Big 12 Notes

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Big 12 Notes – Kansas State Week

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October 12th – Game Day!

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Utah’s Cam Rising returns, throws three INT’s in 27-19 loss to ASU

From ESPN … The Utes spent most of the night failing to capitalize, scoring one touchdown in seven trips across Arizona State’s 30.

Rising threw an interception at Arizona State’s 9, Utah turned it over on downs early in the fourth quarter and the Utes had to settle for field goals on four more trips inside Arizona State’s 30. The last, by Cole Becker from 46 yards in the fourth quarter, came after a pass-interference penalty against Money Parks negated Mycah Pittman’s 12-yard touchdown catch.

Micah Bernard carried Utah’s offense most of the night, running for 129 yards and a touchdown.

“As long as we continue to have our woes in the red zone, we may not win another game,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “That’s just how important it is.”

McCullough’s night

Caleb McCoullough entered his senior season having spent his entire career at Arizona State despite consecutive 3-9 seasons.

The linebacker had his best game against Utah.

McCullough had 12 tackles — 1 1/2 for a loss — and snagged two interceptions, including the game clincher in the fourth quarter.

“He’s a guy who was here through all the mess, through all the bad things that were happening,” Dillingham said. “He was one of the few guys who stayed and for him to make that play is awesome.”

… Continue reading story here …

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October 11th

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Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark: “I don’t wake up thinking about the Big Ten and the SEC”

From Front Office Sports … SEC and Big Ten commissioners and athletic directors met this week in Nashville to discuss issues related to the future of college sports, including a potential future football scheduling partnership. The meetings are an extension of a collaboration (dubbed an “advisory committee”) between the two conferences established in February.

The conversations look to some in the industry like the NCAA’s two heavyweight leagues coming together to chart the course of the NCAA’s future themselves. But one of the other power conferences, the Big 12, isn’t concerned about the meetings or reports of a scheduling alliance between the Big Ten and SEC.

“I don’t wake up thinking about the Big Ten and the SEC,” Brett Yormark, commissioner of the Big 12 conference, tells Front Office Sports at the Advertising Week event in New York City. “I really focus on—how does the Big 12 become the best version of itself? If we do that, we’ll take care of business in the right way.

“Obviously, it’s received a bit of press, but—not focused on it. Really,” he added.

Yormark is working on what can create value for his current members, he said. During a panel, Yormark discussed the value of having more events in major media markets like Las Vegas, where there’s no Big 12 footprint “yet.” He is reportedly considering private equity deals and naming rights deals, and he has led conversations around potentially adding UConn to the league to bolster its already top-tier basketball—though he paused those conversations at the direction of his members earlier this year.

… Continue reading story here …

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October 10th

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SEC/Big Ten commissioners denounce “Project Rudy” super league proposal

From CBS Sports … The leaders of the two most powerful conferences in college athletics made clear Thursday they have zero interest in ceding any of that power to third parties like private equity.

In the aftermath of a historic meeting between Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, the two were in lock-step pushing back on the value of allowing outside entities into their world. In recent weeks, groups like “Project Rudy” and the College Student Football League have generated media attention around super league concepts.

“It’s no coincidence they ramped up their public relations schemes around our meeting,” Sankey said.

Pettiti strongly pushed back on the value of allowing those private equity-backed groups to wrest control of college football, saying that nothing about the concepts he’s seen have featured anything proprietary. The Big Ten commissioner believes everything those groups have pitched can be done by the college sports leaders themselves.

“The notion that college football is broken is just not right,” Pettiti said. “You cover our game on a weekly basis, you see the interest — speaking of the Big Ten and SEC — the size of the audience, the passion, the quality of play, all of it. Are there things that we can do better? Of course, but that’s our responsibility to do that.”

Amid tremendous change within the college sports ecosystem and only days after the House vs. NCAA lawsuit settlement was preliminarily approved, Big Ten and SEC leaders — including athletic directors — met at the Grand Hyatt hotel in downtown Nashville to sketch out how the two power conferences can help shape the future. The in-person meeting was the result of months of work after the initial formation of a joint advisory committee earlier this year.

