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Clemson vs. Oregon Peach Bowl in way-too-early College Football Playoff bracket

What would a Clemson-Oregon matchup in the 2024 College Football Playoff look like?

Clemson and Oregon are two college football programs that have never met on the gridiron.

The Tigers’ unprecedented run of six straight appearances in the four-team College Football Playoff coincided with the Ducks’ decline after reaching the 2014 national championship game against Ohio State. That was the only year Oregon made the four-team postseason, although they previously reached the 2010 BCS Championship Game against Auburn.

Clemson went on to make the College Football Playoff from 2015-20 in the years following Oregon’s lone playoff appearance.

Could the Tigers and Ducks meet this year? Anything is possible with the 12-team College Football Playoff, and a new, way-too-early playoff projection from CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah pits the two teams against one another in the Peach Bowl at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

That projection is based on Dennis Dodd’s recent post-spring Top 25 rankings, which has Clemson as the highest-ranked ACC team at No. 14. Oregon is ranked No. 3 behind No. 1 Georgia and the Ducks’ soon-to-be Big Ten counterpart Ohio State (No. 2 in Dodd’s rankings).

The 12-team model will grant automatic bids to Power Four conference champions, plus the top Group of Five champion. As the highest-ranked at-large team in Dodd’s rankings, Oregon would be a No. 5 seed and play host to No. 12 seed Boise State (the top Group of Five team in Jeyarajah’s projections) in an on-campus, first-round playoff game at Autzen Stadium in Eugene.

Jeyarajah sees Oregon beating Boise State in the first round. So, if Dodd’s rankings were to hold and the 2024 season ended tomorrow, Clemson would face Oregon in the quarterfinals despite the Ducks being ranked 11 spots ahead of the Tigers.

Utah, the highest-ranked Big 12 team in Dodd’s rankings at No. 11, is the No. 3 seed and would face the winner of a No. 6 vs. No. 11 seed first-round playoff game (between Penn State and Texas in Austin) in the quarterfinal round at the Fiesta Bowl.

Unlike the four-team playoff model, there’s a big difference between ranking and seeding.

As Jeyarajah notes:

“(G)et these words into your head: ranking and seeding. The committee will release a final ranking, but seeding is the only thing that matters. In this bracket, the No. 3 team in the country [Oregon] will enter as the No. 5 seed. The No. 14 team [Clemson] jumps up to the No. 4 seed. That’s how the system works.”

In Dodd’s rankings, Clemson landed one spot below SEC newcomer Oklahoma and one spot ahead of Arizona, which joined the Big 12 after the collapse of the Pac-12 last summer. Similarly, Utah ranked one spot behind LSU.

The Sooners and LSU may rank higher than Clemson and Utah in the eyes of Top 25 pollsters, but Oklahoma’s spot at No. 13 currently falls behind six other SEC teams ranked ahead of them.

Adds Jeyarajah:

“The Fiesta and Peach Bowls will be a fascinating first test of the auto-bid setup as Clemson faces an opponent projected to finish nine full spots ahead (of the Tigers) in the final rankings.”

Clemson opens its season on August 31 in Atlanta against Georgia in the Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon EDT. The game will be televised nationally by ABC.

Alabama near the top in latest college football Top-25 rankings

No Saban? No problem. Alabama still ranks as one of the top teams in the nation, according to the latest college football Top-25 rankings.

The 2024 college football season is rapidly approaching, and fans are eager to watch their favorite teams take the field with a blank record, a clean slate, and a chance to make the College Football Playoffs and compete for a national championship. One team fans from across the country will have their eyes on is the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The offseason started off rough for Crimson Tide fans, as legendary head coach Nick Saban announced his retirement and the program was sent into a frenzy as the search for a replacement for the greatest of all time commenced.

Though Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne made a strong hire in former Washington Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer, fans were concerned about his ability to fill the mighty shoes left behind by Saban and the numerous high-profile, key contributors from the Crimson Tide’s 2023 roster.

