Big 12 Notes – Spring Practices

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Big 12 Notes – Spring Practices

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April 10th

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Big 12 Friday night games: CU home game against Houston moved to a Friday night

… As a result of the move, the home game against on October 3rd against Texas Tech will now designated as CU’s Homecoming game … 

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April 8th

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NCAA proposing age limits for eligibility (five years from 19th birthday)

From YahooSports.com … The NCAA is considering a significant change to its eligibility rules.

An NCAA committee next week is expected to explore a new age-based standard for athlete eligibility as part of a proposal that’s been in the works for weeks, but only recently has been socialized with high-level conference and school administrators.

Those with knowledge of the proposal spoke to Yahoo Sports under condition of anonymity.

According to the concept, NCAA athletes would have five full years of eligibility from the time of their 19th birthday or their high school graduation, whichever is earliest. No waiver requests, redshirts or exceptions will be permitted, except for a small group of outliers (those on maternity leave, military service or religious missions).

Members of the NCAA Division I Cabinet are set to review the proposal at their meeting next week. While a timeline for approval remains unclear — it is likely weeks or months away — the legislation is considered an urgent matter with potential for implementation as soon as this coming academic year (fall 2026).

Any implementation is expected to be phased in as is the case with most new NCAA policy. For instance, leaders will take strides to avoid adversely impacting any current athlete’s long-term eligibility under existing rules. What’s unclear is if those players completing or having completed their final, fourth season of eligibility will regain a fifth season if they fall within the new policy’s five-year window.

The policy seeks to bring some semblance of stability to a growing landscape of inconsistent court rulings regarding eligibility. Though it predates President Donald Trump’s executive order, the proposal aligns with a concept embedded in Trump’s Friday announcement, which instructed the NCAA to pass legislation over a variety of issues, including a five-year eligibility standard for athletes.

… Continue reading story …

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April 7th

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Bill Connolly’s Favorite Transfer Classes includes (surprise!) Colorado 

From ESPN … For all of the legitimate complaints about the current era of college sports and roster construction — donor fatigue from needing ever-larger checkbooks and payrolls, not knowing half of the guys on your team’s roster — one thing is certain: There are lots of ways to build an exciting roster now. And when it comes to the transfer portal, success is as much art as science.

Just think of the teams that made the College Football Playoff semifinals last season.

Mileage has varied significantly among those with huge transfer classes and tiny transfer classes, and no slam dunk, surefire approach has emerged. I love it.

If this is an art, then let’s look at it as such. We know who brought in the most high-profile classes of the 2026 cycle, but after poring over each team’s new additions for the purposes of returning production and SP+ calculations, I wanted to talk about the transfer classes I simply liked the most. Pure quality is certainly part of liking a class, but I wanted to celebrate unique approaches as well.

From the Big 12 … 

1. Oklahoma State

3. Colorado

Favorite transfers: LB Gideon Lampron, Bowling Green (123 tackles, 18.5 TFLs, 31 run stops); WR Danny Scudero, San José State (1,297 receiving yards, 10 TDs); WR Kam Perry, Miami-Ohio (976 receiving yards, 2.8 per route)

As always, Deion Sanders needed a lot from the portal. Too much, perhaps: Last year’s top 18 defenders are gone. But this is the first time in his four seasons where it seemed like there was a genuine plan in place — at least, as much as you can hope for from a 43-man class. Colorado really leaned into known production this time around and added players who produced more than 3,600 receiving yards, more than 1,100 rushing yards, almost 1,000 tackles and more than 110 tackles for loss. The Buffs also brought in five offensive linemen who started games at the power-conference level (plus two big FCS starters). They landed three 300-pound (or more) defensive linemen, and Lampron is exactly the type of sideline-to-sideline force Colorado’s defense has lacked.

If former blue-chip quarterback Julian Lewis is ready for the spotlight, he’ll have a remarkably well-tested roster around him.

4. Texas Tech

8. Kansas State

9. West Virginia

11. Houston

Honorable Mention … Cincinnati …

… Read full story here …

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April 3rd

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President signs an Executive Order limiting transfer movement – NCAA President: “A significant step forward”

From CBS Sports … President Donald Trump has signed an executive order of “urgent national action to save college sports,” an intervention at the highest level aimed at federally regulating NIL collectives, limiting transfer movement, capping player eligibility, and enacting funding requirements for the Olympics and women’s sports, the White House announced Friday.

Trump’s recommendation includes strict guardrails on player transfers and even mentions the return of the NCAA’s “one-time” transfer rule, with an exception for grad transfers.

The order says universities should “provide for the ability to transfer one time during the five-year (eligibility) period with immediate playing eligibility, and one additional such time if the student-athlete obtains a four-year degree.”

That rule was previously deemed illegal in court. Under the revised transfer rules, athletes would be allowed to transfer once without penalty, but a second transfer would trigger an automatic redshirt season. The order also redefines eligibility with a 5-for-5 model where athletes have five years to play five seasons.

Trump’s order includes a provision to review federal government grants and contracts for schools and potentially cut funding if they fail to comply with NCAA rules, according to the fact sheet released by The White House.

NCAA president Charlie Baker released a statement on the order Friday evening:

“The NCAA has modernized college sports to deliver more benefits for student-athletes, and the Executive Order reinforces many of our mandatory protections – including guaranteed health care coverage, mental health services, and scholarship protections.

“This action is a significant step forward, and we appreciate the Administration’s interest and attention to these issues. Stabilizing college athletics for student-athletes still requires a permanent, bipartisan federal legislative solution, so we look forward to continuing to work alongside the Administration and Congress to enact targeted legislation with the support of student-athlete leaders from all three divisions.”

Trump said last month he was fast-tracking an “all-encompassing” executive order to put the onus on Congress to initiate NIL changes to fix the current college athletics landscape.

NCAA president Charlie Baker, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Texas Tech billionaire booster Cody Campbell and Sarah Hirshland, the chief executive of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, were among those in attendance.

What happens next?

Trump’s order is considered “comprehensive and direct” compared to his last attempt, which was directed at cabinet members, per Yahoo Sports. Courts have struck down many of Trump’s other orders involving college sports, deeming them unenforceable.

Executive orders are subject to close legal scrutiny, and lawsuits against Trump’s calls for reform are expected.

… Continue reading story here …

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Report: NCAA Tournament to expand to 76 teams

From SportsBusinessJournal.com … NCAA leadership is “expected to finalize an expansion of the men’s and women’s tournaments to 76 teams … soon after the completion of this year’s NCAA tournament,” according to sources cited by Ross Dellenger of YAHOO SPORTS.

