College football news is nonstop, and we’re breaking it all down week by week this season.
Here’s the latest on what’s happening around college football entering Week 12:
Bruins will be without Nico
UCLA will be without starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava for its road matchup against No. 1 Ohio State due to a concussion, per ESPN. Iamaleava suffered the injury in UCLA’s Week 11 loss to Nebraska. Redshirt sophomore Luke Duncan will start at quarterback for the Bruins. Iamaleava has totaled 1,659 passing yards, 12 passing touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 127.4 passer rating this season, while completing 63.7% of his passes. He has also rushed for 474 yards and four touchdowns. UCLA is 3-6 overall and 3-3 in Big Ten play.
First career start for Wisconsin QB
Quarterback Carter Smith will make his first collegiate start for the Badgers on the road against the No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers, per ESPN. The true freshman quarterback appeared in Wisconsin’s Week 11 victory over Washington after Danny O’Neill suffered a leg injury, completing 3-of-12 passes and rushing for a 15-yard touchdown in a 13-10 win. Wisconsin is 3-6 overall and 1-5 in Big Ten play.
Could Brian Daboll land in Happy Valley?
Penn State fired head coach James Franklin in October. The NFL’s New York Giants fired head coach Brian Daboll in November. Due to that availability, Daboll is a “wild card” in the mix to be the next head coach of Penn State, per the Athletic.
Daboll is “believed to have an interest” in the Penn State job, and former NFL players “with strong ties to Penn State” are in Daboll’s corner. Per the report, though, there are many other possible candidates for the job being bandied about, such as Oregon assistant Will Klein, or Ohio State’s Brian Hartline, as well as former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald.
While much of Daboll’s coaching career came as an offensive coordinator in the NFL, he was Alabama’s OC and quarterbacks coach in 2017, when they won the national title, and he got his start at William & Mary in 1997 as a volunteer assistant before heading to Michigan State as a graduate assistant for two seasons.
Virginia is likely to get its starting quarterback back for its Week 12 road matchup against Duke, per ESPN. Morris suffered a head injury in the team’s Week 11 loss to Wake Forest. This season, Morris has totaled 2,088 passing yards, 12 passing touchdowns, five interceptions and a 137.8 passer rating, while completing 66.7% of his passes. He has also rushed for 214 yards and four touchdowns. The No. 19 Cavaliers are 8-2 overall and 5-1 in ACC play.
Gators sticking with QB DJ Lagway despite Week 11 benching
Florida is sticking with its struggling quarterback this weekend. Interim head coach Billy Gonzales said Lagway will take first-team repetitions in practice this week but added that “competition is great for everybody.”
Gonzales benched Lagway at halftime of last week’s 38-7 debacle at Kentucky, replacing him with freshman Tramell Jones. Lagway completed 11 of 19 passes for 83 yards with a score and three interceptions; Jones went 9-for-17 passing for 60 yards. Lagway has thrown for 1,762 yards with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions this season.
“If a pitcher’s struggling in the major leagues, what do you do? You get the next guy in, right?” Gonzales said Monday. “It doesn’t mean that he’s not a great pitcher. Just means that wasn’t his day. For some reason or another, it wasn’t breaking. For some reason or another, he didn’t have the day that he wanted to have.
“I talked to him about that. I said, ‘So you’re a great player, but I’m not going to let somebody just continue to struggle. I wanted to bring you out and let you refocus, let you gather, let you learn, and hopefully it’s a learning experience. It’s going to make you better this week when we prepare for Ole Miss.’”
Kansas State loses top tackler for rest of season
K-State linebacker Austin Romaine (hand) has been sidelined for the remainder of the 2025 season, head coach Chris Klieman announced Monday. The junior All-Big 12 linebacker finally opted for surgery rather than to continue playing through the pain. Romaine hurt his hand a couple of weeks ago and has been playing the last few games with a heavily wrapped hand. In his nine games played this season, Romaine recorded 66 tackles, 0.5 sacks, one interception and one fumble recovery.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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