Tag: NCAAF

Texas had a full section of Matthew McConaughey movie cutouts for TCU game

So many Matthew McConaugheys!

For No. 9 Texas’ home game against TCU on Saturday, Matthew McConaughey was in attendance. Well, sort of, because actually, several Matthew McConaugheys were in attendance, thanks to the Longhorns marketing team.

“Seated” in the stands at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Saturday were several cutouts of McConaughey in character from a wide variety of his films, including Dazed and Confused, Interstellar, Angels in the Outfield, Dallas Buyers Club, The Wedding Planner, The Lincoln Lawyer and Magic Mike.

It’s a whole Matthew McConaughey section, and it’s spectacular and perfect for the Texas alumnus, one of the Longhorns most enthusiastic fans, who’s also the Minister of Culture, or MoC, for the athletics department.

This is genius, and more schools should consider filling their empty sections with famous alumni. And with partially empty stands because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a bunch of Matthew McConaugheys is… alright, alright, alright.

As a voiceover in the Longhorns’ clip showing off all the movie character cutouts, McConaughey says:

“Well, I don’t have many affiliations. I’ve got God, I’ve got my family, I got America, and I got Texas. This is one of those things that’s nonnegotiable for me wherever I go.”

The fabulous Matthew McConaughey section was also briefly featured on ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast Saturday.

In 2019, the Oscar-winning actor was GameDay’s best guest picker of the season, and, of course, he went all out for Texas.

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Mississippi State’s K.J. Costello destroyed SEC passing record in LSU upset

Mike Leach’s air raid offense worked for Mississippi State and K.J. Costello against the defending champs.

Mike Leach and K.J. Costello are both new to Mississippi State this year. But they showed what kind of damage they can do together Saturday against the defending national champs. The Bulldogs handed LSU a stunning, 44-34 season-opening upset and its first loss since the 2018 season.

Some questioned whether Leach’s air raid offense would succeed against SEC defenses. The early answer appears to be yes, even if Ed Orgeron’s Tigers are a very different team than they were last season. In addition to losing defensive players because of turnover and some opt-outs, they also took on the Bulldogs without star defensive back Derek Stingley Jr., who did not play after being hospitalized Friday with a condition LSU said is not COVID-19 related.

Still, Leach, Costello and Mississippi State’s new offense tore LSU’s secondary up and helped the Bulldogs upset the Tigers in Death Valley. It’s the first time since Michigan lost to Notre Dame in 1998 that the defending champ fell in its season-opener.

The clear star of the game, Costello completed 36-of-60 passes and threw for 623 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. That was easily a career-high for the senior transfer from Stanford.

With that impressive season-opening performance, he set Mississippi State’s single-game passing yards record, breaking the 508-yard mark Dak Prescott set in 2015, as CBS’ broadcast noted.

He also destroyed the SEC single-game passing yards record, previously held by former Georgia quarterback Eric Zeier, who threw for 544 yards in 1993, according to the conference’s record book.

And as CBS reported, his 623 yards rank him at No. 11 in single-game college football history.

Of course, Mississippi State’s receivers benefit from this system too. Osirus Mitchell led the Bulldogs’ receiving corps with seven catches for 183 yards and two touchdowns, while star running back Kylin Hill had eight catches for 158 yards and one touchdown. Hill also had 34 yards on the ground.

As for the reaction among fans, college football Twitter was impressed, including reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes, and had jokes about Leach’s air raid offense succeeding early in the SEC.

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Reggie Bush appeared to doze off on FOX Sports’ college football set

Reggie Bush just needed to catch some Z’s.

Maybe Reggie Bush went to bed later than he wanted to Friday night. Maybe he did but didn’t sleep well, or the Texas-Texas Tech game just wasn’t cutting it for him.

Or maybe that early-morning wakeup time before FOX Sports’ college football lineup Saturday was just too much for him because, while on the set, Bush appeared to doze off a little bit.