The group discussed the College Football Playoff, the $2.8 billion House settlement, NCAA governance issues, scheduling more games between the two conferences and much more Thursday in meetings that stretched a little more than six hours.

… Continue reading story here …

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October 9th

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NCAA announces the end of National Letters of Intent

From ESPN … The NCAA Division I Council has approved the immediate elimination of the national letter of intent program, the NCAA announced Wednesday, marking a historic shift to the recruiting landscape.

Established in 1964, the NLI program has existed as the formal, binding agreement between prospective athletes and college programs for the past 60 years. The NLI will be replaced by a new financial aid agreement that will provide many of the same core functions as the NLI and will likely be tied to a contract related to an impending revenue-sharing model across college athletics.

Under the new rules, transfer athletes will be allowed to sign with a new school after they’ve formally entered the portal. Per the NCAA, once a prospect has signed a written offer of athletic aid, other schools will be “prohibited from recruiting communications.”

The Division I Council’s move to nix the NLI program comes as the NCAA and college athletics prepare for sweeping change via the impending House settlement, which is set to grant roughly $2.8 billion in damages to former and current college athletes and pave the way for college programs to begin paying their athletes more than $20 million annually as soon as next fall.

A final hearing to approve the settlement is scheduled for April 7, 2025.

The elimination of the NLI program arrives little more than a year after the Collegiate Commissioners Association, which oversees the NLI program, approved policy changes that allowed athletes to pull out of NLI agreements without penalty under certain circumstances. Those changes — related to coaching changes and requests for release — went into effect for the 2023-24 signing periods for athletes who enrolled during the 2024-25 academic year.

Following the NLI decision, change could come next for the NCAA recruiting calendar with a specific focus on football.

College commissioners opted against a formal vote over the addition of a June high school signing period earlier this year. The early signing period for the 2025 cycle starts Dec. 4, 2024, followed by the traditional signing period beginning Feb. 5, 2025.

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“Project Rudy” and the possibility of the top 70 teams forming their own league (no more RMS!)

From CBS Sports … The latest re-imagination of college football now includes a multi-billion-dollar proposal spearheaded by former Disney executives for a system funded by private equity, sources confirmed to CBS Sports on Tuesday.

The 70-team structure that would seemingly exclude the bottom tier of the FBS would be funded by private equity firm Smash Capital, sources told CBS Sports. The project would include $9 million infused into a system that would expand the college football postseason, change scheduling and feature tiered revenue distribution.

All those influences, thanks to conference realignment, are already featured as the College Football Playoff field expands from four teams to 12 this season. What were formerly marquee nonconference games in the SEC and Big Ten are now conference games in those two leagues. Going forward, those two leagues will also evenly split 59% of the CFP revenue distribution.

The new proposal, however, would eliminate all games against current Group of Five and FCS teams. The 70 schools would be shopped as a single-entity media rights package. It is not immediately clear which 70 schools would be included.

The proposal, dubbed “Project Rudy,” would mostly likely begin after all the current major media rights deals expire around the 2031 season.

Former Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick is among those working on the project. He was also among the original four persons to develop the 12-team playoff along with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby and former Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson. Swarbrick retired from his post earlier this year.

The proposal noted there would be “multiple” automatic qualifying spots in the playoff field for the SEC and Big Ten. The two conferences each attempted to implement automatic qualifier spots for their teams in the 12-team field earlier this year, but the concept was shot down.

“The current system is becoming more and more of an exclusionary system,” said a person who had seen the “Project Rudy” deck. “If you really want to highlight the value of college football as the second-most popular sport in the US, you can’t do that and disenfranchise three quarters of the membership.”

Two main reorganization plans now exist. The College Student Football League was re-introduced last week with a press release that announced the members behind the plan. That group, calling itself College Sports Tomorrow, had already been nicknamed “Super League.” In last week’s press release it detailed a proposal for a 72-team “Power 12” conference with the remaining 64 teams in a “Group of Eight.”

