Sports
Unranked teams to watch for in College Football Playoff race: Louisville, UCF and others
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The AP Top 25 is out and it looked almost identical to last week’s Coaches Poll. At least one unranked team is guaranteed to make the College Football Playoff (no Group of 5 team is ranked), but my hunch is that two sleeper candidates will make it in.
Last year, Missouri finished No. 8 in both polls after going unranked in the preseason and didn’t get a single vote in the AP poll. The year before that, it was TCU that got shut out in the preseason poll and made it to the national title game. The year before that, Baylor finished No. 5, rising from the unranked.
Knowing that kind of history, there are probably six unranked teams with a legitimate shot to crack the Playoff in 2024 if things break right for them.
GO DEEPER
What the AP Top 25 says about CFB in 2024: Is Ohio State a better bet than No. 1 Georgia?
The Hokies found their identity offensively in the second half of 2023, winning five of their last seven games. Quarterback Kyron Drones ran all over Tulane in a 41-20 romp over the No. 23 team in the Military Bowl. Drones is an elite athlete who kept improving over the season, throwing 17 TDs and just three INTs.
Tech has a dynamic RB in Bhayshul Tuten — a terrific all-around back with good speed. The receiving corps is deep and athletic with 6-foot-5, 221-pound Da’Quan Felton (No. 22 on the Freaks List) being a matchup nightmare for defenses. Plus, Virginia Tech gets Ali Jennings back. The former Old Dominion star is another big target at 6-2, 205 who only played two games last season before an injury cost him the rest of the year. Brent Pry’s defense has playmakers in the D-line and the secondary. They were No. 2 in the ACC in sacks with 39 and No. 10 in the country. Middle linebacker Sam Brumfield, an instinctive former Middle Tennessee standout, should be a terrific fit to help run the show.
The Hokies do have a tricky six-day stretch of hosting a physical Rutgers team before going to Miami, which will be their toughest road test. They get Clemson at home and don’t face FSU or NC State. I am buying Florida State and Miami, but given all the talent the Noles lost, the ACC feels more wide open this year.
Coaches at multiple stops have gushed about quarterback Tyler Shough’s talent. The challenge has been keeping him healthy for a full season, but if that happens, the Cardinals, with Jeff Brohm running the show, will be dangerous. Shough, who turns 25 in September, has never been able to play more than seven games in a season over the past five years.
The Cardinals have to replace a pair of explosive running backs without Jawhar Jordan and Isaac Guerendo. There is unproven talent there in Maurice Turner, who also has great burst, and 220-pound Miami transfer Don Chaney. They also have to replace WR Jamari Thrash but picked up Alabama transfer JaCorey Brooks for 2024. Defensively, there are seven starters back, led by productive edge rusher Ashton Gillotte, LB T.J. Quinn and CB Quincy Riley from a unit that ranked No. 10 in the country against the run and No. 21 overall. The Cards schedule isn’t easy. They have road trips to South Bend and Clemson and play Miami sandwiched in between two other road games. But if Shough stays healthy, this team has the pieces on both sides of the ball to make a run at 10 wins.
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Iowa State was picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 preseason media poll. (Petre Thomas / USA Today)
Iowa State
Four years ago, the Cyclones finished No. 9 in the country, going 9-3. They stumbled the next couple of seasons but found their stride again despite being extremely young in some key places in 2023. Now, they’re a more seasoned bunch with nine starters back on both sides of the ball, led by sophomore QB Rocco Becht, who Matt Campbell raves about from a talent standpoint and in terms of his makeup. Becht led Iowa State to wins last year at Kansas State and against Oklahoma State, throwing a combined six TDs and zero picks. Sophomore Abu Sama III is an explosive running back while rangy Jayden Higgins, a preseason All-Big 12 pick, leads a deep group of wideouts. Tight end Benjamin Brahmer is another promising young talent coming off an impressive true freshman season.
The Cyclones are salty on defense, led by the safety tandem of Beau Freyler (107 tackles, three INTs in 2023) and Jeremiah Cooper (five INTs). There are a lot of other really solid players back from what was the nation’s No. 7 red zone defense. Domonique Orange, a 6-4, 325-pound D-lineman who benches 450 pounds and has a vertical jump of 34 inches, has the potential to be a dominant force up front. Going to Iowa City to face the Hawkeyes is a big challenge. Just like going to West Virginia, Utah and Kansas.
