Nothing is Better Than College Football Every Day!

June 15th:

• Got a little kick to my backside when I noticed that YTD visits have dropped below last year by just a bit. I have put in less time working on the blog since I have diversified a bit more in other avenues of my life, but I figure some additional attention and new material should get things back on track.

• Speaking of which - I have started to pull together weekly schedules for New England college football teams through September. Nothing posted yet since I have it on a word document at this time, but should have it online by next weekend.

• I wonder if Lindy’s magazine would have changed their projected standings for the Ivy League and Big South - OVC conference if they knew that Dante Reno would transfer to Yale and Richie Munoz would flip to Tennessee Tech. Two talented quarterbacks. After all, the magazine thought that Cade McNamara’s transfer from Michigan to East Tennessee State makes the Buccaneers a Top Twenty team.

• I’m not a fan of either team, but I can’t help but think that the Florida at Miami (FL) is not getting the credit that it deserves when folks talk about the best non-conference games of 2025. Could be a Top 10 or Top 15 game if the Hurricanes beat Notre Dame to start the season, and the Gators take a bite out of LSU before their trip to Coral Gables.

• Better enjoy the game mentioned above because there aren’t any future games scheduled at this time between these rivals that hate each other…

• And speaking of Florida, Dan Mullen threw some shade their way by saying that UNLV has better facilities than the Gators…

• Typing up UMaine’s September schedule, I’m sad that their competitive series with William & Mary is coming to an end as a conference game, while I can’t help but wonder why the Black Bears play North Carolina A&T as a conference opponent.

June 14th:

• Did receive Lindy’s Preview - but just before bed so I haven’t gotten into the nitty gritty of it yet. I did notice that it has just the expected Top 10 teams for both Division II and III, which is a letdown considering I was expecting to see 25 teams listed for each.

• But my biggest gripe is that they sent me the magazine cover with Ohio State! I can’t help but wonder if someone was tampering with my mail….LOL

• Got through my Coaching Records spreadsheet yesterday afternoon. The last of my big documents to update. Now I should be able to concentrate to getting new info posted on the site…

• With a few team schedules (Division III) still missing, I did my latest tally of Games to Follow in 2025: 1,967 games - with the expectation of adding another 25 or so games from missing schedules. Will have to inflate the number up to 2,000 before the season begins…

• Used to get excited when the tv schedule was released for the Ivy League, but with their games now on ESPN+, their ESPNU schedule isn’t exciting anymore.

June 13th:

• Checked the mail slot four times yesterday in hopes that my Lindy’s magazine would show up a day early. Better be today as they promised…

• Could there be another Brady Quinn at quarterback for Notre Dame? A 2028 quarterback recruit has already received 20+ offers, and one from the Irish could be in his future. If so, maybe he could break some of the records held by the original Brady Quinn…

• Bryson Beavers had been committed to Boise State - until Oregon saw him throw at a recruiting camp. The Ducks made an offer and Beavers backed off his commitment to the Broncos the next day. This could spice things up between the schools when Boise State visits Autzen in 2026.

• According to On3, the transfer portal has had 4,067 player enter the portal, with just over 2,500 committed at this point. More than 100 have withdrawn, so that still leaves 1,400 individuals looking for a school. I’m don’t think these numbers include players from the lower divisions moving on to other lower division schools…

• The top uncommitted player at this point: Alexander Whitman. Whitmore started his career at Austin Peay before jumping up to the FBS to play for UNLV. He earned honorable mention All-Mountain West honors for the Rebels in 2024, notching 40 tackles with seven for loss and two sacks. Whitmore is ranked as the No. 332 player overall in the portal and the No. 26 defensive lineman.

• It looks like Doc Gooden’s son, Dylan, will be returning to Maryland after having committed to Sacramento State earlier this spring.

• Speaking of the Hornets, they have signed 38 (now 37?) FBS players this off-season. Other FCS teams with a lot of FBS transfers: Prairie View A&M (23), East Tennessee State (21), Austin Peay (19) and Indiana State (17). Time will tell if all these transfers help these teams…

June 12th:

• Had a plan of action for today - but six hours into my morning, and I have accomplished nothing. Guess I better listen to Bubba Sparxxx again…

• Yesterday I talked about UTEP as being the elder statesman of CUSA, having being a member of the conference since 2005. Between 1996 and 2005, seventeen teams joined the league - and sixteen of them have gone on to greener pastures.

• The first group of teams to join the conference when it was setup: Cincinnati, Houston, Lousiville, Memphis, Southern Miss and Tulane. A year later, East Carolina joined. Pretty impressive group of teams!

• One last thing regarding CUSA, the NCAA Record Book has Army as a member of CUSA currently. A small error…

• Louisiana announced newly scheduled games with Liberty and East Texas A&M. These matchups were added to my list of Games to Follow since the Liberty home-and-home series will be a solid Sun Belt/CUSA showdown, while the game with East Texas A&M will resume a series that hasn’t been played in almost 60 years. In addition, the Lions lead the series against the Ragin’ Cajuns, 4-2.

• Thought I was done with coaching changes, but made another two today…Seton Hill (Div. II) and Lawrence (Div. III) Both will be tough coaching gigs as Seton Hill has had one winning season (2023) in the last sixteen years after making the playoffs in the 2nd year of existence, while Lawrence hasn’t had a winning season since 1987 - my first year at L.L. Bean!

June 11th:

• Starting my morning by listening to the old College GameDay theme song with Bubba Sparxxx singing “Back in the Mud”. Still my favorite. And - Lee Corso looked young!

• It takes me a bit longer to go through the NCAA’s All-Time Record by Team screen - but I like all the detailed information - especially the year that the program started in the league’s eyes.

• Speaking of which, Delaware is the newest member of CUSA (along with Missouri State), but it is the oldest program (1889) in the conference. New Mexico State is second, as they started up in 1894.

• Another thing with CUSA, seven of their twelve members joined the league in 2023 or later. UTEP is the oldest member currently (2005), but they will be leaving for the Mountain West next season.

• No surprise to see Stanford as the predicted worst team of the the Power 4 conferences. Athlon magazine had each of their units ranked 17th in the ACC - which isn’t a good sign.

• Was surprised to see West Virginia as low as they were…

June 10th:

• On the way home from work yesterday, I had to stop at Hannaford to pick up some Grape Nuts - so I ventured over to the aisle that has a small selection of magazines. On the top shelf staring me in the face was the Athlon Sports College Football Preview, moaned and groaned about the price - but I still took it up with me to the register.

• If that wasn’t foolish enough, I ordered Lindy’s magazine from Amazon - and I payed a bit extra to ensure that I had it by Friday, and not on Monday after the weekend!

• What a surprise to see quarterback Dante Reno announce his decision to transfer to Yale after one year at South Carolina. He didn’t record a stat this past fall because the Gamecocks found out that they had someone pretty special - LaNorris Sellers. Reno will be returning home, and will be able to play for his dad - who has led the Bulldogs to four Ivy League titles since 2017.

• Temple announced that they have scheduled a four-game series with Rutgers starting in 2030, as well as a home-and-home series with Delaware that gets going in 2032. I’m a fan of both series - it’s the way non-conference games should be!

• Then I see West Virginia announce five new games, and I’m not into any of the games…yet. I get that the Youngstown State and Akron games are somewhat regional games, but why not schedule Virginia Tech and Maryland - or even Marshall and Ohio? Syracuse, Penn State and Cincinnati would be great games as well…

June 8th:

• Only three FBS teams have more than 700 losses - and all play in the Big Ten: Indiana (715), Illinois (710) and Rutgers (701)

• The Division I team with the most losses: VMI. The Keydets all-time record is 497-746-42 (win pct. of .400).

• Looking forward to an old competitive Pac-12 matchup on 8/30. Cal will visit Oregon State up in Corvallis - the 78th meeting between the recent conference rivals. The Bears have a slight lead in the overall series, 40-37, with the teams splitting their last 14 matchups.

• Interesting thing about this series - there has never been a tie…

• Western Michigan is visiting Michigan State this year, looking for their first win over the Spartans since 1919! The two teams split the first four games in the series, but Michigan State has won all thirteen games since then.

June 7th:

• Since some Division III schools haven’t posted their schedules yet, I am moving on from my Games to Follow spreadsheet so that I can wrap up my Coaching Records spreadsheet. It seems like I just might get to 2,000 games to follow when all is said and done - which is quite a bit more than when I had 1,200-1,400 just a couple of years ago. One of those gains is the quality of non-conference games I have found in both Division II and III.

• Was just filling out the previously mentioned Coaching Records spreadsheet - putting new numbers in for Macalester (D3) head coach Phil Nicolaides. He has been the head coach of the Scots now for three years - and the team’s record is going the wrong way. Nicolaides first team was 5-5, his second 3-7, and last year they were 0-10. Not a good trend…

• The 2025 Bowl Season was released just a couple of days ago. A total of 47 games (one FCS - the Celebration Bowl), which will involve 82 teams. Seems to me like there might be a sub .500 team or two playing in the postseason. The bowl games begin on December 13th with the Cricket Celebration Bowl.

• Maryland target, Immanuel Iheanacho, announced his final four schools yesterday: Oregon, LSU, Auburn, and Penn State. Damn it!

• Getting the future Nevada-Idaho State matchup in my spreadsheet, I couldn’t believe how similar it was to another FCS/FBS matchup (East Carolina/Western Carolina) being played on the same day. Not only are they playing on the same day, but both series started in 1936, both have been played 31 times, and lastly the series records are very similar (12-19 to 13-18). I love to discover these fun things.

June 6th:

• Forgot to comment on it last week (I think - lol), but I have to say how great it was to see the College Football Hall of Fame adjust the win percentage requirement from 60% to 59.5% in 2027. This little tweak will allow Mike Leach to be inducted when his time comes!

• ESPN mentioned this change would also impact others, like Jackie Sherrill, Les Miles and active coach Rich Rodriguez. I can Sherrill, but I’m not so sure about Miles - especially since he had wins taken away because of infractions. As for Rodriguez, if he brings the Mountaineers to the top of the Big 12 - he will have earned his spot.

• Venturing into the NCAA Record Book, I noticed that they have updated the records now through 2024. Will have to verify that my All-Time Records spreadsheet matches up with the true records - as there might have been some updates made because of infractions.

• While there, I was looking at which teams had the most victories by the decade. Was surprised to see that Marshall had the most wins during the 1980s, with 114 (five more than Florida State), while Boise State had the most wins in the 2000s with 112 - two more than both Oklahoma and Texas.

• Originally I didn’t think much about the Norfolk State-Delaware State game being moved to Philadelphia - where the two teams will play at Lincoln Financial Field. Then it clicked that both head coaches (Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson) were Eagle teammates for a period of time. I overlooked this game initially when just looking at the “teams” involved - but now I realize that it always meant something. Now, it’s being recognized nationally…

June 5th:

• Finished off round one of going through 242 Division III teams and their schedules. Still waiting for some to post - so my guess is that I’ll be making two more passes.

• Games to Follow so far for Division III: 615. Brings my grand total to 1,897. Should be close to 2,000 overall games when all is said and done.

• Not surprised to see Villanova abandon the CAA for the Patriot League - joining former CAA rivals, Richmond and William & Mary. Huge get for the Patriot League, and another tough loss for the CAA.

• The other day Morgan State announced the addition of Central State to their 2025 schedule. That means that the Bears will now play two Division II teams and one NCCAA team (Virginia-Lynchburg) this season.

• Also, Nevada has added Utah and Idaho State to their future schedules. The Wolfpack first played the Utes in 1901, but this newly scheduled game will be the first meeting between the schools since 1945. Meanwhile Nevada played the Bengals every year from 1973 thru 1991 - mostly as Big Sky opponents.

