Tag: NCAAF

Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt torched Lane Kiffin complaining about the CFP field

Log off, Lane Kiffin.

Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin learned the hard way on Saturday about how being a bad sport can rub people the wrong way.

Kiffin has been complaining on social media this weekend about how the College Football Playoff first-round blowouts were proof his team should have gotten in over the ones who did and struggled.

Well, Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt wasn’t having any of Kiffin’s snarky posts.

“Way to keep us on the edge of our seats Committee …. Riveting” was the sarcastic quip Kiffin shared for Saturday’s lopsided SMU-Penn State game, and Klatt fired back with a devastating retort.

“If your team played half as well as you tweet you would likely be in,” Klatt sent back to Kiffin in a post of his own.

Yowza. If you are Kiffin, you might want to log off a bit after Klatt completely shut him down for being such a jerk.

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The Fortnite OG Kickoff during College Football Playoff coverage had fans baffled

What the heck is the “Fortnite OG Kickoff?”

If you’ve been watching 2024 College Football Playoff coverage this weekend, you’ve probably heard one of ESPN’s broadcast personalities reference something called Fortnite OG.

Yes, the multiplayer video game apparently has a nostalgic update (if you can honestly say a throwback to the year 2017 is nostalgic), and it is sponsoring kickoff coverage for College Football Games this weekend.

The “Fortnite OG Kickoff” is officially one of the strangest things to come out of college football this year, and fans have absolutely noticed just how bizarre all of this is.

Watch an example of how this sounds from the ESPN booth at Friday night’s Indiana-Notre Dame game.

Now watch it again from Clemson-Texas with the context that the first video isn’t a prank edit.

If you giggle every time you hear this or want to put your television on mute whenever the “Fortnite OG Kickoff” comes on television, you can’t deny this is, well, a conversation starter.

Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis is sure tired of hearing about it.

Other reactions vary from genuine bewilderment to shameless enjoyment.

If you thought Al Michaels’ ad reads were funny, welcome to the era of the  “Fortnite OG Kickoff.”

Feature image courtesy of ESPN. 

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College Football Playoff first-round announcers: Who’s calling Ohio State vs. Tennessee on ESPN/ABC?

Here are the first-round CFP announcers for Ohio State and Tennessee on ESPN and ABC.

The first 12-team College Football Playoff is here, and the three of the four first-round on-campus games set for Saturday.

The final playoff game on Saturday is No. 9 seed Tennessee at No. 8 seed Ohio State.

The Buckeyes-Vols game is set for Saturday at 8 p.m. ET at Ohio Stadium on ESPN and ABC, and the winner of this game will face No. 1 seed Oregon in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2025.

If you’re here, you might be wondering who’s voices you’re hearing on ESPN and ABC during the Tennessee-Ohio State game. Fear not: We have the answers!

For the CFP first-round game between Ohio State and Clemson, ESPN’s Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe will be on the call.

[afflinkbutton text=”Watch Ohio State vs Tennessee FREE on Fubo” link=”https://www.fubo.tv/welcome/leagues/191261?irad=399332&irmp=1205322&subId1=SMG&subId2=NCAAF&subId3=2024″]

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How much is Ohio State coach Ryan Day’s buyout in 2024?

If Ohio State ever decided to fire Ryan Day, it wouldn’t be cheap.

It’s no secret that college football coaches are paid a ton of money with ridiculous contracts that sometimes make them the highest-paid public employees in their respective states.

When it comes to buyouts, the numbers are similarly huge with coaches often being owed millions of dollars if their school decides it’s time to part ways and fire the coach without cause.

So how much money would Ohio State have to pay Ryan Day if the Buckeyes wanted to fire their head coach?

Day — who has been the Buckeyes’ full-time head coach since the 2019 season — has the 17th-largest buyout among college football coaches as of 2024, according to USA TODAY Sports’ database of salaries and contracts. As of December 1, 2024, Day’s contract buyout is $37,276,042.

That’s definitely not the largest — Georgia’s Kirby Smart has the biggest buyout at $118,083,333 — but still a huge chunk of change if Ohio State ever decided to fire Day.

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Tennessee players warmed up shirtless despite freezing temperatures at Ohio State

Tennessee football wasn’t afraid of the cold in Columbus.

Tennessee football isn’t used to playing in freezing weather, but the Volunteers had to bundle up in Columbus on Saturday evening. But they didn’t immediately.

The team’s first-round College Football Playoff game against Ohio State included frigid temperatures, as the temperature for the 8 p.m. ET kickoff was expected to be 28 degrees Fahrenheit at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

However, a big group of Tennessee players defied the cold by going out shirtless for warmups. Yes, seriously, a host of shirtless Volunteers took the field in Columbus to show how little they cared about winter’s worst.

