NCAAF

7:00 AM ET ESPN staff The forecast for Week 2’s college football slate was dreary and yet, the scheduled delivered. The Sun Belt rose to the occasion as Marshall knocked off then top-10 Notre Dame 26-21 and Appalachian State — this week’s host for College GameDay — went into College Station and handed Jimbo Fisher

7:00 AM ET Paolo UggettiESPN CORAL GABLES, Fla. — In the middle of the toughest professional decision of his life, Mario Cristobal dialed a familiar phone number. Over 3,000 miles from Eugene, Oregon, in Stuart, Florida, Dennis Lavelle picked up. Cristobal wanted to know what his former high school coach at Christopher Columbus High thought

7:11 PM ET WASHINGTON — An overwhelming majority of Division I athletic directors at the annual fall LEAD1 meeting on Wednesday expressed a “strong preference” to keep FBS football under the NCAA if it can be more streamlined and less bureaucratic. Tom McMillen, the CEO and president of the organization representing the 131 athletic directors

7:00 AM ET Inspirational thought of the week: If you can walk or crawl, let’s leave this hospitalAnd take this car far as it goesLost and kicked about, sun belt scars remove all doubtCover up, this chapter’s closed, no, this world ain’t all snow — “Sun Belt Scars,” by Banner Pilot Here at Bottom 10

1:17 PM ET Ohio State expects preseason All-America selection Jaxon Smith-Njigba and fellow wide receiver Julian Fleming to play this week against Toledo. Smith-Njigba, who led Ohio State with 1,606 receiving yards in 2021, suffered a hamstring injury early in the Sept. 3 opener against Notre Dame. He went through light warm-ups last week but

3:57 PM ET Iowa is sticking with Spencer Petras as its starting quarterback despite scoring just one touchdown through the first two games. Coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday that Petras, a third-year starter who has faced increased scrutiny, will start Saturday against Nevada barring a setback in practice. The senior has completed 23 of 51

9:00 AM ET SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Bobby Petrino knows what’s coming. He has been called many things over the years, but he is not naive. The job he’s done in resurrecting a moribund Missouri State program and turning the Bears into FCS title contenders speaks for itself. But this week, Petrino’s past, and not his

2:01 PM ET Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian channeled Nick Saban on Monday, issuing a warning to his Longhorns after their near upset of No. 1 Alabama on Saturday. “First of all, to quote my old boss, we’ve got to be careful of the rat poison of people telling us how good we are, which

8:01 PM ET Stanford offensive lineman Branson Bragg, a multiyear starter, will retire from football because of lingering symptoms from a concussion and other mental health factors. Bragg, a senior from Texas, posted on Twitter that he has “long-term” and “intense” symptoms stemming from a concussion he sustained during Stanford’s training camp. He also cited

8:30 AM ET AUSTIN, Texas — Nick Saban vacillated between pride and frustration as he met with the media following Alabama‘s heart-stopping 20-19 win over Texas on Saturday afternoon. In a cramped, windowless room inside Darrell K Royal Stadium, the Crimson Tide’s often crotchety coach smiled and offered to help a cameraman who was struggling

2:17 PM ET Associated Press Georgia reclaimed the top spot in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday, and Kentucky, Oklahoma State and Arkansas moved into the top 10 after an upset-filled weekend across the country. The defending national champion Bulldogs, who started the season at No. 3 in the AP Top 25, took two

12:40 PM ET Pete ThamelESPN After Quinn Ewers‘ promising debut and one scintillating quarter against Alabama, there is going to be a pause before seeing what the Texas quarterback can do next. Ewers will miss at least a month with an SC sprain to his left shoulder, sources told ESPN. Ewers underwent an MRI confirming

1:32 PM ET Nebraska fired football coach Scott Frost on Sunday, one day after a 45-42 home loss to Georgia Southern in what had become an untenable situation for the Huskers. Nebraska (1-2) had been a three-touchdown favorite. “Earlier today I met with Coach Frost and informed him we were making a change in the

2:25 AM ET Texas is not back. Not on Saturday, anyway. Not without its burgeoning star QB, Quinn Ewers. Not on Nick Saban’s watch. But for 59 minutes against Alabama, Texas seemed astonishingly close to turning the page on a decade of heartbreak, embarrassment and jokes before falling to the Tide 20-19. It was, it

7:27 PM ET ESPN News Services COLLEGE STATION, Texas — On paper, there was no reason to believe that Appalachian State would have a chance Saturday against No. 6 Texas A&M. But Mountaineers coach Shawn Clark, who makes 10 times less than the over $9 million Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher receives each season at

1:53 PM ET For the first time since the 2009 BCS National Championship, the Alabama Crimson Tide and Texas Longhorns face off. For two of the bluest bloods in college football, they don’t play often. This is their first meeting in the regular season since 1922. When they played 12 years ago, the Tide won

4:51 PM ET Kentucky will be without star running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. for the second straight game when the No. 20 Wildcats travel to No. 12 Florida on Saturday, sources told ESPN. Rodriguez, the SEC’s leading returning rusher with 1,379 yards a year ago, remains sidelined while awaiting a ruling on an NCAA matter,

3:13 PM ET Pete ThamelESPN BYU will be without the team’s two best wide receivers when the No. 21 Cougars host No. 9 Baylor on Saturday night, sources told ESPN. Junior Puka Nacua and senior Gunner Romney are expected to miss the game. BYU coach Kalani Sitake had said earlier in the week that they