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GO DEEPER
College Football Playoff sleepers: 13 unranked teams to watch
UCF
Gus Malzahn knows what he’s doing when it comes to running the football, and his backfield this year has the potential to be lethal.
Arkansas transfer QB KJ Jefferson, a load at 6-3, 250, ran for 21 TDs and almost 1,900 yards in five seasons in the SEC. He’ll be joined by RJ Harvey, who ran for 1,416 yards and 16 TDs last year, and Toledo transfer Peny Boone, another horse at 242 pounds who was the 2023 MAC Offensive Player of the Year. Kobe Hudson (eight TD catches in 2023) and Xavier Townsend are good wideouts and tight end Randy Pittman Jr. looks like a budding star. The offense could be prolific.
The big question is if new DC Ted Roof gets this defense to slow down the opponent’s run game. The Knights ranked No. 122 last year in rushing defense. Cincinnati transfer Deshawn Pace should help, and so will a ground attack that keeps drives going. UCF has road trips to Fort Worth, Gainesville, Ames and Morgantown and hosts Utah and Arizona. Jefferson beat Florida in the Swamp last year by putting up almost 350 yards of offense.
It seems like an uphill climb but Malzahn’s teams have been able to get on some big runs, and this group feels like it could be capable of doing it too.
The Tigers ended 2023 on a roll beating Iowa State in the Liberty Bowl to cap off a 10-win season. Ryan Silverfield’s program retained its two hottest commodities in QB Seth Henigan (79 TD passes in three seasons) and 6-3, 225-pound Roc Taylor, a dominant wide receiver who ate up Mizzou last year for 143 yards in a narrow loss.
Memphis coaches are excited by what they’ve seen from their running backs this fall in camp; the group is starting to look like the old Tigers RB stable from when Mike Norvell was cranking out NFL backs. Mario Anderson, South Carolina’s leading rusher last year, has been sharp in camp as has versatile UMass transfer Greg Desrosiers Jr. Speedster Sutton Smith is another weapon.
Memphis will get a big test in September when the Tigers visit FSU and Norvell. Don’t write them off, but even if they lose there, they still have games at USF and Tulane which should be good tests for a team that has a big chip on its shoulder after having gone to bowl games 10 years in a row. The Tigers feel primed to win a conference title in 2024 and make a bigger statement.
Let’s start with running back Ashton Jeanty, the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year in 2023. He is arguably the best back in college football. Jeanty (159.7 all-purpose yards per game) is an elite player who NFL scouts love, especially his receiving skills.
The Broncos’ defense struggled last year and needs to improve, but there is some good talent there, led by DE Ahmed Hassanein (12.5 sacks and 16.5 TFLs in 2023) and LB Andrew Simpson.
The biggest wild card is how the QB situation evolves. USC transfer Malachi Nelson, a former five-star recruit, is being pushed by Maddux Madsen. Whoever emerges will have a really impressive group of skilled talent to take advantage of. The Broncos also have one of the best punter-kicker tandems in the FBS in James Ferguson-Reynolds (49.7 yards per punt) and Jonah Dalmas (10-of-11 from 40-plus yards on FGs).
The Broncos have to go to Oregon in Week 2 and visit UNLV and Wyoming but get both Washington State and Oregon State at home. The game against the Ducks means they might not have any more margin for error, but 11-2 with a respectable score against Oregon might top the rest of the non-Power 4.
(Top photo: Mike Watters / USA Today)
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Sports
NFC team submits proposal to ban Eagles' famous 'Tush Push' play: report
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Another attempted ban of the “Tush Push” has been brought before the NFL, and a team that fell in the playoffs to the Philadelphia Eagles, who made the play famous, is reportedly behind the rule change.
The Green Bay Packers, whose president Mark Murphy has come out against the short-yardage play, submitted a proposal to the NFL’s competition committee to ban it, per The Athletic.
In a Q&A on the Packers’ team website, Murphy said he was against the play, saying that it’s “almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less.”
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts scores a touchdown on a “Tush Push” during Super Bowl LIX against the Kansas City Chiefs on Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
He also brought up the Washington Commanders’ attempts to stop it on the goal line during the NFC Championship Game, which ultimately led referees to warn them they could award a score if they continued to jump offsides.
“I am not a fan of this play,” Murphy said. “There is no skill involved and it is almost an automatic first down on plays of a yard or less. The series of plays with the Commanders jumping offsides in the NFC Championship Game to try to stop the play was ridiculous.
