Tag: Brett McMurphy

Stadium’s Brett McMurphy has Gators outside of top 10 in latest rankings

UF slipped a few spots in Brett McMurphy of Stadium’s latest rankings due to sitting out second week as well as the inclusion of the Big Ten

The Florida Gators were idle again this past weekend but the games continued elsewhere around the nation as the Big Ten kicked off its fall schedule and the rest of college football carried on with Week 8.

Now that the dust has settled, the Sunday morning pundits have begun releasing their latest rankings into the social media maelstrom, including Stadium’s Network’s college football insider Brett McMurphy, who gave his take Twitter. The results do not look good for the Gators.

Florida came in at No. 8 on McMurphy’s list last week after sitting out the first of two coronavirus-postponed games, but with the inclusion of the Big Ten on his latest list, Florida fell to No. 11 with Ohio State Buckeyes, Wisconsin Badgers and Indiana Hoosiers taking spots ahead of them.

The Alabama Crimson Tide retained the top spot, while the Clemson Tigers clung to No. 2 and the Buckeyes slipped in at third; the Notre Dame Fighting Irish dropped a notch to No. 4 and the Georgia Bulldogs fell to fifth, rounding out the top 5.

Here are McMurphy’s full rankings.

  1. Alabama
  2. Clemson
  3. Ohio State
  4. Notre Dame
  5. Georgia
  6. Oklahoma State
  7. Cincinnati
  8. Texas A&M
  9. Wisconsin
  10. Indiana
  11. Florida
  12. Kansas State
  13. Michigan
  14. BYU
  15. Marshall
  16. North Carolina
  17. Miami (FL)
  18. Tulsa
  19. Coastal Carolina
  20. Liberty
  21. Arkansas
  22. Memphis
  23. Louisiana
  24. Iowa State
  25. Boise State

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One college football insider has Florida at No. 3 in his latest poll

With the SEC starting next weekend and the Big Ten looking to join the dance a little bit later, things have been busy in the polls. 

Week 3 of the 2020 college football season is now officially in the books after nine games were played on Saturday. With the Southeastern Conference starting next weekend and the Big Ten looking to join the dance a little bit later, things have been busy in the polls and rankings.

There are many out there offering their personal polls — some with better takes than others — including Stadium Network’s Brett McMurphy, their resident college football insider. McMurphy has one of the most bullish assessments of the Florida Gators to date, placing them at third in his poll behind the Clemson Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Joining Florida in the top-5 are the Oklahoma Sooners and LSU Tigers, the latter giving the SEC three of the top-5 schools in the rankings. The Georgia Bulldogs come in at No. 6 with Texas A&M at No. 9 to round out the five SEC teams in the top-10.

The Auburn Tigers are at No. 11, while Tennessee trails behind at No. 14 and Kentucky takes up the rear at No. 21 — the last of the eight SEC mentions in the top-25.

1-Clemson 2-Bama 3-Florida 4-Oklahoma 5-LSU 6-Georgia 7-Notre Dame 8-Miami 9-Texas A&M 10-Texas 11-Auburn 12-UCF 13-UNC 14-Tennessee 15-Virginia Tech 16-Louisiana 17-BYU 18-Cincinnati 19-Okla. State 20-Memphis 21-Kentucky 22-Army 23-Pitt 24-Marshall 25-SMU

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LOOK: An updated map of which states will and will not be playing football this fall

After the Big Ten cancelled its season in early August Stadium.com college football insider Brett McMurphy tweeted a map of which states…

After the Big Ten cancelled its season in early August, Stadium.com college football insider Brett McMurphy tweeted a map of which states will and will not be playing football this fall.

Here’s what it looked like back then:

As you can see back on August 13 there were 15 states with every FBS school playing, 17 with no FBS schools playing and 9 with some.

Well, this week the Big Ten reinstated their fall football season and completely altered the shades of the map.

