Random Thoughts Week 16: Army-Navy Gave Us Another Thriller

If this doesn’t give you goosebumps, call 911. Army-Navy served up another classic.

AMERICA’S GAME: Navy 17 Army 16 – It was another wild amazing game with the Middies coming out on top. This match-up started out just about as expected.

Navy had a scoring drive that took up 7:44 of the first quarter. Army’s first possession of the game produced an identical 13 play, 75 yard drive that concluded with a tying touchdown that actually occurred in the second quarter.

Midshipman QB Blake Horvath had a tough time hanging onto the ball, fumbling three times but losing only one. The one he lost led to a Black Knights field goal and a 13-7 halftime advantage for Army.

In the 4th quarter up 16-10, Army threw a costly interception that would lead to Navy driving to the goal line and set up a wacky sequence of events.

Following the go-ahead score, Navy turned up the heat and forced a 3-and-out on Army to force a punt with 4:50 remaining. The Midshipmen ran 10 plays that craftily netted only 19 yards (with kneel-downs) but was enough to run out the clock.

With the victory, Navy claims the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy for the second consecutive season, something the Middies have not done since 2012-2013.

LA BOWL: Boise 10 Washington 38 – Gronk has a lot of nerve holding this game on the Saturday reserved for Army-Navy. The MWC champion Smurfs looked disinterested in winning this game and the Huskies dominated. Two Boise QBs combined to throw 5 INTs.

REALITY CHECK OF THE WEEK

REALITY CHECK NEEDED OF THE WEEK

Idiot ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips thinks that more than 12 teams have a shot at winning the national Championship this season. Truth is, that number is closer to three or four and it always has been.

NEAR DISASTER OF THE WEEK

Trying to run out the clock, Navy QB Blake Horvath fumbled the ball but remarkably recovered it and then tried to reach out for a first down. He again lost the ball but upon replay, he was correctly ruled that his knee was down before the second gaffe. The Middies converted the first down on the next play.

OH, DAMIEN

Seriously, Dame? Put down the bottle.

BLOWN COVERAGE OF THE WEEK

SORRY, MICHIGAN. AIN’T HAPPENING

SORRY, MICHIGAN. AIN’T HAPPENING, Part Deux

FAT GUY OF THE WEEK

SOREST LOSER OF THE WEEK

What an absolute classless a-hole this guy is.

FAKEST APOLOGY OF THE WEEK

Observant readers noticed that the long dashes (—) on this scripted apology gives away that it was written by AI/ChatGPT.

BULL RUSH OF THE WEEK

MOST RIDICULOUS ANNOUNCEMENT(S) OF THE WEEK

Southern Cal Football tweeted out a whole series of announcements of something that thousands of returning players do every year. They aren’t freshmen. They aren’t transfers. They are just re-upping for the next season.

AURA? TOO BAD THEY DON’T HAVE FANS

It was a pretty sad turnout for Washington-Boise in Inglewood, CA for the Not Actually LA Bowl.

THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE

Before Sherrone Moore could delete his Twitter account, interwebz detectives discovered this gem about him going to a P.Diddy party in 2018.

MORE MOORE

What’s that now??

BON JOVI FANS OF THE WEEK

LET THE WACKINESS BEGIN

NAME OF THE WEEK

SMU OL King Large who is 6-4/316 lbs.

STATS OF THE WEEK

• Army QB Cale Hellums had 82 yards of passing, one interception, 100 yards of rushing and a TD. Midshipman Blake Horvath had 82 yards of passing, one interception, 107 rushing and a score on the ground.
• As evenly-matched as these two teams are, the difference was Navy first down conversions with the Mids converting 11 of 18 third downs and two of two fourth downs. Army was 3-10 and 2-2.

THE WACKY WORLD OF CORSO BYE WEEKS

Even College GameDay needs a week off now and then. They will need the rest becuase they are double-dipping this weekend.

