Nicholas Simon

SB Nation • 8th January 2026

Expert picks for the 2026 College Football Playoff semifinals

Chambliss and the Rebel offense stepping up late like they did was huge, especially considering that the roles were practically reversed in their regular-season matchup. It was a reflection of what Ole Miss has been doing all year as it enters Thursday’s semifinal matchup ranked No. 2 in offensive SP+ with an average of 488.8 yards per game. The chaos of Lane Kiffin’s departure has not affected this unit in the postseason so far and they’ve been helped by LSU-bound offensive staffers like Charli...

SB Nation • 1st January 2026

Indiana playing in the Rose Bowl is college football at its best

Indiana football was known as a historical loser well before the 1967 season and never came close to sniffing the Big Ten’s postseason destiny of a trip to Pasadena. Beginning in 1947, the Big Ten (then Big Nine) and Pacific Coast Conference came to an agreement to pit their respective conference champions against each other in the Rose Bowl, bonding the two leagues through various iterations for decades to come. The very idea of briefly escaping the frigid winters of the Midwest for a pleasant...

SB Nation • 31st December 2025

College Football Playoff: One thing all 8 teams must do to win in quarterfinals

These coaching staffs have most likely spent every waking hour of the holidays looking over film of their quarterfinal opponents to identify tendencies, weaknesses, and players to watch in order to concoct a proper plan of attack. Our analysis won’t be nearly as in depth as their’s of course, but we’ll keep it simple and identify one thing each team must accomplish in the quarterfinals to survive and advance to the next round.Miami got to this point by surviving a rock fight against Texas A&M in...

SB Nation • 1st December 2025

Lane Kiffin’s LSU tenure will probably end terribly, too

Kiffin was fired just four games into the 2008 season after a rough 5-15 stint with the organization. It wasn’t really out of the ordinary as several NFL coaches have seen their doomed tenures meet a quick end, and he certainly didn’t do himself any favors when he sent Sebastian Janikowski out to attempt a 76-yard field goal just a few days before his dismissal. But what was out of the ordinary was Raiders owner Al Davis holding a near hour-long press conference where he made Kiffin’s name famou...

SB Nation • 15th October 2025

Who are the biggest fantasy football breakouts so far this season?

With Week 6 now in the books, we’re now officially a third of the way through the 2025 NFL season and now is a good time to take stock of some of the biggest breakouts in fantasy football up to this point. And it would be an understatement to say that there’s been plenty of them throughout the league this year.There’s no better feeling than when a player that you drafted in a later round ends up immediately exceeding preseason expectations. Or perhaps a guy that you took a flier on off the waive...

SB Nation • 3rd November 2025

7 Auburn head coach candidates to replace Hugh Freeze

Hugh Freeze was officially fired as the head coach of Auburn on Sunday, coming less than 24 hours after a dismal 10-3 loss to Kentucky where chants of “Fire Hugh” rang throughout Jordan-Hare Stadium afterwards. Freeze’s three-year run on the Plains never got off the ground as he posted a 15-19 overall record, a 6-16 record in SEC play, and just one bowl appearance. The now former Tiger head man will make $15.8 million to not coach the team and that adds to the already record buyout total during...

SB Nation • 10th November 2025

Best fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Week 11

Another weekend of NFL action is mostly in the books and the second half of the 2025 regular season is officially underway. We still have the Monday night showdown between the Eagles and Packers to get to, but it’s not too early to start looking for ways to fortify your rosters for next week.Darnold is operating the hottest offense in the NFL at the moment and they buried the Cardinals 44-22 on Sunday to rack up their fourth straight victory. The veteran was highly efficient by going 10-12 for 1...

SB Nation • 4th November 2025

NFL trade deadline: Fantasy impact of Rashid Shaheed, Jakobi Meyers trades

Things are shaking up across the NFL today with the trade deadline quickly approaching at 4 p.m. ET. With this week marking the midway point of the 2025 regular season, we’re seeing contenders trying to fill holes and load up for a playoff push down the stretch while other teams are stockpiling future draft capital.The New Orleans Saints dealt wide receiver Rashid Shaheed to the Seattle Seahawks for a pair of Day-3 draft picks for 2026, parting ways with the fourth-year wideout in the final year...

Athlon Sports • 25th March 2025

No. 1 WBB Prospect Aaliyah Chavez Announces Commitment Decision

The future of Texas Longhorns women’s basketball may be bright, but it will not include the nation’s top recruit for this year.

No. 1 Class of 2025 prospect Aaliyah Chavez officially announced her commitment to the University of Oklahoma on Tuesday, ending several months of speculation over where she would land. The Lubbock native announced her decision live on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” and chose the Sooners over Texas, South Carolina, and hometown Texas Tech.
The star guard just wrapped up a legen...

DraftKings Network • 21st June 2024

Reggie Jackson still bears the scars from his minor-league stint in Birmingham

“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”Andscape’s David Dennis Jr. has made the argument that veterans of the struggle for African American civil rights should be treated and honored like military veterans. In both his New York Times opinion essay and his 2022 book The Movement Made Us: a Father, a Son, and the Legacy of a Freedom Ride, he relays how activists like his father, David Dennis Sr., endured physical and psychological trauma that carried with them decades after putting their lives on the line...

DraftKings Network • 1st July 2024

Breaking down every FBS college football realignment move in 2024

From Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC to the Pac-12’s collapse, massive amounts of movement in college football has finally gone into effect. Let’s go over all of it.The world is changing! Well, the world of Division I college athletics, to be more specific. July 1 marks the beginning of the new athletic calendar year for the NCAA and this year is significant as the drastic changes of conference realignment will finally go into effect*.Over the past few years, we’ve seen bombshell realignment...

DraftKings Network • 24th May 2024

What school should you pick in dynasty mode for EA Sports College Football 25?

Anticipation for EA Sports College Football 25 is sky-high after the debut of the official trailer on May 17. Having to endure an 11-year hiatus, college football fans will finally have their beloved football franchise back and this time it will have actual, current players in the game for the very first time.For most OG players of the old NCAA Football games, dynasty mode was the centerpiece of the entire experience. The concept was simple: take over as the new head coach of a program, pour hou...

DraftKings Network • 13th January 2024

Don’t be the guy after ‘The Guy’ at Alabama

Kalen DeBoer will take over for Nick Saban at Alabama. Good luck to him, because this job has never been kind to the successors of legends.“Don’t be the guy after the guy” is a phrase you’ve probably heard numerous times since Wednesday, when Nick Saban retired from his perch as Alabama’s head football coach. And its something you’re going to hear in the coming months as Kalen DeBoer takes over in Tuscaloosa. It makes sense, because who wants to follow in the footsteps of someone who just wrappe...

29th December 2018

Haralson's Runnin' Rebel