Good in the Game 12/3

Good morning, football fans! We are only one week away from the 66th National Football Foundation Awards Dinner at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas!

As a reminder, bookmark this page to make sure you don’t miss any of the action!

These players are making an IMPACT

The finalists have been revealed for the 2024 Lott IMPACT® Trophy, presented by Allied Universal!

The Lott IMPACT® Trophy, which will be awarded on Dec. 9 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas as part of the National Football Foundation festivities surrounding the 66th NFF Awards Dinner, is awarded annually to the nation's top defensive player, who also exhibits the characteristics of Ronnie Lott by making an IMPACT® on and off the field. IMPACT® is an acronym for Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community and Tenacity.

This year’s finalists are Caleb Downs (Ohio State), Travis Hunter (Colorado), Mikail Kamara (Indiana) and Nic Scourton (Texas A&M).

Click here to read more about the finalists for the 2024 Lott IMPACT® Trophy, presented by Allied Universal.

Randy Moss helped usher Marshall to new heights

Randy Moss put the national spotlight on Marshall in the late 1990s, and for good reason — the wide receiver caught 174 passes for 3,529 yards and 54 touchdowns in just two seasons with the Thundering Herd, culminating in a trip to New York City as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy in 1997.

Moss’ Herd went 15-0 in his first season in 1996, winning a Division I-AA national championship before bumping up to the Division I-A level in 1997. They went 10-3 that season, winning the MAC.

Click here to read more about Moss’ legacy in his 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Spotlight!

Danny Woodhead didn’t expect any of this

Danny Woodhead didn’t receive any Division I offers in high school. He chose Chadron State, a Division II school, because his parents had gone to school there and his brother was a wide receiver on the team.

He was a star right away, rushing for a school-record 306 yards and five touchdowns in just his third career game. It was a sign of what was to come — Woodhead ended his college career as college football’s all-time leading rusher with 7,962 yards and 109 touchdowns. He tallied 9,480 all-purpose yards, four 300-yard rushing games, posted a Division II-record 19 games of 200 or more rushing yards and once scored a touchdown in 38 straight games.

Click here to read more about Woodhead’s legacy in his 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Spotlight!

“The opportunity for anybody is rare to be bestowed a scholarship or an opportunity for an education at a higher level. It’s something the NFF does that calls very near and dear to my heart, it keeps that level of intensity and push on education.”

Make sure to tune into last week’s episode of the Good in the Game Podcast with host LaVar Arrington, who interviewed 2015 NFF College Hall of Fame inductee Lincoln Kennedy!

It’s the final regular season FWAA-NFF Super 16 Poll!

Oregon held steady atop this week’s poll, but Nos. 2-7 all look different as the regular season comes to a close!

🏈 Week 14 FWAA-NFF Super 16 Poll

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!

🏈 Buy your tickets now

Learn more about the game with CFO’s Steve Shaw

The NFF works with College Football Officiating (CFO) throughout the year to make the game better and safer. As part of the relationship, the NFF is pleased to share with our readers the most recent CFO-NCAA Media Video, explaining some of the recent play calls in college football.

Luke Kuechly — linebacker, Boston College

Former Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly, a 2023 NFF College Hall of Fame inductee, returned to his alma mater this past weekend for a special NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments.

It’s “America’s Got Talent” meets “American Idol,” but the stage is a football field — USA Football is holding talent identification camps all over the country looking for the next flag football stars!

📰: Flag football scours nation with talent camps to uncover next wave of stars
^{Associated Press}

📰: Michigan State engineering professor, student design helmet inserts to help drown out crowd noise for QBs
^{Associated Press}

📰: Players return to thanks nuns for their help in winning football season
^{The Monroe News (Mich.)}

📰: ‘Are you going to the game?’: I covered 50 football games this year. Here’s what I learned
^{Times Telegram (New York)}

Bill Battle, a standout player, coach, administrator and marketing innovator who left an indelible mark on college football, has passed away. He was 82. The NFF has highlighted Battle’s impact on the college football landscape in this week’s One Final Thought.

Medrick Burnett Jr., a linebacker at Alabama A&M, has passed away. He was 20.

Ernie McMillan, who played tight end at Illinois from 1957-60 before turning into a dominant All-Pro offensive lineman for the St. Louis Cardinals in the NFL, has passed away. He was 86.

Joe Zuger, who starred as a quarterback, defensive back and punter at Arizona State from 1959-61 and later went on to a storied playing and coaching career in the CFL, has passed away. He was 84.

Bill Battle, the 2008 NFF Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award recipient who played at Alabama, coached at Tennessee and founded the Collegiate Licensing Company, passed away Nov. 28. He was 82.

After accepting the NFF OCAF Award in 2008, Battle joined the NFF Board of Trustees, serving in emeritus capacity until his passing. He also served as the athletics director at Alabama from 2013 to 2017.

A legend in the world of collegiate marketing, Battle leveraged his experiences as a player for Bear Bryant at Alabama and as a head coach at Tennessee to build the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) into a major force in the multi-billion-dollar annual market for collegiate merchandise, earning hundreds of million in royalties for his clients over the years.

His passion for collegiate athletics and a strong interest in marketing led him to launch Golden Eagle Enterprises in 1981, and he landed his coach, Bryant, and alma mater, Alabama, as his first licensing client.

Click here to read more about Battle, one of the most influential figures of his generation.

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