Congratulations to Carson Beck and Hanna Cavinder!
A big name in the college football transferred portal made a quick decision as former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck committed to Miami.
Beck, a two-time College Football Playoff national champion at Georgia, originally declared for the 2025 NFL Draft but reportedly entered the transfer portal on Thursday.
Then by Friday afternoon, his commitment to Miami was publicized.
He will replace Cam Ward, a Heisman Trophy Finalist who will turn pro as this season is complete. Ward played one season for Miami after transferring from Washington State and is considered one of the top quarterbacks in this draft class.
Beck is an experienced and accomplished quarterback who can help a program trying to win next season under head coach Mario Cristobal.
She is in the starting lineup alongside her twin sister Haley Cavinder.
Although his girlfriend is currently in her final year of collegiate eligibility, perhaps her endorsement of the campus and athletic department helped to convince Beck to make his decision rather than stay at Georgia or turn pro.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for reading today. Appreciate you!
Look, I know today ain’t about Brian Kelly.
It’s about Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish making it back to the natty for the first time since 2013 when Alabama ran through Notre Dame 42-13.
The Orange Bowl was a huge win for that program. The fact that they made it all this way — against Penn State, no less — speaks to the job Freeman has done. To go from losing to Northern Illinois at the beginning of the season to playing for a national championship is unheard of.
We’ll have plenty of time to talk about that, though. Right now? I just cannot stop laughing at how hilarious this is for Brian Kelly. As my guy Cory Woodroof writes, he has to be considered the biggest loser of this game.
I know that sounds harsh, but you’ve got to remember how he exited Notre Dame in the first place.
Kelly left Notre Dame high and dry. Players only found out he was leaving via social media after reports of his departure finally surfaced. He then sent a text to the team confirming the news and apologizing to his players for them finding out that way. He said he planned on holding a team meeting at 7 a.m. the next morning (lol) to let them know. And that meeting? It was about 10 minutes. A couple days later, he’d apparently developed a Southern accent. Two months later, he was posting goofy dance videos with recruits.
But what makes Notre Dame’s win here so sweet for the Irish is how badly he trashed the program on his way out. He disparaged the kids on the roster that he built.
Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish are about to play for a National Championship. Brian Kelly’s LSU Tigers haven’t sniffed the College Football Playoff since he arrived. Kelly just lost the No. 1 QB recruit in the nation to Michigan and fans are growing tired of his shtick by the day.
My, my. How the tables have turned here. You absolutely love to see it.
Venu Sports is done
(Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)
Remember that master streaming service that was going to combine all of FOX, ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery? Yeah, it’s not happening.
“As I mentioned, there was a lawsuit by Fubo that was withdrawn thanks to a settlement, which seemed to get Venu the green light to go. But there was possibly more legal trouble ahead, with DirecTV and Dish making noise. Maybe there were signals we haven’t heard publicly that the government might intervene due to antitrust concerns.”
This is sort of a bummer. All of these streaming services have become a real pain. It feels like you have to have 30 different streamers available to you just to watch a sport on any given night. And, with prices jumping up (LOOKING AT YOU, YOUTUBE TV), it just doesn’t feel worth it anymore.
Fox, ESPN and Warner Bros. joining forces certainly felt like a jump back to cable. But at least some essential streaming services would be bundled together, which may have made it easier for consumers to watch what we want to watch.
Now, we can’t even have that. Sigh. Stupid streaming wars.
A Rams-Vikings update
(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
With the California wildfires tragically raging on, questions surfaced about whether the Rams and Vikings could play their playoff game at SoFi Stadium this weekend.
The answer is no. Instead, the game will be played at the State Farm arena in Arizona. Here’s more from Mary Clarke:
“On Thursday, the NFL announced the news, stating that “in the interest of public safety” the game — originally set for SoFi Stadium — will now take place at State Farm Stadium, the home of the Arizona Cardinals. Tickets will go on sale for the game on Friday.”
What a terrible set of circumstances. This is obviously the right move — especially if you won’t postpone the game because of the league’s playoff schedule. Moving it to another venue is the next best option. Everyone’s safety is the priority here.
What an interception. This is Christian Gray making the play on Drew Allar’s late throw to essentially deliver Notre Dame the Orange Bowl win. This will go down as one of the best players in program history.
Quick hits: It’s Greg McElroy’s fault … Simone Biles x Hoda Kotb … and more
If Drew Allar wants to point any fingers of blame on anyone before throwing a game-changing pick in the loss to Notre Dame, he can do that with Greg McElroy.
With 47 seconds left and Penn State tied with the Fighting Irish at 24, the ESPN analyst had this to say: “For the most part, all season long, his whole career, DrewAllar’s made good decisions. He’s got 50-plus touchdowns, only 9 career interceptions. It’s not likely a guy that’s gonna put the ball in harm’s way. I trust him.”
Oops. Guess what happened not long after. He threw an interception, and Notre Dame won.
"I'm aggressive… For the most part, all season long, his whole career, Drew Allar has made good decisions. He's got 50+ touchdowns, only 9 career interceptions. It's not likely a guy that's gonna put the ball in harm's way. I trust him… I would empower him…" – Greg McElroy pic.twitter.com/s9Uet8wnJW
James Franklin is a good college football coach on paper.
Just look at his overall stats at Penn State as their head coach for the past 11 years: 101-41 overall. Bowl appearances in all but one of his years (and that year happened to be 2020). His teams have finished top-10 in the AP poll four times.
But he’s going to continue to be criticized for not winning in big games. And after the loss to Notre Dame on Thursday night in the College Football Playoff semifinals, it’s continuing.
Here’s a stat for you: Franklin’s Penn State teams are 1-15 against teams ranked in the top-five. That’s downright damning.
