College Football’s Sunday Summary Settles Family Business

College Football’s Sunday Summary Settles Family Business

The Sacrifices of a Few

USC head coach Lincoln Riley tried to lend clarity to rumors that he is leaving for another job at the end of the season. We have yet to hear his name come up on the wish list of any major program. But he felt the need anyway. “I’ve been underwater for the last five days, I feel like. You guys know what I sacrificed to come here. I’m where I need to be,” Riley said.

Actually, we don’t know the sacrifices he has made. We have looked far and wide for them and cannot find them. He is in year four of a 10-year contract that pays him $10 million per year. He lives in a glitzy, 3.17-acre oceanfront mansion in Palos Verdes Estates. It’s a seven-bedroom, 12-bath house. It has an elevator, a movie theater, a tennis court, seven fireplaces, a 600-bottle wine room, a putting green, a sauna, and steam rooms. Thank goodness Lincoln is sacrificing for the good of college football.

Clarity in Indiana

The Hoosiers are a very good football team. We knew they were good last year. We thought they could be good again this year, but after settling matters in dramatic fashion at Penn State on Saturday, it is now clear this team could win the national championship. What in the name of Bobby Knight is happening in Bloomington?

The Hoosiers have two 10-win seasons in program history. Last year and this year. On Saturday, they drove for the winning touchdown by going 80 yards in 111 seconds with no timeouts. Technically, it was 87 yards, because quarterback Fernando Mendoza got sacked on the first play of the drive. The toe down in the end zone by receiver Omar Cooper, Jr. is probably one of the best catches of the season, when you consider the context of the moment.

Speaking with Excitable Clarity

We see far too many posts on social media that hate the play-by-play coverage of the play in the Indiana game. You’re wrong. Now just sit there in your wrongness. Hearing Gus Johnson call that play in the tone that only he can deliver made it all the better.

Can’t See Clarity in the Future

One place that lacks a clear picture is Boulder, Colorado. The Buffaloes are 3-7 this season and have been outscored 134-46 in the last three games. Where does Deion Sanders go from here? He was 4-8 in his first season at Colorado as he was doing his version of a rebuild. The Buffs went 9-3 last season. But now, in his first season of coaching a team that does not have Travis Hunter or his son, Shedeur, the program is struggling again. With his ongoing health issues, it is fair to ask how long he will stick around in his current setting.

Can’t See Any Tortillas

Texas Tech had its biggest home game in two decades. The Red Raiders dismantled a previously unbeaten BYU team, 29-7. The Red Raiders now have a stranglehold on first place in the Big 12 at 6-1 and 9-1 overall. The students stormed the field, but Tech can clearly afford the fine that is coming from the Big 12. But there was something missing in the festivities. Was the local tortillería run out of business because of a no-fun Tech administration?

College Football Playoff Committee Clairvoyance

Last Tuesday, in the first week of the College Football Playoff Committee rankings, committee chair Mack Rhoads cast some aspersions on the ACC. He said that while Virginia was undefeated in conference play and had only one loss all season, they were at #14 in the rankings. He said their wins were too narrow for the committee to believe they were a championship-caliber team yet. Rhoads said Miami was too inconsistent. SMU wasn’t the same team as last year. Haynes King (Georgia Tech) was a good quarterback, but the Yellow Jackets needed to show they are a complete team.

Turns out, Rhoads had some correct insights. Virginia got beat at home by Wake Forest Saturday night. The Cavaliers had not lost a fumble all season long until Wake’s defense created three takeaways.

There are now four teams with 5-1 conference records in the ACC, and Duke is at 4-1. Louisville could have been in the mix also, but the Cardinals lost to Cal in overtime Saturday night.

Obscuring Clarity

Back to USC. The Trojans ran a fake punt against Northwestern on Friday night. The punter, Sam Johnson, completed a 10-yard pass for a first down, keeping USC’s scoring drive alive. But it wasn’t Johnson. It wasn’t the punter. It was backup quarterback Sam Huard, wearing Johnson’s jersey. There is a rule against that. Or there should be if there isn’t. But to get granular about it. USC’s jerseys do not have names on the back. So technically, was Huard really pretending to be Johnson? Or was he just wearing a different jersey number that day?

This is a USC program that has already violated Big 10 rules once this season, when they played a player who had been listed as “out” earlier that day on the mandated availability report. Maybe he was hiding in one of Lincoln Riley’s 12 bathrooms.

Clarity in Madison

The University of Wisconsin announced over the last 72 hours that Luke Fickell would be back as head coach for the 2026 season. He is 16-19 in his fourth season with the Badgers. We’re not sure Badger fans grasp the vision of the athletic department. But we know we now take Jake Dickert’s name off the coaching carousel list, as we thought that might be the one job he would be willing to consider since he was born and raised in Wisconsin.

Settling Family Financial Business

Part of the legal morass over the last two years between the ACC and Clemson, and Florida State, was the financial arrangements and revenue sharing. The schools that have spent many years at or near the top felt that those who pulled in the best TV ratings should have a disproportionate share of the television revenue. Since the conference, in its current iteration, is going to implode as we get to the year 2030, the conference agreed.

The result? Clemson and Florida State are having terrible seasons, their ratings are poor, and they are going to take the financial hit for it. Other schools in the conference are probably having a good chuckle over it, but doing it quietly.  To quote Vito Corleone, “I forgo vengeance. But I have personal reasons.”