TCU ROMPS, RUINS BILL BELICHICK’S NORTH CAROLINA DEBUT
Josh Hoover threw for two touchdowns and 284 yards as TCU opened the season by spoiling Bill Belichick’s collegiate coaching debut with North Carolina, defeating the Tar Heels 48-14 on Monday night in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The six-time Super Bowl-winning coach’s venture into the college ranks was an overwhelming storyline in the prime-time matchup, but the Horned Frogs came away with the biggest prize. It seemed far from Belichick’s championship days with the New England Patriots.
TCU held the Tar Heels to 10 first downs. The Horned Frogs’ biggest defensive plays were safety Bud Clark returning an interception 25 yards for a touchdown with 3:57 to play in the second quarter and Devean Deal scooping a third-quarter fumble and running 37 yards for a TD.
Kevorian Barnes gained 113 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries for the Horned Frogs. Hoover finished 27-for-36 with an interception, with Jordan Dwyer racking up 136 receiving yards and a score on nine catches.
TCU rattled off the final 20 points of the first half for a 20-7 lead, then boosted the lead to 41-7 just over eight minutes into the third quarter.
By then, much of the buzz surrounding Belichick had dimmed a little bit. There had been hours-long pregame festivities on campus celebrating the dawn of a new era in North Carolina football.
Barnes ran 75 yards on the first play from scrimmage of the second half as TCU built a 27-7 lead. Soon after, Trent Battle burst 28 yards for a touchdown.
Tar Heels quarterback Lopez completed 4 of 10 passes for 69 yards but threw an interception and lost a fumble before he was replaced by 2024 opening-night starter Max Johnson.
North Carolina opened the scoring when Caleb Hood ran for an 8-yard touchdown to complete the first possession of the game, covering 83 yards in seven plays.
The Horned Frogs pulled even on their second possession, with Hoover throwing 27 yads to Dwyer for the touchdown.
An offensive pass-interference penalty in the end zone slowed TCU’s next drive, so the Horned Frogs settled for Kyle Lemmermann’s go-ahead 32-yard field goal.
The Horned Frogs moved inside the North Carolina 20 on their next possession before a tipped pass was intercepted by Kaleb Cost.
Clark’s pick-six boosted the margin, and Lemmermann’s 33-yard field goal on the final play of the first half pushed the lead to 13 points.
Max Johnson wound up 9 of 11 for 103 yards and a 2-yard third-quarter touchdown pass to Jake Johnson. Jordan Shipp led North Carolina with four catches for 84 yards, while Hood finished with 31 yards on 10 carries.
QB TJ FINLEY MAKES SIXTH COLLEGE STOP AT GEORGIA STATE
Quarterback TJ Finley is on his sixth college in six years.
It was announced Monday that Finley has enrolled at Georgia State, with coach Dell McGee revealing that he has spent the past few months with the team.
Finley, 23, has suited up for LSU, Auburn, Texas State and Western Kentucky in his college career and transferred to Tulane after the 2024 season. Tulane suspended Finley after he was arrested in connection with a stolen truck; his attorney said he was the victim of a scam and did not know the vehicle he purchased from an online marketplace had been stolen.
He entered the portal again once the Green Wave brought in more quarterback transfers.
As it turns out, Finley found another home much sooner than anyone knew.
“He was with us in May. He’s been a part of our program,” McGee told reporters. “He was just awaiting some legal matters and then the NCAA appeal that he had to go through.”
McGee said Finley attended team meetings and practiced over the summer. Once the Panthers got to fall camp, he didn’t give Finley reps in practice as they did not know if he’d be cleared to play and they needed the other quarterbacks ready.
No. 21 Ole Miss flattened Georgia State 63-7 in the season opener Saturday. Earlier in the week, McGee found out that Finley, in fact, had been cleared.
“We got the news on Tuesday of the Ole Miss week that he won his appeal,” McGee said, “and he started back his acclimation period with an afternoon practice with our strength and medical staff, and he was the scout team quarterback on Wednesday. He worked out Saturday and Sunday and he’ll be part of the evaluation process moving forward.
