Best of Week 10: Ohio State’s erratic win, Georgia survives and Pavia-Vandy dominance
-
David Hale, ESPN Staff Writer
In a season littered with unlikely twists, in a sport defined of late by overwhelming change, it’s nice to know some things remain as steadfastly certain as the morning sunrise.
Well, unless you’re a Penn State fan.
On the surface, we had a top-five showdown of Big Ten powers to headline Week 10, but it hardly felt like the Penn State-Ohio State matchups of old. This is, of course, a new-look Big Ten, and Ohio State had already suffered the consequences of expansion three weeks ago in a narrow loss to Oregon, as Will Howard slid too late and the clock ran out on any comeback bid. The Buckeyes arrived in Happy Valley as a case study in modern college football economics, too, sporting a roster valued at roughly the gross domestic product of Luxembourg. Penn State, too, was billed as a new-look version of its former self, one bolstered by a more creative offense led by new coordinator and Dairy Queen enthusiast Andy Kotelnicki, who promised to avoid the same malaise that had dogged the program in so many prior top-10 matchups and offer, instead, the occasional open receiver.
And yet, what we got — an erratic, exhilarating, physical 20-13 Ohio State win — looked just like old times, for better and for worse.
Never mind that the offensive line was patched together with duct tape and popsicle sticks, like some sort of HGTV rehab project property owners can’t wait to flip. The front still won every consequential battle in the trenches, turning third-and-short into a near automatic first down again and again, devouring clock like it was Halloween candy, including an 11-play drive that began at the Buckeyes’ 1 and soaked up the final 5:13 and included two critical third-and-short conversions. The defense, meanwhile, utterly flummoxed Penn State yet again, taking away any threat of a downfield attack and stonewalling the Nittany Lions at the goal line twice, including on four straight plays from inside the 3 late in the fourth quarter.
When Penn State hired Kotelnicki this offseason, it was with the expressed purpose of scripting a new game plan for exactly this moment. Again and again under James Franklin, the Lions have come up short against the top teams in the Big Ten, including, now, a 1-10 record against Ohio State. In Greek mythology, Sisyphus is punished by the gods for tormenting guests to his kingdom, doomed to a life pushing a boulder up a hill, only to see it roll back down the other side, on through eternity. It would be an apt analogy for Franklin’s career at Penn State, except the Nittany Lions are always so welcoming when Ohio State or Michigan come to town. The only explanation is that this is punishment for making Vanderbilt good in the 2010s, and someone should tell Clark Lea to cool it before he ends up going 9-3 at USC for a decade straight.
For Day, this wasn’t the ultimate referendum on what has been a spectacular, though incomplete, résumé at Ohio State, but it was a needed win after the stumble at Oregon. His success is not measured by mere victories, but in how many of the tallest mountains he has scaled, and while Penn State is hardly his Everest, it wasn’t a face-plant down a flight of stairs either.
It was a game between two quarterbacks who grew up dreaming of playing on the opposite sideline — Ohio native Drew Allar for the Lions against Pennsylvania native Will Howard for the Buckeyes. Of course, all residents of Ohio and Pennsylvania ultimately hope to move to a condo in Boca Raton, but these guys at least hoped to stay close to home for college. Neither was spectacular Saturday, and each threw a critical interception — Allar’s on a wacky play at the back of the end zone and Howard’s on a brutal pick-six throw that begged for the losing-contestant jingle from “The Price is Right” to be played over any subsequent replays — but it was Howard who prevailed and, like in the Oregon game, scrambled and slid late to run out the clock. This time, a celebration followed the final ticks.
It was a game that, at least in practical terms, meant little for the Big Ten race or the College Football Playoff. Oregon and Indiana are now the league’s lone undefeated teams, but Ohio State and Penn State still seem all but certain to land a bid in the playoff. And yet, each yard Saturday felt important, each play a chapter in an epic tome about two coaches hoping to avoid another pitfall and two teams looking to prove something significant — to themselves as much as to the rest of the college football world.
Perhaps that’s the real takeaway from Ohio State’s performance Saturday. Yes, it felt in some ways like a cut-and-paste to games past, when the Buckeyes enforced their will and the Nittany Lions fought against the impending darkness; when Day proved once again why he’s Ohio State’s best chance at a national title and Franklin shoved that boulder a few more inches up the hill, knowing full well the abyss that awaited on the other side. It’s a movie we’ve seen before, but it’s always nice to rewatch the classics.
Jump to:
Five unbeatens left | Texas A&M gets trapped | Miami throttles Duke
Throwing Darts | Pavia 3-0 vs. Freeze | Georgia holds off Florida
Vibe shifts | Playoff check-in |Heisman five | Under the radar
And then there were five
Iowa State and Pitt both went down in Week 10, leaving just five remaining unbeaten teams in FBS.
The Cyclones had lived much of the season like your buddy who you leave broke at the casino only to find him at the breakfast buffet the next morning with a mile-high stack of waffles and a fistful of hundreds. On Saturday, their luck finally came to an end against Texas Tech. Rocco Becht led a touchdown drive to take a 22-17 lead with 2:11 to play, but the Red Raiders wouldn’t go away, marching 71 yards in 1:47 to pull out the 23-22 win.
Pitt enjoyed no such drama. The Panthers’ trip to SMU was an unmitigated disaster, with the ground game stifled, Eli Holstein struggling, and not a single barbecue spot in Dallas that would put French fries on a brisket sandwich. Brashard Smith was the star of the game, carrying 23 times for 161 yards and two touchdowns in the 48-25 win.
With those two losses, Oregon, BYU, Miami, Army and Indiana are the last remaining teams without a defeat.
Army upended Air Force 20-3 on Saturday, despite playing without QB Bryson Daily. Instead, the Black Knights relied on tailback Kanye Udoh, who carried 22 times for 158 yards and two scores. Army still has not trailed in a game this season.
Indiana entered Week 10 without playing from behind either, but Michigan State jumped out to a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. But Kurtis Rourke decided to start trying in the second quarter, and things got ugly from there. Rourke finished with 263 yards passing and four touchdowns and the Hoosiers rolled to a 47-10 win. Indiana is 8-0 an is winning by an average of 33 points per game.
Week 9 ended with Texas A&M establishing itself as a frontrunner to make the SEC title game. Week 10 ended with the Aggies pancaked against a brick wall named LaNorris Sellers.
The Aggies defense got to Sellers often, but routinely bounced off the South Carolina QB like a toddler running into blimp, and the Gamecocks turned those frustrations into a chorus of big plays. South Carolina didn’t allow a sack, ran for 286 yards — including 106 from Sellers — and ran away with a 44-20 win.
Marcel Reed, who torched LSU last week with his legs, rushed for just 46 yards in the game, and the defense surrendered 530 yards to the Gamecocks — 101 more than it had allowed in a game all year.
The result left Aggies fans stunned, trying desperately to figure out how this was Jimbo Fisher’s fault, while Shane Beamer now has the Gamecocks at 5-3 and all but assured a bowl bid with FCS Wofford still on the slate.
Miami mauls Manny
With 13:51 to play in the game, Duke kicked a field goal to pull to within 1 of Miami. Eight minutes of game time later, the Canes were up 53-31, marking the second-most unpleasant thing Miami has done to Manny Diaz in the past three years.
Diaz, who coached at Miami, first as a defensive coordinator and then as head coach, from 2016-2021, made his return to South Florida with his 6-2 Duke team and, for three quarters at least, put up a good fight.
The problem? Cam Ward is a magician.
Just some more Cam Ward magic for your timeline 🪄
📺: ABC #GoCanes | #HE1SMAN pic.twitter.com/OpPUUF7iQX
— Miami Hurricanes Football (@CanesFootball) November 2, 2024
Ultimately, Ward threw for 400 yards and five touchdowns, pulled a live rabbit out of his helmet and sawed Mario Cristobal in half.
Miami’s defense continues to be a concern, however. The Canes allowed 325 yards passing to Maalik Murphy, but also picked him off three times to escape trouble. That they didn’t break out the turnover chain after each one to taunt their former coach did feel like a missed opportunity though.
