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Good morning, and welcome back to CFB Roundup from CFB Home – the first daily newsletter that’s all college football, all the time with no bias, no slant, and no fluff.

Penultimate College Football Playoff Rankings

The Committee got together and ranked its Top 25 teams, and everyone* agreed its a great Top 25 with absolutely no controversy

*(this is not true)

1. Oregon

2. Texas (+1)

3. Penn State (+1)

4. Notre Dame (+1)

5. Georgia (+2)

6. Ohio State (-4)

7. Tennessee (+1)

8. SMU (+1)

9. Indiana (+1)

10. Boise State (+1)

11. Alabama (+2)

12. Miami (-6)

13. Ole Miss (+1)

14. South Carolina (+1)

15. Arizona State (+1)

16. Iowa State (+2)

17. Clemson (-5)

18. BYU (+1)

19. Missouri (+2)

20. UNLV (+2)

21. Illinois (+2)

22. Syracuse (Not Ranked)

23. Colorado (+2)

24. Army (Not Ranked)

25. Memphis (Not Ranked)

Dropped: Tulane (17), Texas A&M (20), Kansas State (24)

CFP Chairman Warde Manuel: #8 SMU Could Drop Out of CFP With Loss in ACC Championship

SMU checked in at #8 in the last regular season College Football Playoff ranking, with Alabama at 11th – the last at-large spot available.

And looking at where all conference championship weekend participants are ranked, the only game that could impact the at-large spots is the ACC Championship game between #8 SMU and #17 Clemson.

Some have argued that SMU should be locked in, at least partially because the CFP Committee in the past has shared that it will not punish a team for qualifying for and then losing its conference championship game, and especially not for a team who did not qualify for its conference championship game.

But, now that very opportunity is possibly presenting itself. Michigan AD and CFP Chairman Warde Manuel was asked if SMU could fall behind Alabama, and Manuel shared, “potentially, yes. And they can move above teams, as well. Again, it just depends on the outcome of the game.”

Manuel also shared that teams not playing are locked in, because there are no more data points for those teams. But for the teams still playing, there are still data points that can be gained.

“If you take, for example, Tennessee is ahead of SMU, Indiana is behind SMU. Tennessee will not drop below Indiana at any point. Neither team is playing. But SMU could move up, depending on how we evaluate the game. They could stay where they are or they could move down depending on the outcome of the game. But Tennessee and Indiana in this example would never flip. Indiana would never move ahead of Tennessee and Tennessee would never drop below Indiana because we’ve already evaluated them. There’s not another data point because they’re not playing in the championship games. So we don’t have anything else to add to the evaluation of those teams, so we can’t move them above or below each other.”

CFP Chairman on Alabama > Miami: Tide Performed Better Recently

With its recent loss to Syracuse, #12 Miami took a precipitous drop and is now out of the at-large picture as they fall behind #11 Alabama.

Chairman Warde Manuel explained the decision as follows: “what it came down to is as we evaluated both teams and looked at how they rank, obviously we think highly of both teams. One’s at 11, one’s at 12. But what it really came down to is Alabama is 3-1 against current Top 25 teams and Miami is 0-1. Alabama is 6-1 against teams above .500 and Miami’s 4-2. Both have had some losses that weren’t what they wanted out of those games. But in the last three games, Miami has lost twice.”

Texas A&M QB Conner Weigman Plans to Enter Transfer Portal

Texas A&M QB Conner Weigman plans to enter the transfer portal after playing in nine games for the Aggies in the last two seasons, throwing for 1,875 yards and 16 touchdowns in those games.

Weigman was a 5-star in the 2022 class but was benched as the starting QB after Coach Mike Elko made the switch to backup QB Marcel Reed.

Texas Tech Hiring Houston’s Shiel Wood as DC

Texas Tech is planning to hire Houston’s DC Shiel Wood for its Defensive Coordinator opening per 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz.

Former Tech DC Tim DeRuyter was fired after spending three seasons with Texas Tech as the DC. Wood was with Houston for just one season, but finished the season leading the Cougars to the 2nd ranked defense in the Big 12.

He’ll have a tall task of rebuilding the Texas Tech defense, as the Red Raiders ranked 133rd out of 134 teams with 305.3 passing yards allowed per game.

