Just an all-out dumpster fire. And it\u2019s only Week 1.<\/p>\n
The Big Ten replay protocol explained<\/p>\n
Bruce Feldman<\/p>\n
I have asked this question for several years without an answer, maybe because the answer was too obvious. But is it finally time to do away with conference officials? Imagine the added outrage if it were NFC West officials who didn\u2019t call pass interference against the Los Angeles Rams in the 2018 NFC Championship. \u2014 Steve M.<\/p>\n
A thousand percent, yes. It\u2019s truly embarrassing this is still a thing in 2026. It\u2019s one of the many college football governance things that have no logical explanation other than \u201cthat\u2019s the way they\u2019ve always done it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The problem is that it would require the conferences to voluntarily give up control of something. Because, as we know, no one is truly in charge of college football, not even the NCAA. There is a national officiating coordinator, Ron Snodgrass, who tries to set national standards when it comes to administering and interpreting the rules, but then each conference hires, oversees and evaluates its own crews. Which inevitably leads to inconsistency and accusations of bias.<\/p>\n
In a story Chris Vannini and I wrote last year about the state of officiating<\/a>, SEC coordinator John McDaid, whose purview also includes the Sun Belt, noted that his office alone has to evaluate the same number of crews as the NFL (17), so it would be impractical to expect one person or office to handle four to five times that many crews nationally. Fair point.<\/p>\n But you\u2019d think they\u2019d be more motivated to figure something out, given the billions of dollars riding on the outcome of college football games. Nothing is more important than the officials\u2019 credibility, yet they continue a practice that so obviously undermines their credibility, deserved or not.<\/p>\n And if nothing else \u2014 why on earth are conference officials working non-conference games involving their own schools?? They\u2019re lucky that game involved a MAC school, given the Big Ten and MAC have the same officiating coordinator. Can you imagine if that same thing happened in a Michigan-Alabama game where the Big Ten provided the officials? People would riot in the streets.<\/p>\n College football is the nation\u2019s second-most popular sport, enjoyed by tens of millions of people. Obviously, a game should never be decided by unsynced clocks. But if it does, the explanation should not come from the winning team\u2019s conference in the form of a statement that looks like the opening credits of a mid-80s horror movie.<\/p>\n A statement regarding the results of tonight’s game between Michigan and Western Michigan. pic.twitter.com\/DzJVN2ZLTc<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Big Ten Conference (@bigten) September 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n If Bryce Underwood continues his poor play, will this calm down the big spending on incoming high school recruits? They supposedly committed $12 million over four years on the kid, and it seems the juice isn\u2019t worth the squeeze. Shouldn\u2019t that make boosters think twice in the future? \u2014 Patrick B.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to see because Underwood\u2019s Michigan deal was such a bizarre one-off situation. Frankly, it remains arguably the strangest moment of the very strange name, image and likeness era. The benefactor who helped flip the nation\u2019s No. 1 recruit from LSU was none other than Oracle founder and one-time richest person in the world Larry Ellison and his sixth wife, Jolin Zhu, a Michigan alum whom no one knew he had married until Michigan\u2019s collective put out a press release thanking them for the Underwood gift.<\/p>\n As I watched Underwood\u2019s painful performance Saturday<\/a> (pre-Hail Mary), I wondered if Ellison was going to divorce this wife, too, for spending their money on a QB who seemingly hasn\u2019t improved from his first career start to his 14th.<\/p>\n Generally speaking, it\u2019s probably not the smartest move to make a long-term financial commitment to a high school QB given the bust rate at that position. The 2023 class has become something of a case study in that department. There were five five-star QBs in that class, of which only one, Texas\u2019s Arch Manning<\/a>, remains at his original school, and two, Jackson Arnold and Malachi Nelson, have been major disappointments.