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.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE:

Betting Information as of time of writing

5-Star WR Jerome Myles Commits to USC

5-star WR Jerome Myles committed to USC yesterday over other finalists Ohio State, Georgia, Texas A&M, and Utah, among other offers. The receiver is ranked as the consensus top player from the state of Utah for the 2025 class.

For Myles, he ultimately committed to USC because of the staff and the experience the staff has with developing top talent on offense. He also cited to the culture the staff has fostered and the strong relationship he has with the receivers coach.

Myles is rated a 5-star by 247Sports, but is ranked the highest nationally by ESPN, who ranks him 26th nationally and 5th at his position. The On3 industry composite rankings also place Myles 26th nationally and 5th at his position.

This is USC’s 2nd 5-star commitment, 12th Blue Chip commitment, and 20th commitment overall for a 2025 class which jumps into the Top 10 with Myles’ commitment. USC now ranks 10th nationally and 3rd in the Big Ten, behind only Ohio State and Oregon.

Mike Elko: Texas A&M Starting QB Will be Game-Time Decision

Backup QB Marcel Reed excelled last week after coming in for an injured Conner Weigman against Florida. As for Texas A&M’s game this weekend against Bowling Green, Coach Mike Elko has yet to reveal who will start, stating that it’s a game-time decision.

Interestingly, Elko also shared, “I think people who get to know me know that it’s probably going to be a game-time decision for the rest of the season. That’s just how we handle things. We have a lot of real honest conversations internally, but those stay internal. … We’ll do the best we can to get Conner healthy and when we get to Saturday, we’ll see who’s playing.”

On the season, Weigman is 23-for-44 for 225 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions this season.

For 2024, Reed is 16-for-28 for 249 yards with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions in a couple of appearances taking over for an injured Weigman against Florida and in mop-up duty against McNeese State.

Reed, notably, also provides a dual-threat ability as he has run for 126 yards and a touchdown.

Steve Sarkisian on Texas Handling Hype of Arch Manning

Due to Quinn Ewers being listed as questionable for #1 Texas’ game this weekend against UL Monroe, it’s entirely plausible that backup QB Arch Manning makes his first career start.

With all the hype that constantly surrounds Arch Manning, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian was asked about how the team handles that hype.

Coach Sarkisian on what the team does (or, more accurately, doesn’t do): “I don’t do anything. Arch is just another guy on our team. And the reason I’m able to do that is because that’s who Arch is every day. He’s a selfless teammate. He cares about the guys on the team. … So I literally don’t address it with him. I don’t address it with the team. He’s just part of the team, you know. And I think that’s been the approach. … If you even go back to the recruiting process, it was never about the name. … And so that’s made it pretty easy that we don’t have to address it.”

Brent Venables with High Praise for Tennessee Edge James Pearce Jr.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables recently shared that he believes that Tennessee’s James Pearce Jr. might be one of the best guys in the country on defense.

Pearce finished last season with 10 sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss, and though his stats have not been up to the same caliber as last season’s, his impact is still just as profound as he is now routinely facing a predominant amount of the attention from the offensive line.

With all that being said, Pearce has only played 53 snaps for the defense this season as Tennessee has absolutely throttled everyone on its schedule so far. Given the questions the Oklahoma offensive line has had all season, that will be an interesting matchup to note.

Utah QB Cam Rising Injury Update

Utah quarterback Cam Rising hurt his hand in Utah’s game Week 2 matchup against Baylor and then missed Week 3 against Utah State.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel has shared an update, that Rising practiced yesterday, is cleared, and is expected to play against Oklahoma State in a matchup that has major implications to the Big 12 Championship race.

One thing Thamel did say, though, was “here’s where the drama lies: [Rising] had a glove on his hand in warm ups at Utah State and he wore one in practice so far this week. He had a dislocated finger on his throwing hand and my understanding, there were some stitches near that finger. Those injuries are obviously healing, so will he or won’t he wear a glove on his throwing hand in Stillwater is one of the big questions we’ll be watching in pregame warmups.”

Brent Venables on Importance of Rushing the Passer Against Nico Iamaleava

Brent Venables shared in his weekly press conference what he sees as an important defensive task to unbalancing the impressive Tennessee offense: effectively rushing the passer.

Disrupting the offense is going to be critical for the Sooners, according to Venables because of how solid the offense has looked thus far. Venables complimented Iamaleava’s abilities, as well as the offensive line, describe Tennessee’s offensive line as one of the best offensive lines he’s ever seen.

For all of the scoring that Tennessee does, how quick they play, and how talented the skill positions are, Venables made sure to point out how physical the offense is.

Mike Norvell on Holding Players, Himself Accountable & Up to Florida State’s Standards Despite 0-3 Start

There’s no way to put it lightly that FSU has struggled to open the season, but coach Mike Norvell recently took some time to talk about holding players accountable and emphasizing the program’s standards despite the poor start.

Norvell acknowledged some of the specific issues in preparation, stating that some of the biggest problems have been in transferring what is worked on in practice to the game and how it is his responsibility: “We’ve gotta continue to evaluate what are we doing, how are we doing it, continue to make sure that the preparation aspect, the emphasis is showing up and showing the characteristics of each position, each side of the ball, and ultimately this is football. I’m responsible for all of that.”

Brent Venables on Josh Heupel’s Request for Quiet OU Crowd: “That’s Wishful Thinking”

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel recently joked that he hopes Oklahoma fans would be quiet when Tennessee and redshirt freshman Nico Iamaleava are on the field.

Anyone who has ever watched an Oklahoma game, especially in person, knows Sooners fans are not going to honor the sarcastic request. When asked about it, Oklahoma coach Brent Venables had just five words in response: “I think that’s wishful thinking.”

This weekend will host ESPN College GameDay for Oklahoma’s first SEC game, which happens to also be a matchup featuring two teams ranked in the Top 15.

Kirk Ferentz on the Iowa-Minnesota Rivalry

This weekend is the 118th matchup between Iowa and Minnesota as the two battle for the iconic Floyd of Rosedale trophy.

Since Kirk Ferentz has been the head coach of Iowa, the Hawkeyes are 18-7 against Minnesota, but did lose last year by a close score of 12-10 in large part due to a questionable fair catch call (or what some argue should have been a non-call) on a Cooper DeJean punt return touchdown that was called back for Iowa.

As for Ferentz, he believes the history and tradition of the rivalry is important, saying, “once you’re here for a little bit, you figure it out real quickly and what it means. I think this particular one there’s a real deep history, certainly.”

ESPN Analytics gives Iowa a 50.2% chance to win, and Vegas has the Hawkeyes as roughly 2.5 point favorites on the road at Minnesota.

UNLV’s Barry Odom on the 12-Team Playoff from a G5 Perspective

UNLV’s Barry Odom recently was on the College GameDay podcast and shared that with the 12-team playoff and the Group of 5 spot, he believes the Mountain West Champion should be the representative.

Odom also shared he and everyone else know that the margin for error is incredibly small, but he and the rest of the team know what they need to do. Scheduling games against Houston, Kansas, and Syracuse were all part of the strategy of being ready to compete and leave nothing to chance if UNLV were to win the Mountain West.

“We understand that our league is so strong. We have Fresno, we’ve got Boise coming up. There’s a number of games that will be marquee games for us, and we understand that if we take care of business every single week, then after the first week in December we’ll have spot.”

Other Commitments/Decommitments

Unrated S Tony Mitchell commits to Mississippi State