The Texas State Bobcats set out to defend their First Responder Bowl title against the North Texas Mean Green Eagles on Friday. One team was walking in with a roster torn asunder by the transfer portal. The other held all the cards for victory. So how did this game end up being the first thriller of the year?

Texas State Escapes With The Win In the First Responder Bowl

Mestemaker’s Big Impact

The biggest story going into this game was the departure of Chandler Morris. North Texas’ best quarterback in years moving to Virginia just before the bowl game was one of many factors spelling woe for the Mean Green. With nobody else to turn to, North Texas was going to have to put their faith in the walk-on freshman Drew Mestemaker.

Turns out, he’s actually a hidden gem.

The last time Mestemaker started a football game was in his freshman year of high school. Yet, from the moment he took the field, Mestemaker was making plays as if he’d been the starter for North Texas all along. Two big back-to-back touchdowns put the Mean Green ahead early and, despite some stumbles, Mestemaker was playing his heart out all night. If he reminds you of anyone, it’s probably Oklahoma’s Jackson Arnold.

McCloud Stays For Texas State

One of the question marks heading into this game was Texas State quarterback Jordan McCloud. With an NFL career on the horizon, it was doubtful if McCloud would actually opt in for the First Responder Bowl. Instead, he chose to opt in.

Despite being shut down time and time again early on, McCloud powered through. With just minutes to go before the half, McCloud got the Bobcats on the board to overtake North Texas. McCloud would follow that up by draining most of the third-quarter clock to extend the lead.

The Bobcat Crawl

Texas State chose to play it safe for the First Responder Bowl. Each time they got their hands on the ball, the Bobcats had to drive the length of the field. They also chose to do so very slowly. Deliberately and subtly, Texas State was cornering the Mean Green.

This playstyle is often seen as one of desperation. Here, though, it was a brilliant long-term design. By draining so much time off the clock, North Texas’ momentum was curtailed, and the pressure to bounce back increased each time they failed to score. Sure, the Mean Green might be driving half the field in ninety seconds- but if they’re not scoring, their backs are just being pushed closer and closer to the wall.

Down to the Wire

Back-to-back mistakes suddenly heightened the stakes in the closing minutes of the game. At 23-14, Texas State was minutes away from defending their First Responder Bowl title. Then, McCloud threw an interception to Evan Jackson.

Mestemaker and the Mean Green would take it forty yards in the opposite direction. Then, Mestemaker would fumble to Kalil Alexander. Twenty yards later, Texas State fumbled it back to North Texas. Wasting no time, Mestemaker launched a missile to Landon Sides for a forty-two-yard gain to the one-yard line. Makenzie McGill II punched it in to make this a two-point game at 23-21.

Lincoln Pare would escape a blitz for a 73-yard touchdown run. Mestemaker then bolted down the field for his own 7o yard touchdown run. Suddenly, there were just twelve seconds left and North Texas had used its last timeout. On 4th and 11, stuck in their own red zone and with nowhere to go, Mestemaker sent up an unanswered prayer that ended in an interception.

North Texas and Texas State: By The Numbers

The First Responder Bowl ends with a narrow Texas State victory at 30-28. North Texas comes away with 491 yards of offense. This means they’re ending their season with 6,355 yards of offense. Mestemaker completed 26 of 41 passes for 393 yards. This means the walk-on has out thrown both quarterbacks of the Sugar Bowl and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders. He was also this game’s leading rusher. North Texas held the ball for 22 minutes.

Texas State finishes the game with 508 yards of offense. This puts the Bobcats’ season total at 6,200 yards of offense. McCloud heads to the NFL with 26 of 35 passes completed. Texas State held the ball for 38 minutes.

What’s Next after the First Responder Bowl?

This year’s bowl game ends with Texas State ultimately defending its First Responder Bowl title. The Bobcats are losing a good number of talents and staff after this. It will be difficult to recapture the magic of the 2024 season.

North Texas fought its heart out, but it just wasn’t enough. However, they can look to the future with hope. If he can stay out of the transfer portal, North Texas has a ready-made star to build their program around in Mestemaker.

Whatever happens in 2025, Last Word On Sports will be here to provide you with the best coverage of college football and much, much more.

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North Texas and Texas State are kicking off the new year in the First Responder Bowl. College football always means more in the Lone Star State, and its time for the best of the best to prove it. However, will this game be an offensive shootout or shutout?

First Responder Bowl Preview: North Texas and Texas State

The Mean Green Are In- But is Chandler Morris?

It wasn’t a pretty win that earned North Texas bowl eligibility but, as this year’s Oklahoma Sooners know all too well, a win is a win. However, the Mean Green Eagles are heading into their bowl game without a key player.

Quarterback Chandler Morris, who passed for nearly 4,000 yards this year, is transferring to Virginia. This means he’s likely opting out of the First Responder Bowl. Perhaps this is a calculated move. After all, if Morris stays for the game he’d be playing against his father, Chad Morris, the current receivers coach for Texas State. North Texas will turn to walk-on freshman Drew Mestemaker without the younger Morris onboard.

Faith of the Heart

There’s still some hope, however, that things will work out. “For a freshman, Drew is pretty good,” Ridge Texada, a veteran cornerback, said in a press conference leading into this game. He continued further, saying, “He has an arm on him. He doesn’t have much experience, but going against him in practice, he’s not a freshman who doesn’t know what he’s doing out there. The coaches have done a good job of developing him throughout the year.”

This faith is a good thing because Mestemaker isn’t the only untested player starting the First Responder’s Bowl. The transfer portal, as it is bound to do, is wreaking havoc in Denton. Plenty of starters and veterans are in the transfer portal and opting out of the bowl game.

Brandon Young, another true freshman, is starting at tight end. D.T. Sheffield is also being replaced as he’s heading to Rutgers. Even the receiving core will be seeing plenty of freshmen starting. Like Oklahoma, North Texas is suffering from both injuries and transfer portal shuffles.

Texas State is Cashing in

Despite joining the Sun Belt over a decade ago, Texas State only made its first bowl game in 2023. Now, just one year later, the Bobcats are back in, coincidentally, the same bowl game. Can the Bobcats hold on to their title as reigning First Responder Bowl champions?

There’s a good chance that they can. The trend for this year has been two wins and two losses. They won their last game against South Alabama- which means they’re due for another one. Additionally, their offensive coordinator, Mack Leftwich, was one of the final candidates in Oklahoma’s high-stakes search for a replacement coordinator this year.

