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

Sam Houston Gets to Bowl Eligibility in 2nd Season in FBS With 10-7 Win Over FIU

Sam Houston is now the 4th consecutive team to transition to the FBS and earn a bowl appearance within two seasons.

This game was knotted up at zero until over halfway through the 3rd quarter when the Bearkats finally scored their only touchdown on the day on a 3-yard drive that was set up following a blocked punt.

After neither offense doing much of anything, FIU did score a touchdown on a 65-yard drive immediately after to match. It then took a 6-minute, 12-play drive of 79 yards for Sam Houston to kick a chip shot field goal from 20 yards to give Sam Houston the go-ahead score that would go on to be the game winner.

This was a defensive game, as could be expected with only 17 total points scored, as FIU averaged only 3.43 yards per play. Sam Houston was actually worse, at 3.23 yards per play. Perhaps most surprising was that the two teams threw the ball a combined 42 times for only 150 yards, a paltry 3.57 yards per pass in the entire game.

Sam Houston QB Jase Bauer made his first start, where he finished with 76 passing yards and led all rushers with 72 yards. RB DJ McKinney scored Sam Houston’s only touchdown, finishing with 29 rushing yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.

Louisiana Tech Scores in 4th Quarter To Earn Win Over 1-Win UTEP 14-10

Louisiana Tech scored late in this one to beat UTEP at home, 14-10, in a low-scoring affair that did surprisingly feature over 500 yards of combined offense despite 14 combined punts.

Neither team turned the ball over once, but the defenses still played well, as UTEP finished with 4 sacks and 9 tackles for loss, while Louisiana Tech finished with 1 sack and 7 tackles for loss.

Perhaps the most noticeable defensive statistic is that, including sacks, Louisiana Tech finished with just 7 rushing yards on 30 attempts. Despite that, Louisiana Tech outgained UTEP (255-251), won the conversion battle (6/18-3/18), and averaged more yards per play (4.18-3.98).

Louisiana Tech QB Evan Bullock finished a solid 22-for-30 passing with 248 yards and a touchdown, while WR Jimmy Holliday led all receivers in this game with 93 receiving yards on 6 catches. Solo Lewis scored the lone receiving touchdown for the Bulldogs on his only catch of the night, a 48-yarder. RB Amani Givens finished with just 11 rushing yards on his 6 carries, but he did find the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown.

UTEP carried the ball 47 times, with RB Jevon Jackson getting a bulk of the work as he led all rushers with 112 rushing yards on 22 carries.

QBs Skyler Locklear and JP Pickles also both played for UTEP, as Locklear finished 8-for-14 with 84 yards and a touchdown while also adding 9 rushing yards. Pickles, on the other hand, only attempted 2 passes, completing one for a single yard while also rushing for 53 yards on 12 carries.

Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke Potential Injury Timetable

ESPN’s Pete Thamel has provided a potential timetable for Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke to return from an injury, and it’s great news for Hoosier fans: Rourke underwent surgery on Monday and may be back as early as the Nov. 2 game against Michigan State.

This would mean Rourke would only miss one game: this weekend’s home game against Washington.

Through 6 games, Rourke is averaging just under 300 yards per game and has a 14 to 2 touchdown-to-interception ratio, numbers that help explain Indiana’s #13 ranking and 7-0 start, their highest such ranking since 2020 and their highest such non-COVID ranking since 1987. For a program that has never won 10 games in a season but has legitimate playoff aspirations this season, Rourke only missing one game would be monumental for the Hoosiers.

Southern Miss Head Coach Hot Board

Southern Miss recently fired former Head Coach Will Hall. Along with ECU’s firing of Mike Houston, this officially kicks off this year’s coaching carousel.

On3’s Pete Nakos listed who he believes to be the top candidates to replace Hall (linked above).

The list includes coordinators, like Auburn OC Derrick Nix, Ole Miss co-DC Bryan Brown, and Alabama DC Kane Wommack.

It also includes former and current head coaches in Bill Clark and UL Monroe’s Bryant Vincent. Vincent is likely the only sitting head coach who would be considered given that Southern Miss has one of the lowest budgets in the FBS, but it is still considered to be a step up from UL Monroe.

And finally, it includes position coaches like Florida State’s DBs Coach, Patrick Surtain, Alabama’s DL Coach, Freddie Roach, Georgia’s TEs Coach, Todd Hartley, and Jaguars RBs Coach Jerry Mack.

CFP Exec. Dir. on CFP Selection if Army/Navy Play in Conf. Champ., then Regular Season Finale

CFP Executive Director Rich Clark recently was part of a dry run for the CFP rankings show with ESPN’s Rece Davis.

Clark explained to Davis what would happen in the incredibly plausible event that Army and Navy were the two AAC teams to appear in the Conference Championship the week before the annual Army-Navy game.

“[I]f they were to meet – in that hypothetical, if they were to meet in the conference championship, that conference champion would then be, potentially, one of the five conference champions that would go into the bracket. The next week, whatever happens there, we’re not going to change the ranking or the seeding for the playoff selection.”