June 3rd:

• Finished up looking at Division II schedules for the upcoming season. There are 450 games that I hope to follow in one way or another - which is more games than what I have for both the FBS (411) and FCS (421). That’s 1,282 games to keep track of - so far. One division to go…

• It’s amazing the distance that teams have to travel now because of new conference alignments. Hawaii (14,812 miles) has always had to travel, but Stanford having to travel almost 12k miles is mind boggling. As for title contenders, Oregon leads the pack: 8,371 miles.

• The College Football Network has Ohio State at the top of their Power Rankings - and Clemson at #2. Surprising that it’s not Texas or Penn State. As for the Tiger’s ACC competition, not sure I would have ranked SMU (#10) above either Miami (#13) or even Louisville (#20).

• Immanuel Iheanacho, the highest-rated uncommitted prospect, has a video out there of him squatting 600 lbs. A baby monster he is! Would love to see him stay in-state with the Tersps, but I don’t see that happening with Oregon and others lurking around.

• Is Alabama all set at quarterback in regards to recruiting? Landon Duckworth, a four-star Alabama native doesn’t have the Crimson Tide on his top five list…

May 30th:

• Thought I was going to have a couple of College Football Preview magazines to read next week while on vacation, but I got bamboozled when I went to Books-A-Million and they had nothing on the shelf. It wasn’t until later that I found out that Lindy’s doesn’t put out their magazine until the end of next week!

• I could have tracked down the Athlon Sports magazine, but that’s not the one that I really want - besides it’s one less distraction for me when I could be working on the site.

• My dependence on preview magazines has dissipated though because of finding so much information out on the web.

• Will make a serious push to finish up my Games to Follow spreadsheet this upcoming week because it’s getting to be serious time on the site. Unfortunately, there are still a chunk of teams from Division II and III that haven’t posted their schedules.

• Should have started with this - I love that Indiana is bringing back their mascot! Loved the video with the announcement!

• When I read on the web that there is no other town or city named Henniker, I instantly thought that this is where New England College resides! The Pilgrims will be reinstating football this fall in this small New Hampshire town!

• Networks announced a bunch of games that they will broadcast this season. I look forward to https://www.lsufootball.net/tvschedule.htm putting it all together for me, at least the FBS and FCS games. I did see that CBSSN will televise the Colorado State at Wyoming game on Saturday, October 25th - my favorite game of theirs! Easily…

• If one goes to FBSchedules.com they will find that game times and network coverage is posted for all FBS games for Week Zero and Week 1. As for Weeks 2 and 3 - there are just a few games with kickoff times still TBD…

May 26th:

• Funny thing…one would expect a lot of content from me on the weekend since I’m not working, but in fact, I’m busier on my days off. Will make sure that changes in the fall…lol

• Terps are currently going for another lacrosse national championship. Or maybe I should say that they have another opportunity for another title - hopefully I’m not showing my disappointment a bit early. If Maryland does lose, I can accept a loss to Cornell.

• If Jake Retzlaff plays for BYU this year I would be surprised. Not only does he have to worry about legal issues, but the school also has a strict Honor Code.

• With two of the biggest college football programs ready to face-off on 8/30, I can’t help but wonder why they hadn’t played each other until a home-and-home series in 2005 and 2006? Just Sayin…

• Besides the aforementioned Top Five matchup, it looks like we are going to have two Top 10 matchups on 8/30…Clemson/LSU and Miami (FL)/Notre Dame. The Hurricanes have improved themselves this spring, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them move up from the Way-Too-Early Polls to the AP Preseason Poll.

• The Utah at UCLA game was on my radar since they are former Pac-12 foes, but the addition of Bruin quarterback Nico Iamaleava will bring more attention to Pasadena. I’m thinking that the Utes will still come out of the Rose Bowl with a win.

• Hope the Bruin fans don’t get too attached to Nico, because when the season is over, “I’m going to leave yah” is out the door…

May 23rd:

• Have to make a shoutout to Kermit the Frog for being the commencement speaker at Maryland’s graduation! For those who don’t know, Jim Henson graduated from the University of Maryland back in 1960.

• Back to Lincoln Riley and the USC-Notre Dame series (almost listed the Irish first - god forbid) for a moment…Riley has recently said that the game is more national and conference changes have created different matchups that are exciting. "To think of some of these matchups that it's created – it's a new era," Riley said. In regards to his team, there is now a steady diet of Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State. I do love these matchups, but the games would lose some luster for me if it cost us the traditional rivalry games like the Trojans and Fighting Irish…

• Having a straight-seeded format for this year’s CFB Playoff works for me as it creates more exciting first round matchups, but I’m not a fan of going to a sixteen team playoff if that’s what happens in 2026. I can live with four Big Ten and four SEC teams in the playoff, but after automatic qualifiers are handed out, that would leave another 2-3 at-large spots available (depending on if Notre Dame gets a bid) - and I’m not digging the fact that a fifth place team from either the SEC or Big Ten should get invited to the playoff.

• At the opposite end of playoff qualifiers, we have the teams that are at the bottom of the Post-Spring SP+ Rankings. The three worst ranked teams, and four of the worst five are from the MAC (Kent State, newcome UMass, Ball State and Akron). Not a good sign. I still prefer watching MAC games over CUSA any day though!

• Got a big surprise this morning when I read that New Haven announced their 2025 schedule - and it included seven Division I games! When the school announced that they were moving up to Division I earlier this month, they didn’t reveal any details about the football program. Now it all makes sense why the head coach felt blindsided and why I couldn’t find official confirmation on the New Haven-Marist game that was announced on FootballScoop a few days ago, Neither school corroborated it on their websites.

• Not to criticize the details of New Haven’s website announcement of their 2025 schedule, but they say that on September 13th the Chargers will meet Albany for the first time in program history on the gridiron. Actually, the schools have met three times, between 1981 and 1986 - when both teams were in Division III and working their way up to Division II.

• Now I’ve got to update some spreadsheets because of this move, as well as add some Division II transfers up to Division I - and a new Ivy League transfer. And now we have a couple of new Division I versus Division II and III matchups…

May 22nd:

• Mike Locksley and Maryland football were called out for tampering by Russ Huesman, head coach of the Richmond Spiders. I don’t like it, no matter the culprit, but have to agree with Locksley…the transfer portal “giveth and taketh.” It also sounds like Sean O’Haire would be a great addition for the Terps…

• I’m becoming less and less of a fan of Lincoln Riley. More and more I’m thinking that he could be the one behind the USC-Notre Dame rivalry potentially ending. Since this is the first rivalry that I remember as a kid, I hope that there’s a resolution between the schools so that this great intersectional game continues.

• I thought that the coaching carousel had pretty much stopped running for the year, but just recently we have had three coaches leave their positions for different reasons. One retired (Bob Owens - Chapman), one resigned (Derrin Lamker - Augsburg) and one was fired (Chris Pincine - New Haven).

• All are curious cases to me…why would you retire so late in the off-season knowing the impact to the team? Why would you not tell your head coach that your program (New Haven) is moving up to Division I until after the announcement? And - how did Lamker think that he could coach both a college team and a high school team?

• College Sports Network questioned whether or not the Clemson-South Carolina game should be considered a rivalry because of being “one-sided”. Guess that makes the Texas-Texas A&M game just historical…dumbasses. To me, there are games that are rivalries (no matter when it was started or how many times it has been played), historical games and traditional games. Rivalries are stand alone, but some series can both be historical and traditional. Lets use Clemson as an example: South Carolina is a rivalry game. Georgia Tech and North Carolina State can be considered both historical and traditional - as they both started before 1900 and are conference games. And then you have their series with Georgia and Auburn - both started in the 1890s and have both been played more than fifty times, but since they aren’t big rivals, and aren’t played on a consistent basis, that makes them more of regional historical series..

May 21st:

• I am a big fan of FBSchedules, and will be on the site at least a couple of times a day, but recently I haven’t been impressed with their blogs. Is it just me - or are Conference Helmet Schedules and kickoff times set by teams for home football games very boring? They have also been putting NFL stuff on the site - where it doesn’t belong.

• Must remember to order preview magazines, as Athlon Sports and Lindy’s Sports Magazine come out next week. I like the convenience of mail order - but must admit that $7 and $8 delivery charges are steep! Also, what’s up with Athlon charging a dollar more for Big Ten, ACC and SEC cover choice over the Big 12?

• Nice to see tv times set for the big games of Labor Day - but FOX hasn’t published the kickoff time yet for the biggest one…Texas at Ohio State. Noon would be the best time I think! In just over a week (5/29) we will see a good chunk of tv times for the first three weeks of the season!

• I already have some FCS tv conflicts on 11/22! ESPN+ will have the 161st Lehigh-Lafayette game at noon time- and FloFootball will be airing the Richmond-William & Mary and Maine-New Hampshire games at 1:00. What am I going to do when Harvard-Yale gets thrown into the mix????

• Currently, Illinois State’s Boomer Grigsby holds the FCS record for most career tackles with 550 in 44 games (12.5 per game). Fordham’s linebacker James Conway has a good chance to break that record this fall. Using a fifth year of eligibility, Conway needs 115 (10.5 per game) stops to pass Grigsby. Boomer will have achieved his total in 5 fewer games though - if Conway needs all eleven games to pass the mark…

• Added a new Division III vs Division II/FCS matchup - Greensboro at Davidson on 9/20. These teams have met once before (20 years ago) with Davidson winning easily 32-7.

May 20th:

• Wow - was on vacation and thought that I would get some time to work on the site - but obviously that didn’t happen. It seems like this blog has at times has been a series of excuses, but one thing I do know - I have never been so busy. Guess that happens as one gets older…instead of more time, there is less time to get things done.

• Things haven’t been that busy in the world of college football, but I have read in more than one place - Maryland has one of the worst quarterback rooms in the Power 4. Duh. So…they are ranked near the bottom of the Big 10 (Big 18), as they are expected to only finish above Northwestern and Purdue. Ugh.

• Have seen a list of the best returning FCS quarterbacks, and UMaine’s qb Carter Peevy made it to #15. Former UMaine quarterback, and current Monmouth qb Derek Robertson, was at the top of the list after passing for almost 4,000 yards, and throwing for 31 touchdowns.

• With the Ivy League joining the FCS playoffs this year, there are some key non-conference games to follow: Mercer at Princeton, Yale at Lehigh, UNH at Dartmouth and Harvard at Holy Cross. I’ll be curious if we see even stiffer non-conference foes for the Ivies in the coming years.

• Staying with the FCS, the two top Patriot League running backs in 2024 have found new home for 2025. Julius Loughridge, who has run for almost 2200 yards for Fordham the last two years, will now play for South Dakota State. Meanwhile, Jamar Curtis has joined Sacramento State (along with a lot of other talent) for this fall. Curtis ran for 2600 yards between 2023 and 2024, to go along with 31 rushing touchdowns - a big loss for Lafayette.

May 9th:

• Black Friday is one of my favorite college football days - and this year just got better with the expected addition of Ole Miss at Mississippi State and Texas A&M at Texas. They already have their time slots of noon and 7:30 - so the Georgia at Georgia Tech game slides nicely into the 3:30 position. Add in Iowa at Nebraska along with Arizona at Arizona State (not to mention Utah at Kansas), and it’s quite a day!

• Found a second early Top 25 poll for FCS and it was a good read - until it included Missouri State in the 23rd position. Unfortunately for the Bears they are moving up to the FBS this season.

