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Last Friday night’s ESPN prime time FCS college football game from Hanover, New Hampshire featured earlier-than-expected Christmas holiday colors and gift exchanges.

The unbeaten 6-0 Harvard Crimson visited the Big Green of Dartmouth in what was a difficult battle for those of us dealing with red-green colorblindness.

Harvard junior defensive back Xaden Benson was overcome with holiday joy.

He received three interceptions courtesy of Dartmouth’s woeful (5 of 12 for 42 yards and 3 interceptions) passing game.

In the spirit of the season, Harvard reciprocated with five holiday gifts for the Dartmouth defense in return.

Crimson quarterback Charlie Smith completed 23 of 37 passes for 277 yards and two touchdowns.  He also completed five passes to the Big Green’s defense as Dartmouth handed Harvard its first loss off the season by a 24-14 score.

Harvard dropped to 6-1 overall and is now in a three-way tie for first place in the Ivy League.  Dartmouth (5-4), Princeton (5-2), and Harvard are all 3-1 in conference play after last weekend’s games.

Dartmouth travels to Princeton on Saturday (11AM CST on ESPN+).  Harvard will host 4-3 Columbia at 12 Noon.

Don’t look now, but South Dakota State is on a roll!

The 7-2 Jackrabbits won the FCS national championship in both 2022 and 2023.

This season got underway with a tough 34-18 loss at FBS Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois.  The Northwestern Wildcats have been quite impressive.  They are 6-2 in the Big Ten Conference and have been ranked in the Top 25 for much of the season.

South Dakota State trails Missouri Valley Football Conference leader Youngstown State by only ½ game.  The Jackrabbits defeated the Penguins 27-20 earlier this season and hold a tie-breaker advantage.

Saturday’s convincing 31-21 win over arch-rival South Dakota (now 7-3) has given SDSU a clear path to the Missouri Valley Football Conference title.

The Jackrabbits must travel to 4-4 Northern Iowa for a game this Saturday at 1PM (ESPN+).  Their two remaining regular season games are at 4-5 Southern Illinois and at home against 2-7 Indiana State.

Southland Conference Showdown in Beaumont, Texas happens this Saturday

The red-hot 9-0 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks chopped down another opponent on Halloween in Nacogdoches, Texas.

SFA won its 18th consecutive regular season game by obliterating Houston Christian (now 4-5) 37-6.

Wide receiver and return specialist “Lightning” Bugs Mortimer returned a punt for a touchdown to spark the Lumberjacks’ latest victory.  The speedy wide receiver now has seven touchdowns this season.

SFA will load the busses for a 2½ hour road trip to play long-time Southland Conference foe Lamar University in Beaumont this Saturday.

The Cardinals are 7-2 overall and 5-1 in Southland Conference action.

They are coming off an impressive 52-23 road win at 4-5 UT-Rio Grande last Saturday.

Lamar sophomore wide receiver and kick-off return specialist Blake Thomas took the second half kick-off 97 yards for a touchdown to break open this game.  Thomas won the Southland Conference “Special Teams Player of the Week” award.

The Cardinals’ only conference loss came in a 34-31 defeat at Southeastern Louisiana.

A sell-out crowd is possible at Lamar’s 16,000 seat football stadium Saturday for this Southland showdown.  Kickoff is at 3PM with television coverage available on ESPN+.

The So-Con has four teams with just one conference loss!

Tennessee Tech’s first season as a member of the Southern Conference (So-Con) has been quite successful.

They were long-time members of the Ohio Valley Conference prior to the 2026 football season.  The Golden Eagles have soared to a 8-1 overall record (5-1 in conference) with just three regular season games to go.

However, that one loss may loom large by season’s end.  Tennessee Tech lost to So-Con member 4-5 Western Carolina by a surprising 44-20 margin in October.

The Chattanooga Mocs are in hot pursuit.

They are 6-3 overall and 5-1 in the So-Con.  The Mocs’ only conference blemish came at the hands of Tennessee Tech in a 24-9 home loss.

Mercer (7-2 overall – 4-1 in conference) and East Tennessee State (6-3 overall and 4-1 in the So-Con) are poised to make a November challenge, too.

The Mercer Bears’ lone conference blemish was a surprising 20-13 loss to 2-7 Furman.

ETSU’s only defeat in the So-Con came in a 24-17 loss to Tennessee Tech.

Tennessee Tech currently has the inside track.  The Golden Eagles will host long-time So-Con football power Mercer on Saturday, November 14.  A Mercer win would create even more chaos in this year’s So-Con title chase.

Towson finally wins!

The Towson Tigers became a winner last weekend!  

This suburban Baltimore school opened the 2026 season with eight consecutive losses.  Towson wasted no time last Saturday as they vanquished Coastal Athletic Association foe Hampton.

The Tigers pounced on Hampton (now 1-8) from the opening kickoff in taking a 30-6 halftime advantage. 

The visiting Pirates were the ones being forced to walk the plank during this lopsided 44-13 game.

Congratulations to Towson for breaking through with its first win of the season!

That leaves Virginia Military Institute and Northwestern State University (LA) as the two remaining FCS teams without a win this season.   The Keydets and Demons are both 0-9.

VMI has scored the fewest points in the FCS (just 74 in nine games).

Northwestern State has given up the most points in the FCS this season (424 in nine games).

Ouch and double ouch!  

It’s time to visit the SwampSwamiSports.com FCS Top 25 for the week ending Saturday, October 31, 2026.

The post FCS – Santa Arrived early as Harvard handed Dartmouth FIVE Gifts appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

Legendary former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick’s second year at the University of North Carolina is showing signs of improvement.

His 4-3 Tar Heels were at home on Saturday night to play the unbeaten and #1-ranked Miami Hurricanes.  Miami was an overwhelming 14-point road favorite.

The Hurricanes were fortunate to escape Chapel Hill with a 38-35 victory on Saturday night.  Miami apparently forgot to pack their defense for the trip to Carolina.

North Carolina only had to punt once in this high-scoring back-and-forth game.  Tar Heels quarterback Billy Edwards, Jr. tossed four touchdown passes and 341 yards to keep Carolina within one touchdown for much of this game.

Miami improved to 8-0 and will travel to South Bend, Indiana for this Saturday night’s showdown with 7-1 Notre Dame.  Bill Belichick’s North Carolina Tar Heels dropped to 4-4.

Utah Utes rise to #2 under their rookie head coach

Long-time Utah head football coach Kyle Whittingham told his former employer that he was retiring following the 2025 season.  The legendary coach took the Utes to 17 post-season appearances during his 21 years at the Salt Lake City university.

The 66-year old former NFL linebacker surprised the college football world in December, 2025 by signing a 5-year contract to coach the Michigan Wolverines.

Utah quickly tapped long-time defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley to take the head coaching position.  Scalley played defensive back for the Utes 20 years ago.

His very unusual coaching resume shows professional experience at only one school – his alma mater.

Morgan Scalley began working at Utah as a graduate assistant.  He continued to move up the ladder under Coach Whittingham.

The 47-year old Scalley was the team’s defensive coordinator for the past ten seasons.

Utah’s defense is quite stingy again in 2026 under their rookie head coach.  The Utes rank #15 out of 138 FBS teams by allowing just under 16 points per game.

Utah is 8-0 heading into Saturday morning’s 11AM CST kick-off on ABC against Big 12 and long-time rival 7-1 Brigham Young.  The so-called “Holy War” game between the state of Utah’s two largest universities began in 1896.

A win by the visiting BYU Cougars could send the Big 12 title race into a three-way tie for first place (along with Texas Tech) as each team would have one conference loss.

Time to say good-bye to the annual Alabama vs. LSU football game

The SEC’s growth into a 16-team conference has caused a number of changes with traditional rivalry games.

LSU and Alabama have played football against each other in consecutive years since 1964.  Bama leads the all-time series with LSU with a 58-27-5 record.  The Crimson Tide has won three games in a row.

Recent Southeastern Conference scheduling changes will pair these two long-time rivals only once every four years beginning next season.

That is only one aspect which makes this Saturday afternoon’s 2:30PM game (ABC) in Baton Rouge so intriguing.

