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.

YESTERDAY’S RESULTS:

TODAY’S SCHEDULE:

Betting Information as of time of writing

#24 UNLV Rallies in the 2nd Half to Beat San Jose State 27-16

#24 UNLV actually trailed San Jose State at halftime of this one, 16-10, but the Rebels were able to bear down and have a 2nd half where they controlled the game against San Jose State to win this one 27-16.

UNLV and San Jose State’s 2nd half drives could not have been more different, as UNLV’s drive went:

• Field Goal (9 plays/25 yards/3:39)

• Punt (8/32/3:39)

• Touchdown (5/74/1:30)

• Touchdown (13/80/6:20)

• End of Game (13/64/7:21)

San Jose State’s 2nd half drives, on the other hand, went:

• Punt (3 plays/0 yards/1:33)

• Punt (5/19/2:45)

• Punt (8/36/1:55)

• Punt (3/0/1:05)

The Spartans’ offense only scored one touchdown, as the other 9 points were scored on a pick-six and a safety, but to only gain 55 yards in the 2nd half on 19 plays and to only have the ball for 6 minutes and 18 seconds of game time is really rough regardless of who the opponent is.

On the game overall, UNLV outperformed San Jose State pretty much across the board, outgaining them 388-114, out-converting them on conversion downs 12/24-3/12, outperforming them on a yards per play basis 4.79-2.48, and outperfoming them in terms of total first downs by a 24-9 margin.

For the Spartans, no one caught more than one pass as QB Walker Eget finished 4 for 22 for 81 yards and a touchdown. Seriously, 4/22 – an 18% completion percentage.

On the UNLV side, QB Hajj-Malik Williams finished 11/20 with 131 yards, a touchdown, and the aforementioned pick-six. Williams also ran the ball for 18 yards on 11 attempts. For either team, Ricky White III was the only player to catch multiple passes, as he finished with 7 catches for 98 yards.

RB Jai’Den Thomas led all rushers in this one with 26/135/1, while Kylin James also found the end zone once for a statline of 10/48/1.

With the win, UNLV improves to 9-2 but still has a loss in Mountain West play, and will therefore need Colorado State to lose for a chance at a rematch against Boise State. San Jose State, meanwhile, is just playing for a better bowl tie-in at this point at 6-5.

Michigan State Scores 24 Unanswered in the 2nd Quarter to Beat Purdue 24-17

Michigan State beat Purdue 24-17 thanks to the 24 points it scored in the last 5 minutes of the 1st quarter and all of the 2nd quarter.

That scoring outburst in the final 20 minutes of the first half proved to be enough as the Boilermakers attempted to make the 21-point comeback but ultimately came up short.

Purdue actually outgained the Spartans in this one both in terms of total yards (338-296) and yards per play (5.12-4.42). But Purdue lost the turnover battle 2-0, and the Spartans were able to take advantage of Purdue’s miscues with a touchdown after a fumble lost, a touchdown after a missed field goal, and taking nearly 3 minutes off the clock and flipping the field towards the end of the 4th quarter following an interception when Purdue was down 7.

Boilermakers QB Hudson Card finished 26/47 with 342 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. The leading rushers were Devin Mockobee (9/14/1, also lost a fumble) and Reggie Love III (4/2), so clearly the running backs struggled.

Through the air, 4 different players had 4+ receptions and 47+ yards: Jahmal Edrine (5/87), Max Klare (7/83/1), Jaron Tibbs (4/73), and Mockobee (4/47).

For Michigan State, however, the offense was a bit more balanced, as QB Aidan Chiles was 15/31 for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns while also adding 26 yards on the ground. RB Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams finished with 85 yards on 18 carries and 3 catches for 18 yards. Leading receivers for the Spartans were Montorie Foster Jr. (4/59/1) and Nate Carter (2/32/1).

A scary moment happened in this one as Michigan State TE Jack Velling needed to be carted off and hospitalized after a big hit. Early reports seem to indicate that he is in good spirits, was able to watch the end of the game, and was only being held in the hospital for thoroughness and in an abundance of caution.

With the loss, Purdue drops to 1-10 and 0-8 in Big Ten play, without an FBS win for the Boilermakers. Michigan State kept its bowl dreams alive with a win as the Spartans are now 5-6 with a home contest vs. Rutgers next week deciding if the Spartans go bowling in Jonathan Smith’s first season with the team or not.

UTSA Runs for Over 300 Yards in Blowout Win Over Temple 51-27

UTSA kept its foot on the gas in the 2nd half, forcing two turnovers and three turnovers on downs to outscore the Owls 23-10 in the 2nd half and 51-27 in the game overall.

Thanks to big plays, UTSA outgained Temple by an astounding 240 yards (529-289) with 309 of those coming on the ground. Even though UTSA did not do great on conversion downs, finishing 3/14, and did not do great with avoiding turnovers, turning the ball over 3 times, Temple also turned the ball over three times and did worse on conversion downs, finishing 2/18.

Temple QB Evan Simon finished 13/32 for 219 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 2 picks, with Dante Wright (5/128/2) being his most popular receiver by a big margin. Both of his interceptions, though, went to UTSA CB Zah Frazier, who is now up to 6 interceptions on the season. The Owls’ leading rushers were Antwain Littleton (18/64/1) and Terrez Worthy (9/28).

UTSA LB Jimmori Robinson also had a great game as he finished with 4 sacks, a career high by 2.5 sacks for a guy who has been a regular player for the Roadrunners since 2021. UTSA also got a kick return touchdown from Chris Carpenter, who took one back 97 yards.