• Also, I saw the first Division II Top 25 poll. The usual teams are there, but I did notice that Colorado School of Mines, a mainstay the last few years, was missing. In their place was RMAC rival Western Colorado.

• Another team missing was perennial playoff player Northwest Missouri State. Three conference opponents are in the poll though: Central Oklahoma, Pittsburg State and Central Missouri.

• A Division II game that I had as a “Game to Follow” on Friday, August 29th was Lenoir-Rhyne at West Florida. That was before I realized how many players for the Bears graduated last year - while the Argonauts will probably be ranked in the Top Five to start the season…

May 8th:

• 247Sports has projected win totals for every Big Ten team in 2025. Expectations for Maryland aren’t high because they are projected to be the third-worst team in the Conference - ahead of only Northwestern and Purdue.

• Looks like ESPN is willing to give the SEC more money if they go to a nine-game conference schedule. SEC rivalries that will suffer if there is not an additional conference game added: Texas-Texas A&M, Auburn-Georgia, Alabama-Tennessee and Alabama-LSU.

• The FCS looks like it might be headed to a 12-game schedule every year starting next year. The FCS Oversight Committee voted in favor of it, so now it’s up to the Division I Council for the final approval and they meet in late June. Week Zero could look completely different next year…

• Revised Preseason Top 25 Rankings for both the FBS and the FCS are appearing now that spring practices are over and the spring transfer portal is closed.

• More Friday, 8/29 game talk… in a CAA conference opener, Campbell visits Rhode Island. In last year’s first-ever meeting between the Camels and Rams, URI came out on top 21-9.

• In a game that was just added this March, FIU will host in-state opponent Bethune-Cookman. The Wildcats, a member of the SWAC, surprisingly lead the all-time series 4-0!

• Perhaps the best game of the night will be Tarleton State at Army. The Texans have had five straight winning seasons since moving up to Division I, and last year they put a scare into South Dakota in the 2nd round of the playoffs.

May 7th:

• Hope I get to see West Virginia on tv when they wear their 1965 throwback uniform. Looks sharp to me!

• Spent the day working on my Coaching Info spreadsheet - and I made 3 coaching changes that hadn’t been announced. Convinces me that my blogs on coaching changes is the most accurate blog out there.

• Added the Monmouth at Colgate game, which is playing on the first Friday of the season, to my Games to Follow spreadsheet because it’s a game between a CAA team and a Patriot League team. Seems worthy of a follow because of the recent defections of CAA teams (Richmond and William & Mary) to the Patriot League.

• Another game on Friday night is Wagner visiting Kansas. For the Jayhawks, this matchup fills the gap created by the Stephen F. Austin cancellation, and for the Seahawks they will get paid $450k for the game.

May 6th:

• After a busy weekend of gardening and a day of recovery, I need to get back on track and keep moving forward towards the 2025 season…

• On Friday, August 29th, Appalachian State and Charlotte will kick off their seasons when they meet in the 2025 Duke’s Mayo Classic at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. The teams have met three times previously, with the Mountaineers coming out on top each year.

• Actually, the teams mentioned above will be playing each other for the next six years. Back in April 2019, they agreed to a four-game home-and-home series to be played from 2026 thru 2029. Then before the 2020 season began, the teams agreed to another home-and-home series that would start that season and conclude in 2030. Later, they were selected to olay in this year’s Duke’s Mayo Classic - so there you have it, the Mountaineers and 49ers will square off against each other from 2025 thru 2030…

• The only other FBS matchup on the first Friday of the schedule not mentioned in my thoughts is the Kennesaw State at Wake Forest game - a first time meeting between the schools. The Owls once had a fullback named Bronson Rechsteiner - who is now known as Bron Breakker.

• Clemson and Notre Dame have come to an agreement on a twelve-game series ( starting in 2027 - with five of those games having already been scheduled because of the Irish’s scheduling agreement with the ACC. It appears as though Notre Dame is trying to do something similar with Miami (FL) and Florida State. Could this be a sign that the annual Notre Dame-USC game will be ending after their 2026 matchup?

• Also announced today - the New Haven Chargers will be moving up to the NEC from Division II. The date for it to happen for the football team is still TBD - but hopefully it will be sooner than later (2026?). When it happens, the Chargers will renew series with Stonehill, LIU, and Central Connecticut.

May 3rd:

• Longtime Western North Carolina foes Western Carolina and Appalachian State have signed a one-game agreement on 9/2/28 to rekindle their football rivalry. A rivalry once dubbed "the best football rivalry you've never heard of" by Sports Illustrated in the mid-1980s, Western Carolina and App State last met on the football gridiron in 2013 as members of the Southern Conference before the Mountaineers joined the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Sun Belt Conference. Hope this matchup becomes more than a one-game show…

• A solid matchup being played on Friday, August 29th will be the Auburn at Baylor game. Both teams will want to get off on the right foot, as they expect to compete for their respective conference titles. This will be the first meeting between Baylor and Auburn since 1976, with the Bears owning a 2-1-1 lead in the all-time series.

• Colorado and Georgia Tech have never met on the gridiron, but they do share a close bond. The two schools were both named National Champions back in 1990. Georgia Tech was crowned by the UPI Coaches Poll, while Colorado led the AP Poll.

May 2nd:

• Interesting to see a piece about Texas possibly spending $40 million on its roster - without Arch Manning taking anything from the school. Another point raised was that the Longhorns might not even be spending the most on their team! Oregon and Ohio State come to mind first for that title…

• I’m not a fan of Colorado retiring the jersey numbers of Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. Maybe one day Hunter will deserve the nod, but when only four others have had their numbers retired by the Buffaloes, it doesn’t seem that these two deserve this much recognition.

• Wasn’t surprised to see William & Mary moving on to the Patriot League in 2026 - joining their rival Richmond. Makes me like the league even more than I already did! And the poor CAA loses another strong program, with James Madison and Delaware leaving for the FBS. Won’t be long before Villanova leaves the conference - I suspect.

• This year the Ivy League will be joining the FCS playoff for the first time - and now next year the NESCAC will allow their champion to participate in the Division III playoffs. Love it!

• Sad news…Limestone College is closing, so Division II loses a solid team, and Keystone College, in Division III, is now playing only a couple of games this season, so they won’t be a part of the Landmark Conference this year. Unfortunately, teams in the lower levels come and go on a yearly basis due to finances.

• To wrap up 8/28 games: The first meeting between Arkansas Baptist (NAIA) and Houston Christian two years ago did not go well for the Buffaloes as the host team beat them 66-0.

• After completing a home-and-home series in 2024, Towson and Norfolk State agreed to another home-and-home series for 2025 and 2027.  The Tigers have won 2 of the first 3 matchups so far, including last year’s 28-23 win on the road.

• When Stony Brook plays San Diego State, it will extend the Seawolves’ streak of competing against at least  one FBS teams every full season since 2010.  Their only win over a FBS opponent was against Army back in 2012.

• Indiana State is hosting McKendree, a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) in Division II, in a first-ever matchup between the teams.  The Sycamores will pay the Bearcats $60k for playing the game.

May 1st:

• Took a long April vacation - from writing. Kept track of things daily and kept updating my spreadsheets from time-to-time, but have been quite busy with different projects and to be honest - sometimes I get too tired to plug away at things. Must be getting older…

• Have watched Lee Corso videos quite often because I will miss him and his antics. He brought a lot of joy (as did Kirk and Chris Fowler) to my Saturday mornings for years! I can remember bouncing around the man cave getting pumped up for the day’s action because of them…

• Also on my vacation, I was keeping an eye on the spring transfer portal as well as the NFL draft - so with that all over, it’s time to once again get serious for the next 9 months.

• So back to the 8/28 games…The most interesting part about the Lafayette at Bowling Green game is that it is Eddie George’s debut as the Falcon’s head coach.

• Drake will open its defense of their Pioneer League title against Division II opponent, Upper Iowa.  The Peacocks, who play in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, are coming off a 7-4 season in 2024.

• Alcorn State and Northwestern State will be wrapping up their home-and-home series that began in 2021 with a Braves 13-10 win.  The Demons will be looking to end their 23-game losing streak when they take the field.

• UT Martin made the FCS playoffs last year, and the Skyhawks are looking to start the 2025 season with a win, as well as a nice check ($450k) from Oklahoma State

April 15th:

• Won’t be easy to get thoughts out on a daily basis because I have a new project - mulching our gardens, which will take time, ibuprofen, and maybe even some bourbon on occasion. An ice bath would be nice too…

• Here we go again with transfers, as teams get blindsided by players who decide to move on after spring practice. I certainly don’t envy coaches, that don’t have championship caliber teams, who hope to keep poachers from taking their best talent.

• Maryland has had a couple of surprise entrants into the portal that will damage their depth - especially on the lines. But I think that Cal has taken a bigger hit, as they have seen five players hit it already - with three of them being running backs (Jaydn Ott being on of them). And South Alabama is losing their starting quarterback, Gio Lopez, who played well as a redshirt freshman in 2024.

• Now to some FCS games (some involving FBS teams) that will kickoff on Thursday during Week 1 - the first being Mercyhurst at Youngstown State. First time opponents, the Penguins will pay the Lakers $100k for their visit.

• Another first-ever matchup will be St. Francis at ULM, a game that was put together just over three months ago. The Red Flash have made headlines recently as they will be dropping down to Division III in 2026.

• The Central Arkansas at Missouri game was moved to Thursday night just a few days ago. The interesting part about this game is that the Bears are a replacement game because the Tigers backed out of their game with Miami (OH). So, Missouri will pay the RedHawks a $750k cancellation fee, and they will be giving UCA $500k to play. An expensive day I would say…

• An in-state game that I am looking forward to: Alabama State at UAB. These two teams were supposed to meet last year, but the Hornets canceled so that they could play in the Orange Blossom Classic against NC Central. This will be the fifth meeting between the schools, with the series knotted at 2.

• A month ago, Lindenwood and St. Thomas agreed to play, which is a matchup of two teams that have recently moved up to the FCS from the lower divisions. In what was a shocking result last year, Lindenwood beat the Tommies easily, 64-0.

April 13th:

• Big doings in Tennessee with Nico Iamaleava being removed from the roster because of NIL re-negotiations. Good for Josh Heupel to move on and provide a classy message! I just hope that this doesn’t become a trend - though it appears that “re-negotiating” your NIL number means transferring out…just look at the new quarterbacks for Miami (FL) and Duke.

• Spent some time getting my head around the new super region alignment for the Division II playoffs next year. Had to put it on a document to have it sink in! lol

• While doing that, I also learned that the playoffs will expand to 32 teams next year - which means no byes for the top-seed of each region.

• There are two more non-conference Division II games on Thursday, the 28th that will impact the playoff hopes for the four teams. Mars Hill will visit Delta State after getting beat easily at home by the Statesmen, but a win on the road will give them an advantage for a postseason berth, but as Delta State found out last year, you need to win your conference games, not just compete.

• The better game is Fort Hays State and Angelo State. Last year the Rams made the playoffs, but the Tigers beat them on the road, 21-7. This year the two schools are in the same super region - so the winner will certainly have an advantage come playoff selection time.

April 10th:

• Have to start off by saying how excited I was to see that Georgia Tech and Tennessee have signed on for a home-and-home series starting next year! Unfortunately, the Yellow Jackets had to cancel their scheduled game with Georgia State - but don’t feel too bad for the Panthers because they are getting a $1M cancellation fee.

• Now if we could get Georgia Tech and Auburn to sign on the dotted line! It has been twenty years since these old rivals (series started in 1892 - one year before GT and Georgia started playing) were on the same field.