FOX Sports’ production team had a some fun with the footage of the former college football superstar as his eyelids were clearly growing heavier by the second. Everyone knows that feeling.

So during halftime — when the Longhorns had a 31-21 lead over the Red Raiders — they aired a funny, edited clip of Bush barely keeping his eyes open. And maybe passing out for a minute.

But seriously, in Bush’s defense, he said he was up at 4:30 a.m. to get ready for the day’s broadcast, which would leave plenty of people exhausted by the middle of the afternoon.

At least he was able to laugh at himself, though, because his colleagues and college football Twitter sure did.

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Bob Stoops’ son, Drake, caught his first career TD for Oklahoma vs. Kansas State

Sophomore WR Drake Stoops with a great play.

Bob Stoops hasn’t been Oklahoma’s football coach since the 2016 season, but his fingerprints are still all over the football program. And the family name is still on the football field, thanks to Sooners’ redshirt sophomore wide receiver Drake Stoops, Bob’s son.

And Saturday early in the second quarter of No. 3 Oklahoma’s game against Kansas State, Drake caught the first touchdown pass of his career, and it was a great one.

On 1st-and-10 from the Wildcats’ 32-yard line, Oklahoma redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler — who’s an early Heisman Trophy favorite — faced pressure forcing him out of the pocket. But he found Stoops downfield just shy of the goal line and launched a near-perfect pass into the receiver’s hands.

Stoops made the catch and twisted his way into the end zone while surrounded by multiple Kansas State defenders.

Not bad for the first touchdown of his college career. With the extra point, that play gave the Sooners an early 14-0 lead.

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College GameDay: See Lee Corso’s headgear pick for Miami vs. Florida State

Lee Corso and the College GameDay crew were previewing the Miami-Florida State game in Week 4.

ESPN’s College GameDay crew visited Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Saturday ahead of No. 12 Miami’s primetime game against Florida State in Week 4 of the 2020 college football season.

Led by senior quarterback D’Eriq King, Miami opened the 2020 season with a win over UAB before taking out then-No. 18 Louisville last weekend. King is among the early Heisman Trophy favorites, and against the Cardinals, he threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns.

After a rough season-opening loss to Georgia Tech, Florida State is looking to beat the Hurricanes for the first time in four years, and it’s an 11-point underdog.

So when it came to making picks, GameDay had ESPN radio personality Stugotz as the guest picker — about which he said, “How many names in the rolodex did you go through before you landed on Stugotz?” — and he went with Miami.

And for the second straight week, Lee Corso is going with Miami for his 352 headgear pick, despite Florida State being his alma mater.

“Sorry, Noles, I’m going with the favorite! Miami!” Corso said on the broadcast from his home studio in Orlando.

However, he also predicted that Florida State’s defense will play “lights out and keep it close,” and he’s 6-2 in the eight times he’s picked the Hurricanes, per ESPN.

Corso also picked Georgia Tech over Syracuse, Cincinnati over Army, Louisville over Pitt, Virginia Tech over NC State, TCU over Iowa State, Oklahoma State over West Virginia, Oklahoma over Kansas State, South Carolina over Tennessee, Florida over Ole Miss, LSU over Mississippi State and Auburn over Kentucky.

The Miami-Florida State game is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

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College football Week 4: The SEC kicks off, and LSU’s title defense begins

“Before The Snap” takes a look at the SEC’s opening weekend of the 2020 college football season.

Welcome to Before The Snap, For The Win’s college football show where we’ll break down the sport’s trending storylines, examine each week’s biggest matchups and track the College Football Playoff and Heisman Trophy races.

The SEC’s 10-game, conference-only schedule kicks off this weekend in what’s technically Week 4 of the college football season. It’s the third Power 5 conference to play a fall season, following the ACC and Big 12. (The Big Ten plans to start next month.)

Looking like a very different team this year, LSU and coach Ed Orgeron begin their national championship defense with junior quarterback Myles Brennan taking over for now-Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.

