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Happy early Valentine’s Day to NC State’s Ms. and Mr. Wuf, married for almost 44 years now.
Grad School: The teams sending the most to the NFL
An offseason milestone approaches: April’s NFL Draft, when college fans get to mock their pathetic rivals for failing to get anybody drafted (or explain the nuanced complexities that unfairly prevented their own teams from getting anybody drafted).
National champ Ohio State is in line to also be this year’s draft champ, with a nation-leading nine players on Dane Brugler’s new top-100 Big Board, followed by Texas, Ole Miss and Oregon. In total, the SEC’s 39 entries lead the Big Ten’s 32.
As for the individuals:
- Colorado’s Travis Hunter ranks No. 1 … as a corner.
- Two top-10 Nittany Lions: DE Abdul Carter and TE Tyler Warren.
- At No. 15, Miami’s Cam Ward leads Dane’s six QBs.
- Biggest name missing the cut: Texas’ Quinn Ewers.
As usual, I’m now interested in the schools that could have first-rounders for the first time in a while, if some of these top-100 guys move up a bit (most recent in parentheses):
- East Carolina CB Shavon Revel Jr. (2008 Chris Johnson)
- Kansas CB Cobee Bryant (2008 Aqib Talib)
- Marshall edge Mike Green (2003 Byron Leftwich)
- Bowling Green TE Harold Fannin Jr. (1961 Bernie Casey, who went on to act in films like “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”)
I had also long been used to annually updating that chestnut about Iowa State’s 50-year drought of first-rounders. But this year, if one of Dane’s three Cyclones sneaks into Day 1, they’ll be the school’s second such pick in three years (Jets DE Will McDonald IV). Three top-100 Cyclones at once! That’s just normal now.
Check the full list here.
Doug Pensinger / Getty Images
Quick Snaps
Band back together! Rich Rodriguez added his legendary mid-2000s QB, Pat White, to the Mountaineers’ staff. 🎮 (If you’re now wondering where Owen Schmitt is, Rodriguez’s iconic fullback is a West Virginia high school coach.)
Ohio State‘s new DC will be former Detroit Lions HC Matt Patricia. Previous college gig: 2003 Syracuse grad assistant. The Buckeyes had this cycle’s most fascinating coordinator rearrangement, Ralph Russo explains.
If Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State are the sport’s top tier, who’s in Tier 2? Stewart Mandel mailbag time.
UNLV senior OL Ben Christman, a 21-year-old Ohio State and Kentucky transfer, was found dead Tuesday morning, his school said.
Political attack ads about Tattoogate? Jim Tressel talked to Joe Vardon about potentially running for office.
Let’s go, girls. An NCAA committee moved women’s flag football closer to becoming an official championship sport.
While FSU and Clemson flailed against the ACC, North Carolina spent two years quietly exploring realignment, documents reveal.
Meanwhile, Bill Belichick doing normal CFB-coach stuff still looks so strange. So far, seems like he doesn’t hate recruiting.
The new White House admin rescinded a January memo that would’ve required NIL payments from schools to be “proportionate” for male and female athletes. House v. NCAA ramifications.
Now What? The offseason, a concept
College football’s offseason began weeks ago. But this season’s drawn-out schedule made my brain refuse to enter Offseason Mode until the Super Bowl and signing day were out of the way, since the Jan. 20 title game meant we were weirdly close to those dates already.
Either way, as of now, 191 days remain until the season begins with INTERNATIONAL FARMAGEDDON, Kansas State-Iowa State in Dublin.
As we adjust, Ralph has already assembled this offseason’s calendar of important business, including next week’s Big Ten-SEC intergalactic-dominion assembly. In addition, spring games begin in two weeks. ⁉️
Beyond that, offseasons generally follow a familiar rhythm, largely a constant hum of recruiting news punctuated by some coach getting fired. I asked two “Until Saturday” podcast co-hosts about their favorite CFB offseason tropes:
David Ubben: Whether the new coach instituted music during spring practices to be more player-friendly … or killed all music to crack down on a roster gone wild.
Chris Vannini: When one middling program has too good of a draft, making you wonder how they only won seven games the previous year, and suddenly a positive turns into a negative.
As for the offseason’s guaranteed highlight: Who’s the favorite to be your College Football 26 team?
David: Last time, Kansas State was my online team, and USF was my dynasty team. I might stick with those this year, or perhaps shift to SMU online.
Chris: Oklahoma could be an interesting online team, depending on QB John Mateer’s rating. I probably gotta take one of the two newest FBS members, Delaware or Missouri State, for an early dynasty spin.
Finally, are you ready for some basketball?
David: If I could find a way to bottle the feeling of waking up on the first Thursday of the tournament, I would be a zillionaire.
Chris: I just learned a week ago that Auburn is the No. 1 men’s team, and the basketball Iron Bowl is giving us a 1 vs. 2 matchup before football does? What a world. The SEC’s pivot away from dominating football into dominating basketball should make for a wild SEC tournament.
Hey, your turn: What’s your favorite oddball thing that seems to happen every CFB offseason? Send something to untilsaturday@theathletic.com, and I’ll pick a few favorites.
One Shining Moment
Speaking of this Saturday afternoon’s Iron Bowl, did you know those two basketball schools have played each other in football? Curiously, they’ve even been good at that sport on occasion — believe it or not, good enough to beat Vanderbilt!
The highest-ranked edition of the Iron Bowl (Football Version) was … yep, your first guess was correct. In 2013, No. 4 Auburn beat No. 1 Alabama thanks to the Kick Six, though it was a play from minutes prior that ended up changing football itself.
About 11 years ago, the indie-rock RPO went mainstream:
Gus Malzahn’s Auburn didn’t invent the concept, but soon, Pete Carroll was shouting him out for putting the Seahawks on game. (Also, check out the wheels on that staffer keeping pace with Sammie Coates. I’ve asked people who were on that sideline about the identity of the Khakis Flash. Will report back.)
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(Top photo: Jason Mowry / Getty Images)
