Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti took the stage in Chicago and spoke about some of the biggest issues in the college football landscape.

They remain committed to a bad idea for the sport.

On today’s episode of Locked On College Football, Spencer McLaughlin and ‘Locked On Badgers’ host Ryan Harings.

Luke Fickell faces a seriously hot seat this Fall; will their final record save his job?

Illinois is resetting at QB following the departure of Luke Altmyer, who Kaytin Houser has replaced.

Will Bret Bielema surprise everyone and make this the year the Illini push for a Playoff bid?

00:00 Tony Pettiti on 24-team playoff
04:47 Discussing a 2014 playoff proposal
06:40 Discussing NCAA tournament and Big Ten scheduling
13:15 Badgers vs. Penn State matchup
16:18 College football team analysis
17:22 Badgers’ tough schedule analysis
22:08 Big Ten vs. SEC rivalry discussion
24:43 Evaluating Duke as a key matchup
30:26 Discussing Illinois team’s potential record

/ @lockedoncollegefootball  

Sassuolo reportedly agree to pay Hellas Verona £10m for Kieron Bowie as Rangers are claimed to have accepted an offer from Al-Taawoun for Nedim Bajrami.

Sassuolo have agreed to pay Hellas Verona £10m plus future add-ons for Scotland striker Kieron Bowie, while the 23-year-old has agreed a five-year-contract with the Serie A club. (Daily Record)

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Rangers are in talks with Al Taawoun about an initial loan move to the Saudi Pro League for 27-year-old winger Nedim Bajrami that could eventually be worth £2.5m. (Scottish Sun)

Rangers have accepted an offer from Saudi Pro League club Al-Taawoun for winger Nedim Bajrami. (Dakir Mohamed Thanveer on X)

Rangers are no longer pursuing 20-year-old Tromso midfielder Jens Hjerto-Dahl as manager Derek McInnes targets a right winger instead. (Daily Record)

Rangers are still targeting two additions in defence and plan to add two wingers who can operate from the right, but another addition in centre midfield is not a current priority. (Rangers Review)

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Bologna are set to meet with Lewis Ferguson to iron out his future at the club with new head coach Domenico Tedesco keen to retain the 26-year-old Scotland midfielder amid interest from Rangers and clubs around Europe. (Il Resto del Carlino)

Boca Juniors have received an offer of £900,000 from Houston Dynamo for 60% of the rights to Marcelo Saracchi, the 27-year-old left-back who spent last season on loan to Celtic. (El Intransigente)

Dundee head coach Steven Pressley says it would have been wrong to hold Aaron Donnelly back from his move to Dunfermline Athletic despite admitting it leaves him short in defence against Celtic on Monday as he had told the 23-year-old defender he was not in his plans. (The Courier)

Former Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Forest Green Rovers head coach Duncan Ferguson, who spent the summer in New York as a TV pundit at the World Cup, feels ready to return to football management. (Press & Journal)

Welcome to our Who am I? game.

The rules are simple. Each day there’s a new footballer and the challenge is to guess who they are in as few attempts as possible.

After each wrong guess, you unlock a new clue. The fewer clues you need to get the right answer, the more points you score.

Three is a good score, four or five points is exceptional.

So take part and return for more tomorrow.

Today’s player and clues set by BBC Sport’s Joe Rindl.

After more quizzes? Go to our dedicated Football Quizzes and Sports Quizzes pages and sign up for notifications to get the latest quizzes sent straight to your device.

Trainer Matt Smith is adopting a patient approach with Millie De Lune, hopeful the talented mare can put a frustrating injury setback behind her when she resumes at Rosehill on Saturday.

The daughter of Puissance De Lune returns in the Congratulations Chris Waller Handicap (1400m), her first start since suffering a tendon injury that interrupted what had promised to be an exciting staying career.

Millie De Lune showcased her potential with a middle-distance victory at Randwick in June 2025 before earning a start in the Winx Guineas, where she finished midfield.

While Smith isn’t expecting her to be winning first-up, he believes the mare has the ability to make her mark once she gets over longer distances later in the preparation.

“It’s just a starting point,” Smith said. “She had a tendon injury. It was very minor, but it took ages to heal. Everything has been good so far, so touch wood.
“She is a really nice mare and when she gets up over a trip to 2000, 2400 (metres), she will be good.”

Jay Ford has been booked to ride Millie De Lune, who is one of up to five Rosehill runners for the stable.

Smith will also saddle Anythink Goes in the Congratulations Siena Grima Handicap (2000m), while Astero and World Alliance contest the NSW Jockeys Association Handicap (1300m).

Winston Hills is currently an emergency and requires one more scratching to gain a start.

Smith’s confidence around Astero has been tempered by a wide barrier draw and the prospect of a drying track, despite being pleased with the veteran’s recent work.

He is more optimistic about World Alliance, who has had little luck this campaign but is capable of producing a strong finish if the race is run to suit.

The gelding was unlucky in the Ramornie Handicap at Grafton and had previously produced two encouraging Sydney performances, including a third behind Istolea Merc at Canterbury.

“He’s one of those horses that’s always going to be a bit unlucky because he gets back and runs on,” Smith said. “He has been unlucky a couple of runs this prep. He probably should have won at Canterbury.
But if the speed is there, he can be finishing over the top of them.”

Compare the latest Rosehill markets with Australia’s leading Top 10 Betting Apps.

David Gray has gone from being slated to serenaded by Hibernian fans in the space of seven days.

