College football predictions ahead of Week 1

Sports

add

Yahoo Sports AM is our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it every weekday morning.

🚨 Headlines

🏈 NFL transactions: Terry McLaurin signed a three-year, $96 million deal with Washington; Trey Hendrickson got an extra $14 million on his one-year deal with Cincinnati; Cleveland traded QB Kenny Pickett to Las Vegas; teams must cut rosters down to 53 players by 4pm ET today.

Advertisement

⚾️ 50 for Big Dumper: Cal Raleigh hit his 50th home run on Monday. The only switch-hitter with more homers in a season? Mickey Mantle, who hit 54 in 1961 and 52 in 1956.

📺 Carriage dispute: It’s that time of year again, as Fox and YouTube TV are at an impasse ahead of football season. If a deal isn’t reached by Wednesday, channels such as Fox, FS1, and Big Ten Network would be dropped from YouTube TV’s lineup.

⚽️ Liverpool wins thriller: 16-year-old substitute Rio Ngumoha scored the game-winner against Newcastle in stoppage time of his Premier League debut, as Liverpool joined Arsenal and Tottenham as the only clubs with two wins through two weeks.

👟 Teen sensation turns pro: Cooper Lutkenhaus — the 16-year-old who finished second in the 800m at this month’s USA championships — has decided to turn pro, signing with Nike ahead of the world championships in Tokyo.

🏈 College football predictions

The first full week of college football has arrived. But before we get to Week 1, our experts give their annual predictions.

Advertisement

Ross Dellenger:

As the SEC and Big Ten continue to grab more decision-making power in the sport’s future, it’s up to the ACC and Big 12 to change the trajectory of the sport. Clemson, Miami, Florida State, Baylor, Tech, Colorado… can any of them squash the “Power Two” narrative by not just beating Big Ten and SEC teams during the regular season but advancing deep into the College Football Playoff? The arc of the entire sport’s future could depend on it.

Nick Bromberg:

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has talked about his team being the first 16-0 program in college football history. The Tigers may not go undefeated, but they’re one of the best in college football and will not only take down LSU in Week 1, but they’ll beat the Longhorns in January for the national championship.

Advertisement

Dan Wolken (new hire!):

There hasn’t really been a season like this one where so many of the teams we expect to compete for a national championship have QBs we haven’t seen play very much. Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon and Alabama are maybe five of the most talented eight or nine teams in the country, but we really just don’t know how they are going to function at the most important position on the field.

Jay Busbee:

Auburn is going to get a couple big unexpected wins, and Miami is going to take some ugly unexpected losses, leading to some hard questions about paying rent-a-players such massive checks. Clemson will deliver on all its preseason hype, while LSU most definitely will not, leading to Brian Kelly/hot-seat talk dominating 2026.

Advertisement

Andy Backstrom:

Penn State is trying to follow a similar blueprint as Ohio State, which followed a similar blueprint as Michigan (minus that whole sign-stealing scandal). It goes like this: Return a slew of NFL prospects who could have gone to the league, lean on a suffocating defense and pair it with a top-15 offense that pops with fireworks when it matters most. It’s resulted in back-to-back national championships for the Big Ten, and I’m predicting a third is on the way.

🏀 CC’s new logo

Nike unveiled Caitlin Clark’s signature logo for the first time on Monday. Thoughts?

“To me, this is more than just a logo, it’s a dream come true. People always talk about leaving your mark on the game — and this is another way I can do that.”

Advertisement

— Clark

Coming soon: The logo, with two interlocking Cs, will be on all of Clark’s official merchandise through the sportswear brand, which signed her to an eight-year, $28 million deal last year. Clark’s signature apparel collection will launch on Oct. 1, and her signature shoe is expected in 2026.

⛳️ PGA and LIV: 2025 money lists

Now that the PGA and LIV seasons have completed their respective championships, let’s take a look at how much the top earners on each tour took home.

PGA Tour: Scottie Scheffler’s second straight monster year has put him on the precipice of history. He’s now less than $2 million shy of joining Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only golfers with more than $100 million in official PGA Tour winnings.

