UNDATED (AP) — College football’s first big weekend is full of stories. No. 5 Notre Dame visits No. 2 Ohio State. New Oregon coach Dan Lanning takes on his old team when the No. 11-ranked Ducks meet the defending national champion and the Georgia No. 3 at Atlanta. Lanning was the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator last season. 7 Utah travels to The Swamp for Billy Napier’s first game as Florida coach. No. 23 Cincinnati just finished its college football playoff appearance and is an underdog at No. 19 Arkansas. The Backyard Brawl returns when West Virginia visits No. 17 Pittsburgh.
COLUMBIA, SC (AP) — Welcome back, Dan Lanning. No. 3 Georgia opens with 11th-ranked Oregon and first-year coach Lanning, who was the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator in their 2021 national championship season. Lanning took the Ducks job last December, but stayed with his old position as Georgia defeated Alabama for the College Football Playoff title. It won’t be an easy start for Lanning. The match will take place in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which is sure to be packed with cheering Dawg fans dreaming of a second straight crown. Georgia coach Kirby Smart is 2-0 against former assistants.
UNDATED (AP) — The Southeastern Conference has a National Championship quarterback, a Heisman Trophy winner and a collection of talented passers new and old. The group is led by Alabama Heisman winner Bryce Young and Stetson Bennett, who led Georgia to the national title against Young & Co. But it doesn’t stop there. There are established starters in Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and Mississippi State. Florida has a dynamic but still unproven Anthony Richardson, and there are talented transfers like Spencer Rattler from South Carolina.
UNDATED (AP) — Missouri leveraged the transfer portal perhaps better than any other school in an effort to improve the defensive side of the ball after last season. Three arrivals from other Power 5 schools are in line to start Missouri’s home opener against Louisiana Tech on Thursday night, and at least four other Division I transfers are on the two deep. In all, the Tigers have welcomed 19 transfers and 14 of them from Division I schools. Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz’s hope is that they will have an immediate impact and ultimately help the program to improve on its 6-7 record from a year ago.
UNDATED (AP) – College presidents who oversee the college football playoffs are scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss expanding the four-team format. The presidents are hoping to speed up a process that got bogged down last year and reopen the possibility of a new crowned champion model being in place as early as the 2024 season. Two people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that the CFP board of directors, led by Mississippi State President Mark Keenum, is set to meet via videoconference. All of the people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the council’s plans were not made public.
UNDATED (AP) – The first full slate of college football season games is a marathon that runs Thursday through Labor Day night. Highlights include a top-five game, a top-15 game and a sneaky good game featuring two teams from the back of the AP Top 25. Among the most intriguing are a few Pac-12 contenders venturing down South and two recent national title winners in different stages of the Rebuild face off in New Orleans.
UNDATED (AP) – When the NCAA lifted restrictions on players profiting from their name, image and likeness, it created instant millionaires from elite college football players like the quarterback of the ‘Ohio State CJ Stroud and Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. The NIL benefits for individual athletes may have a downside. Big business for a few and small business for most could divide locker rooms, create tension within programs, produce an uneven playing field in college athletics, and overwhelm already time-worn students.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
