A place called Sleepy Hollow. Have you heard of it?
(Ichabod Crane) I have not.
An isolated farming community, mainly Dutch. Three persons have been murdered there, all within a fortnight. Each one found with the head lopped off.
(Ichabod Crane) Lopped off?
Clean as dandelion heads, apparently.
- The Burgomaster, Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Some Interesting Stats
Baylor’s QB Sawyer Robertson remains the only 2000-yard passer in the FBS through seven weeks.
UW’s Demond Williams Jr. is just the 16th QB in NCAA-FBS history to pass for 400 yards and rush for 100 yards in a single game.
Army QB Cale Hellums is top 10 in the FBS in rush attempts (10th), the next leading QB is 15th (AF’s Liam Szarka).
JSU’s RB Cam Cook, who has played an extra game (seven), leads the FBS in rush attempts with 160. The next leading attempt rusher is Oregon State’s Anthony Hankerson, with 129.
After starting the year as the borderline CFF RB1, Washington’s RB Jonah Coleman is now 30th in yards rushed for through seven weeks. He still remains as the rushing TD leader with 11, followed by JSU’s Cam Cook at 10.
There is currently a 12-way tie for the 4th place in rushing TDs this season (eight), which includes five QBs to seven RBs.
With the exception of Oregon State’s WR Trent Walker, I believe four out of the top five leading receivers in terms of yardage are slot receivers (Danny Scudero, Makai Lemon, Hank Beatty, & Mario Craver). Walker is currently 5th in receiving yards.
With the exception of SJSU’s Danny Scudero, the top six receiving TD leaders (there’s a four way tie for #2 behind Scudero) are all boundary receivers (Eric McAllister, Jordan Tyson, Jeremiah Smith, Elijah Sarratt, & Chris Brazzell).
For two weeks in a row, TCU’s Eric McAllister has caught a receiving TD at the very end of the game. The scores of those games were 35-21 for TCU, and 28-41 against TCU.
Coaching Carousel
There have been three new executions, all within a fortnight, however, there is an obvious place to start this segment, and I won’t overthink it: PSU fired head coach James Franklin early this week following a devastating loss to what some are calling America’s team—post Deshaun Foster-UCLA, or Jerry’s team, whichever you prefer, and another shocking defeat to Northwestern. By the way, it should be pointed out that, Tim Skipper, is in fact the actual interim head coach at UCLA currently, and not Jerry Neuheisel.
But that’s neither here nor there. Can we just take a second before proceeding to imagine what sort of offers are blowing up Jerry’s phone these past few weeks? How do you think the proposers do it? Instagram DM? Through Jerry’s wife? *Gasp* Directly with a phone call?
Anyways, if you were like me, you were probably surprised that PSU pulled the trigger earlier this week. Of course, I’ve recently ranted on these newsletters that PSU is an overrated hack of a program, but that has more to do with the media/voters and their affinity to give the Lions a free pass. While other programs tumble double digit places down the rankings for close losses, the highlights—yes, the highlights—of PSU’s resume were always about the close losses. Make it make sense. They haven’t beaten a team worth a damn in almost a decade!
Clearly, the power brokers of the Nittany Lion program saw it the same way and decided that enough was enough following a loss to UCLA and NW. Fair enough.
I guess the question is: who are they going to replace him with? My personal opinion is that you probably don’t fire a coach who has an above 75% win percentage during his tenure—paying 50 million in the process to do so—without a very clear list of at least one, if not two or three, names that you covet as the next head coach.
Personally, I would LOVE to see what IU head coach Curt Cignetti could do with a stronger infrastructure around him. Cignetti is coming off his first marquee win of his P4 career, defeating what I believe is a ‘real’ team in Oregon. Even if it turns out that the Ducks are wildly overrated a la Clemson (their best win is PSU, which is shrinking by the day), the talent profile of the squad is sufficient to win a national championship, and that’s all that really matters to me when classifying a win as ‘real’.