Initially losing players to the transfer portal Caleb Downs (to the Ohio State Buckeyes), Isaiah Bond (to the Texas Longhorns) and Kadyn Proctor (to the Iowa Hawkeyes… temporarily), there was fear that a mass exodus would follow.

Fortunately for DeBoer and Alabama fans, there wasn’t a steady flow of players exiting the program, and one of the three players mentioned above, Proctor, ended up transferring back to the Crimson Tide program in the spring transfer portal window.

The Tide coaching staff didn’t just suffer losses from the transfer portal, a handful of immediate starters for the program transferred in, as well as some young, talented players who could contribute in the next few seasons.

Andy Staples of On3 recently revealed his latest college football Top-25 rankings following the conclusion of the spring transfer portal. While there are a lot of drastic changes going on in Tuscaloosa, Staples isn’t convinced that it is going to lead to the program’s downfall. He has DeBoer and Alabama ranked No. 3, behind only No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs and No. 1 Ohio State.

“That first weekend felt a little touch and go, but since then Kalen DeBoer has done just about everything right as he tries to replace the greatest of all time. Nick Saban left DeBoer a pretty spectacular roster, and DeBoer added to it with some of his favorite former Washington players.

“Getting offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor back from Iowa was huge for Alabama, and while there’s no sugarcoating the loss of Downs, getting Keon Sabb from Michigan to play alongside veteran Malachi Moore should help Alabama’s secondary remain formidable.”

The 2024 regular season may prove to be challenging for DeBoer in his first season at the helm of the historic program, but iron sharpens iron, and it’s impossible to build an impressive resumé without obtaining some impressive wins.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama football news and projections as the 2024 college football season approaches.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on X @SpurrFM.

Wisconsin Badgers ‘just missed’ ESPN’s post-spring top 25 ranking

Wisconsin Badgers in ‘just miss’ category of ESPN’s post-spring top 25 ranking

Wisconsin football was placed in the “just missed” category of ESPN’s college football post-spring top 25 ranking on Monday.

With fewer than 100 days until the 2024 season kicks off, ESPN Senior Writer Mark Schlabach placed the Badgers alongside West Virginia, Texas A&M, Louisville, Kentucky, Washington, Boise State, Air Force and Liberty barely on the outside of the top 25.

Georgia, Ohio State, Texas and Oregon all landed within the top four while 2023 national champion and Big Ten rival Michigan fell to No. 10. Wisconsin’s gridiron competition officially becomes much more difficult this fall with the additions of Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA to the Big Ten and the elimination of the East-West division model.

UW squares off with USC, Penn State, Oregon, Alabama and Iowa this fall. For reference, ESPN has the Ducks at No. 4, Crimson Tide at No. 7, Nittany Lions at No. 12, Hawkeyes at No. 23 and Trojans at No. 25.

Wisconsin enters this season with notable departures of starting quarterback Tanner Mordecai, running back Braelon Allen and offensive lineman Tanor Bortolini to the NFL. Its wide receiver room, however, is deep and versatile with Will Pauling, C.J. Williams and Bryson Green set to return and lead the room.

On the other side of the ball, Wisconsin’s defensive unit enters 2024 with a preseason SP+ Rating of 13.8, the seventh-highest in the nation.

UW has notably been in pursuit of depth and talent to bolster the defensive line. The Badgers have seen DL targets C.J. West commit to Indiana, Khurtiss Perry commit to Virginia Tech and Jay’Viar Suggs commit to LSU.

Wisconsin was also in pursuit of a playmaker on offense before landing former Boston College WR Joseph Griffin Jr., fulfilling its need for an experienced receiver.

The Badgers’ challenging schedule presents a golden opportunity for statement victories and a rise up the national rankings. That, or the gauntlet can cause the program’s third-straight down season.

Two SEC teams jump Arkansas in new USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll

A look at where Arkansas baseball ranks in the new USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll.