ADOPT-A-TEAM

• Georgia Tech (9-3) – The Yeller Jackets meet BYU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec 27.
• Western Michigan (9-4) – The Broncos take on Kennesaw in the Myrtle Beach Bowl Dec 19.
• Southern Miss (7-5) – The Golden Eagles did not look far for a head coach replacement for Charles Huff, promoting offensive coordinator Blake Anderson. USM will face WKU in the New Orleans Bowl on Dec 23.

COUSINS

• Jacksonville State (8-5) – The Gamecocks face Troy in the Veterans Bowl TONIGHT at 8pm/9pm on ESPN. Game is played in the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery.
• Troy (8-5) – The Trojans are a -2.5 point favorite.

SALUTE TO OUR TROOPS

• Navy (9-2) will take on Cincinnati in the Liberty Bowl, Jan 2.
• Army (6-6) faces UConn in the Fenway Bowl on Dec 27.
• Air Force (4-8)

ELIMINATED FROM PLAYOFF CONTENTION

Eliminated: Washington State, Oregon State, Boston College, Cal, Clemson, FSU, Georgia Tech, Louisville, UNC, NC State, SMU, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Pitt, Arizona State, Arizona, Baylor, Center Florida, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, West Virginia, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Sparty, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, Southern Cal, UCLA, Washington, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Miss State, Mizz, South Carolina, Tennessee, Tejas, BYU, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Duke, Utah, NOTRE DAME!!!!

In: Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia, Texa$ Tech, Oregon, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Alabama, Oklahoma, Miami-FL

Stupidly In: JMU, Tulane

A way WAY WAY too early look at the College Football Playoff (CFP) picture

PARTICIPATION TROPHY

• Tulane is a 17.5 point underdog to Ole Miss.
• James Madison – who is apparently better than Vandy – is a 21.5 dog to Oregon.

RANK ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM

Top Rob Reiner directed films:

1. Stand by Me (1986) – “TRAAAAAAIN!!”
2. This Is Spinal Tap (1984) – Reiner’s first foray into directing invented a whole new genre of film.
3. The Princess Bride (1987) – “Hello. May name is Inigo Montoya…”
4. When Harry Met Sally… (1989) – “I’ll have what she’s having.”
5. Misery (1990) – “I’m your number one fan.”
6. A Few Good Men (1992) – “You can’t handle the truth!”
7. The Sure Thing (1985) – The first lead role for 18-year old John Cusack.
8. The Bucket List (2007) – Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Nuff said.
9. Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025) – It is so appropriate that he came full circle with this being his final film.
10. Albert Brooks: Defending My Life (2023) – A real documentary this time.

R.I.P.

LET’S GO BOWLING!

Only one bowl game played so far. The B1G is 1-0. MWC is 0-1.

LET’S GO BLOWING!

• Last Saturday’s LA Bowl between Washington and Boise was the final edition of this ESPN content. Played in the Rams/Chargers stadium, it never really gained any local support as Los Angelenos are fickle bandwagon-jumpers. That factor coupled with the association with meathead Gronk, whose act got old about 5 years ago, put an end to this post-season exhibition.

^{The final Bahamas Bowl ↑↑↑ from last season.}

• Also going under is the Bahamas Bowl which was a gamble from the beginning. You have to give the good people of the Bahamas credit. They tried. After the success of the college basketball Battle 4 Atlantis tournament (Alabama competed in the 2019 edition), the local officials thought that they might try their hand at college football. But pitting two non-Powers in one game did not quite have the same appeal as a basketball tournament. Due to renovations at their local stadium, the 2023 edition was moved to Charlotte. Last season’s game back in Nassau drew only 4,610.

