David Ubben

1 week ago | nytimes.com | David Ubben |Ralph Russo

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The College Football Playoff staff recommended updating the strength of schedule metrics used in the selection process and hopes to have a new Playoff format in place by the fall. But talks this week reached a reset on what that format will be for 2026 and beyond. “I wouldn’t say there’s a leading contender right now for them, but they’re taking a good look and a fresh look at it,” CFP executive director Rich Clark said Wednesday.

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | David Ubben

Deion Sanders is "feeling well" despite missing the start of Colorado's football summer camps because of unspecified health reasons, though his son Deion Sanders Jr. said it is not clear when he will return to the school's Boulder, Colo., campus. "He'll tell y'all soon enough what he going through, what he went through," Sanders Jr. said Sunday on a YouTube livestream from the family's home in Texas, per CBS Sports.

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | David Ubben

Bill Belichick is unbothered by the "outside noise" that has surrounded his program in his first few months as North Carolina's coach, he said Tuesday. "Is there noise out there? We've always dealt with that. Really, our job is to build a football team and help build the team and also build their individual careers," Belichick said in his first news conference since March 5.

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | David Ubben

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Dogpile? Forget it. Liam Doyle's fastball - consistently broaching triple digits - whizzed by Wake Forest's Javar Williams and ignited a party on the field Monday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium as he celebrated his fifth strikeout of the night. Kool & The Gang's "Celebration" provided a fitting soundtrack for the moments after Tennessee clinched a Super Regional berth with an 11-5 win over Wake Forest in the decisive game of the Knoxville Regional.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | David Ubben

Editor's note: All week, The Athletic is looking back at the best of the first 25 years of the 2000s in college football. Read the top 25 teams, top 25 players and coaches and check back for the best programs on Friday. College football has changed more in the last 25 years than at any previous point of its history. But those magical Saturdays haven't changed.