Both teams enter the game at 6-2.  The loser is likely eliminated from the College Football Playoffs in December due to the large number of two-loss teams still available.

Coach Lane Kiffin’s Tigers have been on a roll recently.  LSU obliterated Auburn 38-17 on the Plains a little more than a week ago.  The Tigers shut-out Mississippi State 31-0 the week prior to that.

LSU’s offense (#7 nationally) and defense (ranked #16 nationally) are peaking at the right time.

Alabama Coach Kalen DeBoer’s detractors want nothing less than for his Crimson Tide football team to walk into Tiger Stadium and quickly K-O LSU on Saturday.

Good luck with that, Bama fan!

Sunshine and 75 degrees in Baton Rouge plus several hours of pregame tailgating should have 102,000 LSU fans very much primed for Saturday’s kick-off.

Indiana vs. Minnesota – What were the chances of seeing two 60-yard field goals in the final minute of a college football game?

The Minnesota Golden Gophers trotted out their field goal kicker to try a 60-yarder with about 25 seconds left in the final quarter against defending national champion Indiana.  It cleared the uprights as the Gophers jumped with excitement in taking a 16-13 lead with just 19 seconds to go on Indiana’s home field.

IU then quickly completed a long pass to reach the mid-field area with almost no time left on the clock.  Seldom-used senior placekicker Paddy McAteer (yes, he is from Ireland) came onto the field and blasted a game-tying 60-yard field goal of his own to send the game into overtime at 16-16.

Indiana scored a touchdown on the first play of overtime.  Minnesota then failed to convert on fourth and goal during its overtime possession. Indiana (now 8-1) prevailed 23-16.

It was one of the most improbable finishes I have ever seen.

Afterwards, Indiana coach Curt Cignetti cracked a rare smile and said, “This is entertainment, so I thought we’d bring some entertainment to this game!”

Get your TV remote ready for big college football games this weekend!

How about this line-up of early November key games on Friday and Saturday?  Check your batteries in your TV remote!

Friday night warm-ups for Saturday’s all-day event include:

6:00 PM CST

6-2 Virginia Tech at 6-2 SMU (ESPN) – Let’s find out whether the Hokies or the Mustangs are for real!

7:00 PM

5-3 Nebraska at 5-3 Illinois (FOX) – Can the Huskers win a big road game?

8:00 PM

7-1 New Mexico at 3-5 Nevada (CBS Sports Network) – Just because I haven’t seen New Mexico play this year!

9:15 PM

4-4 TCU at 6-2 Arizona (ESPN) – TCU coach Sonny Dyke’s job is on the line.  Arizona must win to have any playoff chances.

Saturday’s impressive line-up of games with meaningful playoff implications include:

11AM CST

7-1 BYU at 8-0 Utah (ABC) – Get ready for battle in the “Holy War” game!

8-0 UCLA at 5-3 Minnesota (FOX) – Will Minnesota bounce back after a tough loss at Indiana?

6-2 Texas at 6-2 Missouri (ESPN) – The loser can forget about the playoffs.

2:30 PM

6-2 Alabama at 6-2 LSU (ABC) – The team which makes the fewest mistakes wins this game.

5-3 Cincinnati at 6-2 Houston (FOX) – Cougars must win and run the table to make the playoffs.

5:15 PM

7-1 Kentucky at 6-2 Tennessee (ESPN) – It will be VERY loud Saturday at good ol’ Rocky Top!

6:30 PM

8-0 Miami (FL) at 7-1 Notre Dame (NBC) – Is Notre Dame for real or just media hype?

7-1 Georgia at 6-2 Ole Miss (ABC) – Will the Ole Miss defense rise to the occasion?

6-2 Iowa at 6-2 Northwestern (FOX) – The loser in this game has no playoff chances.

6-2 Air Force at 5-3 Army (CBS) – This is a treat for families with ties to either of these military branches.

8:30 PM

5-3 West Virginia at 7-1 Texas Tech (ESPN) – Watch out, Red Raiders!  Those Mountaineers have been sneaky good in a few games.

Now, it’s time to unveil the SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25 teams for the week ending Saturday, October 31, 2026:

The post Miami Survives “Bill Belichick Bowl” to Remain #1 appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

Several of my recent posts have been covering the exciting college football season.  Other sports and sports-related stories had to be (temporarily) pushed to the back burner.  Let’s get caught up on a few stories today!

Congratulations to the World Series Champion Milwaukee Brewers!

The Brewers left no doubt in Game 5 at the Tampa Bay Rays.  Milwaukee built a 4-0 lead on Wednesday night and cruised to a 4-1 victory to bring Wisconsin its first World Series title. 

The Milwaukee Brewers won the most regular season games (103) than any team in Major League Baseball this year.

Former Brewers catcher and long-time announcer Bob Uecker passed away in 2025. 

The long-time reserve major league catcher-turned-comedian would have been quite proud of his hometown baseball team finally winning a World Series title for Milwaukee.

Big payrolls don’t necessarily buy titles

The new World Series champion Milwaukee Brewers won the title without having a massive payroll.  Their $169 million championship team ranked #19 out of 30 Major League Baseball organizations this year.

American League champion and World Series runner-up Tampa Bay’s payroll was about $110 million in 2026. That’s 27th overall.

The Los Angeles Dodgers ($400 million), New York Mets ($356 million), and the New York Yankees ($342 million) watched the World Series at home just like the rest of us.

A diagnosis of CTE is on the rise with former NFL players

Results from a recent study revealed that 75% of NFL players who died between 2008 and 2023 had chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE.  It is a progressive neurodegenerative brain disease frequently found among athletes participating in high-impact head contact sports such as football and boxing.

Researchers at Boston University, Mass General Brigham Hospital, and the Concussion and CTE Foundation reviewed a total of 2,362 cases.  Within that total, 369 were former pro football players who donated their brains to become part of the study. Nearly 94% of that subset showed CTE.

CTE has four stages of severity.  The early stages are difficult to diagnose.  Later stages generally are associated with memory loss, dementia, and mood disorders.

David Toms is becoming an excellent pitch man for the PGA Champions Tour!

It now costs $30 million if your city wants to host a big-time PGA Tour event featuring the game’s top stars.  Even a lesser PGA event (where many fans won’t know 90% of the field) will still cost a cool $15 million in prize money to have them play a tournament in your fair city.

13-time PGA Tour winner David Toms recently reminded golf fans that the PGA Champions (Senior) Tour is a significantly better economic option.  A “mere” $6 million brings well-known senior golf stars like Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Zach Johnson and Stewart Cink into your local community.

The 59-year old Shreveport resident brings plenty of golf credibility.  He won the 2001 PGA Championship and the 2018 US Senior Open title, too.  The LSU grad made a very good case for corporate sponsors to consider bringing a senior golf tournament to their hometown.

One other benefit for having a PGA Champions Tour event is that the older golfers have actually learned how to smile on occasion and acknowledge the local fans.

LIV Golf – Bankruptcy update

The clock continues to tick on LIV Golf as their Chapter 11 bankruptcy hearings continue in New Jersey.  Time is of the essence.  Failure to meet a few upcoming critical deadlines will trigger an order to immediately wind-down (end) operations of LIV Golf by the bankruptcy judge.

Two prominent LIV golfers (both winners of a major championship) just added their names to the growing number of players opting out of the proposed LIV 2.0 next year.  Louis Oosthuizen and Graeme McDowell will look to the DP World (European) Tour next season for a chance to play.

Losing major stars is rapidly making LIV Golf 2.0 less attractive to investors and world golf fans.

One issue worth mentioning during the bankruptcy hearing involves the perceived value of LIV Golf’s $3 billion worth of net operating losses.  Who would have imagined that running up nearly $1 billion per year in annual losses would have any future value?

The good news is that any future taxable earnings could be reduced by utilizing some of the massive net operating losses.

The bad news?  A reboot touted as LIV Golf 2.0 would actually need to post a profit in order to benefit from any of the $3 billion worth of tax losses being carried forward.

It’s quite possible that the words “profit” and “LIV Golf” have never been used in the same sentence together over the past five seasons.

