Month: August 2026

I got news for you, and it ain’t just that USC gotta Boobie Feaster — eatin’. Or that the Big Ten got two turbos at running back (Richard at Indiana; Rogers at Ohio State) and you ain’t even heard the lag hit. Or that UCLA got receiver Major Pride, or that Ampersand U, also known as Texas A&M, got running back Tiger Riden Jr. And the doggone circus ain’t even in town. Here it is: You’re about to watch the most competitive season of college football ever. It has never been harder to win than it is in 2026. “I agree with you,” UCLA coach Bob Chesney told me. “I think that probably a lot of it stems from the fact that every year it’s a new team as well, right? There’s a lot of new guys on a lot of teams across the country every single year. Some made their team better. Some didn’t. “Ultimately, for me, the margins are thin, and that’s what you’re pointing toward. It’s not easy to be in a position where you just walk out and expect to win a football game. Doesn’t really happen anymore in my mind.” At Big Ten media days last month, I pointedly asked Chesney about how difficult it is to win a college football game as someone who’s coached at almost every level the NCAA offers. From Division III Salve Regina, to Division II Assumption, to FCS Holy Cross, to Group of Six James Madison, to, now, Big Ten UCLA. He’s also won at every one of those levels, and led the Dukes to their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance before USC, Wisconsin or Florida — to name three — could (or ever) do the same. There’s never been a fiercer fight for players, to win recruiting battles, to raise money to fund a roster and a program capable of winning. “I think you got to fight and scratch and claw for everything that you got, and you got to bring these kids together as quickly as you possibly can that maybe never played together before, and with coaches that maybe never coached together before,” Chesney told me. “So the continuity we have coming from JMU to here [UCLA], bringing some coaches and players, I think is paying itself forward quite a bit. “But ultimately, I agree with the sentiment. It is a challenge to end up on the left side of that column.” The way I see it, 2019 Oklahoma would’ve never seen a semifinal in this new era of ball. LSU might’ve never had a chance to stomp a mudhole in the Sooners and walk it dry, as it would’ve been the No. 1 seed in a 12-team CFP. 2025 Oklahoma might have beaten that 2019 team by three scores, and it gave up the booty (a synonym for treasure, you cad) at home while up 17-0 to an Alabama team that got RKO’d by Indiana. That same Indiana program was a dumpster dweller in 2023. Then Curt Cignetti arrived, and a program I ranked 97th in the 2024 Ultimate 134 CFB Ranking ended its season 11-2 with a berth in the CFP. Perhaps a previous Oklahoma team would’ve earned a No. 4 seed based on record. But so did Texas Tech in 2025, and the Ducks showed you what happens when the defense is as supremely over-matched as the Red Raiders were in the face of a better team. And Miami showed what can happen if the right quarterback walks through the door at the right time. Still, neither Mario Cristobal nor Miami has ever won the ACC championship because it’s damn hard to do. The players are smarter and older, and there’s never been more money and resources behind them. Consider that a player can make 60 starts over the course of their career and as many as 80 with the new rules. It’s not hard for a Power Four starting quarterback to clear $30 million over five years. I need to catch up people here: This is professional football with a term limit. It will be a theme in my work this year. This is the story of 2026, a sport that is quite literally ungovernable and getting older, more skilled, smarter by the day. It’s never been harder to move the ball. FBS teams averaged just 383.5 yards per game in 2025. That’s the lowest output for total offense per game across the subdivision since 2010. It’s never been harder to score, either. FBS teams averaged just 27.5 points per game last season, and that’s the lowest average points per game across the subdivisions since 2010, too. Predictably, though, since clock rules changed in 2023, offenses are running fewer plays and seeing fewer possessions. Couple that with the knowledge that defenses are increasingly built not to take the ball away or create negative plays but to prevent offenses from executing explosive plays. “It’s a hell of a lot harder for an offense to run a 15-play drive for a score than it is for them to hit me over the head for 70 yards on one play,” a Group of Six defensive coordinator told me. “We play sound defense and let the offense do the screwing up.” If football is a chess game — and I believe it is — the game has turned from one that values fast-forcing moves and aggressive tactics to one that is simply about eliminating blunders, building a formidable defense and waiting for your opponent to blunder. And if you play with too much tempo — don’t castle your king to safety to press your advantage — that can hurt you in the endgame. This is precisely why Lincoln Riley