USC spring practice buzz: Early standouts for Trojans

In the aftermath of South Carolina's thrilling last-second upset of No. 11 Tennessee on Saturday, fans stormed the field. In the ensuing chaos, a

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Multiple Tennessee players involved in apparent fan altercations during South Carolina field storm

The Cowboys returned home on Saturday and came through with a resounding performance on both sides of the ball to defeat Colorado, 57-24.  Boone

It’s starting to feel like the good old days again, isn’t it?  As someone who covered the Pokes for a few years back in the day, including the 2011 campaign, I’ve sorely missed the times when OSU handled teams they were supposed to handle with little drama - Much like this past Saturday against Central Florida.  It was a sound win in my opinion, with a ton of credit to Scott Frost and his squad in their performance. They schemed up a chaotic RPO, misdirection scheme that even I couldn’t follow well from the stands. It kept the Knights around much longer than I expected, and proved a great test for the Oklahoma State defense.  But now the lights of a South Texas Saturday night await, and beneath them an underrated (or properly rated?) Houston Cougars squad hungry for validation.  What can we expect out of the Cougs this week? Here’s what I’m watching.  The turnover battle  QB Conner Weigman has led an efficient passing attack, tossing his lone interception this season in their opener against Oregon State. Even with the blemish, he’s completing passes at a 66.7% clip while ranking 30th in the nation in Yards Per Attempt – A few spots behind OSU QB Drew Mestemaker in that category.  Outside of a sloppy win in Week 1, along with exchanging single mistakes with UCF two weeks ago, Houston is winning games and turnover margin. This includes 3 fumbles gained and 5 INT’s forced, while losing 3/1 on offense.  Oklahoma State has seemed to right the ship on turnovers after losing the margin in their first two games, but this past Saturday revolved around an early fumble on their opening drive, then another that went their way in a UCF backwards pass they returned for a touchdown.  Houston’s style could stress this more than any matchup this season, and I’d be shocked if it isn’t talked about in every meeting in Stillwater this week.  Keep the three-headed monster at bay  While Weigman’s success is easily the headline for Houston so far this season, he’s had some help – Especially from running backs Re’Shaun Sanford II and Makhi Hughes.  The 5’9, speedy Sanford complements a more imposing, 6-foot Hughes in their rushing attack, and the results have been nearly perfectly balanced to result in 791 rush yards and 5 TD’s.  In the passing game, tight end Patrick Overmyer is becoming a gamebreaker. He exploded for 4 TD’s against Kansas State this past Saturday, and has totaled 400 yards on 33 receptions for the year.  Overmyer leads the team in receiving, while it’s a thin category after him. PFF doesn’t have another Houston receiver ranked in the top 100 in college football (Amare Thomas ranks 111th), but the team has six legitimate targets in the passing game, including both running backs.  Houston wants to stress the linebackers and safeties when they have the ball, and the Cowboys have the players to counter that approach. In a perfect world, the Pokes force their attack to the perimeter where Houston’s tools aren’t as proven, but don’t expect that to be an easy task.  Mestemaker & Co. against CB1?  OSU QB Drew Mestemaker and his band of receivers have imposed their will on everyone they’ve faced since Week 2’s opening kickoff, but they have one of the year’s tougher tests on Saturday night.  Though it hasn’t translated into NFL Draft prospect hype yet, Houston’s Jalen Mayo is the #2-rated cornerback in FBS this season, and #4 in all of college football – the same ranking he finished 2025 with when he was with Stephen F. Austin.  So far, he’s been trusted to handle 1/3 of the field by himself for Houston, and fits the definition of a boundary-erasing CB that makes defending a passing attack substantially easier.  His matchup this week is all but guaranteed to be Justin Bowick, the 6’5 burner who’s lined up outside in 92% of snaps for the Pokes this season.  While I don’t think anyone can completely remove Bowick from a game, especially when Mestemaker is on the other end of that connection, I do expect Wyatt Young and the other chess pieces Eric Morris has to reap the benefits.  We’ll find out Saturday night.  But hey – At least we’re having fun again, right?

OSU safety Evan Jackson (1) recovers a fumble and runs for a touchdown in the fourth quarter during an NCAA football game between the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Cowboys and the University of Central Florida (UCF) Knights at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026.