This is the kind of flex that could horribly backfire if these guys get a little too cold and it affects their play.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN. 

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Tailgating Tennessee fans sang Rocky Top with an inflatable block M before Ohio State game

College football’s pettiness remains unmatched.

There’s really nothing like college football, and there’s no limit to the pettiness college football fans have when it comes to an opposing team. The latest example is brought to us by Tennessee fans with this hilarious moment.

Ahead of the No. 9 seed Volunteers’ first-round College Football Playoff game against No. 8 seed Ohio State on the road in Columbus, Tennessee fans showed up in a big way. And that included trolling the Buckeyes in the most specific way possible with a giant inflatable Michigan block M.

East Tennessee NBC affiliate WBIR anchor Brittany Bailey captured an amazingly petty moment, as Tennessee fans delightfully sang “Rocky Top” while tailgating with the block M — a big, fat reminder that Ohio State’s last game before the playoff was a home loss to the unranked Wolverines.

College football’s pettiness remains unmatched.

(Screenshot: @BrittBaileyTV)

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James Franklin won his biggest game yet and everyone was too busy arguing about SMU to care

You have to feel for James Franklin just a little bit here.

James Franklin has been the head coach at Penn State since 2014, and pretty much since he stepped foot on campus, the knock against Franklin is that he can’t win the Big Game.

We all know the numbers. Franklin is 3-17 against the AP Top 25 and 1-12 against top-5 teams. Whether at home or on the road, favorites or underdogs, Franklin’s disappointments under the brightest lights have tainted his otherwise impressive resume. Too often those losses have led to even uglier moments.

All of which is to say absolutely no one faced more pressure on Saturday at Beaver Stadium in the first round the College Football Playoff than Penn State’s head coach. Lose to No. 11 seed SMU at home — with 100,000 fans and another iconic whiteout — and it’s fair to believe Franklin’s job status would be in question, to say nothing of the absolute roasting he’d get from college fans online.

Thankfully for Penn State, Franklin’s team went out an absolutely throttled the Mustangs, 38-10, with a near-flawless performance. This should’ve been a moment for Franklin to finally receive some flowers. But nope! College fans were far too busy continuing the nonsense debate over whether or not SMU and Indiana even deserved to be in the playoff field.

Even when James Franklin wins, he can’t win, man. It’s quite likely the second-funniest possible outcome on Saturday aside from a Penn State loss.

Think about it. The Nittany Lions held SMU to 253 yards total, stopped the Mustangs from converting all but three of 14 third downs and didn’t allow a touchdown until there were seven minutes left in the game. Even with SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings throwing three interceptions (including two pick-sixes), this was a dominant performance by Franklin’s defense, as his offense meticulously worked the clock and took care of the ball. And seemingly no one cared.

College fans are absolutely ruthless. It feels like Franklin is Squidward waiting for his applause only for SMU’s SpongeBob to steal all the attention with the mess it made.

Now Franklin and Penn State will get ready to face No. 3 seed Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, and all the talk of whether or not Franklin can win the Big Game will surely bubble back up and likely ignore the fact he literally just did.

There may have been bigger matchups during his tenure, but there have never been higher stakes than what Franklin faced on Saturday. It seems he’ll have to keep waiting for most fans to notice.

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Clemson WR Antonio Williams hit the ‘night, night’ celebration embarrassingly early in CFP game vs. Texas

The game-opening touchdown calls for a celebration, but it was way too early for the “night, night.”

Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry has made the “night, night” celebration incredibly popular in recent years. Perhaps no image of him doing it is more iconic than when he did the celebration this past summer in the gold medal game of the Olympics after connecting on a flurry of late 3-pointers to defeat France.

Curry’s celebration has inspired imitators, with Sabrina Ionescu among them.

Another admirer of the celebration is, apparently, Clemson wide receiver Antonio Williams, who did the celebration after scoring the opening touchdown of the Tigers’ College Football Playoff matchup with Texas. The touchdown put the Tigers up 7-0 in the first quarter.

But it seems like Clemson and Williams misunderstand the celebration. The “night, night” is a closer, a clincher, a sealer. It’s meant to be done after daggers – not the first score of the game.

Fans agreed. It was too early for Williams to do this sort of celebration.

And by midway through the second quarter, the Tigers trailed 21-7.

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Tracking the biggest names to enter the college football transfer portal after the 2024 season

Transfer season is now in full swing. Here are the biggest name to enter the portal so far.

Editor’s note: This post has been updated with new information.

