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10 Takeaways: Pac-12 is the week's big loser

Alabama, Penn State, Georgia and TCU make up top 4 of AP poll

The Texas Longhorns are dominating recruiting in Houston

Original: August 2017 I’m back from my vacation and ready to resume sending the Crootletter. There is a new No. 2 recruiting class in the country on the 247Sports Composite: the Texas Longhorns. Tom Herman is not playing around. Texas has 17 verbal commitments, and 13 of those are rated four- or five-stars. That’s an absurd ratio. The Longhorns have the top four committed prospects in Texas (Nos. 2-5), and six of the top eight. That is some serious in-state dominance. Seventy-five percent of Texas’ high school commits are from the state. The most recent additions are defensive tackle Keondre Coburn and tight end Malcolm Epps. At 6’0 and 329 pounds, Coburn is built like a fire hydrant and plays

Buckeyes embarrass Huskers in 56-14 debacle

Watch Boston College's A.J. Dillon throw a defender aside on a 75-yard TD run

Butch Jones on the hot seat for Volunteers: New coach coming at Tennessee?

The Tennessee Volunteers haven't scored a touchdown since Sept. 23, and that was in a game in which they squeaked by winless UMass. On Saturday, South Carolina downed Tennessee, dropping the Vols to 3-3 and now they have to head on the road to Tuscaloosa to face No. 1 Alabama. This could spell the end for coach Butch Jones, but before you punch his ticket out the door, you'll want to hear what the team at GoVols247 has to say. They've been covering UT athletics for almost 20 years and know the pulse of Rocky Top. They've tapped into their sources to find out where Jones stands. They know Tennessee athletic director John Currie doesn't want the Vols to be the test case for how a coaching change

New 130-team rankings, in which 2 teams look the best

Based on predicted strength going forward, here’s how the country stacks up right now.

Mississippi, Nutt say they've reached lawsuit settlement

The University of Mississippi and former football coach Houston Nutt say they have reached an agreement to resolve Nutt's lawsuit against the school. The Rebels' former coach - who led the program from 2008 to '11 - was alleging a breach of his severance agreement because of false statements he said school officials made during an ongoing NCAA investigation into rules violations by the football program. The initial federal lawsuit was filed in July during Southeastern Conference football media days.

Four-star RB decommits from Tennessee after Vols' loss

Four-star senior running back Lyn-J Dixon of Taylor County High School of Butler, Ga., announced Saturday afternoon on his Twitter account that he has decommitted from Tennessee. The 5-foot-10.5, 178-pound Dixon had been committed to the Vols since June. He made his decision known shortly after Tennessee's 15-9 loss to South Carolina on Saturday amid increasing speculation about Vols coach Butch Jones' future. "I have made the Decision to re open my recruitment to all Schools," he tweeted. "I prayed and thought hard on it and talked to my family before making this Choice.. ~Respect my Decision." Dixon is ranked the No. 288 overall prospect and No. 6 all-purpose back in the 247Sports Composite

Utah out front of No. 13 USC at halftime in key Pac-12 South clash

We’ve seen numerous top 15 teams lose, or come close to losing, and it might be time to add another squad to the upset alert. Utah has been making plays on both sides of the ball and jumped out to a 21-7 lead over No. 13 USC at halftime in a critical game that could determine the Pac-12 South champion down the road. At the heart of the first half was not surprisingly Trojans star quarterback Sam Darnold — in both good and bad ways. The signal-caller fumbled for a second time in the first quarter, allowing Marquise Blair to return it all the way for an 18 yard touchdown that put the Utes on the board with seven. The one-time Heisman favorite bounced right back and tossed a 52-yard touchdown pass

Pittsburgh kicker Ian Troost kneels during national anthem

JayhawkSlant.com

The offense and special teams picked the wrong to have their worse performances on the year. Why? Because the defense played its best game of the year on the road against Iowa State in a 45-0 loss. Iowa State moved to a two-quarterback system changing the styles for each one. Kansas defensive coordinator changed to a bigger personnel when the running quarterback Joel Lanning entered the game. They held him to 34 yards on eight carries. They also held the Cyclones leading rusher David Montgomery to 75 yards on 21 carries. “I thought our defense did a nice job of keeping us in the game for a long time,” Kansas head coach David Beaty said. The defense had nine tackles for a loss and three sacks.

LSU's punt-return TD tightens game

LSU D.J. Chark takes the punt return to the house for a 75-yard touchdown and inches closer to Auburn in the fourth quarter.

