FOOTBALL COLLEGE FOOTBALL ARTICLES

The LSU Tigers won their first seven games of last season to find themselves in the College Football Playoff mix, but three straight ugly defeats put an end to their national title dreams quickly. They gave up an average of 33 points per game in those defeats, so defensive coordinator Dave Aranda was brought in to shore the unit up. He’ll look to bottle his former team up – the Wisconsin Badgers – Saturday afternoon when these squads collide in the land of cheese.... 

The Tar Heels return most of their starters from last year’s team that went 11-3 but they will have a new quarterback as Mitch Trubisky replaces Marquise Williams. On the other side, the expectation level is sky high at Georgia as Kirby Smart takes over as head coach with Mark Richt now in Miami. The Bulldogs have a new quarterback in true freshman Jacob Eason and they have a star running back in Nick Chubb.... 

There’s no doubt what the premier game of Friday night is. The Stanford Cardinal have been one of the best teams in college football this decade with a 66-15 record. This may be the most vulnerable Stanford team we’ve seen yet though. Aside from Christian McCaffrey, this side doesn’t return much talent in 2016 and will have an extremely inexperienced quarterback at the helm. Bill Snyder and the Kansas State Wildcats will certainly give them a game in Week 1 of college football.This matchup in Week 1 of the regular season will take place on Friday, September 2, 2016,at 9 p.m. ET at Stanford Stadium on FS1.... 

Will this be the year that the Colorado Buffaloes finally shake off the last decade of losing seasons and return to a bowl? There’s a lot of optimism in Boulder with 18 returning starters and confidence that Mike MacIntyre might be the person to turn this thing around. A nine-game conference schedule leaves the Buffaloes no room for error though and they must get at least two wins in non-conference play to be playing in December. That makes their matchup against the Colorado State Rams in College Football Week 1 crucial to their chances.This matchup in Week 1 of the regular season will take place on Friday, September 2, 2016,at 8 p.m. ET at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on ESPN.... 

Points should hit the board in earnest when the Toledo Rockets travel to Jonesboro to take on the Arkansas State Red Wolves in College Football Week 1 action on Friday. These two Group of Five schools were two of the best and most exciting to follow last season. The two combined to average 76 points per game in 2015 and moved the ball at will against most of their conference foes. To add intrigue to this matchup, Arkansas State will be looking for a bit of revenge after getting shellacked in the Glass Bowl by 30 points last season.This matchup in Week 1 of the regular season will take place on Friday, September 2, 2016, at 9 p.m. ET at Centennial Bank Stadium on ESPNU.... 

This matchup in Week 1 of the regular season will take place on Friday, September 2, 2016, at 7 p.m. ET at Lincoln Financial Field on CBS Sports Network.... 

The Georgia State Panthers have improved steadily over the past three years, improving from one win its first two years of college football to bowl eligibility in 2015. Georgia State has a promising young core on defense and a solid coach. The Panthers will look to begin this season on a high note by knocking off the Ball State Cardinals in Week 1 of the college football season. Ball State went 3-9 last season and while there is room for optimism, a bowl game could be tough to grasp. Georgia State was given a measure of respect as it is the favored team in this matchup.... 

The Louisville Cardinals have a bunch of key returning starters back in the fold and are expected to get off to a quick start in Week 1 against the Charlotte 49ers. They are ranked No. 19 in the nation to begin the year and would love to start climbing up in the polls. Charlotte lost 10 straight games to end last season and the hopes aren’t much higher this year. This seems like a lopsided matchup in terms of talent, and the betting spread certainly reflects it. Louisville is a huge favorite to start quickly and blow out the 49ers in NCAA football wagering.This contest in Week 1 of the regular season will go down Thursday, September 1, 2016, at 7 p.m. ET at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.... 

A pair of offensively-challenged three-win teams from a season ago will face off to open up the regular season, but one of them is the clear favorite. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons will host the Tulane Green Wave in Week 1 of the college football season and enter as better than two touchdown favorites to start the season off on the right foot. Wake Forest has many key pieces back on an offense which hopes to begin making positive strides in NCAA football gambling.Watch this regular season Week 1 matchup live on Thursday, September 1, 2016, at 6 p.m. ET at Groves Stadium - Winston Salem.... 

Gary Andersen has to be questioning his decision to become the head coach of the Oregon State Beavers. Andersen had a cushy job in Madison, winning eight to ten games a season and seemingly had a firm grip on that job. However, his continued clashes with AD Barry Alvarez led him to jump ship to join Oregon State, one of the toughest programs to win at in the PAC-12. Andersen now must try to improve upon a two-win debut season in Corvallis and would love a strong showing against the Minnesota Gol... 

Very few teams can match the offensive fireworks that we’ve come to expect from the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers under Jeff Brohm. Even though the all-time leading passer in school history is gone, the Hilltoppers are expected to just reload with Mike White, a transfer from USF. WKU will get an early chance to see just how good its offense should be this season with a Week 1 test against the Rice Owls, a team that it obliterated 49-10 last season.... 

The South Carolina Gamecocks are used to being one of the first teams to play to kick off the new season. It’s been pretty successful for the Gamecocks too. South Carolina is 4-1 in its season openers since shifting its games to Thursday to be one of the premier games of Week 1 of the college football season. This season, the Gamecocks will start off with the Vanderbilt Commodores, the one SEC foe that South Carolina was able to defeat in 2015.... 

