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.

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Betting Information as of time of writing

Marcus Freeman on Having Coach Jim Tressel As Mentor Ahead of Natty

Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman is set to take on his alma mater, Ohio State, where he played for Coach Jim Tressel.

In answering a question about his relationship with Coach Tressel, Coach Freeman shared, “I’ve talked to him recently. I didn’t know he was coming to the game. We don’t talk about things like that. We just talk about probably some – I’m able to ask him questions and he gives me his opinion. That’s probably what’s most important. Somebody that I hold very high, somebody that has experience in games like this, somebody that can give you a perspective from a previous head coach in terms of how you performed last game. … We talk often. But I know it’s a unique situation for him being that he is a part of Ohio State but also a part of my life. I wouldn’t put him in a position that he has to choose. But he’s been great for me all season long. I’m excited for him to be here.”

Ohio State Center Seth McLaughlin on Transfer to Ohio State and How it Helped Him

Ohio State C Seth McLaughlin suffered a season-ending Achilles injury a month ago, but he reflected recently on what Ohio State means to him.

McLaughlin was the center at Alabama before transferring to Ohio State, where his final game with the Tide was a game where he took the brunt of the blame for snapping issues in an overtime loss, which he described as the lowest point of his career.

“Love and support. To pick me back up from where I was, at the lowest point of my career. I needed a lot of love and support, (to) instill my confidence in me again. Just remind myself of who I was. I knew in my heart that I could be the best center in college football and I didn’t think last season was a reflection of that, what I could do. So just being in a new environment and a new system with new guys around me, I think I really blossomed.”

One of the most important figures for McLaughlin was OL Coach Justin Frye, who shared, “I said, ‘I don’t see a guy with a snapping issue, I see a guy that a little technique fix that we can get.’ Here’s how we’re going to do it and here’s how we’re going to ID it. Here’s what we’re going to do here. So I think he just really relied on him and his family, the love of football, and then being able to come back and do what he did. That showed on tape. It was just little things that maybe didn’t get caught or wasn’t looked at at (Alabama).”

McLaughlin also pointed out that in his experience, he is undefeated in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, dating back to his time at Alabama, “so hopefully we keep the record going.”

Marcus Freeman on the Underdog Mentality He Had in 2006 with Ohio State, What’s Different Now

Coach Freeman spoke on the mindset he had to have in 2006 when he was with Ohio State, playing in the National Championship.

“There’s zero motivation that is necessary to prepare for a National Championship game. I was a kid. I was a young person. I can’t go back and remember what was going through my mind, but we were playing for the National Championship, and I was part of a team, and I just wanted to do my job.”

Coach Freeman also pointed out how different he was then versus now, “that was then. This is now. There is nothing that I can use probably from that game that’s going to really resonate with this team. This team has to make sure we focus on preparation these last 48 hours, and when the game starts, we’ve got to do what we’ve done all year but probably do it better than we ever have.”

Penn State Transfer WR Trey Wallace Commits to Ole Miss

Penn State transfer WR Trey Wallace committed to Ole Miss over Texas A&M, Louisville, North Carolina, and other programs interested.

In 15 games for the Nittany Lions, Wallace finished with 46 catches for 720 yards and 4 touchdowns, and was the team’s leading receiver. Wallace was the top available WR in the portal, ranking 71st nationally and 19th at the WR position according to On3’s transfer portal rankings.

In his 4 years (the first of which was a redshirt season) with Penn State, Wallace finished with 84 receptions for 1,221 yards and 6 touchdowns, so he really took off during this past season.

Wallace heads to The Grove with one year of eligibility remaining.

New Mexico State Transfer OT Shiyazh Pete Commits to Kentucky

New Mexico State transfer OT Shiyazh Pete committed to Kentucky yesterday in a significant win for the Kentucky OL.

Pete has one year of eligibility remaining, and many believed that Vanderbilt was a possible landing spot, with Nebraska and Michigan the two favorites, reportedly in a two-horse race. However, Kentucky came in late to flip the script and land the tackle.

Pete missed some time with injury during the start of this season, but he is a 3-year starter that has played more than 1,800 career snaps and was First Team All-CUSA in 2023.

According to On3’s transfer portal rankings, he ranked 136th nationally and 14th at the OT position.

