NCAAF

Notre Dame's Brian Kelly emerges as voice of reason in sea of tone-deaf college football coaches Brian Kelly did what Notre Dame coaches throughout history have done best: rallied their players in a time of strife. In this case, the players were the general public as Kelly addressed the impact of the coronavirus at the end of a media conference call held Wednesday. Asked by local television reporter (through a Notre Dame spokesman) to give the public a "pep talk," Kelly abided. "We have not won yet," he said of the coronavirus. "We're just getting to halftime. We have a second half to play here. Really good job in the first couple of quarters, but we're just getting into the locker room. Let's look toward having a better second half. If we have a better second half, we're going to win this game." It wasn't exactly "Win One for the Gipper," but these aren't exactly normal times. Updating the status of the Fighting Irish as a whole, Kelly seemed to..

Alabama coach Nick Saban adopts email while adapting to recruiting during extended dead period Shelter-in-place orders across the country are bringing about a new normal in everyone's lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. There's more down time and a lot of folks are using it as a chance to learn a new skill. For Alabama coach Nick Saban, apparently that means setting up an actual email account. Saban is notoriously -- and often hysterically -- behind the times when it comes to technology. In an interview with ESPN's Maria Taylor on Instagram on Wednesday, Saban said his wife, affectionately referred to as "Ms. Terry," told him she was done dealing with all his emails, forcing Saban to adopt his own account. "The one positive of this for me is I even have an email now. I've come a long way. It was hard to communicate when you have to be by yourself and depend on someone else to get your emails and messages. It didn't work, aight? They were sending them all to..

Will there ever be another Ed Orgeron? Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin might be the closest facsimile Let's pretend Ed Orgeron's story will happen again. Let's pretend a 58-year-old coach, who already failed at one SEC program, spends nine years as an assistant (and occasional interim coach) before becoming the third choice at another. Then let's pretend that, going into his third full season, he responds to the pressure of going 19-7 those first two years by changing the offense and hiring an unknown 29-year-old NFL assistant to run it. Oh, and he just happens to plug in a largely unaccomplished transfer quarterback. Oh, and all of this happens at his hometown school … where he goes on to win a national championship. Impossible. Right? Right. But we must try to imagine it even if Orgeron in 2019 was a coaching unicorn armed with a "Go Tigers!" rallying cry. Trying to find the "next" Ed Orgeron is just as impossible of a task. The coach's accomplishments in 2019 ..

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy itching to 'go back to work,' hopes staff is back on May 1 College football facilities are quiet, pads are not popping and the future of the 2020 season remains in limbo as the world deals with the coronavirus pandemic. Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy is seemingly not as concerned as many others. He's looking forward to returning to work and has a date in mind. The Cowboys coach told reporters on Tuesday that he's hoping to get back to coaching sooner than later as long as an antibodies test is developed that can clear people of the virus or prove that they are immune. "How fast that can happen based on the tests that are available, I can't say right now, but that's the plan," Gundy said, according to ESPN. "We have to have a plan, and the plan right now is for them to start on May 1. It might get backed up two weeks. I don't know. I can't make that call, but if it does, we'll start with the employees of th..

Notre Dame athletic director opposes possibility of college football games played with no fans The cancellation of spring practice, suspension of football-related activities and uncertainty surrounding the 2020 college football season due to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused administrators to think outside the box when discussing how to proceed when things crank back up. One of the most widely-discussed options -- not just in college football but all sports across the board -- is the idea of playing games as scheduled without fans inside the stadiums. Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick isn't a fan, telling ESPN that he's not keen on that particular option at all. "I don't see a model where we play, at least any extended number of games, in facilities where we don't have fans," he said. "College football is about the cheerleaders and the band and the campus environment on game day. We're interested in solutions that allow us to have a traditional game..

