“He needs to continue to take the next step and give the fans some hope going into next season. This is gonna be the guy and his team.”
Ahead of the Texas A&M football team’s game against USC in the Las Vegas Bowl, Johnny Manziel shared his thoughts on the upcoming matchup.
Johnny Football provided his analysis and opinion regarding the play of redshirt freshman QB Marcel Reed during the Aggies’ 2024 season and Conner Weigman’s departure on the Action Network’s Big Bets On Campus podcast.
“I think this is another chance for Marcel Reed to be able to go out and showcase his ability,” Manziel said. “He needs to continue to take the next step and give the fans some hope of going into next season – this is gonna be the guy, and this is gonna be his team. With Conner Weigman going into the portal, it very much is that.
“I think we need to see a little bit more offensive fireworks, and I think this is another chance for Collin Klein to go out and showcase his ability of being the play caller for this team moving forward.”
Texas A&M (8-4) battles the Trojans (6-6) on Dec. 27 at 9:30 p.m. CT at Allegiant Stadium on ESPN.
Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
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Would you consider this to be a successful season?
All Notre Dame can do right now is wait for the conference championships to be awarded. After that, it’ll know who it’s playing in the first round of the College Football Playoff. What happens after that is anyone’s guess at the moment.
Still, Brett McMurphy of the Action Network has taken a crack at where he expects the Irish to be seeded and how far he expects them to go. His outlook for them at the moment is a very positive run.
In his latest playoff and bowl projections, McMurphy has the Irish grabbing the No. 5 seed, which is common for a lot of experts right now. He predicts them to win their first-round game over UNLV and then defeat Arizona State in the Fiesta Bowl quarterfinal. He has them falling to Oregon in the Cotton Bowl semifinal.
While this wouldn’t end the Irish’s national championship drought, it would mark a very successful season all things considered. Hopefully, it would be a stepping stone to finally winning that elusive title in 2025.
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For much of the time after Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois, the Action Network’s Brett McMurphy was not empathetic. He consistently had the Irish in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, thus rendering their first season in the expanded College Football Playoff era a failure.
Now, McMurphy has flipped the seeds for the Irish and Nittany Lions, meaning the Irish now would host the first-round game. What’s more, he has the Irish winning the game, which would give them a New Year’s Day date with Georgia at the Sugar Bowl. Regrettably, that’s where he has the Irish’s run ending, but this still is a nice projection.
A lot has to go right for the Irish to get as far as McMurphy thinks they will, but that he even made this projection shows how much the narrative surrounding the Irish has changed for the better.
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Wisconsin returns to familiar setting in Action Network bowl projections after Week 9
The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy released his bowl predictions ahead of Week 10 of the 2024 college football season on Monday.
Wisconsin returns to the Pinstripe Bowl in McMurphy’s latest iteration of the bowl prediction list, the exact same game the Badgers were predicted to land in after Week 8.
This time, however, Wisconsin is slated to play NC State in the contest. The Wolfpack, a member of the American Athletic Conference, boast a 4-4 mark through eight games of the 2024 season. They are currently ranked No. 14 in the conference, only ahead of Stanford, Florida State and California.
The Badgers, meanwhile, are 5-3 after Week 9 after dropping its most recent game against No. 3 Penn State by two touchdowns. Luke Fickell’s program is in search of its 23rd consecutive bowl game appearance.
My Week 10 @ActionNetworkHQ bowl projections. @CFBPlayoff: Oregon, UGA, Miami, Iowa St; Boise St at Ohio St; Clemson at Texas; BYU at A&M; Notre Dame at Penn St. Non-playoff bowls: Music City: LSU-Nebraska; Las Vegas: Colorado-Ole Miss; Sun: Va Tech-USChttps://t.co/i0jjYqCprB
Action Network currently considers Wisconsin a 7.5-point favorite over NC State. If McMurphy’s prediction is accurate, this will be the first time the Badgers will play in the Pinstripe Bowl since 2018 season when they defeated Miami 35-3.
Wisconsin’s next batch of games could certainly alter where they land in the bowl game landscape. UW is yet to play Iowa, No. 1 Oregon, Nebraska and Minnesota. A strong showing in the regular season’s final month could push the Badgers into a better bowl standing.
Wisconsin returns to familiar stage in Action Network bowl projections ahead of Week 9
Wisconsin returns to the Pinstripe Bowl for a matchup against Duke in Brett McMurphy’s latest bowl projections entering Week 9 of the 2024 college football season.
The Badgers are 5-2 after Week 8, in prime position to extend their record bowl streak to 23 seasons. Duke, meanwhile, is a strong 6-1 through the season’s midway point with wins over Northwestern, UConn, North Carolina and Florida State. Its only loss to this point was a 24-14 defeat at the hands of Georgia Tech.
The Action Network projects Wisconsin as a double-digit favorite in the potential matchup with Duke — this projection made with a lot still left to change between now and bowl season.
If McMurphy’s prediction for the Badgers is to come true, the program will return to the Pinstripe Bowl for the first time since its trip to close the 2018 season — a 35-3 triumph over Miami.