Advertisement

1. Scheffler: $26.6 million

2. Tommy Fleetwood: $18.5 million

3. McIlroy: $17 million

4. Russell Henley: $14.6 million

5. J.J. Spaun: $12.9 million

6. Justin Thomas: $10.9 million

7. Sepp Straka: $10.7 million

8. Ben Griffin: $10 million

9. Patrick Cantlay: $9.4 million

10. Justin Rose: $8.9 million

Alone at the top: Scheffler’s sizable lead grows even larger when accounting for all the bonuses; notably, the $23 million he pocketed by entering both the playoffs and Tour Championship as the FedEx Cup points leader. In total, he earned $49.6 million this year before endorsements; McIlroy, in second, earned $30.5 million.

LIV Golf: Joaquín Niemann had quite the year, winning five of the 13 regular-season events to easily top the leaderboard. No other golfer won more than once this season.

1. Niemann: $22.5 million

2. Jon Rahm: $15 million

3. Bryson DeChambeau: $11.1 million

4. Dean Burmester: $10.5 million

5. Sebastián Muñoz: $10 million

6. Talor Gooch: $9.1 million

7. Patrick Reed: $8.5 million

8. Sergio García: $8.3 million

9. Carlos Ortiz: $7 million

10. Marc Leishman: $6.9 million

Bonus bucks: Like the PGA Tour, LIV also gives out bonuses that don’t count towards official winnings. Rahm, with no wins but seven top-five finishes, narrowly beat out Niemann to capture the $18 million prize as LIV’s individual champion. Niemann earned $8 million for second place and DeChambeau took home $4 million for third.

📸 Through the lens

🇫🇷 Anglet, France — Juliette Lacome celebrates after winning Friday’s annual night surfing competition at the Chambre d’Amour beach in southwestern France.

🇩🇪 Munich, Germany — Harry Kane scored a hat trick in the span of just 14 minutes to power Bayern Munich’s 6-0 shellacking of RB Leipzig on Friday. Not a bad way for the 34-time champs to open their latest title defense.

🇨🇭 Lausanne, Switzerland — Here we have American pole vaulter Sam Kendricks leaping into another dimension — er, attempting to clear the bar — at last week’s Diamond League event.

🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — The 41st Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships, the first ever held in South America, concluded Sunday after five days of competition. Germany’s Darja Varfolomeev, the reigning Olympic champion, won five golds in her second straight worlds.

📺 Watchlist: Tuesday, Aug. 26

⚾️ Phillies at Mets | 7:10pm ET, TBS

New York (70-61) has probably dug too deep a hole to catch Philly (76-55) atop the NL East, trailing by six games with five weeks left. But if the Mets follow Monday’s win with a sweep this week they’ll be just four games back, with one more four-game series still to come against their rivals. Never say never, right?

Advertisement

🎾 U.S. Open, First Round | 11am, ESPN

No. 2 Iga Świątek (11:30am), No. 1 Jannik Sinner (12:40pm), No. 3 Coco Gauff (7pm), No. 23 Naomi Osaka (7pm) and No. 3 Alexander Zverev (8:10pm) headline today’s action as the first round wraps up in Queens.

More to watch:

• 🏀 WNBA: Storm at Fever (7pm, CBSSN); Mercury at Sparks (10pm, NBA) … Phoenix, Seattle and Indiana are in playoff position. Los Angeles is the first team out.

• 🏐 Volleyball: USA vs. Czech Republic (8:30am, CBSSN) … Women’s World Championships in Thailand.

Today’s full slate.

⚽️ Stadium trivia

Everton beat Brighton on Sunday in their first league match at Hill Dickinson Stadium, the club’s new $1.1 billion home.

Question: What was the name of Everton’s former home?

(a) St. James’ Park

(b) Goodison Park

(c) Craven Cottage

(d) Stamford Bridge

Answer at the bottom.

🏈 New book: “Iron in the Blood”

The Auburn-Alabama football rivalry is one of the fiercest and most consequential in college football, with 27 national championships (and counting) between the two Yellowhammer State rivals. A new book, IRON IN THE BLOOD, by Yahoo Sports senior writer Jay Busbee, traces the entirety of the rivalry, from the origins of both schools right on through 2025.

Advertisement

Read an excerpt: How gambling and game-fixing allegations nearly sank Bear Bryant

Buy the book.

Trivia answer: Goodison Park (1892-2025)

We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.

This news was originally published on this post .