Good in the Game 9/3

Good morning, football fans! Labor Day Weekend is now officially in the rearview mirror, which means leaves are turning, temperatures are dropping and pads are popping!

The 2024 College Football Hall of Fame class is headed home!

All throughout the 2024 college football season, those outstanding former players and coaches will head back to where their Hall of Fame careers flourished for their NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute.

The NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes, which began with the inaugural College Football Hall of Fame Class in 1951, have become a hallowed tradition, serving as the first of numerous activities in each electee's Hall of Fame experience.

Click here to see when your favorite Hall of Famer will be honored!

More college football players are sticking around for additional seasons, and the data proves it!

This season, 3,568 student-athletes who have already earned their undergraduate degrees will be playing college football while pursuing additional diplomas — in the seven years the NFF has compiled these numbers, that’s the highest amount of graduates playing on Saturdays!

To read more about graduates playing college football and for the full list, click here!

COME JOIN US IN LAS VEGAS!

The 66th National Football Foundation Annual Awards Dinner presented by Las Vegas will be here before we know it, and tickets are going fast — buy yours now to ensure you get the NFF discounted rate!

🏈 Buy your tickets now

And while we get ready to celebrate the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame class, did you know the 2025 ballot has already been released? The 2025 ballot includes 77 players and nine coaches and as always, represents the best of the best in college football. Here’s the list!

The Palomar College football team is finally home — after almost 80 years as an institution, the Comets will play the first home football game in school history this month thanks to overall growth of the sport at the community college level in California.

📰: Palomar College football set to play on home turf for first time
^{North Coast Current}

Joe Burrow was a little-known transfer from Ohio State when he lit up the college football world in 2019 for LSU. The same goes for Michael Penix Jr., who transferred from Indiana to lead Washington to the CFP.

As the Wall Street Journal writes, that path is becoming more and more prevalent.

📰: There’s a Quarterback Who’s About to Destroy College Football. You’ve Probably Never Heard of Him.
^{Wall Street Journal}

“That wasn’t pass interference!”

Are you sure? Take The Athletic’s referee quiz to see if you have what it takes to make the calls on Saturdays!

📰: Are you smarter than a college football referee? Take the rules quiz they have to pass
^{The Athletic}

Girls flag football continues to stretch to every corner of our country. The most recent example is Alaska, which has sanctioned the sport after seeing an explosion in popularity in the past decade.

📰: Once dismissed as ‘powderpuff’ sport, Alaska girls flag football gets boost with first-ever sanctioned state championship
^{Anchorage Daily News}

Former Alabama running back Mark Ingram II’s helmet is off, and his personality is out — the Heisman Trophy winner is earning fans as a member of FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff show by being his authentic self.

📰: On ‘Big Noon Kickoff,’ Mark Ingram II finally gets to let his showman personality shine through
^{The Athletic}

Football fans were excited to watch college football this past weekend! After a full slate of great games on Saturday that ended with ABC’s second-best Kickoff Saturday ever, a near-record crowd tuned into USC vs. LSU in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Additionally, the nearly 64,000 fans in attendance to watch the Trojans and Tigers set an Allegiant Stadium record for a regular season college football game.

Tom Donchez, who rushed for more than 1,400 yards at Penn State from 1970-74, has passed away. He was 72.

Greg Johnson, who serves as the Intuit Executive Vice President but during his college days starred at running back for Air Force, was interviewed by his college teammate and 1988 Campbell Trophy Finalist David Hlatky at the 7th Annual Campbell Trophy Summit.

Johnson spoke on career paths, work-life balance, time management challenges and more, it’s worth a listen!

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