Krazy Kristi’s “SHUT UP!” of the Week goes to the Meatheads of College Football. What is this recent movement of pushing these dolts to the forefront of college football? Among this fraternity are the aforementioned CTE Rob Gronkowski, Theo Von, the trashy lunkhead Pavia brothers, blabbermouth jerk Dave Portnoy and most everyone associated with Barstool. Who exactly do the networks think these guys are appealing to? Women looking for wife-beater material? Steroids and tank-top distributors? Tanning bed salons?

HEISMAN HYPE

As expected, the good not great Indy QB won because of a high pass he threw against 6-6 Penn State that was a spectacular grab by the receiver. And also because his team went 12-0 (But SHHHH don’t look at the schedule!!).

Surprisingly, first class d-bag Pavia came in second. I’d be willing to bet if they re-voted, that jerk would not even be top 5.

Odds per FanDuel:

1. Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana — 2,362 points (643 first-place votes)
2. Diego Pavia, QB, Vanderbilt — 1,435 points (189)
3. Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame — 719 points (46)
4. Julian Sayin, QB, Ohio State — 432 points (8)
5. Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Texas Tech — 295 points (17)
6. Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State — 84 points (4)
7. Gunner Stockton, QB, Georgia — 43 points (3)
8. Trinidad Chambliss, QB, Ole Miss — 23 points (2)
9. Caleb Downs, DB, Ohio State — 22 points (2)
10. Haynes King, QB, Georgia Tech — 18 points (2)

THE SICK REPORT

• Indiana took a HUGE hit when star defensive end Stephen Daley suffered an injury during the Big Ten championship postgame celebration. The senior had 5.5 sacks and 19 TFLs.
• First-team All-ACC WR Chris Bell suffered a torn ACL in the Louisville’s 38-6 loss at SMU on Nov. 22. He had 917 yards and 6 TDs in 11 games in this his senior season.

QUIT REPORT

• USF star QB Byrum Brown will not play in the Cure Bowl. He has one more year of eligibility but it sounds like he might try his luck in the NFL Draft.
• Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik will be among a handful of veterans intent on playing in the Pinstripe Bowl against Penn State, coach Dabo Swinney said Monday, but more than two dozen others will sit out. Among them is All-ACC first team receiver Antonio Williams. On defense, Clemson will be without a host of stars, including fellow All-ACC first teamers and NFL draft hopefuls Avieon Terrell, Peter Woods, and T.J. Parker. Starting safety Khalil Barnes, who plans to transfer, will not be with the team.
• Texas has been hit with shocking wave of defensive opt-outs ahead of Citrus Bowl. The list includes LB Anthony Hill, S Michael Taaffe, CB Malik Muhammad, DE Ethan Burke, LB/DE Trey Moore. and CB Jaylon Guilbeau.
• Tennessee will be without leading tackler Arion Carter and leading receiver Chris Brazzell.
• ECU quarterback Katin Houser will opt out of the upcoming Military Bowl and plans to transfer. Who the F names their son “Katin”?
  

NOT QUITTING REPORT

• South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers has indicated to his coaches that he plans to return for his redshirt junior season. It sounds he wisely took some good advice from people looking out for his best interest. He suuuuucked this year and needs 2026 to get better if he wants any hope of getting drafted on Day 1.
• Arch Manning says he is coming back to Texas for 2026.
• It’s a big win for Maryland coach Mike Locksley as quarterback Malik Washington has announced he will return to the Terrapins for the 2026 season.
• Quarterback Luke Altmyer said he plans to play in Illinois’ bowl game.
• NC State travels to Tampa, Florida, where they will play Memphis in the Gasparilla Bowl. Despite a disappoint 7-5 record, the Wolfpack is expecting every player to participate. Respect.