The UFL moved out of Birmingham and Houston and into…where???

Spring football’s United Football League (UFL) skedaddled from two long-time markets in Birmingham, Alabama and Houston, Texas after the 2026 season ended.  Those two franchises have been relocated to Pawtucket, Rhode Island and Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The new Rhode Island Breakers UFL team will play in Pawtucket’s Centreville Bank Stadium (a soccer venue) with 10,500 seats in 2027.

Watch out for the Colorado Stampede! 

The other relocated UFL franchise will play next spring at Weidner Field.  That facility is a brand new 8,000 seat soccer stadium located in downtown Colorado Springs.

The UFL has not been able to draw enough fans to fill-up traditional football stadiums.  Billionaire owner Mike Repole began to downsize every UFL team’s venue into smaller soccer arenas.

A relatively small crowd in a soccer stadium will look better on television than having the same 10,000 people spread around a 40,000 seat football stadium.

I still don’t see how the UFL will be able to break even by selling-out such tiny stadiums for their football games.  Yes, the rental costs are lower.  However, team revenue is extremely limited by playing in such small venues.

The St. Louis BattleHawks have been playing in an indoor football stadium which was the former home of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams. This domed facility has some weekend scheduling conflicts during the upcoming 2027 UFL season.  League owner Mike Repole is giving thought to downsizing the UFL’s popular BattleHawks into a smaller arena for their football games beginning next season.

Be careful, Mr. Repole!

Health update on WWE wrestling legend Ric Flair

The 77-year old legendary professional wrestling star was recently diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg.  He posted a note on social media one week ago saying that he will undergo a procedure soon to address the blood clot.

Later on that same day, Ric Flair had a rather nasty fall coming out of a Tampa, Florida restaurant. 

The accident caused a scary injury to one of his eyes along with several cuts on his face. 

Flair was treated at a local hospital and released.  The long-time favorite former WWE star has been recuperating at home this week.

Perhaps Ric Flair was out on the town stylin’ and profilin’ just like during his younger days.

At age 77, Ric Flair may want to consider a more age-appropriate nightlife.  How about something safer such as deciding on his favorite flavor of ice cream and settling down on the couch to watching sports on television?

Woooo!  Love that Blue Bell Pralines and Cream, baybee!

Happy Halloween!

The post Halloween Weekend Sports Takes appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

That wonderful but cheesy 1960’s television show Batman! featured pop-up visual exclamations such as “Pow!”, “Zowee!” or “Oof” as Batman and Robin dispensed of the villains every week.

My dearly departed ninth grade English teacher (insensitively nicknamed “Juicy Lucy” by students due to her poorly fitting dentures) would correct me at this point.

Those one-word exclamations which sound like the actions they represent are actually known as onomatopoeia.

Thank you, Dynamic Duo, for helping me to pass English many decades ago!

The top two teams in the SwampSwamiSports.com FCS Top 25 each administered an assortment of onomatopoeias toward their respective opponents last weekend.

Top-rated Tarleton State generously spotted United Athletics Conference foe West Georgia an early 6-0 lead in Carrollton, Georgia on Saturday.

The unbeaten Texans then pummeled the home team by scoring the next 49 points (“Kapow!”) as they humiliated the wounded Wolves 49-6.  Tarleton State moved to 8-0 as they racked up nearly 500 yards of total offense at West Georgia (now 1-6).

The Southeastern Louisiana Lions have a long reputation for being a rugged Southland Conference football competitor.  They have finished with a 9-4 record on three occasions over the past five seasons and played in the FCS playoffs.  SLU traveled to Nacogdoches, Texas on Saturday to face #2-ranked and unbeaten Stephen F. Austin.

SFA immediately pounced on Southeastern (“Biff!”) and led 21-7 early in the second quarter.

A delighted home crowd of more than 12,000 watched the high-scoring Lumberjacks subdue the Lions 45-24 and improve to 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the Southland Conference.  Southeastern Louisiana dropped to 4-4.

Stephen F. Austin’s 8-0 start is the school’s best in more than 100 years of football.

On Monday, Stephen F. Austin’s head football coach Colby Carthel was rewarded with a contract extension intended to keep him (perhaps) in East Texas through 2031.

This is his ninth season as the head coach at SFA.

The rest of the FCS Playoff field is tightening

Tarleton State, Stephen F. Austin, and 6-0 Harvard remained the only unbeaten teams in the FCS this week.

Right behind them are four teams with one loss apiece.  Defending champion Montana State is 7-1 along with the Campbell Fighting Camels and Tennessee Tech.  Dayton improved to 6-1.

There are 19 more teams which have two losses through last weekend’s games.

November brings a number of rivalry games between many of today’s top-rated teams.  The resulting carnage over the final month will create a 24-team FCS playoff field which is bound to include a number of three-loss teams.

The Campbell Fighting Camels won a record 7th game on Saturday

Congratulations to Campbell University of the Coastal Athletic Association!

Those pass-happy Fighting Camels from North Carolina cruised to a 35-6 win over the Maine Black Bears (now 1-6).  Saturday’s game in Orono, Maine (located just north of Bangor) saw the 7-1 Fighting Camels throw for 455 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday.

This is the first time in which Campbell University has won seven football games during a football season as a member of the FCS.

The road gets much tougher beginning this Saturday.  The Fighting Camels will “hump-it” to New York for an 11AM CDT kickoff against the 5-3 Albany Great Danes.

Campbell is 4-0 in CAA league play while UA comes in at 3-1.

And the Northwestern State Demons just lost their 8th game of the season

Last Saturday’s full moon and a homecoming crowd didn’t help the Northwestern State Demons win their first game of the 2026 football season.

The Demons trailed Southland Conference rival Nicholls State 27-24 late in the fourth quarter Saturday in Natchitoches, Louisiana. 

They drove the football downfield 71 yards on 12 plays to the Colonels’ 15-yard line with only five seconds left in the game.  Northwestern State’s final pass into the end zone was intercepted by Nicholls to end the football game and sink the Demons to 0-8 this year.  The Colonels improved to 3-5.

A dejected Northwestern State head coach Blaine McCorkle told the press afterwards, “You can’t write that script anywhere.  Our guys continue to fight unbelievably hard.”

The loss was Northwestern State’s 19th in a row going back to August, 2025.

Towson State and VMI are also winless at 0-8 coming into this weekend’s games.

FCS Spotlight – Pioneer Football League

Upon hearing the names of universities such as Dayton, Butler, and Davidson, my mind immediately says, “Basketball!”

Those three schools plus eight others also play football in the FCS Pioneer Football League.

The PFL remains the only non-scholarship, football-only conference in the FCS.

It was founded in 1993 by a group of Midwestern universities including Butler, Drake, Dayton, and Valparaiso.  The Evansville Purple Aces were the fifth founding member.  That school ended its 75-year old football program in 1997 due to rising costs.

The Pioneer Football League later added football-playing schools in the West (University of San Diego), East (Marist in Poughkeepsie, NY), and South (Stetson in DeLand, Florida just north of Orlando).

The winner of the Pioneer Football League was finally awarded an automatic bid into the FCS 24-team playoffs beginning in 2013.  The league has yet to produce an FCS champion.

Reminder – the PFL member schools do not provide football scholarships.

Dayton and the University of San Diego have dominated the Pioneer Football League.  Both schools have won the PFL 12 times during the league’s 33-year history.

The Dayton Flyers are 6-1 this fall and tied for the conference lead at 3-1 with Butler, Marist, and the St. Thomas (MN) Tommies.

The Pioneer Football League’s tiebreaker to determine a league champion to participate in the FCS playoffs is rather complicated (read it here). 

Let’s hope that one team emerges as the outright champion in late November!

Now, let’s raise the curtain on the SwampSwamiSports.com FCS Top 25 teams for the week ending Saturday, October 24, 2026:

The post FCS Top 25 – The Texas Dynamic Duo Dominates appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

Last week, James Madison from the Sun Belt Conference was the only 7-0 team in the entire FBS.

My SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25 ranking system calls for a 7-0 team to be listed ahead of any 6-0 team.  That’s because the 7-0 team has vanquished one more opponent through the most recent weekend of college football action.

