College Football

New book chronicles historic moments examining 100 years of BYU football

BYU coach LaVell Edwards holding conference championship trophy with punter Lee Johnson (No. 10) on Nov. 24, 1984. | Mark Philbrick, BYU Photo In 1953, the population of the United States was 158 million and on Nov. 26, that year, Thanksgiving Day, the BYU-Utah football game televised nationally on NBC, drawing 60 million viewers. That’s more than last year’s No. …

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Penn State will open against SMU at home in the College Football Playoff

INDIANAPOLIS – Penn State was seeded sixth and will face 11th-seeded SMU at Beaver Stadium in the first round of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, it was announced Sunday. The Nittany Lions (11-2) and the Mustangs (11-2) will play at noon on Saturday, Dec. 21, on TNT. It will be their first meeting since Penn State’s 26-21 win in …

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Lobos mired in world of have-nots

Dec. 8—Is intercollegiate football at the highest level worth continuing at the University of New Mexico? Probably not, but good sense has little to do with the politics of running an institution of higher learning. No university president wants to be remembered for disbanding the football team. No member of the board of regents can abide an angry earful about …

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TCU and Louisiana-Lafayette to meet in Isleta New Mexico Bowl

Dec. 8—The Isleta New Mexico Bowl is celebrating its 19th season with a handful of firsts. TCU and Louisiana-Lafayette will meet for the first time in the New Mexico Bowl on Dec. 28 at University Stadium, just the second time in the event’s history that a Mountain West team won’t be featured. TCU’s inclusion also represents the first time a …

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Grading the College Football Playoff Selection Committee’s first 12-team bracket: How did they do?

Move over, brand recognition. Welcome, most-deserving team. The selection committee’s decision to sidestep Alabama (9-3) in favor of SMU (11-2) in the final College Football Playoff Rankings was a brave call — and the right decision — on Selection Sunday. The report card’s final grade is satisfactory after the committee avoided a disruptive precedent that would’ve been set had the three-loss …

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College Football Playoff snubs, surprises: Oregon has brutal path as reward for No. 1 seed, Notre Dame stung

The first 12-team College Football Playoff field is set as the selection committee unveiled their final rankings Sunday afternoon, one day after an eventful slate of conference championship games. Oregon went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team and, subsequently, earned the top overall seed after downing Penn State in its Big Ten Championship Game debut.  Elsewhere, some of the top …

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