• Since I wrote about 8/28 FBS/FCS games - the Elon at Duke game has been moved to Thursday night. These two schools (located less than 50 miles apart) played last year on 8/30, with the Blue Devils handling the Phoenix pretty easily, 26-3.

• Minnesota State hosts Northwest Missouri State on the 28th, as they wrap up their home-and-home series. The Mavericks, from up north, made it to the NCAA Division II semifinal round before being ousted by Valdosta State, while the Bearcats barely extended their consecutive winning season streak to 29, as they finished the season 6-5. Minnesota State is looking for their 3rd straight win in the series.

• I have to include the Indianapolis at Marian matchup even though the Knights are a NAIA team because the two schools are separated by only 8 miles, and they call this game the “Monumental Matchup” - a nod to the city's central landmark, the Indianapolis Monument. By the way, Marian currently leads the all-time series 2-0.

• The winningest program currently in Division II with 756 wins, Pittsburg State, opens their season up in Big Rapids, Michigan against the defending NCAA Division II national champions, Ferris State. Funny thing, the Gorillas handed the Bulldogs their only loss last season.

April 9th:

• Keeping with my plan of talking about “Games to Follow” in this blog, and staying in order with dates, today gives me a chance to talk about some Division II games. Not sure I have ever talked about games in this division so soon…

• On August 28th, an in-state rivalry will be played for the first time since 2011 when Nebraska-Kearney visits Wayne State (NE). These two rivals had played almost every year between 1924 and 2011, until the NSIC and MIAA started playing an all-league schedule. UNK has a large lead in the series (59-19-6), but the Wildcats have won three of the last four meetings.

• One last thing on this game - Nebraska-Kearney nickname is the “Lopers”, which is a shortened version of “antelopes”.

• Another rivalry (SDIC opponents) will get renewed when Black Hills State host Sioux Falls. These schools are meeting for the 33rd time (BHSU leads 19-12-1), and in the most recent game (2011), Sioux Falls beat the Yellow Jackets 44-20.

• The history between Eastern New Mexico and New Mexico Highlands in the Land of Enchantment has been dominated by the Greyhounds (ENM) - as they hold a 35-13 advantage in the overall series, which includes five straight wins since 2014.

• For the first time in 31 years, Bemidji State met up with Michigan Tech to renew their former rivalry. The series started in 1955, and ran up through 1993 - only missing eight years during that time. This year they wrap up their home-and-home series after the Beavers prevailed in OT last year.

April 8th:

• Spent a good chunk of time last night working on Division III Coaching changes and updating my spreadsheets to reflect realignment for 2025 - as well as adding new teams for 2025.

• Back to the schedule now, Stephen F. Austin will faceoff (probably a term better used for hockey) against Houston for the first time since 1948! The two schools have met three times (1946 thru 1948) with the Lumberjacks actually winning the last two matchups.

• Samford was West Georgia’s first Division I opponent, and the Wolves first Division I win. This year the Bulldogs are at home, and the home team has held serve (another sport’s reference) in all six previous meetings.

• With the Blue Hens moving up to the FBS level, this could be the last game between the only two football programs in Delaware since there aren’t any games scheduled after this game. Might be good for the Hornets since they are 0-11 against their big brothers.

• I like the Dayton vs. Eastern Illinois matchup - as both teams have been solid FCS programs. The Flyers have won 12 Pioneer League titles and the Panthers have made 16 FCS Playoff appearances - but neither team has added to those totals since 2015. Someone will get off on the right foot in 2025.

April 7th:

• Taking a quick glance at the remaining FBS matchups on Thursday, August 28th - which include five MAC teams, who are no strangers to weeknight games.

• Jacksonville State at UCF:  First-ever meeting, A good test to start off the season for the Gamecocks - the defending CUSA champions.

• Buffalo at Minnesota:  The Bulls third attempt to beat Minnesota – lost previous matchups in 2002 and 2017.

• Wyoming at Akron:  The start of a home-and-home series that concludes in 2028 at Laramie.  This is also a first-ever meeting.

• Central Michigan at San Jose State:  Originally scheduled as a home-and-home series that was to start in 2020, but the first game was canceled.  All-time series between the teams is tied 1-1, with the last meeting taking place thirty-five years ago (1990).

• Boise State at USF:  The third FBS first-ever matchup to start the season.  Scheduled six years ago, this solid Group of Five game will conclude on the blue turf in 2027.

• Miami (Ohio) at Wisconsin:  In their only matchup ten years ago, the Badgers simply crushed the RedHawks, 58-0.

• Ohio at Rutgers:  Surprisingly, the first meeting between these schools took place back in 1937, a game the Bobcats won, 13-0.  The Scarlet Knights won the next two matchups in 2006 (24-7) and 2011 (38-26).

April 5th:

• In the last few months, the Nebraska vs. Cincinnati game has seen a couple of changes. First, the location of the game was changed from Indianapolis (Lucas Oil Stadium) to Arrowhead Stadium. Then the day of the matchup was moved from Saturday to Thursday night.

• These schools have only met once previously on the gridiron - the Cornhuskers defeated the Bearcats 41-0 in that contest in Lincoln back in 1906.

• Nebraska will be looking for All-Time win number 925 - and even though they have 260 more wins than Cincinnati, the Bearcats have had 25 more wins (75 to 50) in the last ten years.

• The last time we saw East Carolina and NC State back in December - there was a brawl between the teams. And the Pirates won the Military Bowl - ending a 3-game Wolfpack winning streak in the series.

• NC State leads the all-time series 19-14, but East Carolina has won eleven of the last twenty games.

• The two teams met every season from 1970-1987, but since then have played just 15 times in the last 37 years, with four of those contests being played at neutral sites.

• Last year, East Carolina led the AAC in average attendance: 37,403

April 4th:

• Thought I was going to push aside my Games to Follow spreadsheet when it came to filling out Division III team schedules, but I couldn’t help myself and updated for about ten teams. Only 260 teams to go now!

• Even with that small sample of teams, I added 10 or so new games to my list - mostly non-conference matchups, but there were some conference games added too. Perhaps I will be able to do a Top Non-Conference Games blog soon for the division!

• I’ve touched on the three best Week Zero games the last couple of days, but I was thinking that I should mention the other five games briefly before moving on to Week 1 games. Time will tell if I mention all the week 1 games…

• Between 1946 and 2022, Stanford played Hawaii three times. Now the three schools are meeting three times in four years - it started in 2023 and will run through next year, which is another Week Zero matchup.

• The three-game series that Kansas and Fresno State agreed to back in 2020 had all the games being played in Week Zero (2025, 2029 and 2031 - but after a couple of changes, this year’s game is the only one remaining as a Week Zero game. This will be their first-ever meeting.

• Last year’s loss to the Hilltoppers ended up keeping Sam Houston out of the CUSA Championship game. Bearkats could be extra motivated to give Western Kentucky their first conference loss in 2025.

• Tarleton State, which has made a seamless transition from Division II, was 10-4 last year with a playoff win over Drake - so I don’t expect them to have much trouble with Portland State.

• Lastly, not much has been said about the NC Central vs. Southern game, but this is a solid HBCU matchup. Worth watching!

April 3rd:

• Another conference game worth watching during Week Zero is the UIW at Nicholls game as it has been a competitive series since it began in 2014.  The Cardinals have won four of the last five games to even up the series at 6 apiece.

• UIW, which has averaged more than ten wins over the last four years, is ranked 3rd in Craig Haley’s Never-Too-Early FCS Top 25 Rankings.  Another strong season will bring the Cardinals All-Time record up to .500 (currently 84-92).

• Since 2021, the Cardinals record is 42-10 – and it has been done with three different coaches:  Eric Morris (now at North Texas), G.J. Kinne (now at Texas State) and Clint Killough.

• New Nicholls head coach, Tommy Rybacki, was the handpicked successor of Tim Rebowe, who retired after ten years of being the Colonels head coach.  Rybacki is in his 11th season with Nicholls - his prior experience being the defensive coordinator under Rebowe.

• Adding a bit of spice to the rivalry, the Cardinals signed former Nicholls RB Jaylan Spears, the 2023 Southland Conference Player of the Year. Spears was projected to have a huge season in 2024, but it never materialized. He got injured in the Colonels’ season opener and played in just 2 games.

• Mercer and UC Davis, two 2024 FCS Quarterfinalists, will meet in the 2025 FCS Kickoff Classic in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, at the historic Cramton Bowl in Week Zero.  Both teams are ranked in Craig Haley’s Never-Too-Early FCS Top 25 Rankings (Mercer – 14th and UC Davis – 15th)

• The fifth-seeded Aggies (11-3) would eventually drop a tough 35-21 contest at fourth-seeded South Dakota, while the seventh-seeded Bears (11-3) fell 31-7 to second-seed North Dakota State.

• Mercer opened its 2024 campaign with six-straight victories on the way to capturing the Southern Conference championship – the first league title in program history – on the way to securing its second-straight appearance in the NCAA postseason.

• The Aggies had the program’s best season in terms of wins since making the move to Division I in 2007. First-year head coach Tim Plough led the Aggies to landmark wins over then-No. 5 Idaho and No. 7 Montana (in Missoula, Mont.) and helped guide the Aggies to a home playoff victory, the second in program history.

• An impressive feat - UC Davis won 20 straight NCAC (Northern California Athletic Conference) titles from 1971 to 1990 – 17 of them outright.

April 2nd:

• Before going into today’s thoughts, I have to say that I got caught up in two April Fool stories - one was about Johns Hopkins joining the Ivy League because Dartmouth was leaving the conference for some unreported reason. The other was an overhaul of College GameDay - as it was going to become a studio production show once again, and with only two hosts…Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith.

• Now down to business…the most interesting Week Zero game: Kansas State vs. Iowa State in Ireland. These teams are playing each other just after having wrapped up the 2024 regular season against one another.

• Iowa State has won four of the last five matchups against the Wildcats after losing 11 of 12, giving the Cyclones a narrow lead in the all-time series, 54-50-4.

• It is ISU's most-played series, which dates back to 1917 and has been played every year since making it the eighth-longest uninterrupted active series in FBS college football. Meanwhile, K-State has only played Kansas (122 games) more than Iowa State (108).  

• Their all-time records are very similar:  Kansas State (579-674-41), Iowa State (577-681-46)

• These schools are two of the six remaining charter members of the Big 12 – which was created in 1996.  The others:  Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech.

• With 144 Big 12 victories, since the conference's inception, Kansas State has the most conference wins among active programs.

• Easy to forget that Kris Klieman won 4 FCS National Championships as head coach of North Dakota State from 2014 thru 2018

• And before Matt Campbell arrived from Toledo, Iowa State had lost 9 or more games the previous three seasons and had only one winning season from 2006 thru 2015.  Since that time, Campbell has led the Cyclones to seven winning seasons in his 9 years at the helm. 

April 1st:

• No April Fool - I am back with my thoughts after not publishing them for a good chunk of time. Had concentrated on spreadsheets, March Madness, and World Cup Biathlon races.

• Actually added three new pieces to the site this morning: Top 2026 FBS Non-Conference Games, Most Consecutive Winning Seasons FCS Currently and Most Consecutive Losing Seasons FCS Currently. Each level of play has also had at least one Head Coach change - either hiring or firing. Might see another soon at Kent State.

• I also have my first Division III Games vs. FCS/Division II game posted. And in the last month there has been a chunk of games added to the Division II Games vs. FCS.

• My Games to Follow for this year is up to 1135 games - which currently includes FBS, FCS, and most of Division II. Will hold off adding to it for another month or two as I wait for Division III schools to post their schedules. Might get up to 1800 before the season begins.