The Bobcat Backups

If that’s not enough, Texas State is currently ranking fifth nationally in yards per game, with 474 yards, and seventh in points per game, averaging about 37 points. Senior quarterback Jordan McCloud, running back Ismail Mahdi, and a veteran receiving group all share responsibility for this success. Unfortunately, these team leaders aren’t likely to play much, if at all, in the First Responder Bowl.

McCloud is seeking a top spot in the NFL Draft. While he isn’t fully de-committed from playing, there’s a chance that he will only take a limited amount of snaps to preserve his draft stock. Mahdi, meanwhile, is entering the transfer portal with his eyes on a spot with Arizona. Unlike North Texas, however, Texas State is capable of absorbing these blows through a strong depth chart.

Just one example is R.J. Martinez, who is the backup quarterback for the Bobcats. Martinez may not have seen much action since the 2022 season, but he’s a solid option to rely on. There’s also running back Torrance Burgess Jr., who rushed for nearly 400 yards this season and is more than ready to step up.

Tale of the Tape: First Responder Bowl 2024

If everyone, transfers, and seniors alike, opt-ins, this is going to be one of the greatest games of the bowl season. An offense shootout doesn’t even begin to describe it. The Rose Bowl wouldn’t hold a candle to this one. With everyone onboard, North Texas and Texas State could bring the house down.

That probably won’t happen.

North Texas is looking for a miracle win that’s just not in the cards. Unlike Sam Houston, the opt-outs are probably staying out, and it’s likely going to bring the Mean Green’s season to a rough end. For a school that once had “Stone Cold” Steve Austin on its roster, the days of North Texas dominance seem to be long gone right now. Meanwhile, the Texas State Bobcats have the team and the momentum to win big in Dallas.

No matter what happens on Friday, be sure to check back in with Last Word On Sports as we bring you the best breakdown of this year’s First Responder Bowl and much, much, more.

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This year’s Armed Forces Bowl was fought between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Navy Midshipmen. Whatever expectations people had going into this game went right out the window in the first five minutes. Bowl season is intent on delivering chaos to the end of the year, and this game was happily serving up even more. A wild ending led to Navy winning 21-20.

Navy Sinks Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl

Oklahoma and Navy Start Hot

It’s been difficult to pin down the Oklahoma Sooners this year. Sometimes they’re on top of the world, sometimes they’re making high school-level mistakes. Truly, there are few other schools this season as inconsistent as the Sooners. The Armed Forces Bowl was just another example of this.

The first quarter saw Oklahoma in rare form. Michael Hawkins Jr., the second-string quarterback who played for a departed Jackson Arnold, was playing near-perfectly. In just three minutes, the Sooners were already on the board between Hawkins and Gavin Sawchuk. They’d reach the endzone yet again before the second quarter.

Oklahoma’s defense was likewise on point. Navy only managed 77 yards to Oklahoma’s 153 in the first fifteen. Despite every attempt at sleight-of-hand and misdirection, Blake Horvath and the Midshipmen couldn’t get anything going. If there’s a way to describe Oklahoma in the first quarter, it’s that they were leaving it all on the field.

Second Quarter Stumble

The next fifteen looked ready to be a repeat of the first. Luke Elzinga‘s fake punt to Woodi Washington was certainly a strong start. Unfortunately, Oklahoma’s attitude of going all out began to show its weaknesses.

Consistently, the Oklahoma defense either left exactly one receiver wide open or left a gap for fullback Alex Tecza. Each time, Navy was willing to take advantage. While the smaller Navy defense gave up big gains to Oklahoma’s offense, the Midshipmen still held the Sooners to three separate turnovers on downs.

Between these simple mistakes and various penalties, it’s no surprise that the Midshipmen came close to tying the game. Horvath and Tecza busted their butts down the field to break into the Oklahoma endzone and finally put Navy on the board before halftime.

Navy Rides the Wave

Fumbles, punts, missed field goals, and touchdowns all came together to make this game a true nail-biter in the second half. It was also a further indictment of Oklahoma football’s inconsistencies and Navy’s ability to force a momentum shift.

Just as they had been doing all day, the Sooners defense left a gap for a rusher. In this case, that rusher was the Navy quarterback. Horvath bolted ninety-five yards downfield to even the score at 14-14. A Hawkins fumble all of thirty seconds later gave the Midshipmen another chance.

If it weren’t for a shanked kick, Navy would have taken a three-point lead. Then Oklahoma, too, shanked a kick to the right. Somehow, some way, this game was suddenly becoming closer than anyone thought possible.

The Final Minutes in Fort Worth

Seven minutes and thirty-two seconds. That’s how much time Horvath and Navy drained off the clock in the fourth quarter. A few mid-range passes and trading runs kept exposing an over-aggressive Sooners defense. With just four and a half minutes to go, and Navy’s up 21-14.

Two-minute drills are for moments just like this- because that’s exactly how much time the Oklahoma Sooners had left. A contested call pushed them to fourth down, but the Sooners went for it anyway and miraculously converted. Now there’s just one minute to go.

A sack in the backfield leads to third down and the last timeout. Thirty seconds. Two incompletions and a defensive pass interference call led to an automatic first down. Hawkins sent it to Jake Roberts in the endzone for a touchdown. The Sooners laid all their marbles on the field by going for the two-point conversion and got Hawkins sacked as the Midshipmen swarmed him in the backfield. Just like that, it was all over.

Oklahoma and Navy: By the Numbers

The Oklahoma Sooners come away with 433 yards of offense. This adds to their regular season amount of 3,870 yards for a total of 4,303 yards of offense in 2024. Hawkins completed 28 of 43 passes for 247 yards. The Sooners held the ball for 30 minutes.

The Navy Midshipmen sail back home with 319 yards of offense. This means that the total offensive yards that Navy gained in 2024 is 4,828 yards. Horvath completed seven of 12 passes for 92 yards. Navy held the ball for 30 minutes.

What’s Next for the Oklahoma Sooners?

The Armed Forces Bowl ended the Sooners’ season with as close of a loss as they’ve had all year. The Navy Midshipmen end a historic season just behind the Army Black Knights. As the college football playoffs continue, what’s next for Sooners football?

As we mentioned in our previous article, this was more about seeing the 2025 squad in action. While the loss stings, it’s a ray of hope for next year. The defense showed, perhaps too much, tenacity. The offensive line held up better than it has all season. It’s looking to be a brighter 2025 for the Oklahoma Sooners, and Last Word On Sports will be there with them every step of the way.