hired College Football Hall of Fame coach Gary Patterson to coordinate his defense at USC. Riley has famously had a difficult time partnering with a defensive play-caller who can keep up with his explosive offense. When the defense plays as many snaps as it can when Riley’s offense is its partner, that’s more chances to get beat, more chances for mistakes to happen, more chances for the opposing team to find its way back into a game Riley’s teams should be able to put away late in the second half. This has made the game about psychology as much as physicality and preparedness. “Quarterbacks and OCs are people, too,” the same defensive coordinator told me. “They want to throw the ball downfield. They don’t like checking down. They don’t like field goals, and they hate punting. Most immature quarterbacks throw into coverage because they’re frustrated. We want to frustrate quarterbacks.” But quarterbacks are older and have played more football than their predecessors, and that’s only going to become an even more pronounced signifier of just how difficult it is to win in the modern game. Thanks to the NCAA’s new eligibility rule, players have five years to play five years. That means a college football player could make 60 regular season starts and as many as 80 career starts before leaving the sport. Some of those players return this season. Texas offensive lineman Cole Hutson is taking advantage of the fifth-year rule and could end this season with 60 games played if he plays in all 12 of Texas’ regular season games. Colorado coach Deion Sanders lamented the age eligibility rule as it makes it harder for him to field and recruit a team. “It affects your recruiting,” he said. Doesn’t everything, Prime? There has never been a more skilled and experienced labor force in college football than there is now, and because these players are experienced, they take on new concepts and complicated systems better. Multiple tight ends in a formation on one play. A fullback in formation on another. Four wide receivers in a bunch formation in another. This is the kind of sequence offenses can use to force defenses to show themselves, their coverages, that might not have been available to most teams because offensive players just didn’t have time to learn as much as they do now. Programs with returning play-callers and head coaches are just reinforcing their systems each year but adding to them to make themselves more difficult to stop. The inverse is also true. Defenses are more complex, better drilled and prepared for the challenges offenses will present. In this way, offenses and defenses are sharpening each other — growing older and more experienced together — and are able to play at a level heretofore unseen in the sport. That means it’s never been harder to win a college football game. That also means it’s never been a better time to be a college football fan.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Is there a world where Robert Griffin III plays for Texas instead of Baylor? He actually confirmed there were two: in today’s college football landscape, and in 2007 — during his recruitment process. Appearing on the “Joel Klatt Show,” Griffin revealed how Texas messed up his recruitment, and he also divulged that if he were a modern-day quarterback, he likely would have transferred to Texas even after finding success early at Baylor. Griffin was a talented multi-sport athlete at Copperas Cove High School, describing himself as “world-class” in track. But the top schools recruiting him — Texas, Texas A&M, and more — were skeptical his slight frame fit for track and field could “translate over to playing quarterback at (the college) level.” Baylor didn’t have the same doubts. Griffin’s decision was simple. Then, when Baylor and Texas matched up on Nov. 8, 2008, toward the end of Griffin’s freshman season, a 3-6 Baylor team stuck close to the No. 5-ranked Longhorns during the first quarter. A touchdown run from Griffin and a 55-yard connection with Kendall Wright tied the score at 14. Texas eventually imposed its will and broke away for a 45-21 win. But then-Texas head coach Mack Brown was impressed. When the final whistle blew, he made a b-line to meet Griffin at midfield. “If you want to transfer to Texas right now, we will take you,” Griffin recalled Brown telling him. “We really messed it up in your recruiting. We shouldn’t have asked you to play safety, we should have asked you to play quarterback.” In 2008, Griffin didn’t want to go through a transfer process that entailed sitting out a full year to be able to play at Texas. He also valued Baylor’s decision to recruit him as a quarterback. So Texas made the first mistake. But, in transparency, he continued on the “Joel Klatt Show”, “if that happened now, you’re looking at a situation where that’s probably RGIII not playing at Baylor.” Griffin conceded, even despite Texas’ original oversight, he would have heavily considered transferring had it been 2026, where it’s widely popular, and has no consequences attached. Regardless, the Longhorns won the 2009 BCS National Championship and Griffin won the Heisman Trophy in 2011. Both were successful, but the fun question remains: What could Texas and RGIII have accomplished together if they had been partnered in the modern-day transfer portal era?