Throwing Darts
For much of the season, Ole Miss had been the chief culprit in using fake injuries to gain an advantage in games, but last week, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey sent a letter to schools alerting them the practice must stop immediate or there would be fines and, possibly, suspensions. And yet, not even that warning could stop Arkansas‘ defense from rolling over and playing dead on Saturday.
Jaxson Dart threw for 515 yards and six touchdowns in Ole Miss’s rollicking 63-31 win, becoming the first SEC player ever with six TDs, no picks and more than 500 passing yards, according to ESPN Research. The bulk of Dart’s production was shared with receiver Jordan Watkins, who hauled in eight catches for 254 yards and five touchdowns.
After the game, Lane Kiffin praised his team’s emphatic performance and warned Sam Pittman to avoid any airport tarmacs for a few days.
Pavia’s sweet home
Diego Pavia threw for two touchdowns as Vanderbilt upended Auburn 17-7 on Saturday, Pavia’s third win in as many years against Tigers’ head coach Hugh Freeze.
At New Mexico State in 2022, Pavia was a 23-point underdog against Freeze’s Liberty and won 49-14. In 2023, Pavia led the Aggies into Auburn, where Freeze had taken over as head coach, as a 25-point underdog and walked out with a 31-10 win. Then Saturday, Vandy was an 8.5-point underdog at Auburn and won again. Aside from Houston Nutt’s lawyers, no one has caused more damage to Freeze’s career than Pavia.
Pavia is also now 3-0 career against teams from the state of Alabama, and he became just the 13th QB in the past 20 years to pick up wins against Auburn and the Tide in the same season, joining stars like Joe Burrow, Johnny Manziel and Matthew Stafford and somehow also Mitch Mustain.
Vandy is now bowl eligible for the first time since 2018 and has won four SEC games for the first time since 2013, when James Franklin was head coach. So, at least Franklin is being mentioned in something positive today.
It’d be easy enough to come away from Saturday’s latest installment of the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party wondering what’s wrong with Georgia. Certainly the offense has sputtered at times, and Carson Beck once again threw three picks, bringing his season tally to 11. The lackluster performance against Florida follows similar games against Kentucky and Mississippi State, along with a first half against Alabama so dismal it cost the Dawgs the game.
But the most logical explanation is Georgia wanted to toy with Billy Napier.
With a little more than 4 minutes to play, Florida was tied with Georgia at 20, and Napier was poised to save his job.
The Gators were riddled with injuries, losing QB DJ Lagway with a hamstring issue, and were forced to survive with a number of backups and a few of the guys working for the moving company who were packing up Napier’s stuff in anticipation of a blowout loss. It wasn’t always pretty.
0:32
Florida botches the FG and Georgia recovers in great field position
Florida mishandles the field goal snap and Georgia recovers the ball in Florida territory.
Still, Florida kept hanging around. But this is how Georgia rolls. It toys with teams, gives them a false sense of confidence, then sneaks up behind them and pulls their underwear up over their head.
After Florida tied the game, Georgia engineered a 75-yard touchdown drive, picked off QB Aidan Warner one play later, then scored again to turn the close game into a blowout.
Week 10 vibe shifts
Each week, the college football landscape is reordered by surprising outcomes in big games. But many smaller shifts take place, too. We track them here.
Trending down: Big 12 preseason favorites
In the preseason Big 12 media poll, the top five were Utah, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Arizona.
At least K-State looks good.
It’s been a nightmare for the rest of the group, including Arizona’s 56-12 dismantling by UCF and Oklahoma State’s 42-21 loss to Arizona State on Saturday.
Along with Kansas and Utah, those four teams are now a combined 12-22 overall and just 3-18 in Big 12 play.
Trending down: Love for Lincoln
The Lincoln Riley-USC relationship appears to be destined to end in tragedy.
Miller Moss threw three picks, and USC lost for the fifth time in its past seven games, falling to Washington 26-21 on Saturday. The Trojans are now 4-5 overall and 2-5 in Big Ten play. Worse, USC is now 5-11 in its last 16 overall after Riley opened his tenure there by winning 17 of his first 20.
The remainder of the schedule — vs. Nebraska, at UCLA and hosting Notre Dame — makes a bowl bid a possibility but far from a certainty.
Riley has already cut off practice access to the media and he has cut back on player interviews, too. His next move is to cut back on players’ screen time, have the media report all stories via Morse code and cancel Moss’s birthday party. Sure, the deposit on the clown is non-refundable, but drastic times call for drastic measures.
Trending up: Points for Iowa
Iowa trounced Wisconsin 42-10 on Saturday, crossing an unlikely threshold in the process.
Iowa has now scored 40+ points in a game 4 times in 2024.
It’s the 1st time since 2016 the Hawkeyes have scored 40+ points in 4 games in a year.
It’s also the 1st time since 2011 Iowa has scored 40+ points in 3 straight homes games.
Offensive explosion. pic.twitter.com/JTJFW05fdj
— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) November 3, 2024
Iowa has now scored 277 points this year, or one-and-a-half Brian Ferentzes, if you’re keeping track at home. More troubling, the Hawkeyes are averaging just four punts per game, which may be a violation of the Geneva Convention.
It should be noted, however, that Iowa has scored 111 more points through nine games than it did last year, but it has lost one more game than it had at this point last season. So let that be a lesson to you, Florida State. Be careful wishing for too much offense.
Trending up: Oklahoma‘s offense
Here’s a fun fact: Oklahoma has averaged 36.5 points per game over its past two. Now, please don’t dig any deeper into that statistic.
The Sooners got 203 yards and three touchdowns from Jovantae Barnes, while QB Jackson Arnold threw two touchdowns and went the entire game without splitting his pants or falling asleep in the huddle. In other words, it was an incredibly good day for Oklahoma’s offense. Yes, it was against Maine, which is technically an FCS team, but there are only roughly 45 people who live in Maine, so we assume at least half its defense is just moose and bears, which can’t be easy to run against.
Trending up: Boat rowing
After an ugly 2-3 start to the season, PJ Fleck has the Golden Gophers riding high. Minnesota knocked off No. 24 Illinois — its second ranked win in four weeks — 25-17 behind 131 yards and a touchdown from tailback Darius Taylor.
Minnesota lost on a late missed kick in the opener against North Carolina and lost by 3 to Michigan in a game it allowed just 241 yards early in the year, but the Gophers have rebounded by winning four straight and now look like the clear-cut No. 5 team in the Big Ten, which is essentially the same as being the fifth-best member of Van Halen. Sure, most folks stop counting after Sammy Hagar, but nobody wants to be behind Gary Cherone.
Trending down: Nebraska‘s bowl hopes
The Huskers, once 5-1 and ranked in the top 25, have now lost three straight after falling 27-20 to lowly UCLA on Saturday.
Nebraska looked all but assured to make its first bowl game since 2016 this year, but suddenly the odds aren’t quite so good. This was the Huskers’ 36th one-possession loss since that last bowl game, seven more than any other FBS team and 13 more than the next Big Ten school.
The remaining slate — at USC, vs. Wisconsin and at Iowa — offers no easy wins, so it could be an uphill battle to snatch victory No. 6. On the plus side for Nebraska, no one there expects good things to happen to them anymore anyway.
Trending down: FSU’s bragging rights
A quick refresher on Florida State‘s season: The Noles opened No. 10 nationally, lost in Ireland to Georgia Tech, lost later to Mike Norvell’s former school, lost badly to rival Miami and lost for the first time in program history to Duke.
But at least there was still some positive history on FSU’s side Saturday, as Mack Brown and North Carolina came to town. Brown is an FSU alum, but he has never beaten his alma mater, and certainly the Seminoles would be motivated to keep that streak alive and — sorry, we’re being told Omarion Hampton just scored again.
Indeed, Hampton and the Heels romped, 35-11, handing Brown his first win against Florida State in 12 chances as a head coach dating back to 1985. Next, Florida State plans to announce that “Smokey and the Bandit II” wasn’t really that good, thus flushing yet another piece of its rich history down the drain.
No matter how many times we’ve assumed they’ve hit rock bottom, these Noles just keep digging. You really have to admire their determination.
Taking the temperature of the top 12
On Tuesday, we get our first College Football Playoff rankings. To prep you for this big event, let’s take a deep dive into the biggest questions facing the committee as it meets in its secret lair behind Greg Sankey’s pool house this week.
