The College Football Playoff will go to a more straightforward way of filling the bracket next season, placing teams strictly on where they are ranked instead of moving pieces around to reward conference champions.

Ten conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director came to the unanimous agreement they needed Thursday to shift the model that drew complaints last season.

The new format was widely expected after last season’s jumbled bracket gave byes to Big 12 champion Arizona State and Mountain West champion Boise State, even though those teams were ranked ninth and 12th by the playoff selection committee.

That system made the rankings and the seedings in the tournament two different things and resulted in some matchups — for instance, the quarterfinal between top-ranked Oregon and eventual national champion Ohio State — that came earlier than they otherwise might have.

“After evaluating the first year of the 12-team Playoff, the CFP Management Committee felt it was in the best interest of the game to make this adjustment,” said Rich Clark, executive director of the CFP.

The five highest-ranked champions will still be guaranteed spots in the playoff, meaning it’s possible there could be a repeat of last season, when CFP No. 16 Clemson was seeded 12th in the bracket after winning the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey was among those who pushed for the change in the second year of the agreement, though he remained cautious about it being approved because of the unanimous vote needed.

Smaller conferences had a chance to use the seeding issue as leverage for the next set of negotiations, which will come after this season and could include an expansion to 14 teams and more guaranteed bids for certain leagues. The SEC and Big Ten will have the biggest say in those decisions.

As it stands, this will be the third different playoff system for college football in the span of three years. For the 10 years leading into last season’s inaugural 12-team playoff, the CFP was a four-team affair.

The news was first reported by ESPN, which last year signed a six-year, $7.8 billion deal to televise the expanded playoff.

— Eddie Pells, AP National Writer

Adrian Wojnarowski knows that if St. Bonaventure is going to make a run in the NCAA Tournament, it will likely require some magic.

It’s fair to wonder, however, whether such magic still even exists in the current climate of college athletics.

In an interview released on Thursday, Wojnarowski joined CNBC’s Alex Sherman for a wide-ranging conversation regarding his past life as an NBA insider and his new life as the Bonnies’ general manager. And when it comes to the state of the sport he’s now immersed in, the 56-year-old agreed that it’s in danger of losing some of what has made it so special come March.

“It does take away the magic,” Wojnarowski told Sherman of challenges that mid-major programs like his own currently face. “What you’re seeing right now is the Power Four conferences are really dictating the rules, the landscape. You’re seeing with this House settlement, it’s the Power Four leagues deciding the rules and how this is going to go. And all of that — literally — all of it is to benefit them.”

The idea of March Madness losing some of its luster was an especially common thought during this past season’s NCAA Tournament, which was largely chalk and ultimately resulted in just the second-ever Final Four only comprised of No. 1 seeds (the tournament’s ratings, however, did just fine). With factors like NIL and the transfer portal allowing the Power Four conferences to pluck the best players from mid-major programs, potential Cinderellas such as St. Bonaventure face an even steeper uphill climb than they already did.

Just eight months into the job, Wojnarowski has already seen it firsthand, with the Bonnies’ leading scorer from last season, combo guard Melvin Council Jr., subsequently transferring to Kansas for his senior campaign. Adrian Wojnarowski isn’t bitter; it’s just a reality of college athletics’ current climate. But it has helped inform his approach as his alma mater’s GM

“I tell our folks all the time, don’t wait around for legislation that’s going to come out to make it easier for us at St Bonaventure or St Joe’s in Philly in our league, or other comparable schools to ours,” Wojnarowski said. “We’ve got to understand who we are, what our pathway is to building teams. Because no one’s coming to rescue us.”

“It’s a challenge,” he continued. “But at the same time, I’m at St. Bonaventure because I believe we can do this.”

Earlier this month, Yahoo! Sports reporter Ross Dellenger reported that President Donald Trump planned on forming a presidential commission on college athletics. Now, Trump is reportedly putting his plans on pause. On3’s Pete Nakos provided more information on Trump’s decision.

“Donald Trump’s presidential commission on college sports has been paused,” Nakos wrote on X. “Expectation is commission will eventually be formed, but is being delayed as U.S. Senator Ted Cruz works to push through federal legislation.”

Trump’s commission was expected to specifically examine the role of NIL in college athletics. Dellenger’s initial report surfaced after Trump met with former Alabama head coach Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa and discussed the issue of NIL.

Saban and Texas Tech booster and billionaire Cody Campbell were expected to be co-chairs of the commission. However, since Dellenger’s report, Saban has clarified that he doesn’t believe forming a commission is the best move.

“I know there’s been a lot of stuff out there about some commission or whatever,” Saban said. “I don’t think we need a commission. I’ve said that before. I think we know what the issues are, we just have to have people that are willing to move those and solve those, create some solutions for some of those issues.”

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has spearheaded Congress’ efforts to build federal legislation around NIL in college athletics. While Cruz has reportedly pushed for Trump to wait on forming the commission, Nakos reports that “Cody Campbell will continue to work behind the scenes for when the presidential commission is ready to move forward.”

