Brian Kelly says there’s “no doubt” his 2024 LSU Tigers can contend for a national championship. Pardon us, but we have some doubts. Start with: How much better is LSU’s defense? LSU led the nation last season in scoring while finishing 10-3, but it lost three offensive stars to the NFL Draft's first round, including quarterback Jayden Daniels. The offense is almost bound to regress. To become a true championship contender, the defense must not only be better, it must be substantially...

Arch Manning stole the show at Texas' spring game, while Quinn Ewers played sparingly. What does that mean? Well, for first up, let's slow the idea of any Texas quarterback controversy. Ewers didn't play much because he's got a grip on the starting job. This spring game became more focused on developing backup quarterbacks. Manning's 355 passing yards were a sign of abilities and his growth and evidence that Texas possesses more than one talented quarterback. What a luxury. Not even Georgia...

Georgia's Carson Beck and Alabama's Jalen Milroe rank among preseason Heisman Trophy frontrunners. But, forget awards for a moment. Does one of these quarterbacks have to battle to retain his starting job? At Georgia, that's not the case. Beck remains Georgia's QB1. End of discussion. What about Milroe? A new coaching staff adds uncertainty to the quarterback competition, but, to hear Milroe tell it, he's hitting it off with Kalen DeBoer, and he looked to have a handle on the offense in...

John Calipari's whopper buyout saddled him to Kentucky. Not anymore, though, as Calipari prepares to exit out the side door to Arkansas. This looks like a potential win-win-win for Arkansas, Kentucky and Calipari, and one of the nation's biggest basketball jobs is now on the market. Where will Kentucky turn? On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams weigh in on Kentucky's search to replace Calipari. Each host offers two swing-for-the-fences candidates (Bruce Pearl!?!), plus...

Can we agree Kirby Smart is the SEC's top football coach? A better debate: How to rank SEC schools by football coach plus their men’s basketball coach. Would Georgia remain No. 1 in such a ranking? What about Alabama? Where does Tennessee factor into the mix? On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams rank their top eight SEC schools in terms of football plus men’s basketball coaches. In some instances, the school's football and basketball coach each rank near the top of the...

The ball tipped, and the upsets began. Then the second round tipped, and chalk held strong. Each of the four No. 1 seeds remains in the NCAA Tournament in the Sweet 16, but does that mean we think it'll be all favorites in the Final Four? Nope. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams revisit their March Madness predictions. Three of Toppmeyer's Final Four picks remain in the tournament, while two of Adams' picks went down in the first round after he overvalued the SEC and...

Get your brackets finalized. Decide whether you want to lean into that No. 13 over a No. 4 upset pick. Lock in your Final Four. The Madness is nearly here. With eight SEC teams in the NCAA Tournament, including four that are either seeded No. 2, No. 3 or No. 4, could this be the year the conference produces a national champion for the first time since the 2012 Kentucky Wildcats? On today's episode, Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams are putting the pigskin on the shelf in favor of hoops and...

In the spirit of March Madness, we're ready to seed the SEC – but here's the twist. We're seeding for football. Now, you might be thinking, "This sure sounds like an SEC football power ranking, doesn't it?" Well, yes. It's exactly that. But, this is the time of seeds, brackets and upsets, so why call this a power ranking? It's seeding, darn it! On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams offer their 2024 power rankings – or seeding, rather. This pecking order is not...

Steve Spurrier weighed in on the state of Florida football under embattled coach Billy Napier, and the HBC's assessment came off as anything but a ringing endorsement. Florida Times-Union columnist Gene Frenette quoted Spurrier questioning the direction of Napier's Gators in a recent column. The most biting quote? “There’s a feeling around the Gators of, 'What the heck are we doing?'” Spurrier said. Yes, indeed: What the heck is going on at Florida? By most appearances, in all kinds of...

The contract originates in the state of Texas, and the deal is a big one. In those two ways, the contracts for Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian and former Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher are similar. Maybe it's true that everything is just bigger in Texas – even the paychecks. Sarkisian's salary now jumps to $10.3 million, while Fisher enjoys his record-breaking $77 million buyout. Peel back the layers, though, and you'll see several arguments against Sarkisian being a Fisher 2.0.  On...

The 12-team College Football Playoff evolved before it ever debuted. The expanded playoff that's set to launch this season originally had been devised as a 6+6 format. That is, automatic bids for the six-best conference champions, plus six at-large bids. But, after that format got approved, realignment crippled the Pac-12. So, on Tuesday, the CFP Board of Managers voted to change the playoff to a 5+7 format – automatic bids for the five-best conference champions, plus seven at-large bids....

The SEC teems with talented quarterbacks in 2024, ranging from proven veterans to ballyhooed freshmen. The quarterback talent only stands to improve with Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC. Eight of the SEC's soon-to-be 16 teams return their starting quarterbacks, and even a few of those breaking in new starters will be led by familiar faces. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams draft SEC quarterbacks in an attempt to build the best four-quarterback depth...