Is Oregon the clear-cut No. 1?
At this point, it seems tough to argue. Oregon is simply demoralizing opponents, as it did to Michigan on Saturday, 38-17. Of course, Michigan has been demoralized plenty lately. The Wolverines QB carousel continued against the Ducks, with Davis Warren and Alex Orji subbing in and out, and neither finding much of a rhythm. This comes a week after former starter Jack Tuttle medically retired and several other members of the depth chart started a commune in Nicaragua in hopes of living off the grid.
The only real competition for the top spot might come from Georgia, whose lone loss came to Alabama in a game in which the Dawgs also erased a 28-point deficit. Still, the lackluster performance against Florida in Week 10 didn’t provide much evidence the committee should overlook Oregon, even if Georgia’s supposed struggles are really all part of Kirby Smart’s diabolical plan to convince his team no one believes in them, thus motivating them to crush everyone in sight once the playoff starts. In fairness, his last scheme to sink most of eastern Georgia into the ocean so he can have beachfront property in Athens was mostly lifted from “Superman,” and it didn’t work for Lex Luthor either.
Should Boise State be a top-four seed?
The new 12-team playoff awards opening-round byes for the top four conference champions, and at this point, it might be fair to ask if Boise State could eclipse the winner of the Big 12.
The Broncos’ lone loss came by 3 points to No. 1 Oregon in a game that came down to a go-ahead field goal as time expired. Boise State features, arguably, the best player in the country in Ashton Jeanty, and it demolished San Diego State, 56-24, on Friday in spite of a relatively lackluster performance from the star back. Boise State also has solid (if unranked) wins against Washington State (6-1) and UNLV (5-2).
Of course, the more appealing option might be for Boise State to finish somewhere in the No. 5 through 8 range because nothing would ring in this new era of the 12-team playoff better than playing the first game on the blue turf.
What do we make of the SEC?
Every team in the league has at least one conference loss now. Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M and Ole Miss all have multiple losses. Georgia has scuffled regularly, Tennessee has flirted with disaster in multiple games as it struggles to find a consistent passing game, and Texas has been startlingly bereft of Arch Manning snaps of late.
Saturday’s slate only reinforced the concerns. The Aggies still are searching for an offensive identity. Kentucky benched starting QB Brock Vandagriff, who now will return to his full-time job as a roadie for Ted Nugent, but still were within striking distance until late in the forth quarter against the up-and-down Vols. Georgia may be the best team in the country, but it only plays like it for about six minutes per game, and Ole Miss is ridiculously explosive but also entirely erratic.
In other words, the SEC is basically just the old Pac-12, only without the shame or consequences.
So, is the SEC still a four-bid league? It’s getting tougher to see four championship-caliber teams here, but that’s the joy of a 12-team playoff. Half of those teams probably never had a shot at winning it all anyway.
Is the ACC a two-bid league?
Miami has taken care of business so far this season, in spite of a secondary that’s mostly involved asking politely for receivers not to catch the football. With games at Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and at Syracuse remaining, the Canes still look like an obvious playoff team, barring a remarkable collapse, which would almost certainly be overturned by ACC officials anyway.
But could the ACC be in line for a second playoff team, too?
Clemson looked the part after roughing up six straight bad teams — none ranked in the top 70 of ESPN’s FPI — but Louisville put a wrinkle in those plans Saturday. The Tigers sleepwalked through the first three quarters, and the Cardinals romped to a 33-21 win.
1:00
Isaac Brown celebrates Louisville TD with ‘Night Night’ celly
Isaac Brown does the “Night Night” celebration in front of the Clemson crowd after his 45-yard run pads Louisville’s lead.
Dabo Swinney, ever the optimist, followed the loss by wanting to focus on the positives, such as the fact that none of his players were mauled by sharks, and he has some takeout from Smoking Pig in the fridge when he gets home.
SMU now looks like the clear-cut No. 2 in the league after demolishing previously undefeated Pitt. The Mustangs lone loss came by three against undefeated BYU in a game when they had the ball inside the Cougars’ 30 six times and managed just nine points. They’ll face Boston College, visit Virginia and host Cal before the season ends, with an inside track on an ACC title game appearance.
So, would Miami and SMU both be in if they win out? Could a 10-2 Clemson be in the mix, too?
Sankey would like to counter this notion by doubling over in laughter before dismissively asking, “Oh, were you serious about that?”
Where does the Big 12 fit in?
Iowa State’s loss leaves BYU as the frontrunner, but the rest of the league is a mess of possibilities. The Cyclones and Colorado are each 4-1 in conference, though the tie-breaker rule that prioritizes Instagram likes would seem to favor the Buffaloes. Kansas State and Texas Tech are both 4-2 in conference play, and four other teams still have two or fewer league losses, setting up a potential for chaos and — should one of those less-than-ideal teams manage to win the Big 12 title game — possibly knock the league out of a top four seed.
Ultimately, there’s a simple enough solution here: The committee should enforce the “2023 Florida State doctrine” and simply give Colorado the ACC’s spot in the playoff regardless, because TV ratings are what keeps the committee’s meeting room stocked with Cuban cigars, French champagne and all the Mountain Dew Baja Blast Jim Grobe can drink.
Will there be any surprises?
We’ve been pretty certain what the playoff will look like all along: Five conference champs, at least five wild cards from the SEC and Big Ten, Notre Dame snags its bid, and one more wild card comes from either the ACC or Big 12.
But, what if Washington State gets into the mix? The Cougars are 7-1 and will be favored in each of their last four. Could they sneak into the top 12 if they keep winning? Or how about Army? The Black Knights get Notre Dame in three weeks in a game that could send shockwaves through the playoff. And then there’s Kentucky. The Wildcats are just 3-6, but with all six Ls coming in SEC play, no one has more quality losses, which we know the committee loves.
Heisman five
The favorites held serve in the Heisman race this week, and it’s increasingly looking like a four-man race, but we’d nevertheless like to offer some Heisman love to Duke offensive lineman Micah Sahakian for providing us with the best chyron of the season.
— Sickos Committee (@SickosCommittee) November 2, 2024
Believe it or not, Saturday’s win over Duke was Ward’s first time this season with at least 400 yards passing and four touchdowns. He had 400 yards twice before, and this was his fourth time with at least four touchdown passes, but they had never overlapped in the same game. This was basically Ward’s KFC Double Down game, where the big plays are both the bread and the meat.
2. Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty
On Friday, San Diego State’s defensive scheme basically amounted to putting eight players, a set of road flairs and a few of those inflatable waving-arm guys in the box to stop Jeanty at any cost. Turns out, the cost was QB Maddux Madsen throwing for 307 yards and four touchdowns in a 56-24 win. Oh, and Jeanty still had 149 yards rushing (plus 31 receiving) and two touchdowns.
3. Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter
Colorado was off in Week 10, which begs the question of why anyone even bothered to watch games. Still, Hunter remains the most dynamic player in the country, playing 858 snaps already this year despite missing the better part of two games and having to constantly fend off DJ Khaled on the sideline constantly pushing for them to leave the game early and hit up White Castle.
4. Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel
Gabriel threw for a touchdown and ran for another in Oregon’s 38-17 win over Michigan, but honestly, it’s really not even fun to watch the Ducks demolish opponents anymore. Gabriel and tailback Jordan James should have to tie their legs together before each snap like some sort of potato sack race just to make Oregon’s games more interesting.
5. Spot reserved for Army QB Bryson Daily
Daily missed Army’s 20-3 win over Air Force with an undisclosed injury. Or perhaps he was on a top-secret mission to infiltrate a top military target, or battling Hugo Drax’s henchmen on an international space station before they wipe out humanity. Either way, we hope he’s back soon.
Under-the-radar play of the week
Louisiana-Monroe‘s hot start has come to a screeching halt, with the Warhawks dropping back-to-back games, including Saturday’s 28-23 defeat at the hands of Marshall.
Perhaps the symbolic low point for ULM came just ahead of a fourth-and-1 play with 11:43 to go in the third, when offensive lineman Drew Hutchinson offhandedly suggested that Taylor Swift’s “Tortured Poet’s Department” was meandering and self-indulgent, to which O-line coach Cameron Blankenship strongly disagreed.