North Carolina Expected to Hire Bob Diaco as LBs Coach

Matt Zenitz of 247Sports is reporting that North Carolina is expected to hire Bob Diaco as their LBs Coach.

Coach Diaco was on the LSU staff for the past two seasons. He also has spent time as DC for Notre Dame and Nebraska, as well as the HC of UConn for some time, posting an 11-26.

During the early 2010s, Coach Diaco was one of the hottest names in coaching on the defensive side of the ball, winning the Broyles Award in 2012 as Notre Dame’s DC.

Dabo Swinney: Clemson Most Consistent Program

Dabo Swinney recently shared that he believes Clemson is the most consistent program out there, and he believes hiring Tom Allen as his DC to be a leader of men and a quality defensive coordinator is just the most recent example of this.

“You know, I think it’s important to step back from emotional things. And, you know, keep a good perspective on the good, the bad, but evaluate you always set your eyes forward on what you got to do to get better. We’ve been to seven CFPs in the past 10 years, six Final Fours, four final twos, and two national championships. And I’ve won this league 8 out of the last 10 years, so we’ve done a lot of great things, and we’ve created, you know, a high standard and high expectations. And so again, there’s not a program out there that’s been more consistent than us, and we’re really proud of that.”

Coach Swinney also reflected that it’s important to not let consistency create complacency, “but we’re always striving to get better. And each and every year we, you know, I try to do what I need to do to, you know, help us do just that. Keep growing, keep getting better. And it felt like I needed to have a change in leadership on the defensive side this year. And so, I decided to make that change.”

ACC Commissioner on Change to Format for CFP, Conference Championships

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips recently shared with a few reporters an idea he has for the CFP and automatic qualifiers, that was shared by CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello on X.

Shared Marcello, “Interesting idea ACC commish Jim Phillips brought up with a few of us: crown regular season conference champ and reward them w/CFP AQ. On ‘championship’ weekend, pit second and third place teams for a spot in the CFP.”

In considering how it would have impacted the ACC, SMU would have automatically earned a bye to the quarterfinals, instead of needing to travel to Happy Valley, PA to face Penn State. And then Clemson and Miami could have been guaranteed an additional spot that they earn on the field.

For the Big 12, it would have seen BYU and Iowa State battle it out for another spot in the Playoff field. With an expectation of expansion from 12 teams to 14 teams after only one more year of 12 teams is guaranteed, there are any number of possible permutations, with Phillips’ the most recent suggestion.

Ian Rapoport on Where Cowboys, Coach Sanders Stand

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, there has been no official interview set for Coach Deion Sanders and the Cowboys, with Rapoport saying he would be surprised if there were any official interview taking place.

Rapoport shared, “nothing scheduled yet with Coach Prime. I would be surprised, probably very surprised if something did, in fact, get scheduled. But that won’t stop everyone talking about it until he signs a new deal with Colorado.”

2026 3-Star ATH/EDGE Wydeek Collier Commits to Rutgers

2026 3-Star ATH/EDGE Wydeek Collier committed to Rutgers yesterday over Penn State, and also somewhat Florida State, among others.

Collier committed to the Scarlet Knights on his birthday, sharing that he plans to play on the edge because the defensive scheme would allow him to do different things and play more freely, which is something he likes.

Collier also shared that he felt a level of comfort with the coaching staff, sharing he liked “the honesty and the chance to compete. [Coach Schiano is] just a straightforward guy and he is honest about everything. That is what I like about him.”

The location also helped, being relatively close to Rutgers and still getting to play in the Big Ten.

Collier ranks highest on 247, ranking 22nd at his position, while he ranks 424th nationally and 34th at his position according to the On3 industry composite.

For Rutgers, this is the 3rd commitment overall for a 2026 class that ranks 15th nationally and 5th in the Big Ten, though it is still early.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

2026 3-Star (88) CB Marcellous Ryan commits to North Carolina

3-Star (87) RB Xavier Ford commits to Minnesota

2026 3-Star (84) ATH Luke Galer commits to Sacramento State

Unrated WR Keynan Cotton commits to Fresno State

Unrated S Marzeal Smith commits to San Jose State

Unrated EDGE Kani Smith commits to FIU

Unrated QB Christian Langford commits to FIU

Unrated ATH Jessiah McGrew commits to FIU

Unrated CB Christian Barrett commits to FIU

2028 Unrated QB Ramar Thomas commits to Boston College