IU beat up on a bunch of roadkill in the B1G last year, and then didn’t look competitive at all against the two ‘real’ teams they played. The fact IU is even in this type of conversation is a testament to the job Cignetti has done in Bloomington in a short period of time.
PSU probably can’t pry Cig away at the current moment coming off the biggest win of his career, but if he falters later on—let’s say against PSU, ironically—then the temperature of the conversation might be different.
I’ve seen some lazy comparisons out there equating Franklin to Georgia when they had Mark Richt. Let’s be clear, Richt would have made the old CFP format twice, and would have been a staple in the 12-teamer every year during his tenure. He also sported multiple wins over top-10 programs. And let’s not forget that the era of the SEC that he played in saw LSU, Auburn, Florida, and Alabama each top the sport of CFB (for a combined nine national championships between 2001-2015), which is a little different from the B1G conference in 2015-2025.
I also don’t see the Kirby Smart in that comparison. Is it supposed to be Matt Rhule, who is a PSU alumni on the defensive side of the ball? I like Rhule, but he’s already been a head coach for a long time, and is 64-57 overall. That doesn’t seem like a huge upgrade, and is actually a downgrade, just simply looking at the metrics.
From that standpoint, then the Kirby in that analogy would probably be a coordinator without any prior head coaching experience somewhere. Who’s a hot shot defensive coordinator right now who can also elevate PSU’s standing as a recruiting giant? I can’t think of any obvious names.
PSU already recruits at a pretty high level. Of course, there’s more meat on the bone, but it’s also a little different recruiting from central PA than say… Georgia or Alabama. NIL has closed the gap there somewhat but I do still think there’s a premium in location when it comes to luring good players into the program. If Mom and Dad can come see the player play regularly, that’s usually a good thing.
Beyond Franklin, the two other coaches to receive the axe this week include Oregon State’s Trent Bray, and UAB’s Trent Dilfer. Tough week to be a Trent in coaching, am I right?
Dilfer’s firing was long overdue (I wonder if they can get ULM’s Bryant Vincent back?), but Bray was a bit of a surprise. Despite the winless season, I didn’t get the impression that Bray lost the locker room, though perhaps what has happened to Anthony Hankerson’s CFF stock alone is grounds for termination.
Oh, and how typical CFB would it be if James Franklin ends up landing at UCLA?! I feel that Jerry at OC and Skipper as DC (if he’s willing) with an experienced big name at HC is probably the ideal scenario for many of the UCLA boosters.
I don’t know if they’ll be able to convince both of those guys to stay as coordinators, but that would be formidable trio to at least bring UCLA back to mid-major form in 2026.
More RB Injuries (leading to new PIGS?)
I can’t remember a year where there were this many injuries to premium CFF RBs. The bodies continued to hit the floor this week with news of USC’s Waymond Jordan likely to miss 4-6 weeks, A&M’s Leveon Moss to miss ‘significant time’, and Marshall’s mid-season upstart Michael Allen now being ruled out for this weekend.
Beyond those names, your boy continued his detective work on Miami of Ohio, and found the head coach stating that Kenny Tracy re-injured a prior knee injury and is officially done for the season. Ouch.
But, we press on as always in the CFF world, and news of unfortunate injuries does give way for new names to emerge. USC’s King Miller is the most obvious name from this past weekend, rushing for well over 100 yards and scoring on the ground. He led the Trojans in their win over Michigan, and was probably the hottest name on the waiver wire this week.
Though it should be noted that the Trojans will see ND this week and then are on a BYE, so it could be a little while before you see some returns. Bryan Jackson continues to lurk, with a possible halftime appearance always in play.
Former five-star wunderkind Reuben Owens is currently experiencing a career renaissance, thanks in part to Moss’s ongoing health challenges this season. He has 21 and 17 carries in back-to-back weeks. He hasn’t been as good as promised from his high school tape, but he’s looked pretty good. With a date with Arkansas’ soft run defense up next, I’m expecting a big performance from Owens as the lead back this weekend.