James Franklin now 1-15 vs. AP top 5 opponents as the head coach at Penn State
Notre Dame advancing to the College Football Playoff national championship game on Thursday night stunk really badly for one person in particular.
The Fighting Irish’s 27-24 Orange Bowl win over Penn State at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida proved former Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly very wrong about why he left the program.
“I want to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship,” Kelly said back in April 2022 about why he went to LSU, per NBC Sports’ Nicole Auerbach.
Well, LSU has failed to do anything meaningful with Kelly at the helm in Baton Rouge, and Marcus Freeman has the Fighting Irish in a title game in his third full season as head coach.
“I want to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship,” Brian Kelly said in April 2022 after leaving Notre Dame for LSU.
Notre Dame will play for a national championship in 11 days. LSU has not made the CFP since Kelly took over.
College football fans immediately noted the irony, as Notre Dame prepares to play for a championship a few seasons after Kelly basically said he left because he didn’t think that was possible.
In November 2021, Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU, citing a desire to “consistently compete for national championships.”
Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame will play for a national championship in a week and a half.
With each Notre Dame win in the playoff, Brian Kelly resume as a coach looks worse and worse, which is something every college football fan should treasure.
Notre Dame tricking LSU into overpaying for an okay coach that was too good to fire but not good enough to win big games and immediately upgrading is an all-time finesse move.
Per US Magazine, Allar has been dating his girlfriend Emma Bush way back in 2019 when they were in high school together back in Ohio. But Bush went to Ohio State while he was a Nittany Lion, but they’re still together despite the distance.
And as you’ll see in the photos below, they’ve been snapped together many times on Instagram. Here’s a look back at their relationship through a few of those photos over the years:
It’s not uncommon for ESPN to bring comedians on College GameDay as a celebrity guest picker. And when that happens, the vibe on set is supposed to be, well, comedic. That didn’t exactly jell with Nick Saban.
Ahead of Notre Dame’s first-round College Football Playoff game against Indiana, comedian Shane Gillis appeared as the celebrity guest. In an earlier segment with Pat McAfee, Gillis made a joke about how Alabama and the rest of the SEC are on an even playing field now that every school can pay players. Apparently, Saban confronted Gillis about the remarks before they appeared together in the stadium. Things turned awkward quickly.
And despite Kirk Herbstreit and McAfee insisting that Saban loves the banter and was just joking, Gillis felt that Saban grew legitimately angry once he repeated the SEC joke and called the legendary head coach “Alabama Jones.”(Warning: The video contains strong language).
Shane Gillis’s interaction with Nick Saban after calling him Alabama Jones😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/w0qPwAnIz7
So, it’s looking like it’s going to snow in Dallas starting on Thursday and possibly continuing Friday, with cold temperatures too.
That wouldn’t be a big deal, but Ohio State and Texas are slated to face each other on Friday night at the Cotton Bowl, which will be played at the very much domed AT&T Stadium.
So what will happen if there’s snow and icy conditions and such? The Cotton Bowl released a statement with this to say: “We are routinely monitoring weather and we are close contact with AT&T Stadium and local officials. We always have plans for inclement weather. Should conditions warrant it, we will communicate to everyone attending and connected with this year’s Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.”
Translation: stay tuned. Maybe there will be a delay, maybe they’ll play. But keep an eye out.
Just received this statement from the Cotton Bowl regarding the weather forecasts for Friday in Dallas. pic.twitter.com/Up5MS3LpD8
Saturday’s Bahamas Bowl didn’t offer much in terms of football excitement.
Buffalo held a 26-point lead on a scoreless Liberty early in the fourth quarter, making the most exciting sporting event of the day what happened on the track around Thomas Robinson Stadium.
During a game break, a dog ran against a bunch of children in a race to see who could claim the title of being fastest.
The dog got off to an early lead and looked like it was going to run away with the dash until somebody named Emerson was declared the winner.
The dog slowed up at the end, seemingly stopped by someone on its track to victory. What gives! We’re happy for Emerson, but this should have at least been a photo finish. The dog got robbed!
At least these kids and the very good dog gave fans at the Bahamas Bowl some intrigue on the afternoon.
Sure, an expanded playoff means 2024 was the backdrop to more games that actually affected the national championship picture. But the bulk of these exhibitions remain matchups between teams with little history between them in a city neither is typically close to.
With 47 bowl games in Division I, it’s become a priority to make these games stand out as an attraction beyond football. The Duke’s Mayo Bowl embraced this early on. The extremely online brand of sandwich lubricant took over what was formerly the Belk Bowl in 2020 and added its own bells and whistles to the event.
That includes a fuzzy-eyebrowed jar of mayonnaise roaming the sidelines and a post-game condiment shower for the winning coach. On Friday, those two forces met — and it turns out the man inside the mayo jar wasn’t your typical performer. It was a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
That’s right, Tubby was actually legendary hype man Flavor Flav — a fact that stunned Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck. Fleck immediately embraced the Public Enemy hype man to give the world a loud “yeaaaaah booooyyyyyyyy” before accepting his fate as a man set to be doused in watered-down mayonnaise.
This latest turn represents another scene in Flav’s third act. He’s gone from member of a legendary rap group to reality television star to, now, amateur sports benefactor. He spent his summer helping fund the U.S. Women’s Water Polo Team’s trip to the Summer Games in Paris. He also paid discus thrower Veronica Fraley’s rent to help her afford the trip to her first Olympic appearance last summer.
His appearance at a mid-tier bowl game was a reminder sports are ludicrous and wonderful. Fleck’s joyful exuberance at the reveal Flavor Flav would be in attendance to watch him get coated with eggs and vinegar is proof the things we love can be incredibly stupid and that just makes us love them more.