The 2024 college football regular season came to an end on Saturday, and that means it’s time to kick off the chaotic cycle that is the transfer portal.

We’ve only had a few years of seeing unlimited transferring within college football, but the portal is only growing in size every year as players look for new opportunities elsewhere, whether it’s due to coaching changes, a lack of playing time or other factors.

The portal has only been open for a few days as things currently stand, and we’ve already seen quite a few big names opt to transfer. More will likely come following the conclusion of conference title games and the College Football Playoff.

With some help from On3, here are the top players who have entered the portal so far. We’ll update this post as more players make their intentions known.

Boston College QB Thomas Castellanos

Committed to Florida State on Dec. 11, 2024

Virginia QB Anthony Colandrea

Georgia CB Julian Humphrey

Committed to Texas A&M on Dec. 15, 2024

NC State WR Kevin Concepcion

Florida International WR Eric Rivers

Texas Tech WR Micah Hudson

Committed to Texas A&M on Dec. 15, 2024

Florida International QB Keyone Jenkins

UCF DB Antione Jackson

USC QB Miller Moss

Committed to Louisville on Dec. 14, 2024

Liberty QB Kaidon Salter

Western Kentucky QB TJ Finley

Committed to Tulane on Dec. 17, 2024

Oklahoma QB Jackson Arnold

Committed to Auburn on Dec. 14, 2024

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDj9Ji7RNDD/?hl=en

Maryland QB Billy Edwards Jr.

Committed to Wisconsin on Dec. 16, 2024

Missouri DE Williams Nwaneri

Committed to Nebraska on Dec. 14, 2024

Texas A&M QB Conner Weigman

Committed to Houston on Dec. 11, 2024

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDIy8DlIJ-V/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Alabama RB Justice Haynes

Washington State QB John Mateer

Duke QB Maalik Murphy

Georgia Tech WR Eric Singleton Jr.

Tulane QB Darian Mensah

Committed to Duke on Dec. 11, 2024

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDexWPFRjx1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Cal QB Fernando Mendoza

https://www.instagram.com/transferportal/p/DDfg8IDxPVY/

Florida State QB Luke Kromenhoek

Committed to Mississippi State on Dec. 17, 2024

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDr7c5NRbA6/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

USC WR Duce Robinson

https://www.instagram.com/247sports/p/DDk08IbSSC1/

USC WR Zachariah Branch

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDsazzez1j3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

USC S Zion Branch

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDscjGNSg8R/?hl=en

Kentucky WR Dane Key

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDLEsjgBpyF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Kentucky WR Barion Brown

Committed to LSU on Dec. 14, 2024

https://www.instagram.com/lsufootball/p/DDlK2wYRRCA/

Texas State DL Ben Bell

Oklahoma WR Nic Anderson

https://www.instagram.com/transferportal/p/DDNejBcyjRU/

Purdue S Dillon Thieneman

Committed to Oregon on Dec. 14

https://www.instagram.com/transferportal/p/DDkvE6Axeqv/

 

Nebraska DL Princewill Umanmielen

Committed to Ole Miss on Dec. 14

Arizona S Genesis Smith

Arizona CB Tacario Davis

https://www.instagram.com/247sports/p/DDc-f2GRu1m/

Virginia Tech OT Xavier Chaplin

Committed to Auburn on Dec. 17, 2024

UCF DL Lee Hunter

Expected to commit to Texas Tech as of Dec. 17, 2024

Mississippi State WR Kevin Coleman

Committed to Missouri on Dec. 14, 2024

https://www.instagram.com/nsafootball/p/DDkotMLBu4Z/

SMU QB Preston Stone

Committed to Northwestern, as of December 21, 2024.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDavUQ8goaK/

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College Football Playoff first-round announcers: Who’s calling Texas vs. Clemson on TNT?

Here are the first-round CFP announcers for Clemson and Texas on TNT and Max.

The first 12-team College Football Playoff is here, and the three of the four first-round on-campus games set for Saturday.

The second playoff game up on Saturday is No. 12 seed Clemson at No. 5 seed Texas — the game with the largest difference in seeds.

The Longhorns-Tigers game is set for Saturday at 4 p.m. ET at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium on TNT and HBO Max, and the winner of this game will face No. 4 seed Arizona State in the Peach Bowl on January 1, 2025.

If you’re here, you might be wondering who’s voices you’re hearing on TNT and Max during the Texas-Clemson game. Fear not: We have the answers!

For the CFP first-round game between Texas and Clemson, ESPN’s Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek and Taylor McGregor will be on the call.

[afflinkbutton text=”Watch Texas vs. Clemson on Sling” link=”https://sling-tv.pxf.io/PyLvRQ”]

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