3:20 PM ET Pete ThamelESPN STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — No program has come closer to breaking through to the College Football Playoff without actually crashing into the field than Penn State, which managed to win the Big Ten and still get shut out back in 2016. The Nittany Lions have emerged as a curious dichotomy
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8:00 AM ET INDIANAPOLIS — Kevin Warren insists his confidence has always been there, never shaken but often stirred by the challenges and obstacles he faced during a bumpy transition as Big Ten commissioner. From an end zone suite at Lucas Oil Stadium, he looked out toward the field late Tuesday afternoon, as the first
4:25 PM ET INDIANAPOLIS — After agreeing to a 10-year contract in November, Penn State coach James Franklin thinks the university is positioned to compete for championships. Franklin praised the hiring of athletic director Pat Kraft, a former football player at Indiana, and university president Neeli Bendapudi from Louisville. He noted that Penn State had
3:33 PM ET INDIANAPOLIS — Despite an 11-2 record last season and a win in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State players were not satisfied with the outcome. A loss to Michigan and missing out on the College Football Playoff caused the players to take accountability into their own hands this offseason. “I feel like we
1:46 PM ET Prized safety Caleb Downs committed to Alabama on Wednesday. The 6-foot, 190-pound Downs, from Mill Creek High School in Hoschton, Georgia, is No. 16 in the 2023 ESPN 300 and becomes the 11th ESPN 300 football prospect for the Crimson Tide. He chose Alabama over Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame and North
12:07 PM ET Darlington Raceway has signed Coastal Carolina quarterback Grayson McCall in the first lengthy name, image and likeness partnership between a NASCAR racetrack and a college football player. Atlanta Motor Speedway has done one-off social media promotions with a trio of Georgia football players to promote its most recent NASCAR Cup Series events,
10:15 AM ET Jeremy WillisESPN.com There are uniform reveals and then there’s what Notre Dame football did to reveal its 2022 Shamrock Series uniform. Channeling the classic scene from 2009’s “The Hangover,” Fighting Irish players past and present, along with first-year coach Marcus Freeman, took to the desert. Forming their own wolf pack, Freeman takes
8:00 AM ET When Jim Knowles entered the Shoe for Ohio State’s spring game in April, he was greeted by 60,000 fans. Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire Before Ohio State‘s spring football game in mid-April, first-year defensive coordinator Jim Knowles took a walk around the field to soak in the atmosphere of his first time inside Ohio Stadium.
7:00 AM ET Las Vegas-based sportsbook Circa Sports is responsible for some of the first college football lines to hit the market each week during the season. Circa’s point spreads and totals, which are bet into by professional bettors and often influence the rest, typically hit the board Sunday mornings. The action that ensues often
6:38 PM ET INDIANAPOLIS — Iowa‘s Kirk Ferentz, the nation’s longest-tenured FBS head coach, said Tuesday at Big Ten media days that he’s as concerned as he’s ever been about the path college football is on right now. “I think we’re in a really precarious place,” said Ferentz, entering his 24th season as Iowa’s head
5:25 PM ET Alabama‘s defensive backfield depth got another leg up courtesy of Jaylen Mbakwe‘s commitment Tuesday. Mbakwe, a 6-foot, 175-pound cornerback from Pinson, Alabama, is No. 5 on the 2024 ESPN 300. He’s the Crimson Tide’s third recruit in the 2024 cycle, joining tight end Martavious Collins (No. 145) and wide receiver Perry Thompson
5:37 PM ET INDIANAPOLIS — Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh and his players know that rival Ohio State is looking to exact revenge from last season’s 42-27 loss. Buckeyes players have spoken publicly about how the loss is still on their mind and that they have the game circled for this coming season. But when asked
2:48 PM ET SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Carolina Panthers rookie quarterback Matt Corral might have chosen a different college than Ole Miss if he had to do it over again. “I took the easy way out because I felt I could play right away,” Corral said on Tuesday as he reported to Wofford College for his
2:50 PM ET The Clemson Tigers are the preseason choice by the media to win the ACC for the seventh time in eight years, the league announced Tuesday. In a poll of 164 media voters, Clemson, also the choice to win the Atlantic Division, was the overwhelming pick to win the conference title, with 103
2:46 PM ET Pete ThamelESPN INDIANAPOLIS — The Big Ten Conference was one of three leagues that voted against expanding the College Football Playoff to 12 teams last year. As part of an alliance with the ACC and Pac-12, the Big Ten’s vote spoke more to the way that the expansion process was handled than
1:34 PM ET INDIANAPOLIS — Scott Frost, looking for his first winning season at Nebraska as he enters his fifth year as coach, told ESPN on Tuesday at Big Ten media days that it’s not a “sky-is-falling” situation despite the Huskers’ lack of success on the field. “It may look like it, but it’s not,”
7:00 AM ET College football schedules as we’ve come to know them are about to change forever, potentially multiple times over the next few years. Who knows how many conferences we’ll have, what those conferences will look like and who will play whom after all the jockeying and realignment ends — if it ever does?
7:15 AM ET In each of the previous four college football recruiting cycles, Alabama and Georgia finished among the top three classes, and while neither is currently within that group, both are moving toward it. The Bulldogs sit on the cusp of crashing the top three again after multiple ESPN 300 commitments, led by two