PORTALLING

• As of Sunday, Auburn has 12 players who have announced they will transfer out, including WRs Malcolm Simmons and Perry Thompson.
• The nation’s leading yardage receiver (1,291) San Jose Cuervo State’s Danny Scudero intends to enter transfer portal.
• A name you may not be familiar with but probably should be is Cincinnati QB Brendan Sorsby. He will be looking for a new home after a 2,800 yard, 27 TD effort in 2025. He threw only 5 picks and was sacked a tiny 7 times.
• Interception machine DJ Lagway plans to portal off his Florida realm. He’ll look great in Liberty blue and red.
• Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles came to East Lansing from Oregon State with coach Jonathan Smith. With the coach fired, the junior QB will entering the Transfer Portal with one year of eligibility remaining.
• Lazy ass Jehiem Oatis is back in the Quitter Hole after one lackadaisical season with Deion’s Disaster in Colorado. That dude continues to regress.
• It’s ironic that the day after his man crush tore an ACL, Big Lots Patrick Mahomes quarterback Dylan Raiola wants out of Nebraska. He and Matt Rhule were the great hope that the Cornhuskers would finally FINALLY get back to respectability and relevancy. Two seven win seasons later, it doesn’t look like that will happen and may not ever.

GET A JOB

This loser was in the same recruiting class as Bryce Young, now in his third NFL season.

POLICE BLOTTER

• Another day, another Georgia football player in trouble with the law. Starting offensive guard Dontrell Glover and reserve running back Bo Walker were arrested on charges of theft by shoplifting, a misdemeanor. Ya think Kirby Smart gonna suspend them?? Fat chance.

DRAMARAMA

• Lane Kiffin must be so happy right now. He has been bumped from top of the list as the most scorned college football coaches in favor of horny old Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore. Even Mel Tucker thinks this guy is a perv. It makes you wonder what would have happened had the Wolverines defeated anOhio State and made the CFP field. Would this news be breaking? Some very respected news outlets have claimed that UM knew about this affair, with one unnamed source calling it Michigan’s “worst-kept secret”. The speculation is that the administration was holding onto this information like an ace in their pocket to see how the season played out. If things went South on the field, they could fire him “with cause”. The last two seasons under Moore have been rather blah at 16–8 and 11–6 in the B1G. However, the two involved parties went ahead and did all the dirty work for the university.