<\/p>\n The irony, though, is that at $3 million a year, Underwood\u2019s deal is already below market. The top QBs in the country are now making $5 million to $6 million a year. If he suddenly blossoms into a superstar over the course of this season, you could easily see his team pulling a Nico Iamaleava and demanding to tear it up, or else. Instead, depending on the language, Michigan may be locked into paying him for two more years, regardless of his performance.<\/p>\n Though I have to think if he gets benched at some point, both parties would want out of it.<\/p>\n \n Bryce Underwood\u2019s lucrative NIL deal remains one of the most notable deals in the sport. (Junfu Han \/ USA Today Network via Reuters Connect)<\/p>\n UMass, which went 0-12 last year, manhandled Rutgers last week, a new low even for Rutgers. Looking into the crystal ball, which of these two historically poor programs has a better chance of making the College Football Playoff first? \u2014 Matthew W.<\/p>\n I give UMass a better chance<\/a> of one day being the highest-ranked G6 team than I do Rutgers finishing in the top third of the Big Ten.<\/p>\n Is this the end for Dabo at Clemson? \u2014 Nicholas H.<\/p>\n Would Dabo retire? Seems like Clemson will never fire him, and I get that he took them to the mountaintop (twice!), but man that was just awful. \u2014 Max F.<\/p>\n As Dabo said Tuesday (while refusing to answer a perfectly reasonable question about his roster construction<\/a>), you get 12 games. Given the state of the ACC (1-4 vs. P4 foes), I\u2019m not ruling out the possibility Clemson turns it around and goes 8-4. And I\u2019ll believe it when I see it that Clemson would pay $57 million to fire its two-time national championship coach for an ostensibly decent season.<\/p>\n But the team we saw get annihilated by LSU did not look remotely capable of winning eight games. Clemson was entirely noncompetitive, even more so than its 34-3 loss to Georgia in the 2024 opener. Swinney\u2019s team gained eight first downs the entire night and allowed 309 rushing yards to a non-service academy. Then Lane Kiffin rubbed salt in the wound afterward by saying, \u201cI thought it\u2019d be like 35-7, 35-10. I didn\u2019t know they\u2019d be that dysfunctional on offense.\u201d<\/p>\n Clemson needs to start bracing for the possibility this will be more of a 4-8 type season, in which case this becomes a much different discussion than \u201cDabo doesn\u2019t contend for championships anymore,\u201d and instead it\u2019s \u201cDabo has run his program into the ground, and we see no evidence he\u2019s capable of repairing it.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s a particularly rough stretch fast approaching for the Tigers. In two weeks, they host North Carolina. You don\u2019t want to lose at home to the ACC\u2019s most dysfunctional program<\/a>. But given the Tar Heels at least beat a Big 12 foe, it\u2019s certainly a possibility. The conference schedule-makers did them no favors by then sending Clemson on a cross-country trip on a short week to play a Friday night game at Cal.<\/p>\n Say the Tigers beat Georgia Southern this week, but lose those two to fall to 1-3. Would you believe they then host Week 1\u2019s most dominant team besides LSU in Miami? And then they\u2019re off! Suppose they lose that game in a similar fashion to last week\u2019s, drop to 1-4 and then have to sulk in that for two weeks. That\u2019s when I\u2019d truly believe Dabo is toast.<\/p>\n At this point, I should mention that Dabo is only 56. But I have an easier time seeing him getting fired (which I would not have said prior to Saturday) than I do picturing him on a sideline next year wearing a Baylor or Maryland hat. The day he\u2019s done at Clemson, I assume he\u2019ll either start popping up next to Jimbo Fisher on ACC Network or coaching a high school team in Alabama. And if that\u2019s the case, perhaps the two sides could negotiate some sort of exit deal where he takes less than $57 million but gets to say it was his choice.<\/p>\n Dabo Swinney, Clemson are the biggest losers from Week 1<\/p>\n Manny Navarro<\/p>\n I know it is dangerous to read too much into Week 1 performances, but what grabbed your attention, particularly from the teams that struggled to put away lesser opponents? For me, seeing Oregon surrender over seven yards per pass attempt by Boise State, as well as USC\u2019s surprisingly developed passing attack the last two weeks, has me thinking that the USC-Oregon game on Sept. 26 might be more of a toss-up than predicted. \u2014 Tony T.