Arkansas may have clinched the SEC West division title over the weekend at Texas A&M, but losing two of three to the Aggies caused the Razorbacks to fall in the USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll, released Monday, May 20.

Arkansas (43-12 overall, 20-10 SEC) fell two spots to No. 4 in the new poll. Texas A&M (44-11) climbed one spot to No. 3, and Kentucky (39-12) moved up to No. 2.

Tennessee (46-10) stayed at No. 1 for the third consecutive week after sweeping South Carolina to earn the top seed in this week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover. At 22-8 in conference play, both the Volunteers and Wildcats earned a share of the SEC regular-season title.

By virtue of winning the SEC West, Arkansas will be the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will face the winner of Alabama-South Carolina in the Diamond Hogs’ tournament opener Wednesday.

Clemson (40-13) rounded out the top five of the coaches poll. The Tigers were one of seven ACC teams to crack the Top 25 — the most by any conference.

The SEC had six schools ranked in the poll. In addition to the conference taking the top four spots in the coaches poll, Georgia (39-14) ended the regular season ranked No. 9. Mississippi State (36-19) also cracked the Top 25 at No. 16.

Oregon baseball ends regular season ranked in Top 25

D1Baseball.com includes Oregon in their last Top 25 ranking of the regular season after sweeping WSU last weekend.

As a team heads into the post-season, it wants to be playing their best.

After a five-game winning streak, including a weekend sweep over Washington State, Oregon Ducks baseball is doing just that and their getting their recognition.

D1baseball.com ranks the Ducks as the No. 23 team in the nation as they prepare for the Pac-12 tournament in Scottsdale, Ariz. where Utah awaits as Oregon’s opening opponent.

The Ducks go into the conference tournament as the 3-seed.

But Oregon (37-16) is far from the only Pac-12 ranked in the Top 25. The Beavers enter the rankings as the No. 6 team although they lost the regular-season title to Arizona on a walk-off double.

Speaking of the Wildcats, Arizona is the No. 18 team in the country and will have the top seed in the Pac-12 tourney. They are hoping for a better result this year after Oregon defeated the Cats in the 2023 tournament.

Tournament games begin on Tuesday with the Ducks opening with the Utes at 2:30 pm on Wednesday.

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Where Arkansas baseball fell in final regular-season Top 25 rankings

The Arkansas Razorbacks fell to No. 5 in both D1Baseball and Baseball America’s new Top 25 rankings, released Monday, May 20.

Arkansas baseball fell two spots in the new D1Baseball Top 25 rankings and three spots in Baseball America Top 25, released Monday, May 20.

The Razorbacks (43-12 overall, 20-10) checked in at No. 5 in both rankings after dropping two of three to Texas A&M in College Station over the weekend to close out the regular season.

Arkansas clinched the SEC West division title on Friday night and will be the No. 2 seed at this week’s SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover. The Diamond Hogs will play Tuesday’s winner between No. 7 seed Alabama and No. 10 seed South Carolina on Wednesday.

SEC regular-season co-champions Tennessee (46-10, 22-8) and Kentucky (39-12, 22-8) were Nos 1. and 2 in both rankings, respectively. It’s the third straight week that the Volunteers, the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament, were atop both D1Baseball and Baseball America’s rankings.

ACC regular-season champion North Carolina (41-12) moved up one spot to No. 3 in Baseball America’s rankings while Texas A&M (44-11) moved up one spot to No. 4 in both rankings.

Georgia (39-14) was the only other SEC team to crack Baseball America’s top 10 at No. 8.

Every game of the 2024 SEC Tournament will be televised by SEC Network with the exception of Sunday’s championship game on ESPN2. Each game of the tournament will also air live on SiriusXM Channel 374 for subscribers.

Where does Alabama rank in the post-spring college football power rankings?

The College Football season is rapidly approaching. With spring in the books, see where Alabama ranks in the top-25 power rankings!

