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Ranking 134 college football teams after Week 11: Will shaky contenders feel an SEC squeeze?

Ranking 134 college football teams after Week 11: Will shaky contenders feel an SEC squeeze?

Editor’s note: The Athletic 134 is a weekly ranking of all FBS college football teams. The ACC and Big 12’s hopes of sending multiple teams to the first 12-team College Football Playoff took a big hit over the weekend. Miami (Fla.) and Iowa State both lost, greatly damaging their at-large hopes. Meanwhile, Ole Miss’ win […]

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Mandel’s Final Thoughts: Alabama got its act together and looks Playoff bound … again

Mandel’s Final Thoughts: Alabama got its act together and looks Playoff bound … again

And now, 20 Final Thoughts from Week 11, in which Louisiana’s governor imported a rogue tiger from Florida to show off on the field before the Alabama game. (Yes, this really happened.) 1. Nick Saban won so many trophies in his 17 seasons at Alabama, it’s easy to forget all the times we thought no

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What we learned about Cooper Flagg and Duke in the Blue Devils’ season-opening win

What we learned about Cooper Flagg and Duke in the Blue Devils’ season-opening win

In his highly anticipated Duke debut, Cooper Flagg — the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft — scored 18 points as the No. 7 Blue Devils defeated Maine 96-62 on Monday. Flagg made 6 of 15 shots and added seven rebounds and five assists. He exited the game late with cramping. All

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Ranking 134 college football teams after Week 10: The Boise State scenario you shouldn’t sleep on

Ranking 134 college football teams after Week 10: The Boise State scenario you shouldn’t sleep on

Editor’s note: The Athletic 134 is a weekly ranking of all FBS college football teams. Ahead of the first College Football Playoff rankings of the 12-team era, there is no shortage of questions about how the selection committee’s first projected bracket will look. But one piece of conventional wisdom involving the Group of 5 could

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Mandel’s Final Thoughts: Amid great change, Penn State losing to Ohio State stays the same

Mandel’s Final Thoughts: Amid great change, Penn State losing to Ohio State stays the same

And now, 20 Final Thoughts from Week 10, when eight ranked teams had the week off. They got to sit at home and watch nearly half of the other ranked teams go down. 1. Amid a season of unprecedented change in college football, one tradition remains alive and well: Penn State losing to Ohio State.

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Court Vision: 11 things to know about 2024-25 NCAA men’s college basketball season before tipoff

Court Vision: 11 things to know about 2024-25 NCAA men’s college basketball season before tipoff

It’s a long wait from the first weekend in April until the first week of November, but at last, the men’s college basketball season is upon us. We’ve already shared The Athletic’s preseason conference rankings, full of stats and analysis. We’ve rolled out our preseason All-America teams and Top 25. And there’s plenty more to

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Week 10’s top 10 college football games: Ohio State-Penn State headlines top-heavy Saturday

Week 10’s top 10 college football games: Ohio State-Penn State headlines top-heavy Saturday

It’s a top-heavy slate this weekend with only two ranked matchups. But one of those is a top-five showdown between Ohio State and Penn State that’s rich with storylines, alongside a few other intriguing games featuring Top 25 teams. And much like tee shots that land in the fairway, we don’t like to complain about

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Ranking 134 college football teams after Week 9: Top-10 Indiana’s dream season is getting real

Ranking 134 college football teams after Week 9: Top-10 Indiana’s dream season is getting real

Editor’s note: The Athletic 134 is a weekly ranking of all FBS college football teams.  Indiana is no longer just a fun college football story. That is to say, Curt Cignetti’s Hoosiers aren’t some plucky upstart. They’re the real deal. They’re a machine. And it’s time to realize they’re a real threat to make the

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Ranking 134 college football teams after Week 8: BYU can no longer be ignored

Ranking 134 college football teams after Week 8: BYU can no longer be ignored

Editor’s note: The Athletic 134 is a weekly ranking of all FBS college football teams. It’s time to take notice of BYU. The Cougars are undefeated and have delivered Kansas State and SMU their only losses of the season. Yet BYU remains outside the top 10 in both the AP and Coaches polls. But not

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Kansas, Alabama, UConn top AP Top 25 preseason men’s basketball poll: Key takeaways

Kansas, Alabama, UConn top AP Top 25 preseason men’s basketball poll: Key takeaways

By Brendan Marks, Justin Williams and Mark Cooper For the second consecutive season, Kansas will begin the year as the No. 1 team in men’s college basketball. This time, the Jayhawks hope to stay there. Kansas received 30 of 60 first-place votes to top the preseason AP Top 25 on Monday, putting it narrowly ahead

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