0:29
ULM assistant coach has meltdown in face of own player
Check out ULM’s assistant coach Cameron Blankenship going absolutely ballistic in the face of his own player, offensive lineman Drew Hutchinson.
In fairness, you really shouldn’t mess with Swifties.
Under-the-radar game of the week
Baylor rallied from down 7 in the fourth quarter, blew a 7-point lead with less than 2 minutes to play, then beat TCU 37-34 on a 33-yard field goal as time expired.
0:26
Baylor kicks game-winning FG as time expires to upend TCU
Baylor wins as time expires behind a game-winning field goal to top TCU in Big 12 action.
The win came 10 years after Baylor also beat TCU by 3 in a game that ultimately kept both teams out of the inaugural College Football Playoff, opening the door for Ohio State to win it all in 2014.
The stakes were a bit lower for this one, but the Bears are now in need of just one win in their past three — at West Virginia, at Houston, home to Kansas — to earn a bowl bid and possibly save Dave Aranda’s job.
For TCU, however, the loss is yet another bit of frustrating in a season chock full of it, and it’s the second loss of the year on a field goal inside of a minute to play. It’s also TCU’s sixth one-possession loss since going to the national title game in 2022. Regression to the mean is not pleasant.
-
Chris Low
Close
Chris Low
ESPN Senior Writer
- College football reporter
- Joined ESPN.com in 2007
- Graduate of the University of Tennessee
-
Mark Schlabach
Close
Mark Schlabach
ESPN Senior Writer
- Senior college football writer
- Author of seven books on college football
- Graduate of the University of Georgia
Spring ball is nearly here, and we’re breaking everything down in the SEC. Even though there has been an influx of teams canceling their spring games, that doesn’t mean the storylines and players are any less interesting.
How will Kalen DeBoer fare in Year 2 in Tuscaloosa? DeBoer led the Tide to a 9-4 record last season, but it wasn’t enough to reach the College Football Playoff, which will certainly be the expectation come this fall. Can Florida’s DJ Lagway find some dependable receivers? And of course, how will Arch Manning do as he takes over the Longhorns’ offense at QB1?
Here’s a look at the top storyline, a position of intrigue and a player to watch for every SEC team as spring camps get underway.
2024 record: 9-4
Spring storyline: After going 9-4 in Alabama’s first season without Nick Saban since 2006, there’s going to be tremendous pressure on coach Kalen DeBoer to get the Crimson Tide back to the College Football Playoff in his second year. The Tide should have one of the better defenses in the SEC, so all eyes will be on the offense, especially the quarterback position, this spring. The good news for DeBoer: Ryan Grubb, who helped him guide Washington to the CFP National Championship game at the end of the 2023 season, is back on his staff after spending last season with the Seattle Seahawks. Grubb will return to calling plays, while Nick Sheridan will move to quarterbacks coach.
Position of intrigue: With Jalen Milroe bypassing his senior season to enter the NFL draft, Ty Simpson is probably the favorite heading into spring practice. But Simpson will be pushed by Austin Mack, who originally signed with Washington, and freshman Keelon Russell, who enrolled early in January. Simpson, a junior, had 50 attempts with a touchdown the past three seasons. Russell, from Duncanville, Texas, was the No. 1 dual-threat passer in the 2025 ESPN 300 and is one of the highest-rated prospects to ever sign with the Tide. As a senior at Duncanville (Texas) High in 2024, Russell passed for 4,177 yards with 55 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Player to watch: Alabama’s offensive line cut its sacks allowed from 49 in 2023 to 24 in 2024. The Tide have some nice pieces coming back in left tackle Kadyn Proctor, center Parker Brailsford and right guard Jaeden Roberts. Wilkin Formby, a homegrown product of Northridge High in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is going to be asked to take over at right tackle. Elijah Pritchett, transferred to Nebraska after struggling mightily at the spot last season. — Mark Schlabach
2024 record: 7-6
Spring storyline: After the Razorbacks lost six games or more for the third straight season in 2024, it seems like another big year for embattled coach Sam Pittman. It won’t be easy against one of the most difficult schedules in the FBS — road games at Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU and Texas and home contests against Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Auburn and Missouri. There was plenty of turnover on the roster, with 25 scholarship players leaving, including several key contributors. The Hogs’ focus this spring is finding their 22 best players and building depth behind them.
Position of intrigue: Pittman is an old-school offensive line coach at heart, and he knows Arkansas is going to have do a better job protecting quarterback Taylen Green, who was sacked 32 times in 2024. The Hogs gave up 36 overall, which ranked 114th in the FBS. The Razorbacks brought in five FBS transfers and another lineman from junior college. Tackles JacQawn McRoy (Oregon) and Corey Robinson II (Georgia Tech) might be the biggest additions. McRoy is nicknamed “Shaq” because of his towering 6-foot-8, 375-pound frame.
Player to watch: The Razorbacks need help at wide receiver after Andrew Armstrong departed for the NFL and Isaiah Sategna transferred to Oklahoma. Arkansas added four transfer receivers, and former UAB standout Kam Shanks led the FBS with 329 punt return yards and two punt return touchdowns in 2024. He also added a team-high 62 receptions for 656 yards and six scores. The Hogs will also get their first looks at receivers Courtney Crutchfield (Missouri), Raylen Sharpe (Fresno State) and O’Mega Blake (Charlotte) this spring. — Schlabach
2024 record: 5-7
Spring storyline: After the Tigers posted a losing record in consecutive seasons under coach Hugh Freeze, things are getting a bit restless (again) on the Plains. With 15 FBS transfers joining the team through the portal, some are projecting Auburn to be one of the most improved teams in the FBS in 2025. For that to happen, however, Auburn’s offense will have to be much better, especially at quarterback. The Tigers averaged only 13.3 points in their seven losses in 2024. The Tigers will play another challenging schedule, including early road games at Baylor, Oklahoma and Texas A&M.
Position of intrigue: Quarterback transfer Jackson Arnold will be under the microscope this spring after he transferred to Auburn from Oklahoma. The No. 3 overall prospect in the 2023 ESPN 300, Arnold lost his starting job for three games at OU last season. He reclaimed it and started the final five regular-season contests. Arnold completed 62.6% of his passes for 1,421 yards with 15 total touchdowns in 2024. He ranked 15th among SEC quarterbacks in total QBR (47.8). The Tigers signed Deuce Knight, the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the ESPN 300, and Ashton Daniels, who will arrive from Stanford this summer.
Player to watch: Georgia Tech transfer Eric Singleton Jr. was one of the most coveted players in the transfer portal. He caught 104 passes for 1,468 yards and scored 10 touchdowns in his first two seasons with the Yellow Jackets and averaged 12.8 yards per touch as a receiver, rusher and returner in 2024. With Cam Coleman and Malcolm Simmons returning, and former Wake Forest receiver Horatio Fields transferring to Auburn, the Tigers should be loaded at receiver. — Schlabach
2024 record: 8-5
Spring storyline: Embattled Gators coach Billy Napier completely flipped the narrative on his future at Florida by guiding his team to four straight victories to finish with an 8-5 record in 2024. That winning streak included upsets of then-No. 22 LSU and then-No. 9 Ole Miss. Much of the optimism is because of quarterback DJ Lagway, who was 6-1 as the starter as a freshman, and a veteran offensive line. Lagway threw for 1,915 yards with 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Florida will play another brutal schedule in 2025 with road games at LSU, Miami, Texas A&M and Ole Miss and a neutral-site contest against Georgia.
Position of intrigue: Finding Lagway dependable targets on the perimeter will be a focus this spring. Top receivers Elijhah Badger and Chimere Dike departed for the NFL, and Eugene Wilson III is coming back from season-ending hip surgery. Receivers Vernell Brown III, Dallas Wilson and Naeshaun Montgomery were three of Florida’s highest-ranked signees, and J. Michael Sturdivant (UCLA) was one of the top pass catchers in the portal.