Sherrone Moore Timeline of Shame

July 2015: Moore marries Kelli. They eventually have three daughters together.
January 15, 2018: Serial cheater and liar Jim Harbaugh hires Moore as TE coach.
January 25, 2021: Moore promoted to OC.
November 2021: Paige Shiver joins the program as an on-campus recruiting and football operations coordinator.
[Paige Shiver’s dad is Jeff Shiver, a longtime and respected “Executive Scout” for the Chicago Bears. It is unknown if he had any knowledge of the affair, but he most certainly has known Moore for several years through scouting the Wolverines.]
2021 of 2022?: Reports have it that Moore and Shiver started a relationship, one that was recently described as having been going on for “several years”.
August 21, 2023: Moore is suspended for Michigan’s season-opening win over East Carolina (Sept 2) for involvement in recruiting infractions unrelated to the sign-stealing scandal.
September 16, 2023: Jim Harbaugh is suspended for recruiting violations and Moore serves as the acting head coach for the team’s third game of the season against Bowling Green.
November 10, 2023: Harbaugh’s second suspension of the 2023 season was the final three games of the regular season, this time imposed by the Big Ten Conference in response to the University of Michigan football sign-stealing scandal. Moore again served as acting head coach, all victories over conference foes – Penn State, Maryland, and Ohio State.
January 26, 2024: Moore hired as the Wolverines head coach, following Jim Harbaugh’s cowardly departure.
February 2024: Shiver promoted to Executive Assistant to the Head Coach with a significant salary bump, believed to be around 55%.
May 5, 2025: it was revealed that Moore would be suspended by the University of Michigan for the third and fourth games of the 2025 season (Central Michigan and Nebraska) as the sign-stealing investigation continued. Moore was accused of having deleted 52 text messages with Connor Stalions, a Level II NCAA violation. Goofball Biff Poggi served as interim head coach.
Summer 2025: University officials investigate rumors of a relationship between Moore and a staff member after an anonymous tip. Both Moore and Shiver initially deny the relationship when questioned.
August 15, 2025: Moore is given a two-year show-cause order and one-game suspension, to be enacted in the 2026 season by the NCAA for the sign-stealing case.
Fall of 2025: At some point, sources say that University officials reportedly knew of the affair.
November 29, 2025: Moore was allegedly DMing an OnlyFans model at halftime of the Michigan-Ohio State game. At some point, he offered her season tickets in exchange for one-on-one time, a proposal that she declined.
December 8, 2025: According to court records, Shiver ended the relationship with Moore.
December 10, 2025 (Midday): A UM staff member – believed to be Shiver – presented administrators with “credible evidence” of the relationship, according to the university.
December 10, 2025 (Afternoon): The University of Michigan fires Moore “for cause” due to the aforementioned evidence that he engaged in a relationship with a staff member (i.e. subordinate) – a clear violation of policy.
December 10, 2025 (Evening): According to prosecutor Kati Rezmierski, Moore allegedly entered the home of “a woman he had a relationship with” (Shiver), grabbed butter knives and scissors from a kitchen drawer and threatened to harm himself in gruesome detail (Yeah, that’ll win her back). He is later detained by police and taken to the county jail.
December 11, 2025: Unverified rumors make the rounds that Shiver is pregnant. Still unverified.
December 11, 2025: Reports surface that Moore follows dozens of other OnlyFans and Instagram (ahem) models. It was also alleged that he follows hundreds of “college girls, only fan models, and female reporters/anchors.” All his social media has since been deleted.
December 12, 2025: Moore is charged with felony third-degree home invasion, misdemeanor stalking, and misdemeanor breaking and entering.
December 12, 2025: Moore posts a $25,000 bond and is released with conditions including GPS monitoring, no contact, and mental health treatment requirements. His next court hearing is set for January 22, 2026.
December 12, 2025: Moore makes bail and allegedly DMed the OnlyFans girl again as he was leaving jail.

OTHER PLAYERS IN THIS TRAGEDY

• Arrogant Dickhead Warde Manuel also needs to be sacked. And not just because of the Moore and sign-stealing fiascos. The University of Michigan hockey program and the basketball program have also been hit with recent turmoil. In addition, a UM gymnastics consultant was mixed up in the sexual predator Larry Nassar scandal. The Detroit Free Press did a good job of laying out the highlights lowlights of Manuel’s tenure. You may recall this fathead piece of crap was in charge of last year’s CFP selection committee.
• As much of a cretin Moore turned out to be, let’s not let Paige Shiver off the hook. For “several years”, she was in a relationship with a high-profile man who was married with three daughters and likely coerced him into a higher salary. Men’s Journal did a thorough background on her and found that she is 32 years old. She is old enough to know better. Shiver is complicit in ruining the lives of those four females.

OTHER LESS DRAMATIC DRAMARAMA

• Might we have another coaching change on the horizon? Earlier this month, Ohio head coach Brian Smith was put “on leave for an undetermined period of time” following an 8–4, 6–2 season that had the Bobcats finish second in the MAC. According to reports, Smith was abruptly asked to leave in the middle of the workday and placed on administrative. Smith’s attorney told a local radio station that his client “still has no idea why” this actions was taken against him. No further details about the move have been made available. If there is some kind of scandal, last Wednesday would have been a pretty good day to release details so that it would be sure to be buried on Page 5.
• Center Florida head coach Scott Frost is suing Nebraska over tax liability tied to money he says he never received. Buyouts are messy things.

IS THIS WHAT WE WANT COLLEGE FOOTBALL TO BE?