It was previously reported that the commission had talked to each of the commissioners of the Power Four conferences. Moreover, Power Four sources told On3 that they were surprised by how quickly the commission was being formed.

If the commission on college sports follows the path of other presidential commissions, it would produce a report with potential solutions that Trump or Congress could act on. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was exploring executive order options focused on NIL and college sports.

Now, it appears Trump will wait before taking any executive action on college athletics. He isn’t the only one on standby. The House v. NCAA settlement is yet to earn final approval from Judge Claudia Ann Wilken. Wilken’s approval would dramatically alter the future of NIL’s role in college athletics and usher in the era of revenue sharing.

STILLWATER – Anastasiya Komar and Rose Marie Nijkamp of Oklahoma State’s women’s tennis team were named ITA All-Americans in doubles after finishing the season ranked in the top 10 nationally, as was announced on Wednesday.
 
This is the second consecutive season that Komar has earned the honor in doubles while Nijkamp draws her first All-America nod after an impressive freshman season. Komar becomes just the fourth player in program history to earn multiple All-America selections in doubles, joining Monika Waniek, Lisa Marie Rioux and Ayumi Miyamoto.
 
OSU has now had 29 All-America selections in program history, including 17 during the Chris Young era. This is the first time that the Cowgirls have had multiple All-Americans in back-to-back seasons since 1990-91, as Komar and Ange Oby Kajuru earned the honor in 2024.
 
Komar and Nijkamp finished the season ranked No. 8 in the ITA doubles poll after going 22-3 at the No. 1 position for OSU. The pair went 11-0 during conference play and collected eight ranked wins on the season.
 
Oklahoma State finished at No. 15 in the ITA team rankings while four Cowgirls appeared in the final singles rankings, led by Komar at No. 60, followed by Gracie Epps at No. 81, Nijkamp at No. 87 and Melisa Ercan earning her first career collegiate ranking at No. 123.
 
For season-long coverage of Oklahoma State women’s tennis, follow @CowgirlTennis on social media and visit okstate.com.

The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns softball team has become an organ donor.

The program with three-plus decades of rich history, encompassing 33 NCAA Regional appearances, eight NCAA Super Regional appearances, and six trips to the Women’s College World Series, has now seen its parts farmed out for top dollar. This quote from “Moneyball” seems quite fitting: “And now we’re being gutted, organ donors for the rich.”

Those Ragin’ Cajun body parts are providing life to other teams such as Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Alabama. All three teams are playing in Super Regionals this weekend. The Sooners and Crimson Tide face each other, ensuring Louisiana will be represented in the Women’s College World Series in some form, just not the one in which its supporters would most appreciate.

The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns lost seven starters to the NCAA Transfer Portal, including five to the Red Raiders, who also harvested the program’s former head coach, Gerry Glasco.

The result of being gutted? The once-healthy program began to experience symptoms of illness.

The program’s NCAA record 89 consecutive SBC series winning streak was snapped against Marshall. Not that big of a deal, but Louisiana would lose three more series, which just seems unfathomable for the program. The team won 29 games, which was the fewest in a season since 1984, when the team went 28-9. That year was the program’s fourth season of existence.

The program under first-year head coach Alyson Habetz appeared to regain its health late in the season, with three straight conference series wins, earning the No. 3 seed at the SBC Tournament. Yet, the team fell short and was eliminated after its second game.

That meant no postseason berth as for the first time since 1998, the Ragin’ Cajuns weren’t playing in an NCAA Regional.

While the Cajuns struggled, Glasco and the Ragin’ Raiders quintet helped put together the greatest season in Red Raider history.

Texas Tech broke a record for most wins in a season, won the first Big 12 regular season title, its first Big 12 Tournament Championship, with a run differential of 26-0, and hosted an NCAA Regional for the first time in program, and then advanced to the Super Regional for the first time.

It just wasn’t Texas Tech that harvested Louisiana’s program for healthy talent. Four-time defending national champion Oklahoma and perennial national powerhouse Alabama did, too.

Oklahoma won the SEC regular season title and the co-SEC Tournament championship in the Sooners’ first year in the conference. Former Ragin’ Cajuns pitcher Sam Landry, who some thought would be at best a part-time starter, was dominant, going 19-4, earning first-team All-SEC honors, and being named SEC Newcomer of the Year.

Habetz’s former team, the Alabama Crimson Tide, earned the No. 15 national seed after winning 40 games. Former Ragin’ Cajuns infielder Brooke Ellestad was an integral part of that as she started 56 games for Alabama.

That’s seven starters and a head coach who are no longer part of a program that was the epitome of consistent excellence. Not even a program from the SEC or ACC could survive having that much talent and experience surgically removed from its body.

It is not unreasonable to state that it could have been avoided if Glasco hadn’t left for the greener pastures of Lubbock, Texas.

In his seven seasons (six full), Louisiana won 300 games, amassed six SBC regular season titles, four tournament titles, and appeared in six NCAA Regionals. Not to mention, Glasco, who was named SBC Coach of the Year twice, took over the program after the tumultuous ending of the Michael Lotief era, and had to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, which took away what appeared to be a team bound for the WCWS in 2020.