“I would like to see the league prohibit pushing or aiding the runner (QB) on this play. There used to be a rule prohibiting this, but it is no longer enforced because I believe it was thought to be too hard for the officials to see. The play is bad for the game, and we should go back to prohibiting the push of the runner.”
NFL DENIES ‘TUSH PUSH’ BAN RUMORS AS EAGLES CONTINUE TO DOMINATE: ‘THIS PLAY HAS EVOLVED’
Now, it’s worth noting that the Packers have done their own version of the “Tush Push,” going a perfect 5-for-5 when tight end Tucker Kraft gets under center on sneak attempts. They converted two of those against the Eagles in the playoffs as well.
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Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts scores in Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
However, those are more traditional sneaks instead of Jalen Hurts being shoved by tight end Dallas Goedert and running back Saquon Barkley from behind, making it virtually impossible to stop the play.
Hurts scored Super Bowl LIX’s first touchdown on that play from the goal line on their way to winning, 40-22, over the history-seeking Kansas City Chiefs.
Other teams have attempted their own version of the “Tush Push,” but the Eagles have mastered the play, hitting successfully on first-down conversions or touchdowns more than any team by far.
Last offseason, there was some heated debate about whether the play should remain in the game, but it never came to a vote.
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Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts scores on the “Tush Push” against the San Fransisco 49ers on Dec. 3, 2023, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
League owners would have to vote to have the play removed, which would be done in March.
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Sports
Ex-UCLA star Tyler Ebell, a.k.a. Mighty Mouse, won't be asked to save the day after surrendering officer license
The record-setting running back with the Mighty Mouse tattoo won’t be asked to save the day again as a police officer in California.
Tyler Ebell still holds the single-season state record of 4,494 rushing yards he set in 2000 at Ventura High, and the 5-foot-8 scatback went on to star at UCLA, setting a freshman record by rushing for more than 100 yards in six consecutive games while earning second-team All-American honors.
After three years in the Canadian Football League, Ebell became a Ventura County sheriff’s deputy, seemingly the epitome of a high school and college football hero giving back to his community. Yet in 2022, Ebell was fired after an internal affairs investigation found he “committed repeated acts of serious misconduct and grossly violated the foundational principles of a law enforcement officer.”
Ebell was accused of pursuing and carrying on a sexual relationship with Nastaza Schmidt, an inmate in the jail where he worked. The Sheriff’s Office referred his case to the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, and Ebell surrendered his certification with the agency earlier this month.
Without the certification, Ebell cannot work as an officer in any state police agency, as first reported by the Ventura County Star.
Ventura County settled a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Schmidt and another woman in 2023 by paying them $49,999. The lawsuit accused Ebell of pressuring Schmidt into a relationship by promising to help her minimize her criminal charges.
Schmidt died two years ago, her body found on the lawn of a Thousand Oaks home after she had fled on foot from a self-storage facility she and two men were attempting to burglarize. The Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that Schmidt, 34, died of “probable cardiac arrest,” and had a potentially lethal amount of methamphetamine in her system.
Schmidt already had a criminal history of burglary when she was arrested in 2020 and charged with identity theft, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of burglary tools. Ebell was one of the arresting officers, and according to the lawsuit filed in federal court by Schmidt in January 2023, he showered her with favors while she was incarcerated, insinuating that she would repay him with sexual favors when she was released.
The day she was let out on bail, Ebell picked her up at the jail, took her to her grandparents house and they had sex, the lawsuit alleged. Soon thereafter, Ebell’s wife and two children took a trip to Canada and Schmidt stayed at his house for more than two weeks, according to the lawsuit.
USC safety Troy Polamalu causes UCLA running back Tyler Ebell to fumble during a game at the Rose Bowl on Nov. 23, 2002.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The lawsuit also alleged that Ebell assaulted Schmidt when he confronted her and her ex-boyfriend at her grandparent’s house and that Ebell insisted she get an abortion when she became pregnant with his child.
Ebell was seen with Schmidt at a restaurant by two off-duty deputies Dec. 30, 2021, triggering an internal affairs investigation. Ebell resigned from the Sheriff’s Office a year later.
According to the lengthy internal affairs report, Ebell told detectives that he was “going through a lot of emotional stuff, and I made a ton of poor decisions not typically my character. I was looking for an escape and I found it in a friend, and it was the wrong friend in the wrong place. And I did a lot of things that I would never normally do when I’m in the right mindset.”