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The college football post-season is in full swing, and next up is the Oklahoma Sooners taking on the Navy Midshipmen in this year’s Armed Forces Bowl. There are plenty of great bowl games on tap this year. However, few are set to be quite as intriguing as this one.

Can Oklahoma Beat Navy at the Armed Forces Bowl?

Navy’s Historic Year

The military academies are, typically, forgotten about when it comes to college football. The Army-Navy game is always a highlight, but otherwise most of the nation focuses on the headliners. Similar to pro-wrestling’s undercard stars, the talent is there, but there’s usually just nothing to write home about. Until this year, that is.

The Army Black Knights were undefeated until they ran into Notre Dame. The same was true for Navy. Then, to top off the season, the Midshipmen gave their Army brothers a walloping in this year’s Army-Navy game. Just like those undercard wrestlers, all it takes is one good run to catch the eye of the nation. Of course, on the other side of that coin, all it takes is one bad run for people to start tuning out.

Oklahoma’s Rough Year

In their first season in the SEC, the Oklahoma Sooners were expected to land somewhere in the middle. Instead, they nearly bottomed out of the conference entirely. A last-minute win over Auburn and the squashing of Alabama are the only things giving hope for next year.

Head Coach Brent Venables was hedging his bets for this season. The regular season saw injuries, losses, and coaches being fired. Now, the heir-apparent quarterback is on his way to Auburn and the transfer portal is ravaging the depth chart. Salvaging this season with a bowl win won’t be easy, so Oklahoma has to bring its best.

Who’s On First For Oklahoma?

Unfortunately, some of its best are staying home. Key players such as Danny Stutsman and Billy Bowman are opting out as early-round NFL Draft picks. Stutsman and Bowman are, arguably, the two best players on the defense. Several other seniors are still on the depth chart, but, likewise, it’s uncertain if they’ll actually opt in for the game.

The offense is looking a bit more experienced- but only just. Oklahoma’s wide-receiving room is, essentially, nonexistent after the deluge of transfers. Only freshmen receivers will be playing for the Sooners to end the year. This is, of course, excluding tight ends Jake Roberts and Kaden Helms.

Oklahoma’s running backs are looking to be the same as usual. Xavier Robinson, Gavin Sawchuk, and Taylor Tatum will all likely see action of some kind in the Armed Forces Bowl game. Michael Hawkins Jr., obviously, will likely be taking all snaps as quarterback.

Navy Is Ready To Bowl

Perhaps nobody has said it better than Navy coach Brian Newberry, who spoke on the game earlier this month. “It’s interesting. We’re going through their two-deep and trying to figure out who’s going to play and who isn’t. It’s a little bit of a challenge in that regard.”

The Midshipmen are heading into the Armed Forces Bowl with opportunity on the horizon. Newberry, an Oklahoma native, may not look forward to going up against a hometown team. His players, on the other hand, couldn’t be more excited. Most are juniors and seniors who have been playing together for years. The Armed Forces Bowl, and Oklahoma, are an opportunity to make that time mean something.

Blake Horvath will be leading the offense at quarterback. Alex Tecza and Daba Fofana will be backing him up at fullback. Nathan Kent and Cody Howard will be the most likely receiving targets for any passes. Defensively, the Midshipmen will be fielding an all-senior and junior team.

Last Thoughts On Oklahoma, Navy, and The Armed Forces Bowl

Oklahoma is being hammered from all sides right now. The transfer portal, Jackson Arnold, the NFL Draft, graduation, and more are creating very long odds for the Sooners. Coach Venables probably knew this was coming, and he’s probably already digging his heels in for 2025 instead.

Navy, on the other hand, is sprinting through its third ten-win season in twenty years. College football chaos has been the name of the game in 2024, and the Midshipmen are happily doing their duty to create more. One more blow to college football’s powerhouse is that the SEC isn’t out of the question here. In fact, it’s the most likely option.

What we should focus on here isn’t the loss. The Armed Forces Bowl will be the first opportunity for the 2025 Oklahoma Sooners team to take the field. Win or lose, this will be a galvanizing experience for them and give us a glimpse into what 2025 has in store. As always, be sure to check back in with Last Word On Sports for all things Oklahoma Sooners- and for the most in-depth breakdown of this year’s Armed Forces Bowl.

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College football’s bowl season continues on and San Jose State and South Florida get to travel out to the islands of Hawai’i to face off for just the second time in history. Some teams win before even playing and USF and San Jose State did just that with the trip to Hawai’i. In that lone previous matchup, South Florida traveled to San Jose State in 2017 and came away with a 42-22 win. This year, the Spartans are 7-5 coming into this one and the Bulls are 6-6.

The Hawai’i Bowl Features South Florida and San Jose State

How We Got Here

San Jose State had a solid season and kicked it all off with a trio of wins. The first trip-up of the year came in a barn-burner loss to Washington State, 54-52 in overtime. After that emotional loss, the Spartans traded wins and losses over the next six weeks before running into the top two Mountain West programs. The season concluded with a close 34-31 win over the ACC’s Stanford Cardinal. This is San Jose State’s second consecutive Hawai’i Bowl appearance and it is coming off a loss against Coastal Carolina.

Meanwhile, the Bulls have been hit or miss this year. They were gifted a difficult schedule with both Alabama and Miami (FL) on the docket. As a result, South Florida started off 2-4 with wins over Bethune-Cookman (FCS) and Southern Miss and dropped matchups with Alabama, Miami (FL), Tulane, and Memphis. However, the Bulls responded and finished strong by winning four of the final six. This is the first time USF will get to play in the Hawai’i Bowl.

When San Jose State Has the Ball

The downside of bowls taking a back seat to the CFP is that stars may transfer or opt out to prepare for the NFL Draft. San Jose State has a superstar receiver named Nick Nash. He led the country in receptions, yards, and touchdowns. However, he has opted out. The Spartans’ next leading receiver set to take over in this one is Justin Lockhart who is on the precipice of his own 1,000-yard season. The offense is led by Walker Eget after taking over mid-season. Eget led the MWC in yards per attempt and completion. In 11 appearances, he threw for 2,224 yards and 11 touchdowns but did turn the ball over plenty with nine interceptions and three lost fumbles.

Defensively, the Bulls have struggled. Their secondary finished the regular season by allowing 278.7 yards per game, good for seventh-worst in the FBS. The diamond in the rough is linebacker Mac Harris and his 78 tackles and 10 tackles for loss. His job has been made easier with the play of defensive lineman Decarius Hawthorne in front of him. The pair combined for 20 tackles for loss, six-and-a-half sacks, four pass breakups, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, and a defensive score.

