College Football with Sam

Are the Oregon Ducks ready to compete in the Big Ten conference? Absolutely they are. Oregon Football is ready for the Big Ten because its culture is tough, its development and coaching are elite, and its players are talented. Oregon also returns 69% of its 2023 production and most of its staff, which is a plus. Oregon head coach Dan Lanning is learning from his lessons as a defensive coordinator...

Michigan has beaten Ohio State over the past three seasons by an average score of 39-25. In two of those three seasons (2021 and 2022), Ohio State's defense proved problematic as they struggled to stop the run both seasons and got blitzed by the pass in 2022. Last year, the Silver Bullets performed better on the defensive side of the ball, but turnovers, stalled drives on offense, and an extre...

The College Football Playoff Committee is already discussing further expansion to 14 or 16 teams. I think the current 12-team and potential 14-team models are full of flaws and that a standard 16-team model would be far superior. A 16-team College Football Playoff makes sense because it improves equal opportunity and provides greater competition. Under said 16-team format, bye weeks for the four b...

Penn State Football has won 10 or more games under James Franklin in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2023. However, they have not competed for a National Title in any of those years and they lost to one or both of Michigan or Ohio State all of those years. James Franklin's reputation as a bad game manager was solidified last season, with his offense only scoring 13.5 points per game against Michig...

Rutgers Football had a breakthrough 2023 campaign, and I think they will follow that up by winning 10 or more games in 2024. Greg Schiano has built a strong culture in Piscataway, and he returns 40+ 2-deep players from his 2023 squad that went 7-6 and beat Miami in the Pinstripe Bowl. Rutgers returns 74% of their 2023 production (good for 8th nationally) and they return great starting players such...

Tony White continues to prove his loyalty to Nebraska Football, staying in Lincoln despite both the San Diego State and UCLA head coaching jobs opening up. White's return, along with the return of 79% of Nebraska's defensive production from 2023, gives Nebraska great potential to field an elite defense in 2024. The first year of the 3-3-5 defense was objectively a success because the Cornh...

Yesterday, Sherrone Moore and Wink Martindale finalized Michigan Football's defensive staff, or so we thought. While Greg Scruggs and Brian Jean-Mary are officially a part of the team, Texans' safeties coach Stephen Adegoke has decided to not join Michigan and instead return to the NFL for another season. While his loss hurts, the Wolverines have another highly qualified candidate in Louis...

Sherrone Moore and Wink Martindale have finalized Michigan Football's defensive staff. Greg Scruggs, Brian Jean-Mary, and Stephen Adegoke have been hired as defensive assistants to replace the outgoing Mike Elston, Rick Minter, and Steve Clinkscale. Greg Scruggs coached the defensive line at Wisconsin last season and has won two Super Bowls as an NFL player while also reaching the CFP as the d...

The Big Ten and the SEC, the two most powerful conferences in college athletics, announced a week ago that they were forming an advisory board. This collaboration signals that both conferences respect each other's strengths and want to advance their visions of college football. Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, and Michigan are arguably the Top 4 programs in the sport, and all reside in the SEC or...

Co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale is leaving to coach at the Los Angeles Chargers as their secondary coach. Meanwhile, Michigan has hired Wink Martindale to serve as their next defensive playcaller. Martindale comes loaded with NFL experience, particularly with the Ravens where he spent time as defensive coordinator from 2018-2021. His familiarity with the defensi...

Bill O'Brien was Ohio State's offensive coordinator for about a month, and today he has been hired as Boston College's new head coach. Within an hour of this announcement, Chip Kelly resigned as UCLA's head coach to take Ohio State's offensive coordinator position. Kelly and Ryan Day are very familiar with each other, as Day was Kelly's quarterback at the University of New...

Former New England Patriots secondary and safeties coach, and son of legendary head coach Bill Belichick, Steve Belichick has been hired by Washington as defensive coordinator. Belichick has never coached in the college football ranks before, but he has a decade of experience on the New England Patriots staff. His defenses ranked in the top half of the NFL in all but his final year as the Defacto...