“This is nothing new. Our quarterbacks on our current roster knew he was here, and they all knew he was awaiting his appeal. We just felt like bringing in guys from a competitive standpoint at every position was the goal in the offseason, and adding him in May was part of that process.”
Christian Veilleux and Cameran Brown split the snaps at Ole Miss. Veilleux completed 4 of 11 passes for 52 yards, the team’s only touchdown and an interception. Brown went 8-of-14 passing for 17 yards.
Finley figures to be in the mix for reps as Georgia State moves forward to Saturday’s home opener against Memphis.
Finley took over as LSU’s quarterback midway through the 2020 season following an injury to starter Myles Brennan. Auburn (2021-22) was the only school where he spent more than one season. Finley enjoyed arguably his greatest success with Texas State in 2023, when he played 13 games and threw for 3,439 yards, 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions. That campaign ended with a First Responder Bowl win against Rice.
Georgia State went 3-9 (1-7 Sun Belt) last season, McGee’s first year on the job.
ARMY S LARRY PICKETT JR. RESCUES MAN FROM BURNING CAR
Army safety Larry Pickett Jr. and his father are being heralded for saving a man after a car accident right before the vehicle burst into flames near the U.S. Military Academy on Sunday.
Video taken by the player’s sister Lauren showed the father and son pulling the injured man out of the driver’s seat and carrying him across the street to safety in New York’s Orange County.
“Just after Midnight, I watched in awe as my son, Larry Pickett Jr., ran toward a burning vehicle, ignoring the downed power lines crackling around it,” Pickett Sr. wrote in a Facebook post. “With immense courage, he pulled a man to safety, saving him from a fiery fate.”
“I was just thinking I’m grateful that we got him out, honestly,” Pickett Jr. said on a video credited to his father. “Because I really don’t think that anybody else… because when we pulled up, there was already somebody standing there. But they saw the electric wire and I don’t think they wanted to go get him.”
The U.S. Military Academy account on X, as well as Army head coach Jeff Monken and athletic director Tom Theodorakis, confirmed the younger Pickett’s involvement and praised him for jumping into action.
“Larry’s heroic actions embody everything we strive to instill in our cadet-athletes — courage, selflessness, and a willingness to put others before themselves,” Monken wrote. “In that critical moment, he didn’t think of himself, only of helping another person in need. We are incredibly proud of Larry for the way he represented his family, our Army Football brotherhood, and the values of West Point.”
A sophomore, Pickett played in his first game for Army on Friday against FCS Tarleton State and his family was in town to see his debut. He made one tackle in the 30-27 double-overtime loss.
ALABAMA WR RYAN WILLIAMS (CONCUSSION) IS DAY-TO-DAY
Alabama standout receiver Ryan Williams is day-to-day as he deals with a concussion, Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer said Monday.
Williams’ status for Saturday’s game against visiting Louisiana-Monroe will be firmed up later in the week.
“He will go through concussion protocol throughout the week,” DeBoer told reporters.
Williams exited Alabama’s season-opening 31-17 loss Saturday at Florida State in the fourth quarter due to the concussion.
Williams took a blow to the head after dropping a pass with 6:07 left in the contest. Two Seminoles were in the area and Earl Little Jr. was called for targeting before the ruling was reviewed and subsequently overturned.
Williams finished with five receptions for just 30 yards with a long gain of 11.
“He never really got going in the game, before getting hurt,” DeBoer said. “We’ll continue to have to make sure we’re moving him around.”
Williams excelled last season by catching 48 passes for a team-high 865 yards and eight touchdowns. He also rushed for two scores and averaged 10.0 yards returning punts for the Crimson Tide.
–Field Level Media
MICHIGAN LB JAISHAWN BARHAM’S TARGETING PENALTY UPHELD BY BIG TEN
Michigan linebacker Jaishawn Barham’s targeting penalty from the second half of its season opener was upheld by the Big Ten, and he’ll be forced to miss the first half of Saturday’s top-25 matchup at Oklahoma, head coach Sherrone Moore said Monday.
