The College Football Playoff has a Board of Managers consisting of 11 college chancellors and presidents. They had a quiet meeting on Monday that could end up with thunderous volume for the sport. The current state of affairs has the CFP managing the postseason playoff with contractual connections with other top bowl games. One discussion that came up at the meeting involved the CFP taking over the governance of college football and removing it from the NCAA’s purview. This change would allow greater independence in rules for college football and would keep the concerns of schools with smaller revenues totals from interfering with opportunities for the larger schools. As the current conference structure continues to fracture, these discussions are only likely to make the sport closer to a developmental league for the NFL – and a major source of revenue, especially for the largest schools. Let’s quickly review the preseason Top 25 college football rankings, as well as some other news items that may affect your college football betting choices this coming fall.
NCAA News: College Football Top 25 Analysis & Betting Opportunities
- #1 Alabama Crimson Tide
- #2 Georgia Bulldogs
- #3 Ohio State Buckeyes
- #4 Clemson Tigers
- #5 Texas A&M Aggies
- #6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- #7 Michigan Wolverines
- #8 USC Trojans
- #9 Michigan State Spartans
- #10 Oklahoma State Cowboys
- #11 Oklahoma Sooners
- #12 Ole Miss Rebels
- #13 N.C. State Wolfpack
- #14 Oregon Ducks
- #15 Utah Utes
- #16 Arkansas Razorbacks
- #17 Houston Cougars
- #18 Iowa Hawkeyes
- #19 Baylor Bears
- #20 Tennessee Volunteers
- #21 Texas Longhorns
- #22 BYU Cougars
- #23 Kentucky Wildcats
- #24 Florida Gators
- #25 Penn State Nittany Lions
The Houston Cougars could be on the cusp of major contention after decades out of the spotlight. At one point, the Cougars were one of the intriguing programs in the Southwest Conference, riding one of the early spread offenses under the tutelage of John Jenkins to some gaudy scores. Before that, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Cougars coach Bill Yeoman designed the Veer offense and used it to build nationally ranked teams.
Now, after 30 years of exile in smaller conferences, the Cougars are poised to enter the Big 12 (although it took the departure of Texas and Oklahoma to get the conference’s interest). Dana Holgorsen left a Power 5 program at West Virginia, where his all-offense philosophy never really paid off in terms of big wins, for Houston, then in the American Athletic Conference. Holgorsen guided the Cougars to a 12-2 season last year, and if the Cougars can run the table this season, they will be in the conversation for inclusion in the College Football Playoff. It will remain to be seen if the Cougars’ strength of schedule will make an argument for them to get into the CFP after an AAC schedule, especially if they falter in the regular season again, but it’s an interesting scenario to watch.
The influx of NIL (name, image and likeness) deals for college athletes continues to change the sport. At SMU, for example, the Boulevard Collective emerged, an entity that will pay football and men’s basketball players $36,000 per year, and other collectives are starting to emerge that could help boost SMU’s fortunes and perhaps toward membership in the Big 12, or the Pac-12, should that conference look to start moving cross-country in emulation of the Big Ten.
Another school that is making big waves in the NIL scene is LSU, which just promoted Taylor Jacobs from compliance staff to assistant athletic director of NIL and strategic initiatives. Her team will no longer just look at educating players about the possibilities but will also construct tools that will simplify connections between athletes and fans or brands – and also work to facilitate NIL deals for players. This represents major change over the last 18 months, as the idea of college athlete amateurism would have made this seem like a major violation just a couple seasons ago. Now, though, the money is flowing, and colleges are looking for ways to help their athletes – and inflate their own revenues as a result. The chaos as far as transfer portal timing continues to need resolution, as players can head out for different programs once a year, leaving programs chasing players 12 months a year.
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