​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Are we in the midst of a running back renaissance? The money would seem to suggest that we are. A recent wave of running back extensions set records at the position. Bijan Robinson, Jonathan Taylor and Jahmyr Gibbs each signed contracts worth over $20 million per year earlier in August. Robinson briefly held the record for the highest-paid running back in NFL history before Gibbs surpassed that mark just days later. But is that an indication that Gibbs is better than Robinson? We ranked the top 10 running backs in the NFL ahead of the 2026 season, and as you could imagine, Robinson and Gibbs were among those vying for the top spot. Here is our full list of the top 10 running backs entering the regular season. Eric D. Williams: The Super Bowl MVP for the Seattle Seahawks led the league in rushing during the postseason and had one of his best seasons as a pro last year. Walker led Seattle in rushing in each of his four seasons with the team, rushing for over 1,000 yards as a pro for the second time in his career in 2025. However, the Seahawks allowed the Memphis native to walk away in free agency, as Walker signed a three-year, $45 million deal to join the Kansas City Chiefs. The expectation for Walker is that he will serve as the bell-cow back, helping to reignite the running game for Patrick Mahomes as he returns from a season-ending knee injury. Williams: Williams had another strong season, finishing sixth in the NFL in rushing yards (1,252) and ninth in rushing touchdowns (10). His 44 scrimmage touchdowns are the second-most in the NFL since the start of the 2023 season. Williams has rushed for over 1,000 yards in three of his first four years as a pro, earning Pro Bowl invitations in two of those seasons. However, Williams could have his workload cut with the emergence of Michigan product Blake Corum, who came on during the second half of last season and has looked good in training camp. Greg Auman: Can a team that’s constantly trailing have a bellcow running back? Miami has as low an expectation for 2026 as any team, but new coach Jeff Hafley says he could give Achane 40 touches a game or more, which is wild. Achane was one of the best all-around backs in the NFL last year, averaging six yards a touch with 1,838 yards from scrimmage. Only Atlanta Falcons star Bijan Robinson averaged more per touch. Can Achane sustain that when there’s even less of a supporting cast in the passing game to draw defensive attention away from him? Mike McDaniel’s creativity is gone, but watch to see how Bobby Slowik can find ways to utilize Achane in the screen/passing game. He’s had 145 receptions in the last two years, five more than Robinson for the most among all NFL running backs. Ralph Vacchiano: As the Buffalo Bills’ passing game sagged a bit the last two years, Cook made sure their running game didn’t miss a beat. And he established himself as one of the NFL’s best and most powerful last season with a league-leading 1,621 yards, making him the first Bills player to lead the NFL in rushing since O.J. Simpson nearly 50 years ago. Cook is a bowling ball through the middle of the defense, able to bounce off contact and explode onto the second level, despite being just 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds. Cook would probably rank higher on this list if he contributed more in the passing game (33-291-2). But he’s so strong running the ball, it’s hard to be disappointed. He ran for 28 touchdowns over the last two years. He’s the perfect weapon to wear down defenses late in games, and especially when the weather turns in Western New York late in the year. Ben Arthur: We’re at the point in Henry’s career where, every year, we’re wondering if this is going to be the year in which he finally slows down. But he’s done such an incredible job taking care of his body that it almost assuredly won’t be 2026. The 32-year-old Henry is coming off his eighth straight double-digit rushing touchdown season. The five-time Pro Bowler has also posted 1,000-plus rushing yards in seven of the last eight years, including the last four. Henry climbed into 10th on the NFL’s all-time rushing list in 2025, and could jump into the top six with 1,083 rushing yards in the coming season. Bucky Brooks: The ultimate offensive weapon is nearing the twilight of his career, but few defensive coordinators have cracked the code on how to slow down the three-time All-Pro. CMC has totaled 2,000-plus scrimmage yards three times, while also earning exclusive memberships into the “1,000/1,000” Club (1,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards) and “100/1,000” Clubs (100 catches and 1,000 receiving yards). With few playmakers displaying RB1 and WR2 skills from the backfield, McCaffrey remains the gold standard as the NFL’s top multi-purpose back. Arthur: Before the Colts’ collapse late last season, Taylor was a front-running MVP candidate. He ended 2025 leading the