When South Florida Has the Ball

The Spartans were not the only ones to make a quarterback change. To start the year, Byrum Brown led the way but was lost due to injury. Thus, Bryce Archie took over and passed for 1,697 yards and nine touchdowns. To take the pressure off, USF has a three-headed rushing attack with three players logging at least 70 carries on the year: Kelley Joiner, Jr., Nay’quan Wright, and Taron Keith. Joiner leads the way with 766 yards and 11 touchdowns while leading the American Athletic Conference with seven yards per carry. The offensive unit is pretty hot and cold. The Bulls ran for over 300 yards just as many times as it was held to under 63 (four times).

San Jose State’s defense is about as middle of the pack as it can be. The Spartans are also led by their own star linebacker, Jordan Pollard. The junior amassed 110 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, two sacks, three pass breakups, and an interception on the year. He was named as a First-Team All-MWC player for the first time this year. It’s possible to move the ball on this unit, however. San Jose State allowed at least 338 total yards in 10 of 12 games.

It’s football in paradise!

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There was hope playing in front of the home crowd could lift Tim Beck’s team to a postseason win. But with an 11 am local kickoff time, Brooks Stadium (which only has a seating capacity of 21,000) looked to not even be half full. So with little juice in the stadium for the home team, it became clear early that this game would never be in the Chanticleer’s control. UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor battled some early rust. But as the game progressed, the Roadrunners sprinted to a deceive 44-15 victory in the Myrtle Beach Bowl.

Roadrunners Sprinted From Chanticleers

Chants Couldn’t Overcome Roster Attrition

The mounting roster issues facing Coastal Carolina on both sides of the ball were not a surprise during their bowl preparations. But starting a third-string quarterback who has never taken a collegiate snap was going to be a lot to overcome. Even if the rest of the starters on both sides of the ball played in this game, a brand-new quarterback puts a team behind the eight-ball. Chanticleer quarterback Tad Hudson and what was left of his wide receiving corps tried to rally around one another, with the wide receivers dubbing themselves “The Tadpoles” during practice. But the opening drive of the game revealed how the rest of the game would play out for Coastal Carolina.

Offensive Dud From Play One

After the opening kickoff, the Chants took a delay of game penalty on the very first play. This was especially head-scratching considering the first 10ish plays of a game are pre-scripted. This means Hudson and the offense had known what the first play was going to be for weeks now. After running the opening play for zero yards, Coastal Carolina suffered a false start penalty. However, even with the poor start, they overcame 2nd and 20 to pick up a first down.

But it proved to be the same fool’s gold anyone can win at an arcade on the Myrtle Beach boardwalk. The next three plays went backward, with two of them being sacks by the UTSA offense. Coastal Carolina finished with only 271 total yards of offense, while also accumulating 10 penalties for 96 yards. Hudson’s passing numbers reflect someone who had never thrown a college pass before today. He finished the day 17-for-26 for 173 yards and two touchdowns.

Roadrunners Sprinted To Victory In Second Quarter

For as bad as the Coastal Carolina offense was looking, the defense held up well in the first quarter. UTSA’s offense, led by quarterback Owen McCown, had been one of the hottest offenses in all of college football in the second half of the season. So for the first quarter to end 0-0 was a promising sign for the Chants. However, the Roadrunners sprinted to 21 points in the second quarter. They finally started looking like the offense they had been the previous six weeks. McCown wasn’t perfect as he did throw one interception.

But otherwise, it was a very productive day as he finished 23-for-30 passing for 254 yards and one touchdown. He also added 37 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground. Meanwhile, the UTSA defense also feasted on the diminished Coastal Carolina offense. One of the biggest reasons why Coastal’s offense mustered as few offensive yards as it did was the amount of times the Roadrunners were making plays in their backfield. UTSA finished the game with 10 tackles for loss and four sacks. With this Myrtle Beach Bowl win, it marks the first time in program history (which is only 13 years old) that the Roadrunners have won bowl games in consecutive seasons. The 44 team points also marked a program-high in points scored in a bowl game for UTSA.

Main Image courtesy: Myrtle Beach Bowl

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At Last Word, we hope all Christmas planning has been executed and it’s time just to enjoy the week. Might we offer a reason not even to bother logging into work on Monday, December 23rd? How about a Myrtle Beach Bowl featuring two 6–6 teams that gave up 30 points per game with an 11 a.m. EST kickoff? Last Word correctly identified that Coastal would not travel far for their bowl game before the official announcement dropped. In addition, this will be the first-ever meeting between the Chanticleers and the Road Runners. Mix in some portal madness for the “home” team, and this game is bound to be a party that would make Conway/Myrtle Beach proud.

Myrtle Beach Bowl: Coastal Carolina and UTSA Ball at the Beach

Depleted Chanticleers Look To Defend Their Teal Turf

Any Coastal Carolina season ticket holders are going to see a very different team when the Myrtle Beach Bowl kicks off. Starting on offense, starting quarterback Ethan Vasko and QB2 Noah Kim have entered the transfer portal. The Chanticleer offense was a boom-or-bust unit all season. Tim Beck’s team has scored 40 or more points five times and fewer than 20 three times in 2024. With a depleted quarterback room, Beck will likely turn the offense over to Tad Hudson with Alex Walker serving as the backup. Hudson, a four-star recruit out of high school, redshirted his freshman year at North Carolina before transferring to Coastal Carolina. Hudson will get his first-ever collegiate snaps in the Myrtle Beach Bowl. Expect the Chants to lean heavily on running back Braydon Bennett.

The senior from Greenville, SC was one of the most explosive running backs in the Sun Belt this season. The two-sport start for Coastal (who also runs the hurdles for the track team) averages 6.5 yards per carry and among his 112 rushes are gains of 67, 49, 37, and 25 yards (plus receptions of 37 and 25 yards). If Coastal is going to win the game, the offense must be clicking. The Coastal defense was not one of the best in the Sun Belt this season. They allowed an average of 419 yards of offense and 30 points per game, both were fourth worst in the conference. That was with both Matthew McDoom and Clev Lubin, both who earned All-Sun Belt First team selections. McDoom recently committed to Cincinnati while Lubin is still in the transfer portal.