So, if Army and Navy face off in the conference championship and the winner is the top rated G5 conference champion or is ranked high enough to be an at-large team, if they lose in the subsequent rivalry game, there will be no impact on that team’s playoff spot.

Clark also said, “so, that game won’t count toward the playoff, but it will certainly count toward America, and it will be an exciting game. And I’m really proud of how those teams are performing, wish them all the best, but after the conference championship, we’ll have made our selection.”

4-Star TE Marshall Pritchett Flips to Alabama from North Carolina

4-star TE Marshall Pritchett has flipped his commitment from North Carolina to Alabama after originally committing to North Carolina back in March.

As for why Pritchett chose Alabama, he had a well thought-out answer when interviewed by On3: “I would say first is opportunity. I’m stepping into a tight end room where I have an amazing opportunity to play early and show my skill set. Another reason would be the program. Playing for a chance at a national championship year in and year out is something every kid dreams of. The staff was a factor, too. Coach Kalen DeBoer and Coach Nick Sheridan have had production in the tight end position forever and their visions for me as an athlete are exactly what I am looking for in an offense.”

According to the On3 industry composite, Pritchett ranks 336th nationally and 21st at his position, but he ranks as high as 222nd nationally and 15th at his position according to 247.

This is now Alabama’s 18th Blue Chip commitment and 23rd commitment overall for a 2025 class which ranks #1 in the country. North Carolina is now down to 2 Blue Chip commitments and 12 commitments overall for a class which ranks 43rd nationally and 9th in the ACC.

Brent Venables on Oklahoma Going Back to Jackson Arnold at QB

It was announced a couple days ago that Oklahoma was switching back to Jackson Arnold as its starting quarterback, as Arnold will be the one to lead the Sooners against Ole Miss this weekend.

The biggest area where Arnold separated himself against South Carolina was his ability to take care of the football, which is a huge thing for Coach Brent Venables in being able to trust in his quarterbacks. That performance was obviously contrasted against true freshman Michael Hawkins’ performance, as he was responsible for turning the ball over on each of the first three possessions for Oklahoma.

Venables said, “Jackson stepped in and played pretty well. Took care of the football, put one on the ground, recovered it. Made a lot of really good decisions in the game. Took command right from the get-go. Had several drops that would have made the day even better for him. So, that’s what went into it. … You go out there and it’s 21-0 because you turn the ball over three straight possessions again, you’ll look at everything.”

Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz on QB Cade McNamara As Starter

Iowa QB Cade McNamara had a fairly rough game against Michigan State, finishing 11-for-23 with 150 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. And yet Coach Kirk Ferentz chose to stick with McNamara, despite Iowa having 0 points at the half.

While Coach Ferentz is keeping his options open, he spoke on the trust he still has in McNamara to be his starter: “We’ve seen enough good things out of Cade to feel like he gives us our best chance out there, so that’s really, it’s like any position, but obviously there’s more eyes on this position. I think he’s done enough good things that we have confidence where he’ll play well Saturday, but we’ll also keep an open mind. You have to.”

The alternative would be Northwestern transfer Brendan Sullivan, who has appeared in five games but has not really taken snaps that could be considered meaningful. But Coach Ferentz did share that he’s expecting more from McNamara moving forward: “we have to do better than we did the first 30 minutes the other night. We can’t wait ‘til the second half to start going here. So we’ll keep an open mind, but I have confidence in both of them quite frankly, and when Brendan gets an expanded role, or if he gets an expanded role, I think he’ll do well.

High 3-Star LB Austin Howard Decommits from Mississippi State

3-star LB Austin Howard decommitted from Mississippi State yesterday. Howard originally committed back in June, committing to Mississippi State over Vanderbilt and Ole Miss.

According to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine, Vanderbilt now has a 93.9% chance to land the linebacker from Memphis, TN.

Howard is rated a 4-star by On3, with the On3 industry composite ranking him 541st nationally and 59th at the LB position.

Mississippi State is now down to 16 commitments for the 2025 class, a class which ranks 31st nationally and 14th in the SEC, ahead of only Florida and Vanderbilt.

3-Star DL Drayden Peavy Commits to Wisconsin

3-Star DL Drayden Peavy committed to Wisconsin yesterday after decommitting from Purdue last week.

As for why he’s made the decision to go to Wisconsin, Peavy said he’s a believer in Coach Fickell and his vision for the program. He trusts in Coach Fickell and Coach Fickell’s ability to put players in the NFL, too.

Peavy is a consensus 3-star who is ranked 695th nationally and 67th at the DL position according to the On3 industry composite.

This is Wisconsin’s 24th commitment for the 2025 class, a class which ranks 25th nationally and 8th in the Big Ten.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

3-Star (85) EDGE Gavin Garretson commits to Arkansas

3-Star (83) EDGE Bleu Dantzler decommits from Utah State

3-Star (81) TE Jordan Rogers commits to UC Davis

Notre Dame EDGE Aiden Gobaira officially enters transfer portal