A proposal socialized with members last year noted that “eight games would be added to the current ‘First Four’ played over Tuesday and Wednesday of the first week of the event.” This new “opening round” would feature “24 teams playing in 12 games over the two days at two sites (Dayton and another).” Though, “plenty of this could change through the course of continuing talks with TV partners Warner Bros. Discovery and CBS.” The 12 winners of the opening-round games advance to an awaiting 52 teams in the original bracket. Under this concept, “eight teams are extracted from the main bracket, plus the eight new at-large selections from expansion.”

Leaders at the Big 12 and ACC, perhaps “more than others, have aggressively pushed for the expansion of the tournament,” as has NCAA President Charlie Baker. But there is an “unsaid reason for expansion: paving the way for more access for power league programs that likely control the future of the event”.

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TCU head coach Sonny Dykes receives a multi-year contract extension

From CBS Sports … TCU coach Sonny Dykes has agreed to a multi-year contract extension with the Horned Frogs, according to ESPN. Coming out of his fourth season at the program, Dykes is 36-17 overall at TCU, which includes 13 wins during his first year in 2022 when he led the Horned Frogs to the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Dykes made just over $7 million in salary last season, which ranked third-highest in the Big 12. The offensive guru’s success rate since taking the job ahead of the 2022 campaign after leaving SMU following Gary Patterson’s illustrious tenure is impressive, and now he’s being rewarded for it.

Dykes, whose previous contract in Fort Worth was good through 2028, has posted consecutive 9-4 finishes.

The Horned Frogs enter a transition year under Dykes in 2026 after offensive coordinator Kendal Briles and offensive line coach Randy Clements left for vacancies on Shane Beamer’s staff at South Carolina. Among several personnel changes, starting quarterback Josh Hoover entered the transfer portal and signed with reigning national champion Indiana.

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April 2nd

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Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark calls out Cody Campbell for complaining about a Friday night game

From On3Sports.com … Texas Tech mega-booster Cody Campbell has become one of the most prominent names in college football. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark wants to be clear that Campbell does not run the Big 12.

Campbell recently complained publicly in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal about the conference and its TV partners potentially moving this year’s Texas Tech game against Houston to a Friday night. That’s well outside his scope, Yormark said.

“Cody Campbell does not run the Big 12,” Yormark told the Avalanche-Journal in response on Wednesday. “Our Board and our ADs approved playing 12 games a year off of Saturdays in an effort to raise the profile, narrative, and viewership of Big 12 Football. Texas Tech hosting a primetime game on Friday night delivers that.”

The game in question occurs in Week 3 of the 2026 season. Texas Tech is supposed to travel to Oregon State on Sept. 12. Playing the Houston game at home on Sept. 18 would put the team on a short week’s rest.

Worse, potentially, is that it would offer a major conflict to local high school games in the area. That seemed to be one of Cody Campbell’s chief concerns.

“I heard about it through the (Tech football) staff up here and our administration that it was being discussed,” Campbell told the Avalanche-Journal on Tuesday. “They (TV partners) have the draft or whatever, and the conference doesn’t want to really acknowledge it, but they do have an ability to influence those decisions. They just chose not to because they were chasing ratings — which I do understand on one hand, but on the other hand, high school football is important in the state of Texas.”

Yormark also offered further explanation for Cody Campbell, who had a litany of complaints about the game potentially being moved to a Friday night. The Big 12 commissioner continued.

“Friday night Big 12 football games outperformed the Conference’s average rating by 64% in 2025,” he said. “All of our schools are treated equally during the TV scheduling process and this game fits within our scheduling parameters. I am thankful that our TV partners provide us with these opportunities.”

Of note, Texas Tech and Iowa State were the only two Big 12 programs that played all their regular-season games in 2025 on Saturdays. Iowa State, however, did play a game abroad in Ireland.

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April 1st

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All-Conference transfer rates 20 times higher for Big 12/ACC than for Big Ten/SEC

… This is not to say that all of the Big 12/ACC all-conference players are moving up to the Big Ten/SEC, but it is a clear statement that it is much more difficult for the “Little Two” to hang onto their best players … 

From heartlandcollegesports.com … The transfer portal has reshaped college football, but when it comes to elite talent, specifically All-Conference players, the movement isn’t as uniform as you might expect.

Looking at data from the 2026 transfer cycle, there’s a clear divide across conferences in how often first- and second-team all-conference players enter the portal.

At the top of the list sits the Group of Five, where a staggering 70.5% of All-Conference players transferred. That number reflects the growing reality at that level: standout players often use success as a springboard to Power Conference opportunities.

In leagues like the Big 12 Conference and the ACC, 43.2% of their All-Conference players hit the portal. That’s still a significant number, nearly half of the top performers, but notably lower than the Group of Five.

The Big Ten Conference and SEC reported just 2.6% of their All-Conference players entering the portal. That’s not just lower, it’s a completely different landscape.

So what’s driving the disparity?

While there’s no single answer, the most obvious factor is resources. Programs in the SEC and Big Ten often have deeper NIL pools, stronger financial backing, and more consistent national exposure. For elite players in those leagues, there’s simply less incentive to leave.

In contrast, even top performers in the Big 12 or ACC may see opportunities elsewhere, whether that’s for bigger NIL deals, playoff visibility, or long-term development. Still, the Big 12’s 43.2% figure is telling. It highlights both the opportunity and the challenge within the conference. On one hand, it’s a league full of talent capable of producing All-Conference players. On the other hand, retaining that top-tier talent has become an ongoing battle in the portal era.

… Continue reading story here …

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March 31st 

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Big 12 taking steps to become first FBS conference to sponsor women’s flag football

From SportsBusinessJournal.com … The Big 12 is taking steps toward becoming the first FBS conference to sponsor women’s flag football, beginning in 2028 with a minimum of six teams, Sports Business Journal has learned.

The efforts, which remain in the exploratory phase, are being spearheaded by Commissioner Brett Yormark and Chief Football & Competition Officer Scott Draper from the conference side, along with an intimate assist from the NFL.

“We’re trying to meet the moment,” Draper told SBJ. “Our goal here is growth. Our goal is to advance Big 12 membership opportunities and growth for [the conference]. We see this as an opportunity to do that.”

The Big 12 and NFL previously announced a partnership in December that was expected to include collaborations around technology, officiating and, of course, flag football.

More recently, the relationship featured NFL EVP/Football Operations Troy Vincent speaking with Big 12 presidents and ADs earlier this year specifically about flag football.

