO, Texas — Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is “doubling down” on the so-called 5+11 future College Football Playoff format, while acknowledging that it might benefit his league more in the future than currently.

The Big 12 and ACC have pushed the model, which would award automatic bids to the five highest-rated conference champions, plus 11 at-large bids determined by the CFP selection committee. The 5+11 model gained some support at the SEC’s spring meetings, while the Big Ten has focused more on a model that would award four automatic bids to Big Ten teams and to SEC teams, plus two apiece to the Big 12 and the ACC.

Yormark, his fellow commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua must determine the CFP format for 2026 and beyond by Dec. 1.

The Big 12 had only one representative, champion Arizona State, in the inaugural 12-team CFP last year. Arizona State lost to Texas in two overtimes in a CFP quarterfinal matchup at the Peach Bowl.

“Five-11 is fair,” Yormark said Tuesday in his opening address at Big 12 media days at The Star. “We want to earn it on the field. It might not be the best solution today for the Big 12 … but long-term, knowing the progress we’re making, the investments we’re making, it’s the right format for us. And I’m doubling down today on 5+11.”

Yormark added that he expects ACC commissioner Jim Phillips to take the same position when that league holds its media days this month in Charlotte, North Carolina. The ACC sent two teams, champion Clemson and runner-up SMU, to the 12-team playoff last year. Yormark touted the Big 12 as the “deepest football conference in America” and said he believes the league will have multiple CFP entries this season.

“I have a lot of faith in the selection process,” Yormark said. “They are doing a full audit of the selection process to figure out how they can modernize and contemporize and how they use data and how certain metrics can be more heavily weighted.”

Yormark told ESPN that he’s “relatively confident” that the CFP will go to 16 teams in 2026 and laid out the next steps to making it happen.

“The first step is we got to figure out, with the selection process, we’re kind of doing a deep dive,” he said. “Where can we improve it? Where can we modernize it? Are we using the right metrics? Are things weighted appropriately or not? So we’re going through that conversation, and I think on the heels of that, we’ll move into the format because I think for the room people need to get confident, more confident, in that selection process. And assuming they do, which I’m confident they will, we’ll be able to then address the format that makes sense.”

In March, the CFP named a Big 12 athletic director, Baylor’s Mack Rhoades, as the chair of its selection committee. Yormark said that in addition to schedule strength, “new metrics” will be added to the selection process to ensure fairness to all conferences.

The Big 12 will have the Week 0 stage as Iowa State and Kansas State renew their rivalry in Dublin. Other key nonleague Big 12 matchups include Baylor-Auburn, Baylor-SMU and Iowa State-Iowa.

“I’m confident we’ll get to the right place,” Yormark said. “And ultimately, I’m confident we’ll go to 5+11.”

ESPN’s Pete Thamel contributed to this report.

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