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

Buffalo Wins At Home Over Ball State In OT, 51-48

Buffalo QB CJ Ogbonna accounted for 5 total touchdowns last night, including the walk-off touchdown pass in overtime to RB Lamar Sperling.

Ogbonna finished 19/37 for 264 yards passing, 3 passing touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. He also added 55 yards and 2 touchdowns on 7 rush attempts.

Buffalo RB Al-Jay Henderson led all rushers in this one with 126 yards and 2 touchdowns on 27 carries. JJ Jenkins and Victor Snow led the receiving effort for the Bulls in this one, finished with statlines of 8/131/1 and 6/74/1, respectively. Sperling’s game-winning catch was his only reception on the night to go with only 2 rushes for 3 yards.

For Ball State, both of Ogbonna’s interceptions were courtesy of Ball State DB DD Snyder. At QB, Kadin Semonza finished 25/37 for 327 yards passing, 4 passing touchdowns, and an interception. Semonza also led all Ball State rushers with 53 rushing yards on 4 rush attempts which included a 53-yard rush.

Ball State’s next leading rusher was WR Cam Pickett, who finished with 3/37/1, followed by RBs TJ Horton (6/36), Vaughn Pemberton (11/25/1), and Braeden Sloan (7/21). So, the main RBs combined for 24 carries, 82 yards, and a touchdown.

Leading all receivers in this one was Justin Bowick, who finished with 7 catches for 148 yards and 2 touchdowns. Tanner Koziol (11/95/1) and Cam Pickett (3/74/1) were also strong contributors in the passing game.

Bowling Green Beats Western Michigan 31-13 In Important Game for MAC Standings

Bowling Green now holds 1st place in the MAC standings (at least for now) and is now one of three teams to have just one loss in conference play as the Falcons handed Western Michigan its second conference loss last night, 31-13.

After a second quarter touchdown gave Western Michigan a 7-3 lead, Bowling Green scored 28 unanswered points to win this game resoundingly.

The Falcons were led by its usual suspects as TE Harold Fannin Jr. went for 10/137/2 in the receiving game, RB Terion Stewart finished 15/150/1, and QB Connor Bazelak threw for 176 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions on a fairly efficient 15/22.

Bazelak also ran for a score, adding 11 yards and a touchdown on 3 carries.

The Falcons got to Western Michigan’s QB Hayden Wolff for 4 sacks last night while also forcing 2 turnovers, both interceptions.

Wolff finished 24/32 for 195 yards and 2 interceptions. In the rushing game, the Broncos were also held in check, finishing with 113 yards on 28 carries (4.04 avg) from its three leading rushers of Jalen Buckley (15/73/2), Jaden Nixon (7/24), and Zahir Abdus-Salaam (6/16).

WR Kenneth Womack (4/62) and Abdus-Salaam (9/59) were the most frequent targets in the passing game. This is now Western Michigan’s 2nd loss in-conference as the Broncos fall behind Bowling Green, Miami (OH), and Ohio of the teams with one loss. With two losses, Western Michigan joins Buffalo and Toledo.

This game also brings Bowling Green to bowl eligibility for its 3rd consecutive bowl. 2013-2015 was the last three year stretch that Bowling Green made three consecutive bowl games.

There was a scary moment, as DL Bam Booker was down and motionless on the field for 9 minutes. However, he did give a thumbs up as he was being carted off, and the ESPN broadcast did report that he was totally alert and conscious, and was moving all of his extremities.

Toledo Scores 37 Unanswered to Beat Central Michigan 37-10

Central Michigan opened its first drive with a 34-yard field goal before Toledo scored 37 consecutive points and ran away with this one 37-10.

For how rough this game looks on a scoreboard, both teams were 6/15 on conversion downs and Toledo only had 299 yards to the Chippewas’ 236. However, the major difference between the two performances was in Central Michigan’s 5 turnovers (3 fumbles, 2 interceptions) compared to Toledo’s 0.