With Sherrone Moore being promoted to be Michigan Football's next head coach, a new offensive coordinator was needed. Yesterday, Michigan promoted quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell as the team's next offensive coordinator, moving tight ends coach Grant Newsome to be the offensive line coach and hiring UMass offensive coordinator Steve Casula as tight ends coach. The Wolverines lost 10 out o...

I often discuss Michigan Football and Ohio State Football on this channel as they are the best of the best in the Big Ten Conference. I will always hold a special place for those two teams, especially when they are elite. However, I want to spend more time talking about the entire Big Ten, and that is what we are going to do today. Nebraska, Michigan State, and Purdue are 3 teams with losing recor...

Today, I want to talk about how Sherrone Moore's hiring impacts The Game. Michigan and Ohio State are the two best football programs in the Big Ten, having won the conference in all but two seasons since the start of the College Football Playoff era. Now, after a 2023 season where Michigan won the National Championship and Ohio State lost to Michigan for the 3rd year in a row, both programs ar...

Michigan Football is going to hire Sherrone Moore as its next head coach to replace the outgoing Jim Harbaugh. It is only a question of when he is hired within the next week, not if he is hired. However, as defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh are likely leaving as well, combined with Moore becoming head coach, the Wolverines need a new offensive, defensive...

Jonathan Smith has assembled an elite coaching staff in East Lansing. The Spartans hired key pieces from Smith's old staff at Oregon State, adding Joe Rossi as defensive coordinator from Minnesota and retaining Courtney Hawkins as the wide receivers coach. To win in College Football, you must have elite coaches, and Michigan State Football has plenty of them, enough to make up a Top 10 staff n...

Nebraska Football ended the 2023 season on a sour note, going 0-4 in November after going 5-3 in September and October. The offense was porous, particularly in the passing game, and while the defense played at a great, sometimes elite, level, it could not hold its own forever. I think the 2024 Cornhuskers will be better than their 2023 counterparts. By how much? I don't know. However, I am con...

Former Alabama safety and 5-start transfer portal player Caleb Downs has committed to Ohio State, making an already elite Ohio State secondary even deeper. Jim Knowles' defense was one of the best in America last year, but with a plethora of talented players returning and Denzel Burke, Jordan Hancock, Lathan Ransom, and Davison Igbinosun returning at secondary, I think the Silver Bullets could...

I think Jim Harbaugh should do what is best for Michigan Football and leave for the NFL, parting ways with the University where he was a successful player and head coach. Harbaugh has turned Michigan into a football powerhouse, going 40-3 in the past 3 years and winning 3 Big Ten Championships and 1 National Championship in the same time frame. However, Harbaugh's demand for immunity from firi...

Ryan Day and Ohio State Football are gearing up for a 2024 season filled with high expectations. The Buckeyes are returning 11 draft-eligible players and adding 21 high school players and 4 transfer portal players from their 2024 recruiting class. On top of that, Ohio State has made significant staff changes, with Day opting to give up play-calling duties and Special Teams Coordinator Parker Flemi...

Nick Saban's retirement took the College Football world by storm, as most expected him to at least win another National Title before hanging up the headset. However, due to a variety of reasons, Saban decided that the time to move on was now, and after 48 hours, former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer was named his successor. I believe Kalen DeBoer will maintain Alabama Football's elite...

Penn State finished the 2023 season with a disappointing 10-3 (7-2) record. Most football programs would celebrate a 10-3 season, but Penn State Football expected to improve off of their 11-2 season, featuring a Rose Bowl win, in 2022. Instead, the offense regressed with Drew Allar at quarterback, Ohio State, and Michigan beat Penn State again, and the year ended on a painful note with a 25-38 los...

Who needs a National Title more, Michigan or Washington? Michigan vs Washington takes place on Monday, January 8th, at NRG Stadium in Houston Texas. The betting line currently sits at Michigan -4.5, in a matchup between two teams that play different styles of football. However, the differences end there, as both teams will be Big Ten Football programs starting next year, have elite coaching staffs...

Former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard is transferring to Ohio State. Today, I want to discuss what Will Howard Brings to Ohio State Football and his strengths and weaknesses. He has 48 passing touchdowns and 25 interceptions in four years at Kansas State and led the Wildcats to a Big 12 Championship in 2022. With Will Howard, Devin Brown, Lincoln Kienholz, and Air Noland in Ohio State's...