When Nick Saban uttered these words many years ago, it had a completely different meaning. Since then, it has become the catch-all for the ridiculous and awful ways that self-serving interlopers have tried to ruin the sport we love. Saban had always been a proponent of a 9-game SEC schedule and all Power teams playing other Power teams. However, the landscape has changed with all the conference jumping and now the bozos in charge of the College Football Playoff with their bizarre hazy criteria. One thing was made perfectly clear by the CFP Committee: they value record over strength of schedule. Thus, we have Indiana and anOhio State at Nos. 1 and 2. The repercussions if this is that Power programs are shedding previously scheduled out-of-conference games of intriguing value in favor of cupcakes.

• Georgia announced that Louisville agreed to cancel a home-and-home series starting in 2026. The Bulldogs also said NC State agreed to cancel its home-and-home series for the 2033 and 2034 seasons.
• Texas A&M has added a home contest against The Citadel.
• LSU recently inked a deal with Louisiana Tech.
• Auburn will host Samford at home on the Saturday before the 2026 Iron Bowl. The War Tigers have added home games with Austin Peay (2027), Georgia Southern (2028), Troy (2031) & North Alabama (2032).

KOACHES KORNER

• Coaching Carousel:
  • Arkansas > Ryan Silverfield
  • Auburn > Alex Golesh
  • Cal > Tosh Lupoi
  • Coastal Carolina > Ryan Beard
  • Colorado State > Jim Mora, The Younger
  • Florida > Jon Sumrall
  • JMU > Billy Napier
  • K-State > Collin Klein
  • Kent State > Mark Carney
  • Kentucky > Will Stein
  • LSU > Lane Kiffin
  • Memphis > Charles Huff
  • Michigan – NEW
  • Michigan State > Pat Fitzgerald
  • Missouri State – NEW
  • North Texas > Neal Brown
  • Oklahoma State > Eric Morris
  • Ole Miss > Pete Golding
  • Oregon State > JaMarcus Shephard
  • Penn State > Matt Campbell
  • South Florida > Brian Hartline
  • Southern Miss > Blake Anderson
  • Stanford > Tavita Pritchard
  • Toledo > Mike Jacobs
  • Tulane > Will Hall
  • UAB > Alex Mortensen
  • UCLA > Bob Chesney
  • UConn > Jason Candle
  • Utah > Morgan Scalley
  • Virginia Tech > James Franklin
  • Washington State > Jimmy Rogers

• Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, the winningest coach in school history (177–88) and one of the longest-tenured coaches in the FBS (21 seasons), will step down following the Utes’ appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 31. This move was hinted during the season, so it should not be a surprise to anyone close to the program. Stewart Mandel tried to stir things up by tweeting that “Whittingham is not retiring, and could seek other coaching opportunities,” but that seems highly unlikely. An administrative position with UU makes sense.
• Utah defensive coordinator since 2016 Morgan Scalley will be the Utes’ next head coach. He played for the team and has only coached for Utah over his entire career since 2006. Many people close to the program long considered him to be the head coach-in-waiting.
• Southern Miss promoted Blake Anderson from OC, replacing Charles Huff. Anderson formerly was head coach at Arkansas State (2014–2020) and Utah State (2021–2023), and was an assistant at USM from 2008-11 before returning this season to USM.
• In Missouri State’s first season at the FBS level, 36 year old Ryan Beard led the Bears to a 7–5 record and a Frisco Bowl berth. With that success comes a new opportunity and more money for Beard as head coach of Coastal Carolina.
• Toledo has hired Mercer’s Mike Jacobs for their head coach opening. Not counting work as a GA, this will be the Ohio native’s first job at FBS level. He had some nice success as a D-II head coach before moving up to Mercer in 2024. Jacobs was 20-6 overall and 15-1 in the Southern Conference the last two years.
• Washington State is going with Mizzou OC Kirby Moore as their new head man. Like his older brother Kellen Moore, who is the head coach for the New Orleans Saints, Kirby played for Boise. After some GA years, he landed as an assistant at Fresno under Jeff Tedford and was kept on the staff when Kalen DeBoer took over the Bulldogs.
• Bill Belichick fired offensive coordinator and former Alabama QB Freddie Kitchens and special teams coordinator Mike Priefer. Jordon Hudson retains her position as gold digger.
• Jim Knowles has job jumped again. This time to Tennessee. Some thought he might get a HC job but he’ll make more as the Vols DC. He has a three-year deal that will pay him $2 million in 2026, $2.2 million in 2027 and $2.4 million in 2028. It seems like just yesterday people were whining about Nick Saban’s $5M salary.
• Old Dominion gave coach Ricky Rahne a 4-year contract extension. After four seasons of mediocrity, the Monarchs went 9-3 this season.
• Fat F*** Phil Fulmer’s favorite character in The Godfather is Fredo.
• I’m running out of jokes. Urban Meyer is a smug jerk.