Barham was assessed the penalty on a hit of New Mexico quarterback Jack Layne in the third quarter of the 18th-ranked Wolverines’ 34-17 victory. It was originally ruled a scoop-and-score fumble return by Barham for a touchdown, but overturned to a sack and then became a first down for the Lobos and an ejection of Barham after an instant-replay review.
Per NCAA rules, players ejected for targeting in the second half of a game are ineligible for the first half of the team’s next game.
“(The ruling) was upheld, and we don’t agree with it …,” Moore said. “It’s a rule we have to get changed, and we have to look at in college football just for the general toughness of the game, and how you want to teach tackling, and how you want to teach guys that are 6-3, tackling a guy that’s 5-8.”
Barham, a senior from District Heights, Md., was second on the Michigan defense with 66 tackles in his first season with the program in 2024, adding 3.5 tackles for loss, a sack, two pass breakups and five quarterback hurries. He began his career at Maryland.
The ruling being upheld after appeal will make things tougher for the first half of Michigan’s road game against the 14th-ranked Sooners and their revamped offense led by Washington State transfer quarterback John Mateer. He led the way to a 35-3 win in the team’s season opener against Illinois State on Saturday.
LANORRIS SELLERS, CARSON BECK VAULT INTO HEISMAN CONVERSATION
South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers and Miami’s Carson Beck vaulted toward the top of the Heisman Trophy favorites following impressive performances by both quarterbacks in their teams’ season-opening wins on Sunday.
Sellers, who opened at +1800 at BetMGM and was +1600 before Week 0, now has the second-shortest odds at +700 after leading the No. 13 Gamecocks to a 24-11 win over Virginia Tech. He is behind only Garrett Nussmeier, who is the new favorite at +650 following No. 9 LSU’s victory at No. 4 Clemson on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Beck is now tied for third at +1200 along with Georgia’s Gunner Stockton after No. 10 Miami edged No. 6 Notre Dame 27-24 on Sunday night. The former Georgia quarterback returned from the UCL injury that ended his 2024-25 season to throw a pair of touchdown passes in his Miami debut.
Beck has the third shortest odds at DraftKings, where he was +1200 on Monday behind Nussmeier at +800 and Sellers at +900. Clemson’s Cade Klubnik is next at +1400.
Where the two books agree is on the top non-quarterback in the current Heisman picture. Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is +1500 at both, which places him in a tie for the fifth-shortest odds at DraftKings and alone with the sixth-shortest odds at BetMGM behind Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer (+1300).
Arch Manning, the preseason Heisman favorite at many sportsbooks, plummeted to +1600 at both BetMGM and DraftKings. Manning opened at +900 at BetMGM, just behind Nussmeier at +850, but had pulled ahead as the +600 favorite by the time Week 0 arrived.
That preseason hype came crashing down in a very uneven performance in No. 1 Texas’ season-opening loss to Ohio State. It could prove a big win for the book, as Manning currently leads the way by a large margin with 12.6 percent of the total Heisman tickets and 16.7 percent of all money wagered at BetMGM backing Manning to win.
Nussmeier has drawn 10.8 percent of the money and Sellers 10.0, while Beck has been backed by 6.5 percent.
Manning is BetMGM’s second biggest liability in the Heisman market, behind only Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love. The top running back in the country in the eyes of some analysts, Love was not featured as heavily against Miami as most expected, finishing with 33 yards on 10 carries and adding 26 yards on four receptions. Despite the modest performance, Love’s Heisman odds shortened from +4000 to +2500.
The book’s third biggest liability is Sellers, followed by Nussmeier and Smith, who saw his odds lengthen a bit from +1300 after catching six passes for 43 yards against Texas.