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a fair assessment. I\u2019d caution that Boise State is much better than either of USC\u2019s opponents so far, San Jose State or Fresno State. But the Trojans took care of business, and their No. 1 recruiting class has already produced two instant-impact receivers in freshmen Trent Mosley and Kayden Dixon-Wyatt. I did not come out of Saturday panicking about the Ducks, but I admittedly did not expect Broncos QB Maddux Madsen to have as much success as he did. Though Boise has its own stud freshman receiver in Rasean Jones.<\/p>\n The thing is, hardly any teams we expected to be good struggled with lesser opponents. It was a whole lot of blowouts, outside of Oregon and Michigan.<\/p>\n I will say, I was not particularly impressed with No. 17 Washington against a rebuilding Washington State team. And Jedd Fisch already has a mini-crisis on his hands, as his top two running backs on Sunday, Jayden Limar and Quaid Carr, are already out with injuries. The next guy up, Troy transfer Trey Cooley, has only played in three games since 2024. The Huskies may have to lean even more heavily than they already are on QB Demond Williams Jr., who was their leading rusher against the Cougs.<\/p>\n But most of my big takeaways were how good some teams looked. LSU for one, but I was also at the Miami-Stanford game on Friday night when Darian Mensah and Malachi Toney looked like they were running routes on air. I have a feeling that offense is going to score 40-plus points every week in ACC play. Notre Dame will be the only team on its schedule with athletes to match up.<\/p>\n If SMU can get out of its own way<\/a>, it\u2019s going to be a force in the ACC, too. Either Florida State is painfully slow or the Mustangs are bursting with speed. They averaged 8.7 yards per play (to FSU\u2019s 4.8) and got 20-plus-yard gains from six players. Running back Kendrick Raphael (Cal) and receivers Yannick Smith (East Carolina) and Jalen Hale (Alabama) were big additions.<\/p>\n And here\u2019s one under-the-radar team: Colorado State. I did not expect Jim Mora\u2019s new team, with its 76 new players, to lay the hammer down on rival Wyoming in its first game as a Pac-12 member. Former Oklahoma State QB Hauss Hejny threw five touchdowns. Which was four more than new Oklahoma State QB Drew Mestemaker<\/a>.<\/p>\n Notre Dame fan here. Current get-in prices for LSU\/Ole Miss and Miami\/ND are $577 and $697, respectively. Other get-in prices for some games include: Texas\/Texas A&M ($585), Ohio State\/Indiana ($474), Notre Dame\/BYU ($597) and Ohio State\/Texas ($466). Has it ever been more expensive to be a college football fan? With all the $ flowing around college sports, surely we can find some room to be reasonable for the fans! \u2014 Jordan L<\/p>\n It\u2019s never been more expensive to be a fan of any popular team, comedian, band or anyone else who performs in live events. See: This summer\u2019s World Cup. That\u2019s because there\u2019s no such thing as \u201cface value\u201d anymore.<\/p>\n Almost every sports franchise\/venue now uses \u201cdynamic pricing,\u201d in which the market sets prices rather than the other way around. The higher the demand for the game (like the ones above), the higher they can set the prices, because they know people will buy them. And they do that in part because if, say, Notre Dame decided to do their fans a favor and price all those Miami tickets for just $50, brokers would immediately buy them up, turn around and sell them for $577.<\/p>\n It\u2019s particularly profound in college football because the vast majority of those major programs are filled with season ticket holders. And they\u2019re not selling theirs for the biggest games.<\/p>\n As a consumer myself for non-college football things, it\u2019s incredibly frustrating. Because there\u2019s no outsmarting the brokers. Sometimes, if you buy too soon, you find out two months later you could have gotten the same tickets for half the price. And sometimes, if you wait too long, there are slim pickings by the time you get to the game.<\/p>\n My best advice: Try to buy directly from the school when they first go on sale, but if they sell out, don\u2019t panic and immediately hop over to StubHub. The market is never higher than at that exact moment. Ideally, wait as long as you can bear because prices do eventually go down. Here in the Bay Area, even pedestrian Golden State Warriors tickets are ridiculously expensive, but a couple of times I\u2019ve waited and bought them in the car on the way to the game.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure the commenters may have some tips of their own.<\/p>\n![\"Bryce](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-06T013251Z_1833277142_MT1USATODAY29753248_RTRMADP_3_MICHIGAN-QUARTERBACK-BRYCE-UNDERWOOD-19-.jpeg\")
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