• Have really enjoyed looking at Division II games that are scheduled for the upcoming season. Since doing this site, I have started to learn a lot about this division, and it’s easy to pick out the conference or non-conference games that mean the most during the fall months. Needless to say - the Games to Follow have grown a bit this year.

• Recently it has been announced that the number of teams for Division III will be growing by two next year (beyond programs that we already knew about). St. Francis, who has competed at the FCS level for quite some time, will be joining this division and playing in the PAC. I wonder if they are thinking that they will dominate this level. And Azusa Pacific, which ended their football program back in 2020, will now reinstate their football team and reclassify into this division from Division II, and they will join the SCIAC (along with Whittier - who is also reinstating their program) - giving that league 8 teams.

• Since I have enough thoughts for today, I will have to wait until tomorrow to debut a new thought process. It will incorporate my spreadsheets (Games to Follow, All-Time Records, Coaching Info, and Winning/Losing Seasons) to talk about games that are going to be played this fall, in the future, or aren’t scheduled currently. I’m going to go in order of my Games to Follow spreadsheet - which starts with the Kansas State vs. Iowa State game in Ireland. That game by itself will probably be a day’s worth of thoughts…

March 7th:

• With 99% of the 2025 schedules completed for Division I teams, I have been spending my time cranking through my Games to Follow spreadsheet. More than 1300 FBS and FCS matchups have been looked at - less than 400 to go!

• March Madness is beginning, with the ASUN down to its conference championship matchup and the OVC crowning a winner tomorrow, but so are spring practices. Can’t believe that things are moving so fast…

• Bowling Green has recently lost their head coach (Scott Loeffler) to the NFL (Eagles), and unfortunately a great candidate for them is now off the table. Mercer head coach Mike Jacobs has just signed a contract extension. Jacobs has won everywhere he has gone: Notre Dame College (OH), Lenoir-Rhyne, and new Mercer.

• Very excited to see that big MAC matchups (Central Michigan-Western Michigan and Bowling Green-Toledo) are being played on a Saturday this fall. Great for the fans who would like to attend!

• It’s good to see Navy schedule FCS schools like VMI, Towson, the Citadel, and Holy Cross, but I would like to see the Midshipmen play old opponents such as Rutgers (1891), Virginia (1889) and Penn State (1894) with their one remaining non-conference game.

February 24th:

• After a couple of additions (Sam Houston at Western Kentucky and Incarnate Word at Nicholls) and one subtraction (Idaho at San Jose State) - Week Zero now has eight games scheduled. Shouldn’t see much movement at this point - though the Sun Belt or AAC might try to add a game to the schedule.

• Put together a list of the most popular postings for the last few months which helps remind me as to what needs updating and what needs to be created still - basically expanding what works to all divisions.

• From last summer through the fall, I printed off a lot of articles and pieces that I found interesting, but I chuckled as I recycled 99% of it earlier this month since it was outdated. I will probably go through the same process when similar articles appear this summer.

• Obviously there’s a long ways to go before December, but it’s nice seeing USC leading the way so far in regards to 2026 recruiting. What’s also nice is seeing that both Kansas and Illinois have started strong on the trail as well!

• A fun FBS/FCS matchup this fall will be UTSA hosting UIW on September 13th. The two schools are located within 12 miles of each other in San Antonio, and I believe that the visiting Cardinals will give the Roadrunners a run for their money - though UIW is already getting a check ($325k) to play the game.

February 21st:

• Got to be honest - wish I were making more progress on all things regarding my favorite sport, but I have divided my attentions a bit more than in the last couple of years. Guess it makes me a more well-rounded individual. Hahahaha

• In regards to transfers - I have resorted to looking at team websites when I get chance since there isn’t a list pulled together like last year. Maybe later in the spring or early summer there will be one after Spring transfers, but I wanted to update things a bit sooner than that.

• Not only is Nebraska canceling their spring game (other teams are as well - Texas and USC to name a couple), but their home-and-series with Tennessee is off the books. Maybe it will come back if the Big Ten and SEC come to a scheduling agreement.

• The Mountain West has released their conference schedule, leaving the MAC, AAC and Sun Belt as the only FBS conferences still holding back. As for the FCS, the MEAC might be the only one holding off - but I’m thinking it’s because teams in that conference are scrambling to fill up the non-conference schedule.

• Stonehill just posted their schedule - after adding three new opponents (Yale, Penn, and Sacred Heart). I’m surprised that the Skyhawks didn’t add a Division II opponent since they have just moved up to Division I the last couple of years.

• Something you don’t see very often, a Division I team scheduled a three-game series with a Division II opponent. Dayton and Thomas More, who have met only once before - in 1992 when both schools were Division III, will be meeting each other for the next three years.

February 19th:

• Started my morning by adding a couple of FCS vs. Division II matchups (Lincoln (PA) at Duquesne and West Liberty at Robert Morris) brought about by the NEC releasing their conference schedule.

• 247Sports posted a piece on what they feel will by the toughest college football environments in 2025. The only surprising place to me was Lavell Edwards Stadium.

• Just when I thought I found the best website for transfer information (On3) - I start poking around 247Sports transfer portal information and I find that they include some Division I athletes that are moving down to Division II - players I don’t find in On3’ site. It’s never easy…lol

• Five teams appear to have both Top 10 Recruiting and Transfer Classes (per Athlon Sports) - and one of the teams is Auburn…

• Stumbled upon a big Division II non-conference game on September 13th: Grand Valley State at Pittsburg State. The Gorillas have another great non-conference game versus the reigning Division II National Champion Ferris State.

• When LSU visits Clemson at Memorial Stadium on August 30th, it will be the first regular season matchup for the two Tiger teams after four postseason meetings, which includes the 2020 CFP Championship Game (LSU leads the all-time series 3-1).

February 18th:

• I know that it had been quite a while since I had gotten my thoughts together - or even spent a good chunk of time working on my various documents, but I really lost track of time since it has been more than a week…

• Got a quick reminder as to where my head has been when I had been thinking that if I got at 30 visits a day this month, I would hit a new high for February - 900 visits. I had forgotten that 30 visits a day this month would only get me to 840. Ugh.

• Definitely intrigued with the hiring of Matt Patricia by the Buckeyes.

• After leading Buffalo to a 9-4 record last year, Pete Lembo got a year added to his contract as well as a raise from the school. I was skeptical with the hiring since Lembo hadn’t been a head coach in almost a decade, but he knows how to coach based on his 121-69 career record at four schools.

• Within the last week, there have been some head coach positions filled in Division III, but those hiring have created new openings at Bluffton, Franklin & Marshall, and St. Scholastica

• Jacob Henry, son of wrestler Mark Henry, has been added to Oklahoma’s football roster as a walk-on defensive lineman. Can’t wait for him to throw running backs to the ground!

February 10th:

• Congratulations to the Eagles for their Super Bowl win over the Chiefs! Personally - I’m glad that Kansas City didn’t get their third straight Super Bowl win…

• For those who have won both a National Championship and a Super Bowl - which one is sweeter?

• Cooper DeJean continues to make plays - whether it was for the Hawkeyes or now the Eagles. I’m not surprised that he found his way into the starting lineup.

• After clearing snow for most of the morning, I got some solid time in on my website. I updated six documents over the course of the day, which led to some changes on the website - primarily coaching changes and Division II teams playing FCS opponents.

• I like the four-game “Legacy Series” agreed to between Alabama A&M and Tennessee State. These schools first met in 1930 (Tennessee State leads the all-time series 21-8), but their last matchup was in 2010 - so they were due to meet again.

• Now that the Ivy League is allowing their teams to participate in the FCS playoffs this fall, will the NESCAC follow suit and have their teams play in the Division III playoffs?

February 9th:

• Six former Georgia teammates are a part of the Eagles successful defense - and five of them should be contributors today (the sixth is on the injured reserve list).

• Power 4 teams with the fewest scholarship players lost to the transfer portal: SMU (4), Clemson (5), Northwestern (5), Duke (6) and Kansas (7).

• Updated FBS payouts to FCS teams ($500k or more). Grambling State is the big winner this year as they get to play in the Horseshoe while collecting $1M from Ohio State. Overall though - I think that payouts got a bit smaller this year as opposed to last year.

• I was looking at my Composite FCS Preseason Top 25 for 2024 and discovered that seven of those teams listed ended up with losing records: Southern Illinois (4-8), Sacramento State (3-9), Furman (3-8), Albany (4-8), Weber State (4-8), Eastern Illinois (3-9) and North Dakota (5-7)

• On the flip side, these seven FCS teams ended up in the Top 25 despite preseason expectations: UC Davis, Mercer, Rhode Island, Abilene Christian, Lehigh, Northern Arizona, and Tennessee State.

• According to many, it looks like new Sacramento State head coach Brennan Marion is doing well with both high school recruits and incoming transfers. How that translates on the field (Maryland?) is TBD…

February 8th:

• Earlier this week, the Big 12 announced their conference schedule for 2025! Soon after, CUSA, Southland (FCS) and the Pioneer League (FCS) released their schedules. That leaves four Group of Five conferences (MAC, Mountain West, AAC, and Sun Belt) and a handful of FCS conferences that need to make known their schedules.

• In addition to conferences revealing schedules, a flurry of teams made their weekly schedules known. NC Central is one of those teams, and I have to say that I like what information they provide for each game.

• Looks like Maryland did well with their 2025 recruiting, but results are needed on the field - and being predicted to finish 16th or 17th in the Big Ten doesn’t cut it.

• Ohio State has bounced back after losing their coordinators, by giving Day a new contract and handing over play calling duties to Brian Hartline.

• UAlbany is looking for a new head coach after Greg Gattuso tendered his resignation after being head coach of the Great Danes for eleven seasons. Gattuso will return to his alma mater, Penn State, to be a DL consultant.

• In other coaching news, Bob Stitt has been hired for his second stint as head coach of the Colorado School of Mines. That makes him the fourth head coach that I know of who will be returning for a second stint with a school.

February 4th:

• Surprised to see ESPN post a story about a head coach hiring at a Division II school (West Alabama), but Scott Cochran is a unique story.

• Will Alabama’s hiring of Ryan Grubb as offensive coordinator lead the Crimson Tide back to the top? Smart move I think because it puts a successful tandem back together again as he has worked with Kalen DeBoer in the past.

• Ohio State has now lost both coordinators when Chip Kelly announced that he will be returning to the NFL. The Buckeyes might just poach Miami’s offensive coordinator…

• Failed to mention it last week, but I like many of the ACC weeknight matchups. NC State has three of them - as they will play East Carolina, Wake Forest and Florida State during the week. And Louisville has their two biggest matchups (Miami and Clemson) scheduled for either a Thursday or a Friday night.

• The Big 12 announces their schedule today, but a couple of games have leaked out - one of them being the rematch of the Alamo Bowl taking place on 9/27 when Colorado hosts BYU.

• We know about which teams exceeded expectations in 2024, but how about a few teams that disappointed…Group of Five teams: Appalachian State, San Diego State, Wyoming, Fresno State and Troy. Power 4 teams: Florida State, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Utah, Oklahoma.

• Sometimes, getting an old series record correct between two teams can be a challenge. For example - Tuskegee and Alabama State have been playing since 1901, and their series results don’t match - which isn’t uncommon. But, when Tuskegee says that the 2024 matchup is the 105th meeting between the schools, and they have 106 results (64-38-4) - that’s when the headache begins…

February 2nd:

• Slow day for visits yesterday - must have been the Royal Rumble that distracted any potential followers…

• How great was it that Tiger Bech’s younger brother Jack caught the winning pass in the Senior Bowl? Can’t help but believe that there is divine intervention from time-to-time.