After Texas Tech’s OC Zach Kittley was announced to have left for FAU’s Head Coaching vacancy a couple days ago, this means HC Joey McGuire and the Red Raiders will have new coordinators on both sides of the ball.

Nebraska EDGE Princewill Umanmielen Entering Transfer Portal

Nebraska EDGE Princewill Umanmielen plans to enter the transfer portal after finishing up his second season with Nebraska.

Umanmielen finished this season with no starts and just 13 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 0.5 sacks, but he posted better numbers as a true freshman – 22 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 1.0 sacks, and 4 QB hurries – after being a 4-star recruit that was highly sought after.

Michigan OC Kirk Campbell Fired

After going 7-5, Michigan HC Sherrone Moore is making some changes to his staff, including firing OC Kirk Campbell.

Coach Moore shared in a statement: “After a thorough assessment of our offense, I made the decision to relieve Kirk Campbell of his duties and move in a different direction. This was a decision that I felt was in the best interest of our football program. I want to thank Kirk for his hard work and dedication to the university, Michigan Football, and our student-athletes. I wish him well in his future coaching endeavors.”

TEs Coach Steve Casula will serve as the interim as Coach Moore conducts a national search for the new OC.

5-Star OT Lamont Rogers Commits to Texas A&M

5-Star OT Lamont Rogers committed to Texas A&M after decommitting from Missouri on Monday.

The Aggies and Coach Mike Elko had ramped up their recruitment of Rogers this season, getting him to College Station for numerous visits, and that work paid off by landing the Aggies one of the top tackles in the country.

Rogers is ranked as high as 16th nationally, with the On3 industry composite ranking Rogers 18th nationally and 4th at the OT position.

With the commitment, Texas A&M climbs to 9th nationally in the On3 team rankings and sits at 6th in the SEC. Rogers is the Aggies only 5-star but is their 17th Blue Chip commitment and 24th commitment overall.

4-Star CB Kade Phillips Flips from LSU to Texas

4-star, but nearly 5-star, CB Kade Phillips flipped his commitment from LSU to Texas yesterday after committing to LSU back in August.

Phillips shared with On3 that Texas had been doing a great job pushing in his recruitment, and that “Sark is building something big, and [he] wants to be a part of that and have an impact.”

Phillips rates as a 5-star according to On3 and ranks as high as 23rd nationally and 4th at the CB position, but ranks 34th nationally and 5th at the CB position according to the On3 industry composite.

With the flip, Texas lands its 16th Blue Chip commitment and 23rd commitment overall for a 2025 class which ranks 3rd nationally and 3rd in the SEC, behind only Alabama and Georgia. For LSU, the Tigers are down to 19 Blue Chip commitments and 24 commitments overall for a 2025 class which ranks 8th nationally and 5th in the SEC.

Illinois Assistant and Former UTEP HC Dana Dimel Passes at 62

Illinois Senior Offensive Assistant and former Wyoming, Houston, and UTEP Head Coach Dana Dimel passed away in his sleep yesterday morning at the age of 62.

Coach Dimel had 35 seasons as a football coach, which also included assistant stops at Kansas State and Arizona.

Illinois Head Coach Bret Bielema shared this statement following Coach Dimel’s passing: “Today is a difficult day for college football and our Illini famILLy. Dana was an exceptional person, husband, father, friend, and football coach. He affected the lives of countless coaches, players, and staff members for more than three decades in college football. His influence on our program was incredible to witness and be a part of. His infectious positive energy had a major impact on me, our players, and everyone in our building every day. He will be dearly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife and family.”

Coach Dimel’s agent, Pete Roussel shared the following statement: “Dana Dimel passed in his sleep this morning. His passing is gut-wrenching. Dana was my first client over a decade ago and the single most enjoyable client to be with after a win. Some of the games he called at K-State were remarkable and he never cared about receiving individual credit. Dana loved his wife. He absolutely adored his children. He was one of the most positive people I knew, and he was unafraid of any challenge. He had an incredible zest for life, one that would make those around him smile time and time again. I will miss Dana more than words can express.”

Rest in peace, Coach Dimel.

All Commitments/Signings from Dec. 3-4 will be shared tomorrow… It will be a lengthy list.