Rivals national recruiting analyst Marshall Levenson is joined by Tim Verghese of InsideNebraska.com, Josh Henschke of MaizeandBlueReview.com and national recruiting analyst John Garcia to tackle three topics and determine whether they believe each statement is FACT or FICTION.
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1. Michigan has the most to lose in the matchup against Texas.
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Henschke: FICTION. The way I see it, Texas needs this game more than Michigan needs it from a narrative perspective. The national media has already written off the Wolverines in this one, so a Longhorns win doesn’t change much in terms of landscape for the rest of the year. The Wolverines have some other marquee matchups to bounce back with in Oregon and Ohio State. For Texas, a loss here would carry doubt heading into big games against Oklahoma and Georgia. That doubt sticks with you. If U-M were to win this, the yearly question about whether UT is ‘back’ will persist.
As far as I see it, the Wolverines are riding a 16-game winning streak and the Longhorns only have a one-game streak. The Longhorns need this from a narrative standpoint way more than any U-M loss would give in the grand scheme of things.
Levenson: FICTION. I am in full agreeance here with Josh on the stakes of this game. There is already loads of doubt from a national perspective on the Wolverines, so losing to a team as strong as Texas appears to be would not be considered a major letdown by any means. But for Texas, which is potentially in the running to win the SEC and make a national title run, a loss would cause the conversation to spiral.
I don’t anticipate a Texas loss affecting recruiting all too bad and in reality it would do next to nothing in its 12-team playoff hopes in the current time. But as Josh points out, there would be severe doubt casted upon the rest of their season as it faces tough opponents down the line. This is a game for Texas to prove it is what it says. Plus, Michigan is coming off an undefeated season and a natty. In my eyes, the Wolverines are playing with house money and losing to Texas after their program got turned upside down would not be that negative of a look.
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2. This weekend against Colorado is Nebraska‘s biggest visit weekend of the season.
Verghese: FACT. With Nebraska holding 18 class of 2025 commits to date, Saturday is perhaps the last opportunity to get multiple remaining 2025 targets in town at the same time. The Huskers have an opportunity to surge with four-star wide receiver Michael Terry and position themselves to flip four-star wide receiver Cortez Mills from Oklahoma and four-star linebacker Dawson Merritt from Alabama. Pair that with the number of 2026 and 2027 prospects in town, headlined by 2026 five-star offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell, 2026 four-star running back DeZephen Walker and 2027 tight end Cooper Terwilliger, and Saturday should prove to be the most important recruiting weekend of the year for Matt Rhule and his staff.
Levenson: FACT. There are a few reasons this weekend will be the biggest for the Huskers. One is the simple fact that it is their most high-profile home game of the season. After playing Colorado, their home games are Northern Iowa, Illinois, Rutgers, UCLA and Wisconsin. None of the those really move the needle outside of potentially the late season matchup with Wisconsin. So given that they play possibly the most intriguing brand in college football right now in Colorado and it’s an early season tone-setting matchup, the game holds weight.
And as Verghese points out, there are a number of elite prospects expected to be in attendance. For the 2025 class, they may not have a bigger target than Terry, for whom Nebraska is battling Texas and Oregon. And then two massive flip targets in Mills and Merritt, the recruiting staff will be working double time to sway them. And of course, the No. 2 overall prospect in 2026, Cantwell is potentially their most important target of the next two years, so providing him with a good time is their goal of the weekend. As is winning the game, of course.
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3. Florida State should be worried about its 2025 class being pursued after early season struggles.
Garcia: FACT. It’s not just that Florida State has stumbled to an 0-2 start, it’s how it looked in the process. The trenches are a mess, there’s no high-end scoring despite veterans throughout the skill positions and there weren’t any clear adjustments from one dud game to the next following a pair of nationally-televised games.
The current class is ranked No. 22 overall with some big-time foundational pieces such as five-stars Javion Hilson and Solomon Thomas – but they’ve been courted by other programs for some time. It’s probably the next layer of talent that becomes potentially more appealing to programs. Wide receiver Daylan McCutcheon is taking other visits and linebacker Ethan Prichard tells us several programs have ramped up communication with him. Myron Charles has some buzz with Texas and CJ Wiley has plenty with in-state Georgia, so you know what those coaching staffs are pushing toward in the Early Signing period.
Levenson: FACT. Florida State should very worried. John is right, it is not about the losses themselves, but how it looked in the process of getting the losses. And it is not about the fact that some of its commits are being pursued, it is who they are being pursued by that would have me worried if I’m the Seminoles. You’re looking at programs that all have a strong knack for playing the bad guy and flipping away targets late in the process.
USC, Texas, Georgia and other premier programs smell blood in the water and they are circling. Odds are they win over some of these prospects. Several prospects, such as McCutcheon, is already set to visit USC later this season, which would cause some movement. There are sure to be more visits set across the commitment list, so FSU appears to be completely on the defensive as far as its class goes. The Seminoles need to shift their season and fast.
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