• Yesterday, Richmond officially joined the Patriot League - though I’m not sure why it wouldn’t happen in July. The Spiders announced their 2025 schedule as well, which includes in-state foes and regional opponents - and wraps up with the 136th edition of "Oldest Rivalry in the South".

• Richmond’s leads the rivalry with William & Mary 66-64-5 after winning the last two matchups, and 15 of the last 19 meetings with the Tribe.

• I read somewhere that someone was claiming that Syracuse has the toughest schedule next year. Granted they play Tennessee out-of-conference, and they play Clemson, SMU, Georgia Tech, Miami (FL) and Notre Dame all on the road, but I’m thinking that Oklahoma has a rougher go of it next year.

• It’s too bad that Nebraska is thinking about canceling their spring game this year, but if fact they are worried about teams poaching some of their players based on what they see in the game, I can’t say that I blame them…

February 1st:

• I was very pleased with the visits to this site this past month. Was hoping for modest growth over January 2024, but got over 2800 visits - which was an 18% increase when comparing it with last January.

• Spent a chunk of time yesterday working on the Division II tab - which I will continue to add to and update.

• Oklahoma State and Mike Gundy reworked his contract. Seems to me like it’s more friendly to the Cowboys so that they can phase Gundy out if the Cowboys don’t bounce back from a poor year.

• Notre Dame released their schedule for 2025. I like almost all of their matchups - either from a historical standpoint or intriguing (especially Boise State visiting South Bend).

• I like how it’s a big deal when conference schedules are announced. FBSchedules has a post indicating that the Big 12 will be releasing their conference schedule this Tuesday (Feb. 4th).

January 31st:

• Finished the FBS tab in my Coaching Info spreadsheet - 136 coaches down, 547 to go. My February will be occupied doing as much of this sheet as possible.

• 2025 FCS-Division II matchups are not done yet because scheduling is still going on, but I did update and enter what I have found for games between these two divisions.

• Not a very exciting matchup for most, but Cal and San Jose State have agreed to a future home-and-home series that begins in 2028. Meeting for the first time since 1996, these teams first played in 1899, and Cal leads the overall series 29-6.

• Last year’s biggest payout I saw from a FBS school to a FCS opponent was $760k (LSU to Nicholls). This year, Ohio State is being Grambling State $1 million to visit Columbus!

• Looks like I will have to add “The Buddy Way” to my watchlist for this weekend. And to think he was the quarterback for Dartmouth when I saw my first college football game in person…

• Five FBS Head Coaches will be looking for their first-ever college football win: Zach Kittley (Florida Atlantic), Bill Belichick (UNC), Charles Kelly (Jacksonville State), Dowell Loggains (Appalachian State), and Tony Gibson (Marshall)

• Impressive to see that Bob Chesney has coached and won at all levels of NCAA football: Salve Regina (III), Assumption (II), Holy Cross (FCS) and James Madison (FBS).

• Next year Brian Kelly should get to 300 wins as a head coach after 35 years and five locations. If he doesn’t get to 300 victories he might be looking for his next coaching gig…

January 30th:

• Elation over seeing the result of the Maryland-Wisconsin game this morning quickly turned to sadness after learning about the plane/helicopter crash over the Potomac River. Having been in that area numerous times, I am familiar with how busy that airspace is on a daily basis. My heart aches for the victims, their loved ones, and all those affected by this tragedy.

• My somber mood was lifted this morning after seeing a video on ESPN of Cal’s equipment manager preventing a helmet theft after a big win. Unfortunately the student found out that Trevor Skogerboe has a background in wrestling. It was a perfect take down!

• As my family can attest I have been tempted more than once to grab a helmet since we get so close to the sideline at Bowdoin games. After seeing this I plan on keeping my hands in my pockets.

• Former UMaine great John Huard passed away yesterday. He’s the only Black Bear to be elected into the College Football Hall of Fame and for a time was the head coach at Maine Maritime Academy (1987-1993). I will have to track down his football card in my collection…

• Not sure if this is accurate or not, but rumor has it the Dillon Gabriel threw a pass at 74.9 mph at Tuesday’s practice for the Senior Bowl. Wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that pass! Looking into this more - it was initial air speed, and that number ranks 8th among 48 quarterbacks to appear at the Senior Bowl in the last eight years.

• It is true that Gabriel will honor each of the schools he played for when he wears a helmet with the logos of Oregon, Oklahoma and UCF this Saturday at the Senior Bowl.

• Georgetown released their 2025 schedule - and one of their non-conference games is a matchup with Morgan State, which makes it intriguing since the two schools are from Washington and Baltimore. It’s believed that this is the second game of a home-and-home series that got started in 2021.

• Was surprised to see this morning that Grambling State and Jackson State will meet in Las Vegas in late October. I know that they have been longtime SWAC rivals (having first met in 1952), and the SWAC has great attendance - but is this the right venue for the game? Attendance figures will tell the tale…

• In another HBCU matchup that was just announced, Florida A&M will play Howard in the 2025 Orange Blossom Classic. These teams actually played in the inaugural Orange Blossom Classic back in 1933 - in front of 2,000 fans at the Black’s Only Ballpark in Jacksonville, FL.

January 29th:

• Started the morning by adding the latest coaching hiring…Bentley (MA) has hired CJ Scarpa to takeover for Saj Thakkar, who left the Falcons for the opening at Davidson just over a month ago.

• With the Scarpa hiring, sixteen Division II head coach opening have been filled, leaving six openings.

• Also added the September 20th game between Abilene Christian and Austin Peay - a matchup between the 2023 and 2024 UAC Champions. Last year’s matchup was won by ACU, on the road, 35-34.

• Five-star Maryland commit Zion Elee is going out on some visits to other schools - surprise. Guess I won’t be seeing him in a Terp uniform in 2026…

• Penn State is hoping to copy the Buckeye’s 2024 season blueprint by throwing NIL money at key players to keep them out of the NFL Draft. Then they hire Jim Knowles to be their new defensive coordinator.

• So far Sacramento State has signed 20 FBS transfers for the 2025 season. It won’t necessarily guarantee them more success because three FCS teams brought in 20+ FBS transfers in 2024 – and all three lost more games than year before (2 of them lost 5 more games).

• Just updated the FBS Coaching changes for 2025 and the AAC is the conference with the most coaching changes with five, followed by CUSA with four. And the SEC is the only conference without any new head coaches for the upcoming year.

• I also added two new FBS coaches to my Youngest Head Coaches - FBS blog. Won’t say which ones because I want you to check out the blog. LOL

• And regarding the Mountain West…in the last two offseasons, there have been a total of nine head coach changes. Two others (Jay Norvell and Timmy Chang) have just completed their third seasons with their current teams. Then there is Troy Calhoun, who will be entering his 19th season with Air Force…

January 28th:

• We now know two Black Friday matchups for next fall: Iowa at Nebraska and Georgia at Georgia Tech. Happy to see the Clean Old-Fashioned Hate rivalry game moved to Friday - where it belongs.

• After falling off of UMass’ schedule, Boston College and UConn will now play this fall on October 18th. The teams also announced another three games, but the series won’t resume until 2029.

• Nice to see Washington State add former Pac-12 opponent Arizona to their schedule, but it would be better if the Cougars added either Oregon or Cal.

• I read somewhere that Texas Tech supposedly has the easiest schedule in the Big 12 next season - but it’s based on opponent’s W-L pct. from 2024. Looking into the Red Raiders schedule a bit more I see that they have a very easy non-conference schedule which skews things a bit. Their conference schedule includes visits to Arizona State, Kansas State and Utah, as well as a home game against BYU. Doesn’t look very easy to me…

• When Chattanooga visits Memphis on August 30th, the Mocs will be looking for their first win over the Tigers since a 14-13 win back in 1956. Memphis leads the all-time series 12-5.

January 27th:

• Didn’t seem possible a year ago, but Florida could be one of the top four teams in SEC - ahead of Alabama and Tennessee. The reason for that: DJ Lagway.

• On3 ranked who they thought would be the Top 25 quarterbacks in 2025. Three qbs were ahead of Arch Manning: Sam Leavitt, Drew Allar, and DJ Lagway. LaNorris Sellers rounded out the Top 5.

• When the Longhorns visit Columbus on 8/30, we will see which team reloads the fastest. Texas has to replace their top receivers and four offensive linemen, while the Buckeyes will have a young defense. Will Manning be the difference?

• I didn’t realize how challenging the Irish schedule will be in through September. They go to Miami (FL), host Texas A&M and then travels to Arkansas at the end of the month.

• I didn’t realize how hard hit Purdue was in the transfer portal. The Boilermakers lose a combined 287 starts!

• Meanwhile, Southern Miss made out by hiring Charles Huff. He brings with him six starters from Marshall, and another 7 solid starters from various FCS and Group of Five teams.

• Kansas got a commitment from Columbia wide receiver Bryson Canty - who put up solid numbers this past season. He had 43 receptions for nine touchdowns in 2024 for the Ivy League co-champions.

• Chattanooga just released their 2025 football schedule, and most of the games will be worth following this fall. I also like the Mocs announcement format - which I printed for future reference…

• I also discovered a Division II out-of-conference game that will appear in a future blog: Sioux Falls at Black Hills State.

January 25th:

• These last couple of days that I took off from writing down thoughts, I realized that even though I don’t type them out, college football is still an every day thing for me - as I think about it, talk about it, and read about it every day.

• The ACC is teasing their schedule before the full release on Monday. Their Week 1 schedule is pretty impressive as it stretches across all five days - from Thursday through Monday. I really like the back end as Miami hosts Notre Dame and Virginia Tech takes on South Carolina in Atlanta on Sunday - and then North Carolina hosts TCU on Labor Day.

• Schedules are still being finalized for some teams in the FBS - as they scramble to find opponents in the FCS. Meanwhile, FCS teams look in their division for final opponents - as well as lower Divisions and NAIA.

• The Early Entry deadline for the NFL Draft has passed - and 70 players have added their name the the draft list hoping to play in the NFL next year. Back in 2021, 130 players announced their intention to enter the draft, so the NIL era is keeping kids in school longer.

• And it looks like Texas Tech is winning the Transfer Portal contest as they have brought in 10 4-star players, while only losing one (WR Micah Hudson). Ole Miss is close behind as they have added 6 4-star players without losing one.

January 22nd:

• Last night I was thinking that it was time to leave the 2024 season behind and look forward to 2025, but then I realized that the information I have been gathering in my spreadsheets will require some references to this past season. For example, some teams hit milestones that are worth mentioning.

• The last few days I have decided to set aside my Games to Follow spreadsheet and jump into the All-Time Records (W-L-T-Games Played) and Coaching Records spreadsheets. A smart decision I think because schedules on the lower levels are still being pulled together and a lot of conference schedules haven’t been released yet.

• It’s paying off since I have already updated the All-Time Records document - with conference realignments to boot. And this morning I started dealing with the Coaching Records sheet. This one is a time consuming - but certainly worth the effort. Good stuff that I would be stupid not to use. lol

• Have we seen the last of Lee Corso? Guess we have been saying that for quite a few years, but it just feels different this year. If it is - the memories he created will always be enjoyed over and over on video!

• While looking for the video on ESPN of Lee’s headgear picks for OSU and Notre Dame (wow - he looks young at the start!), I came across the video on Tiger Bech, who was killed in the terrorist attack in New Orleans. A tearjerker that is inspirational…

January 21st:

• Congratulations to Ohio State for winning the National Championship last night! Well deserved and well earned! A tough path following their loss to Michigan, but they met every challenged head on and succeeded…

• Notre Dame has nothing to hang their heads about. After losing to Northern Illinois in week 2 most everyone wrote them off, but the Fighting Irish won their next ten regular season games - and then beat three very tough playoff opponents.

