College football

STANFORD GETS OPENING GAME >> Stanford and Kansas State have been chosen to kick off the 2021 season on Sept. 4 in the 2021 Allstate Kickoff Classic at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, which annually hosts the premier season-opening contest in college football.

Kick off time, broadcast network and ticket information will be released at a later date.

The game was originally scheduled to be played at Kansas State’s Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium on the same day. The Cardinal is 1-0 all-time against the Wildcats, defeating K-State 26-13 to open the 2016 season on Sept. 2 at Stanford Stadium.

Next season’s nonconference slate will now feature Kansas State, a Sept. 18 game at Vanderbilt and a home game against Notre Dame on Nov. 27.

LOUISIANA-MONROE HIRES RICH RODRIGUEZ AS COORDINATOR >> Rich Rodriguez is the new offensive coordinator and associate head coach at Louisiana-Monroe, the school announced Tuesday.

Rodriguez, the former West Virginia, Michigan and Arizona head coach, was most recently offensive coordinator at Ole Miss in 2019. Louisiana-Monroe was 0-10 in 2020 and last had a winning season in 2012 when it went 8-5.

Rich Rodriguez, 57, compiled a 118-83 record in 16 seasons as a head coach.

VIEWERSHIP DOWN FOR ALABAMAOHIO STATE >> The Alabama-Ohio State college football playoff final Monday night averaged 18.7 million viewers across the ESPN networks, making it the least-watched title game since 2005.

The ratings declined 27 percent from LSU-Clemson (25.6 million) last year and 26 percent from ClemsonAlabama in 2019 (25.3 million), according to Sports Media Watch.