Roadrunners Speeding To Bowl Game With Offense

The defensive challenge for the Chanticleers only becomes more daunting with a surging UTSA offense coming to Conway. Jeff Traylor’s team got off to a disappointing 2-4 start. But in the second half of the season, they finished with a 4-2 clip thanks to the offense rounding into form. They scored at least 38 points in five of its past six games. The catalyst for the offense explosion has been quarterback Owen McCown. In his last six games, he is averaging 310 passing yards per game. He was also has been spreading the ball around as five players caught between 13-24 passes in those games. In addition to throwing the ball well, McCown also has been averaging over 50 rushing yards per game (not including sacks).

However, the defense has struggled for much of the year. The Roadrunner defense allowed an average of 31.4 points and 383 yards of offense per game. But unlike the Chanticleers, it appears their two best defensive players will be suiting up for the Myrtle Beach Bowl. Senior linebacker Jimmori Robinson was selected as the 2024 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He totaled 43 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks, eight quarterback hurries, two pass breakups, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and a blocked kick this season. He was also joined by defensive back Zah Frazier on the AAC first-team defense.

Myrtle Beach Bowl Predictions

Here is an interesting factoid: UTSA was undefeated at home this season and flat-out defeated (0–6) on the road. So while Coastal Carolina is officially listed as the road team, let’s make no mistake about this: this is a true road game for the Road Runners. Both teams are sketchy defensively with one of the units being void of a few starters. However, UTSA is the more turnover-prone of the two as they ranked tied for 97th in turnovers lost this season coughing up the football 20 times. As leaky as the Coastal defense has been, they do a great job of creating turnovers. They finished tied 26th nationally in turnovers gained with 21. Expect the playbook to be emptied on both sides with a ton of scoring in this one. But a late turnover by the Roadrunners sets up the Chanticleers to kick a game-winning field goal as the “road team” gives the home fans an early Christmas gift.

Coastal Carolina 45, UTSA 42

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On Saturday, no. 12 Notre Dame (6-1) hits the road in back-to-back weeks to face No. 25 Navy (6-0) at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. It will be the first ranked team the Irish have played since defeating then No. 15 Louisville in Week 5. For the Midshipmen, however, the Irish will be their first-ranked opponent all season.

Saturday’s game marks the 97^th meeting between Notre Dame and the Naval Academy, which hails from the American Athletic Conference. In one of college football’s oldest rivalries, Notre Dame boasts an all-time series record of 82-13-1. Notre Dame’s 43-game winning streak in the series from 1963 through 2006 remains the longest winning streak between two annual opponents in college football history. Since 2010, Notre Dame is 11-1 against Navy and the Irish have won six straight, including a 42-3 victory in Dublin, Ireland last season.

“I’m looking forward to Navy, a 6-0 team. It’s going to be a great challenge for our program,” said Irish head coach Marcus Freeman at his weekly press conference. “They are putting up big numbers offensively. Their offensive scheme is enhanced from what we saw last year. They’ve done a great job of enhancing what they do offensively, they’ve been tremendous in the red zone on offense and defense. They’ve done a great job of creating turnovers and protecting the football. They are playing complementary football, and they play hard. They’re playing sound.”

Navy At A Glance

Brian Newberry was named head coach of Navy in 2023. He led the Midshipmen to a 5-7 overall record last season (4-4 in the AAC). In his first game as head coach in 2023, Navy opened the season with a loss to the Irish in Ireland. The Midshipmen, however, have played lights out this year. With a hybrid Wing-T offense and a triple-option attack that emphasizes run first, Navy has created headaches for opposing defenses this season. The team is averaging 44.8 points per game (fourth nationally). The offense piles up 435.8 yards per game and averages 7.3 yards per play. On the ground, Navy ranks fourth in the country with 274.8 yards per game. And throws for 161 yards per game.

In Navy’s offense, plays are grouped based on blocking scheme and backfield motion with identical looks yielding multiple plays. In explaining the Midshipmen’s offensive approach at the start of the season, Newberry said on Rivals.com, “The formula for success here, from an offensive perspective, is to be able to run the football. “First and foremost, we want to be a team that wins the time of possession. We want to be a team that limits the opposing offense’s possessions, and obviously takes care of the football, and plays great defense. We’ve got to establish the run game from the inside out.”

QB Blake Horvath Leads High Octane Navy Offense

Navy’s offense is led by junior quarterback Blake Horvath who is also the team’s leading rusher. The dual-threat signal caller is 46-of-72 passing this season for 888 yards (12.3 average). He has thrown 10 touchdowns with just a single interception. On the ground, Horvath has rushed for more than 100 yards on three occasions. He gained 211 yards on 12 carries and four rushing touchdowns in a 56-44 win over Memphis. Horvath rushed for 122 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries in a 38-11 victory over Temple. In a 34-7 win over Air Force, he carried the ball 19 times for 115 yards and two rushing touchdowns. All told, he has rushed for 621 yards on 79 carries. Fullback Alex Tecza is next with 306 yards on 49 carries. Horvath’s favorite receiving target is running back Eli Heidenreich. He has 23 receptions for 485 yards and five touchdowns.

Notre Dame Defense To Test Midshipmen

Notre Dame’s defense is short-handed, especially considering the loss of cornerback Benjamin Morrison who underwent hip surgery last week. He is out for the remainder of the season. One of the veteran leaders of the Irish’s defense, Morrison was tied for second on the team with four passes defended to go along with 20 tackles when he was injured in the Stanford game. Freshman Leonard Moore played admirably in place of Morrison in last week’s win over Georgia Tech. Moore recorded a career-high seven tackles against the Yellow Jackets. In two starts this season, Moore has 14 tackles.

Despite the key injury on defense, Notre Dame’s front seven is built differently than most of the defenses that Navy will face in the AAC. The unit allows the 10^th-fewest yards per game at 279 yards and is 8^th in the county in points allowed per game with 11.6. The Midshipmen are sure to be tested by a stout defense led by standouts Rylie Mills, Howard Cross III, Jack Kiser, and Xavier Watts that could slow their high-powered offense.

“We’ve been preparing for it (Navy’s offense) since fall camp,” Freeman said at his press conference. “We attacked it again during the bye week. And we’ve enhanced it since Sunday when we started game-planning. They have done a great job to stay in flow for what they want from their offense. We need to try to create some negative plays. There’s an aggressiveness we have to play with in terms of tactically, not just mentally. We have to try to get them off schedule a little bit and still be sound in what we’re doing.”