Brennan saw the field in 2019 in some of LSU’s blowout games, and he threw one touchdown against Texas A&M. He also went 3-for-3 for 39 yards against Oklahoma in the College Football Playoff semifinal game last year.

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LSU opens its season against Mississippi State and coach Mike Leach. Although this is Leach’s first season with the Bulldogs, he could have his air-raid offense established with Stanford transfer quarterback K.J. Costello, but he also has one of the country’s best running backs in Kylin Hill.

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Here’s a look at the SEC’s opening weekend schedule:

No. 5 Florida at Ole Miss: Noon ET, ESPN

No. 23 Kentucky at No. 8 Auburn: Noon ET, SEC Network

Mississippi State at No. 6 LSU: 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS

No. 4 Georgia at Arkansas: 4 p.m. ET, SEC Network

No. 2 Alabama at Missouri: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN

Vanderbilt at No. 10 Texas A&M: 7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network alternate

No. 16 Tennessee at South Carolina: 7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network

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2020 Heisman odds: Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields are co-favorites

FTW’s Before The Snap takes a look at the very early 2020 Heisman race.

Welcome to Before The Snap, For The Win’s college football show where we’ll break down the sport’s trending storylines, examine each week’s biggest matchups and track the College Football Playoff and Heisman Trophy races.

With the Big Ten announcing last week it’s plan to begin its college football season in October, the conference’s Heisman Trophy favorite, Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, is back with Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence as the favorites.

But Lawrence and Fields don’t just lead the players with the best odds to win college football’s most prestigious individual award. Despite Fields not playing a game yet while Lawrence has played two, both players are tied for the best odds to win the 2020 Heisman, according to BetMGM.

However, it’s still incredibly early and things can easily change, especially considering the SEC hasn’t played its first games yet either.

So headed into what’s technically Week 4 of the 2020 college football season, here’s a look at the top-10 players with the best odds to win the Heisman.

Trevor Lawrence +260
Clemson junior quarterback
2020: 81.1 completion percentage, 519 passing yards, 4 passing TDs, 0 INT, -22 rushing yards, 3 rushing TDs

Justin Fields +260
Ohio State junior quarterback
2020: N/A

Spencer Rattler +700
Oklahoma freshman quarterback
2020: 82.4 completion percentage, 290 passing yards, 4 passing TDs, 0 INT, 1 rushing yard, 0 rushing TDs

Racey McMath +1000
LSU senior wide receiver
2020: N/A

Sam Ehlinger +1100
Texas senior quarterback
2020: 75.8 completion percentage, 426 passing yards, 5 passing TDs, 0 INT, 12 rushing yards, 0 rushing TDs

D’Eriq King +2000
Miami senior quarterback
2020: 63.0 completion percentage, 469 passing yards, 4 passing TDs, 0 INT, 92 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD

Mac Jones +2000
Alabama junior quarterback
2020: N/A

Myles Brennan +2000
LSU junior quarterback
2020: N/A

Kyle Trask +2000
Florida senior quarterback
2020: N/A

Jaylen Waddle +2000
Alabama junior wide receiver
2020: N/A

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Deion Sanders refutes report that his Jackson State staff includes Terrell Owens, Warren Sapp

So much for that.

Deion Sanders’ coaching career at Jackson State University began with a whole bunch of fanfare and attention, with the Hall of Famer making the grandest of entrances into his opening press conference on Monday.

On Tuesday, there was another ripple through social media, with a report from WLTX’s Joe Cook, who said sources told him that Sanders’ staff would include fellow NFL legends Terrell Owens as his wide receivers coach and Warren Sapp coaching the defensive line.

It had everyone buzzing and hoping for a reality show camera crew to come to practices and film all the drama that could pop up with the three of them at the helm.

But Sanders himself took to Twitter not long after that tweet to deny it was true.

Alas. What fun that would have been. For now, enjoy his entrance from Monday:

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Miami’s new 2020 turnover chain includes 4,000 sapphire stones

This time, Miami’s turnover chain is the entire state of Florida.