In Allen’s absence, Antwan Roberts stepped up and took 14 carries for 67 yards and a score in what was essentially one half of play. Allen is ruled out vs. Texas State’s 99th-ranked run defense this weekend, but now Jo’Shon Barbie is available per Marshall’s injury report. Does he step back into RB1 duties? It’s hard for me to imagine Roberts disappearing after.
Predicting the First Round of 2026 CFF Drafts
These sort of hot take discussions are always fun, and often hilariously wrong in retrospect.
The problem is the transfer portal, which will shake up the rosters that each of these players play for, and thus muddying the waters. In fact, the players themselves may even find themselves suiting up somewhere else next season, especially considering if their head coach takes a job elsewhere.
Nonetheless, here’s some bold takes for you:
New Blood at RB Projected to Replace Elite Producers
Pitt RB Ja’Kyrian Turner — I’ve seen enough of the little speedster from Florida to feel comfortable declaring him as the next Desmond Reid. Though, it is certainly possible that one of the lessons this Pitt staff have learnt from the Reid experience is that relying on an undersized bellcow to fuel the offence is a bit precarious, and thus they may invest in some additional depth to reduce the workload of their future RB1s. Turner is lightning quick with the ball in his hands, and has a beautiful running style that reminds me of the old Pitt RB Lesean McCoy with that #25 jersey. With Reid moving on after this season, CFFers will be speculating on the next man up, and probably projecting that player as a potential high end CFF asset.
Minnesota RB Fame Ijeboi — I don’t know what Darius Taylor is going to do after this season, maybe he returns, maybe he portals, but if he were to leave, and with AJ Turner coming off a major injury, Ijeboi would be a hot name in CFF circles given that he got a lot of run this year. PJ likes him, which in turn means I like him. Enough said.
Washington RB Adam Mohammed — Jonah Coleman will be headed to the NFL draft in 2026, and Mohammed has been the clear #2 behind him. He’s a big and powerful RB, a bit different stylistically, but is the obvious heir apparent to lead UW’s rushing attack next year.
FSU RB Ousmane Kromah — While he won’t be replacing an elite CFF producer, he will be playing in a system with a history of elite production at RB should OC Gus Malzahn return to the program in 2026. With some in the CFF community already calling for the FSU staff to #FreeKRO, this could be a player who finishes 2025 on a strong note, and rides that momentum into the first round of CFF drafters’ squads next year. I agree with CFFNate, Kromah looks a cut above anything else FSU has in the backfield right now.
Elite Returners at WR
Jeremiah Smith, Bryant Wesco, and Mario Craver all have to return next year as they are true sophomores. These are easy picks to pencil in to the first round. SJSU’s Danny Scudero could return, but may either seek to capitalize on the big year utilizing the transfer portal, or enter the NFL draft.
Other receivers who could threaten to enter the first round include Tennessee’s Mike Matthews (assuming Brazzell moves on), Jordan Napier and Ryan Williams, though these all feel like a stretch to me. Napier will probably play in the P4 in 2026.
A Few Names at QB
UW’s Demond Williams has to return, and he’s probably the most obvious first round candidate at QB. Arch Manning will also likely return, but he may not be deemed worthy of a first round pick after this year’s performance (remains to be seen).
ODU’s Colton Joseph can return, but it seems more likely he’ll be either poached or take his shot at the NFL draft.
Elite Returners at RB
While these names will probably be few and far between when all is said and done, technically, all of JSU’s Cam Cook, RU’s Antwan Raymond, UM’s Justice Haynes, ND’s Jeremiyah Love, and Nebraska’s Emmet Johnson can return.
Guaranteed to return are Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy, Mississippi State’s Fluff Bothwell (without pesky Davon Booth hanging around), Ole Miss’ Kewan Lacy, and UNT’s Caleb Hawkins. All four of these guys could settle in the first, with Hardy and Lacy being pretty much guaranteed to be first round locks if there are no coaching staff shakeups/serious transfer additions.
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A few others on my radar for early rounds next year: Turbo, Sheppard, Toney, Joyner (coming off injury), and Jaheim White (also coming off injury).