Here’s what it looks like now with the inclusion of the 14 Big Ten football programs:

The updated numbers: 22 states with every FBS football program playing, 10 with none and 9 with some.

 

Today, Friday September 18, is just 35 days from the start of the new Big Ten season. By that point this map may look even greener with the Pac-12 and the MAC reportedly beginning to discuss returning to play.

All I can say now is that October 23 cannot come soon enough.

Mixed messages with Big Ten vote put into question where things stand

There’s been varying degrees of conflicting reports with the Big Ten return to play drama and it leaves us all wondering where things stand.

I have to admit, my time has been consumed lately with chasing down every avenue of where things stand with the potential of the Big Ten casting a re-vote to reinstitute a fall football season. And it hasn’t been easy.

We’ve seen very reputable sources say far different things over the last few weeks, and it’s been about as hard of a story to get a handle on than any that I’ve covered during my time writing about sports.

I can only come to one conclusion over it: Things continue to change even within the close circle of folks that do know what’s going on, and that are right in the room where things are happening (obligatory Hamilton reference).

Just take the last day or so. There were reports that the medical information poured over went so well that all 14 presidents and chancellors from the Big Ten were to meet on Sunday. Reportedly, that had a good chance of leading to a vote to make Big Ten football great again (MBTFGA). But then Sunday went, and went, and went some more without any earth-shattering news that would have made all of the Midwest visit White Castle and Graeter’s in celebration. Alas, there were then confirmed reports that no vote took place at all.

But, there’s still expected to be one here in the next day or two, so we await what the smoke leads to. We think. We only think we know because earlier reports stated that a vote was supposed to take place the weekend before. That of course, never occurred.

One of the other things that’s been more of a mystery than Bigfoot howels is if all the teams will be playing, or if some will sit the season out if the re-vote gets the conference playing again.

And again, we have differing reports on that. Dan Patrick said on his program earlier Monday that his source tells him that both Michigan and Michigan State, among others, may sit things out. He also said to expect a vote sometime today.

“Not everybody in the Big Ten’s going to play,” Patrick said citing his source. “But there is real optimism to what I heard yesterday from my source… There’s a whole lot going on in the Big Ten. What we might see is eight teams, nine teams that are going to be able to play.”

Patrick went on to expand on those remarks, and if you’d like an update from him and trust what he says, have a listen.

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But that wasn’t all. According to another report from everyone’s favorite reporter in Columbus, Stadium’s Brett McMurphy, he said his sources say that every team in the conference will play. That means it’s an all or nothing proposition.

So what’s the real story here? At this point, there’s really no way to figure it all out because, as I mentioned, I think it’s a moving and evolving situation. So here’s what we know (or think we know) right now.

The Big Ten appears to be on the cusp of a vote to bring a fall season back. It could and most likely will happen in the next day or two. It looks like the most talked about date to begin week one is on or around October 17 with an eight or nine-game schedule. There will be a Big Ten Championship Game right before the last College Football Playoff Rankings come out.

From there, how many teams are involved, how the Big Ten teams will be viewed and measured, and what the price of tea in China is at the moment, all remain to be seen until we get some real information from the Big freakin’ Ten.

I can’t almost guarantee we’ll have more for you on this later today because that’s how quickly things are changing. Until then, keep everything you hear and see with a grain of salt the size of the venerable Horseshoe on the banks of the Olentangy.

 

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Badgers in the top-10 in one writer’s preseason ballot

Even if the Big Ten won’t be playing football this fall there still will be preseason rankings to react to and analyze. Though not necessary, the AP informed its weekly poll voters that the rankings are allowed to include teams not from the three …

Even if the Big Ten won’t be playing football this fall there still will be preseason rankings to react to and analyze.

Though not necessary, the AP informed its weekly poll voters that the rankings are allowed to include teams not from the three conferences currently set to play this fall–those three being the ACC, SEC and Big 12.