“We think this is a natural extension of what we’re currently doing to grow in the Big 12, then the partnership with the NFL comes into play,” Draper said. “It’s well documented what they’re doing around flag … It really helps with their help and focus on flag. With our focus on flag, we’ll be able to really accelerate the growth of the sport not only at the collegiate level, but at the high school level.”

That the Big 12 is exploring flag football comes after the NCAA added it as an emerging sport in January, while it’s seen as a sport with major growth potential.

There are already 20 million players worldwide and more than four million youth participants in the U.S. alone (a 50% increase from 2020). It is also offered at the high school level across 39 states, while participation there has climbed 60% year-over-year.

Men’s and women’s flag football, too, will debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics in L.A.

… Continue reading story here …

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Week One Prediction: Buffs Burned in Atlanta by Georgia Tech

From CBS Sports … College football’s Week 1 slate to begin the 2026 season may not be as robust as years past following significant schedule changes in the College Football Playoff-centric era, but there are enough marquee matchups to set extremely early narratives coming out of the first weekend.

With that in mind and spring practice in full swing, let’s get right to it with predictions for a half-dozen or so games featuring teams we expect to be in the top 25 conversation to open.

It should be noted that eight total games will be played on Aug. 29 during Week Zero this season, including North Carolina vs. TCU in Dublin, Ireland, and NC State vs. Virginia in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. But we’ll start this early pick ’em with the full slate the following weekend which jumpstarts the season.

Colorado at Georgia Tech

When: Thursday, Sept. 3 | Early line: N/A

By the end of Georgia Tech’s second possession, fans will have adjusted their eyes to an offense without Haynes King for the first time in four years under Brent Key, who was tasked with replacing his veteran signal caller and offensive coordinator this offseason. Key has raised the standard for excellence with the Yellow Jackets, and on the other sideline, Deion Sanders is simply trying to hold on at Colorado. He battled health issues through a tumultuous nine-loss season in 2025 and enters his fourth year with the Buffaloes following major roster and staff alterations. This is a difficult cross-country trek for a team with a bunch of new starters and a redshirt freshman starting quarterback, Julian Lewis, who’s only played in a single road game at Colorado. The Buffaloes must be prepared to stop the run here, given Georgia Tech’s strengths in that department after signing Michigan transfer Justice Haynes.

Prediction: Georgia Tech 42, Colorado 17

… Continue reading story here …

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March 28th

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Has College Football reached a tipping point in popularity?

From Stewart Mandel at The Athletic …

You regularly reference college football’s high TV ratings as a sign that the sport is healthy. I would suggest the changes have made the sport more accessible to the casual fan at the expense of us 40-plus-year hardcore fans. History shows (ahem NASCAR) that turning off your base can have long-term detriments. Do college presidents and league commissioners truly care about the sport long-term?  — Jared J.

I don’t think there’s any question that’s happening. Conference realignment in particular has mostly been a big middle finger in the face of loyal fans. The USC and UCLA administrations saw big flashing dollar signs in their eyes and jumped at the chance to join the Big Ten without stopping to consider how their own fans would feel about joining a conference where attending their teams’ road games would be virtually impossible. But it’s great for Fox/CBS/NBC — they get to show a USC-Michigan game.

And while I continue to believe NIL and the portal have made college football a better product — more parity, more hope — I fully realize it’s made it much harder for fans to keep up with their teams’ rosters from year to year. And that it may feel like a betrayal when your star player bolts for a bigger paycheck somewhere else.

The NASCAR cautionary tale* comes up a lot, but there’s a significant difference between the two sports: College football fans are inherently more loyal to their schools than motorsports fans are to their favorite drivers. Alabama was playing football long before Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. began their careers, and Alabama will keep playing football long after they ended. And because of that, the powers-that-be just assume those decades-long attachments will never fray.

*I always hear people cite NASCAR’s faded popularity, but I’d never looked up any data until now. … Holy smokes! The Daytona 500 fell from 19.4 million viewers in 2006 to 7.5 million in 2026. Where is Ricky Bobby when you need him?

Obviously, we’re only a few years into this new era. None of us can possibly predict what the TV ratings and attendance will look like for any sport 10/20/30 years from now. But even if the broader landscape starts shifting, college football has one big advantage the others don’t: Tens of millions of potential TV viewers and spectators who attended/graduated from the participating schools.

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March 27th

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Bill Connelly’s SP+ Rankings – CU in at No. 65 nationally 

… Not a huge surprise. Bill Connelly’s rankings have never been kind to Coach Prime’s Buffs. Even in 2024, when CU went 9-4, the Buffs never made it into the Top 40 in Connelly’s SP+ rankings … 

From ESPN … We’ve talked about who is and isn’t returning. We’ve talked about who might have gotten a few too many (or not enough) bounces last season. We’ve talked about the effect coaching changes might have. Now there’s only one thing left to do: Rank college football teams for 2026!

Below are this season’s initial SP+ projections. In addition to the rankings of every FBS team (overall, offense, defense and special teams), we’ll look at conference breakdowns and how SP+ matches up with the eyeball test in terms of which teams seem to be overrated and which could be underrated at this early stage. Indiana predictably finished last season No. 1, and the Hoosiers remain a top-five presence, but two other well-stocked, well-funded Big Ten foes lead the way to start 2026.

As a reminder, SP+ is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking. Along those same lines, these projections aren’t intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the season. These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather.

From the Big 12 … 

• 7. Texas Tech
• 18. BYU
• 25. Utah
• 29. Kansas State
• 30. Arizona
• 34. TCU
• 36. Houston
• 38. Oklahoma State
• 42. Arizona State
• 43. Georgia Tech
• 49. Northwestern 
• 50. Cincinnati
• 51. Baylor
• 57. Kansas
• 60. UCF
• 64. Iowa State
• 65. Colorado
• 66. West Virginia
• … only five other Power Four teams are ranked lower … the lowest being Purdue at No. 82 …

… Read full story here …

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March 26th

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CBS Sports Big 12 Projected Win Totals: Another 1-8 Big 12 Season for CU

From CBS Sports … The Big 12 is heading into another chaotic season, but the league powers are starting to establish themselves. Texas Tech is pulling away from the pack with an absurd 11.5 win total, one of the highest in college football, but others hope to knock them off their perch.

BYU and Utah follow with win totals of 8.5 after both cleared 10 wins during the regular season last year. Arizona and Houston are also expected to follow up on breakout seasons. Colorado, conversely, is projected in last place by Las Vegas oddsmakers.