Notre Dame Offense Finding Its Groove

The Notre Dame offense has taken some time to form its identity. The Irish have one of the top rushing attacks in the country. Behind the three-headed monster of dual-threat quarterback Riley Leonard, and explosive running backs Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, Notre Dame simply runs over opposing defenses. The trio have combined for more than 1,200 yards on the season. Love has rushed for 462 yards (6.0 average) on 77 carries and has scored seven touchdowns. Leonard has gained 456 yards (6.1 average on 75 carries and has scored 10 touchdowns on the ground. For good measure with fewer opportunities, Price has amassed 329 yards (6.7 average) on 49 carries and has scored three touchdowns.

What has been lackluster at times is the passing game. Leonard, however, continues to look more comfortable in the pocket with each passing week. In last week’s road win over Georgia Tech, Leonard completed 20-of-29 passes for 203 yards. It was the second straight game that he passed for over 200 yards. The Midshipmen’s defense ranks in the bottom third in the nation against the pass and allows 165.2 rushing yards per game. If the Irish are able to expose Navy’s weaknesses on defense, Leonard should be able to open up the offense and get the ball in the hands of playmakers like Beaux Collins, Kris Mitchell, and Mitchell Evans downfield.

Notre Dame-Navy What To Expect

Looking to secure its first winning season since 2019, Navy will look to sink Notre Dame’s playoff chances in the highly anticipated neutral site game. While both teams boast impressive records and national rankings, expect a fierce battle. For Notre Dame, avoiding a second loss is paramount to keep its playoff aspirations afloat. Overachieving Navy is seeking to earn credibility with a win over a ranked opponent as a contender from the Group of Five. Safe to say, a Navy win over Notre Dame would qualify as a season-defining victory for the Midshipmen.

Navy has a penchant for explosive plays on offense this season. But the Midshipmen have yet to face a defense like Al Golden’s Notre Dame unit. If Notre Dame’s defense can ground the high-flying Navy offense and the Irish’s balanced offense can find success against a Navy defense that has surrendered its share of big plays, the Fighting Irish should secure another crucial victory. Winning out is likely Notre Dame’s only path to the CFP.

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July 1st, 2024* was a major day in college athletics. The conference realignment monster rears its ugly head once again and college athletics has been turned on its side. During this, every power conference is affected, and between 2024 and 2025 at least four of the Group of Five conferences will be as well. The one constant of conference affiliation in the 21st century is that membership has not been constant. We now enter the era of the “super conference”. When the dust settles, the four power conferences will each have 16 or more members.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time we’re seeing 16-team conferences. The Western Athletic Conference tried it. They utilized a weird pod system. It worked out so well, that half of the membership left to create the Mountain West Conference. Unlike with the WAC, conferences do not need to keep divisions anymore, so it allows for membership flexibility. The increased financial compensation should also help history from repeating. Let’s look at the conferences and how this round of conference realignment is affecting each.

SEC

The one that started it all. In 2021, Texas and Oklahoma of the Big 12 reached out to the SEC about potential membership. This began a chain of events that changed the membership in every FBS conference. Since the Big 12 has a grant of rights, these teams negotiated with the conference to leave after the 2023-24 year. In the meantime, it was business as usual for the SEC. The conference negotiated a new media deal exclusively with ESPN, ending the long tradition of the SEC on CBS. With Texas and Oklahoma joining, the SEC now has 16 members and enters “super conference” territory

PAC-12

The PAC-12 is dead. Long live the PAC-12. Conference realignment saved its most brutal fate for the PAC-12 After losing 10 of its 12 members, there isn’t much left other than Oregon State and Washington State. The destruction of the PAC-12 started long before the announced departure of USC and UCLA. There were years of missteps, bad decisions, and a metric ton of arrogance that helped create the current-day mess. The clock began ticking when USC and UCLA shocked the college football world with the move to the Big Ten. The conference needed a new media deal and with two of its largest brands leaving, this hurt the value and prospects of the conference.

When PAC-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff presented an iceberg of a streaming-only option from Apple as the lone offer, that was the final straw as Washington and Oregon were willing to take partial shares from the Big Ten just to get on solid land. Colorado was already planning on leaving at this point and returning to the Big 12. Seeing the ship was taking on way too much water, the other Four Corner schools Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah also jumped ship to the Big 12. This left OSU, Wazzu, Cal, and Stanford as the final members. The ACC threw Cal and Stanford a discounted payout life preserver, leaving OSU and Wazzu as the last two on the PAC-12’s version of the Titanic.

The conference has two years to get to the minimum number of members to continue operating. In the meantime, the two will be temporary affiliate members of the West Coast Conference for the majority of their non-football sports and have secured a scheduling arrangement with the Mountain West that is outlined in the Mountain West section below.

Big Ten

Not to be outdone by the SEC, the Big Ten made a big splash by inviting USC and UCLA into the fold to join in 2024. This is the first expansion for the conference since bringing in Maryland and Rutgers in a pure television market move. This time, brand value was a big driver along with the southern California market. While the SEC increased its footprint slightly, the Big Ten decided to go national behind the leadership of league commissioner Kevin Warren. Warren pushed to create a western front in the conference but did not see it through as he took a job with the Chicago Bears. Tony Pertitti took over and did not have the same Western appetite as Warren. The conference’s media partners lacked that appetite too. It was no secret that schools like Oregon, Washington, and Utah pined for the chance to join the Big Ten.

Things stayed quiet until the PAC-12 members saw a streaming-only media offer from Apple. Once Oregon and Washington received it, the wheels started moving again. Oregon and Washington were desperate enough that both agreed to a reduced payout to join. This gives the Big Ten 18 members. When the next media deal is negotiated, these additions will receive a full share. Once Oregon and Washington made known their intention to go to the Big Ten in 2024, the rest of the PAC-12 fell apart.

ACC

Conference realignment has been holding its breath with the ACC. With this conference, it has the potential to be a tale of two acts. On the one hand, the conference took advantage of the PAC-12’s demise by grabbing Cal and Stanford at a discounted price. On the other hand, the ACC has a growing problem due to its media deal and grant of rights. With the Big Ten and SEC dwarfing the ACC in payout, this has caused unrest with the larger ACC schools like Florida State and Clemson. Each has filed a lawsuit to try and get out from under the grant of rights.

SMU from the American Athletic Conference lobbied heavily to join the ACC. SMU went as far as to offer to forego its media payout completely for seven years, raising the money privately to offset the loss. The move to invite Cal, Stanford, and SMU was not unanimous. Multiple schools, including the aforementioned Florida State and Clemson, voted against it. However, the ACC member schools know that if their membership falls below 15 members, it opens the door for ESPN to renegotiate the media deal and not in the way the ACC members would like. This move pushes them to 18 members. If the conference falls apart, these schools could rebuild with Group of Five schools or try to find homes with the remaining power conferences.