• Hadn’t thought about it - but all five national champions in college are from the Midwest: Ohio State (census bureau considers state of Ohio as being in the Midwest), North Dakota State, Ferris State (MI), North Central (IL) and Grand Vieew (IA).

• Georgia had a down year after their recent successes, but the Bulldogs still won at least eleven games for the seventh straight year.

• Army won the AAC in their first year in the conference - one of only 4 teams to EVER do it.

• SMU won 11 games in back-to-back years for the first time ever.

• UNLV appeared in the AP Top 25 for the first time ever.

• INDIANA was ranked 10th in the final AP Poll of 2024.

• Other teams that had surprisingly great seasons: BYU, Arizona State, Syracuse, Marshall, UConn, Jacksonville State, Navy, Illinois and South Carolina.

• Who’s ready for 2025???????

January 20th:

• Big night tonight - the conclusion of the new CFB playoff. To be honest, I’m not sure who I want to win - I’m just hoping for an exciting game! When all is said and done, both schools can say that they earned the title.

• This is the third consecutive season the teams will meet but only the ninth meeting all-time between the programs. Notre Dame won the first two games of the series, in 1935 and 1936, and Ohio State has won the last six games.

• Both Ohio State and Notre Dame are Top 5 among FBS schools in national titles according to NCAA.com, as the Fighting Irish are looking for title number 14 and the Buckeyes would love title number 9.

• Ohio State has not trailed yet in their playoff games and with a win tonight they will get their 5th win over a Top 5 team.

• Looks like we are going to have a battle between Wisconsin and Miami (FL) based on Badger defensive back Xavier Lucas. No doubt that tampering occurs quite often, but this formal complaint might be the first of many depending on how it goes. Here’s hoping that Bucky the Badger takes care of Sebastian the Ibis - though both mascots are really cool.

• Interesting to see that Mike Murray stepped down as head coach of Elmhurst so that he could return to his alma mater to become the assistant coach at Illinois Wesleyan under new head coach Jared Williamson. Their relationship goes back almost twenty years.

January 19th:

• Hadn’t thought too much about it, but NCAA football playoff games for the most part have to be scheduled around the NFL. It’s too bad that the big boys can’t bend the (unspoken?) rules a bit.

• Looks like Texas wants the NFL to keep their hands off of Steve Sarkisian as they got him signed to a new contract. Colorado is probably hoping to do the same thing, while I wonder if USC wants the pros to take Riley off their hands.

• Not only does Week Zero have a solid FCS game (Mercer-UC Davis), but Iowa State will be taking on Kansas State in Ireland. One of the top contenders in the Big 12 is going to get a leg up on everyone else before the season gets truly started.

January 18th:

• I was very satisfied with my work yesterday, as I stayed very focused and wasn’t distracted by squirrels. Started by doing a couple updates to my coaching changes spreadsheets and Games to Follow spreadsheet, but then spent a big chunk of time updating my All-Time Records spreadsheet. Got through 3 Divisions!

• Was thinking that UMass was moving to the MAC in 2026 - but it’s actually this upcoming season, so I did some quick cutting and pasting. The Minutemen still have to cut a couple of non-conference games, and though it’s not official - I read that it will be Boston College and UConn. Wish it had been Missouri and Iowa!

• On Thursday I added the SMU at Clemson and Arizona State at Iowa State games to my list of games to keep an eye on in 2025 since they were conference championship games in 2024.

• Another game that got added: TCU at North Carolina on 8/30. A solid matchup that also happens to be Bill Belichick’s first game as head coach of the Tar Heels.

• When the FCS Kickoff was announced a while back, I noticed the matchup but didn’t get overly excited because there wasn’t a history between the teams. That is something I am trying to get past because the Mercer vs. UC Davis game is going to be a great matchup. Both teams had surprising seasons in 2024 - as both ended up being ranked in the Top 10.

• Richmond will move from the CAA to the Patriot League, opening the 2025 season at defending champion Lehigh, which eliminated the Spiders in the 2024 playoff first round.

• The CAA used to be one of my favorite conferences - but with James Madison, Delaware and Richmond leaving for other conferences, it’s just not the same conference. It feels watered down…

• And sticking with the FCS to wrap up - the Southern Conference (Mercer was the champion in 2024) has had a different champion for the last six years. To keep that going one of these teams will have to win in 2025: Chattanooga, Western Carolina or The Citadel.

January 17th:

• While in my research mode yesterday, I got frustrated with finding little, if no information on Division II and III players transferring up to Division I. Guess I will have to table it for now and wait until teams announce their recruiting successes later this winter. Probably means that I will have to go a route I have done before - visit teams’ websites, one by one.

• This morning I saw that Holy Cross announced their 2025 schedule. They have a lot of historic rivalries with local teams, so they also have a great non-conference schedule. Also, having Richmond as a new conference member gives the Crusaders another solid matchup year-in and year-out.

• When I saw the release of the Holy Cross’ schedule and noticed that there were a couple of comments, I couldn’t help myself - I had to read them. I suddenly found out that I’m not the only one out there who keeps up with the details of this wonderful sport! Evan seemed to know how many FCS and FBS teams still needed non-conference games to complete their schedules. I was impressed!

• Can’t help but wonder if there are going to be a couple more openings for a head coach in the FBS ranks. Will Colorado and/or USC be searching for new head coaches this winter?

• Sorry to see that Bob Nielson is retiring after being a head coach since 1989 at six different schools. After leading South Dakota to one of its best seasons in school history, Nielson has decided that he has had enough. During his time as a head coach at Ripon, Wartburg, Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Minnesota-Duluth, Western Illinois and South Dakota, Nielson won 239 games, as well as two Division II national titles at Minnesota-Duluth.

• Didn’t take long for the Coyotes to name Nielson’s successor: Travis Johansen - their defensive coordinator since 2019.

• While in South Dakota…with Jimmy Rogers leaving the Jackrabbits to become the head coach at Washington State, 24 players have left the program (22 to FBS programs) - seventeen of them following Rogers to play for the Cougars. We’ll see what type of program he developed in Brookings…

• Not so bad - Idaho has lost 15 players since Jason Eck left the Vandals to go coach at New Mexico. Seven players are joining him to play for the Lobos.

January 16th:

• My thought this morning was I better get my ass in motion, because unless thoughts and ideas write themselves you have nothing. So today I sent home 9 documents full of info and data that need an eye for detail and then a keyboard.

• Guess I did have one other thought…seeing that Quinn Ewers turned down substantial NIL money to transfer got my attention - especially after Carson Beck left Georgia. Seems that he wanted to end his college career as a Longhorn, and he wanted to leave Texas in good standing. Left me impressed…very impressed.

January 15th:

• Former UNLV/Holy Cross quarterback Matthew Sluka just announced his commitment to James Madison. Having thrown for over 6,000 yards during his career, he will have to compete for the Dukes starting job with Alonza Barnett III, who threw for 2,598 yards and 26 touchdowns this past season.

• Former Texas WR Johntay Cook II, who committed to the Washington Huskies less than a month ago, is already back in the transfer portal. It appears that the parting was mutual. Sounds like someone to stay away from…

• Texas State is losing quarterback Jordan McCloud, but they have received two commitments the last couple of days from hopeful quarterbacks: Gevani McCoy from Oregon State via Idaho (who backed off UIW) and Holden Geriner - former 4-star QB from Auburn.

• The NFL announced the 2025 Senior Bowl participants, and though it was an impressive list of talent there were only four FCS players on the roster (RB Marcus Yarns - Delaware, OL Jackson Slater - Sacramento State, OL Grey Zabel - North Dakota State, and Edge Rusher David Walker - Central Arkansas). Another name I noticed was Rayuan Lane III - who played safety for the Midshipmen.

• Have gone over a couple of early Top 25 polls for this fall, and two things I noticed: SMU is ranked too high (around Top 10) as their schedule is tougher (Pitt, Duke and Virginia out, Clemson, Miami, Syracuse in) and the Big 12 is going to be anyone’s guess again as one poll has BYU ranked #8 - and another doesn’t have the Cougars in their top 25.

• Since the Ivy League is prone to multi-team ties for its titles, I wonder what the tiebreaker methodology will be for a team or teams to advance to the FCS playoff. Two-ways should be solved with head-to-head since all teams play each other, but in the case of a three-way tie, does it go to the highest-ranked member?

January 14th:

• Not surprised to see a couple (Lock Haven and Elmhurst) of coaching changes yesterday after I posted my latest number of new coaches for 2025. Both resignations were because the head coaches are taking different positions.

• Early entry declarations continue with Texas feeling the latest hit as talented receiver Matthew Golden is moving on to the NFL.

January 13th:

• ESPN has a couple of good reads today regarding this past bowl season and quarterbacks who will be playing for new schools this upcoming fall.

• Just finished up my Winning and Losing Seasons spreadsheet that now included the recently completed 2024 season. Should be coming out with a couple of new blogs with the info found here.

• And yesterday I got 2025 coaching changes posted for all divisions. The FBS blog is new since I have always done the Longest Tenured FBS Coaches sheet - which I have updated this season.

• Seems like the top 2 available transfer quarterbacks looking for new homes still for 2025: Matthew Sluka (UNLV via Holy Cross) and Devin Brown (Ohio State).

• We haven’t even played this year’s championship game, and the odds for next year’s winner are already out. Top 5 teams: Texas, Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State.

January 12th:

• I know that the 2024 season isn’t over yet, but how about this one tweak for the 2025 playoff format: For a team to get a bye, they need to be ranked in the Top 8. If a conference champion is outside this ranking, then their reward is to host a first round game, no matter their ranking.

• A sixteen team playoff won’t fly with me because if you can’t get yourself ranked near the Top 10, then be prepared to play in a solid bowl game.

• Also, I don’t like conference championships, but it would be awfully hard to eliminate them since conferences are so big now and the top 2 teams may not have played each other during the regular season.

• With the semifinals being played during the week, I wondered how attendance would be at the games. Got my answer - college football fans are the best.

• Notre Dame’s independence paid off (literally) this year, as they have received $20 million from the CFP and they don’t have to share a penny with anyone.

January 11th:

• Impressive strip and sack - but what a bounce! Not sure anything will deny the Buckeyes this year.

• Tennessee, Oregon, and now Texas - can’t tell me that Ohio State doesn’t deserve this chance at the championship.

• The two finalists were both ranked outside the top 4, so it’s likely that both of them would have been left out of the playoffs if last year’s playoff format was being used.

• Mercer released their 2025 schedule yesterday. Last year in its first season under head coach Mike Jacobs, Mercer won the SoCon championship outright for its first title in 92 years.

• E. J. Warner (son of Kurt Warner) announced that he will be playing at Fresno State in 2025 after leaving Rice when his head coach Mike Bloomgren was fired.

• Yesterday afternoon I was doing some housecleaning on my Games to Follow spreadsheet. In previous iterations, I had FBS-FCS matchups mixed between my FBS tab and my FCS tab. This year, all those games will be found under one roof - the FCS tab. And when that is done, I will move all FCS-Division II games to my Division II tab.

• Just added the Auburn-Baylor matchup on 8/30/25 to my spreadsheet for two reasons: First - it’s a solid SEC-Big 12 game, and secondly, former Tiger quarterback Walker White is looking forward to facing off against his old team. He’ll be doing everything he can to help the Bears beat the Tigers.

• My interest in the Colorado football got started when former Patriot head coach Chuck Fairbanks took over the Buffs in 1979. Though he wasn’t successful, his firing led to Bill McCartney getting hired - who got Colorado their only national championship in 1990, though they had to share it with Georgia Tech. McCartney’s success made the Big 8 more than just a two team conference.