Well, the Badgers fall into the group of the teams set to not play a season and by all accounts were going to be ranked in the nation’s top-25, or even top-20.

One writer at least–Stadium’s Brett McMurphy–was even higher on the Badgers than that, and still has them ranked No. 10 in his preseason poll.

As seen above Paul Chryst’s unit is the No. 3-ranked team in the Big Ten behind Ohio State at No. 2 and Penn State at No. 7.

How these rankings progress while 60 percent of the Power Five plays games is yet to be seen. But according to McMurphy’s preseason the Badger unit is the best the program has entered a season with since the 2018 team–one which obviously fell short of preseason expectations.

I guess if you aren’t playing you can’t fall in the rankings right? I guess only time will tell.

 

To continue to follow the developments surrounding the Big Ten season and college football in general check back in to BadgersWire every day and follow the site on twitter @TheBadgersWire.

Stadium’s map shows why SEC is insistent on playing football this fall

Stadium released a map illustrating where FBS football will be played and will it will not, as well as the middle grounds of the division.

College football is currently in a state of disarray unseen in most of our lifetimes, with the novel coronavirus pandemic throwing a monkey wrench into the monolithic machine that is collegiate sports. This chaos is made evident in a visual representation of where Football Bowl Series schools will be playing their games put together recently by Brett McMurphy of Stadium.

On Thursday, the college football insider released his map that illustrates where FBS football will be played and where it will not, as well as the middle grounds of the division. The results are rather striking and in many ways completely unsurprising.

Note that the red states will not be having any FBS programs play in the fall, states in yellow have a mix of some playing, some not and the green states have all FBS programs playing in the fall.

At first glance, there is one particular characteristic of the displayed data that jumps off the map: the cohesion of the southern states in their commitment to playing college football this fall. With every state represented in the Southeastern Conference shaded in green, it is pretty clear why the league seems insistent upon playing out its schedule through the autumn months.

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Texas Tech limits home games to 25% capacity, will require face coverings. Will Georgia follow?

Texas Tech becomes the 4th school to reportedly plan to limit stadium capacity. Could UGA eventually release a similar plan for Sanford?

Per college football insider Brett McMurphy, Texas Tech University will limit its football stadium’s capacity to maximum of 25%, as well as institute a face covering requirement to both fans and staff at all home football games.

Texas, Ohio State and LSU have all reportedly planned to limit the capacity of their iconic football stadiums due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, now Texas Tech follows suit.

Sad thoughts, of course, to Ohio State with the Big Ten’s plan to postpone until spring.

But the real question is, with four major Power Five school’s already releasing a plan to limit stadium capacity – how long before more SEC schools, or specifically the University of Georgia follows with a similar plan?

UGA plans to have face-to-face classes starting Aug 20 – until late November when classes move online – and in early July, UGA listed a limited capacity ‘option‘ in a plan release by a UGA athletics group: Plans for a Phased Return to Full Operations.

Things said, I could definitely see Georgia doing something with Stanford Stadium this year that is similar to the schools who have college towns similar to Athens.

Athens is definitely one of those historic places at risk with so many small business in one place and, without students or fans, I suspect it wouldn’t be the city DawgNation knows and loves before long.

College football’s 2020 bleakness continues to grow

The bleakness surrounding college football taking place in 2020 is swelling at an incredible rate this Saturday afternoon.

I hate having to type this as the news and reports that have come out in the last 24 hours paint a very somber picture for the chances of college football actually being played this fall.

NCAA President Mark Emmert gave a grim outlook on college football Friday night.

On Saturday morning the MAC announced they were cancelling all fall sports, including football for the fall.

And now we’ve got countless different college football and athletic reporters passing information along from their unique sources just how bleak the season starting in just a month appears to be.

This from Brett McMurphy of Stadium, who has broken several big-time college football stories before:

Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated has heard similar things as McMurphy:

Ross Dellinger of Sports Illustrated has followed up with his sources in regards to the information Forde provided and he’s hearing more of the same:

I could put tweets up here all day but I’m not sure that would do anybody any good.