“Well, we are a super league — period,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told CBS Sports. “I’ve said that for years. That fact that other people have opinions that are really not subject to the extent of the evaluation that we are, that’s great because maybe there’s some things you can learn. I’m the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference. I’m not answering hypotheticals about what if and what might happen. I deal with my reality.”

… Continue reading story here …

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October 8th

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Transfer Portal windows reduced (but spring window not eliminated)

From CBS Sports … The NCAA Division I Council has voted to shorten transfer windows in football and basketball from 45 days to 30 days. However, the body opted against eliminating the spring transfer window, which was recommended by the Football Oversight Committee.

The fall transfer window will by reduced from 30 to 20 days, and will still start on the day after the College Football Playoff field is announced. The post-spring window will go from 15 to 10 days as part of the legislative change. For the 2024-25 school year, the dates will be from Dec. 9-28 and April 16-25.

For men’s and women’s college basketball, the transfer window will open immediately after the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Previously, the window would open the day after the March Madness bracket was released. Unlike fall and spring sports, which give opportunities to depart after each semester, winter sports have only one transfer window.

Additionally, any school that fires its coach will automatically trigger a separate 30-day transfer window. That rule remains unchanged.

Coaches have pushed for more limits on transfer activity as an attempt to limit roster uncertainty. More than 3,800 FBS football players entered the portal after the 2023 season, with nearly one-third coming in the post-spring window. However, only 11 of the top 100 players in the 247Sports Transfer Portal Rankings changed teams during the spring.

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Court ruling moves players one step closer to employment

From ESPN … College athletes moved one significant step closer Monday to a future in which they can be paid directly by their schools.

Judge Claudia Wilken granted preliminary approval to the terms of an industry-changing antitrust settlement Monday morning, accepting a series of changes made by attorneys representing all Division I athletes, the NCAA and its Power Five conferences.

Wilken initially raised concerns that some elements of the settlement would limit future payments to players and fail to pass legal muster, but she wrote in her ruling this week that the court “will likely be able to approve the settlement as fair, reasonable and adequate.”

Wilken’s order also established a schedule for the remaining steps to finalize the deal. Any athletes impacted by the settlement will have until Jan. 31 to file objections or opt out. A final hearing to approve the deal is schedule for April 7, 2025 — coincidentally the same day as the men’s basketball championship game.

In May, attorneys for all parties agreed to settle a trio of antitrust lawsuits (House v. NCAA, Hubbard v. NCAA and Carter v. NCAA) that claimed the association’s rules are illegally restricting the earning potential of college athletes. The NCAA agreed to pay roughly $2.8 billion in damages to former and current college athletes.

The deal also eliminates the restrictions on schools directly paying their players which have long been a cornerstone of the NCAA’s amateurism rules. If the settlement is finalized, starting next year schools will be allowed to pay their players up to a certain limit. The cap is expected to start at slightly more than $20 million per school and increase on an annual basis.

“We are thrilled that we are one step closer to a revolutionary change in college sports that will allow NCAA athletes to share in billions of revenue,” said Steve Berman, co-lead counsel for the plaintiff class.

Berman and fellow plaintiff attorney Jeffrey Kessler will begin sharing more information about the details of the settlement with athletes at all Division I schools later this month. By December, all athletes who have competed in a Division I sport since 2016 will be able to receive an estimate of how much they could receive from the damages pool.

NCAA president Charlie Baker previously has said the settlement is a key step toward reshaping the economic model of college sports into one in which athletes can be paid without being considered employees. Baker said this summer that the NCAA would still need help from Congress to stop several pending legal challenges that claim college athletes should be considered employees of their schools.

“We are thrilled by Judge Wilken’s decision to give preliminary approval to the landmark settlement that will help bring stability and sustainability to college athletics while delivering increased benefits to student-athletes for years to come,” Baker said in a statement Monday.

“Today’s progress is a significant step in writing the next chapter for the future of college sports. We look forward to working with all of Division I, and especially student-athlete leadership groups to chart the path forward and drive historic change.”

… Continue reading story here …

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October 7th

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New Bowl Projections: CU to LA instead of El Paso? 

