College Football

Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork is pushing CFP leaders to adjust the college football regular-season schedule.

Bjork brought up the subject during CFP leaders' annual review meeting in Dallas, according to ESPN's Heather Dinich.

One of the meeting's central questions regarded the format of the next CFP, per The Athletic's Chris Vannini. Bjork told Dinich answering that question involved discussing the shape of the regular season.

"We've had so many disruptions over the last five-plus years that I think the time is now to not be reactive, be proactive," he said.  "When we had this setting here with the commissioners, our job was to provide feedback on what was it like to go through the 12-team playoff ... but it all gets impacted by the calendar.

"I felt it was important to lay that out with everyone in the room to say, separate from the CFP process, if we don't fix our calendar as an industry, then we're going to continue to have unintended consequences."

According to Dinich, Bjork told commissioners attending the meeting about Ohio State players' experience competing in a national championship game that took place on Jan. 20, weeks after classes began on Jan. 6.

He said the schedule caused the Buckeyes to run into issues regarding NCAA rules limiting practice time to 20 hours per week during the academic year.

The transfer portal, meanwhile, opened from Dec. 9 to Dec. 28, during which time the Buckeyes entered the first round of the playoff.

Bjork said that moving the fall transfer portal to May "makes the most sense" given new NCAA NIL rules could kick in on July 1 pending approval of the House v. NCAA settlement.

The 2025-26 college football season is set to begin Aug. 23. Part of the upcoming CFP schedule was announced Tuesday, with the quarterfinals set to begin on Dec. 31 and the national championship game scheduled for Jan. 19.

Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported last August that CFP leaders had recently "seriously discussed the prospect of shifting up by a week the entire season."

The goal would be to move the first round of the expanded CFP to the second week of December, according to the report. Those games currently take place in the third week of December, paving the way for the New Year's Eve quarterfinal and the late January title game.

That would involve working out new contracts with both conference championship game venues and broadcast partners, Dellenger noted. Vannini reported that executives from ESPN, which holds CFP broadcast rights through 2031-32, were present at the CFP meetings this week.

The quarterfinals for next year's College Football Playoff will kick off with the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31.

The CFP announced the full schedule for the final three rounds. Hard Rock Stadium in Miami will host the title game on Jan. 19.

The biggest news from Tuesday is that the Rose Bowl got moved up one hour from its usual start time of 5 p.m. ET.

Beyond coveting a New Year's Day slot, officials for the event prioritized a specific kickoff time so that sunset in Pasadena, California, closely aligns with the break in between the third and fourth quarters.

Mother Nature doesn't always cooperate. More often than not, though, the Rose Bowl delivers some of the most striking visuals in college football.

A 5 p.m. start wasn't great for television partners and fans attending the last of the four quarterfinals. Before it was rescheduled, the Sugar Bowl was originally slated to get underway at 8:45 p.m. Nobody wants a major bowl game going much past midnight on the East Coast.

"All three bowls shifting their start times allows us to place each game in an ideal window on New Year's Day and provide the optimal viewing experience," CFP executive director Rich Clark said. "New Year's Day and college football are synonymous with each other, and these changes only strengthen that relationship."

A lot of college football comes down to celebrating small traditions that would be silly in a different context. The Rose Bowl sunset certainly falls into that category.

For "The Granddaddy of Them All" to remain part of the playoff structure, some give and take was required in this case.

The University of Cincinnati announced Tuesday the death of freshman offensive lineman Jeremiah Kelly.

"The Bearcats football family is heartbroken by the sudden loss of this outstanding young man," head coach Scott Satterfield said. "In the short time Jeremiah has spent with our team, he has made a real impact, both on the field and in our locker room. My prayers are with the Kelly family and those who had the pleasure of knowing Jeremiah."

Athletic director John Cunningham called Kelly's death a "heartbreaking loss."

"All of us at UC send our love and prayers to the Kelly family and we will do everything that we can to support them and our Bearcats student-athletes in the difficult days and weeks ahead," he said.

The Big 12 also issued a statement:

Kelly was a 3-star recruit and the No. 65 overall player in the state of Ohio in 247Sports' composite rankings for the 2025 class. A graduate of Avon High School, he was an all-conference honoree as the school lifted a Division II title, its first ever.

Kelly graduated from high school early in order to enroll at Cincinnati in January.

Legendary head coach Bill Belichick's second season at UNC will kick off in a big way.

Per the Associated Press, UNC and TCU will open the 2026 college football season in Ireland with the Aer Lingus College Football Classic at Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Aug. 29, 2026.

The Tar Heels and Horned Frogs will open the 2025 season against one another as well, marking Belichick's official debut as a college football head coach. The game will be played on Labor Day and will be the only college or NFL game on the schedule that Monday.

Next year's Euro-trip will be the first game abroad for both programs.

"It's a tremendous opportunity for our program, and we're excited to represent the university and our fans on an international stage," Belichick said.

TCU and UNC were initially expected to open the 2026 campaign on Sept. 5 in Forth Worth, Texas, following the Horned Frogs' trip to Chapel Hill this year. TCU will be designated as the home team when it meets the Tar Heels in Ireland.

"This is more than just a football game. It's an opportunity to advance TCU's brand globally while having our student-athletes experience a unique educational opportunity and memory of a lifetime," TCU athletic director Mike Buddie said.

Iowa State and Kansas State will meet in this year's Aer Lingus Classic in Ireland on Aug. 23. In last year's matchup, Georgia Tech was victorious over Florida State.

Stanford University football general manager Andrew Luck took part in some on-field work at spring practice on Monday.

It was a familiar position for Luck, who played quarterback for three seasons at Stanford, finishing second in the Heisman Trophy voting in both 2010 and 2011.

Luck was named the Stanford football GM in November, continuing the recent trend of major collegiate sports programs hiring former players to steer the ship.

Despite throwing for 4,593 yards and 39 touchdowns in 2018, Luck shockingly announced his retirement prior to the 2019 season at the age of 29.

Luck stayed out of the spotlight for the next few years before resurfacing last year to take the GM job at his alma mater.

The Cardinal were a perennial top team and national title contender during Luck's playing days, but things have dropped off significantly in recent years.

Stanford has posted a 3-9 record in four consecutive seasons and it has not played in a bowl game since 2018.

One of Luck's first major decisions as GM was the firing of head coach Troy Taylor, who went 3-9 in each of his two seasons at the helm.

Per ESPN's Kyle Bonagura and Xuan Thai, Taylor was fired in March after an outside investigation determined he "bullied and belittled female athletic staffers, sought to have an NCAA compliance officer removed after she warned him of rules violations and repeatedly made 'inappropriate' comments to another woman about her appearance."

Luck hired Frank Reich to serve as Stanford's head coach on an interim basis, giving him a trusted veteran coach to collaborate with.

Reich was Luck's head coach with the Colts in 2018, which was Luck's final NFL season before his retirement.

Luck will look to get the Cardinal back on track in 2025 with their season-opening game being a road tilt against Hawai'i on Aug. 23.