At QB for the Roadrunners was QB Owen McCown, who finished 20/27 for 220 yards, a touchdown, and 2 picks. Running the ball, Robert Henry (16/178/2) did most of the work, but McCown (6/75/1) and Brandon High Jr. (12/40/1) also contributed with touchdowns of their own.

In the passing game, David Amador II (7/63), Willie McCoy (3/48/1), and Patrick Overmyer (3/44) were the most popular targets.

With the win, UTSA gets to 6 wins and will make its 5th consecutive bowl, going 5 for 5 in the Jeff Traylor era. Temple falls to 3-8 overall as the Owls did not experience the dead cat bounce fans might have been hoping for following the firing of Stan Drayton.

Ryan Day on Indiana’s Success

Ohio State Coach Ryan Day was effusive in his praise of the Hoosiers ahead of the Top 5 contest later today.

Coach Day gave a lot of the credit to the players, saying, “I think the first thing is I don’t think their players get enough credit. I think Coach (Cignetti) has done a great job and they’ve done a nice job this year, but the players are the ones who play. And they have good players. And they’ve done a nice job of changing their roster. They’ve upgraded their roster in certain areas. I think they play very hard. They are well coached. And they take care of the football, they cause turnovers, they play well on special teams.”

This recognition of the Hoosiers’ special teams was an interesting note that Coach Day elaborated on further, pointing out that Indiana plays its best players on special teams, which simultaneously shows the value Indiana places on all three phases of the game, but it also shows the caliber of player who is out there and therefore the Buckeyes need to be mindful of fakes from, for example, Indiana’s RB1 being a punt protector.

Coach Day finally pointed out the winning culture that Coach Cignetti brought from James Madison, and how this is an unselfish Hoosiers team focused on winning, as he shared “the thing about (Indiana), they’re not worried about individual accolades or anything like this, especially late in the season. They’re focused on winning and they want to play for each other. And when you have that, you have a chance.”

SMU’s Rhett Lashlee Signs Contract Extension with Mustangs

SMU announced that it extended Coach Rhett Lashlee to remain as the Head Coach as Coach Lashlee has the Mustangs at 9-1 (6-0) in its first season in the Power 4 after also coaching the Mustangs to a conference championship last year in the AAC.

Because SMU is a private institution, the contract details were not disclosed, but SMU does have a well-earned reputation of boosters being willing to infuse money into the program to get results.

Steve Sarkisian on How the SEC Separates Itself from Other Conferences

Texas’ Steve Sarkisian was recently on The Paul Finebaum Show and he spoke on how the Texas program has adapted to life in the SEC.

The area that Coach Sarkisian remarked on the most was the depth of the SEC, saying “every conference has their top one or two teams, right, and that’s not different than the Pac-12, Big 12, anybody else. Where I think this conference separates itself is the middle and and bottom half. I truly believe anybody in this conference can beat anybody in this conference on any given Saturday. I don’t know if that can necessarily be said to be true in the other conferences around the country.”

Ryan Day on Injuries Hampering Ohio State OL: “Nobody Cares”

Ohio State C Seth McLaughlin getting hurt was a crushing blow for the Buckeyes after already losing LT Josh Simmons to a season-ending injury against Oregon.

McLaughlin suffered a season-ending achilles injury during practice this week.

Of all of these injuries at a position so pivotal like OL, Coach Day shared, “certainly, nobody cares. So we’ll make adjustments. You wake up the next day, and you move on.”

Coach Day also shared how the depth at all positions, especially OL was a priority, and for good reason: “we knew things like this can happen. It’s not the NFL. You can’t just sign guys off of waivers. You have to have guys ready to go because, again, at the end of the day, nobody cares. We’ve got to move on and we’ve got to win games.”

Arkansas TE Var’Keyes Gumms Plans to Enter Portal

Arkansas TE Var’Keyes Gumms recently shared and confirmed that he plans on entering the transfer portal after having been dismissed from the Arkansas team in October.

Gumms had a great 2022 for North Texas when he finished with 34 catches for 458 yards and 5 touchdowns. In 2023 with Arkansas, Gumms finished with 3 catches for 26 yards, and in 2024, he finished with 1 catch for no yards.

Back in October, Coach Pittman made the announcement that both Gumms and fellow TE Tyrus Washington were no longer with the team.

Former Arkansas WR Jaedon Wilson Expected to Transfer to UCLA

Arkansas transfer WR Jaedon Wilson is expected to transfer to UCLA after having visited to UCLA’s game against Iowa a couple weeks ago.

Wilson finished with 15 catches for 199 yards and 2 touchdowns with Arkansas, and now he is planning on heading out west.

In 22 games played with the Razorbacks, Wilson finished with 18 catches, 248 yards, and 2 touchdowns.

4-Star OT Alex Payne Flips Commitment from North Carolina to USC

Consensus 4-Star OT Alex Payne flipped his commitment from North Carolina to USC last night after committing to North Carolina almost a full year ago.

Payne visited USC last weekend, and the visit evidently impressed Payne as he now flips his commitment across the country. Payne shared that he initially thought there was no way he would head that far west, but thanks to daily contact with the staff, he said he could start seeing himself playing for USC.

Payne is ranked highest by 247, which ranks him 124th nationally, and the On3 industry composite ranks Payne 163rd nationally and 15th at his position.

This is USC’s 11th Blue Chip commitment and 22nd commitment overall for a 2025 class which ranks 12th nationally and 4th in the Big Ten.

North Carolina, on the other hand, is down to just one 4-star commitment and only 10 commitments overall for a 2025 class which ranks 66th nationally and 16th out of 17 in the ACC.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

3-Star (87) OT Saquon Miles decommits from Troy

3-Star (81) LB Carson Hageman commits to Air Force