From Brett McMurphy, Action Sports Network … Overshadowed in last week’s wild mess of upsets were the first two teams becoming officially bowl-eligible.

Miami and Indiana are the first two teams to six wins. The Hurricanes reaching bowl eligibility isn’t a surprise, but it is for the Hoosiers. Led by first-year coach Curt “I win, Google me” Cignetti, Indiana is guaranteed its first bowl bid since 2020.

With two bowl teams down and only 80 to go, 16 more schools are only one win away from reaching the magic six-win requirement to earn a bowl bid.

From the Pac-12 … 

• This week … Alabama at Oregon … Last week … Oregon at Penn St (CFP 1st Rnd)
• Alamo—USC v. BYU … Last week … Washington vs Kansas State
• Las Vegas—Utah v. Tennessee … Last week … Arizona vs Ole Miss
• Holiday—Washington v. SMU … Last week … Utah vs SMU
• Sun—Arizona v. Syracuse … Last week … Colorado vs Boston College
• LA—Colorado v. Boise State … Washington State vs Boise State
• First Responder—Arizona State vs Michigan State … same as last week
• Liberty Bowl — Washington State v. West Virginia … no Pac-12 teams
• Independence—Oregon State v. Oklahoma State … Last week … Oregon State vs West Virginia
• Pac-12 teams not going bowling … UCLA, Cal, Stanford …

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October 6th

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Associated Press poll: Iowa State closes in on Top Ten; K-State tied for 18th; CU gets three votes

From ESPN … It was a week of upheaval in the Associated Press college football poll, with Texas returning to No. 1 on Sunday after a one-week absence following Vanderbilt’s monumental upset of Alabama.

The Commodores’ win as more than three-touchdown underdogs caused the Crimson Tide to drop from No. 1 to No. 7. The last top-ranked team to fall so far was Ohio State, which plunged to No. 11 in 2010 after an October loss to Wisconsin.

Texas, which had an open date, received 52 out of 61 first-place votes and became the first team in two years to bounce in and out of the top spot in a span of three polls. The Longhorns also were just the third team since 2008 to be voted No. 1 after not playing the day before.

Ohio State beat Iowa for its fourth straight easy win, received nine first-place votes and moved up a spot to No. 2.

Oregon and Penn State each rose three spots, with the Ducks up to No. 3 and the Nittany Lions fourth. Georgia remained No. 5.

Miami, which came back from a 25-point second-half deficit to beat California 39-38, rose two spots to No. 6.

The mayhem wasn’t limited to Alabama.

Six of the 18 AP Top 25 teams that played lost to unranked opponents (33%), the highest mark since six of 16 (38%) lost the first week of October 2020.

The Crimson Tide were among four teams in the top 11 to lose to unranked opponents — the first time that has happened since October 2016.

Tennessee lost to Arkansas and went from No. 4 to No. 8. Michigan lost at Washington and went from No. 10 to No. 24. USC lost at Minnesota and went from No. 11 to out of the Top 25. The Trojans were first among teams also receiving votes.

Texas A&M soundly beat Missouri at home in the only Top 25 matchup. That earned the Aggies a promotion from a tie for No. 25 to No. 15 and the Tigers a demotion from No. 9 to No 21,

The Associated Press poll … 

• 1. Texas (52) 5 -0
• 2. Ohio State (9) 5-0
• 3. Oregon 5-0
• 4. Penn State 5-0
• 5. Georgia 4-1
• 6. Miami 6-0
• 7. Alabama 4-1
• 8. Tennessee 4-1
• 9. Ole Miss 5-1
• 10. Clemson 4-1
• 11. Iowa State 5-0
• 11. Notre Dame 4-1
• 13. LSU 4-1
• 14. BYU 5-0
• 15. Texas A&M 5-1
• 16. Utah 4-1
• 17. Boise State 4-1
• 18. Kansas State 4-1
• 18. Indiana 6-0
• 18. Oklahoma 4-1
• 21. Missouri 4-1
• 22. Pittsburgh 5-0
• 23. Illinois 4-1
• 24. Michigan 4-2
• 25. SMU 5-1