College football seems to be hanging by it’s last strand of having even the most remote of chances of being played this fall.

By no means are any of these reports official yet, but it’s certainly starting to feel like a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ they are.

Big Ten opts for conference-only football schedule this coming fall

The decision by the Big Ten is expected to create a domino effect throughout the college football landscape as others are assured to follow.

The Big Ten athletic conference announced on Thursday that its member schools will play a conference-only schedule for the upcoming 2020 football season.

Word of the decision leaked earlier in the day when The Athletic’s college football senior writer Nicole Auerbach revealed the news on Twitter. USA TODAY Sports later corroborated the report with multiple people who have intimate knowledge of the decision.

The full press release from the conference is included below.

We are facing uncertain and unprecedented times, and the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches, game officials, and others associated with our sports programs and campuses remain our number one priority.

To that end, the Big Ten Conference announced today that if the Conference is able to participate in fall sports (men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, football, men’s and women’s soccer, and women’s volleyball) based on medical advice, it will move to Conference-only schedules in those sports. Details for these sports will be released at a later date, while decisions on sports not listed above will continue to be evaluated. By limiting competition to other Big Ten institutions, the Conference will have the greatest flexibility to adjust its own operations throughout the season and make quick decisions in real-time based on the most current evolving medical advice and the fluid nature of the pandemic.

This decision was made following many thoughtful conversations over several months between the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors, Directors of Athletics, Conference Office staff, and medical experts including the Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee.

In addition, the Conference announced that summer athletic activities will continue to be voluntary in all sports currently permitted to engage in such activities. Furthermore, Big Ten student-athletes who choose not to participate in intercollegiate athletics at any time during the summer and/or the 2020-21 academic year due to concerns about COVID-19 will continue to have their scholarship honored by their institution and will remain in good standing with their team.

While Big Ten member institutions continue to rely on the most up-to-date medical information to establish the best protocols for voluntary workouts on their campuses, in compliance with local and state regulations, the Conference is working with the Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee to finalize Conference-wide protocols.

As we continue to focus on how to play this season in a safe and responsible way, based on the best advice of medical experts, we are also prepared not to play in order to ensure the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes should the circumstances so dictate.

The absence of non-conference opponents on a Power Five league schedule could have a big impact on smaller programs that rely on “guarantee games” at major schools for a big part of the athletic budget. It is unclear whether those contracts would call for a penalty payment.

The decision by the Big Ten is expected to create a domino effect throughout the college football landscape, as other conferences are almost assured to follow in the conference’s footsteps. The first league expected to follow suit is the Pac-12, which Auerbach reported in a later tweet is expected to move to a conference-only schedule in the coming days. Stadium Network college football insider Brett McMurphy also reported that the ACC is also strongly considering the change.

At best, the 2020 season will be a shadow of the sport that brings college communities together every fall. However, the most likely outcome at this point is that fans will be lucky if any sports are played at all.

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What the Badgers’ odds are to make this year’s College Football Playoff

The College Football Playoff odds have been released and, as Stadium’s Brett McMurphy shared on Twitter, the Badgers have the…

The College Football Playoff odds have been released and, as Stadium’s Brett McMurphy shared on Twitter, the Badgers have the No. 14-highest odds to make the playoff at 12-1.

Big Ten teams ahead of the Badgers include the obvious of Ohio State, but also Penn State and (a tie with) Michigan.

In 2017 Paul Chryst’s team was one touchdown drive from making the competition. Last year (arguably) the team was one competitive half away from making the competition.

Given how the program is trending, and the fact the team doesn’t play Ohio State or Penn State in the regular season this year, the odds seem right where they should be that given a few big victories (and a few big losses from teams ahead of them) the Badgers have a real shot at this year’s playoff.