HEISMAN TROPHY ODDS*
Garrett Nussmeier, QB, LSU (+650)
LaNorris Sellers, QB, South Carolina (+700)
Carson Beck, QB, Miami (+1200)
Gunner Stockton, QB, Georgia (+!200)
John Mateer, QB, Oklahoma (+1300)
Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State (+1500)
Arch Manning, QB, Texas (+1600)
Cade Klubnik, QB, Clemson (+1600)
Drew Allar, QB, Penn State (+1600)
Sam Leavitt, QB, Arizona State (+1600)
Dante Moore, QB, Oregon (+2000)
DJ Lagway, QB, Florida (+2000)
Jackson Arnold, QB Auburn (+2000)
Julian Sayin, QB, Ohio State (+2500)
Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame (+2500)
Devon Dampier, QB, Utah (+2500)
*BetMGM
WHAT WILL COLLEGE FOOTBALL LOOK LIKE IN 10 YEARS? MASSIVE CHANGES LOOM
Ohio State and Florida State got into the win column. Texas and Alabama did not. The first big weekend of major college football is in the books, and now, players and athletic departments can settle into a new, once-unthinkable era in which schools pay athletes and a team’s ultimate goal isn’t a bowl game, but the playoff.
Nobody should get too comfortable.
In just seven years, the main funding source of all this change — a menu of media deals highlighted by ESPN’s $7.8 billion contract to televise the College Football Playoff — will either be renegotiated or blown up amid even more change. Whatever happens, another round of jockeying will almost certainly include a massive influx of even more cash.
What could stem from that is any or all of the following: the introduction of private equity, an NFL-style super league with a bigger playoff, a greater gap between haves and have-nots in college sports, and, of course, increased payouts for players.
“I think it will still be called college sports, but I think it’s going to look completely different in the next five, 10, 15 years,” said Paia LaPalombara, a partner at the Church, Church, Hittle and Antrim law firm who specializes on college sports deals and previously worked at the NCAA and in the Ohio State athletic department.
CFP is one part of a bigger TV rights puzzle
Most of the billions ESPN pays to televise the newly expanded 12-team playoff goes directly to the conferences, with the SEC and Big Ten getting the most money starting in 2026 and the ACC, Big 12 and Notre Dame collecting multiple millions.
All those conferences also have their own media-rights deals — the SEC and Big Ten are worth $1 billion or more — and when those deals expire, sports media experts who see live sports as maybe the most valuable property in TV and streaming believe the value will increase dramatically.
“It’s not just the playoffs, it’s the top 50 schools,” said sports marketing expert Joe Favorito. “Are they worth ‘4X’ what they’re worth now for their rights? They could be. It’s going to be a reimagining of it all.”
All of this bodes well for college athletes, whose portion of the revenue sharing is tied to the amount their schools bring in for the next 10 years under terms of the $2.8 billion NCAA antitrust settlement that allows their schools to share revenue — to pay them — directly as of July 1.
Could private equity make a difference?
Under terms of the settlement, schools are allowed to pay players up to 22% of revenue from certain categories such as media rights, ticket sales and sponsorship. For the next school year, that means a school can spent up to $20.5 million to keep athletes happy alongside whatever third-party NIL deals are being struck. But that’s hardly their only expense as the House settlement reduced the incoming revenue for schools and conferences over the next decade. The settlement also increased the number of those expensive scholarships schools can give out across all sports they sponsor.
Can private funding be a solution to what some see as a cash crunch for athletic departments eager to lure and retain top talent and still pay a growing number of bills?
“The thing about private equity is, we’re owned by the state of Ohio and the state of Ohio is not for sale,” Buckeyes athletic director Ross Bjork said. “Private equity has to buy something. I see these reports about how Ohio State is valued by Forbes at $2.3 billion. But nobody could buy 10% of that.”
Not that some aren’t trying to make this work. Florida State and the Big 12 Conference are among those who have explored deals with private equity firms, though neither reached agreements. Undoubtedly, they won’t be the last to try.
“There are definitely ways to do it,” said Dave Checketts, the former pro sports executive who is in the private equity space. “I know a public school right now that’s talking about selling basically half of what I’d call their athletics-entertainment business. That means the revenue they get from football, basketball and, in this case, they have a concert business. You come up with a number, then multiply that by five years of revenue and sell half of it to private equity.”
Would a super league drive revenue?
Another way private equity might get into the game is through the idea of a super league.
Two separate investors backed concepts called “College Sports Tomorrow” and “Project Rudy,” looking for ways to take 70 or more teams at the top of college football and combine them into an NFL-style league with huge payouts.
Neither commissioner from the two biggest conferences likes the idea.