Others receiving votes: USC 98, Nebraska 51, Navy 43, Army 33, Vanderbilt 26, Arkansas 17, Iowa 8, Washington State 8, Texas Tech 7, Syracuse 6, Washington 4, Louisville 4, Colorado 3, Kentucky 1

Dropped from rankings: USC 11, Louisville 22, UNLV 25

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October 5th

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Kansas State’s win over Oklahoma State as important as CU’s win over UCF

From The Athletic … Can Kansas State and Avery Johnson pass the ball well enough to play from behind? They look excellent when games are close or they have the lead but things got real rough, real quick against BYU.

The win over Oklahoma State last Saturday felt like a critical step forward. I was in Manhattan, Kansas, to witness the best game of Johnson’s young career, and one that could have a springboard effect.

Head coach Chris Klieman said Johnson had one of his best days of practice leading up, and it encouraged the offense to be more aggressive against the Pokes, relying less on a potent ground attack to set the tone and instead throwing more on early downs. Johnson was 14 for 23 on first and second down, racking up 230 of his career-best 259 passing yards, three touchdowns and one interception. That game plan put Oklahoma State’s defense on its heels and forced them into more man-to-man coverage, which then opened running lanes for K-State. The Wildcats posted a season-high 300 total rushing yards, including a season-high 187 yards from running back DJ Giddens.

Everyone knows Kansas State can run the ball with Johnson, Giddens and Dylan Edwards. But prior to Saturday, they were leaning too much on the run to open up the pass game, and not trusting Johnson’s arm to win them games. That flipped against Oklahoma State. Johnson is still evolving as a passer and opposing defenses will adjust, but the proof of concept should make K-State’s offense more dangerous.

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October 3rd 

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CU/UCF Fox Big Noon Kickoff: $80 million in media value

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October 2nd

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CU second-most watched team in the nation in September

Week Five viewership … 

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Bowl Projections: CU in El Paso?

From Brett McMurphy, Action Sports Network … Officials with Circa Sports, a Las Vegas casino and resort, contacted UNLV last week, offering $100,000 to compensate what quarterback Matthew Sluka said he was allegedly promised from an assistant coach.

UNLV declined the offer as Sluka has been dismissed from the program. Circa Sports vice president of operations Mike Palm said they made the offer, wanting to “help keep UNLV’s playoff hopes alive.”

If Palm and Circa Sports CEO Derek Stevens really want to help UNLV’s College Football Playoff hopes, do I have a proposition. My bowl projections can be extremely influential with the CFP selection committee, so for only $90,000, I will project UNLV as my highest-ranked Group of Five champion each week.

Have your people contact my people to get everything finalized.

Onto this week’s projections — which include 4-0 UNLV in the College Football Playoff.

From the Pac-12 … 

• Oregon at Penn St (CFP 1st Rnd)
• UNLV at Georgia (CFP 1st Rnd)
• USC at Texas (CFP 1st Rnd)
• Alamo—Washington vs Kansas State
• Las Vegas—Arizona vs Ole Miss
• Holiday—Utah vs SMU
• Sun—Colorado vs Boston College
• LA—Washington State vs Boise State
• First Responder—Arizona State vs Michigan State
• Pop-Tarts—BYU vs Notre Dame
• Independence—Oregon State vs West Virginia
• Potato—Colorado State vs Buffalo

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October 1st

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Gonzaga to join the Pac-12 for basketball, starting in 2026

From The Athletic … Gonzaga will join the Pac-12 in 2026, giving the conference one of the nation’s premier basketball programs as it continues its rebuild.

Gonzaga, as a non-football school, won’t be a full Pac-12 member, meaning the conference still has seven full members. But for the Pac-12, it’s an addition of a men’s basketball program that reached the national championship game in 2017 and 2021 and has made 25 consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Gonzaga’s women’s basketball program also has 15 tournament appearances since 2007 and made the Sweet 16 in 2024.

Gonzaga, located in Spokane, Wash., is joining the Pac-12 from the West Coast Conference, where it had been since 1979.