TEEVEE

THIS WEEK

Wednesday, December 17

ORLANDO CURE BOWL: Old Dominion vs South Florida 4pm/5pm ESPN
MOBILE BOWL: La-Laffy vs Delaceyunderware 7:30/8:30 ESPN

Thursday, December 18

FRISCO BOWL: Missouri State vs Arkansas State 8pm/9pm ESPN2 – Butch Jones’s Red Wolves are 6-6. They will need a win to secure his second winning record in five seasons at ASU.

Friday, December 19

MYRTLE BEACH BOWL: Kennesaw vs Western Michigan 10am/11am ESPN – Lance Taylor!
GASPARILLA BOWL: Memphis vs NC State 1:30/2:30 ESPN

Saturday, December 20

CFP: #10 Miami-FL at #7 Texas A&M (-3.5) 11am/noon ABC
CFP: #20 Tulane at #6 Ole Miss (-17.5) 2:30/3:30 TNT
CFP: 24 James Madison at #5 Oregon (-21.5) 6:30/7:30 TNT

Point spreads per FanDuel.

Monday, December 22

POTATO BOWL: Washington State vs Utah State 1pm/2pm ESPN

Tuesday, December 23

BOCA RATON BOWL: Toledo vs Louisville 1pm/2pm ESPN
NEW ORLEANS BOWL: Western Kentucky vs Southern Miss 4:30/5:30 ESPN
FRISCO BOWL: UNLV vs Ohio 8pm/9pm ESPN

ALABAMA ACCOLADES

• The easiest decision the College Football Hall of Fame ever had to make was induct Nick Saban.
• Bama tackle Kadyn Proctor was awarded the SEC Jacobs Blocking Award, though he had to share it with some Aggie. Proctor was also named Walter Camp All-American and second team AP All-American.
• Bray Hubbard is a third team AP All-American. It’s amazing to think that Hubbard was a former high school quarterback who was planning to go to Southern Miss on a baseball scholarship (and probably a partial one at that) before Saban came along and convinced him he could be a great safety. If only Jaylen Mbakwe would have listened…
• The conference announced the All-SEC team. Proctor and Hubbard were named first team. Deontae Lawson and Ty Simpson made the second team, and Parker Brailsford is on the third team.
• Four Bama players made the 2025 SEC All-Freshman team: TE Kaleb Edwards, OT Michael Carroll, DL London Simmons, CB Dijon Lee. Carroll and Lee made the On3 Freshman All-American Team.
• Including walk-ons, 28 Tide football players did the graduation walk this past week: Cole Adams, Olaus Alinen, Germie Bernard, Cade Carruth, MJ Chirgwin, Wilkin Formby, Peyton Fox, Jalen Hale, Edric Hill, Nikhai Hill-Green, Isaiah Horton, Bray Hubbard, Domani Jackson, Justin Jefferson, DaShawn Jones, Peter Knudson, Deontae Lawson, Jay Loper, LT Overton, Kadyn Proctor, Jordan Renaud, Jaeden Roberts, Graham Roten, Qua Russaw, Keon Sabb, Ty Simpson, Dre Washington, Peyton Yates.
• Nikhai Hill-Green, Justin Jefferson, Peter Knudson, Deontae Lawson, Ty Simpson, and MJ Chirgwin all earned a Master’s Degree.