Nine years ago to the day, the Appalachian State Mountaineers put the college football world on its ear by traveling to the Big House and knocking off the No. 5 Michigan Wolverines. App State ended up using that win as a springboard to make the jump from the FCS to the FBS and after a bumpy transition is now back to its winning ways. The season opener in Week 1 of the college football season against the Tennessee Volunteers will be an important gauge to see just how far this team has come in a short time.This contest in Week 1 of the regular season will go down Thursday, September 1, 2016, at 7:30 p.m. ET at Neyland Stadium on SEC Network.... 

Can the Indiana Hoosiers make back-to-back bowl appearances for the first time in a quarter century? That’s just what Kevin Wilson will try to do after breaking Indiana’s eight-year long bowl drought. Indiana will start the march towards six wins with a winnable game in talent rich South Florida against the Florida International Golden Panthers. This Week 1 match-up will be a rematch of the most heartbreaking game for FIU in 2015, when it came within a fourth and goal conversion of knocking off the Hoosiers.This contest in Week 1 of the regular season will go down Thursday, September 1, 2016, at 7:30 p.m. ET at Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium on ESPNU.... 

College football is going global to kick off the 2016 campaign! For the first time ever, two teams will travel to Sydney, Australia to play a game and provide college football fans with an early morsel before Week 1 of the season kicks off in earnest. The California Golden Bears and Hawaii Rainbow Warriors will play just the third college football game ever, and the first in almost three decades, in Australia this Friday in what should be a high scoring affair.This contest in Week 1 of the regular season will go down Friday, August 26, 2016, at 10 p.m. ET at ANZ Stadium on ESPN.... 

The Ohio State-Wisconsin game doesn’t resonate as one of the bigger matchups in the Big Ten, mainly because the Buckeyes have games annually with Michigan and have dominated the series. And being on opposite sides of the divisional alignment, the two do not face each other every year. So, after a two-year respite from Big Ten play, the Badgers and Buckeyes will go at it in Madison on October 15. Wisconsin will welcome the chance to avenge a 59-0 loss in the 2014 Big Ten Championship.... 

Two teams have won the Pac-12 North since the league split into two divisions prior to the 2011 season. The North Division champ has also captured the Pac-12 title each time. Any guess who those teams might be? Stanford and Oregon have dominated the conference for the past decade, and while both are undergoing roster overhauls, they should be at the top of the heap again during the 2016 season. The teams will square off this season in Autzen Stadium on Saturday, November 12.... 

The 2016 season is a pivotal one for Auburn head coach Guz Malzahn, who has watched his yearly win total decrease every year since leading the Tigers to the BCS National Championship in 2013. Malzahn was a god on campus after taking over a three-win program from Gene Chizik and winning 12 games. Considering the transformation, Malzahn was given a mulligan on the BCS loss to Florida State. How times have changed. After needing a Birmingham Bowl win last postseason just to finish above .500, the h... 

The Atlantic Coast Conference’s two best teams reside in the same division. So, when the Clemson Tigers visit Doak Campbell Stadium on October 29 to face the Florida State Seminoles, the league’s champion could very well be decided. The matchup has blossomed into one of the most intense on the college football landscape considering its implications on the national scene. Florida State won the last BCS championship in 2013 and reached the playoff semifinals in 2014. Clemson was a CFP finalist last year. And again there will be plenty at stake when the two hook up at the end of October.... 

Go ahead and ask 100 Big Ten football fans who is going to win the conference this season. Of the 100, 45 or so will probably say the Ohio State Buckeyes. Another 45 will say the Michigan Wolverines. That's how tight things are in the Big Ten this year, and a ton will almost surely be on the line when these two arch rivals hook up at the Horseshoe to end the regular season.... 

The Washington Huskies have become one of the trendier teams this year to back to win the National Championship. They've got a total of 16 starters returning from last year's 7-6 team, and Chris Petersen has earned a tremendous level of success after his past triumphs at Boise State. The biggest test of the year for U-Dub will clearly come at Autzen Stadium against the Oregon Ducks in Week 6.This Week 6 game will take place on Saturday, November 8, 2016, at Autzen Stadium.... 

Due to concerns over the intake of alcohol and alcohol-related events, the Georgia-Florida series is no longer officially called the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. But ask any college football fan and they’ll set you straight. While the consumption of spirits is widespread around game-day in Jacksonville, the two combatants usually put on a good show with major implications in the SEC East. Georgia looks to end a two-game losing streak when they play the Gators for the 94th time on Satu... 

When Jim McElwain took over as coach of the Florida Gators prior to the 2015 season, his slogan was “Restore the Order.” The coach partially succeeded. After enduring two of the programs darkest seasons since the late 1970s, McElwain got the Gators back to the top of the SEC East and to their first conference championship game since 2009. However, he couldn’t do the job in his own state. The Gators lost their third straight game and fifth in the last six to Florida State. The rivals meet once again in the regular season finale on November 26 in Tallahassee.... 

The regular season meeting between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Tennessee Volunteers is set for Saturday, October 15 at Neyland Stadium. Given that the two teams are favored to win their respective divisions in the SEC, the matchup could be a preview of the conference championship game in Atlanta on Dec. 3. That would be wonderful news for the folks in Knoxville, who haven’t seen their team win the East Division and advance to the conference title game since 2007.... 

This game should be billed as the SEC championship as Alabama and LSU are undoubtedly the best teams in the conference. Unfortunately for college football fans, the two reside in the same division and the West’s representative in Atlanta will likely be decided by the outcome. LSU went into last year’s game undefeated with dreams of a trip to the league’s title game. The Tigers were dealt a stern beating, lost their next two games and almost cost head coach Les Miles his job. Miles got a reprieve...