Player to watch: Florida’s strength coach called linebacker Aaron Chiles an “alien” before his freshman season, because of his exceptional work in the weight room. With Shemar James leaving for the NFL draft, Chiles and Myles Graham will have a chance to make an impact on defense this season. Graham had 30 tackles and one sack in 2024; Chiles had 23 tackles with one sack. — Schlabach
2024 record: 11-3
Spring storyline: Much of Georgia’s focus this spring will be focused on its offense, which struggled to catch the ball and run it when it mattered in 2024. The Bulldogs went 11-3, won an SEC championship and reached the CFP last season. But Georgia’s offensive production slipped mightily — it scored 31.5 points per game (after averaging 40.1 in 2023) and ranked next-to-last in the SEC with 124.4 rushing yards. Georgia will be breaking in four new starting offensive linemen and a new quarterback. Newcomers will also be counted on to improve an inconsistent receiver corps.
Position of intrigue: Georgia’s offensive line was expected to be one of the best units in the FBS in 2024, but it struggled to create holes in the running game and protect the quarterback. Four starters are gone, including center Jared Wilson and All-American guard Tate Ratledge. Earnest Greene III and Monroe Freeling have a lot of experience at tackle, and Micah Morris has been a mainstay at guard. Drew Bobo and Daniel Calhoun are the favorites to take over at center and right guard, respectively.
Player to watch: No position on the team was criticized more in 2024 than Georgia’s receivers. The Bulldogs led Power 4 conference teams in dropped passes, and top receivers Arian Smith and Dominic Lovett left for the NFL. Georgia brought in two high-profile transfers, Zachariah Branch (USC) and Noah Thomas (Texas A&M), and Talyn Taylor and C.J. Wiley are two highly regarded freshman receivers. Branch had 1,863 all-purpose yards during his two seasons with the Trojans, including two kicks returned for touchdowns in 2023. He caught 78 passes for 823 yards and three scores. — Schlabach
2024 record: 4-8
Spring storyline: After the Wildcats limped to a 4-8 record and won only one SEC game in 2024, which ended the program’s eight-year streak of competing in a bowl game, coach Mark Stoops is stressing a return to its blue-collar culture. Entering his 13th season at Kentucky, Stoops wants his team to play physically on both sides of the ball and cut down the mistakes that plagued it last season. The Wildcats brought in 20 players from the transfer portal, and many of them will be counted on to shore up the line of scrimmage on offense and defense. Rebuilding the receiver corps will also be a priority in the spring.
Position of intrigue: The Wildcats have been at their best under Stoops when they’ve controlled the line of scrimmage with a strong offensive line. The “Big Blue Wall” wasn’t as effective in 2024, as the Wildcats ranked 111th in the FBS in sacks allowed (35) and 81st in rushing (145.6 yards). Kentucky added five transfer offensive linemen, including projected starting left tackle Shiyazh Pete (New Mexico State), right tackle Alex Wollschlaeger (Bowling Green) and center Evan Wibberley (Western Kentucky).
Player to watch: Kentucky’s passing game wasn’t much of a threat in 2024, as it ranked 112th in the FBS in passing (184.8) and threw more interceptions (17) than touchdowns (15). The Wildcats are hoping they’ll get more from sixth-year senior Zach Calzada, who previously played at Texas A&M, Auburn and FCS program Incarnate Word. Last season, he passed for 3,744 yards with 40 total touchdowns. — Schlabach
2024 record: 9-4
Spring storyline: When quarterback Garrett Nussmeier opted to return to LSU after throwing for 4,052 yards with 29 touchdowns in 2024, the Tigers became an SEC title and CFP contender. Coach Brian Kelly’s mission this offseason became clear: surround Nussmeier with proven playmakers and improve a defense that held his team back in his first three seasons. The Tigers added receivers Nic Anderson (Oklahoma) and Barion Brown (Kentucky) and a couple of key offensive line transfers. On defense, pass rushers Patrick Payton (Florida State) and Jack Pyburn (Florida) and defensive backs Mansoor Delane (Virginia Tech) and Tamarcus Cooley (NC State) were key additions.
Position of intrigue: Nussmeier played behind one of the SEC’s best offensive lines in 2024, and now the Tigers will have to replace four starters, including star tackles Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr. It won’t be easy. The Tigers added former Northwestern guard Josh Thompson and Virginia Tech center Braelin Moore to fill holes. Tyree Adams and Weston Davis will probably get the first opportunities at the tackle spots.
Player to watch: The Tigers lost top edge rushers Bradyn Swinson and Sai’vion Jones, who combined for 13 sacks in 2024. LSU invested heavily in bringing in Payton, Pyburn and Jimari Butler (Nebraska). Payton was the 2022 ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year and had 31½ tackles for loss and 16 sacks in three seasons with the Seminoles. His production dropped off dramatically on a bad FSU team in 2024. He had four sacks — three came in one game against California. — Schlabach
2024 record: 2-10
Spring storyline: The Bulldogs went 2-10 and didn’t win an SEC contest in coach Jeff Lebby’s first season, so there’s plenty of work to do in Starkville, Mississippi, this spring. The Bulldogs have to figure out a way to improve their porous defense, which ranked 118th in scoring (34.1 points), 130th against the run (216.9 yards), 105th in passing defense (239.5 yards) and 126th in total defense (456.4). The offense also took some heavy portal losses, including quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. (LSU) and receivers Kevin Coleman Jr. (Missouri) and Mario Craver (Texas A&M).
Position of intrigue: The Bulldogs’ problems on defense started up front, and that’s the reason Lebby and his staff added seven defensive linemen in the portal. State’s defense generated only 10 sacks in 2024, second fewest in the FBS. Red Hibbler had 6½ sacks at NC State in 2023, then redshirted after four games last season. Will Whitson had 8½ tackles for loss and five sacks in two seasons at Coastal Carolina, and Malick Sylla had four sacks in three seasons at Texas A&M.
Player to watch: Quarterback Blake Shapen returned to Mississippi State after missing the final eight games with a shoulder injury. In four starts in 2024, he threw for 974 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception. After Van Buren transferred to LSU, the Bulldogs signed former FSU backup Luke Kromenhoek, who started two games in 2024. — Schlabach
2024 record: 10-3
Spring storyline: As Eliah Drinkwitz heads into his sixth season as coach at Missouri, the question is now: Can the Tigers take that next step (a big one) and make the playoff after winning at least 10 games each of the past two seasons? Drinkwitz doesn’t get enough credit for the job he has done in steadying the program and will be breaking in a new quarterback in 2025. Beau Pribula, a transfer from Penn State, is the favorite to replace Brady Cook. Pribula is one of several key transfers the Tigers will be counting on to make big impacts.
Position of intrigue: The Tigers will have to retool their offensive line after losing three starters, including projected first-round NFL draft pick Armand Membou at right tackle. The interior of Mizzou’s offensive line could be elite with Connor Tollison returning at center after injuring his knee at the end of last season and Cayden Green at left guard. Drinkwitz thinks the Tollison-Green interior combo could be the best in the country. Johnny Williams IV (West Virginia) and Keagen Trost (Wake Forest) are portal additions the Tigers hope can step in at the tackle positions.
Player to watch: Running back Ahmad Hardy comes over from ULM after putting together a terrific freshman season in the Group of 5 ranks. He rushed for 1,351 yards and 13 touchdowns and was especially effective after contact. Hardy and returnee Jamal Roberts should complement each other well in Drinkwitz’s offense. — Chris Low
2024 record: 6-7
Spring storyline: The Sooners finished next to last in the SEC in scoring offense last season (24 points per game), and their offense produced 20 points or fewer in all nine of their games against power conference opponents. It’s obviously a critical season for coach Brent Venables as he enters Year 4, and he hired Ben Arbuckle from Washington State to run the offense. Arbuckle brought with him quarterback John Mateer, who passed for more than 3,100 yards and rushed for more than 800 yards last season. The big change on defense is that Venables will take over playcalling duties.
Position of intrigue: The receiver position was ravaged with injuries last season. The good news is that redshirt senior Deion Burks is back after playing in only five games a year ago. Oklahoma scoured the portal for receivers and brought in four, including JaVonnie Gibson from Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Gibson had 70 catches for 1,215 yards and nine touchdowns last season. The Sooners also hope Jayden Gibson can bounce back after missing all of last season with a knee injury.