“Following discussions with Pac-12 member presidents, I believe membership will represent an opportunity to participate in building a conference that imagines new, forward-thinking ways to support student-athletes in a rapidly changing collegiate sports landscape,” Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh said in a statement. “Partnerships with a new group of universities can also assist in our student recruitment and enrollment efforts, create opportunities for academic collaboration with new faculty colleagues, and attract more students who value an excellent education distinctively rooted in our Jesuit identity and tradition.”

The Pac-12, which was down to Oregon State and Washington State after losing 10 schools to the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC, added Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State last month. All are also set to join in 2026. After an attempt to add schools from the American Athletic Conference fell short, the Pac-12 then added Utah State as the seventh full member.

Its attempt to add UNLV fell short, as the six remaining full Mountain West members, along with football-only member Hawaii, opted to stay together and sign a binding agreement. The Mountain West is expected to add UTEP from Conference USA, a person briefed on the discussions said Tuesday.

The Pac-12 as it is now has enough members to qualify for automatic qualification for NCAA championships, such as the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The conference needs one more football member to reach Football Bowl Subdivision status, which for NCAA purposes is related to voting and committee representation.

More importantly, it needs to be at eight football schools to meet the College Football Playoff’s requirement for access to the five bids that go to conference champions.

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Mountain West may add … UTEP (and/or Texas State)?

From ESPN … The Mountain West is in deep discussions about adding UTEP as a full member, sources told ESPN, and there’s mutual interest between the sides.

A deal has yet to be finalized, per ESPN sources, but an answer on UTEP joining the league is expected soon.

The potential addition of UTEP has loomed as an obvious target for the league from both a geography and tradition standpoint. The school would give the Mountain West an addition in Texas as the league rebuilds after five schools announced they were leaving for the Pac-12.

The addition of UTEP would give the league seven full-time members — joining UNLV, San Jose State, Wyoming, Nevada, New Mexico and Air Force. The Mountain West needs to build to eight members to become a formal conference. (Hawaii remains a football-only member.)

The Mountain West is seeking to get to eight members, the minimum for a league, after Utah State, Boise State, San Jose State, San Diego State and Fresno State announced their departures.

The Mountain West has also issued a verbal offer to Texas State in recent days, according to sources. No clarity or timeline has emerged on Texas State’s decision. The Pac-12 has also expressed interest in Texas State, according to ESPN sources.

In UTEP, the Mountain West will get a school with a strong football and basketball lineage. UTEP’s football opener against Southern Utah drew 41,633 fans to the Sun Bowl.

In football, UTEP has reached 15 bowl games, and its former coaches include everyone from Bum Phillips to Mike Price. UTEP is currently in Conference USA, where it has resided since 2005, when it jumped over from the WAC.

… Continue reading story here …

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September 30th

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Big Ten/SEC in talks for non-conference matchups

From ESPN … Big Ten and SEC athletic directors will discuss a possible partnership in football scheduling, along with their preferences for automatic bids, in the next iteration of the College Football Playoff.

The discussion is to take place at an in-person meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, next week, multiple sources from both conferences told ESPN on Monday.

The meeting is a continuation of the Big Ten-SEC joint advisory group, which was formed in February and includes the leagues’ university presidents, chancellors and athletic directors. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti are scheduled to meet with the athletic directors for one day.

“There is hope that we can definitely move the needle and make some progress on different things,” one Big Ten source said.

The future scheduling partnership could hinge on whether the SEC eventually decides to go to nine conference games — a topic one SEC source said hasn’t been a focus of conversations lately. Some Big Ten athletic directors could push back on any agreement if the SEC doesn’t move to nine games, because the Big Ten already plays nine league opponents.

“If we’re all going to figure this out,” one source said, “we’ve got to be on equal footing.”

… Continue reading story here …

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September 29th 

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Big 12 Bowl Projections: CU in the mix

From ESPN … ESPN bowl gurus Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach are projecting every postseason matchup, including their breakdowns of how the CFP will play out, every week until the actual matchups are set on Selection Day on Dec. 8.