Wisconsin first must reach bowl eligibility. Its remaining schedule includes vs. No. 3 Penn State, at Iowa, vs. No. 1 Oregon, at Nebraska and vs. Minnesota. One more win and its record-long bowl steak will extend another season.
Up first on that path for the Badgers is a primetime matchup with Penn State on Saturday.
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Let’s get one thing straight: Notre Dame will aim for the College Football Playoff as long as it has a chance. At this point, the best thing it can do is run the table for the rest of the regular season. But there always is a chance that that won’t happen, and the Irish thus will be on the outside looking in.
Brett McMurphy of the Action Network has released his weekly bowl projections, and he has the Irish out of the playoff. Instead, he projects that the Irish will face TCU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
It’s worth noting that McMurphy has had the Irish in this particular game ever since they lost to Northern Illinois. The only thing that occasionally has changed during that time is the opponent. So in his view, the Irish have not beaten anybody of high-enough quality since that loss to prove they belong in the playoff.
While it would be fun to see the Irish end their season eating their bowl game’s mascot, it’s not the end goal. Hopefully, they can make it so that it won’t have to be.
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It’s funny how one quality road victory by Notre Dame can change people’s opinions.
Before the Irish beat Texas A&M in their season opener, many college football experts had them on the outside looking in when it came to the College Football Playoff. Brett McMurphy of The Action Network was one of them.
After the Irish’s victory though, McMurphy has jumped into the Irish believers camp. He released his latest bowl projections, and it’s definitely an improvements from his previous projection of Notre Dame playing in the Holiday Bowl.
McMurphy not only has the Irish making the playoff as the eighth seed, but he sees them making the trip to Pasadena on New Year’s Day:
Losing to the top seed in the bracket would be nothing to be ashamed of and a positive step toward the future. If the Irish take care of business throughout the regular season though, we could be looking at even grander predictions for them.
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As we get closer to the 2024 season, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Notre Dame will need to prove a lot of people wrong. Even with the College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams, no one is going to just let the Irish in. Some expert predictions in recent days are evidence of that.
Days ago, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm left the Irish out of his playoff projection. Now, you can add The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy to that list. Instead, he has the Irish facing Washington in the Holiday Bowl, a bowl the Irish haven’t played in before:
My @ActionNetworkHQ preseason bowl projections. @CFBPlayoff plus non-playoff bowls: Las Vegas: Tennessee-Arizona; Military: SMU-USF; Pop-Tarts: Clemson-Okla State; Holiday: Notre Dame-Washington; Guaranteed Rate: Iowa State-Maryland; Liberty: UCF-Kentucky https://t.co/w78knct5nXpic.twitter.com/7Dfkbu48ep
So again, the Irish find themselves on the outside looking in of one expert’s bracket. The past few days have given them a heavy dose of reality that they’ll need to win almost every game to give themselves a shot at making it. Hopefully, all of this will give them the motivation to do just that.
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Wisconsin faces SEC power in Action Network bowl prediction for 2024 season
The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy released his final preseason bowl predictions for the 2024 college football season on Monday.
His postseason picks come with Week 0 taking place on Saturday.
McMurphy has Wisconsin facing Texas A&M in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30 in Nashville, Tennessee. While it would mark the Badgers’ 23rd consecutive year in a bowl game, it would certainly be an underwhelming result knowing the dynamic created by the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.
Wisconsin has appeared in the Music City Bowl once before, falling to Auburn 28-14 in December of 2003. Last season’s matchup in the game was between Auburn (6-6) and Maryland (7-5), so that’s roughly where McMurphy expects Wisconsin’s record to fall in the regular season.
Luke Fickell and his squad have a rather challenging schedule in 2024, facing upper-echelon programs Alabama (home), USC (road), Penn State (home) and Oregon (home). The Badgers enter the season as underdogs in seven games, so McMurphy’s prediction isn’t a slight toward Wisconsin by any means.
My @ActionNetworkHQ preseason bowl projections. @CFBPlayoff: Oregon, Alabama, Miami, Utah, Ohio State, Georgia, Ole Miss, LSU, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Iowa, Texas State. Also, Citrus: Nebraska-Texas; ReliaQuest: Michigan-Mizzou; Gator: FSU-Auburnhttps://t.co/w78knct5nX
Can Alabama football reach double-digit wins in 2024?
The biggest storyline in college football this off-season has been the Alabama Crimson Tide’s transition from legendary head coach [autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag] to [autotag]Kalen DeBoer[/autotag]. Replacing a seven-time national champion coach who owns essentially every record in the book is nearly impossible. However, DeBoer is as good as it gets as in just two years with the Washington Huskies he guided them to a 25-3 record as well as a national title berth this past season.
There was some transfer portal movement as a result of Saban’s retirement, but the Crimson Tide roster will be as good as any in 2024 with Jalen Milroe running the show. Alabama will have their work cut out for themselves though as they play one of the most difficult schedules in the country in the newly expanded SEC.
Fortunately, 2024 marks the beginning of the expanded College Football Playoffs with 12 spots up for grabs this year opposed to the four in the past. The SEC will likely have about four to five representatives, so winning the conference title doesn’t quite carry the same value it once did.
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