The result has been a steep fall for Ebell. In 2006, he and former UCLA teammates Ricky Manning Jr. and Maurice Jones-Drew were involved in an alleged assault stemming from an attack on a man in a Denny’s restaurant in Westwood at 3 a.m. Ebell was charged with felony assault but a judge downgraded it to a misdemeanor, and that charge was eventually dropped because of insufficient evidence.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the three allegedly harassed a man working on a laptop computer at the restaurant. “The group began by making comments that the victim looked like a geek or a nerd,” LAPD Det. Robert Lewis told reporters.
The victim asked the group to stop and complained to a Denny’s manager before someone in the group punched him in the face. He then was punched and kicked until losing consciousness, according to Lewis.
The incident occurred three weeks after Jones-Drew had been drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars. He wasn’t charged and went on to a nine-year NFL career that included three Pro Bowl appearances and All-Pro recognition in 2011.
Manning Jr., a defensive back, had received a $21-million contract offer from the Chicago Bears only days earlier. He signed the deal and a few months later pleaded no contest to felony assault and was sentenced to three years probation, one year of anger management counseling and 100 hours of community service.
Ebell wasn’t considered big enough for the NFL, but he led the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL with 1,318 total yards in 2007 before a ruptured Achilles tendon ended his career a year later. He returned to the hometown where at age 14 he’d sat in a Hells Angels hangout for that Mighty Mouse tattoo and became a peace officer, a job that ended for good in California this month.
Sports
Amid the 4 Nations noise, Canada reclaims its throne as ‘the king of hockey’
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They crossed the 49th parallel, from Manitoba into North Dakota — and drove through day and night — across eight states and more than 3,000 kilometers, according to the Canadian odometer on their Nissan Murano.
Two canceled flights meant they were desperate. So they piled into a car, stopping only for gas. And, despite a two-hour detour through Milwaukee, off a middle-of-the-night wrong turn, they made it to Boston in 30 hours.
They were five among the thousands of Canadians who lined up outside TD Garden hours before the start of the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off final between Canada and the United States.
“We’re here for the Maple Leaf,” said Matt McLeod. And they were there for their childhood friend Seth Jarvis, who was living his dream of playing for Canada.
But at the most hyped international hockey game in more than a decade, everyone had their reasons to care. And beyond the 60 minutes and overtime, it felt like there was so much more than a win at stake.
With more than a decade of built-up tension between the two rivals, heat on the ice was inevitable. But for many, the championship game wasn’t about bragging rights alone. A looming trade war between the United States and Canada, following tariff threats by President Donald Trump and repeated claims that he’d like the sovereign neighbor to become the country’s 51st state, created an unparalleled level of hostility between the two nations.
Canadian fans booed the American national anthem when the teams met in a round-robin match in Montreal, which was followed by three fights in the first nine seconds of the game.
It was impossible to ignore the wider implications, especially when the U.S. team’s general manager Bill Guerin said his players used the political tensions as inspiration and invited Trump to attend the final. Before the championship, Trump encouraged the Americans while taking another shot at Canada becoming the 51st state and referring to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a governor.
Outside TD Garden, that tension was evident hours before the opening face off.
“Welcome to the USA, Canada’s 11th Province,” read a massive sign carried by Ian MacKinnon, as fans dressed in Canada and USA jerseys shuffled in a queue that stretched down Causeway Street. He’s an American, by way of grandparents who first immigrated to Nova Scotia. MacKinnon doesn’t care much about sports, but he biked there with his sign in hopes of making a point and maybe offering a touch of levity.
“The way the series started with fist fights in the first 10 seconds, I felt maybe tonight I could make people smile,” MacKinnon said.
And most people did, while some tossed light jabs.
“51st state!” one man yelled as he passed in line.
“U-S-A! U-S-A!” chanted another.
One fan tried to rip the sign from MacKinnon’s hand, but he held firm.
In the concourse, American fans posed with Mark Goggin, who’d painted his face red and white, with temporary tattoos of a cartoon moose and beaver on each check. Goggin crossed the border from his home in Windsor to catch a flight from Detroit with his son. As innocent and playful as most of the interactions between the fans were, Goggin felt the wider implications that the game carried seemed somewhat lost on his American counterparts. They didn’t seem to appreciate just how serious Canadians have taken the threats and taunts, he said. It might be fun and games to them, but in Canada the aggression has spurred a rush of patriotism.