Big 12

The Big 12 had four members join the conference last year: Independent BYU and American members Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF. This move was in preparation for the big move of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC in 2024. After a slightly awkward, but peaceful final season, the day has finally arrived and the two biggest brands of the Big 12 are moving on. The Big 12 was ready to stay as a 12-team conference, but commissioner Brett Yormark yearned for more. He took the initiative and negotiated a new media deal early with ESPN and Fox to begin in 2025. The ESPN portion has a pro-rate clause for power conference schools in case of expansion. The conference increased its per-member payout even with the loss of Texas and Oklahoma.

He explored several other options, both in the box and out, to create revenue. Part of his strategy is to expand from 12 members. His primary target was the Four Corner schools of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. All four were still in the PAC-12 and weren’t going to leave at this point. Yormark started considering UConn for all sports and Gonzaga as a non-football member.

When the PAC-12 kept delaying presenting a new media deal, Colorado grew impatient and began to talk to its former home, the Big 12. By the time the streaming deal was presented, Colorado had one foot out the door. Arizona then began to waver. It too started talking to the Big 12 and was ready to make the jump. Arizona State president Michael Crow stood in its way because the state Board of Regents wanted the schools to stay together and Crow enjoyed being a big fish in the PAC-12 pond. He relented when he could see the conference could not be saved. Utah was the last to make the jump. With all of the Four Corner schools secured, the Big 12 has settled on 16 members for now.

American Athletic Conference

The Group of Five conferences has also been affected by conference realignment. We already mentioned SMU leaving the American and joining the ACC. The AAC used this as an opportunity to make a move it has long wanted to do: Invite Army West Point as a football-only member. When the AAC was in flux after the split of the Big East, it arranged for the Naval Academy to join in 2015 and tried to bring Army in as well. Army, remembering its less-than-stellar time in Conference USA, declined, which also helped the Air Force Academy decide to stay in the Mountain West. Army now sees the benefit of conference affiliation and will join this year. The conference made accommodations to keep the Army/Navy game after the conference championship game. This will keep the American at 14 football-playing members.

Conference USA

Another Group of Five in conference realignment flux is Conference USA. After being gutted going into the 2023 season with the American poaching Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Alabama-Birmingham, Rice, and Texas-San Antonio, the conference went into survival mode. It brought in independent schools, New Mexico State and Liberty, and FCS call-ups Sam Houston State and Jacksonville State. This year, Kennesaw State makes the move up from the FCS ranks. Next year, Delaware and Missouri State will move up, giving Conference USA 12 members.

Mountain West

The Mountain West doesn’t have any membership changes as of yet but has arranged for a football scheduling agreement with PAC-12 holdovers Oregon State and Washington State. Each member of the Mountain West will play the two schools. It will not count as a conference game and the two are not eligible for a conference championship, but it will help fill the schedule and bring in some extra money to the conference. WSU will also become an affiliate member in a couple of other sports. There is a possibility that the MWC and PAC-12 have a merger or membership change between the two.

Mid-American Conference

Lastly, the MAC, the most stable of the FBS conferences, is not immune from this round of conference realignment. The conference will grow to 13 members with UMass’s addition as an all-sport member in 2025. UMass was a football-only member of the MAC from 2012-2016. The MAC executed a provision in UMass’ membership contract that they needed to join the conference for all sports or leave. The school chose to leave. After eight years as a floundering FBS independent, the Minutemen decided to rejoin the MAC to give the conference 13 members. The conference could look at FBS independent UConn, Conference USA member Western Kentucky or Middle Tennessee, or an FCS call-up as a potential 14th member. In the case of WKU and MTSU, both previously explored joining the MAC.

Welcome to the 2024-25 sports year!

*Due to legal reasons, the departing PAC-12 schools officially join their new conferences on August 2nd, but the athletic year begins on July 1st.

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The college football world is ever-changing. In less than 30 short years, we’ve gone through the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, Bowl Championship Series (BCS), a four-team College Football Playoff, and will be expanding to a 12-team College Football Playoff in 2024. And, to add to it, the CFP will expand further to 14 teams starting in 2026! Naturally, the thought process has shifted to what the next big thing will be. Enter, the College Football Super League.

College football is one of the biggest economic forces in the United States and has become more of a national brand rather than a regionally-focused commodity. It’s only natural to want to make it as good as can be. Attempting to make it so that the cream always rises to the top and replicating a Premier League-esque model only makes sense.

For decades, college football has thrived off of “what if.” Or even, “Could 2019 LSU beat 2001 Miami (FL)?” With a better College Football Super League than what has been proposed, it would make those discussions even better. Imagine a system where the bluebloods are in a division of their own, battle it out yearly, and have to keep it up with the risk of relegation.

A Better College Football Super League

Right now, college football likes to pride itself on the “any given Saturday” idea where any of the 130+ FBS programs could win a national championship. As any fan of a mid-tier Power 4 or any Group of 5 program would tell you, this is simply not true. The game of football Georgia plays is not quite the same as what Akron puts on display.

The consolidation of power has already begun and a College Football Super League would just cut to the chase. The Big 10 and SEC are locked into a nuclear arms race reminiscent of the Cold War. Meanwhile, the Big 12 is sitting there cannibalizing the remains of the Pac-12. The ACC is one judge’s decision from having its biggest brands bolt. Plus, the Group of 5 is constantly on edge, attempting to keep its best stars from transferring or top programs from getting poached.

Realistically, college football needs to be saved from itself.

The Current Proposal is Weak

A group calling itself “College Sports Tomorrow” made up of high-ranking individuals at institutions who could be left behind has come up with its own proposal. Their attempt has a framework of seven divisions of 10 including 70 of college football’s historically “best” teams. Those teams would be immune from relegation. There would be an eighth division made up of Group of 5 overachievers, essentially. It would be from that group programs would be relegated to Tier 2. Tier 2 would have 50 of the next programs and would get the opportunity to fight it out to be promoted into the consolation division.

This proposal smells like the 2008 housing crisis where the banks that caused the crash were deemed “too big to fail.” It would be the same in this College Football Super League proposal. If a program is deemed “too big to fail,” they are safe from relegation despite a one-win season.

Plain and simple, no program should be safe. If Ohio State gets rail-roaded and ends up 2-10 with their only wins coming from Group of 5 competition, they should absolutely be at risk.