Make no mistake, the head coach was under pressure after his side’s torrid display in Kosovo last week.

Supporters who had travelled to eastern Europe made it abundantly clear what they thought of their team’s 2-0 first-leg defeat by Malisheva with their Conference League hopes on the brink.

The head coach stressed the result – and the manner of it – were unacceptable, but the only way to answer doubters is on the park.

In the second half at Easter Road on Thursday, with Hibs four goals to the good on the night and on their way to an aggregate victory, Gray’s name was sung to the rafters.

His iconic status is untouchable. That’s what a winning goal in a Scottish Cup final win does, but these chants were not for his Hampden heroics as a player, rather for the way his team had responded to adversity.

They flew out of the blocks, led by the evergreen Martin Boyle, and had wiped out the two-goal deficit within 15 minutes.

By the time Boyle danced past several bewildered defenders and made it 4-0, it seemed as though Hibs could do no wrong.

Yes, there was a drop-off in the last 20 minutes and Malisheva got a goal back, but Gray wanted to focus on the positives post-match.

“We spoke about the intensity we want to play at, the intent from the start to play forward, run forward and get the crowd behind us,” he said.

“I saw it in training and they fully deserved to win tonight. We should have been out of sight, we hit the woodwork a couple of times and missed three or four big chances.

“That goal at the end made it a little bit edgy but at the same time, the players deserved what they got tonight. Delighted for them.”

Gray was asked if there was a sense of relief after last week and he admitted the enjoyment he takes from winning is only fleeting.

“It’s different for a coach winning games to being a player,” he said. “Relief kicks in and then it’s the next game.

“You enjoy it for two minutes and then on to the next one.”

It was quite surprising to see champion athletes like Neeraj Chopra, Arshad Nadeem, Anderson Peters, and even Rumesh Pathirage fail to hit the automatic qualification mark in the men’s javelin throw qualifier at the Commonwealth Games 2026 on Thursday. For these athletes, who have sometimes cleared 90-metre distances, struggling to even cross the 80-metre mark was unexpected. While it is common for athletes to hold back in qualifiers, Neeraj, Arshad, and several others were expected to at least breach the automatic qualification mark of 84 metres. However, not a single athlete managed to do so.

For Chopra, who won a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and silver in Paris four years later, his first attempt was just 76.28 metres. He improved in his second attempt to eventually finish fifth with a throw of 79.61m, meaning a third attempt was not needed.

Arshad, Neeraj’s long-term rival, could only manage a maximum distance of 78.63 metres-which came in his first attempt-finishing seventh overall.

Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage, Grenada’s Anderson Peters, South Africa’s Douw Smit, and England’s Ben East were the only four athletes to breach the 80-metre mark in the qualifier.

Why Could No Athlete Breach the 84-Metre Automatic Qualification Mark?

One of the main reasons for the athletes’ inability to secure automatic qualification for the final was the presence of strong winds at the venue. The conditions in Glasgow were treacherous for the throwers; crosswinds disturbed the flight of the spears, making it difficult for athletes to hit their desired distances.

Speaking on his effort in the qualifier, Neeraj said: “Conditions were not the best for javelin throwers-not only cold, but windy. And the wind was not from the front. It’s very hard to process. Sometimes I thought I’d throw a certain way, but the wind would come from another side. A lot of throwers were struggling. Nobody hit the automatic qualification,” he said.

VIDEO | Glasgow, Scotland: Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra speaks to the media after making it to the men’s javelin final at the Commonwealth Games after finishing fifth in the qualification round.

He says, “I’m happy that I’ve reached the final. That was the goal in the… pic.twitter.com/z3dlmiuJns

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 30, 2026

It was reported that athletes faced a 13 km/h west-blowing gust as they looked to seal qualification for the men’s javelin throw final.

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“Winning World Cup Most Beautiful thing”: Golden Ball Winner Rodri

Legendary trainer Teddy Atlas has predicted an upset victory when Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn go head to head.

The two welterweights will collide at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on September 12, with ‘King Ry’ making a first defence of his WBC world title.

Garcia claimed his belt by dethroning Mario Barrios with a unanimous decision victory in February, which followed his unexpected points defeat to Rolando Romero in May 2025.

Back then, Garcia seemed a shadow of his former self after returning from a year-long doping ban, courtesy of him testing positive for ostarine following his encounter with Devin Haney.

A lack of confidence appeared to be the main problem here, with the American’s passive approach throughout the build-up being matched by his lacklustre performance against Romero.

But while Garcia is now coming off a far more assured display against Barrios, Atlas remains unconvinced that the 27-year-old can maintain this mindset.

Speaking with Canada Casino, the Hall of Fame trainer highlighted the champion’s inconsistency as the reason for him siding with Benn.

“Garcia has always been influenced on a mental and emotional basis. He is very talented, but unless he is right mentally and emotionally, that talent doesn’t really equate into anything special.

“Garcia is probably in a better place now, mentally, than he has been for a while. But does he stay in that place? At the end of the day, I usually go towards consistency. Garcia fights in spurts. Benn is not as flashy or spectacular in those spurts, but he is more consistent with his offence.

“In the mental area, Benn probably gets a bit of an edge. I might possibly be on the side of Benn.”

While ‘King Ry’ has previously tested positive for ostarine, Benn’s failed a doping test for clomifene came ahead of his cancelled encounter with Chris Eubank Jr in 2022.