league in carries (323), rushing touchdowns (18), scrimmage touchdowns (20) and rushing first downs (84) for the second time in his career, earning a two-year, $44 million extension earlier this month. Taylor isn’t the receiving threat that the likes of McCaffrey, Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson are, but he is a dependable catcher out of the backfield. He had career highs in receptions (46) and receiving yards (378) last season. Taylor’s 1,963 scrimmage yards in 2025 also ranked third in the NFL. Vacchiano: This is how great the 29-year-old Barkley is: He ran for 1,140 yards and seven touchdowns last season, averaging 4.1 yards per carry, and he caught 37 passes for 273 yards … and his season was considered a profound disappointment. That’s how high he set the bar, especially after he ran for 2,005 yards one year earlier. Those days are probably over. The Eagles’ offensive line isn’t what it used to be and that season — in which he totaled 482 touches in the regular season and playoffs — clearly wore Barkley down. He’s still got breakaway speed, though, and moves unlike most backs in the league. He can be a nightmare to drag down in the open field. For all those reasons, most people in the NFL expect a bounce-back season from him, even if he’s very unlikely to ever threaten to break 2,000 rushing yards again. McKenna: It’s fun to imagine what will happen in 2026 with Gibbs taking over the backfield as the Lions’ bellcow back. In a timeshare last year, he had 1,223 rushing yards, 616 receiving yards and 18 total touchdowns. That was in a timeshare. What happens when he’s the guy?! Gibbs has never needed much in the way of touches to make a huge impact on each game. But as the Lions hope to return to the playoffs, it actually probably reassures Detroit fans that Gibbs will be a bigger part of the offense. Because when he gets the ball, magic happens. He’s as explosive in the rushing game as he is in the passing game. There’s no good way to stop him, and when the blocking is good, there really isn’t a way to stop him. Auman: How quietly great was Robinson’s 2025 season? He led the NFL with 2,298 yards from scrimmage, while still giving up some red-zone and late-game carries to Tyler Allgeier. There have been 26 seasons in NFL history with 2,200-plus yards from scrimmage, but only two had fewer touches than Robinson last year — Marshall Faulk in 1999 and O.J. Simpson in 1975. Does Robinson take on a larger share with Allgeier gone and unsure play at quarterback? The NFL record for yards from scrimmage is 2,509, which came from Chris Johnson in 2009, and it feels like it’s within reach. As a counterpoint, the Falcons just invested $67 million in Robinson through the 2030 season, so they might want to keep an eye on his mileage so he still has something left in a few years. Atlanta would have to win many more games for him to have serious MVP consideration, and they might not be quite there yet.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — No one wants to tell a receiver that he’s running a route where he’s not going to get the ball, where he’s not even a viable option in the play’s design. But it happens quite often. One of football’s most popular concepts, “Dagger,” includes a vertical route where a receiver effectively sprints downfield without any hope of a reception. He runs the route because it’ll create space for another pass-catcher to get open. There are a few names for this type of play, including “The Love of the Game Route.” But Bears receiver Kalif Raymond told me recently that those types of routes don’t exist in Chicago’s offense — not with Caleb Williams throwing the football. “There’s no such thing,” said Raymond, who joined the Bears in free agency this offseason. “[Williams can use] every blade of grass and even the oxygen particles that are in the air because this dude can jump sideways. I was like, ‘What?’ It’s almost like he feels better when he’s under duress or when he’s doing something crazy. … He can see you from all over the field. He can make that throw from anywhere on the field. It’s really cool to see that’s the capability back there.” The play is never over. Now, don’t get me wrong, head coach Ben Johnson and offensive coordinator Press Taylor have worked diligently with Williams on completing more of his passes in structure — taking what the defense gives him. That’s how the team hopes to get their star QB from a 58.1% completion percentage to 70%, which is the goal. But Williams went No. 1 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft in large part because of his arm talent and his creativity. At times in his rookie season, it felt like the Bears’ offense corrupted those strengths — leading to mistakes and missed opportunities. When Johnson arrived in 2025, it seemed he prioritized getting the quarterback back on track, developmentally. They focused on using the offensive system first, then applying creativity only when it was necessary. And there’s no doubt he’s more comfortable in Johnson’s offense in year two. “It’s a hell of a lot more fun for me than it was last year,” Williams told reporters earlier in camp. “I was saying it to Coach Studes [running backs coach Eric Studesville], ‘Dude, I feel like I was drowning, trying to breathe or stay alive and wait for a boat to come around last year.’ “Now this year, it’s being able to start where we finished last year, play calls and words and verbiage and speak the same language. It’s being able to grow more from an earlier stage [and] maybe doing it a little bit earlier in the season. … That’s the advantage.” And after seeing “Cardiac Caleb” lead the NFL with six fourth-quarter comebacks last season, the Bears are embracing more of what makes him unique — his creativity when plays break down. It’s what Taylor calls “the next step.” “That’s something we’ve tried to really put a big emphasis on this offseason,” Taylor told me in early August. “After a year with Caleb, watching his escapability and watching his second-play ability, [it’s our job] to make sure that everybody’s on the same page.” How will the Bears do that exactly? “We coach every time that comes up, whether it’s seven-on-seven or team situations. We’re going to coach in the following meeting,” Taylor said. “What was our reaction? What should we do? What do we expect right here? Let the guys talk a little bit so that we’re all on the same page of understanding. There’s not hard and fast rules, but there’s kind of guidelines. … We can communicate through our body language with the quarterback and where we’re expected to be.” A lot can go wrong when a quarterback breaks the pocket and steps into a second-chance opportunity. It’s a moment when the signal-caller might force a pass into a tight window for an interception. It’s also a moment when a QB might scramble and get hurt. And it’s also a moment when the quarterback might take a sack — or, even worse, a sack-fumble. This is where we can see a few more qualities that make Williams special. He doesn’t throw many interceptions, keeping his interception percentage at an absurdly low 1.1% in 2024 and 1.2% in 2025. He also found a way to limit his sacks last season, dropping his sack percentage from 10.8% in 2024 (31st) to 3.8% in 2025 (fourth). “He knew when he could take chances and not. And certainly when you’re in that, ‘Hey, we’re in fourth downs from here on out’ mode, I think that kind of helps his mentality,” Johnson told me at the NFL owners meetings. “It’s so curious with him: He’s just always been such a great protector of the ball. For a guy that can be a little bit aggressive at times with some of these throws he makes, he rarely puts it in harm’s way. “And so I think that’s a little bit unique to him. And so maybe it’s one of those things we just need to encourage him to open it up a little bit more earlier in games, when he might be just a little bit more conservative in some of the decision-making early in games.” The Bears trust Williams to make the right play. And … “We got a great quarterback who can make the play right,” second-year receiver Luther Burden III told me. The difference is subtle but meaningful. When a play works, Williams needs to execute it. When a play fails, Williams can make up for it. “You’re just not limited in any way with Caleb,” Bears receivers coach Antwaan Randle El told me. “We know we’re not limited. So the sky — we just keep pushing from that standpoint because our quarterback has a great arm. He can run and he can throw it and he can run with it. We got a lot that we can do with him, so that’s why it’s not coaching our guys differently. It’s just making sure they know what to do. Because if you’re in the right spot, he’ll get the ball to you.” At practice in early August, Williams didn’t shy away from breaking structure. There was one example when he felt immediate pressure off the blindside, scrambled right and found receiver Rome Odunze, who was working his way toward the sideline. Odunze took off upfield, weaving his way into the end zone for a 50-yard touchdown. At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, Odunze is an obvious candidate to help Williams generate big plays in any situation. But he might not even be the most obvious candidate. If you think about Patrick Mahomes’ creative magic, you also think about tight end Travis Kelce — and the way he finds space when the play breaks down. So it might actually be Bears ascending tight end Colston Loveland who finds a role as the team’s go-to target in these situations. That’s who I think of first, at least. “That’s the first I’d like to think of too,” Taylor told me. “I think that’ll start to differentiate itself as they start to read his body language, where he’s going on certain plays, how he’s reacting and how they can fit within the open space in a play.” It might not need to be one guy. That’s the beauty of this ascending group of young playmakers, with Williams, Odunze, Burden and Loveland having a combined six seasons in the NFL. They’re growing up in an offense where the limit does not exist. No one wants to tell a pass-catcher that he’s running a route where he’s not going to get the ball. In the Bears’ offense, no one has to.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports