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ACC’s Media Document Reveal: ESPN Can End Contract in 2027

The ACC media documents at the heart of Florida State’s lawsuit with the ACC have been released by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.

Though heavily redacted, what most of the conversation is centered around the fact that Provision 14.1 states that the agreement with ESPN may end on July 1, 2027, but only if ESPN notified the conference in 2021.

On3 and Warchant have reported that the August 2021 amendment the ACC commissioner signed was to gratuitously extend that deadline to February of 2025.

NCAA Launching NIL Disclosure Database with Teamworks

Launching a new database, the NCAA is creating a resource for student-athletes to connect with service providers and track disclosures of NIL activity.

The key impact this will actually have on college football, and college sports more generally, is what this will do to NIL collectives. Reading between the lines, the speculation is that, while the NCAA is pushing for this to be a resource to help connect student-athletes with opportunities, the real goal of this is to all but kill NIL collectives who engage in pay-for-play relationships with student-athletes.

On3’s CFP Predictions

On3’s JD PicKell recently shared his College Football Playoff projections and who he has winning in each matchup.

For his list, he has Georgia, Oregon, Miami, and Utah as the top-4 conference champions. Followed by at-larges Ole Miss, Ohio State, Florida State, Texas, Notre Dame, Alabama, Tennessee, and Appalachian State as the Group of 5 representative.

PicKell predicts mostly chalk in the first round, with one upset by way of #10 Alabama over #7 Florida State.

Then in the quarterfinals, PicKell has #5 Ole Miss upsetting #4 Utah and #6 Ohio State upsetting #3 Miami with #1 Georgia and #2 Oregon advancing over #8 Texas and #10 Alabama, respectively.

With semifinal matchups of #1 Georgia v. #5 Ole Miss and #2 Oregon v. #6 Ohio State, PicKell projects a #1 vs. #2 matchup, with Georgia triumphing over #2 Oregon.

ESPN Ranks Most Likely CFP Teams

ESPN recently ranked the Top 30 teams which are best positioned to make the new 12-team College Football Playoff for 2024.

At the top of the list is Georgia (79.1%), followed by Oregon (76%), Texas (67.8%), Ohio State (67.2%), Penn State (59.1%), and Notre Dame (59.1%).

Then there is a string of SEC teams, with Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, and Oklahoma rounding out the Top 10.

8 more teams have above a 20% chance: Florida State, Michigan, Clemson, LSU, Kansas, Texas A&M, Ole Miss.

Then, a string of ACC teams: Louisville, Miami, and SMU.

Finally, rounding out the list is Boise State, Arizona, UTSA, NC State, Auburn, USC, Oklahoma State, Utah, and Texas Tech.

ACC’s Preseason Awards, All-Conference Team

170 media members voted recently for the ACC Preseason Player of the Year and the All-Conference team.

Miami transfer QB Cam Ward was named the Preseason Player of the Year, receiving almost twice as many votes (71) as the runner-up, North Carolina RB Omarion Hampton (38).

Looking at the All-Conference team, Clemson LB Barrett Carter received the most votes with 129, followed by NC State WR KC Concepcion (119), and North Carolina RB Omarion Hampton (114).

12 of 17 ACC teams were represented in the singular All-Conference team announced, with Boston College, Duke, Georgia Tech, Pitt, and Wake Forest not represented.

On3’s SEC Predictions

On3’s JD PicKell recently shared his SEC predictions.

PicKell described the SEC as the deepest conference in college football, and he listed 7 teams as his teams to watch in the conference based on experience, schedule, and depth: Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss, Missouri, Alabama, Tennessee, and LSU.

For the conference title, PicKell projects Georgia facing Ole Miss, who he believes will only lose once – against Georgia – to set up a rematch in the SEC Championship, which he believes Georgia wins again.

On3’s Big Ten Predictions

On3’s JD PicKell made his Big Ten predictions for the season, which he sees as having two clear favorites in Oregon and Ohio State.

PicKell narrowly gives the edge to Oregon over Ohio State, but thinks that it’s going to be a close game that will come down to who is the more physical team and who has more depth.

He further named a few other teams which he believed might have a chance depending on a key factor or two. For Michigan, it’s going to come down to QB play. For Penn State, will it have an explosive offense? For USC, what does the defense look like? For Iowa, can it score points on offense? For Nebraska, can it finally start winning close games? For Wisconsin, can it look like a Luke Fickell-type team fans became accustomed to at Cincinnati?

Rara Thomas Dismissed from Georgia’s Program

Kirby Smart recently dismissed Rara Thomas from Georgia following Thomas’ arrest last week for two misdemeanor battery charges and one felony cruelty to children charge.

Smart said that he had a chance to sit down and speak with Thomas, and explained Thomas could no longer be a part of the team. Thomas also previously faced issues when he was arrested last year for a misdemeanor count of family violence and a felony account of false imprisonment.

By entering a pretrial diversion program and completing anger management and community service, Thomas was able to have the charges dropped last time.

On3’s ACC Predictions

On3’s JD PicKell continued with his Power 4 predictions by going through his ACC projections for 2024.

He listed two tiers, essentially, in the ACC based on roster talent. At the top was Miami, Clemson, and Florida State, with NC State, Virginia Tech, Syracuse, and SMU all in that next level below who could threaten to make the conference championship if a couple games break the right way.

Ultimately, of the Big 3 in the conference, he thinks that Clemson was not convincing enough on offense last year to trust that they can make it to the conference championship over Miami and Florida State.

And while he believes Florida State has something to prove, he thinks that Miami’s roster is too versatile and dynamic to be stopped from winning its first ACC title since joining the conference.

On3’s Big 12 Predictions

The final of On3’s Power 4 conference predictions, JD PicKell also predicted the Big 12 results.

One team PicKell spoke on was Arizona, who he likes how much returning production the Wildcats are bringing back.

Then he also sees two large groups in the Big 12: a gritty group and a group whose quarterbacks can take over a game, and possibly the season.

The gritty group has Iowa State, Utah, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State, who all return many starters, are well-coached, and are tough.

And then the quarterback group is UCF, Arizona, Kansas, and Colorado, who all have dynamic QBs which, when healthy, make it so their teams are never out of a game.

Ultimately, PicKell has Utah making it to the conference championship, with Texas Tech as the surprise team to blow up and sneak into the conference championship.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

2026 3-Star (89) QB Jayvon Gilmore commits to Arkansas

3-Star (88) Edge/LB Nusi Taumoepeau commits to Stanford

3-Star (85) ATH Braylan McDonald decommits from Washington State

3-Star (84) DL Brody Whatley flips from Baylor to TCU

3-Star (84) ATH Nolan Anderson commits to Central Michigan

3-Star (82) Edge Vashon Brunswick commits to UTEP

Unrated WR Trae Stevenson commits to South Alabama

Unrated IOL Jaiden Brown-Demery commits to Akron