Yes, some of the vermilion and white faithful grew frustrated with the team losing in the regionals until breaking through in 2023 by beating rival LSU in the Baton Rouge Regional. That was followed up with the team hosting a regional for the first time in eight years, but they lost to Baylor in the title game.

Glasco had the Ragin’ Cajuns nationally ranked, winning SBC titles and playing in NCAA Regionals. Yet, he left a program with all the consistent success for one that had made only six NCAA Regionals in its history. The reason was simple — money.

Texas Tech has prominent boosters pumping massive amounts of money into its NIL collective like an IV drip, while Louisiana does not.

Cody Campbell — a former Texas Tech football player who became a billionaire in the energy industry — is leading the charge at Texas Tech. He is the co-founder of the Matador Club, the chairman of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents, and a man who has the ear of President Donald Trump when it comes to the state of college athletics.

With Campbell, Texas Tech’s leadership has no qualms dropping up to $15,000 to $25,000 in NIL deals for softball players.

That’s exactly what they did.

Not only did the Red Raiders poach Glasco from Louisiana, but also starters and all-conference players in pitcher Chloe Riassetto, infielders Lauren Allred and Alexa Langeliers, catcher Victoria Valdez and center fielder Mihyia Davis, the 2024 Sun Belt Player of the Year.

Texas Tech’s historic season doesn’t happen without them removing the heart of Louisiana’s team.

How can the Ragin’ Cajuns turn things around and breathe life back into the program?

There is no doubt that Habetz can turn things around; we all saw that with how the team appeared to turn a corner late in conference play. We also know the Crowley native and former Ragin’ Cajuns All-American was a longtime assistant at Alabama, and helped them advance to a dozen Women’s College World Series and one national title.

Habetz knows how to win, she has love for the program she played for, and she can coach. Yet, she won’t be able to bring the Ragin’ Cajuns back to prominence unless there is money, and significant money being dumped into the NIL collective for the softball program.

Louisiana athletics has had to overcome having their best players, the ones they recruited and developed, leave them via the NCAA Transfer Portal for NIL deals. Football coach Michael Desormeaux has had to fight this ever since he took over the job, and former men’s basketball coach Bob Marlin had players get taken for the same reasons. This isn’t foreign for the athletic department.

Even though this sickness isn’t new, that doesn’t mean that the Ragin’ Cajuns can take any of this lightly. The Ragin’ Cajuns NIL collective Krewe Allons has to be aggressive, like a powerful antibiotic, and raise the funds needed to keep its teams from being harvested for larger programs.

If not, the Ragin’ Cajuns will continue to give life to other programs, which will only end in one way.

Raymond Partsch III is the co-host of “RP3 & Meche” which is broadcast weekdays (11-1) on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles — Southwest Louisiana’s Sports Station.

Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed has followed in the footsteps of former Texas star Quinn Ewers, now of the Miami Dolphines, by signing a lucrative private jet NIL deal

Marcel Reed has followed in the steps of Quinn Ewers after the Texas A&M quarterback signed a lucrative NIL deal with jet company ENG Aviation Group.

According to On3 Sports, Reed has joined the likes of Jaxson Dart and Ewers, who were recently drafted by the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins respectively during the 2025 NFL Draft, and former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck, who transferred to Miami earlier this year, as the only college athletes with private jet deals.

While the full details of the deal have not been disclosed, it comes in the wake of former Alabama head coach Nick Saban telling President Donald Trump he does not believe college football needs an NIL commission. Saban was earmarked to sit on the commission Trump wants to set up but has insisted he does not believe the sport needs one.

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A four-star prospect, Reed committed to Texas A&M in 2022, with the quarterback redshirting for the 2023 season.

But, last year he started seven games for the Aggies following an injury to starter Conner Weigman, with Reed throwing 12 touchdowns and four interceptions. He also added another six touchdowns on the ground.

ENG Aviation is known for its private jet charter service, which Reed will now get access to. However, they also use their fleet of jets for organ donation transport something which resonated with Reed.

The Aggies star will serve as an official brand ambassador for ENG, with the sophomore quarterback “set to visit a Houston hospital this summer to meet with organ donors, recipients and their families” according to On3.

“I’m really excited to team up with ENG Aviation,” Reed said following the announcement of the NIL deal.

“It’s an honor to work with a local Texas company that’s doing something so important—helping save lives through organ donation.

“Their mission to save lives is something I wanted to join in on, and for us, this isn’t just a sponsorship—it’s a chance to make a real difference together, and I’m all in.”

ENG president Steve Hofmann added: “We’re thrilled to welcome Marcel Reed to the ENG family.

“Marcel is a standout athlete whose determination, discipline, and leadership reflect the very values we live by at ENG—Earned. Never Given.

“Just as Marcel earned the trust of his coaches to lead on the field, we work every day to earn the trust of our clients by delivering world-class service and mission-critical flights.

“We’re proud to have Marcel supporting our work in time-sensitive organ transplant transportation, and we look forward to cheering him on as he continues to rise — both on and off the field.”