Note … From the Pac-12 (Colorado and other former Pac-12 teams will be using Pac-12 bowl alliances for the 2024 and 2025 seasons): 

Frisco Bowl … Bonagura: Washington vs. North Texas

LA bowl … Bonagura: California vs. Boise State
Schlabach: California vs. Boise State

— Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl (December 20th, Tampa, Florida) … Bonagura: NC State vs. Colorado

— Guaranteed Rate Bowl (December 26th, Phoenix, Arizona) … Schlabach: Maryland vs. Colorado

68 Ventures Bowl … Schlabach: Oregon State vs. Georgia Southern

Holiday Bowl … Bonagura: SMU vs. Washington State
Schlabach: SMU vs. Arizona

Las Vegas Bowl … Bonagura: Kentucky vs. Arizona
Schlabach: South Carolina vs. Washington State

New Mexico Bowl … Bonagura: UNLV vs. Arizona State

Alamo Bowl … Bonagura: Iowa State vs. USC
Schlabach: Utah vs. USC

Independence Bowl … Bonagura: West Virginia vs. Oregon State

Sun Bowl … Bonagura: Boston College vs. Utah
Schlabach: Duke vs. Washington

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Big 12 Week Six schedule: Only one ranked team in action

From DraftKings …

Friday, October 4th

• Houston at TCU … 5:30 p.m., MT, ESPN … TCU is a 17.0-point home favorite …

Saturday, October 5th

• West Virginia at Oklahoma State … 2:00 p.m., MT, ESPN 2 … Oklahoma State is a 5.5-point home favorite …
• Baylor at No. 16 Iowa State … 5:30 p.m., MT, Fox … Iowa State is a 13.0-point home favorite …
• Central Florida at Florida … 5:45 p.m., MT, SEC Network … UCF is a 1.0-point road underdog …
• Kansas at Arizona State … 6:00 p.m., MT, ESPN2 … Arizona State is a 3.0-point home favorite …
• Texas Tech at Arizona … 9:00 p.m., MT, Fox … Arizona is a 5.0-point home favorite …

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September 26th

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Seven remaining members of Mountain West Conference pledge solidarity

From ESPN … The Mountain West has received signed commitments from its seven remaining member schools to stay in the conference, with all of them agreeing to execute grant of media rights from 2026 to 2032.

“Our immediate priority was solidifying the membership of the Mountain West. Now our focus turns to our collective future on behalf of our student-athletes,” MWC commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in a statement. “The agreements announced today mark a historic moment for the Mountain West and provide much-needed stability and clarity as the world of intercollegiate athletics continues to evolve rapidly. We are excited about our future and are executing our next steps in expanding the Mountain West.”

It also announced plans for how it will distribute money it received in exit fees from the five schools leaving for the Pac-12. Those schools — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Utah State and San Diego State — are on the hook for roughly $18 million each, per the conference bylaws, but negotiations could lead to decreased totals.

Once it is determined what the total pot is, the distribution breakdown will be 24.5% for Air Force and UNLV, 11.5% for New Mexico, Nevada, San José State and Wyoming, and 5% for Hawai’i.

In its own statement, UNLV said it expects a lump-sum payment from the Mountain West of between $10-14 million in 2025, with additional payments between $1.5-1.8 million over a six-year period starting in July 2026.

UNLV was the lynchpin for this to come together. The school signed a memorandum of understanding to remain in the Mountain West on Monday, but it was nullified when Utah State departed for the Pac-12 the same day. After re-engaging with both the Pac-12 and Mountain West, UNLV again decided to remain, thanks largely to the financial package it described.

“The league is a genuine brand and an established product,” UNLV athletic director Erick Harper said. “Increased revenues are a vital factor. As we look ahead and continue our ascent as an athletics department, this also gives us necessary flexibility as we pursue our future goal of joining an autonomous [Power Four] conference.”

With six full-time members and one partial member in Hawai’i, the Mountain West still needs to add two full-time football-playing schools to meet the NCAA minimum requirement but would have until the start of the 2028 to do so.

The Pac-12 stands at seven members and will need an additional school by the 2026 season.

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