College XP

FO's Rivers McCown and Brian Fremeau will now be contributing college football content to The Athletic, starting this week with a look at which teams are most likely to complete an undefeated season.

Huge news from college football, as the Ohio State Buckeyes are putting Urban Meyer on "paid administrative leave." They are investigating claims in a story from college football reporter Brett McMurphy that Meyer was aware of allegations against a former Ohio State assistant coach and did nothing about it. This could be the end for one of college football's premiere coaches at his dream job. Offensive coordinator Ryan Day will be the acting head coach during the investigation.

Fair catches on kickoffs received inside a team's own 25-yard line will result in a touchback beginning in 2018.

Three spots were obvious, one was up for debate, but the College Football Playoff field is set: the No. 1 Clemson Tigers will face the No. 4 Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl, and the No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners will play the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs in the Rose Bowl on January 1.

It will be a moot point by then, but it will still be interesting to see how the FEI ratings view Alabama and the Ohio State Buckeyes when we gather that data later in the week.

The Les Miles era is over after 12 seasons in Baton Rouge. Miles survived an attempted coup late in 2015 but an underwhelming 2-2 start this year for a team with legitimate preseason playoff aspirations was enough evidence for LSU to pull the plug.

Dirk Chatelain writing for the Omaha World-Herald presents potential reasons for an apparent decline in home field advantage in college football -- specifically highlighted in the Big Ten and Big 12. Among the hypotheses for why? More balanced officiating due to instant replay booth reviews.

The Ivy League has announced that it has received permission from the NCAA to experiment with kickoffs this season. In conference games only, teams will kick off from their own 40-yard line, with kickoffs being brought out to the 20.

One of the biggest coaching names in college football is calling it quits. (Click for more.)

At first, USC was going to let Steve Sarkisian get his life together and get over his alcohol addiction, but apparently the problem is too big for that. So USC fired Sarkisian today. There's plenty that can be said about the man's personal battle, but from a football standpoint this also opens up one of the top jobs in college football -- and one that's particularly enticing to NFL coaches who might be looking to go back to the college game. Let the Chip Kelly speculation begin.

I spoke with two experienced NFL football operations and personnel people about scouting, management, and strategy of building a team. This is easily one of my five favorite shows this year.