JMU apparently couldn’t handle the pressure associated with being my #1 team.

Appalachian State ambushed the Dukes last Thursday night in Boone, NC.  The Mountaineers rallied in the fourth quarter and kicked a walk-off field goal at the buzzer to down James Madison 34-31.  Appalachian State improved to 5-2 with the victory.

Two other unbeaten teams went down to defeat on Saturday.

Texas Tech may have believed that they were playing a different Cincinnati football team on Saturday afternoon.

Bearcats quarterback JC French IV did his best Joe Burrow imitation while completing four touchdown passes in Cincinnati’s easy 37-24 win over the now 6-1 Red Raiders.

The NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals would have have been proud of the offensive output of the local college fotoball team. Cincinnati (the Big 12 Bearcats – not the NFL’s Bengals) improved to 5-2.

The other “thud” on Saturday came from formerly unbeaten Brigham Young.

Central Florida’s Knights survived a wild fourth quarter finish and vanquished the visiting Cougars 39-31 in double overtime.  UCF improved to 4-3, while BYU dropped to 6-1.

There’s joy in Monroe, Louisiana after ULM ended a 14-game losing streak

The last time the UL-Monroe Warhawks won a football game was September 25, 2025.  ULM beat Arkansas State 28-16 at Malone Stadium in Monroe.

The 2025 Warhawks lost their final eight games of the season.  This year’s 2026 ULM football team started off 0-6.  They were embarrassed after being shut-out at home by arch-rival Louisiana Tech 24-0 last Saturday.

The Warhawks seemed on their way to losing a seventh straight game in 2026 at Troy on Saturday.  ULM trailed Troy 14-3 with only three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

That’s when the Warhawks’ offense finally caught fire.  Quarterback Aiden Armenta led the Warhawks on a 75-yard drive and then a six-play, 86-yard final drive to give the Warhawks a narrow 15-14 lead with only 15 seconds remaining in the game.

On the game’s final play, Troy attempted to pass and lateral the football several times.  The play ended up going backwards into the Troy end zone.

A surprised ULM defender plucked the final lateral out of the air and secured a final touchdown for the jubilant Warhawks. 

ULM scored an incredible 18 points in the final three minutes to defeat Troy 21-14 and end its 14-game losing streak.

Only Northern Illinois (0-7) remains winless this season within the 138-member FBS group.

Raise your hand if you predicted UCLA would be 7-0 at this point in the season

I don’t see any hands – certainly not mine!

The unbeaten Bruins are 7-0.  They have signature wins at 4-3 Oregon (17-15) and at home against 5-2 Wisconsin (17-7).

The newest head football coach at UCLA is a proven program builder.

Bob Chesney has become the second consecutive former James Madison University head coach to enjoy incredible success at his next school.  Defending national champion Indiana’s Curt Cignetti also came from the JMU football program.

Chesney also spent six years building the Holy Cross FCS program into a national power.  The Crusaders went 29-8 and qualified for the FCS playoffs over his final three years.  Chesney then accepted the James Madison coaching job.

The latest football coach for the UCLA Bruins was a former college defensive back.

His emphasis on defense has led the team’s turnaround.  Chesney’s improved UCLA defense is allowing less than nine points per game over the past four contests.

UCLA’s schedule is quite favorable for a good finish.  The unbeaten Bruins do not have to face Ohio State or Indiana.  They still have tough road tests at 5-2 Minnesota and 4-3 Michigan.  The season ends with a home game against crosstown rival USC (now 6-2).

UCLA’s playoff chances are bright – regardless of whether the Bruins remain undefeated.

SEC game of musical chairs is now down to two players

Only two SEC teams still have just one loss this season.  One of them is Georgia (6-1).

That would not be considered a surprise.

The other is…Kentucky? 

The Wildcats are 7-1 after downing Vanderbilt 34-17 in Lexington on Saturday afternoon.  Kentucky has the upcoming weekend off before traveling south to good ol’ Rocky Top where they will face 6-2 Tennessee.

Georgia is coming off a bye week and faces rival Florida on Saturday. 

The game is traditionally played in Jacksonville, Florida.  However, the Jacksonville football stadium is currently being renovated.

Saturday’s game (2:30PM CDT on ABC) will be played in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.  Next year’s match-up will be played in Tampa, Florida.

Meanwhile, two other former one-loss SEC teams dropped games over the weekend

SEC giant killer South Carolina (which upset Florida in Gainesville in its previous game) came storming back to down Tennessee (now 6-2) 27-24 on a field goal on the game’s final play.

Speaking of storming, thousands of South Carolina fans stormed the football field afterwards.  Several altercations broke out.  The SEC fined the Gamecocks (now 4-3 for the year) a whopping $500,000 on Monday for not controlling the post-game foolishness.

Texas knocked one-loss Ole Miss right out of the first place tie atop the SEC.  The Longhorns were able to hang-on for a 34-27 victory in Austin on Saturday night.

Texas blew an early 21-point lead in this game.  They were able able to execute a six-play “pass-less” drive to retake the lead late in the fourth quarter.  Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning suffered another two pass interceptions in this game to go with a costly fumble.

Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss matched Manning’s lousy night with three interceptions of his own.

Texas and Ole Miss are now both at 5-2.  All four combined losses have come against SEC foes.

Got Lobo Fever?  New Mexico is 6-1 for the first time since 1997

The largest home crowd since 2005 lifted New Mexico to a critical 21-16 win over 6-2 North Dakota State.  The Lobos picked-off a Bison pass early in the fourth quarter and returned it for a touchdown to seal the victory.

New Mexico improved to 6-1 overall and leads the Mountain West with a 3-0 conference record.  North Dakota State (which is playing in its first FBS season) has now lost two straight Mountain West road games.

New Mexico’s only defeat of the season came a very tight 14-6 loss at Oklahoma in September.

The Lobos have several tough Mountain West games remaining, but Saturday’s victory was a statement win for the New Mexico football program.

You will discover a new team atop the SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25 this week!

We’ll find out if the Miami Hurricanes will be able to remain king of the hill for more than just one week.  The high-scoring Canes travel to play coach Bill Belichick’s defensive-minded 4-3 North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday night (6:30PM on ABC).

Let’s review the entire SwampSwamiSports.com Top 25 College Football rankings for the week ending Saturday, October 24, 2026:

The post Top 25 – Miami Hurricanes howl into the #1 Spot appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

Let’s face it.  There are six forgotten FBS conferences being shafted under the new 24-team College Football Playoffs format beginning in 2027.

Fact:  There are 67 major college football teams in the SEC (16), Big Ten (18), Big 12 (16) and ACC (17) plus Notre Dame.  They will receive 23 of the playoff spots.  That means that 34% of those teams will make the 2027 playoffs.

The only stress for those playoff teams will be your team’s seeding.  

Fact 2: There are 69 major college (FBS) teams in the so-called “Group of 6” conferences. 

Those are the American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Pac-12, and Sun Belt Conferences.

They will receive just one guaranteed spot in the 2027 playoffs.

Yes, only 1.4% of the “Group of 6” teams (one out of 69) will receive a spot at the Big Boy table.  The lone “Group of 6” team is virtually assured of having a first round road game in the expanded College Football Playoffs.

That big payday is sweet, but how many ways must that one paycheck be shared?

Why remain in the FBS if this is the BEST deal that your school is ever going to get?

Sure, I would love to see a mid-major school like Louisiana Tech or Fresno State win the national championship some day. 

It simply won’t happen within the current FBS structure.

The Power Four mates of the pirate ship “Gimme Yermoney” shove half of their 138 FBS crew members overboard every season come playoff time.  Arghh!

Truth – The Big Boys have the largest football stadiums, the most fanatical and wealthiest fans, and are forking over millions to pay for college football players as they shake down supporters for more and more money.

I say “Good for the LSU’s and Alabama’s of college football!”  Go have some fun – while you still can.

It seems incredibly wrong that the 138 member FBS gives half of its teams almost no chance to play for or win a national title in football. 

How does the smaller-college FCS group of football teams handle their playoffs?

The Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) has 128 teams this year.  Their post-season involves a 24-team playoff system which seems well conceived and relatively fair.

The 11 FCS conference champions receive an automatic bid.  Simple, eh?

Another 13 teams receive an at-large bid.  Those teams are selected by a committee comprised of one athletic director from each of the 11 conferences.  Each at-large team’s record and strength of schedule are scrutinized to find the best 13 teams.

So far, so good.

The FCS playoffs are conducted over three consecutive weeks from late November into mid-December when the semifinals are played.

ESPN (which owns nearly every college bowl game) then shelves the FCS title game for a few more weeks.  That gives the network time to roll-out its slate of mid-level bowl games every day of the Christmas holiday season to sell high-demand holiday advertisements.

The FCS title game is scheduled to be played a few days after the major New Year’s Day bowl games have ended.

The 69 football schools of the underserved six FBS conferences deserve better!

It’s time for these “Super Six” conferences to opt out of the FBS playoffs altogether.

They should be allowed to hold their own championship playoff series.

Let the “Fab Four” plus Notre Dame keep that 24th seat at their new bloated playoff food trough.  Give it to another whiny mediocre 8-4 team which will likely lose in Round 1 or, for sure, by Round 2.

How would the new Super Six Playoffs work?

The six neglected FBS Conferences will provide their regular season champions.  Another two at-large teams could be selected by a playoff committee comprised of one representative from each of the six conferences (just like the FCS group does).

The committee will then seed the playoff field from #1-8 utilizing a BCS-styled computer formula to determine the relative strength of all eight teams.  Keep the personalities out of that decision.

An eight-team playoff would conducted over three consecutive weekends in December.

The four first-round games would be hosted by the four top seeds.  Second round (semifinal) games will be held in the same manner.

The championship game should take place at a neutral location.

I would love to see Shreveport’s Independence Bowl become the permanent host of the Super Six Playoffs title game.

This post-season bowl has been around since 1976 and has hosted a large number of mid-major teams.  Shreveport is centrally located and (generally) features rather moderate weather during mid-December.

Example – Who would have been playing in the Super Six Playoffs last year?

American Athletic Conference (AAC) – 11-2 Tulane

Conference USA – 10-3 Kennesaw State 

Mid-American Conference – 9-4 Western Michigan

Mountain West Conference – 9-4 Boise State

Pac-12 Conference – 7-6 Washington State

Sun Belt Conference – 12-1 James Madison

The two at-large teams would have been 11-2 North Texas (AAC) and 11-2 UNLV from the Mountain West Conference.

Proposed seeding and results for the 2025 Super Six Playoffs:

Super Six Playoffs match-ups last year would have featured:

Round 1 – Saturday, December 13, 2025:

#8 Washington State at #1 James Madison

#7 Western Michigan at #2 Tulane

#6 Boise State at #3 North Texas

#5 Kennesaw State at #4 UNLV

What about television coverage for the Super Six Playoffs?

ESPN holds a monopoly on the television rights for the 24-team FBS College Football Playoffs.

They also have a stranglehold on the smaller college FCS playoffs – especially during the semifinals and for the championship game.

I am not aware whether ESPN (which has television deals with several of the “Super Six” football conferences during the regular season) can prevent any of these conferences or their teams from participating in such a new post-season playoff proposal. 

We’ll let the attorneys figure that one out.

CBS (plus corporate affiliates TNT, TBS, and CBS Sports Network), FOX (along with FS1), and NBC (plus CNBC and, perhaps, Peacock) could be possible bidders for the seven game package of December’s new Super Six Playoffs.

The games will face stiff competition from ESPN’s own slate of College Football Playoff games.  The Super Six Playoffs may bump-up against the NFL on a few Saturdays, too.

No problem.  Bring it on!  Competition is good for all parties.

The television ratings bar will be set relatively low for the Super Six Playoffs – at least for the first few years.

I believe that there are enough US sports television viewers who might enjoy watching true conference champions competing against one another in a playoff setting.  Don’t forget that Christmas holiday television advertisers would have a new way to reach the coveted (and habitually late-buying) male demographic between ages 25-54, too.  

ESPN won’t go for this idea.  The sports conglomerate recently bet billions of dollars to obtain the broadcast rights for the expanded 24-team College Football Playoffs.

Peeling off even a few million viewers to watch the Super Six Playoffs could become quite damaging to ESPN.  Failure to meet audience projections for one or more games could cause the sports giant to be on the hook to provide a refund (or future advertising credit) to its sponsors.

Could we finally see some sweet revenge for the Super Six conferences!

Why not?

The Power Four FBS conferences and ESPN never allowed the other television networks a chance to bid on the television rights for the expanded 24-team College Football Playoffs.

The market demand to televise the new Super Six Playoffs will be relatively low.  Television ratings will be a small percentage compared to the 24-team College Football Playoffs.

Here is a positive thought.  At this very moment, there are investors standing by willing to help bankroll LIV Golf (now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy) to return in 2027 as LIV Golf 2.0.

That tells me that there should be some savvy investors and network executives willing to evaluate and, perhaps, bet on this novel idea to add one more layer of college football playoffs soon.

The time is now, Super Six.

Let’s fly!

The post The Time has Arrived for The “Super Six” Playoffs! appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

You have likely heard that the 138 major college football teams in the poorly-named FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) will expand their playoffs from 12 to 24 teams next year.

Bowls? 

Do bowls even matter now to this group of big time college football teams?

The FBS’ new 24-team playoff system is exceptionally unfair to half of the football teams which currently comprise this group of football-playing institutions.

The current 12-team playoff structure awards 11 spots to teams in the so-called “Power Four” (SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC) conferences plus Notre Dame.

Only one playoff spot is guaranteed to the top ranked team from the other six FBS conferences.

The “Group of 6” conferences are the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Pac-12, and Sun Belt Conference.

They get less respect than Rodney Dangerfield.

These “Group of 6” conferences will still receive only one guaranteed spot in next year’s expanded 24-team playoff field.

That is a step backwards from having one seat at the 12-team table to getting just one chair at this massive 24-team financial feast being enjoyed by their big brothers in the FBS.

Most college football fans are not happy with the new 24-team playoff system

LSU (5-2) will visit 4-2 Auburn on Saturday (11AM on ABC).  The loser of this game will watch their playoff chances under the current 12-team model become toast.

That will not be the case next year at this time.

All of your favorite Big Four college football teams will receive at least three mulligans (losses) through season’s end in November and still make the 24-team playoffs.

Last year’s non-playoff bowls included 9-3 teams playing 8-4 squads.

They were dispatched to bowl games such as the Pop-Tarts Bowl (no joke), Citrus Bowl, Gator Bowl, Music City Bowl, and the Alamo Bowl.

It was a reward for having a very good but not championship-level season.  That criteria will change in just a few months.

The new 24-team College Football Playoffs model of 2027 now gives a glimmer of hope to teams formerly destined to play in that season-ending toaster called the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

What will happen to the 37 (and counting) non-College Football Playoff Bowl games?

The former college football bowl season of twenty years ago has been transformed into a version of college basketball’s NIT post-season competition.  The increasing number of playoff games has diminished bowl games to glorified exhibition games.  A decreasing number of football fans from the two invited teams actually care enough to travel to most of today’s bowl contests.

Business partners and long-time supporters of the home city’s bowl care deeply about their local post-season event.  A lot of civic pride and care is involved crafting a week full of activities leading up to the actual football game.

However, most of America simply doesn’t care which football teams are playing in what bowl game.

The new 24-team Playoffs will yank 12 teams away from the current bowl participant pool

That means that six bowl games must now reach lower into a shallow sack of leftover 8-4 teams plus those which finish 7-5, 6-6, and even 5-7 to fill their needs.

Remember when we once laughed about seeing 6-6 teams get invited to play in a post-season bowl game?

Next year, expect to be told that good ol’ Tick Tock Tech played a really tough schedule. It kept them from finishing 6-6.  They deserve to play in a bowl game even with a 5-7 record!

At least the wise and powerful Wizard of ESPN will provide a life preserver to televise the games from this shrinking group of 8-4, 7-5, 6-6, and 5-7 college football teams.