The famous turnover chain tradition is back, and, once again, the Miami Hurricanes have a new one for their in-game celebrations. And they showed off for the first time this season Saturday during their game against Louisville.

Without a turnover in the No. 17 Hurricanes’ season-opener last weekend against UAB, the chain didn’t make an appearance. But that wasn’t an issue against the No. 18 Cardinals. The turnover chain first came out late in the second quarter when Al Blades Jr. picked off Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham, and the Hurricanes were ready to celebrate.

The new chain features the whole state of Florida with Miami’s signature green and orange “U” across it. It’s ridiculous, but also perfectly Miami.

This is the fourth turnover chain for the Hurricanes — a defensive celebration that began in 2017. The first one was a simple green and orange “U” with a gold chain, and the second one featured a jeweled Sebastian the Ibis, the team’s mascot, but no “U” logo. Last season, the “U” was small with a giant “305” beneath it, representing Miami’s area code.

And this year, the Hurricanes are looking at the entire state. More about the 2020 turnover chain, via The Sun Sentinel:

Attached to the 32-inch, 10-karat gold Cuban-link chain is a charm of the whole state of Florida in white with the South Florida tri-county area of Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties standing out in orange and green.

Of course, it also needs Miami’s ‘U’ logo on it, so it’s positioned over the northern part of the state with the intention, according to jeweler AJ Machado, of covering up the cities where the Hurricanes’ two biggest in-state rivals are located — Tallahassee, home to Florida State, with the orange left half of the U and Gainesville (UF) with the green right half.

Machado has designed each of Miami’s turnover chains, and he said there are 4,000 sapphire stones total with 1,400 of them in the “U” alone, The Sun Sentinel reported. The chain weighs two kilograms, while the state of Florida charm is 300 grams.

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Nebraska AD Bill Moos ‘wasn’t toasting champagne’ when he saw 2020 football schedule

Nebraska’s AD wasn’t thrilled when he saw the team’s new eight-game schedule.

The Big Ten’s revised schedule for starting its 2020 season kicking off on October 24 was released Saturday, and Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos isn’t thrilled. Or, as he told the Omaha World-Herald, he “wasn’t toasting champagne” when he first saw the schedule Friday night.

After the Big Ten postponed football indefinitely in August, it reversed its decision and announced Tuesday its plan to play, along with its COVID-19 protocols. Each team will play eight games in eight weeks with the conference championship game scheduled for the ninth week on December 19.

The Cornhuskers — whose coaches, athletics department and fan base were adamant about the conference trying to play a fall schedule — will open the season with games against Ohio State, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Penn State. They also have Big Ten West foes Iowa and Minnesota later in their schedule. And aside from Northwestern, all those teams were ranked in the preseason poll.

Via the Omaha World-Herald:

“For obvious reasons, I was hoping we could dissemble the schedule because of unique circumstances and rebuild it to be fair for each school in the conference,” Moos said. “I was outspoken on that, to the point where they heard it from me every day. The rationale was there, I didn’t think we needed to follow it. Nebraska is playing five AP preseason top 25 teams. Ohio State’s playing two.

“I’m sure my friend (and Ohio State Athletic Director) Gene Smith is smiling today. His friend Bill Moos is not. I’ve got a good football team with a great football coach that deserves a break here or there to start getting back on track to being a contender in the Big Ten West.”

Although six Big Ten teams — Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Iowa — were ranked in both the AP and Coaches polls in the preseason, the conference is not currently included in the polls. The conference is expected to return to the polls later this month.

Moos added that he doesn’t “want to come across as the champion complainer”, but he takes issue with Nebraska’s Big Ten East matchups against the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions. Both were already on the Cornhuskers’ previously revised 10-game conference schedule from August but in the second half.

But Nebraska also lost division crossover games against Michigan State and Rutgers — likely significantly less challenging teams compared with their other Big Ten East opponents.

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