Credit: USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Rivals Football Recruiting

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Oklahoma State is catching fire and recruits are bought in: 'Being a contender definitely gives them a leg up'

After one of the most wild weekends in college football a week ago, it was going to be hard to top that kind of drama in Week 8. But that's not to

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AP Poll Prediction: Projecting Top 25 ranking after Week 8 of college football

Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy was injured following a tackle in Saturday night's game against Texas. He appeared to be slammed awkwardly on his

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Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy injured after being slammed to ground on tackle vs. Texas

On the first play of the second half against Ole Miss, Texas wide receiver Cam Coleman left with an injury and headed to the locker room. He went up

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Texas WR Cam Coleman leaves game vs. Ole Miss with apparent upper body injury

After missing last week's game against LSU due to a foot injury, Kamario Taylor's return was short-lived against Oklahoma. He left the game in the

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Jeff Lebby confirms Kamario Taylor aggravated foot injury vs. Oklahoma

After opening SEC play with three consecutive losses, Shane Beamer's South Carolina Gamecocks have now won back-to-back conference games against

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Shane Beamer fires back at 'conspiracy theories' around 2022 Tennessee game after walk-off win

NC State fired head coach Dave Doeren on Saturday afternoon, less than 24 hours after losing at Stanford. The Wolfpack have struggled the last three

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NC State Hot Board: Top candidates to replace Dave Doeren

NC State has named running backs coach and special teams coordinator Todd Goebbel as its interim head coach, the school announced. The Wolfpack

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NC State names Todd Goebbel as interim head coach after Dave Doeren firing

NC State has fired Dave Doeren following Friday night's 31-28 loss to Stanford, the school announced Saturday afternoon. Doeren had served as NC

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NC State fires head coach Dave Doeren after 14 seasons

Following back-to-back losses, Saturday's game against Ole Miss is shaping up to be a big one for Texas. All eyes are on how Arch Manning responds,

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Holly Rowe: Steve Sarkisian told Arch Manning he will bench him unless play improves vs. Ole Miss

Michigan suffered its third loss in its last four games on Saturday, falling to No. 6 Indiana 13-6 in overtime inside the 'Big House'. The

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Booger McFarland claims Tommy Carr should remain Michigan's starting QB following Indiana loss

SMU has been making the most of its month-long stint at home -- bringing in top talent from around the Dallas Metroplex, the Lone Star State and the

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UCLA quarterback Ty Dieffenbach suffered an injury just before halftime in a game against Michigan State. He took a hard hit and was injured on the

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UCLA quarterback Ty Dieffenbach injured just before halftime against Michigan State

Alabama defensive back Red Morgan has been ejected for targeting against Texas A&M. The foul occurred on a tackle of Marcel Reed, which was

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Alabama DB Red Morgan ejected for targeting against Texas A&M

South Carolina DB/PR Vicari Swain was ejected for targeting near the end of the second quarter of Saturday's game against No. 11 Tennessee following

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South Carolina DB Vicari Swain ejected for targeting vs. Tennessee

Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor, who has been battling injury in recent weeks, left Saturday's game against Oklahoma in the first half.

Kamario Taylor-Mississippi State

Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor ruled out for game after injury vs. Oklahoma

Moreno Valley (Calif.) Vista Del Lago quarterback Josiah Boyd just committed to UCLA moments ago and we take a close up look at the gifted signal

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Commitment Analysis: Close up look at new UCLA QB commit Josiah Boyd

Sam Leavitt ran the ball four yards into the end zone with less than 20 seconds left in the half, pushing LSU’s lead to three scores. Then Leavitt

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Moreno Valley (Calif.) Vista Del Lago quarterback Josiah Boyd has committed to UCLA and broke down why he chose the Bruins.   In somewhat of a

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Top 50 QB Josiah Boyd commits to UCLA, 'I'm staying home'

Alabama defensive back Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. has been suspended prior to Saturday's game against Texas A&M, according to Tuscaloosa News' Colin

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Alabama suspends DB Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. before Texas A&M game

Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson is out vs. Arizona State Saturday, per On3's Pete Nakos. Jacob Knuth will get the start against the Sun

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Kansas State QB Avery Johnson out vs. Arizona State, Jacob Knuth to start

ESPN's College Gameday is in the state of Utah for the second consecutive week. Last week, it was for Notre Dame at BYU. In Week 8, it's for No. 14

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ESPN College GameDay makes picks for Week 8 slate, Houston at Utah

Texas is looking to make some noise down the back end of this 2027 recruiting cycle.  The Longhorns are hosting multiple flip targets for Saturday's

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Texas hosting another blue-chip flip target for Ole Miss game

Is a change coming at quarterback in Austin? According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, No. 19 Texas starting quarterback Arch Manning took "significantly