Why Texas A&M is a darkhorse team ready to break through as a contender in the 2020 season Will the 2020 season be the year Texas A&M finally breaks through and becomes a contender on a national scale? Texas A&M is a program with a lot of tradition, a lengthy history, an amazing gameday atmosphere and one of the most passionate fanbases in the country. It's also a program that doesn't have nearly as much success as you might expect. Yes, the Aggies have claimed three national titles in their history, but the last was earned in 1939. It's a program that has won 18 conference titles but only one of them has come since 1983 -- that was in 1998 when the Aggies won the Big 12. It's the lone conference title since the Southwest Conference disbanded and the Aggies helped form the Big 12. A&M joined the SEC in 2012 and made one hell of an entrance, going 11-2 overall, 6-2 in the conference, defeating No. 1 Alabama and boasting quarterback Johnny Manziel as the first fresh..

LSU facing these tough questions ahead of a steep rebuilding effort in 2020 season Take a scan of the national championship odds for 2020 or any of the way-too-early rankings and you can see the impact that Ed Orgeron and last year's title-winning LSU team had on college football. Only after the likes of Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, Florida and Oklahoma do you find LSU on these lists, suggesting that there is confidence in Coach O's program beyond the individuals that helped lead the record-setting campaign of a season ago. That kind of confidence to just reload is only afforded to a handful of programs across the country, and LSU now appears to be one of those programs. Otherwise, there's no way that a team could lose 14 starters and still be expected to compete at the highest level the following season, especially when you factor in the losses of Broyles Award-winning offensive assistant Joe Brady and defensive coordinator Dave Aranda. Orgeron has been very clear ..

Offensive Mike Leach tweet leads Mississippi State player to transfer from program Mike Leach's love of social media and memes has gotten him into trouble in the past. Now it has resulted in player attrition. According to the Clarion Ledger, Mississippi State defensive lineman Fabien Lovett has opted to transfer out of the program after Leach tweeted, then deleted, an offensive meme amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Clarion Ledger reported last week that Leach tweeted a meme featuring a picture of an elderly woman with knitting sticks in hand working on a noose. The caption reportedly read, "after two weeks of quarantine with her husband, Gertrude decided to knit him a scarf." Speaking with the paper, Lovett's father expressed his discomfort with his son playing for a coach who says "whatever whenever." "I didn't feel comfortable with my son being down there with a guy like that from a leadership standpoint — that you can just throw anything out there," Lovett said. "I..

College football GA puts career on hold to work as nurse on coronavirus front lines in New York Alex Charlton has become an extreme rarity. From halfway across the country, he intentionally got on a plane to New York last Friday, wading emotionally and physically into the coronavirus pandemic. "I'll be honest with you," the 29-year-old Midwestern State graduate assistant said. "One way or another, I'm probably going to get it." That was the first mental hurdle to clear when Charlton decided to put his coaching career on hold and offer his skills as a nurse. At some sort of a life/football crossroads, this is -- at least temporarily -- his path. It puts him in the crosshairs of a global killer. It also fills his heart. "I couldn't look back and think, 'Hey, I could have helped but I didn't,'" Charlton explained. Soon after that declaration, he put on his face mask, entered Kansas City International's B Terminal and flew 1,800 miles to answer New Y..

NCAA coordinator of officials says coaches and players will cut down on faking injuries in 2020 The rise of up-tempo offenses over the last decade of college football has resulted in a new kind of defense that has no part in the game: faking injuries. When an offense feels like it has a defense on the ropes, a defensive player drops to the ground seemingly out of nowhere forcing a stoppage of the game and a chorus of boos from fans of the offense. That's going to change in 2020 ... or else. NCAA coordinator of officials Steve Shaw told ESPN that the coaches, officials and administrators discussed the act of faking injuries during the competition committee's meeting at NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis in February. The discussion didn't result in a new rule, but it did result in a stern warning to coaches to ensure that players won't fake as many injuries moving forward. "We're going to work with all coaches -- and maybe players -- to where they see this vide..