“Canadians are so pumped to win this game. Because we can’t beat Trump, right?” Goggin said. “It’s the only thing we can beat them at — hockey.”
His eyes reddened as he described the emotion many Canadians carried into the final.
“It’s so big for Canadians,” Goggin said. “It’s more than a game.”
Mark Goggin’s rooting interests were easily discerned. (Dan Robson / The Athletic)
Harjinder Sidhu flew from Winnipeg to attend the game with his brother and his 5-year-old nephew, who traveled from Edmonton. The 30-year-old said the outside context matters.
“Canada will never be the 51st state. … It’s very disrespectful,” he said. “Our soldiers have died next to their soldiers in wars, which we do happily because they’re our brothers. But that brother is acting a little too aggressive right now. And today we’ll show them who’s the king of hockey.”
For more than a century, hockey has been Canada’s game. But it has long been anticipated that the Americans would catch up and possibly surpass Canada. Recent trends underscore that reality. The majority of Canadian NHLers play for American teams. And as has been pointed out many times, no Canadian team has won a Stanley Cup since 1993.
That tension filled the TD Garden too. It hung uncomfortably when Wayne Gretzky, hockey’s greatest icon, stepped onto the ice representing Canada in a pregame ceremony wearing a suit, to respectful stick taps and cheers. Mike Eruzione, captain of the 1980 Miracle on Ice team, followed to a riotous roar wearing a U.S.A. jersey — fist-bumping the American players and waving his hands to pump up the crowd as they chanted “U.S.A.”
It wasn’t lost on many Canadians watching that Gretzky, star of the famed 1987 Canada Cup winning team, attended President Trump’s election victory party at Mar-a-Lago and his recent inauguration ceremony.
A smattering of boos greeted the Canadian national anthem, but a chorus rose alongside singer Chantal Kreviazuk, who made her own comment on the moment by changing the lyrics in a verse from “in all of us command” to “that only us command.” Kreviazuk later posted on Instagram that she believed Canadians needed to stand up and use their voices in the face of a “potentially consequential moment.”
“We should express our outrage in the face of any abuses of power,” she wrote.
A hockey game happened, and a thrilling one, with a crowd heavily on the American side.
But after the most dramatic show of international men’s hockey in more than a decade — sealed by Connor McDavid’s overtime winning goal — it was Canadians piling on the ice and embracing in the stands. American fans streamed out into the concourse as “O Canada” played once more, to fireworks around a giant Canadian flag. The red-and-white jerseys filled the lower bowl, surrounded by empty seats.
Drew Doughty sang as loud as he could. It had been so long since he’d last felt this moment, and he didn’t know if he’d ever feel it again.
And later, in the locker room, the Canadian players belted “We Are The Champions” by Queen, Molson Canadian and Moet sloshing on the floor. Their reign as the world’s greatest, secured for at least another year.
Above, in the concourse, a chant of “Can-na-Da, Ca-na-da” echoed as fans marched toward the exits, and out onto Causeway Street.
A woman in a grey sweater with a U.S. flag on it shouted after them: “You’ll be the 51st state soon.”
But no one bothered to listen.
As the champagne dried on the locker room floor, and other Canadian players reveled in the hallway en route to the team’s afterparty at a nearby bar, Mark Stone acknowledged that the political tension weighed on the team throughout the series.
“I definitely read and saw everything, Saturday to tonight,” Stone said. “It’s hard to stay off that stuff, the way the world is with social media. This game meant a lot to us, a lot to our country, and we’re proud to put on that jersey and get a win for our country.”
In the hall, Brad Marchand, Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon posed for a photo together. MacKinnon held up a Canadian flag. Crosby, the captain, clutched the 4 Nations Cup.
Seth Jarvis and the friends who’d driven from Winnipeg, piled in to pose for some photos, too. They wore the sweaters of Crosby, McDavid, MacKinnon and Mitch Marner — just a few among the thousands that still filled Boston’s streets, shouting and laughing and cheering, for a victory that felt so much bigger than a game.
(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic. Photos: Dan Robson / The Athletic; Brian Babineau / 4NFO/World Cup of Hockey; Bruce Bennett, Ben Jackson / 4NFO/World Cup of Hockey via Getty Images)
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