#ALABAMA

• DeBoer on Parker Brailsford, Jam Miller, Josh Cuevas: “Parker’s doing good. He’s been practicing. Jam, he’s making good progress. Just kind of continue to see how the week goes along. You guys saw him out there doing some things today. Cuevas, very similar to Jam. Making progress out there, doing some work. And really, I guess, you’re optimistic at this point. We’ve still got four days left. So those guys are heading in a good direction, making good progress, and continue to evaluate them moving forward. But you saw them out there doing some things today in practice.”
• We still don’t know what happened to LT Overton. DeBoer on him: “Just with LT, continue to monitor him. I would say he’s doubtful for this weekend.” All that anyone seems to know is that it was an “illness”. Reserve defensive lineman Kelby Collins had been mentioned in the same breath before the SEC Championship Game, but he is now back. The mystery continues…
• Alabama added another prospect to their Class of 2026 in JuCo DB Nick Sherman. The 6-foot-2, 190-pounds Tuscaloosa native was a high school teammate of Bama OL Wilkin Formby at Northridge. Sherman started out as a receiver than moved to defense. In 8 games this season, he recording 24 tackles, 1 sack and 2 interceptions.
• Tide RB Miller has agreed to play in the Senior Bowl.
• New Oregon State coach JaMarcus Shephard is bringing another Bama junior assistant with him to Corvallis. Analyst Kirk Barron will be the Beavers’ new OL coach.

2026 Alabama Schedule

• Sept. 5: vs. East Carolina*
• Sept. 12: at Kentucky
• Sept. 19: vs. Florida State*
• Sept. 26: vs. South Carolina
• Oct. 3: at Mississippi State
• Oct. 10: vs. Georgia
• Oct. 17: at Tennessee
• Oct. 24: vs. Texas A&M
• Oct. 31: OFF
• Nov. 7: at LSU
• Nov. 14: at Vanderbilt
• Nov. 21: vs. Chattanooga*
• Nov. 28: vs. Auburn

* = non-conference.

It’s a nine conference game schedule for all SEC teams in 2026. Additionally, all are back to one bye week. The double bye weeks of the past two seasons were not the norm. It was just the way the calendars fell. Not counting Week Zero, college football traditionally starts on the first Saturday before Labor Day and ends on the last Saturday of November. In 2024 and 2025, there were 14 Saturdays in that span. Normally, there are 13, like there will be in 2026.

College Football Playoff: Friday, December 19, 2025

#9 Alabama Crimson Tide (10-3) at #8 Oklahoma Sooners (10-2)

Norman, OK ~ 7:00/8:00 ABC

• Editorial: What can you say? It’s do or die. Alabama will have revenge on their mind. The Tide needs to cut down on mistakes in order to pull this one off.
• Oklahoma Coach: Year 4 Brent Venables is in the midst of his best season as head coach with Okie reaching their first playoff since 2019. The Sooners are 7th in FBS scoring defense with 13.9 points allowed per game.
• Oklahoma 2025: Oklahoma finished 6-2 in the SEC which put them in 6th place. The losses came at neutral site Dallas against Texas and at home vs Ole Miss.
• Series: Alabama is a miserable 2-5-1 all-time against the Sooners. Bama needs to fix that.
• Weather: Partly cloudy skies are expected with a high of 59° during the day and dropping down to 46° overnight.
• TV Announcers: Chris Fowler on play-by-play, Kirk Herbstreit as analyst with Holly Rowe and Laura Rutledge as sideline reporters.
• Radio: Chris Stewart, Tyler Watts, Corey Reamer on Alabama Radio.
• Vegas: The FanDuel point spread has Alabama as a 1.5 point favorite and 40.5 on the Over/Under.