“I have yet to see a single thing in any plan that contains things that we couldn’t do ourselves,” Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti said last year, reflecting the reality that around 80% of Power Four conference schedules are either league games or games against other Power Four teams.
“Project Rudy” investors were floating a reported $9 billion investment with a chance to drive a $15 billion increase in media revenue over 12 yearrs, according to Yahoo! Sports.
Such a move could involve antitrust issues — the combining of the big conference media rights is against the law — and might hasten a complete breakup of the NCAA as we know it, significant because the smaller schools play an outsize role in the success of March Madness.
Is more realignment to come?
Absent a super league, the Big Ten and SEC figure to dictate what the playoff looks like, both for the remainder of the current contract and the next one.
What’s hard to know is whether they will keep vacuuming up more teams to expand the size of their own footprints.
After Florida State and Clemson threatened to possibly depart the ACC, the league tried to cement its future by making a deal with them that restructures its media rights deal to give more money to teams that draw more viewers.
The Big 12 is at 16 teams. It’s hard to demolish that, even if only five have roots dating to the start of a once-Midwestern conference that now stretches across four time zones.
The Pac-12 was once part of the Power Five but nearly disintegrated and looks more like a Group of Five league as currently constructed, soon to be filled with schools that are still not as big as the big boys.
Jeffrey Kessler, a lead attorney for players in the House settlement, said change remains inevitable in college sports, with the players set to benefit the most.
“The reality is that the biggest revenue schools are in a different parameter as the schools with lower revenue,” he said. “There’s been a continuous movement of those schools, frankly, getting more independent decision-making and more control over their own destiny. There’s no reason to think that won’t continue. But I also don’t see them leaving the NCAA.”
FSU FRESHMAN LINEBACKER ETHAN PRITCHARD IS IN INTENSIVE CARE AFTER SHOOTING, SCHOOL SAYS
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida State linebacker is in critical but stable condition after being shot while visiting family, the Seminoles said Monday.
Ethan Pritchard, a 6-foot-2, 224-pound freshman from Sanford, was in intensive care at a Tallahassee-area hospital. He was shot Sunday evening while inside a vehicle outside apartments in Havana, according to the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office.
“The Pritchard family is thankful for the support from so many people, as well as the care from first responders and medical professionals, and asks that their privacy be respected at this time,” FSU said in a statement. “Further updates will be provided as they are available.”
Pritchard did not play in Florida State’s season opener, a 31-17 victory Saturday over No. 8 Alabama in Tallahassee.
“Thoughts and prayers with Ethan Pritchard and his family,” FSU coach Mike Norvell said Monday. “Obviously an extremely tragic event for the young man. I got a chance to be there last night with him, his dad and family. Grateful for all of the medical support that he was able to receive. Our football team, coaches, family were all there to support him.
“We’re praying for all parts of him and the journey that’s ahead. Definitely appreciate the support from the community that we feel.”
ALABAMA WR RYAN WILLIAMS REMAINS IN CONCUSSION PROTOCOL AND COULD MISS THE TEAM’S HOME OPENER
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams could miss the team’s home opener because of a concussion.
Coach Kalen DeBoer said Monday that Williams remains in concussion protocol and is considered “day to day” as the eighth-ranked Crimson Tide (0-1) prepare to host Louisiana-Monroe (1-0) on Saturday.
A member of the preseason AP All-America team, Williams was helped off the field midway through the fourth quarter of a 31-17 loss at Florida State on Saturday after his helmet slammed into the ground following his third dropped pass of the game. Florida State safety Earl Little was flagged for targeting on the play, but the penalty was overturned after review.
“Ryan will go through concussion protocol throughout the week,” DeBoer said. “Day-to-day situation.”
Williams finished the game with five receptions for 30 yards. As a freshman in 2024, Williams led Alabama with 865 yards receiving and eight touchdowns.
“This week will be a little trickier with him getting limited opportunities,” DeBoer added. “But that’s going to allow someone else to step up and kind of continue to figure out the dynamics of how we feel with our receiving core and the people that should be out there.”