January 10th:

• Just finished up going through the schedules for Big Ten and SEC teams since those conferences have posted their 2025 conference schedule. I also spent time on their future non-conference games, seeing what we get to look forward to in the coming seasons!

• Notre Dame’s season continues all the way to the championship game thanks to their win over Penn State. I like the Irish defense and look forward to them matching up against either team that’s playing tonight.

• Didn’t take long for Carson Beck to commit after entering the transfer portal. And wasn’t surprised at his destination.

• I see that Michigan State picked up a solid Division II wide receiver. Rodney Bullard has played the last three seasons at Valdosta State and his 2024 stats: 42 receptions, 1,001 receiving yards, and 12 touchdowns.

• Texas and Ohio State are meeting for the fourth time ever. The Horns hold a 2-1 series advantage over the Buckeyes with the most recent game coming in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl - a game Texas won, 24-21.

• The Longhorns have played in the most Cotton Bowls of any program (23), but are making their first appearance since 2003.

• Ohio State is the only school to have played in either a College Football Playoff game or a New Year’s Six bowl game every year of the 10-year, four-team CFP era.

• Texas and Ohio State will open the 2025 season against each other on Saturday, Aug. 30, at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

January 9th:

• Notre Dame and Penn State are meeting for the 20th time, with the series tied at 9-9-1. The two teams have met in the postseason once previously, the 1977 Gator Bowl (a 20-9 Irish win).

• In the last matchup in 2007, Penn State won 31-10 as the held Notre Dame to 0 rushing yards on 26 attempts and 144 total yards.

• Was surprised to see that both teams have been ranked on only seven previous occasions in the series.

• Notre Dame sits tied-fourth with 960 all-time victories and No. 4 with an all-time winning percentage of .732 while Penn State sits No. 7 in all-time victories (943) and No. 9 in winning percentage (.691).

• Sun Belt conference members now know their conference opponents as of today for the 2025 season, but it doesn’t do me any good at this time if they don’t have dates. I still have to work my way through some other conferences though…lol

• Interesting to see that quarterback TJ Finley is moving once again - this time to Tulane. He has also had stops at LSU, Auburn, Texas State, and Western Kentucky. Wonder where he is getting his diploma?

• And Kahlil Benson and Louis Moore are returning to Indiana after a year away. Wonder what they know? Hahahaha

• With Luke Lehnen has started every game at quarterback for four years at North Central, it’s time that the Cardinals to change quarterbacks. Something they aren’t used to as they have had two starting quarterbacks in the last eight seasons.

• Nice get in the portal for Oregon…former Tulane running back Makhi Hughes is a stud. In two seasons with the Green Wave, Hughes gained 2,779 yards on the ground and 24 touchdowns.

• Saw an early 2025 Power Rankings for the Big 12. BYU is projected to be on top, followed by Arizona State and Iowa State. Surprisingly, Utah is projected to finish between 8th and 10th place. Of course the 2024 Power Rankings proved to be useless…

January 8th:

• This morning started out fast in terms of working on my Games to Follow spreadsheet before work got in the way. Next thing I know it is almost 6:00pm! Ugh.

• Was disappointed to see that Nebraska won’t be playing Wisconsin next year, but that disappointment went away when I realized that Penn State was added to the Cornhusker schedule.

• Meanwhile Northwestern has UCLA and USC on their schedule next fall. Doesn’t seem possible that it’s been thirty years since their epic bowl games against these former Pac-12 teams.

• Touching back on North Dakota State’s FCS title - what’s most impressive about the run is that it has happened with four different head coaches at the helm.

• It was just announced today that Tarleton State and McNeese have scheduled a home-and-home series in 2026 and 2027. These non-conference matchups might have an impact on one’s playoff resume…

• Working on plans to enhance my Division II and III tabs with more entries. Still trying to figure out how to expand my New England Teams tab…

January 7th:

• Congratulations to North Dakota State for winning their 10 FCS title in the last 15 years! Unfortunately Cam Miller ended his career with 11,999 total yards - one yard short of hitting 12,000.

• The Bobcats must be feeling the sting now that the Bison have eliminated them from the FCS playoffs four times since 2018.

• While talking FCS, it was just announced that former South Dakota State quarterback Mark Gronowski has announced that he will be playing for Iowa in 2025.

• I enjoyed watching the two Ivy League videos that ESPN posted just before noon - one was a season review and the other was a quick clip of the postseason awards ceremony.

• After being fired, re-hired and then retained by three different Florida Atlantic head coaches since mid-November, Roc Bellantoni has accepted an offer from Auburn to be their Outside Linebackers Coach.

• Announced today: Pitt and Duquesne will play this fall for the first time in 86 years. The Panthers and Dukes first met on the gridiron in 1901 and last played in 1939, which resulted in a 21-13 victory for the Duquesne, but Pitt currently leads the overall series 5-2.

January 6th:

• Congratulations to North Central for their win over Mount Union to claim their third Division III National Championship in three years.

• Congratulations to Cardinal quarterback Luke Lehnen, who ended his career with 162 touchdown passes - which ties John Matocha’s all-divisions record. The former Orediggers quarterback was only able to enjoy the record to himself for one year.

• Tonight we should see a great game between Montana State and North Dakota State for the FCS Championship.

• The Cats are looking for their first national championship since 1984, when they beat Louisiana Tech 19-6.

• Meanwhile the Bison are hoping to claim their 10th FCS championship in the last fourteen years.

• Montana State is riding a school-record 15-game winning streak and with a victory would become just the second team in modern college football history to finish a season 16-0, joining North Dakota State’s 2019 national championship team.

• This is North Dakota State’s 38th postseason appearance and 15th straight dating back to 2010. The Bison have advanced to the quarterfinals or beyond all 15 years in the FCS playoffs.

• The Cats and the Bison have met in six playoff games, the most recent five (including the 2021 Championship game) have been won by North Dakota State.

January 5th:

• Strange to wakeup this morning and not have anything to think about late games since the only game yesterday started late morning.

• It’s official - Northern Illinois will become a part of the Mountain West, football only, in 2026. From 1993 to 1995 the Huskies were a part of the Big West conference with UNLV, Nevada, and San Jose State.

• Ex-Gamecock quarterback Robby Ashford transferring over to Wake Forest got me to thinking about LaNorris Sellers, the current South Carolina quarterback. I’m thinking that the Gamecocks will have a legitimate chance to make the playoff in 2025, but they will have to survive a tough schedule.

• I see that Indiana’s schedule will be a bigger challenge for them in 2025: Illinois, at Iowa, at Oregon, at Penn State, Wisconsin. I can see a solid bowl team - but no playoff.

• Mount Union owns an NCAA-record 13 national championships, but the Purple Raiders have not won a Stagg Bowl since 2017. They lost to North Central in 2022.

• The Cardinals are appearing in the Stagg Bowl for the fifth straight season. North Central has won two of the previous four, losing to Cortland last year.

• Mount Union's head coach Geoff Dartt owns multiple national championship rings as a player and assistant coach. This year he hopes to win his first Stagg Bowl as a head coach.

• North Central head coach Brad Spencer carries a career 43-1 record into Sunday's game. His only loss came against Cortland in last year's championship game.

January 4th:

• I know that there are two “Bowl Games” left to play, but to me the 2024 Bowl Season ended earlier today with the Bahamas Bowl.

• Buffalo won their fourth straight bowl game, and the Bulls won nine games in a season for just the third time in program history.

• Not surprised to see the Gophers beat the Hokies last night as VT had 14 new starters for the game - seven on each side of the ball.

• Nice to see P. J. Fleck get a mayo bath!

• And Max Brosmer capped a solid year for the Gophers after transferring from UNH. Would be nice to see him drafted by the NFL.

• Another CAA quarterback that had transferred up to the FBS after a great year at Albany, Reese Poffenbarger sat behind Cam Ward at Miami (FL). In December, Poffenbarger announced that he was transferring to North Texas after the Mean Green starting quarterback in 2024 Chandler Morris moved on to Virginia. Wonder what he is thinking after Drew Mestemaker’s performance against Texas State…

• Spent a chunk of time pouring through On3’s transfer portal, and came up with a couple of ideas regarding new info to post on the website regarding transfers. Still waiting to get a good look at what players are moving up from both Division II and Division III…come on Athlon Sports.

• Tomorrow night North Central takes on Mount Union for the Division III Championship…8:00 pm, ESPN

January 3rd:

• Meant to do this 2.5 hours ago - but I got wrapped up in watching the North Texas - Texas State game. Mean Green freshman quarterback, Drew Mestemaker, is making his first start in four years!

• Missed getting my thoughts out yesterday, but it was a sad day at work that left me numb until getting home today.

• Five days ago I printed off my agenda for 2025, which is a continuation from this past year. It was six pages long. Easy to predict that I won’t get through all of it - and some of it will be carried over into 2026. lol

• Going back to Wednesday for a moment…how beautiful is the Rose Bowl? My favorite game of the year, it even exceeds the Army-Navy game!

• The Buckeyes looked awfully sharp - both in play and in appearance. Great threads! Seen them many times in Pasadena…

• Notre Dame are a team to be reckoned with as they have played awfully well since losing to Northern Illinois.

• Love the semifinal games! Four historical programs are left standing and my prediction is that two midwestern schools will be playing for the title…

• For those who say that the byes should be done away with, haven’t bowl games always been played with significant gaps between games? I have no issue with expanding to 16 teams. And the seeding? maybe it will change for 2025, but shouldn’t Oregon be ready for OSU - whether it is in the quarterfinals or the finals? To be the champion, you have to bring your A-game each week this time of year.

• If only Ole Miss hadn’t stubbed their toes against Kentucky or Florida. They could have been a tough out in the playoffs - or they could have been wiped out like the Ducks or Tennessee.

• Back to the North Texas-Texas State game for a moment…these teams are meeting for the 40th time, with the Mean Green leading the all-time series 29-7-3. They have shared the same conference three times: Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Lone Star Conference and the Southland Conference.

• This evening Minnesota will make its 25th all-time bowl appearance when they take on Virginia Tech for the first time. The Golden Gophers are 12-12 in their history in bowl games, but they have won seven straight bowl contests, which is currently the longest bowl winning streak in the country.

• Lastly, it was announced today that Tarleton State will be hosting Chattanooga next season. The Mocs, who just missed out on the playoffs this year, will be paid $50k for the game. They could be getting paid to beat the Texans, a team that did make the playoffs in 2024.

January 1st:

• Happy New Year! Time flies and I still have no idea where it goes!

• Seems a bit strange that there are only three college football games today - but they are all super matchups!

• Back to how time flies by - I can’t believe that there are only four non-playoff bowl games left to play.

• Was happy to wake up and see that Penn State beat Boise State - thus setting up a game for the Nittany Lions against either Georgia or Notre Dame. No matter the matchup, I am looking forward to it already.

• Was also happy to see that the Penn State defense kept Ashton Jeanty from topping Barry Sanders FBS single-season rushing record.

• The Buckeyes would also like to prevent Dillon Gabriel from getting the FBS record for career touchdown passes, currently held by Case Keenum. Of course a win over the Ducks is their number one priority.

• Didn’t take long to get involved in the Texas-Arizona State game! The Longhorns have made some big plays early, but I think that the Sun Devils are going to make it really tough for them.

• Happy to see the Sun Devils wearing their Sparky helmets - have always liked them best. And of course, the Longhorns look sharp in their white uniforms!

• The last time Georgia and Notre Dame played in the Sugar Bowl: 1981. I remember that game well!