ESPN is quite clever.

They provide home television viewers with a slate of live college football programming during the year’s most lucrative advertising weeks.  The Christmas holiday season features three weeks of (generally) irrelevant bowl games shown almost daily on one of their broadcast outlets.

ESPN earns so much advertising revenue from these mid-level bowl games that they bought 17 bowl games for themselves!

A corporate affiliate named ESPN Events has quietly purchased nearly half of the season’s bowl games.  The move insures that the network will have plenty of “live” programming during the holidays (so that they may feature a large number of premium holiday ads as well).

ESPN Events owns the upcoming December 18 Boca Raton Bowl in south Florida.  It won’t matter whether 10,000 or 30,000 fans actually buy tickets and show-up at this game.  It’s how many people are watching at home which will matter the most.

The network (ESPN, ABC, and ESPN2) will televise all but four of this year’s bowl games.  Upstart CW Network is handling both bowl games being played in San Diego (Poinsettia and Holiday Bowls) plus one other.  CBS continues to feature the Sun Bowl from El Paso, Texas.

ESPN carefully tracks how many home TV eyeballs are watching their litany of bowl games.

The company must deliver a certain amount of viewers to satisfy corporate advertisers.  They pay a small fortune attempting to reach the reliably-late holiday shoppers called men.  That is especially true in the prime 25-54 buying demographic.

The bowl games are cleverly positioned on the network’s schedule to capitalize on meeting peak Christmas season advertising demand.

Be assured that ESPN wouldn’t go to this much trouble if the effort wasn’t profitable.

Meanwhile, the “Thurston Howell III Wealthy Snob Society” (aka the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC) has morphed into a miniature version of the NFL

The 67 schools within the so-called Big Four FBS conferences (plus independent Notre Dame) have become a group of “NFL Lite” football franchises.

Those franchises are owned by well funded major universities.  The schools now wink as they assist incoming athletes (utilizing the NCAA’s transfer portal) as they come and go every semester.  The new semester’s athletes are fast-tracked into a class schedule within a matter of days.

Compare that to the months it still takes for a traditional college student to successfully transfer from their former school into that same university.

These young athletes are eagerly chasing NIL bonus bucks instead of their college degrees.  Mom, Dad, and especially Junior’s agent are advising young quarterback Richie Rich that he can always return to college once his prime football playing days have ended.

This assumes that Richie has saved enough of his NIL loot to return to school.

Drama?  There won’t be any drama until late October and November in 2027

Remember how much fan interest was generated by this year’s Week 1 match-up between LSU and Clemson?  Six million viewers watched LSU Coach Lane Kiffin’s debut in Tiger Stadium over the Labor Day weekend.

How about Week 2’s thrilling comeback by the Texas Longhorns over Ohio State?  That contest drew a record 14 million viewers.

Those early September losses by Clemson and Ohio State immediately sent the two teams into an early hole.  Historically speaking, teams with three losses during the 12-game regular season have not made the current playoff field.

That will no longer be the case beginning next fall.

The (oink, oink) 67 football teams of the Power Four conferences will receive 23 of the 24 playoff slots.  The pressure to get their team into the playoffs should ease for many top college football head coaches.

Panic will finally set next season once your favorite Power Four team reaches three losses, though.

September and most of the October college football games will not carry significant urgency or impact anymore.

Saturday’s match-up between 5-2 LSU at 4-2 Auburn will eliminate one team from this year’s playoff contention.  The Big Ten game on Saturday between 6-1 Indiana at 4-2 Michigan could eliminate Big Blue from the playoffs, too.  There is a lot at stake – at least during this October!

Next season, those same October games will not mean a thing except to raise a “It’s time to become a bit  concerned” flag once a Big Four conference team which picks-up its third loss of the season.

College football’s regular season will start to feel like the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball.  Many fans (like me) generally ignore regular season competition until the final month of play.

However, the head football coaches in the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC love the new 24-team format.  That’s because they won’t be pressured to win ten games during the 12-game regular season anymore.

A pedestrian 8-4 record may be good enough to get one or more of the SEC or Big Ten teams into the College Football Playoffs starting next season.

The only mid-season drama in 2027 will be the race to become one of the top eight seeds

Eight teams (as determined by whom?) will receive a first round bye in 2027.  They will host a home game at their own football stadium in Round #2 after coming off a one-week breather.

Meanwhile, the remaining 16 teams seeded #9-24 will square off in Round 1 on the home fields of teams #9-17.  Those winners advance to Round 2 to play a road game at one of the top eight seeds.  

ESPN loves it.

The sports giant has maintained total control of the television rights to the College Football Playoffs for years to come.  They cleverly offered to re-sell the broadcast rights for a few of the early round games to another network which probably overpaid for those rights.

Turner Network Television (TNT) will learn soon enough.  ESPN already knew that they were going to make more money from re-selling the rights to a few early playoff games rather than hoarding them all for themselves.

Expect College Football Playoff games (this year and beyond) to take four hours apiece.  There will be longer pre-game shows, halftimes, and post-game shows to sell more ads.  That will be in addition to at least 45 minutes of in-game commercials.  Ugh.

What about the six other FBS Conferences?

Just like today, five of the “Group of 6” FBS Conferences will not have their champion participating in the new 24-team College Football Playoffs.

ESPN will be more than happy to feature, let’s say, 11-1 James Madison from the Sun Belt Conference vs. 5-7 Vanderbilt of the SEC in some future December bowl game.

Why don’t the commissioners of the Group of 6 Conferences get together and propose a plan to conduct their own playoffs?

Yes, I do have a few ideas. 

Come back, and let’s review them in Part 2.

The post The 24-Team Playoffs left Half of the FBS Teams Behind! Part 1 appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

Mid-October finally brought a little temporary relief from the oppressive heat this weekend.

Two FCS football powers in the Lone Star State of Texas remained red hot.

In Stephenville Texas, no one told the visiting 2-4 University of Central Arkansas football team that they were supposed to lose against unbeaten Tarleton State.  The Bears were the designated homecoming opponent for the Texans on Saturday.

UCA battled the mighty Texans to a 28-28 tie as the third quarter came to a close.

That’s when Tarleton State senior quarterback Kaden Anderson jump-started the home team.  The Texans converted three consecutive fourth quarter touchdown drives and rallied for a 49-35 win.  Kaden Anderson converted 21 of 29 passes for 279 yards and a career-best five touchdowns.

Tarleton State advanced to 7-0 and 2-0 in the United Athletic Conference.  UCA fell to 2-5 and 0-3 in conference play.

Stephen F. Austin (now 7-0) clobbered south Louisiana neighbor Nicholls State 56-0 in Thibodaux Saturday afternoon.  The Lumberjacks pounded the football for 354 yards on the ground.

SFA’s passing game was on fire, too.  Speedy wide receiver Bugs Mortimer snagged three touchdown passes from quarterback Gavin Rutherford.  The Lumberjacks converted four touchdown passes overall in an impressive Southland Conference beatdown.

Nicholls dropped to 2-5.  Saturday’s loss marked the first time which the Colonels had been shut-out at home since 2012.

Harvard University is now 5-0! 

They are the third and final FCS team with an unblemished record after last weekend’s play.

The Crimson held its third opponent under 10 points as they vanquished the Holy Cross Crusaders 30-7 in Cambridge Saturday.

Harvard’s opportunistic “Crimson Chin” (a “Fairly Odd” reference…go ask your kids) pass defense picked-off two more tosses to bring its season interception total to ten.

Holy Cross dropped to 2-5 for the season.

Rival Princeton (4-1) travels into the Boston area to challenge Harvard on Saturday (2PM CDT on ESPN+).  Both teams are 2-0 in Ivy League play.  The Tigers should be extra-pumped after learning about their first top ten ranking in the latest SwampSwamiSports.com FCS Top 25!

The 2-5 Idaho Vandals do not like Montana’s college football teams

The Idaho Vandals are the best 2-5 team in the FCS this season.  They save their best football efforts for when they play any opponent hailing from the state of Montana.