AP TOP 25 POLL PREVIEW: DEFENDING NATIONAL CHAMPION BUCKEYES ARE POISED TO RETURN TO NO. 1
As pro wrestling great and noted philosopher Ric Flair famously said, to be the man, you gotta beat the man.
Defending national champion Ohio State is still the man in college football.
The purveyors of preseason rankings had anointed Texas largely because of what in retrospect was an overabundance of hype surrounding Arch Manning. Reality hit at the Horseshoe on Saturday, and now the Buckeyes are in position to jump Penn State and return to No. 1 when The Associated Press’ first Top 25 of the regular season drops Tuesday.
Look for No. 9 LSU to garner support for No. 1, as well, after its 17-10 victory over No. 4 Clemson. An eight-rung promotion to the top spot would be the second-biggest jump of all time. In 1984, Miami went from No. 10 to No. 1 in the first regular-season poll.
Given the Week 1 results, Penn State might even drop a spot or two. A 46-11 win over lowly Nevada doesn’t necessarily move the needle upward with voters.
Texas fans surely are let down but can take solace in the fact that Manning has a high ceiling and won’t be playing Ohio State every week.
Alabama fans, on the other hand, are gutted and rightly worried. Kalen DeBoer has lost to four unranked opponents in his first 14 games following a 31-17 defeat at Florida State. His predecessor, Nick Saban, lost to four unranked teams in his 235 games over 17 years leading the Crimson Tide.
Look for them to move up
— No. 3 Ohio State beat No. 1 Texas 14-7 not because new quarterback Julian Sayin outplayed Manning — he did — but because of a dominant defense that made stops on four of five fourth downs. New defensive coordinator Matt Patricia made all the right calls and flummoxed Manning with a mix of pre-snap looks.
— No. 9 LSU won its first opener in six seasons, leaning on an upgraded defense in what was expected to be a battle of quarterbacks. LSU never let Cade Klubnik get comfortable and held Clemson to a paltry 4.5 yards per play. Garrett Nussmeier was solid and probably is the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy by default.
— No. 10 Miami’s 27-24 win over No. 6 Notre Dame, after some anxious moments, turned out to be a great launch for the Hurricanes’ new and improved defense under first-year coordinator Corey Hetherman.
Look for them to drop
— Texas became the first preseason No. 1 to lose its opener since BYU knocked off Miami in 1990. Manning will continue to be in the spotlight — he plays for Texas and he’s a Manning, after all — but it won’t be as intense with San Jose State, UTEP and Sam Houston the next three opponents.
— The good news for Clemson is the Klubnik-led offense won’t see a defense as good as LSU’s again.
— It wasn’t long after No. 8 Alabama’s loss that DeBoer’s contract buyout price of $70 million was bandied on social media.
They are who we thought they were
— No. 2 Penn State got points on its first nine possessions against Nevada.
— No. 5 Georgia had a drama-free 45-7 win over Marshall, with Gunnar Stockton throwing for two TDs and running for two TDs and the defense forcing seven three-and-outs and one four-and-out.
Some good, some bad
— Bryce Underwood gave himself a grade of C-plus, but he was better than any of the three other true freshman quarterbacks who previously started for No. 14 Michigan. He was 21 of 31 for 251 yards and a touchdown in a 34-17 win over New Mexico.
— No. 17 Kansas State was less than a minute away from being the highest-ranked team since 2016 to lose to an FCS opponent. The Wildcats’ touchdown with 42 seconds left let them escape with a 38-35 win over North Dakota.
— No. 24 Tennessee’s 45-26 win over Syracuse showed that the Volunteers might have gotten the better end of the Nico Iamaleava-Joey Aguilar switcheroo with UCLA. Aguilar threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns. Iamaleava struggled and was sacked four times in a 43-10 home loss to Utah.
— No. 25 Boise State obviously was going to miss Ashton Jeanty. The Broncos’ 34-7 loss at ascending South Florida suggests they miss him terribly.
Knocking on the door
— BYU received the most points of unranked teams in the preseason poll. A 69-0 win over FCS Portland State is no big deal — the Vikings have been outscored 111-0 in two games — but there’s a spot available after Boise State’s loss.
— Utah was 14 of 17 on third downs and scored on all six trips into the red zone against UCLA. Utes QB Devon Dampier, who led the Mountain West Conference in total offense at New Mexico last year, is the real deal.
BIG 10 FOOTBALL
ILLINOIS, MARYLAND, USC, WASHINGTON AND WISCONSIN EARN WEEKLY FOOTBALL HONORS
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Following Week 1 contests, the Big Ten Conference Football Players of the Week Presented by IFS.ai were announced Monday. Below are this week’s honorees:
Co-Offensive Player of the Week
Jayden Maiava, USC
QB – Jr. – Palolo, Hawaii – Liberty
- Went 15-of-18 (.833) with a pair of touchdowns for 295 yards with a long of 73 yards to lead the Trojans to a 73-13 victory over Missouri State to open the 2025 season on Saturday
- Rushed for nine yards and scored a touchdown on a three-yard rush into the end zone
- His 295 passing yards matched his second-highest passing total last season (295 yards versus Texas A&M on Dec. 27, 2024)
- Maiava’s 295 passing yards in the first half versus Missouri State were the most by a Trojan in a first half since former USC QB Kedon Slovis’ 347 first-half yards versus Arizona State on Nov. 9, 2019
- Last USC Offensive Player of the Week: Miller Moss (Sept. 2, 2024)
Jonah Coleman, Washington
RB – Sr. – Stockton, Calif. – Lincoln
- Led Washington to a 38-21 win over Colorado State, rushing for 177 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries
- Scored on the game’s opening drive, a 26-yard run, and scored the game’s final touchdown, from third yards out in the fourth quarter
- His 177 rushing yards were just one shy of his career high
- Also caught one pass for 22 yards, and had a 38-yard carry
- First Washington Offensive Player of the Week
Defensive Player of the Week
Preston Zachman, Wisconsin
S – Gr. – Elysburg, Pa. – Southern Columbia
- Grabbed a pair of interceptions in Wisconsin’s 17-0 win over Miami (OH)
- Also recorded a pair of solo tackles in the win
- Zachman’s first INT set up a Badger score inside the 5-yard line to put Wisconsin up 17-0, while his second sealed the victory in the game’s final minutes
- Helped the Badger defense hold Miami (OH) to only 117 total yards and an 0-for-9 clip on 3rd down, marking the Badgers’ first shutout since the 2022 opener, and the performance marked the first time since 2017 that the Badgers held an opponent under 150 total yards and without a successful third down conversion
- Last Wisconsin Defensive Player of the Week honoree: Hunter Wohler (Sept. 18, 2023)
Special Teams Player of the Week
Hank Beatty, Illinois
WR – Sr. – Rochester, Ill. – Rochester
- Broke Illinois’ 102-year-old single-game punt return yardage record, totaling 133 yards on four punt returns to break Red Grange’s record set in 1923 (125 yards)
- Highlighting Beatty’s punt returns was a 69-yard TD in the third quarter, Illinois’ first punt return touchdown since 2013
- The 69-yard score was Illinois’ longest punt return touchdown since Christian Morton (80 yards) vs. Indiana (11/4/2000)
- Also added five receptions for 108 yards, his first career 100-yard receiving game
- Last Illinois Special Teams Players of the Week: Fabrizio Pinton (Oct. 10, 2022)
Freshman of the Week
Malik Washington, Maryland
QB – Glen Burnie, Md. – Archbishop Spalding
- Completed 27 of 43 passes for 258 yards, three touchdown and zero interceptions in his first career game
- Washington’s three touchdown passes were the most in a true freshman’s debut in the Big Ten since 2009 (Michigan’s Tate Forcier), the most by a true freshman in a Power Conference since 2018 (Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence) and the most by a true freshman in a debut against an FBS school since UCLA’s Josh Rosen in 2015
- Washington’s 27 completions are the most by a Maryland true freshman quarterback in a game in school history
- His 27 completions are the most by a true freshman in a Power Conference debut since Jaxson Dart (USC) had 30 against Washington State in 2021
- Last Maryland Freshman of the Week: Roman Hemby (Oct. 24, 2022)