Our picks fared quite well last season, correctly picking 10 of the 16 Big 12 teams against their win totals. BYU, Utah and Texas Tech finished a consensus top three in the league, and we confidently had each hitting the over. We also hit on Oklahoma State and Colorado bottoming out. That said, we completely whiffed on Arizona’s resurgence and Kansas State’s struggles; we’ll try to do better this year.

Here’s our prediction for Big 12 teams against their Vegas win totals heading into the 2026 season. Odds provided via FanDuel Sportsbook.

Colorado

Over/under: 4.5 wins

Wins: Weber State, at Northwestern, Kansas State, UCF

Losses: at Georgia Tech, at Baylor, Texas Tech, Utah, at Oklahoma State, at Arizona State, Houston, at Cincinnati

Analysis: Colorado’s 2024 season — a nine-win campaign that produced Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter — is one of the best coaching jobs of the past few years. Outside of that, Deion Sanders is 2-16 in conference play as Buffs head coach. There are some nice defensive pieces across the roster, and quarterback Julian Lewis has star potential. But after flipping 60 more players in 2026, the consistency and depth is just not there. Pick: Under (-144)

… Read full story here …

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March 25th

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College Football season could begin a week earlier (Week Zero) starting in 2027

From The Athletic … The college football season could start a week earlier as soon as 2027, with a key NCAA committee moving toward making a recommendation in the next couple of months.

Sources told The Athletic that administrators and coaches on the committee strongly support moving the start of the season for all teams to the late-August weekend that is now typically called Week 0, as a way to ensure teams have at least two idle weeks within a 12-game slate.

The move still has to be approved by the NCAA football oversight committee, which next meets April 16, and the sources cautioned the Week 0 move may not be fully addressed until May or June. But there is also urgency to pass the change so teams can start making their schedules for 2027 and beyond. Most teams have their nonconference schedules set, but announcing the move now would allow them to move games around, or let conferences decide to schedule games the new opening week.

Multiple people involved in the discussions spoke to The Athletic on condition of anonymity in order to be candid about an ongoing process.

Starting the season earlier is part of a wider discussion around the college football calendar, but it is not directly tied to potentially moving up the start of the College Football Playoff. The regular season would still end on Thanksgiving weekend, when a full slate of games, especially rivalries, gives television networks plenty of inventory.

Instead, making Week 0 the new potential start of everyone’s season is about ensuring teams more rest now that every power conference is playing a nine-game schedule and the Playoff extends into late January. The SEC and ACC’s addition of a ninth conference game this season also means there should be enough good games to spread around the calendar, even with an additional open week for every team.

The rule change also may not push every season to start in what is now Week 0. It would depend on the yearly calendar: The proposal would essentially take Thanksgiving, count 14 weeks back (including Thanksgiving) and start the season during that 14th week. So there would be some years when the season would still start on Labor Day weekend.

But in three of the next five years — including this year — there are only 13 weeks from Labor Day to Thanksgiving. The rule would make it so in those years, the season would start the week before Labor Day.

… Continue reading story here …

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March 23rd

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ESPN Returning Production Calculations: CU 55th in the nation

From ESPN … The idea of returning production in college football is easy enough to understand: The more continuity and experience you return from last season, the more likely you are to improve. It’s how things have always worked, but is that still true in 2026, with the transfer portal and extreme player movement dominating the sport?

Yes. To a degree. It’s still better to return a lot of your production than a little, even if last year’s headliner bombed. Clemson led the nation in returning production heading into 2025, which furthered the idea that a potential rebirth was coming to Death Valley East. But a combination of injuries, tactical stagnation and disappointing development held back the Tigers, and they slipped from 10-4 and 22nd in SP+ to 7-6 and 34th.

Most of the rest of the top 10, however, fared well. Texas Tech (sixth in returning production) charged from 54th to third and won its first Big 12 title. Kennesaw State (fifth) went from 132nd to 89th and won Conference USA in its second FBS season. Vanderbilt (third) won 10 games and improved from 52nd to 11th. Oklahoma (10th) and Texas A&M (seventh) went from 14 combined wins to 21 with a pair of playoff berths. In all, despite disappointments such as Clemson and Baylor, the top 10 in returning production improved by an average of 1.0 wins and 6.4 spots in SP+. And of the teams at the bottom of the list — specifically, the 15 squads with 36% returning production or less — 10 regressed, and eight fell by at least 11 spots in SP+. Western Michigan (128th in returning production) got hot late in the season to rise from 6-7 to 10-4, and Utah State (133rd) improved as well, but the trends remained clear.

So, the concept of returning production is still good, even if ranking at the top or bottom of the list doesn’t guarantee improvement or regression. With the season’s lone transfer window closed and 2026’s rosters at a semi-stable point, let’s see what this all means for 2026.

From the Big 12 … 

• 12. Texas Tech
• 17. Houston
• 18. BYU
• 29. UCF
• 32. Arizona
• 38. Kansas State
• 39. Kansas
• 42. Oklahoma State (despite losing 66 players to the Transfer Portal???)
• 44. Northwestern 
• 50. Cincinnati
• 54. Utah
• 55. Colorado  – 55% overall … 57% offense (60th) … 53% defense (66th)
• 61. Baylor
• 66. West Virginia
• 69. TCU
• 70. Arizona State
• 79. Georgia Tech 
• 99. Colorado State
• 102. Iowa State

… Read full story here …

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March 22nd

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Sordid details of Kyle Whittingham’s divorce from Utah disclosed

From CBS Sports … Kyle Whittingham’s sudden split with Utah in December was the result of soured discussions between the two sides over the 66-year-old coach’s future, Yahoo Sports reports. The way Whittingham handled his transition to Michigan also ruffled some feathers in Salt Lake City.

Following a 10-2 regular season, Whittingham and his agent expressed interest in returning for a 23rd season with the Utes. However, documents obtained by Yahoo Sports show that differences in salary and control over of the program drove a wedge between Whittingham and athletic director Mark Harlan.

Whitthingham’s agent, Bruce Tollner, initially requested a raise in salary from $7.4 million to $9 million per year. Whittingham was also asking for a $20 million in NIL funds and a $2 million increase in his assistant coach salary pool.

Harlan and the university countered with an $8 million salary, but Whittingham would have to cede control to Morgan Scalley, then the coach-in-waiting and now the full-time coach at Utah. Scalley would have “full and final” control over player personnel matters, including recruiting, and he would have “complete decision-making authority” over matters concerning the roster and coaching staff beyond 2026.