The “Power 2” are super buddies all of a sudden after last week’s announcement that the Big Ten and SEC are forming an advisory group aimed at solving some issues facing college sports. Will this alliance produce a breakaway, at least in football, of the NCAA’s two richest and most powerful conferences? Could the Big Ten and SEC say farewell to the College Football Playoff in a few years and launch their own postseason exclusive to the “Power 2?” Sure, it's possible. Likely? Probably not....

If you couldn't have Kirby Smart coaching your team, which SEC coach would you want? As of a month ago, the answer should have been obvious: Nick Saban. But, the retired GOAT is out of the equation, leaving Smart all alone on the top tier of college football coaches. Within the SEC, who forms the second tier? On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams draft SEC coaches in an attempt to collect the best group of coaching talent. It’s no mystery who’s going off the board...

The SEC Championship Game stands to acquire some new flavor in 2024. Three times in the past six years, the December clash in Atlanta featured Alabama vs. Georgia. And if Nick Saban had returned as coach in 2024, that theme may well have repeated. But now, after Saban's retirement and the transfer of several prominent players? Eight or nine wins suddenly looks more realistic for Alabama in Kalen DeBoer's debut season than a return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium and another date with Kirby...

New coach, meet the old coach – the one who’s not leaving, just changing duties. Alabama introduced Kalen DeBoer on Saturday as Nick Saban’s successor, and during his introductory remarks, DeBoer addressed the GOAT in the room (seated in the front row) when he said Saban would retain “100% access” to the Alabama program. Saban, after six national championship’s as the Crimson Tide’s coach, will remain employed by Alabama athletics in an advisory role.  On today's episode, hosts Blake...

Who gets to be the man to replace The Man? Who even wants that assignment? The greatest of all time has retired. Nick Saban announced Wednesday that he’s handing off the reins of Alabama football after six national championships with the Crimson Tide and seven overall. Alabama fans mourned the news. Elsewhere in the SEC, there were probably grins. For nearly two decades, Saban and Alabama crushed everyone in their path. Who can continue such dominance? On today's episode, hosts Blake...

Michigan won the national championship without having to face Georgia, but would that have mattered? The Wolverines rattled off wins against Ohio State, Alabama and Washington. Cheating allegations aside, they’re deserving champs. And yet … we can’t help but wonder how a Michigan-Georgia national championship would have gone.  On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams consider who would have won a matchup of those teams. And, while we’re on the subject of hypotheticals,...

Michigan is one victory away from winning a national championship while under separate NCAA investigations into allegations of recruiting violations and impermissible sign-stealing. Hardly the scandals of the century, but enough to cast the Wolverines into the black-hat role. They remain unfazed. The investigations, though, have some wondering whether a Michigan national championship would be deemed illegitimate. Nonsense. The way we see it, if Michigan beats No. 2 Washington on Monday,...

Lane Kiffin is making us reconsider how we think about recruiting classes. Entering Wednesday, the first day of the December signing period, Ole Miss’ 2024 recruiting class ranks No. 21 nationally. Not bad. Not great. And not all that relevant. That’s because Kiffin’s roster-assembly strategy features a strong focus on transfers, which are not factored into recruiting rankings.  Ole Miss’ transfer haul ranks No. 1 in the nation. Give the “Portal King” his crown and scepter. He’s done it...

Joe Burrow and Billy Cannon, you have company. Jayden Daniels became the third player in LSU history to win the Heisman Trophy. The senior quarterback claimed college football's top honor Saturday by a comfortable margin. Ask us, and we say voters got this right. As the nation's best player, Daniels was a deserving winner. Now, we turn the page to 2024. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams offer eight players to watch for the 2024 Heisman. Of course, quarterbacks...

These aren’t the ‘four best teams.' Not by our count. The College Football Playoff selection committee explained its decision to swap out Florida State, the undefeated ACC champion, from the playoff field in favor of Alabama, the SEC’s one-loss champion, as a mission to insert the “four best teams” into the field. The committee also conjured up some other previously unheard of reasoning as justification for making the unprecedented move of rejecting an undefeated Power Five champion from...

Seven teams will play in conference championship games this weekend with a realistic shot at College Football Playoff qualification, while an eighth (Ohio State) sits at home with a longshot avenue toward backdoor entry. If the higher-ranked teams hold serve – Georgia, Michigan, Washington and Florida State – then it’s a tidy field of four undefeated teams from Power Five conferences. If at least one of those undefeated teams fall, though, then the committee will face some hard choices. On...

This isn't a banner season for the SEC. While Georgia and Alabama chase the College Football Playoff, two teams chase new coaches, and several teams are in danger of missing bowl games. Welcome to rivalry week, which is a sideshow to the SEC's ongoing coaching searches before next week's clash between Alabama and Georgia. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams provide one-sentence summaries of each SEC team's season or the state of the program. From firings to flops, they...