4 of those turnovers could be credited to QB Jadyn Glasser, who finished 16/27 for 150 yards passing, 2 interceptions, and 2 fumbles lost. Toledo DE Anthony Dunn Jr. contributed 2.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss as Toledo sacked Glasser 5 times. DBs Nasir Bowers and Avery Smith were responsible for Toledo’s 2 interceptions, with Bowers returning his 45 yards for a touchdown.

The lone touchdown from the Chippewas was scored late in the 4th quarter by RB Marion Lukes (19/80/1), who led all rushers in this game.

WRs Chris Parker (5/52) and Jesse Prewitt III (4/38) were the Chippewas’ two leading receivers.

The Toledo offense was led by its QB Tucker Gleason, who showed off his dual-threat capabilities en route to leading all Rockets’ rushers with 66 yards and 2 touchdowns on 8 carries. He also was 13/23 passing for 136 yards and a touchdown.

RBs Jacquez Stuart (8/65) and Sevaughn Clark (12/26) received a majority of the carries for the Rockets.

In the passing game, 10 different players caught a pass despite only 14 complete passes with Jerjuan Newton (3/40), Zy’Marion Long (1/27/1), Junior Vandeross III (2/25), and Thomas Zsiros (2/22) leading the way.

This loss takes Central Michigan out of bowl contention, as they fall to 3-7. Toledo improves to 7-3 and technically stays alive in MAC contention at 4-2, but it will need a good bit of help to get to the conference championship.

New CFP Rankings

The new College Football Playoff Rankings dropped last night:

1. Oregon (-)

2. Ohio State (-)

3. Texas (+2)

4. Penn State (+2)

5. Indiana (+3)

6. BYU (+3)

7. Tennessee (-)

8. Notre Dame (+2)

9. Miami (-5)

10. Alabama (+1)

11. Ole Miss (+5)

12. Georgia (-9)

13. Boise State (-1)

14. SMU (-1)

15. Texas A&M (-1)

16. Kansas State (+3)

17. Colorado (+3)

18. Washington State (+3)

19. Louisville (+3)

20. Clemson (+3)

21. South Carolina (NEW)

22. LSU (-7)

23. Missouri (+1)

24. Army (+1)

25. Tulane (NEW)

Dropped: Iowa State (17), Pitt (18)

4-Star LB Thomas Davis Jr. Commits to Notre Dame

4-star LB Thomas Davis Jr. committed to Notre Dame yesterday over offers from Ohio State, Michigan, and other programs.

Davis’ father is Thomas Davis Sr., a 14-year NFL veteran who earned All-Pro honors in 2015 while with the Carolina Panthers. For Davis Jr., South Bend felt like home and he’s excited about how Notre Dame has a plan for developing players both on and off the field.

Thomas is not quite a consensus 4-star, because On3 rates him a high 3-star. But he ranks between 113th and 126th nationally on the other 3 recruiting rankings, with an On3 industry composite ranking of 167th nationally and 14th at the LB position.

This is Notre Dame’s 13th Blue Chip commitment and 24th commitment overall for a 2025 class which currently ranks 14th nationally.

Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia’s TRO Against NCAA Denied

Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia filed a motion for a TRO against the NCAA recently, but it was denied in the U.S. District Court of Middle Tennessee yesterday.

Pavia’s request for a TRO argued that he would suffer irreparable harm if he did not know his status before the transfer portal opens on December 9th as he was trying to secure more eligibility after playing at JUCO for the first couple of years, which therefore cost him a couple years of playing at the NCAA level.

The Judge’s ruling pauses Pavia’s efforts to get more eligibility – despite Pavia’s belief of a need for a hasty ruling – but it does not permanently destroy it.

Judge William Campbell wrote: “given that Plaintiff has almost certainly been aware of the challenged bylaws and his ineligibility to play college football in the 2025-26 season for quite some time and has been discussing possible resolution with the NCAA, the Court is not persuaded that an ex parte order is justified.”

Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava Dealing with Concussion, Cause for Concern He May Miss Georgia Game

Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava is in concussion protocol according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Thamel’s report comes following FOX Sports’ Chris “The Bear” Fallica stated that Iamaleava was dealing with a concussion and his status was that he was unlikely to play against Georgia due to it being “a bad concussion.”

Fallica further stated, “maybe my intel is wrong. Maybe he is fine, and hopefully for his sake and the health of him in the long-term future, I hope that it wasn’t a bad concussion.”

Tennessee Coach Josh Heupel said yesterday, “he was with us today. He had a really good day. Feel like he’ll be in great shape for Saturday, but you guys can monitor the injury report no Wednesday and track it through the week.”

Utah QB Brandon Rose Out for Rest of Season

Utah Coach Kyle Whittingham announced that QB Brandon Rose is going to miss the remainder of the 2024 season after an injury sustained towards the end of the game against BYU.

Rose joins QBs Cam Rising and Sam Huard as quarterbacks out for the 2024 season as just two scholarship QBs remain for the Utes. Isaac Wilson is still healthy and has spent most of the year as the starter, though, Rose had been starting recently after how Wilson was performing.

Luke Bottari is the other scholarship quarterback on the roster who has yet to appear in a game in 2024, but did play in two games in 2023 – including a start last year against Colorado. Utah sits at 4-5 with a remaining schedule of @ Colorado, vs. Iowa State, and @ UCF.

NCAA Puts USC on Probation, Fines Trojans $50k For Too Many Coaches

USC got a small punishment recently for having 8 analysts engaged in coaching activities from 2022-2023.

That small punishment is one year of probation and a $50,000 fine.

There are also a couple other small restrictions placed on the USC program: a restriction for a special teams analyst from practice and film review for 6 consecutive days during 2 weeks of this season, a restriction for the remaining analysts from practice and film review for 6 consecutive days during 2 weeks of this season, and a reduction in countable athletically related activities for the football program by 24 hours during the previous season.

Under the rules at that time, USC exceeded the permissible number of countable coaches by six for two academic years. It was found and agreed upon by parties that USC’s Lincoln Riley also violated head coach responsibility rules which allowed for this violations to happen. However, Coach Riley will not be suspended or serve any specific punishments because these violations occurred before the January 2023 rule changes (that would have automatically attached responsibility to Coach Riley), he was not personally involved, and he promoted an atmosphere of compliance.

Finally, because there was agreement that USC promptly investigated the violations when it was notified and worked in collaboration with enforcement staff, the NCAA settled on Level II penalties for both USC and Coach Riley.

2026 3-Star WR Kenny Darby Commits to LSU

2026 3-star WR Kenny Darby committed to LSU yesterday after recently decommitting from Mississippi State.

Darby was in the stands for the loss LSU took to Alabama, but he still loved the environment of Death Valley and the track record LSU has of developing wide receivers, going so far as to call them WRU.

Darby is ranked highest by On3, which almost rates him a 4-star and has him ranked 50th of the WRs in the 2026 class. According to the On3 industry composite, Darby ranks 450th nationally and 71st at the WR position.

This is LSU’s 5th commitment for the 2026 class, already, which ranks 8th nationally and 4th in the SEC, though it is still very early.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

3-Star (87) EDGE Xavier Newsom commits to Howard

3-Star (85) EDGE Jayden Fry flips from USF to Boston College

3-Star (84) WR Johnny Williams commits to James Madison

3-Star (83) OT Aidan Martin commits to Washington State

3-Star (83) TE Ben Cole decommits from USF

3-Star (83) LB Cory McEnroe commits to UC Davis

3-Star (80) CB Devin Brown decommits from FIU

2-Star (79) OT Michael Dean decommits from FIU

2026 Unrated OT Kole Seaton commits to Baylor

Unrated S Jerron Blackwell decommits from Marshall

Unrated DL Aydan Clinton decommits from FIU

Maryland TE Leron Husbands enters transfer portal