Where this proposal is sound is in its CFP. Theirs has eight division champions and then the next eight best teams via Wild Cards. It throws a bone to the Group of 5 consolation division and expands the tournament to 16 teams.

All in all, College Sports Tomorrow’s proposal shows the Power 4 conferences are scared of being passed over or exposed. The name “College Football Super League” implies that the Premier League of college football should be the absolute cream of the crop and should be able to stand on its own.

Criteria for College Football’s Premier League

Criticism without a plan is just complaining. Anyone can hop on social media and call College Sports Tomorrow’s proposal trash but rarely does anyone pony up a better framework; that’s what this proposal is.

To start, there are a number of logistical issues that need ironing out. 80 schools at the top of the College Football Super League is too many. Are there 80 programs in a given year that can win the national title? No, and it would just water down the product. The purpose of this Super League is to find the dog among dogs, the cream of the crop, and the bluest of bluebloods.

Tier 1, which could be considered the Premier League of college football, would have 40 teams. Those 40 teams would be divided up geographically into four, 10-team divisions. With the nature of promotion/relegation, these divisions could vary minimally from year to year and would likely need to be slightly realigned every now and then. The most important thing: no program is immune from relegation. If Alabama and Georgia end up in the danger zone, they’re sent down. Tier 2 and Tier 3 would also sit at 40 teams each.

The New CFP

The College Football Playoff would feature 12 teams. The four division champions (by winning percentage, like the NFL) would earn byes and the next best eight programs would earn Wild Card bids. In order to prevent certain programs from getting easier passes than others, there would be uniform scheduling. Each team would have a 12-game schedule that features nine games against the other divisional programs. One of the non-conference games would be a division versus division challenge, of sorts. It could pit the West Division’s champion from the previous season against the South Division’s champion, and so on down the standings. One of the non-conference games would be against a Tier 2 foe, and the final would be a Tier 3 foe. That way, the lower-level programs can still get their payday games while getting a crack at the big boys.

The bottom eight programs would end up relegated whereas the top eight of the lower level would be promoted. For the lower tiers, their CFP would be the same. The only kicker would be whoever wins that tier’s CFP is automatically promoted, regardless of whether or not they were one of the top eight (ie, if the 9-12 seed won it all).

Selection Process

Since the idea of this proposal is to get the top programs in all of history isolated in a single Super League, standards of selection must be set. Not every current Power 4 program is among the game’s elite. Even if they are elite today, they do not have the historical backing. At the same time, historically elite programs have padded their all-time stats with wins over less-than-stellar competition. A quick glance at Winsipedia at any historically great program will show local high schools or YMCAs as opponents.

So, with that in mind, the selection of the top tier will be based not on the current win percentage, but on the all-time win percentage over current FBS teams. For the most part, the top 40 teams remain unchanged. Since James Madison technically has a 0.6667 win percentage with this new model, the stipulation of 700 FBS games must be met.

The next part is tricky. If you sort all-time win percentage versus FBS teams and exclude the four teams who do not meet the minimum game threshold, there are 13 programs without national championships. Whereas outside of this newly-established top 40, there are 15 programs with a title. If we are to create a new Premier League, we have to reward programs that have won over the course of time.

In all reality, the first grouping is about rewarding those programs. It will all level out in time with promotion/relegation.

Tier 1 (40 Schools)

Presenting the top 40 programs in the nation in terms of winning percentage against FBS foes. Yes, those MAC and Mountain West schools earned their way. There was a consideration of excluding programs without at least one national title. Oregon and Wisconsin would have been kicked out. So, as a result, to be as close to the English Premier League, winning percentage was the go-to.

When discussing the bluebloods of college football, there are only a few. After that, it thins out. But even then, if there are teams who don’t deserve to be in Tier 1, promotion/relegation will sort it out.

There was a standard of at least 700 FBS games to be included here. You have to weed out newer programs somehow, unfortunately.

The Second Tier (40 Schools)

Tier 2 gets a bit interesting with the drawing of the divisions. There are four Texas-based schools but with how it all shook out, Texas Tech was separated from the other three. In addition to the stipulation of 700 games for Tier 1, Tier 2 was cut off at 300 games.

This tier has a healthy mix of current Power 4 and Group of 5 programs. This tier would likely end up as the most competitive of the three. On one hand, it’ll feature the rejects from the top who would be hungry to get back. On the other, these 40 teams are a season away from being able to compete with the truly elite programs.

The Third Tier (40 Schools)

Finally, the third tier is a collection of the underachievers and plucky upstarts. Appalachian State actually has the 27th-best winning percentage against FBS teams but has not played nearly enough games to be considered.

The most interesting part of his tier would have to be the current Power 4 programs. Who will be the first to get sent down to Tier 4? Will any step up and dig out of the middle third of Division I?

Fourth Tier And Beyond

With the new tiers, there will be a few programs on the proverbial chopping block. Even then, the likes of Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Florida International, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Jacksonville State, James Madison, Kennesaw State, Liberty, Old Dominion, Sam Houston State, South Alabama, Texas State, and UTSA will be in Tier 4. Alongside the top FCS programs, they’d have the opportunity to win their way up.

In this new College Football Super League, the designations of FBS and FCS would cease to exist. The six-tiered system would go back to just being called Division I. It always was odd that college football had FBS and FCS.

Again, this new system is in a vacuum and looks at the all-time impacts of programs. The success in 2023 of Liberty and James Madison unfortunately do not outweigh the fact that they are among the newest at their current level.

Behold, The College Football Super League!

No change to how college football operates will be perfect; there will always be programs that feel slighted. However, the solution is to win. With a tiered system such as this College Football Super League, any program could be rewarded for a great season. Every Tier 2 team is a great year away from challenging for the national title.

Naturally, the scheduling at the top would be brutal. That’s the point! With a promotion/relegation system, you want the greatest of the great at the top. When the Premier League was founded in England, it was to make sure the top clubs got to contend for titles and to compete with the other European leagues like Serie A or La Liga. This proposal would make the game of college football that much better. Every program would have to try to win rather than sit back and ride the coattails of their respective conference.

In addition, when the NCAA investigates and finds rule-breaking, relegation would be a very real threat. Imagine a blueblood program was found guilty of years of cheating, for example. The NCAA, in addition to the rest of their sanctions, could kick that program down a tier or two. The punishment would be just as effective as a bowl ban.

College football is going to continue to change. The longer it pretends that it cares about tradition and regionality, the longer it will hamstring itself from being truly great. A six-tiered system such as this would do wonders for the quality of the game. It would prove without a doubt who the true champion would be.

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