Leon Jacobs finally has a home at OLB for No. 5 Wisconsin

BlueAndGold.com

Notre Dame (5-1) kicks off the second half of its schedule on Saturday when the #11 ranked Southern Cal Trojans (6-1) come to town. The Irish ground game has fueled the offense through six games, averaging 308 yards per game. Part of building the offense and improving the offense is diving into the numbers and finding out what areas are strong and where improvements can be made. NOTE: The overall numbers won’t match the official statistics. Any run that isn’t impacted by an offensive penalty (like holding) is counted when evaluating a plays success. Plays where the offense takes a knee at the end of a half or game are not included. Let’s begin with the overall breakdown of the ground game: A

MW Women’s Volleyball Players of the Week- 10/16

No. 11 Miami escapes Georgia Tech on late FG

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Quarterback Malik Rosier found wide receiver Darrell Langham for a crucial 28-yard fourth-down completion to help set up kicker Michael Badgley's 24-yard field goal as No. 11 Miami rallied for a 25-24 victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday afternoon. Just a week after throwing the decisive touchdown pass to Langham in a 24-20 victory over Florida State, Rosier again found Langham down the right side. Langham appeared to catch the ball off his facemask as he tumbled to Georgia Tech's 15-yard line with just 33 seconds remaining. Three plays later, Badgley kicked the decisive field goal with just four seconds remaining The win kept the Hurricanes (5-0, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference)

No. 9 Buckeyes' tear continues with 56-14 win over Huskers

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett led eight straight touchdown drives against Nebraska before his night ended early in the fourth quarter Saturday night. The wind had kicked up and the temperature had dropped into the 40s as he stood with punter Drue Chrisman while the clock wound down. "It's cold here on the sideline," Barrett recalled saying. That's when Chrisman reminded him that Ohio State hadn't punted. "I almost wanted to say 'I apologize' to him," Barrett said, laughing, "but I didn't." The way Ohio State's offense has been playing the last month, Chrisman's services have barely been needed. The surge continued in the ninth-ranked Buckeyes' 56-14 rout of Nebraska,

10 things to know about Florida’s horrible swamp uniforms

Florida’s wearing some very unfortunate, alligator-colored alternate uniforms against Texas A&M on Saturday night. It’s not exactly the best way to bounce back from a one-point loss to LSU on Homecoming, but hey, you gotta try something! Anyway, here are some things to know about these, uh, things. OK look, I get what Florida was trying to do here — get some unique uniforms that are both new, but respecting a traditional part of the program. This didn’t accomplish either of those things. The idea behind these, per Florida specifically, was to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Steve Spurrier naming Ben Hill Griffin Stadium “The Swamp.” Twenty-five years after Ben Hill Griffin Stadium became

Another Debacle in the Desert

All I have thought about during this game was 2011. In 2011, an embattled UCLA team came out of their bye week with a road game against Arizona. The Rick Neuheisel-led Bruins proceeded to get blown out by an Arizona team that ended up being decidedly-mediocre. The capper was a brawl near the end of the first half as the Bruins were down 42-7. It was the turning point for many fans who were on the fence as far as Neuheisel’s long-term prospects as UCLA head coach. I wasn’t writing for Bruins Nation at that time; if anything, I was barely commenting, and more of a casual reader. So I went back and checked out some of the articles from after that game. Former writer freesia39 had this to say in

Ranking the Power 5 conferences by entertainment value

Mark Schlabach ESPN Senior Writer Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Follow on Twitter The second half of the 2017 college football season started with an Ed Orgeron-like howl. Seven ranked teams, including four in the top 10, went down. Five previously undefeated teams are unbeaten no more, including defending national champion Clemson. After seven weeks, there are only eight unbeaten teams remaining, including six from Power 5 conferences. It's hard to know what to expect from the rest of the regular season. Usually by now you have a good idea of which conference is best. After Week 7, it's hard to say. ESPN's

Saint Juste, Hawaii beat San Jose State, snap 4-game skid

HONOLULU (AP) -- Diocemy Saint Juste had school-record 39 carries for 202 yards and two touchdowns to help Hawaii snap a four-game skid and beat San Jose State 37-26 Saturday night. Dru Brown threw for 173 yards and a score and his backup, Cole McDonald

Kirk comes up big late, helps Texas A&M beat Florida 19-17

Maryland’s defense was overwhelmed in loss to Northwestern

Maryland football suffered a 37-21 home loss to Northwestern on Saturday. The Terps were within striking distance until late in the fourth quarter, when a Wildcats touchdown put the game on ice. It’s a wonder things were that close. Northwestern gained 531 total offensive yards—293 through the air and 238 on the ground—marking the second straight week Maryland’s defense has surrendered at least 500 yards. The Wildcats converted 10 of 21 third downs and, even more crucial, 3 of 4 fourth downs. Had it not been for two interceptions, including one by cornerback JC Jackson in the end zone, this would have been a rout. Maryland couldn’t pressure Northwestern’s backfield, finishing its fourth straight

Tomorrow's Top 25 Today: Ohio State, Miami benefit as three top-10 teams fall

Weeks like this reinforce the fluidity of college football rankings. The new polls will come out Sunday, dictating the reaction to three of the top 10 teams taking road losses in Week 7. Voters will drop those teams in their ballots, but there's no expectation that Clemson Tigers or Washington State Cougars will fall out of the rankings after losing on Friday night. There's no way to take them out of the picture when both teams are still in the College Football Playoff hunt.  There's less room for error and even more pressure on head-to-head games against division foes, but any team with one loss or less in the conference championship hunt still has a shot. Clemson will no longer be a top-five