The 2024 season will be an interesting one for the Alabama Crimson Tide, as it will be the first time in nearly two decades that legendary head coach Nick Saban will not be roaming the sidelines of Bryant-Denny Stadium. Instead, it will be head coach Kalen DeBoer. That change, along with the SEC adding two new programs and the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams makes for this upcoming season to be one of mass change.

How will all of this impact the Crimson Tide’s ability to compete? Well, some pundits argue that it won’t knock them out of national title contention.

Patrick Conn and Tyler Nettuno of College Sports Wire‘s “College 12-pack” put together a post-spring practice top-25 power rankings. Alabama ranked No. 5 on the list.

“The Alabama Crimson Tide is going to have a West Coast flare in 2024 with four former Washington Huskies joining the team as they followed head coach Kalen DeBoer from Seattle. Jalen Milroe returns as the signal caller with plenty of talent around him. But how does this Tide squad look in the post-Nick Saban era?”

There are plenty of reasons to be excited for the 2024 Crimson Tide season, with “West Coast flare” being one of them. However, many fans are worried about DeBoer’s ability to maintain the high-level of success left behind by Saban. After all, in his last season before retiring, Saban led his team all the way to a conference championship title, the College Football Playoffs, and an overtime-loss in the Rose Bowl against the No. 1 team and the eventual national champion.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama football news as the 2024 offseason continues.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on X @SpurrFM.

Wisconsin HC Luke Fickell plummets in CBSSports’ annual college football head coach ranking

Where would you rank Luke Fickell among college football’s best head coaches?

CBSSports released its annual college football head coach ranking this week. The service went through all 68 Power Four coaches throughout the week, finally releasing its top 25 on Wednesday afternoon.

The bottom of the ranking was full of familiar names — mostly unproven former assistants. It includes UCLA HC DeShaun Foster at No. 68, Syracuse HC Fran Brown at No. 67, Mississippi State HC Jeff Lebby at No. 66 and Purdue HC Ryan Walters at No. 65.

Foster, Lebby and Brown were hired this offseason after excelling as the UCLA running backs coach, Oklahoma offensive coordinator and Georgia DBs coach respectively. None of the three have head coaching experience.

The comparison between the bottom tier and the top group is significant. Kirby Smart, Dan Lanning, Dabo Swinney and Ryan Day are predictably toward a top group that now is no longer led by college football legend Nick Saban.

Of note, Wisconsin HC Luke Fickell was No. 9 on CBS’ list ahead of the 2023 season. He was two years removed from taking Cincinnati to the College Football Playoff and had just taken over at Wisconsin with sky-high expecations.

The Badgers’ 7-6 2023 season with losses to Indiana and Northwestern predictably cooled the national sentiment on the program and on Fickell.

Now, entering 2024, here is where Fickell ranks among CBSSports’ top 25 coaches in college football:

Arkansas baseball on the rise in new D1Baseball Top 25 rankings

The Arkansas Razorbacks moved up in D1Baseball’s new Top 25 rankings, released Monday, May 13.

The Arkansas Razorbacks are back on the move in one of the major college baseball Top 25 rankings following their impressive, hard-earned series victory over Mississippi State.

The Diamond Hogs (42-10 overall) moved up two spots to No. 3 in this week’s D1Baseball Top 25 rankings, released Monday, May 13.

Arkansas rallied from a 6-0 deficit to defeat the Bulldogs, 9-6, to win the series Sunday at Baum-Walker Stadium. The Razorbacks had previously fallen to No. 5 after dropping two of three at Kentucky the previous week.

The SEC made up four of the top five teams in D1Baseball’s new rankings. Kentucky (37-11) jumped Arkansas to move up two spots to No. 2 in the rankings after the Wildcats won another series at Florida over the weekend.

Tennessee (42-10) stayed at No. 1 for the second consecutive week after winning two of three at Vanderbilt.

