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.

Pac-12 Realignment: Utah State To the Pac, UNLV & Air Force In Air

At one point yesterday, it sounded like UNLV and Air Force were going to be the two flagship programs for the new Mountain West. But after Utah State announced it was headed to the expanded Pac-12, ESPN’s Pete Thamel is reporting that it caused UNLV and Air Force to reconsider their relationships with the Mountain West.

Now the expectation is that Air Force and UNLV will be in contact with each other, and very well may decide to make moves together. When they were originally going to stay locked into the Mountain West, it was going to be with the understanding that the 8 programs in the Mountain West would remain 8 strong. But with Utah State announcing almost immediately thereafter that they were leaving, that puts all of that in jeopardy.

AAC: Memphis, Tulane, USF, UTSA All Announce Not Going Anywhere

There had been reports of late that Memphis, Tulane, and USF were all in conversation with the Pac-12 regarding its efforts to expand for Pac-12 survival.

Yesterday, those three programs plus UTSA all made a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to the AAC.

The Pac-12 still needs to add one more program to reach eight, and from the sounds of it, it will not be coming from an AAC program as the top AAC programs will be staying pat.

Alex Orji Remaining Michigan’s QB

Michigan Head Coach Sherrone Moore confirmed yesterday that Alex Orji will remain Michigan’s starting quarterback.

Orji made his first start this past weekend, finishing with 32 passing yards on a total of 12 pass attempts. Orji also added another 43 yards on the ground.

Moore shared, “Alex will be the starter again, and there’s definitely more to his game and more things that we have complemented for him and for the offense. But I thought he did a good job of taking care of the football for us, which was the No. 1 thing we wanted.”

Moore also said, “there’s a good bit that we can add and things that we can do to complement the running game.”

#12 Michigan and Alex Orji host Minnesota this upcoming weekend for a Noon game.

Oklahoma Going With True Freshman Michael Hawkins

After a third turnover against Tennessee, Oklahoma benched Jackson Arnold in favor of true freshman Michael Hawkins.

After the game, coach Brent Venables shared that there would be a quarterback battle for the starting job, and already a decision has been made: Oklahoma is going with true freshman Michael Hawkins.

Arnold finished 7-for-16 with 54 yards, an interception, and two fumbles lost against Tennessee.

Hawkins finished 11-for-18 with 132 yards and a late touchdown which evidently gave the staff (and the fanbase) marginally more hope.

Oklahoma travels to Auburn for its first road game as a member of the SEC.

4-Star S Antonio Branch Flips from Penn State to Colorado

4-star safety Antonio Branch flipped from Penn State to Colorado yesterday after taking his official visit to Boulder this past weekend.

After announcing his commitment, Branch’s mother shared that a large part of the reason for the flip was Coach Sanders and defensive coordinator Robert Livingston being people who were enjoyable to be around and are the type of people who could best help develop Branch moving forward.

ESPN ranks Branch highest, rating him a 4-star and ranking him 25th at his position. The On3 industry composite ranks Branch 388th nationally and 37th at his position.

This is only Colorado’s 8th commitment for the 2025 class, but it does have 4 different 4-star commitments. The Buffaloes’ 2025 class ranks 75th nationally and 16th out of 16 in the Big 12.

Michigan TE Colston Loveland Doing Much Better

Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore recently shared that Michigan TE Colston Loveland has improved greatly after exiting with an injury vs. Arkansas State and missing the USC game.

Moore shared that Loveland actually near was well enough for the USC game. Ultimately the doctors determine Loveland should sit for the game, but that report should be promising for Michigan fans to know that their offense’s most reliable target is likely to come back soon.

Lane Kiffin on Importance of Coach-QB Relationship & Trust

After Auburn’s 24-14 loss to Arkansas, coach Hugh Freeze made some comments which were perceived by some as showing a lack of trust in his quarterbacks, when Freeze said, among other things, “I know that there’s people open. … we’ve got to find a guy that won’t throw it to the other team.”

So it’s probably no surprise that Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin conveniently took some time to discuss the relationship he has with his quarterback, and the trust needed for a successful coach-quarterback relationship.

Said Kiffin, “on the field, there’s a trust level there. We spend a lot of time with them and then let him play on Saturdays. I think that you build that, especially for a guy we didn’t recruit out of high school, didn’t have a previous relationship. I think it pays off when you have a relationship and the quarterbacks trust you too.”

Kiffin also recalled a game where previous quarterback Matt Corral threw 6 interceptions against Arkansas in 2020: “you go back to Matt Corral when he threw six interceptions and before I even got to media, sitting down with him and telling him, ‘we got to do a better job calling plays. I got to coach better. Don’t worry, we got your back.‘ I think that goes a long ways and it goes a long way with a kid in recruiting, knowing what they’re going to get when they get here from a relationship and they can trust us to have their back.”

Notre Dame CB Jaden Mickey Redshirting 2024, Will Enter Portal

Marcus Freeman made a fairly surprising statement during a press conference on Monday – true junior Jaden Mickey will be redshirting the rest of the 2024 season and then will enter the transfer portal.

Mickey has appeared in 28 games with Notre Dame, tallying 23 tackles, four passes defended, and a pick-six. Mickey also finishes with a total of 582 defensive snaps played across those 28 games, showing he played more of a rotational role for an impressive Notre Dame secondary.

Freeman shared, “Jaden Mickey made a decision that he felt was best for him. For me to do anything other than support him would be selfish. I wish him the best of luck. I love him.”

Oklahoma DB Kendel Dolby Suffered Dislocated Ankle During Tennessee Game

Oklahoma DB Kendel Dolby suffered a pretty scary injury against Tennessee, as he needed to be carted off the field and have his leg placed in an air cast.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables recently shared that Dolby suffered a dislocated ankle and he will have surgery pretty quickly to begin the recovery process for it.

Dolby was finally starting to pick up more playing time after being named an All-Big 12 honorable mention last season from Brent Venables’ “Cheetah” position, which is something of a hybrid defensive back role that places an emphasis on the versatility of coverage ability and run support.

Dolby has played 16 career games for Oklahoma, picking up 59 total tackles, 6 TFLs, 5 passes defended, 3 sacks, and 2 interceptions.

It’s unclear how much time Dolby is expected to miss, or if he will even be available at any point for the rest of the season, but more information on the severity of the injury or his timetable for full recovery has not been shared yet.

Clemson WR Adam Randall Will Miss Time with Broken Toe

Clemson WR Adam Randall apparently suffered a broken toe last week during practice, but soldiered on and played in Clemson’s game against NC State where he finished with a career high 69 receiving yards and also hauled in his first career receiving TD.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney shared that the team had known all week that Randall would need surgery after the NC State game due to the injury sustained before hand, but that he really wanted to play in the game.

Randall will need a screw in his toe to heal the stress fracture, but Coach Swinney described Randall as “always [having] ben a great healer.” Swinney shared that his hope is to be healthy in time for the game against Virginia on October 19th, and if not, to be good to go by the following week when Clemson has a bye week.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

3-Star (86) Edge Brandon Thomas commits to Western Kentucky

3-Star (84) OT Stewart Taufa commits to Boise State

3-Star (83) Edge Jeremiah Tuiileila commits to San Diego State

3-Star (80) WR Jermarj Bell decommits from Central Arkansas