College Football

PISCATAWAY – Not too long ago Ian Strong and KJ Duff were starring at St. Anthony’s High School on Long Island. Now they’re in Rutgers football uniforms, establishing roles within the Scarlet Knights offense and becoming go-to weapons for quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis. “Those two guys are awfully talented, and to think that they were on the same high school team …

The Holbrook/Avon co-op high school football team, which has battled declining participation numbers all season, has opted to end its season prematurely. The Bulldogs (0-6) chose not to participate in either of the two available consolation-game weeks, and they have withdrawn from their Thanksgiving eve matchup with South Shore Tech, ending a yearly tradition that began in 2017. South Shore …

Army’s path to a College Football Playoff spot is still an uphill climb but now there’s a new threat. The Black Knights (9-0) jumped up one spot, to No. 24, in the second CFP rankings released Tuesday night. However, fellow American Athletic Conference member Tulane has slipped into Army’s old spot at No. 25. On Saturday, Army beat North Texas …

BLOOMINGTON – Tuesday’s might have been the most important pre-Selection Sunday College Football Playoff rankings from Indiana’s perspective. And the Hoosiers appear to have gotten good news in batches. IU jumped three spots, from No. 8 to No. 5, in the committee’s latest top 25. Were the season to end today, that would position Indiana to host a first-round game …

Tennessee football was passed by Indiana and BYU in the College Football Playoff poll because they won “big games” over Michigan and Utah, respectively, the CFP selection committee chair said. That was part of the explanation for why the Vols remained at No. 7 in the latest CFP ranking, which was released on Tuesday. “It really came down to the …

Penn State is on the verge of doing something that it hasn’t done in more than 40 years. The Nittany Lions can post three straight straight 10-win seasons for the first time since 1980-82 with its next two victories. It would be their sixth season with double-digit wins in nine years, the best such stretch since the program’s golden era …

The GHSA football playoffs kick off Friday night with several area teams competing, while the GIAA playoffs move to the state semifinal round, where two local schools look to secure a spot in the championship game. Friday night’s matchups: Luella (5-5) at No. 6 Westover (9-1) Luella travels to Albany after finishing 4-2 in Region 5, capping their regular season …

Undefeated Oregon stayed on top in the second batch of College Football Playoff rankings, while Tuesday’s poll shoved Georgia completely out of the bracket after its lopsided loss to Mississippi. Led by the Ducks, then Ohio State, the Big Ten captured four of the top five spots — a string interrupted only by Texas of the Southeastern Conference, which was …

The Big Ten dominated the latest edition of the College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings, with the conference claiming four of the top five slots in the new standings revealed Tuesday night. Unsurprisingly, undefeated Oregon claimed the top spot for the second consecutive week just ahead of No. 2 Ohio State, another Big Ten stalwart. Another pair of Big Ten contenders …

Nov. 12—Jarrett Gronski wasn’t expecting to cry the morning before playing Wayne State. Like most athletes, the Bemidji State football team’s senior running back has his pregame rituals. But that routine shook out a little differently before the Beavers’ game against the Wildcats. John Gronski — Jarrett’s father and a prolific running back for BSU back in the late 1980s …

From time to time, but not very often, former special-teams coordinators become NFL head coaches. When it happens, there’s usually some other gig that the coach has performed before making the next step, like John Harbaugh spending a year as defensive backs coach in Philadelphia before becoming the Ravens head coach in 2008. Or Joe Judge serving as both special-teams …

This embedded content is not available in your region. Caroline Fenton & Jason Fitz react to the second edition of the 2024 College Football Playoff Rankings. Only two weeks into the 12-team rankings and with Boise State in, Georgia out, Miami as the four seed, and three Big 10 teams in the top four—is the new playoff system already broken? …

Just as the frustrations with the first College Football Playoff rankings were settling in, the sport went on its usual path of chaos — completely changing the landscape of the projected playoff field. The rankings got flipped upside down when Georgia fell flat against Mississippi and Miami couldn’t stay perfect when it faced Georgia Tech. Consequently, some teams saw their …

Penn State moved up two spots to fourth Tuesday night in the second College Football Playoff rankings of the season. The Nittany Lions (8-1) were projected as the sixth seed in the 12-team playoff and would play 11th-seeded Mississippi in the first round Dec. 20 or 21 at Beaver Stadium in a rematch of last year’s Peach Bowl. In the …

What is this strange scent I detect? A most uncommon aroma, this is. If I didn’t know better, I would say I catch a whiff of, get this, anti-SEC bias. The College Football Playoff selection committee doesn’t seem all that impressed with the conference that touts it “just means more.” The committee brought the hammer down on the top end …