In other rankings, Arkansas stayed at No. 3 in Baseball America’s Top 25 Monday. Per Baseball America’s Teddy Cahill and Peter Flaherty:

“The Razorbacks got back on track this weekend with a key series win against Mississippi State in which they notched a pair of come-from-behind victories. On Friday, they scored three runs in the eighth inning—headlined by Hudson White’s game-winning, two-run single—before scoring nine unanswered runs on Sunday to take the series. White paced the offense this weekend with six RBIs, while in the series finale Peyton Holt hit the game-winning, two-run home run and Will McEntire (2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 1 K) and Gabe Gaeckle (2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K) combined to throw four scoreless innings. Arkansas is still alive in the SEC title race, but has its work cut out for it this weekend at Texas A&M.”

Texas A&M, which spent three weeks at No. 1 in every major Top 25 poll before last week, fell two spots to No. 5 in both Baseball America and D1Baseball’s rankings. The Aggies dropped two of three at Ole Miss over the weekend.

Arkansas will close out the regular season against Texas A&M in College Station beginning Thursday night. First pitch Thursday is scheduled for 7 p.m. CDT. The game can be seen on ESPN2.

Clemson plummets in new Top 25 baseball rankings after weekend sweep

A look at where the Clemson Tigers rank in the new Baseball America Top 25 rankings and D1Baseball poll.

The Clemson Tigers are no longer in the top five of one of the major college baseball Top 25 rankings following their three-game weekend sweep at Wake Forest.

In fact, they’re barely in the top 10 of Baseball America’s new Top 25 rankings, released Monday, May 13.

The Tigers (37-13 overall, 17-10 ACC) fell all the way to No. 10 in the rankings. They’d been ranked No. 4 the previous week before their first series sweep of the year Sunday in Winston-Salem.

Notes Baseball America’s Teddy Cahill and Peter Flaherty:

“After scoring four runs in the ninth inning in Tuesday’s win against Charlotte, Clemson was soundly swept at Wake Forest. Outside of Ethan Darden, no starter was able to make it out of the fifth inning. The Tigers’ bats also struggled mightily and on the weekend hit just .202. Outfielder Tristan Bissetta was the team’s lone bright spot, as he hit two home runs and accounted for five of the team’s 10 RBIs. Clemson will look to bounce back this weekend at home against Boston College.”

A total of three ACC teams moved ahead of Clemson in Baseball America’s rankings, including North Carolina. The Tar Heels (39-11, 20-7) checked in at No. 4 after completing a sweep of Louisville on Sunday. UNC has won nine of its last 10 games and holds a three-game lead over Clemson in the ACC standings with a week to play.

Wake Forest (36-16, 15-12) also leapt Clemson in Baseball America’s rankings, as did NC State (29-19, 14-12). The Demon Deacons jumped eight spots to land at No. 7 while the Wolfpack moved up four spots to No. 9 after winning two of three from Virginia in Charlottesville.

Other teams that passed Clemson in Baseball America’s rankings were No. 2 Kentucky, which had been ranked sixth, as well as No. 6 Georgia (previously No. 14) and No. 8 Oregon State (previously No. 11).

Things weren’t nearly as bad for Clemson in D1Baseball’s new Top 25 rankings Monday. In those rankings, the Tigers fell only two spots to No. 4 and remained the highest-ranked ACC team. Similarly, Clemson fell two spots to No. 7 in the NCAA’s RPI rankings this week.

North Carolina moved up four spots to No. 7 in D1Baseball’s rankings with Wake Forest right behind the Tar Heels at No. 8. Florida State (37-12) checked in at No. 10.

Tennessee (42-10) remained No. 1 in both D1Baseball’s Top 25 and Baseball America’s rankings after winning two of three at Vanderbilt over the weekend. Kentucky (37-11) moved up to No. 2 while Arkansas (42-10) moved up two spots to No. 3. Texas A&M (42-10) rounded out D1Baseball’s top five.

UP NEXT

Clemson visits Coastal Carolina in midweek play Tuesday. First pitch against the Chanticleers is scheduled for 6 p.m. EDT. The game can be seen on ESPN+.