Idaho’s five losses have (generally) come in rather close games.

The Vandals lost by only four points at 4-4 Cal-Poly, by six vs. 5-2 Lamar, by two points against 4-4 Abilene Christian, and by 11 at 5-3 Weber State.  Idaho also received a substantial paycheck for participating in a 66-14 loss at the hands of unbeaten FBS member Utah.

The Vandals from Moscow, Idaho shocked the FCS world a few weeks ago with a thrilling 35-34 home win over defending national champion Montana State.  Idaho scored on the final play of the game and then succeeded on a two-point conversion to send the capacity crowd in the Kibbie Dome into a frenzy.

On Saturday, Idaho traveled to Missoula, Montana to play the heavily favored 5-2 Grizzlies.

Nearly 27,000 stunned fans watched as the Vandals jumped to a 14-0 first quarter lead.  The Griz battled back to tie this game at 35-35 early in the fourth quarter.

That’s when Idaho responded with a 75-yard final touchdown of their own and held on to win 42-35 at Montana.

Saturday’s victory brought the coveted Little Brown Stein trophy (which is awarded to the winner of the annual Idaho vs. Montana game) back to Moscow, Idaho.

The Vandals have defeated both Montana and Montana State in the same season for the first time since 1989.

Elsewhere around the FCS…

Lehigh’s unbeaten season came to an end on Saturday.

Ivy League member Cornell outscored Lehigh 48-38 as the Big Red captured its first win over a top-five ranked team since 1939.  Cornell improved to 3-2 while the Mountain Hawks of Lehigh fell to 6-1.

Alabama A&M’s offense apparently cannot be stopped.

The 6-2 Bulldogs from suburban Huntsville are scoring nearly 46 points per game.  They rolled up 669 yards of total offense on Saturday in a 61-31 thrashing of homecoming victim Grambling (which dropped to 4-3).

The winless Towson Tigers of Maryland were this year’s designated homecoming guests at 5-1 Campbell University in North Carolina.  A shocked home crowd saw their beloved Camels losing 13-10 going into the half. 

Campbell rallied in the final two quarters to take a nervous 24-20 win over the upstart Tigers (now 0-8).  The Campbell Camels have reached 6-1 for the first time in program history.  They are seeking to secure the school’s first FCS playoff berth.

The Camels will hump-it to Maine on Saturday to play the 1-5 Black Bears.

The Long Island Sharks are only 3-5 overall but lead the wacky NEC (formerly known as the Northeast Conference) at 3-0 this week. 

Defending champion Central Connecticut is perched right behind at 2-0 in conference play and is 3-3 for the season.  None of the eight football members of the NEC has a winning record through last weekend’s action.

The winless Northwestern State Demons came close to ending its long losing streak but a fourth quarter rally fell short on Saturday.

McNeese State feasted on five Northwestern State turnovers to leave town with a 24-21 win over the 0-7 Demons.

Nicholls State (2-5) rolls into Turpin Stadium in Natchitoches for a 2PM Saturday kick-off.  Will Northwestern State finally break its 18-game losing streak going back to a 20-10 win over Alcorn State on August 28, 2025?

Let’s find out who’s #1 this week in the SwampSwamiSports.com FCS Top 25 rankings for games through Saturday, October 17, 2026:

The post Unbeatens Tarleton State, SFA, and Harvard (?!!) Battle for FCS Supremacy appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

This season’s top major college football teams seem to be slipping on banana peels during October.

Indiana’s 22-game winning streak came to a cruel end on Saturday.  The Hoosiers’ fourth-down final minute pass into the end zone was juggled briefly by usually sure-handed wide receiver Nick Marsh.  His feet were out of bounds after he had gained possession.

That gave Ohio State a hard-fought 19-15 road win over the Hoosiers.  Both teams exited the game with a 6-1 record.

Indiana had been the SwampSwamiSports.com Top 25 #1 team coming into last weekend.

The AP’s #1 team (Georgia) didn’t fare any better

The 6-0 Dawgs trotted to an easy 14-0 first quarter lead at home against 3-2 Auburn.  A combination of three turnovers by quarterback Gunner Stockton plus an incredibly bone-headed penalty on a Georgia defensive lineman during the final minute led to Auburn’s 27-24 win.

The Tigers from the eastern Alabama plains capitalized on Georgia’s mistakes and converted a walk-off field goal on the game’s final play.

It was Auburn’s first win over Georgia in the past nine attempts.

Georgia dropped to 6-1, while Auburn improved to 4-2.

The AP’s #1 team two weeks ago (Texas) fumbled its way to a second straight loss

Texas lost to rival Oklahoma one week ago on a field goal on the game’s final play.  OU’s win was assisted by an untimely interception by Texas’ highly-hyped quarterback Arch Manning.  Formerly unbeaten Texas dropped to 5-1 and out of the AP’s #1 spot.

Saturday’s home game against recently-struggling 4-2 Florida was expected to help get the Longhorns back on track as a favorite to win the national title.

Apparently, nobody sent that note to a group of hungry Gators from Gainesville, Florida.

Florida’s defense sacked Texas QB Arch Manning five times and forced a crucial fumble on Texas’ final possession of the game.  Florida emerged with a 27-24 win and moved to a 5-2 record.

Texas is 4-2 and is on a two game losing streak.

The Longhorns must now beat 6-1 Ole Miss on Saturday night (6:30PM CDT on ABC) to preserve hopes of reaching the College Football Playoffs.

The SEC is loaded with several very good (but not great) football teams

Georgia and Texas weren’t the only top SEC teams to go down to defeat on Saturday.

Alabama was 5-0 two weeks ago.  They are now 5-2 after losing to defensive juggernaut Tennessee 26-10 in a game which was much closer than the final score indicated.

Bama’s freshman quarterback Keelon Russell took his lumps against a swarming Tennessee Volunteer defense.  He was intercepted twice and fumbled once as Alabama failed to score a point in the second half of this game.

Surprising Tennessee is now 6-1 and joins a quartet of SEC one-loss teams atop good ol’ Rocky Top this week.  The Vols are tied with 6-1 Georgia, 5-1 Ole Miss, and…6-1 Kentucky?

The Wildcats traveled to rejuvenated Oklahoma on Saturday.  The 3-2 Sooners were coming off a big win over Texas one week earlier. Kentucky capitalized on OU quarterback John “Pine Time” Mateer’s four interceptions which included one pick-six touchdown for good measure.

The surprising Wildcats could muster only 14 first downs and a meager 230 yards in total offense at Oklahoma.

It didn’t matter.

Kentucky’s last three wins have come by a total of just ten points. That doesn’t matter (yet), either.

Rookie head coach Will Stein is just 36 years old and is a top candidate for national “Coach of the Year” honors.

Don’t forget about Ole Miss!

Saturday’s dominating 31-3 win over 5-2 Missouri moved the Rebels to 5-1 in the SEC and into that four-way tie at the top.  Talented running back Kewan Lacy is back on the field after an early-season injury.  His addition makes quarterback Trinidad Chambliss even more dangerous as the Rebels attempt to navigate their own difficult SEC finish.

Ole Miss plays at Texas on Saturday night. The Rebels then face consecutive home games against fast-improving Auburn and Georgia. There is little room for error if Ole Miss wants to return to the College Football Playoffs for a second straight season.

Congratulations to Brigham Young for ending Notre Dame’s perfect season!

The BYU Cougars and their enthusiastic fans were primed to take down the highly-touted 6-0 Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday night in Provo.

BYU took a 28-24 lead with under two minutes remaining. Notre Dame then rallied and finished the game only yards away from the Brigham Young goal line. An incomplete pass into the end zone was ruled to be the final play of the game.

Big 12 officials later admitted that there should have been one second left on the clock. This marks yet another game-ending controversy in college football this season.

The AP’s had five of its top seven teams lose.  (Only three of mine lost)

I catch some heat for my logical-but-unique SwampSwamiSports.com ranking system.  If you want subjective rankings, stick with the AP’s weekly beauty contest results.

Mine are based on simply having the most wins with the fewest losses.  Ties are broken by taking a weekly examination of each team’s best victory of the season.  A road win over a 4-2 squad puts you ahead of another team whose best win came in a home win against a 4-2 competitor.