Player to watch: Some of the best news of the offseason was defensive end R Mason Thomas announcing he would return for his senior season. He led OU with 12.5 tackles for loss, 9 quarterback sacks and 11 hurries last season. Thomas’ return gives Venables a core of talented defenders returning. The defense is what kept the Sooners in games a year ago. — Low
2024 record: 10-3
Spring storyline: There was a playoff-or-bust feel to the Rebels’ season a year ago, and while they certainly looked like a playoff team at times, they were unable to recover from a home loss to Kentucky and then a road loss to Florida after beating Georgia soundly two weeks earlier. Lane Kiffin has elevated the program to top-10 status with at least 10 wins in three of the past four seasons. He’s called the “Portal King” for a reason, and the Rebels will again have to successfully plug in several new faces at key positions if they’re going to break through this season and make the playoff.
Position of intrigue: The defensive line a year ago was one of the best in the country. The Rebels finished second nationally in scoring defense and rushing defense and third in sacks. The bulk of that production up front is gone, including potential NFL first-round pick Walter Nolen at tackle and veteran pass rusher Princely Umanmielen. But sack machine Suntarine Perkins returns after recording 10.5 sacks a year ago, while 6-foot-7, 320-pound Zxavian Harris is poised to be the next dominant tackle in the SEC.
Player to watch: As quarterback Jaxson Dart quickly rises up NFL teams’ draft boards, the anticipation in Oxford is to see how well his successor, Austin Simmons, plays in his first season as the Rebels’ starter. Simmons was terrific when he filled in for a series against Georgia and led Ole Miss to a touchdown. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound sophomore is a perfect fit for Kiffin’s system. — Low
2024 record: 9-4
Spring storyline: Shane Beamer became only the second coach at South Carolina in the past 40 years to win nine regular-season games last season. (Steve Spurrier was the other.) The Gamecocks played their best football down the stretch and were a couple of plays and questionable calls away from making the playoff. They return two of the best young players in the country in redshirt sophomore quarterback LaNorris Sellers and sophomore edge rusher Dylan Stewart, but the key to the season will be how well the other players around those two stars develop.
Position of intrigue: Even with All-America defensive end Kyle Kennard headed to the NFL, South Carolina’s defensive front seven should again be stout. The Gamecocks finished in the top 20 nationally in scoring defense, yards per play and rushing defense. Stewart’s ability to get to the passer will be a major part of the 2025 defense, but Bryan Thomas Jr. also had 4.5 sacks last season. Transfers Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy at tackle (Texas A&M), Jaylen Brown at end (Missouri) and Justin Okoronkwo (Alabama) and Shawn Murphy (Florida State) at linebacker are on their way.
Player to watch: Being able to run the ball last season made a huge difference for South Carolina, and Sellers was a big part of that running game. But with Rocket Sanders gone, the Gamecocks needed a go-to running back, which is where Utah State transfer Rahsul Faison fits in. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Faison rushed for 1,109 yards and averaged 5.6 yards per carry last season. — Low
2024 record: 11-3
Spring storyline: The Vols have knocked down several barriers under Josh Heupel. They’ve beaten Alabama twice and Florida twice in the past three seasons and made their first playoff appearance a year ago. The defense was the backbone of Tennessee’s run to the playoff, and several key pieces from that unit are gone and need to be replaced. Keeping defensive coordinator Tim Banks was a priority for Heupel. One of the big challenges for the Vols in Year 5 under Heupel will be playing better on the road, particularly in night games in hostile environments.
Position of intrigue: The young talent in Tennessee’s secondary is promising, and keeping safety Boo Carter from transferring was important. Carter may also play some offense in 2025. But at cornerback, it could be dicey. Jermod McCoy had an All-SEC season in 2024 after transferring from Oregon State. He tore his ACL in January, though, and is working toward getting back in time for the season open. And just recently, reports surfaced that the Vols’ other starting cornerback, Rickey Gibson III, plans to enter the spring transfer portal. If Gibson doesn’t change his mind, the Vols will be looking hard in the portal for cornerbacks.
Player to watch: Nico Iamaleava has been the most closely watched player at Tennessee since his first season in 2023 when he arrived with a reported $8 million NIL deal. Now in his third season on campus and second as starting quarterback, Iamaleava would seem poised to have a breakout year. He was solid a year ago in leading the Vols to the playoff. He needs to provide more firepower in the downfield passing game if they’re going to get back to the playoff in 2025. — Low
2024 record: 13-3
Spring storyline: It’s Arch Manning time on the Forty Acres, as the youngest of the First Family of Quarterbacks takes over for Quinn Ewers as QB1 for the Longhorns. Manning has as much upside as any quarterback in the country, but he has only started in two games. This spring gives the Longhorns the chance to fully incorporate him into the offense and build the offense around what he does best. Manning should be used to the glare of the spotlight, and it will only get brighter the rest of the way, but his exposure will be limited this spring because the Longhorns won’t be playing a spring game.
Position of intrigue: Texas’ offensive line will have a new look to it in 2025, but that doesn’t mean the Longhorns will be lacking in talent. They’ve recruited well up front, and even though senior guard DJ Campbell is the only returning starter, there’s still some experience. Senior guard Cole Hutson has played and is versatile enough to slide over to center. Former five-star recruit Brandon Baker is probably the favorite at left tackle, and the Longhorns were excited about what they saw from Trevor Goosby when he was forced into action at both left and right tackle last year in the postseason.
Player to watch: The Longhorns will be loaded with talent at the edge rusher positions, and sophomore Colin Simmons has a chance to be one of most dynamic defenders in the country after racking up nine sacks and forcing three fumbles last season as a true freshman. There are very few ready-made players when they step onto campus for the first time. Simmons was one of those players. — Low
2024 record: 8-5
Spring storyline: Last impressions always seem to count for more in college football, and Texas A&M in its first season under Mike Elko lost four of its last five games a year ago. It was a disappointing close to the season after the Aggies won seven straight heading into November and were seemingly in position to make a playoff run. Look for Elko to take on a heavier role on defense. He wasn’t pleased with the way the Aggies played down the stretch a year ago and brought in several newcomers on the defensive line, which is losing three of its top players to the NFL.
Position of intrigue: The Aggies are set to return all five starters in their offensive line, a unit that could use a boost from the running backs staying healthy this season. Despite knee injuries to both Rueben Owens and Le’Veon Moss last season, Texas A&M still finished second in the SEC in rushing with an average of 195.5 yards per game. Owens didn’t play until the last two games of the season after being injured in preseason camp, and Moss missed the last month of the season. Amari Daniels also returns at running back, meaning the Aggies’ running game could flourish in 2025.
Player to watch: This will be Marcel Reed‘s third year on campus, and the redshirt sophomore is Texas A&M’s future at quarterback. He had his ups and downs a year ago after shuffling between backup and starter, but played big on some big stages. Reed has said he wants to be more of a leader on this team, which makes this spring even more important for him. — Low
2024 record: 7-6
Spring storyline: There’s a reason the coaches voted Clark Lea SEC Coach of the Year last season. He led the Commodores to their best season (7-6) in more than a decade, took them to their first bowl game since 2018 and beat No. 1 Alabama for the first time since 1984, all this coming off a 2-10 season in 2023. The challenge now is building off such a solid season, creating more depth on the roster and continuing to develop players, which has been Lea’s strength. Some of the best news is that most of the key players are back, and there should be good carry-over with Lea calling defensive plays for the second straight year.
Position of intrigue: With Diego Pavia back at quarterback, he’ll also have his favorite receiving target back. Eli Stowers, an All-SEC selection at tight end a year ago and the Commodores’ top receiver, bypassed the NFL draft to return for another season in Nashville. Stowers will need some pass-catching help on the outside from receivers. It’s a big opportunity for Junior Sherrill to have a breakthrough season, while Trent Hudson reunites with Pavia after spending last season at Mississippi State. Hudson and Pavia played together at New Mexico State in 2023, and Hudson had 10 touchdowns.
Player to watch: Who else but Pavia, who sparked Vanderbilt’s revival last season and electrified the SEC with his fearless play at quarterback. He gets another shot at SEC defenses after passing for 2,293 yards and rushing for 801 yards last season. Pavia, who’s seemingly never out of a play, accounted for 28 touchdowns (20 passing and eight rushing). — Low
Sports
Passan: Two major league teams, two minor league ballparks — and what it says about the sport
THE SLOW, PROTRACTED death of the Oakland A’s played out over two decades, offering a fresh blueprint of how to torpedo a professional sports franchise. The slow, protracted march of the Tampa Bay Rays toward a similar outcome is playing out in real time. And both serve as warnings to the rest of the sport that when it comes to the pursuit of new stadiums, major league dreams can end up in minor league parks.
The A’s quest to secure a new stadium in the Bay Area repeatedly ended in failure. They eventually gave up and pivoted their attention to Las Vegas, where they plan to move for the 2028 season. In the meantime, they are asking to be called, simply, the A’s, even though they’ll spend the next three years squatting in West Sacramento, California.
While the destruction of Tropicana Field’s roof in October by Hurricane Milton forced the Rays to seek refuge for 2025 at a minor league stadium across the bay in Tampa, Florida, many of the same issues — chief among them a relationship with local politicians drowned by distrust — have left the Rays with a deal for a new stadium they could abandon any day and a future defined by its uncertainty.
For now, the teams find themselves in the same purgatory, caught between the stadiums they yearned to desert and the gleaming, billion-dollar palaces about which they fantasize. The A’s and Rays will spend the 2025 season playing in minor league ballparks about one-third the size of a standard Major League Baseball stadium.
Earlier this spring, commissioner Rob Manfred called the minor league parks “intimate” and “charming,” real estate euphemisms instantly recognizable to anyone who has looked at too-small houses and apartments. It’s not just the size of the ballparks, either. Temperatures in Sacramento regularly climb into the triple digits in the summer, and Sutter Health Park lacks the roof of big league parks in other scorching cities. In lieu of playing at the Trop, the Rays will spend 2025 at the open-air Steinbrenner Field and contend with summer rains that threaten to destabilize their schedule.
The A’s and Rays are cautionary tales of what happens when big, complicated challenges are met with half-measures and inaction — and reminders to teams with unsettled stadium issues in places like Chicago and Kansas City, Missouri, that the longer they take to reach resolution, the messier these situations get. With every city council meeting that ends with no deal, every local voting result that kicks the can down the road to the next election, every ballpark rendering torn up before a shovel ever enters the dirt, the likelihood of best-laid plans being replaced by worst-case scenarios multiplies.
For the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals — two teams angling for public money to help finance new stadiums — there are countless lessons to learn about the fragility of deals and their capacity to go sideways. Already there has been resistance to the White Sox’s request of $1 billion to help build a new stadium in the South Loop, and voters in Kansas City last year rejected a sales-tax extension that would have helped fund a downtown ballpark. Public cynicism over using tax dollars to fund billionaire owners’ real estate plays has made turning visions of a new stadium into reality that much more difficult and the ramifications of letting a potentially volatile situation decay that much greater.
The upshot of stadium volatility goes beyond the teams and extends to the league. While Manfred has said he wants the league to expand from 30 to 32 teams before his planned retirement in January 2029, the instability of the A’s and Rays has prompted MLB to pause laying out any expansion timeline.
For all the good in the game in Manfred’s time as commissioner — the generation of notable stars, the success of the pitch clock, the excellent early returns on the automated ball-strike challenge system — the sight of two big league teams existing in small stadiums is rich with subtext. And with a labor negotiation expected to threaten games in 2027, a widespread dissatisfaction among fans about MLB’s competitive balance and a local-television landscape in need of overhaul, the challenges in Manfred’s final four years as commissioner go well beyond the perception that comes with shrunken stadiums.
Teams have weathered minor league ballparks before. The Toronto Blue Jays called Buffalo, New York, home in the 2020 and 2021 seasons because of COVID restrictions. The Montreal Expos spent about a quarter of their games in 2003 and 2004 in Puerto Rico before moving to Washington, D.C. The A’s played six games in Las Vegas in 1996 because of unfinished renovations at the Coliseum. Never, though, have two teams simultaneously endeavored to make big league ball work without big league stadiums. When the Rays and A’s play their home openers in temporary residences later this month, it will mark uncharted territory for the sport.
FROM THE PERCH of I-175 just south of downtown St. Petersburg, Tropicana Field looks like a relic, a building whose inevitable fate is condemnation. Milton shredded 18 of the 24 fiberglass panels that comprised the structure’s roof, and the beams that once supported them jut into the city’s skyline. The Trop opened in 1990, and the hallmarks of its antiquity remain, highlighted by the lettering spelling out TROPICANA FIELD in Hobo typeface on the side of the stadium: a bygone font for a bygone edifice.
Three months before Milton and Hurricane Helene devastated the Tampa Bay area, the Rays finally believed that after 17 years of searching for a new stadium, they had found their future home: right where they’d been all along. On July 31, Rays officials and a group of local luminaries — including St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch — gathered to announce a deal for a new $1.3 billion stadium on the same site as the Trop.
The franchise would finally have a home befitting of a club that has won more games than any team except the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees since that search began in 2008. Between the gleaming 30,000-seat stadium and the mixed-use development around the ballpark, the team would mimic the approach of the Atlanta Braves: leveraging baseball into a financial windfall from ownership of the surrounding land and businesses.
Optimism gushed from a news conference in which the parties celebrated a deal that would complement the Rays’ $700 million investment with $600 million in public funds for a stadium to open by 2028. All of the failed efforts — the $450 million waterfront plan in St. Petersburg hatched in 2007, the $900 million stadium in Tampa’s Ybor City neighborhood that held up for barely a month in 2018, the ill-fated efforts to spend half the season in Tampa and the other half in Montreal — were moot.
“We know the baseball team is going to be here,” Rays president Matt Silverman said that day, “and it’s going to be here forever.”
Forever didn’t even last a year. Today, the stadium is on the precipice of falling apart. The Rays have until March 31 to offer proof of their $700 million or abandon the deal. The latter would send the franchise into the sort of limbo not even the A’s have faced. Following a delay in approving bonds and a subsequent public fight with county politicians, the Rays said the stadium’s cost had increased significantly and requested additional public money to bridge the funding gap. Welch, the mayor who has been the foremost proponent of keeping the team in St. Petersburg, has said if the deal falls apart, the city will not revisit another. If that happens, there is no clear path to a stadium being built in Tampa. Rays owner Stuart Sternberg could sell the team. But Manfred has been vociferous in saying he does not want MLB to abandon the Tampa Bay area, even if the status quo is untenable.
Compounding the lack of clarity is the state of the Trop. The city’s agreement with the Rays calls for it to replace the stadium’s roof. Repairs are estimated to cost more than $50 million. The city said work could be done in time for the 2026 season, a notion the Rays contested before reversing course. Already the team’s deal with the city for the Trop has been altered because of a clause that extends the contract by a year for every season the team doesn’t play at the stadium. If it is not repaired by 2026, the agreement could run through 2029.
The specter of further ugliness — litigation if the team walks away from the deal and the potential slowdown of Tropicana Field repairs — leave the Rays a literal team without a home. Their executives are working out of rented office space in St. Petersburg. The Yankees retrofitting Steinbrenner Field for an AL East rival and moving their Single-A team, the Tampa Tarpons, to the complex’s backfields is a one-year-only favor. Rays players, already on alert due to the team’s propensity to trade those nearing free agency, wonder aloud what the lack of a home for 2026 and beyond means for their future.
With no obvious solution, multiple prominent Tampa-area businesspeople have started to put together ownership groups intent on attempting to buy the team, though no deal is close, sources told ESPN. The groups’ belief, according to sources, is that Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located, would be more amenable to offering public funding for a new stadium to a local ownership group. (Sternberg lives on the outskirts of New York City.) The 2025 season could serve as a proof of concept, with the Rays expecting to pack the 11,026-seat stadium far more often than they did the Trop, which typically holds games with more of its 42,735 seats empty than filled.
“If not for Steinbrenner Field and the Yankees, I don’t know what we would have done,” Silverman told ESPN. “The quick yes from Hal Steinbrenner gave us peace of mind when we really needed it. I think there’s real excitement for outdoor baseball in Tampa. The whole region is talking about it.”
