'Everyone's fighting' over CFP expansion
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USA Today
5 minutes ago
- USA Today
ESPN believes that Notre Dame will have a very early swing game for the 2025 season
If you haven't looked ahead to what Notre Dame football's first few weeks of the 2025 season look like, it's a very front-loaded schedule. The Irish open the season on the road against Miami, then hosting Texas A&M in the home opener. Starting the season against two ranked teams will be a big test for Notre Dame, and ESPN believes that the first game of the year will be its swing game. Mark Schlabach went into details on why this is such an important game for the Irish as he said 'Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman won't have to wait long to learn if his team is a CFP (College Football Playoff) national title contender.' He isn't wrong, and due to the fact that this 'will be a tremendous test for Notre Dame's new starting quarterback, presumably redshirt freshman CJ Carr,' as Schlabach said, it won't be an easy contest. Unfortunately for Freeman, he hasn't done all that well early in the season, in his first the Irish lost the initial two games, then his second was much better, but the competition wasn't nearly at the same level. Last year Northern Illinois knocked off the Irish in the second game, but Notre Dame did win the opener on the road against A&M. There will be a much different focus for the Irish this coming fall, as the expectations for the program have risen significantly due to its impressive 2024 run in the CFP. Don't expect Freeman to ask Carr or even Kenny Minchey to do all that much in the opener, as they'll both still be getting their feet wet at this level. He'll lean on the elite defense, and hopefully the Irish return to South Bend with an early swing game victory. Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions. Follow Mike on X: @MikeFChen
USA Today
36 minutes ago
- USA Today
Paul Finebaum responds to Rhett Lashlee's 'top-heavy' comment regarding SEC programs
Rhett Lashlee led SMU to the College Football Playoff last season, but took an opportunity to blast the SEC during his time at ACC football media days. Last season was a great year for former Auburn offensive coordinators, as Rhett Lashlee and Kenny Dillingham led SMU and Arizona State respectively to the College Football Playoff in the first year of its' expanded format. Lashlee, who served as Auburn's offensive coordinator from 2013-16 under his high school coach, Gus Malzahn, stood at the podium at ACC football media days this week to represent SMU as their head coach. During his time, he took a shot at the SEC by saying that the conference is not as deep as fans perceive. 'The SEC has had the same six schools win the championship since 1964. Not a single one has been different since 1964,' Lashlee said at ACC football media days via On3. 'That's top-heavy to me. That's not depth.' Auburn was not the subject of this shot, as the Tigers won the 2010 national championship, a year that Lashlee was coincidentally a graduate assistant on Gene Chizik's staff. However, the conference's flagship programs of Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee are the only SEC teams to win titles since then. Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma have each won a national championship since 1964, but were members of other conferences. Still, Lashlee's comments struck a nerve with SEC supporters, including Paul Finebaum. Finebaum, who hosts a national talk show on SEC Network and ESPN radio on weekday afternoons, went after the Mustangs and Lashlee during a recent appearance on ESPN's Get Up by referencing SMU's death penalty in the 1980s and Lashlee's alma mater. 'Do you know what happened at SMU? They shut the program down. While he's making fun of the SEC for winning national championships all over the place. SMU is the most corrupt program in the history of college football. Rhett Lashlee has the nerve to get up there and throw stones? By the way, he played at Arkansas. That should have nothing to do with it. That was one of the most comically embarrassing rants I have heard and I am glad the audio wasn't clear because I would have come right through that screen.' On3's Dan Morrison broke down the SEC's national championships since 1964, the year Lashlee used as a starting point. Alabama has won 15 titles in that span, while Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee have won at least two, totaling 30 national championships. As for the ACC, only Clemson, Florida State, and Georgia Tech have won national titles as members of the conference. Lashlee is not the only coach to take a shot at the SEC. During Big Ten football media days, Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti ignorantly criticized SEC football scheduling by saying that the Big Ten's nine-game format gives the Hoosiers an advantage when scheduling non-conference games against Group of Five programs. "So we figured we'd just adopt [an] SEC scheduling philosophy. Some people don't like it. I'm more focused in on those nine conference games," Cignetti said, via Trojans Wire. Cignetti's comments follow Indiana's cancellation of a series with Virginia, leaving them with zero non-conference games against Power Four opponents through 2029. Meanwhile, every SEC team except Ole Miss will play at least one non-SEC game against a Power Four team. Teams like Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina, will play two non-conference games against Power Four foe this season. Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__
USA Today
36 minutes ago
- USA Today
Ryan Day says CFP format, automatic bids impacting Ohio State's future schedule
The college football world will be blessed with a premier matchup between Texas and Ohio State to open the 2025 college football season. But while fans are in for a treat for the matchup between the 2024 defending national champion Buckeyes and the up-and-coming Longhorns led by sensation Arch Manning, more of these marquee matchups could be off the table if there is no change in conference schedules and the format of the current College Football Playoff. REQUIRED READING: The absurdity of absolute power. Big Ten, SEC fight to shape College Football Playoff Speaking at Big Ten media days on July 22, Day talked about future scheduling of out-of-conference games and how it could be impacted with a lack of automatic berths in the current 12-team College Football Playoff. 'If we're not going to do that, I don't think it makes sense to do that,' Day said. 'You have your nine conference games and schedule other nonconference games that aren't in the Power Four.' Despite saying that, Ohio State's upcoming matchups against SEC powerhouses Alabama and Georgia appear to be safe. The Buckeyes are scheduled to play the Crimson Tide in 2027 and 2028, and the Bulldogs in 2030 and 2031. OSU begins a home-and-home with Texas this season. 'What's scheduled is scheduled,' Day said. The Buckeyes have recently added games against Navy and Youngstown State ― a Football Championship Subdivision member ― for the 2029 season. A big reason for the philosophy from Day and the Buckeyes for a "softer" out-of-conference schedule is the number of conference games played by each of the Power 4 conferences. Like the Big Ten, the Big 12 also plays nine conference games; meanwhile, the ACC and SEC have schedules with eight conference games. 'Until there's continuity between conferences, if you're in the Big Ten, it would make no sense to have anything other than a case to have four automatic qualifiers and an expanded pool of teams,' Day said, 'because when you play nine conference games, it's not the same as someone who plays eight conference games. If you're going to be compared against that, it's just not the same.' No team ever made the four-team CFP field with more than two losses between 2014 and 2023. In the new 12-team format last season, Alabama became the first team with three losses to make the field over a two-loss team in Miami. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti's plan for a 16-team bracket that would secure four spots for the Big Ten and another four for the SEC has not gained approval and would need to be implemented before the Dec. 1 deadline to be added for the 2026 season. 'There's no reason to schedule until you have clarity,' Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork said. 'You could say we're in a holding pattern.'
