College football’s toughest places to play? Plus a rising QB star and a House v. NCAA update

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Today we’re talking all about EA Sports’ College Football 25 stadium rankings, which were released earlier today. Let’s start with some quick trivia:

Which team suffered the biggest drop from where it was ranked in NCAA Football 14’s default toughest places to play? We’ll reveal the answer later in the newsletter.

EA Sports Rankings Week

Did EA get it right?

There are 24 days left until the release of College Football 25 … and yes, we are all counting. To add to the anticipation, EA Sports announced yesterday the launch of its “Rankings Week,” with daily reveals of info, including where teams stack up in virtual categories. Here’s what to expect:

Today: Toughest places to play
Wednesday: Sights and sounds deep dive
Thursday: Top offenses and defenses
Friday: Overall team power rankings

First up, EA Sports released its ranking of the 25 toughest stadiums, a list of venues that will pose additional challenges to gamers playing as the visiting team. When playing at these “top environments,” a gamer “might experience squiggly lines, play art appearing incorrectly, audibles and hot routes failing to register at higher rates, or receiver icons fading in and out during a crucial moment of your game,” in EA’s words. It’s a feature the game’s bringing back from older editions.

The list includes quite a few placements sure to fire up fanbases. (And newsletter voters. Penn State’s Beaver Stadium, which won Until Saturday’s “Best Stadium in College Football” survey bracket earlier this year, ranked only No. 6.)

Here are a few of my initial thoughts on EA Sports’ rankings:

Biggest surprise: I was shocked to see Notre Dame Stadium ranked below the top 20. One spot above Spartan Stadium and one spot below Kinnick Stadium seems really low for the Irish. As Chris Vannini pointed out in our staff analysis today, fans at Notre Dame Stadium were penalized in 1988 for being too loud, and plenty of high-stakes games have been played in South Bend over the years. It deserves at least a top-15 rank. There’s a fair argument Tiger Stadium should be ranked No. 1, too.

Biggest snub: It’s tough to see Oklahoma State’s Boone Pickens Stadium left out of the top 25. The Cowboys are tied with LSU for the 10th-best home winning percentage in the Power 5 over the past five years (.844).

Also, let’s compare these rankings to the best home winning percentages among Power 5 teams over the past five seasons. Seems like Oregon and Clemson should move up?

1: Georgia (.966)
1: Oregon (.966)
3: Alabama (.939)
3: Clemson (.939)
5: Ohio State (.935)

Our staff reacted to more of the biggest surprises and snubs from the list here.

Trivia answer: The stadium that suffered the biggest drop in ranking from NCAA Football 14 to now is … Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium. It ranked No. 13 in the last edition of the game but fell completely out of the new rankings. Maybe that has to do with Nebraska’s nearly even 35-31 home record since 2015. Other previously ranked stadiums that fell out of contention include Stanford’s (prev. No. 14), USC’s (prev. No. 16), Oklahoma State’s (prev. No. 20) and Washington’s (prev. No. 25).

Elite 11

A rising QB star

The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman recapped last week’s Elite 11 quarterback camp, and several coaches told him that the Class of 2025 was one of the most impressive they had ever seen … and No. 1 recruit Bryce Underwood wasn’t even in attendance. Here are a few of Bruce’s biggest takeaways:

Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele (6-foot-3, 205 pounds) was the biggest rising star. Coach Devin Gardner described the three-star prospect from Ewa Beach, Hawaii, as “unbelievable” and “a fire-breather.” Currently the No. 39 QB in his class, Sagapolutele has offers from Boise State, Oregon State, Utah State and Cal, among others.
Bruce suspects Notre Dame commit Deuce Knight’s stock could shoot up after he shined at the Elite 11 camp. At 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, the lefty is a supreme athlete and looked like a more polished passer last week.
Ohio State commit Tavien St. Clair showed parallels to former blue-chip recruit Dylan Raiola. Both are powerful passers and big-framed athletes. One coach said St. Clair “may not be quite as electric as Dylan, but he’s really smooth.”

Objection!

How will House v. NCAA affect small schools?

Houston Christian University filed a motion to intervene in the House v. NCAA lawsuit last week. The motion argues that HCU’s financial interests were not adequately represented by the proposed terms of the House settlement agreed to last month.

Those terms include a future model sharing revenue directly from schools to athletes and $2.75 billion in back-pay damages the NCAA will owe former Division I athletes who were previously barred from earning NIL compensation.

According to the proposed settlement terms, FCS schools like HCU would be responsible for paying out roughly 12 percent of those damages.

The motion, if granted, could signify the first of many objections from smaller universities that felt they did not have a sufficient voice in a potentially historic reshaping of college sports. Read more from Justin Williams here.

Quick Snaps

Last night, Tennessee won its first college baseball national championship with a dramatic 6-5 win against Texas A&M. After losing Game 1, the Vols came back to force the winner-take-all Game 3 before clinching a championship that is especially satisfying for a team that has come so close so many times before, writes Joe Rexrode.

What do you need to know about the recruiting landscape this summer? Listen to all the updates on today’s Until Saturday podcast.

Lane Kiffin and his Ole Miss roster have benefitted perhaps more than any other program from the transfer portal. But in an interview last week, Kiffin admitted that “it’s a horrible system.” Why does he want to change it? Read more here

The Longhorn Network — the 24-hour TV channel that exclusively covers the University of Texas — will relaunch as a free streaming service on July 1.

The fans have spoken, and Notre Dame supporters seem to have a lot of optimism about the Irish this season. Read the results of Pete Sampson’s Notre Dame fan survey here.

(Top photo: Maria Lysaker / USA Today)