There is only one 7-0 FBS team this week.

James Madison now gets the baton as the nation’s top team for the week ending Saturday, October 17, 2026.  The Dukes are closely trailed by impressive 6-0 teams such as #2 Miami (FL), #3 BYU, #4 Texas Tech, #5 UCLA, and #6 Utah.

JMU travels to Boone, North Carolina on Thursday night (6PM on ESPN-U) to play Sun Belt rival Appalachian State.  The 4-2 Mountaineers play football in a stadium at nearly 3,400 feet above sea level. 

Add a packed stadium filled with exceptionally loud fans, and App State has a chance to upset my new #1 team. 

Let’s review the SwampSwamiSports.com Top 25 College Football rankings for the week ending October, 17, 2026:

The post SwampSwami Top 25 – Does Anyone REALLY Want to Be #1? appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

Did you feel that cooler breeze today?  Six months of stifling Southern heat and humidity featuring temperatures of 90 degrees or above will finally take the bench – for a few days.

I am planning to break-out my old-school blade push mower (remember the kind with those spinning blades?) this afternoon.

It’s my way of celebrating a late season mowing day without being overly concerned about getting a heat stroke in the process.

Sports changes are happening rapidly in mid-October, too.  Let’s jump right in!

Ding, Dong, the Dodgers are dead!

The Milwaukee Brewers rudely dispatched the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers with a comeback 6-4 win Thursday night.

Did anyone predict a 4-0 Milwaukee sweep of the Dodgers?  I didn’t think so.

The Milwaukee Brewers are heading into their first World Series since 1982.  They will represent the National League against either Cleveland or Tampa Bay of the American League.

Did you know that Milwaukee’s last World Series appearance came as an American League team?

That’s right! 

This franchise actually began in 1969 as the expansion Seattle Pilots of the American League.

Unfortunately, the Seattle franchise found itself in bankruptcy court during Year #1.  Major League Baseball quickly jumped to the rescue. It was moved to Wisconsin and became the re-branded Milwaukee Brewers of the American League in 1970.

The Brewers eventually migrated to the National League in 1998 as part of a realignment to balance the number of teams in the American and National Leagues.

Welcome back to the World Series, Brew Crew!

Meanwhile, LIV Golf’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy is moving along quickly

I reported last week that the agent for LIV Golf’s top player had advised that his client was negotiating an exit agreement with the league.

Jon Rahm got his wish this week.  LIV Golf granted his release.

Rahm signed with LIV three years ago for an estimated $300 million.  Media reports this week state that the 31-year old Spaniard will be walking away from about $100 million remaining under his LIV contract in order to secure his release.

Don’t cry for Jon Rahm!

My Jethro Bodine 6th grade math skills confirm that LIV has already paid him $200 million under his contract.

Add another $80 million for Jon Rahm’s golf tournament earnings on the LIV Golf tour the past three seasons.

Rahm would have earned a relatively small percentage of that sizable total if he remained a top talent on the PGA Tour over the same three year period. 

Good luck trying to Rahm’s attorney in trying to negotiate even a small percentage of the remaining $100 million of unsecured debt which is part of LIV Golf’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Indications are that Jon Rahm and dozens of other top LIV golfers want to migrate to the DP World (European) Tour beginning in 2027.

That is because of Wednesday’s news that the New Jersey-based US bankruptcy court rejected the LIV Golf contracts of 19 more golfers.

Those contract cancellations included 2-time US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau (whose deal with LIV Golf was already ending December 31, 2026).  Other top names whose contracts were tossed overboard included Australia’s Cam Smith (2022 Open Championship winner) along with former Masters winners Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson.

Post-bankruptcy LIV 2.0 has conditionally secured $300 million in backing from private equity firm BC Partners to finance a reboot in 2027.  However, the league’s new financial partner apparently does not have to part with their money unless LIV 2.0 is able to keep enough top golfers under contract for next year and beyond.

The US Bankruptcy Court just made most of the top LIV Golf stars free agents.  Will enough top names be willing to stick around for LIV 2.0 in 2027?

We should know more by the end of October.  LIV Golf 2.0 is looking rather unlikely at this point.

New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson spoke out about her team’s lousy performance

The Saints just completed a three game home stand. They returned from two season opening games on the road at 1-1.

The New Orleans Saints then dropped three consecutive home games in ugly fashion to limp out of town with a 1-4 record.

New Orleans travels to play the rejuvenated New York Giants (3-1-1) on Sunday afternoon in The Meadowlands.

The Saints have now lost 14 of their last 19 home games since early in the 2024 NFL season.

WhoDat fans were particularly incensed after Atlanta embarrassed the Dome Team two weeks ago.

That occurred during a nationally televised Monday Night Football game.  The Saints were celebrating the 20th anniversary of the reopening of the Louisiana Superdome following the devastating floods and winds of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

After an emotional 15-minute pregame ceremony which had the Superdome rocking just like in 2006, those Dirty Birds of Atlanta routed the Saints 45-24.

The Minnesota Vikings followed suit one week later.  New Orleans could muster just 144 yards of total offense last Sunday as the Vikings sailed to an easy 23-13 victory.  Minnesota controlled the clock for an incredible 40 minutes last Sunday compared to just 20 for the home standing Saints.

Regional automobile dealer Tom Benson purchased the New Orleans Saints football franchise in 1985 for just $64 million.  It is now worth over $8 billion. 

Tom Benson passed away in 2018 at age 90.  His wife Gayle has remained in charge of the family businesses.

Mrs. Benson (now 79 years old) has stayed in the background after becoming owner of the New Orleans Saints.  She has trusted the Benson family’s long-time management team to continue running the football team.

Team president (and New Orleans native) Dennis Lauscha and Saints general manager Mickey Loomis have been key members of that executive team for more than a decade.

Gayle Benson was so upset about the recent trifecta of home losses and ugly play that she finally spoke out this week about the sorry state of her football franchise.

She declared, “I will not make excuses, and I will not accept this level of performance as our standard.  I am committed to making the decisions necessary to improve this team.  Words will not restore our fans’ confidence.”

Tip to Mrs. Benson – Hall-of-Fame quarterback and Saints legend Drew Brees might be a terrific choice if you are planning to clean house anytime soon!

College Football – James Madison is leaving the Sun Belt for the American Athletic Conference

The winds of change arrived in Harrisonburg, Virginia this week, too.

James Madison University announced on Monday that they are leaving the Sun Belt Conference.

The Dukes plan to become a member of the American Athletic Conference (AAC) by no later than the summer of 2028.

Prominent football members of the AAC include Tulane, Army, Navy, Memphis, and East Carolina.

JMU was a long-time and quite successful member of the FCS (smaller college group).  The Dukes moved up up to the FBS by joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2022.

Then-football coach Curt Cignetti led James Madison to 8-3 and 11-2 records during the school’s first two Sun Belt seasons.  Cignetti then left for Indiana and led the Hoosiers to their first national championship in football last year.

It will cost $23 million for James Madison to buy a spot in the AAC.

Another $5 million is going to be needed to pay the Sun Belt for the right to exit JMU’s current conference.

This isn’t a knock on the AAC, but I don’t see the Dukes’ future conference as being a significant upgrade over the Sun Belt.  Last year’s AAC champion (North Texas) was dispatched to the mid-level New Mexico Bowl to play San Diego State.

Is that really worth spending $28 million?

Western Kentucky University is likely already waving its famous red towel trying to replace James Madison in the Sun Belt.

The Hilltoppers have wanted to leave Conference USA for years.  They were passed-over recently in favor of Louisiana Tech (another former C-USA member).

Another intriguing choice to replace James Madison in the Sun Belt Conference might be current FCS member Tarleton State.

This fast-growing Texas school has an enrollment of about 21,000 students.  It is located in Stephenville, Texas (less than 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth).

The Texans want to move up into the FBS level ASAP and have been seeking an opening with a solid conference.  Tarleton State is part of the Texas A&M system – which is well known for having deep financial pockets.

Enjoy your weekend and the cooler weather!

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