Additionally, Harlan would have some say over Whittingham’s staff hires, and an athletic department administrator would be “housed full-time within the football facility,” per Yahoo.

If Whittingham broke the terms of the agreement, he would first be assessed a $500,000 fine. A second violation would result in his termination.

Whittingham didn’t agree to those terms, and he signed a $13.5 million separation agreement with Utah before stepping down. That money was to be paid out in three installments over two years, and the first check came with a reprimand from Harlan.

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March 21st 

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Big 12 Conference Championship Odds – CU at 100:1

From FanDuel.com … From these odds, it’s clear that Vegas has zero faith in what is going on in the Champions Center. Complete overhauls at Iowa State and Oklahoma State, and 49 freshmen on the roster at West Virginia … all given a much better chance at winning the Big 12 than what is given CU.

• Texas Tech … -115
• Utah … 700
• BYU … 750
• Houston … 1800
• TCU … 2000
• Baylor … 2200
• Kansas State … 2200
• Arizona … 2200
• Arizona State … 2500
• Oklahoma State … 3500
• Kansas … 3500
• UCF … 4500
• West Virginia … 6500
• Cincinnati … 6500
• Iowa State … 7000
• Colorado … 10000

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March 19th

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NCAA eliminates next game suspension for targeting penalties 

From ESPN … For at least one season, a targeting penalty will no longer automatically take a college football player off the field for the following game.

The Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee on Thursday approved a one-year trial rule that gives a player a break for his first targeting penalty.

For the 2026 season, a player disqualified for targeting for the first time in the season can participate in the following game. The trial rule will apply regardless of which half the targeting penalty is called.

A player who draws his second targeting penalty of the season will be required to sit out the first half of the next game. A player who draws his third targeting of the season must sit out the full following game.

No players were disqualified for targeting three times in the 2025 season.

A conference can choose to initiate an appeals process after a player’s second targeting penalty. The appeal would be sent to the NCAA national coordinator of football officials for a video review. If the appeal is successful, the player would not have to sit out the first half of the following game.

Before the trial rule, players disqualified for targeting have had to sit out the first half of the following game if the targeting penalty occurred in the second half of a game.

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March 18th

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Stewart Mandel’s Top 25 head coaches includes three from the Big 12

From Stewart Mandel of The Athletic … It took eight years for Georgia’s Kirby Smart to ascend to No. 1 on my annual coach rankings. It took Ohio State’s Ryan Day six years to rise to No. 2.

Both got supplanted this year by a head coach who did not even crack my top 25 for the first time until 2025.

This current crop seems thin at the top. I struggled to find enough names I felt comfortable including in the top 10. But I also had well more than 25 men I would have liked to include in the top 25.

A quick reminder: These rankings are not a career achievement award. They are a snapshot of the coaching landscape today. While I don’t throw out a coach’s earlier accomplishments, I’m more concerned with their trajectory over the past three to five seasons.

Read Bruce Feldman’s top 25 power rankings here. 

1. Curt Cignetti, Indiana (2025 ranking: No. 11)

No coach in the modern history of college football has achieved a more remarkable turnaround than Cignetti did in turning a program that went 9-27 from 2021-23 into a 16-0 national champion in two years. He has embraced name, image and likeness and the portal to go 46-6 in four seasons in the FBS (the first two at James Madison).

2. Kirby Smart, Georgia (2025: No. 1)

It’s a testament to Smart’s dominance that the past two seasons felt like mild disappointments, despite the Bulldogs going 23-5 and winning consecutive SEC championships. That’s only because he went 42-2 and won two national titles in the three seasons before that. Georgia remains the crown jewel of the SEC.

3. Ryan Day, Ohio State (2025: No. 2)

Day followed up Ohio State’s 2024 national title run with more regular-season wins — most importantly, including Michigan — but an early College Football Playoff exit. His surprising hire of Matt Patricia as defensive coordinator paid off by producing the most dominant defense (4.0 yards per play allowed) of his seven-year tenure. He is 55-5 in Big Ten play.

From the Big 12 … 

13. Kalani Sitake, BYU (2025: No. 21)

It took just one ramp-up year for Sitake’s program to start competing for Big 12 titles, as BYU is 15-3 in conference play and 23-4 overall the past two seasons. And his Cougars have now notched double-digit wins in four of the past six seasons. Penn State AD Pat Kraft, for one, took notice and tried to hire away BYU’s head coach of 10 years.

16. Willie Fritz, Houston (2025: No. 23)

A college head coach since 1993, Fritz continues to fly under the radar, even after Houston improved from 4-8 to 10-3 in his second season. This after going 23-4 in his last two seasons at Tulane, including a Cotton Bowl upset of Caleb Williams-led USC in 2022. The 65-year-old just has a knack for turning programs around.

20. Lance Leipold, Kansas (2025: No. 7)

Back-to-back 5-7 seasons forced me to drop Leipold considerably from his No. 2 ranking only two years ago. At that time, he’d just led Kansas to a 9-4 season and back-to-back bowls at a program that went 3-9 or worse for 11 straight years prior to his arrival. That remarkable 2022-23 run still weighs heavily in this ranking.

Just missed: UCLA’s Bob Chesney, Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham, Navy’s Brian Newberry, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz, TCU’s Sonny Dykes

… Read full story here …

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March 17th

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Kansas receiving $2.7 million for giving up home game to play Arizona State in London

Tweet from Matt Brown … Kansas will earn $2.7M for playing Arizona State in London this season, according to a copy of the game contract that I obtained via an Open Records Request: School tells me that is more than the team would likely earn at home, given construction to the team’s stadium:

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March 16th 

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NCAA says no to Big Ten’s request to suspend tampering investigations – Brett Yormark: Big 12 “adamantly opposed” to pausing investigations

From CBS Sports … The NCAA responded to the Big Ten’s request to end “investigations and infractions proceedings” associated with tampering until there’s a better understanding of what constitutes breaking the rules in recruiting. The Big Ten sent a letter, obtained by ESPN, asking that the NCAA reconsider its position on tampering. In a statement provided to Yahoo Sports, the NCAA said it will continue its investigations into potential tampering violations.

“There have been no changes to tampering rules, and there is no moratorium on enforcement activity for possible tampering violations,” the statement reads. “Any changes to the infractions process — or a moratorium on enforcement of certain rules — would need to be approved by the Division I Board of Directors.”

In the wake of the NCAA’s recent memo to schools announcing that the Division I Board of Directors has informed its staff to “pursue significant penalties” against tampering offenders, the Big Ten argues that current rules are outdated and from an era when paying players and rampant transfers were not part of the college football landscape.

The Big Ten said in its letter that tampering rules “cannot be credibly or equitably enforced” and believes new rules should be written before penalties are assessed.

In a message to Yahoo Sports on Thursday, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said his conference is “adamantly opposed” to pausing tampering investigations for potential violations, but is willing to discuss rules changes.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips sent the following statement to Yahoo Sports this week after the Big Ten’s suggestion to the NCAA:

“As we continue to move forward in the critically important areas of modernizing collegiate athletics, it is imperative that we remain focused on enforcement and building the necessary rules and penalties through work with the NCAA. We are in an environment like no other, and we consistently hear from our coaches and administrators that tampering enforcement must be prioritized. The ACC is dedicated to a thorough review of the current contact rules, but in light of the most recent transfer portal and the very public examples of clear tampering and blatant interference with contractual commitments, I do not agree that all tampering investigations should be suspended.”

… Continue reading story here …

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March 13th

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Utah head coach Morgan Scalley pledges $2 million of his salary to help pay players

… Paging Coach Prime … 

From al.com … Utah football coach Morgan Scalley has pledged $2 million of his salary to help fund the school’s NIL program, it was announced Thursday.

“The University of Utah and particularly Utah Athletics have been an extremely important and influential part of my life for as long as I can remember,” Scalley said. “My love for this place includes a vision of where we can go and what we can achieve, and it will require an increased effort from everyone who shares in that vision. Liz and I simply wanted to do something for this amazing place that shows our faith in and commitment to the future of this incredible University, and how excited we are for what’s to come.”

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FanDuel over/under win projections for the Big 12: CU last in the conference at 4.5

From FootballScoop.com … The folks at FanDuel dropped their team totals for the Power 4, and considering the money involved it’s definitely the most significant “stake in the ground, here’s what’s happening” predictions to date for the 2026 season.

Big 12
11.5: Texas Tech
8.5: BYU, Utah
7.5: Arizona, Houston, Kansas State
6.5: Arizona State, Baylor, Oklahoma State, TCU
5.5: Cincinnati, Iowa State, Kansas, UCF, West Virginia
4.5: Colorado

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March 12th

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Truth is stranger than fiction: Big Ten asks NCAA to put a halt to tampering investigations

From ESPN … The Big Ten sent a letter to the NCAA this week asking the organization to put a halt to “investigations and infractions proceedings” related to tampering, according to a copy of the letter obtained by ESPN.

The letter states that the “current framework” for tampering rules “cannot be credibly or equitably enforced,” pointing out the rules for tampering were designed before a modern era that includes paying athletes and essentially unlimited transfers.

“These rules were not designed for a world in which student-athletes are compensated market participants making annual decisions with significant economic consequences,” the letter reads. “The collision between the old rules and new reality is producing outcomes that harm the population that the rules were designed to protect.”

The letter comes in the wake of a flurry of recent tampering headlines. That included the NCAA seeking to impose significant penalties against tampering offenders. The case of linebacker Luke Ferrelli, who transferred to Ole Miss after enrolling at Clemson, has also put the issue in the forefront.

The prevalence of tampering in the current landscape is so great that numerous officials told ESPN’s Max Olson that it’s essentially a competitive disadvantage to not tamper.

“If you’re not doing that, you’re so far behind in the game,” an SEC general manager told Olson.

The Big Ten’s letter lays out why the current rules are antiquated for the modern space, suggests a pause that “does not create a window of impunity” and lays out a vision for building “a framework suited to the world as it actually exists.”

The Big Ten letter states: “We are committed to engaging in an expeditious process to develop a modern framework for contact rules that addresses the varied challenges and opportunities of the current collegiate landscape.”

The letter shows portal numbers from this year (the first football season with just one portal period) that have not appeared publicly. That includes 1,000 football players who entered the portal on Jan. 2 and took campus visits the same weekend. More than 300 had signed with a new school by the end of the weekend. Some signed as quickly as 90 minutes into the portal opening, and others had a “do not contact” designation that essentially couldn’t exist without some type of fact finding to determine a new destination.

… Continue reading story here …

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March 11th

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Big 12 Returning Starters: CU not alone in breaking in a new starting lineup

From CBS Sports … College football’s roster cycle has never moved faster. Programs can reshape entire depth charts in a single offseason through the transfer portal. While talent acquisition has become more fluid than ever, continuity still has to be developed the old-fashioned way.

That’s where returning starters still matter.

That pattern finally bent last season when Indiana defied all the odds during its historic run to a national championship. Each of the previous eight title winners had returned at least 11 players who made six or more starts the year before, but the Hoosiers finished the job with just eight. National runner-up Miami had a nearly identical profile, also bringing back eight such starters, with both programs surrounding their returning core with experienced transfers.

For this project, returning starters are defined as players who logged at least six starts during the 2025 season, including postseason games. Only offensive and defensive starters are included; special teams players were excluded.

Most spring rosters across the FBS have now been updated, though a small portion remain incomplete or unavailable. Programs without a published roster were reviewed as carefully as possible to determine returning starters for 2026. Because of college football’s evolving eligibility landscape — including medical redshirts, hardship waivers and other eligibility cases — the list below could change slightly as additional roster updates become available.

For now, each of the 10 teams with the best FanDuel Sportsbook odds to win next season’s national title are expected to return at least nine starters from the 2025 campaign. That group is led by Georgia, Notre Dame and Oregon, which each bring back 14 starters — among the highest totals in the country entering the 2026 season. Those three programs are tied for the FBS lead with eight returning defensive starters.

USC leads all FBS teams with 15 returning starters overall, including a national-high nine on offense, as Lincoln Riley looks to translate that continuity into a long-awaited breakthrough in the Big Ten.

At the other end of the spectrum, three FBS programs return zero starters from last season: Iowa State, Memphis and North Texas. Each saw their coach leave for a new position this offseason.

From the Big 12 … 

• BYU … 13
• Texas Tech … 13
• Houston … 12
• UCF … 10
• Kansas State … 9
• Arizona … 8
• TCU … 8
• Kansas … 6
• Colorado … 5
• Arizona … 5
• Cincinnati … 5
• Utah … 5
• Oklahoma State … 4
• Arizona State … 3
• West Virginia … 3
• Iowa State … 0

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March 9th

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Arkansas makes multi-million dollar deal for patches on uniforms (Tyson Foods)

… Paging Fernando Lovo (if we can tear him away from his discussions on naming rights for Folsom Field) … 

From CBS Sports … As college athletics scrambles to fund the exploding cost of paying athletes, Arkansas may have landed on one of the sport’s most aggressive new models: a corporate sponsorship designed primarily to pay players.

The Razorbacks and Tyson Foods have entered into a sweeping five-year partnership that will place the company’s logo on the jerseys of all 19 Arkansas teams beginning in the 2026–27 academic year. But the branding is only part of the story — roughly 90% of the money generated by the deal is expected to flow directly to Arkansas athletes through name, image and likeness opportunities with the company.

Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek calls the agreement announced Wednesday “the largest true sponsorship agreement in college athletics right now.”

“The intention is that every student-athlete will be positively impacted by this partnership,” Yurachek said. “That was really important to Mr. Tyson and Donnie King, their president and CEO, and Kristina Lambert, their chief growth officer. And it’s really important to us as well.”

Specific financial details of the Razorbacks’ mega deal with Tyson Foods — headquartered just a few miles away in nearby Springdale — were not disclosed. Tyson Foods chairman John Tyson told CBS Sports, however, that speculation about a nine-figure agreement is misplaced.

“It’s not $100 million, let’s put it that way,” Tyson said.

Still, the structure of the deal is what could make it notable nationally.

“The game’s changing so quickly,” Tyson said. “NIL sponsorships, funding for universities — the model is moving really, really quickly.”

… Continue reading story here …

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March 8th

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The Athletic: Two CU transfers impress staffers from Big 12 rivals

From The Athletic … College football’s January transfer portal window was fast and furious, with no shortage of drama. With the vast majority of player movement complete, The Athletic surveyed 14 people who work in front offices around the country to dive deeper into the storylines.

Which teams had the best classes? Which players did personnel staffers like the most? Did the new dates and length of the portal window work?

Staffers were granted anonymity in exchange for their candor.

Which team had the best class (not including your own)?

Big 12 staffer 1: I hate to say it, but Texas Tech is doing what they should with their money. To go out and get (linebacker) Adam Trick and (edge rusher) Trey White, I’d love to sit here and say we did that.

Group of 6 staffer 1: LSU clearly spent big. They went after some big hitters. Oklahoma State stood out to me because they had so many of those strong North Texas players. I think they’ll make an instant impact for them, and they have a lot of guys who know the system, have real snaps, and they’ll be an older team. They did a good job of not only bringing in their own guys but finding other quality guys as well. Texas Tech continues to plug along with the model they’ve built, bringing in impact guys at key positions and making investments there.

Big 12 staffer 2: I thought Houston was impressive. Their ability to compete financially was surprising.

ACC staffer 3: They overpaid for some kids, but from an evaluation standpoint, Texas Tech did a really excellent job. I thought their class was pretty exceptional. I thought Texas did a really good job with a handful of guys. I thought Tennessee did a pretty good job. They signed a couple kids that I liked. A large portion of Penn State’s class came from Iowa State, but I thought they did a good job given that. I thought Clemson did a really good job. Oklahoma State did an outstanding job.

Which teams underwhelmed you?

Big 12 staffer 2: Kansas State and Wisconsin. K-State overpaid for a lot of guys, in my opinion. I like a lot of the guys Wisconsin got, but I just thought they overpaid to get ’em. Some of Baylor’s takes were suspect.

ACC staffer 3: Pitt got destroyed in the portal, and I didn’t think they did a sufficient job replacing the talent they lost. Georgia Tech got absolutely decimated in the portal, and I don’t think they did a particularly sufficient job replacing what they lost, either. North Carolina was odd this cycle. I thought they overpaid for a couple kids.

Group of 6 staffer 4: I thought for us there were a lot of guys we were recruiting against Iowa State and Baylor. So I thought those players were kind of more our level.

Which transfer did you like the most (not including one of your signees)?

Big Ten staffer 1: (Linebacker) Adam Trick, who went to Texas Tech. I think he would’ve been an early Day 3 draft pick this year. I think in that league he’s going to do really well.

Group of 6 staffer 1: Caleb Hawkins (North Texas to Oklahoma State). I think he’s a flippin’ stud. He’s so talented. He’s going to come in and be one of the best running backs in the Big 12 on Day 1.

Big 12 staffer 2: I’m intrigued by (center) Demetrius Hunter (Houston to Colorado). He has started 24 Big 12 games. You can’t take that lightly. I thought he was a good take for Colorado.

Group of 6 staffer 2: I love (cornerback) Justin Eaglin (James Madison to Colorado). I really liked Kyri Shoels (San Jose State to Utah).

… Read full story here …

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March 6th

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CBS Sports: The 24-Team Playoff is Coming – Get Used to the Idea

From Tom Fornelli at CBS Sports … The 24-team College Football Playoff is coming. Fight against it all you want. Question its purpose. Decry the professionalization of the sport. It doesn’t matter. It’s Manifest Destiny, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

This week provided more examples of why you’d better accept it. In the idea’s infant stages, it was portrayed as nothing but a hare-brained idea by Big Ten and commissioner Tony Petitti. They were the ones pushing it. Greg Sankey, the principled and upstanding commissioner of the SEC, was the only thing standing between us and the tomfoolery.

Except now, SEC coaches are speaking up about the idea. And guess what? They’re on board. Both Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Tennessee’s Josh Heupel are on record as liking the idea, and why wouldn’t they be?

By my rough math (and by rough, I mean hyperbolic guess), 100 of the head football coaches at the FBS level share three agents. Those three agents have made sure that every single one of those coaches has bonuses in their contracts involved with making the playoff. While the size differs depending on the coach’s gravitas, everybody likes making more money. And the more spots available, the more coaches are likely to make more money.

You will hear people argue that we shouldn’t let coaches dictate the future of the sport because coaches are mostly thinking about themselves. I agree with those people. Instead, we must continue to let television executives dictate the future of the sport, and the conference commissioners who had the foresight to rip apart conferences at the behest of those television executives who eventually dropped the middleman and just took over the conferences themselves!

Am I being sarcastic as all hell right now? You’re damn right I am. Because I am annoyed by everybody when it comes to the College Football Playoff and expansion. I see and hear so many of my colleagues respond to the idea of a 24-team field by saying it’s the last straw, or the final frontier of stupid decisions in college football.

Are you sure about that?

In the last few years, we’ve seen Cal and Stanford join the ACC. The Big Ten has Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA

… . Oh, and it’s still called the Big Ten despite having 18 teams, much like the Big 12 is the Big 12 despite having 16. We are well past the stupid threshold here, folks!

You can also argue that a 24-team format destroys the value of the regular season, but I would argue conference consolidation killed it first. When you have 16 teams in your league, and all the best programs in the sport’s history have been condensed to primarily two leagues, losses are going to come with them.

The idea of every game mattering in the sense of determining the national champion died long ago. The 24-team format is the next logical — and I use that term loosely — step in the process of taking college football from its 20th-century values to a 21st-century reality.

… Continue reading story here …

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March 5th

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Bill Connelly ranks Power Four quarterbacks – Julian Lewis comes in at (pause) No. 64 out of 68

From Bill Connelly at ESPN … January’s transfer window has long since closed, and college football rosters are as stable as they’ll ever be as spring football gets started across the country. It feels like a good time to start looking toward the fall.

We’ll get to SP+ projections and infinite preview material soon enough, but let’s start, as we always seem to do, with the quarterbacks. On a couple of different occasions during the 2025 season, I ranked all 68 power-conference quarterbacks based on stats, trends and recent performances. Let’s do that again. We have at least a reasonable idea of who will start for most of the teams on the current power-conference rosters, so let’s take the next logical step. There they are, Nos. 1-68, heading into spring ball.

7. Drew Mestemaker, Oklahoma State Cowboys

9. Brendan Sorsby, Texas Tech Red Raiders

12. Devon Dampier, Utah Utes

15. Bear Bachmeier, BYU Cougars

21. Avery Johnson, Kansas State Wildcats

27. Noah Fifita, Arizona Wildcats

31. Alonza Barnett III, UCF Knights

35. Cutter Boley, Arizona State Sun Devils

36. Conner Weigman, Houston Cougars

40. DJ Lagway, Baylor Bears

50. Michael Hawkins Jr., West Virginia Mountaineers

51. Jaylen Raynor, Iowa State Cyclones

54. JC French IV, Cincinnati Bearcats

55. Jaden Craig, TCU Horned Frogs

62. Julian Lewis, Colorado Buffaloes

2025 stat line: 33.3 QBR, 589 passing yards, four TDs, zero INTs, 55.3% completion rate, 11.3 yards per completion

Deion Sanders and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur ran their QB room in scattershot fashion in 2025, starting three different guys at one point or another, but the uncertainty is gone in 2026. Two of those three are gone, and Lewis, the blue-chip, redshirt freshman, is the guy for new coordinator Brennan Marion. Lewis was good in one late-season start (a win over WVU) and lost in another (a blowout defeat to Arizona State), but he has tools.

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March 4th

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Number of playoff appearances if 24-team playoffs dated back to 2014 (CU: Twice)

From the Big 12 … 

• Eight appearances: Utah
• Six appearances: Oklahoma State
• Four appearances: Baylor; BYU; TCU
• Three appearances: Arizona; Cincinnati; Houston; Iowa State
• Two appearances: Colorado; Arizona State; Kansas State; UCF; West Virginia
• One appearance: Texas Tech
• No appearances: Kansas

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March 2nd 

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CBS Bowl Projections: One Playoff Team; no Bowl for the Buffs

From CBS Sports … As spring practice across college football nears full swing, it’s time for a borderline futile experiment — 2026 bowl projections for every game, from mid-December Group of Six pairings through New Year’s, punctuated by the College Football Playoff. Half of the 12-team bracket last fall was made up of first-time participants, spiking parity that enhanced the sport for fans.

Should we expect more unpredictability at the top of the postseason polls in 2026?

The Peach, Fiesta, Rose and Cotton Bowls hold playoff quarterfinal designations for next season, while the Orange and Sugar Bowls will host the semifinals. Add the additional 34 non-playoff games, excluding the now-defunct LA Bowl, and 40 total matchups will unfold next fall.

Teams we’re expecting to return to bowl eligibility after missing out last season include Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma State, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech and UCLA. North Carolina is another thanks to Bill Belichick’s offseason shakeup in his quarterback room and a schedule conducive to success.

While not all tie-ins have been determined yet, former Pac-12 programs are designated for Pac-12 bowls for one final season, which means Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington are eligible for the Alamo, Independence, Holiday, Las Vegas, and Sun Bowls along with Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.

… College Football Playoff … Texas Tech …

Power Four tie-ins

• First Responder Bowl: Cincinnati vs. North Carolina
• Gasparilla Bowl: Auburn vs. Virginia
• Rate Bowl: Kansas State vs. Wisconsin
• GameAboveSports Bowl: Minnesota vs. Central Michigan
• Fenway Bowl: Georgia Tech vs. Tulane
• Pinstripe Bowl: NC State vs. Nebraska
• Military Bowl: Navy vs. Pittsburgh
• Texas Bowl: TCU vs. South Carolina
• Independence Bowl: Arizona vs. Army
• Birmingham Bowl: Duke vs. Kentucky
• Sun Bowl: Utah vs. SMU
• Duke’s Mayo Bowl: Illinois vs. Florida State
• Liberty Bowl: Florida vs. Oklahoma State
• Music City Bowl: Missouri vs. Iowa
• Las Vegas Bowl: Arizona State vs. Tennessee

Pop-Tarts Bowl

The pick: Houston vs. Clemson

From four wins to 10 in only two seasons with the Cougars, Willie Fritz has his sights set on a Big 12 Championship Game appearance at Houston in 2026. The Pop-Tarts Bowl has grabbed the league’s runner-up each of the past two years, and that scenario may unfold again. Getting Dabo Swinney and the Tigers would be a draw for organizers since Clemson has played in Orlando only once in the last decade (2021) in a postseason setting.

Alamo Bowl

The pick: BYU vs. UCLA

Nico Iamaleava and Bob Chesney could be an ideal match for the Bruins, leading to vast, program-wide improvements in 2026. Buy low on UCLA’s expected progress under its new regime with a clear path to bowl eligibility if this 41-member portal class can be impactful. BYU came up one win short of getting to the CFP last season and brings back the bulk of its lineup, including star tailback LJ Martin.

Power Four teams who missed the preseason bowl projections cut: Arkansas, Baylor, Boston College, California, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers, Stanford, Syracuse, Wake Forest, West Virginia, UCF, Vanderbilt

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Food for Thought: CU is the last current Big 12 team to be ranked No. 1

… AP poll … Only three of 16 teams in the Big 12 have ever been ranked No. 1 in the AP poll. CU’s last time ranked No. 1 was in 1990. The other two? BYU in 1984 … and TCU in 1938 … The other 13 teams? Never …

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This post, about the Spring Practices game, from the 2026 Season, is filed under Article.
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