Tampa, long regarded as a better fit to draw fans in the Tampa Bay area, will see 42 of the team’s first 65 games at home (a schedule stacking intended to avoid July and August, when rain regularly pelts the city). But it’s tempered by the potential for the team’s exodus from the region. In addition to a possible local ownership transfer, multiple groups weighing expansion bids have entertained the possibility of trying to buy the Rays from Sternberg, sources said. Doing so would allow a group to purchase a major league franchise for less than the expansion fee that Manfred estimated in 2021 at $2.2 billion. At the same time, it would require approval from MLB owners, a scenario fraught with potential peril on account of Manfred’s dictate to keep baseball in the Tampa Bay area.
For all the hope that the coming weeks and months will offer a well-defined path for the Rays to follow, it’s never that easy. One need only look at the tortuous journey of the A’s to see why.
IN EARLY JANUARY, A’s manager Mark Kotsay and four of the team’s core players trekked to Sacramento for a look at their future home. They scarfed down a five-course meal at a local restaurant, visited a local coffee shop, meandered around a park, took in a double-overtime win by their NBA brethren Kings and toured Sutter Health Park to see firsthand how their next three years would look.
While at the Kings game, one of the players, designated hitter Brent Rooker, finalized a five-year, $60 million contract extension, the third-largest deal ever given out by the A’s. The confluence of the visit and Rooker’s signing was the latest sign that the not-Oakland A’s planned to operate differently than the team that had caused such consternation with its abandonment of Oakland.
In the near-quarter-century since the A’s first looked to move from a decaying Oakland stadium whose disrepair regularly made national news, the combination of miserly ownership and politicians unwilling to meet the team’s demands led to what was once unthinkable: the A’s following the Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas. The A’s final season in Oakland had a funereal air, with fans alternating between celebrating the rich history of the team’s half-century in the city and regaling owner John Fisher with expletives and boos over his handling of MLB’s first franchise relocation since the Montreal Expos absconded to D.C. in 2005.
Extending Rooker and handing the largest contract in franchise history to free agent right-hander Luis Severino — a three-year, $67 million deal that helped fulfill the team’s need to guarantee revenue-sharing money through increased spending — signaled a shift toward normalcy for an organization that had brought the plot of “Major League” to life, only without the happy ending. After the A’s agreed to a stadium deal in Las Vegas in 2023 amid simultaneous negotiations with Oakland — whose mayor, Sheng Thao, was later indicted on unrelated federal bribery and conspiracy charges — they focused on Sacramento, home of the San Francisco Giants’ Triple-A affiliate, as a temporary stopgap.
Rather than agree to a $97 million extension fee that would have allowed the A’s to stay at the Coliseum before moving to Las Vegas, they opted for Sacramento, which allowed the team to keep the majority of its $67 million-a-year local television contract. The A’s have sold 6,500 season tickets — including a three-year commitment for premium tickets — and expect to have plenty of sellouts in a stadium with 10,624 seats and a capacity of 14,014, including a standing-room option on the grass berms in left and right field.
Still, there are constant reminders that Sutter Health Park is a minor league ballpark cosplaying a major league stadium. MLB and the MLB Players Association mandated improvements throughout the park, including upgraded clubhouses, lighting, trainer’s rooms, weight rooms, a new batter’s eye and the installation of a grass field. Beyond the playing surface, the ballpark has features that wouldn’t normally fly in the majors, such as the clubhouses, batting cages and weight rooms — places where players often spend time during the game — being located past the outfield walls instead of attached to the dugout.
Even so, the A’s are focused on being adaptable to their new home. Kotsay, who spent four of his 17 big league seasons with the A’s and is entering his fourth season as manager, grew to love the Coliseum in spite of its flaws and hopes to do the same in Sacramento.
“Whether it was 3,000 or 7,000 in a midweek game, the energy was still great,” Kotsay said. “That’s the one thing that I can honestly say I’ll miss, because even though there may not have been a lot of fans in the stands, the passion that they brought for us through the years was incredible. But I’m excited about Sacramento. I don’t know really what to expect. I do know that we’ve sold the place out and that energy in itself will be awesome to witness.”
With the contract extension securing his future, Rooker bought a house in Sacramento. In his three years at Mississippi State, Rooker played at the Bulldogs’ Dudy Noble Stadium and LSU’s Alex Box Stadium and Arkansas’ Baum-Walker Stadium, all with capacities between 10,000 and 15,000, and lauded them for their atmosphere. It’s an environment he hopes the A’s — whose young core could keep them in contention in a wide-open American League West division — experience at their new home.
“It’s going to be obviously a unique environment, a different environment than we’re used to playing Major League Baseball games in,” Rooker said. “But we think it’s going to be people who are excited to be there and are there to support a new team … so, we’re looking forward to it.”
GROUND STILL HASN’T been broken on the A’s new stadium in Las Vegas, and if there’s a lesson to be taken from their trials and travails as well as the Rays’, it’s that nothing is done until shovels hit the dirt. Manfred said Fisher told him the stadium — whose cost has ballooned from $1.5 billion to $1.75 billion, with $380 million coming from the state of Nevada — is still scheduled to open in 2028.
Skepticism about the project persists. The nine-acre plot on the former site of the Tropicana hotel would be the smallest footprint for any major league stadium. Renderings of the stadium are missing a bullpen for the visiting team. The A’s intend to offer around 2,500 parking spaces — one-third of what Clark County code mandates, with one space for every four seats in the planned 30,000-seat stadium.
Flaws and all, the team is surging forward and expects to start construction over the summer on a futuristic-looking building that plans to feature seats closer to the field than any other MLB stadium. Not only would a groundbreaking constitute a triumph for Fisher’s maligned ownership, but it would also serve notice to other owners that the appeal of baseball remains strong enough to close a stadium deal, regardless of the ruin in its wake. At the same time, the cost to do so is profound. The A’s attempt to secure a stadium is a case study in dysfunction. The Rays face years of ugliness ahead. The White Sox and Royals have already encountered roadblocks in their efforts.
Manfred remains undaunted, arguing that “the reality of today’s economics is that either building or renovating a stadium almost by definition has to be a public-private partnership.” The Diamondbacks found success in doing so. Last week, the Arizona House of Representatives passed a bill to divert $200 million in tax money to help a $500 million-plus renovation of Chase Field, where the Diamondbacks have a lease that runs out in 2027.
Other teams simply opted to stay where they are. The Los Angeles Angels, who play in the fourth-oldest ballpark in baseball, renewed their lease of Angel Stadium through 2032, with a pair of options that can extend it to 2038. The Angels had sought to buy the land surrounding the stadium to potentially build a new one, but an FBI investigation revealed Anaheim mayor Harry Sidhu had funneled confidential information to the team in hopes of receiving $1 million in campaign contributions. He later pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges and is awaiting sentencing.
Manfred’s predecessor, Bud Selig, reinvigorated baseball throughout the 1990s and 2000s by encouraging what became a stadium boom. Those days are over, with the lessons of Oakland and Tampa Bay reminding teams of the manifold land mines around which they must tiptoe.
In almost everything it does, MLB moves at a languid pace. With the pitch clock and ABS, this behooved the league. With the collapse of the regional-sports-network model that provided billions of dollars annually for teams’ local television rights, it left the league compromised. With new stadiums, it’s clear: The longer the idea of one festers without closure, the likelier it is to see something major devolve into minor.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – New Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker was scratched from the lineup for a spring training game Wednesday because of soreness in his left oblique.
Walker missed more than a month last season with Arizona because of a strained left oblique muscle. He joined the Astros on a $60 million, three-year contract during the offseason.
In his first four spring training games for Houston, Walker was 4 for 8 with three doubles. He also had two walks.
Adding a first baseman over the offseason was a priority for the Astros after struggling Jose Abreu was released less than halfway through a $58.5 million, three-year contract.
Walker, who turns 34 on March 28, hit .251 with 26 home runs and 84 RBIs in 130 games for the Diamondbacks last season. He won his third consecutive Gold Glove at first base.
In 832 big league games, Walker has hit .250 with 147 homers. All but 13 of those games came with Arizona over the past eight seasons, after his MLB debut with Baltimore in 2014 and 2015.
Walker had two stints on the injured list because of right oblique issues in 2021. He played 160 games in 2022 and 157 in 2023, hitting 69 homers and driving in 197 runs combined over those two seasons.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports11 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway