The biggest story is the wild ruling out of Louisiana that could potentially open a door we never thought we’d see: players who are currently in NFL training camps getting another chance to play college football.

A Louisiana judge granted temporary relief to a group of former college athletes, including football players who have signed NFL contracts, allowing them an avenue back toward college eligibility. The ruling is narrow — it currently applies to the plaintiffs — but the precedent and the questions it raises are enormous.

Think about how crazy that sentence would have sounded a few years ago.

You can leave college. Sign an NFL contract. Go through an NFL training camp. Get cut — and potentially wind up back on a college campus?

Some players named in the litigation are already with NFL teams, and the league’s final roster cutdown comes August 30.

Mike and I get into what this could mean, whether we’re headed toward even more eligibility lawsuits, and just how difficult roster management becomes when coaches aren’t even sure who is finished playing college football anymore.

And if you think the portal is chaotic now, imagine NFL cutdown day becoming another version of the transfer portal.

Oklahoma Makes Its Bet on Brent Venables

We also react to today’s news that Oklahoma has agreed to a new six-year contract with Brent Venables, extending his deal through January 2032.

It’s fascinating timing.

Venables has taken Oklahoma through its transition into the SEC and got the Sooners into the College Football Playoff last season. Now Oklahoma is making it clear that it believes he’s the guy to lead the program through this next era.

The reported deal pays Venables $10 million this season with $200,000 annual increases over the following five years.

Mike and I debate the extension, what Oklahoma is really buying with it and where Venables fits in the SEC coaching hierarchy entering 2026.

Presented by AR’s Hot Honey

Today’s Show Pony Live is presented by AR’s Hot Honey.

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🎙️ Show Pony Live with Chris Childers

Today: Mike Farrell

We cover:

• The Louisiana eligibility ruling that could create a path from NFL training camp back to college football

• What this latest legal battle means for NCAA eligibility

• Oklahoma’s new commitment to Brent Venables

• Whether Venables is the right man for the Sooners in the SEC

• How NIL, the portal and roster management have transformed recruiting

• Where the college football recruiting business goes from here

Subscribe to Show Pony Media for free at ShowPonyMedia.com.

If you love college football but also believe the sport is worth questioning, debating and occasionally fighting for, you’re in the right place.

Get Yourself Together.

I am not a Clemson fan. Hell, I have never even been to Clemson. That’s my fault. I really need to go.

But I have to admit something: watching Clemson fall apart last season was hard for me.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Clemson entered 2025 ranked No. 4 in the country. They received four first-place votes in the preseason AP poll. On our show, Rick Neuheisel picked the Tigers to win the national championship.

Instead, Clemson finished 7–6, its worst season since 2010. A program that had become synonymous with January football was suddenly just trying to get through December. And now, as we enter 2026, Clemson is unranked in the preseason AP poll for the first time since 2011.

The craziest part?

The talent was there.

Nine Clemson players were selected in the 2026 NFL Draft, tying the school record for a seven-round draft. All nine were selected in the first five rounds. Two went in the first round. Five were gone within the first 75 picks.

Nine NFL Draft picks.

Seven wins. How does that happen? And now Dabo Swinney feels almost like a relic from another era.

A man who was great at something, only to watch the thing he mastered change so rapidly underneath him that eventually the tide swallowed him up.

I write that in pain. Because I hate it. I want Dabo to win.

I want him competing for championships. I want Clemson in December and January. I want him standing on a stage with confetti falling around him again.

Because I believe Dabo Swinney is one of the good guys on this earth.

Different people can still recognize goodness

I suspect if Dabo and I sat down for a few hours, we probably wouldn’t agree on everything.

Maybe not politics. Maybe not religion. Maybe not our interpretation of the meaning of life.

Or maybe we would agree on more than I think. Who knows?

He grew up in Alabama. I grew up in suburban Chicago. We came from different places and had different experiences.

That’s okay.

Actually, I love that.

Human beings are wonderfully different. We have different beliefs, personalities, wants, fears and ways of looking at the world. One of the great joys of being alive is trying, even imperfectly, to see the world through somebody else’s eyes.

And that’s part of what I’ve always appreciated about Dabo.

You know what he believes.

More importantly, he appears to live it.

Dabo loves football. He loves coaching young people. He loves Jesus Christ and is unapologetic about his faith.

That’s Dabo.

He walks the walk and talks the talk.

You don’t have to share someone’s theology to recognize when their faith appears to produce kindness, generosity and genuine concern for other people.

I root for that.

I choose to root for that.

This isn’t some ordinary football coach

And before we bury Dabo as some old coach who couldn’t adapt, maybe we should remember what the man actually accomplished.

Entering 2026, Swinney is 187–53 as Clemson’s head coach.

He has won two national championships.

He has won nine ACC championships.

He passed Frank Howard to become the winningest head coach in Clemson history. He also passed Bobby Bowden for the most career head-coaching victories earned as a member of the ACC.

Since his first full season in 2009, Dabo has accumulated 11 combined conference and national championship rings.

He went 2–1 against Nick Saban in national championship games.

And despite all the jokes people make about Clemson’s development now, Swinney has produced 95 NFL Draft picks plus a supplemental selection during his head-coaching tenure. That’s the most draft selections produced by any active coach since the 2009 NFL Draft. Twenty of those players became first-round picks.

That isn’t a nice little run.

That’s one of the great coaching careers of this generation. As we like to say on Full Ride, that’s Hall-of-Fame stuff and then some!

And he did it at Clemson.

Before Dabo, Clemson had history. It had tradition. It had a national championship.

Dabo turned Clemson into an empire.

And then the sport changed

This is the part that hurts me. Because Dabo believed in a version of college football that is rapidly disappearing. He resisted the transfer portal.

He wanted Clemson players to be Clemson players. Recruit them. Develop them. Coach them. Watch them struggle. Watch them grow. I looked in his eyes two years ago at ACC media days, and he was just so passionate about the kids.

Watch a bunch of 18-year-olds become 22-year-old men together.

Build relationships that survive long after anybody remembers the score of the Florida State game.

Guys who someday stand in each other’s weddings. Guys who call one another when their parents die.

Guys who return to campus 20 years later and don’t talk about their NIL valuation or their portal recruitment. They talk about the locker room. The road trips. The coaches. The stupid things they did together when they were 19.

That sounds hopelessly romantic now. Maybe it is.

But damn it, college football was romantic. That was the whole point. And modern college football has become increasingly transactional.

Who can pay?

Who can offer the opportunity? Who needs a quarterback? Who needs a tackle? Who’s available? What’s the number?

Let’s make a deal.

I understand why players take the money. I don’t blame them. I understand why coaches use the portal. I don’t blame them either.

If Clemson loses because another program has better players, nobody is going to give Dabo extra credit because he built his roster according to his principles.

That’s the uncomfortable truth.

But there is still something deeply sad about watching a man fight to preserve something he genuinely believes is worth preserving — and watching the sport tell him that those beliefs may no longer be competitive advantages.

College football was supposed to do something for people

That’s where this becomes bigger than football for me.

Because the best version of college athletics was never supposed to exist merely to manufacture NFL players.

Most college football players aren’t going to the NFL. They need something else from the experience. Structure. Guidance. Friendship. Discipline. Love.

And, most importantly, an education.

College football could take an 18-year-old kid and give him four years of people investing in him. Coaches. Professors. Teammates. Trainers. Tutors. Administrators. It could send him into adulthood better prepared than when he arrived.

That’s what Dabo has always seemed to believe this whole enterprise is supposed to be about.

And maybe that’s why something I saw from Clemson recently hit me so hard.

ClemsonLIFE

I watched a video from Clemson on Instagram the other day that brought me to tears.

It involved ClemsonLIFE — Learning Is For Everyone.

ClemsonLIFE is a four-year postsecondary program for young adults with intellectual disabilities. Its mission is to give those students a genuine collegiate experience while preparing them for employment and independent living. I mean honestly, GO CLEMSON!

This isn’t ceremonial inclusion.

Students learn functional academics, banking and budgeting, independent-living skills, self-advocacy, health and wellness and employment skills. They participate in internships and supervised job placements.

Students live in apartments and learn how to manage schedules, transportation, grocery shopping and the everyday responsibilities of adulthood.

Each ClemsonLIFE student is also paired with a Clemson peer mentor who helps them academically and socially and, importantly, helps integrate them into the broader campus community.

Think about what that means.

For a young person with an intellectual disability — and for that person’s parents — Clemson isn’t simply offering a class. Basketball legend and Show Pony Media subscriber Debbie Antonelli’s son, Frankie, is a graduate of the program. In past interviews on Sirius XM, she raved about the program’s virtues.

It’s offering possibility. Independence. Community. Belonging.

A chance to experience something their family may once have wondered whether they would ever get to experience.

And then I watched Clemson’s Bid Day.

There were young women from ClemsonLIFE experiencing that same explosion of joy and acceptance that surrounds one of the biggest days in sorority life.

The screaming. The hugs. The signs. The excitement. The feeling that someone is waiting for you to run home.

Clemson’s official description of Bid Day says students open their bids together and then “run home” to their new chapter to celebrate.

Watching young women with intellectual disabilities get to experience that sense of belonging absolutely wrecked me. Because that’s what college is supposed to be. That’s what community is supposed to be.

That’s what sports, at their absolute best, are supposed to represent.

You belong here. Because you’re one of us. That was beautiful. That was Clemson.

How did we get here?

And this is where my sadness about Dabo becomes sadness about the sport.

College athletics brought much of this upon itself.

For decades, television revenue exploded. Coaching salaries exploded. Conference distributions exploded. Facilities became palaces.

Everyone seemed allowed to participate in the growing economy surrounding college sports except the athletes actually producing the product.

The NCAA had opportunities to modernize.

It didn’t.

Then came NCAA v. Alston.

On June 21, 2021, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against the NCAA in its attempt to restrict certain education-related benefits available to athletes. The case itself was narrower than the revolution that followed — it did not simply abolish all NCAA compensation restrictions — but the message was unmistakable: the NCAA could not simply assume that its compensation rules were exempt from normal antitrust scrutiny.

The dam started breaking.

And once it broke, college sports didn’t gradually modernize. It sprinted into an entirely new world. NIL. Revenue sharing. Collectives. The portal. Agents. Roster management. Contracts. Market value. Free agency without calling it free agency. Some of this was overdue. Players deserved more.

I’ve believed that for years.

But acknowledging that doesn’t mean we have to pretend nothing valuable was lost along the way.

Two things can be true at once.

The old system was unfair to athletes.

And the new system has stripped away some of what made college sports uniquely beautiful. That’s the conflict I can’t get past.

And then there’s the irony of the opener

Maybe college football has a sense of humor. Because Clemson doesn’t get to ease into this season.

Dabo Swinney’s first game of 2026 will be at LSU, at night, in Death Valley.

And standing on the opposite sideline will be Lane Kiffin.

You almost couldn’t script a better representation of the two competing visions of modern college football.

Dabo versus Lane.

And I don’t mean that as a personal attack on Kiffin. I think Lane is a brilliant football coach. He’s entertaining. He’s smart. He’s figured out exactly how the modern game works. Good on him, I guess.

However, Kiffin left Ole Miss after building arguably the best team in school history and headed to an SEC rival. It was super ugly, clunky and messy. The people of Oxford hate him now with a passion.

To me, Kiffin is the anti-Dabo. The guy with no loyalty, where winning is all that matters.

Maybe Dabo will prove us all wrong

I don’t know what happens next. Maybe Dabo figures this all out. I hope they are a playoff team this year and last year is forgotten.

Because there is something about Dabo Swinney that I don’t want college football to lose.

The sincerity. The loyalty.

The belief that coaching is about more than accumulating talent. The idea that the people inside your building aren’t interchangeable assets.

The belief that a football program can actually be a community. I know how corny that sounds in 2026.

I don’t care. There should still be room in college football for somebody who believes that. There should still be room for the romantic.

There should still be room for relationships that aren’t entirely transactional.

There should still be room for a coach who looks at the young men in his locker room and sees more than a depth chart and a salary-cap calculation.

So, no, I’m not a Clemson fan.

I’ve never been to Clemson.

But when the Tigers take the field this fall, I’ll be rooting for them more than I probably should.

I’ll be rooting for Dabo. Not because I think he’s been right about everything. Not because refusing to change is inherently noble. And certainly not because I want athletes to return to a system that denied them a fair share of the enormous business they helped create.

I’ll root for him because I want to believe there is still a place in this sport for what he represents at his best.

Development. Loyalty. Faith. Community. Love. Belonging. Maybe that’s hopelessly old-fashioned. Maybe Dabo is a relic.

But sometimes relics remind us of things we shouldn’t have thrown away.

And I don’t want college football to throw all of this away.

Show Pony Live is presented by AR’s Hot Honey.

Great honey. Great peppers. Nothing you don’t need.

Use promo code SHOWPONY15 to save 15% on your order.

I’ve had a lot of fun conversations doing Show Pony Live, but today’s guest was a special one.

John Oates joins the show.

Yes, that John Oates.

We obviously talk music and his incredible career, but one of the things I loved about this conversation was getting to know John the sports fan.

John has a genuine love for college football, and, much to my delight, he’s also a fan of what Rick Neuheisel and I do every day on Full Ride. We talk about why he enjoys the sport, what draws him to college football and the connection between sports, entertainment and the people who devote their lives to a craft.

But the conversation eventually gets into something even more interesting: What happens when you’re successful enough to create simply because you want to create?

John is at a fascinating point in his career. He’s still making music, but he talks about how much fun he’s having making the music he wants to make.

There’s freedom in that.

And it led us into a bigger conversation about something I think applies far beyond the music industry: the relationship between art and money.

There is nothing wrong with making money from your work. Artists have to make a living. Musicians have to sell records and tickets. Broadcasters need ratings and advertisers. Writers need subscribers.

But John talks about how money can begin to dictate the way art is created.

That’s when things get complicated.

When the question changes from “What do I want to make?” to “What will sell?” the creative process changes with it.

John has lived through enormous changes in the music business, and hearing someone with his career and perspective talk about creativity, commercial success and the freedom he feels making music today made this conversation much more than an interview about his greatest hits.

We talk college football, Full Ride, his remarkable music career, creativity, money and why he’s having so much fun making music at this stage of his life.

It’s one of my favorite conversations we’ve had on Show Pony Live.

Listen to the full episode here on Substack or wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

And as always, thanks for supporting Show Pony Media.

Presented by AR’s Hot Honey

If you haven’t tried it yet, you’re missing out. AR’s keeps it beautifully simple: honey and peppers, crafted into something that belongs on pizza, chicken, biscuits and just about anything else you can think of.

Use promo code SHOWPONY15 and save 15%.

Show Pony Live — conversations about sports, media, culture and the people who make them interesting.

I watched a lot of preseason football Thursday night.

Yes, I know.

It’s preseason.

It doesn’t matter. Defenses are vanilla. Coaches are experimenting. Half the guys playing in the fourth quarter won’t be on an NFL roster in three weeks. Preseason performances have been fool’s gold since the beginning of time.

I get all of that.

But I still couldn’t stop thinking about something while watching Drew Allar play for Pittsburgh and Fernando Mendoza make his debut for Las Vegas.

Quarterback evaluation is absolutely insane.

And I’m starting to wonder whether a couple of NFL teams may have accidentally lucked into their quarterbacks of the future.

What happened to Drew Allar?

Let’s start with Allar.

The Steelers took him with the 76th overall pick in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft.

Thursday night, he didn’t look like the 76th-best player in a draft.

He looked like a quarterback who belonged.

Allar completed 10 of 13 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns in Pittsburgh’s 28-9 win over Green Bay. He also ran for a touchdown.

Three touchdowns. Three incompletions.

More importantly, he looked comfortable.

There was command of the offense. There was confidence. There was calm. Nothing about the moment appeared too big for him.

And watching it made me think back to where we were with Allar not that long ago.

There was a time when Allar was being discussed as a potential high first-round NFL quarterback.

Then 2025 happened.

The statistical difference between his final two seasons at Penn State is striking.

In 2024, Allar completed 66.5% of his passes for 3,327 yards, 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions, averaging 8.4 yards per attempt. He also ran for 302 yards and six touchdowns.

In his injury-shortened 2025 season, he completed 64.8% for 1,100 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions in six games. His yards per attempt dropped from 8.4 to 6.9 and his passer rating fell from 153.5 to 135.7.

But here’s the question:

Did Drew Allar suddenly become a significantly worse quarterback?

Or did everything around him change?

He didn’t have Tyler Warren anymore. Warren had been an absolute security blanket in 2024 and developed into a first-round NFL Draft pick. Penn State’s receivers struggled to consistently create separation. The entire season started unraveling around him. James Franklin was fired in October.

Then Allar’s season ended after six games because of injury.

That’s a pretty lousy laboratory for evaluating a quarterback.

Maybe Allar regressed.

Or maybe we occasionally make the mistake of evaluating quarterbacks as though they exist independently of everything happening around them.

Now look at where he landed.

Pittsburgh. Mike McCarthy. Aaron Rodgers.

That’s not a bad place to spend your first NFL season.

Rodgers famously spent three years sitting behind Brett Favre in Green Bay before taking over. Jordan Love later spent three seasons sitting behind Rodgers.

I’m not suggesting one year watching Rodgers automatically turns Drew Allar into a franchise quarterback.

But if you’re Pittsburgh, wouldn’t you love the idea of letting a 22-year-old quarterback with Allar’s physical ability spend a season learning the position from one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play it?

Especially with Mike McCarthy overseeing his development?

McCarthy coached Rodgers for more than a decade in Green Bay. The Steelers themselves talked after drafting Allar about his intelligence, arm talent and high ceiling, with quarterbacks coach Tom Arth pointing specifically to McCarthy’s track record developing the position.

Thursday was one preseason game.

But you could see why Pittsburgh took the swing.

And then there’s Carson Beck

This one may be even more interesting to me.

Remember what people thought Carson Beck was going to become?

Before his final season at Georgia, Beck was legitimately being discussed as a candidate to become the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.

That wasn’t some obscure projection, either.

After throwing for 3,941 yards, 24 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 72.4% of his passes in 2023, Beck looked like the next prototype NFL quarterback coming out of Georgia.

Then something changed.

Brock Bowers left.

Ladd McConkey left.

And Beck’s numbers went backward.

In 2024, his completion percentage dropped from 72.4% to 64.7%. His passing yards fell from 3,941 to 3,485. His interceptions doubled from six to 12.

Then Beck injured his elbow in the SEC Championship Game. Gunner Stockton took over for Georgia in the College Football Playoff, Beck underwent surgery, and Beck ultimately transferred to Miami for his final college season.

And what happened when Beck got healthy and found himself in a different situation?

He flourished.

At Miami in 2025, Beck completed 72.4% of his passes for 3,813 yards and 30 touchdowns, leading the Hurricanes all the way to the national championship game.

Read those numbers again.

72.4%.
3,813 yards.
30 touchdowns.

Arizona still got him with the 65th overall pick in the third round.

And we’ve already gotten a glimpse of why that might turn out to be ridiculous value.

Beck didn’t play Thursday against Las Vegas because of minor rib discomfort, but in Arizona’s Hall of Fame Game against Carolina the week before, he completed 15 of 19 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown.

That’s a 78.9% completion rate and nearly 10 yards per attempt in his first NFL action.

Again: preseason.

I know.

But it makes the larger question fascinating.

What if the original evaluations were right?

This is what I can’t stop thinking about.

What if NFL evaluators weren’t wrong about Drew Allar and Carson Beck when they initially viewed them as potential high-end NFL prospects?

What if we were wrong when we downgraded them?

Quarterbacks don’t play in laboratories.

Their offensive lines matter.

Their receivers matter.

Their tight ends matter.

Their coordinators matter.

Their head coaches matter.

Their confidence matters.

And in modern college football, where rosters can change dramatically from one season to the next because of the transfer portal and NFL departures, the environment around a quarterback can change almost overnight.

Allar lost Tyler Warren and played on a Penn State team that imploded badly enough for James Franklin to be fired during the season.

Beck lost Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey, struggled through a more difficult 2024 season at Georgia, got hurt, changed schools and then immediately looked like an elite college quarterback again at Miami.

Maybe that’s coincidence.

Maybe both guys really did have flaws exposed.

And maybe neither one ever becomes a successful NFL starter.

That’s entirely possible.

But consider what Pittsburgh and Arizona paid to find out.

The Steelers got Allar at No. 76.

The Cardinals got Beck at No. 65.

Two quarterbacks who, at different points in their college careers, generated legitimate first-round — even potential No. 1-pick — discussion were available in the third round.

Now neither organization has to rush them.

Aaron Rodgers isn’t Pittsburgh’s long-term future. He’s 42 years old.

Jacoby Brissett isn’t Arizona’s long-term future, either.

Eventually, there is going to be an opportunity.

And maybe we’re going to look back a few years from now and realize Pittsburgh and Arizona didn’t discover anything the rest of the NFL couldn’t see.

Maybe they simply remembered what everyone thought they saw in these quarterbacks before everything around them changed.

That’s what makes quarterback evaluation so fascinating.

Sometimes a quarterback gets better.

Sometimes he gets worse.

Sometimes we were simply wrong about him.

And sometimes the player never really changed at all.

Everything around him did.

Show Pony Media is presented by AR’s Hot Honey

A big thank you to AR’s Hot Honey for continuing to support Show Pony Media.

And after having founder Ames Russell on Show Pony Live yesterday, I have an even greater appreciation for what makes AR’s different.

The secret is really no secret at all: honey and peppers. That’s it.

No unnecessary additives. No junk. Ames explained how they blend wildflower and clover honey to create the flavor and consistency they want, then bring in the peppers for that perfect balance of sweet and heat.

It’s incredibly simple — and that’s the point. Great ingredients treated the right way make a great product.

If you missed my conversation with Ames yesterday, go check out the full episode of Show Pony Live. And if you want to try AR’s for yourself, use promo code SHOWPONY15 for 15% off your order.

AR’s Hot Honey: honey, peppers and nothing you don’t need.

Do you think the Steelers and Cardinals found their QB’s for the future? Drop comments below.

Ames Russell, founder of AR’s Hot Honey, joins me to talk about the craft behind what I believe is simply the best hot honey on the market.

Ames was one of the originals in the hot honey game, well before seemingly everybody decided they needed to make one. What has always separated AR’s for me is how ridiculously simple the product is: honey and peppers. That’s it. Two ingredients. No additives.

We talk about where the idea came from, the process behind making it, why quality ingredients matter and what it takes to build a food brand in an increasingly crowded category.

And yes, AR’s Hot Honey is a proud partner of Show Pony Media. You can support them and the show by using promo code SHOWPONY15 for 15% off your order.

Then we get into sports.

Does Kyler Murray give Minnesota a legitimate chance to win the NFC North?

I think he does.

Everybody seems ready to crown somebody else in that division, but I’m not ready to dismiss the Vikings. Murray gets an opportunity to reset his career in a fascinating situation, and Minnesota suddenly becomes one of the teams I’m most interested in watching this season.

We also dig into Northwestern’s recent $30+ million donation from a major booster and football parent. In the new world of college athletics, donations like this mean more than simply putting someone’s name on a building. They tell us something about where the sport is headed, how programs are going to compete and just how important wealthy supporters have become.

Finally, we head across the Atlantic.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have quietly spent years building an enormous footprint in the United Kingdom, including a flag football community that has reached more than 250,000 kids under the age of 10.

That number jumped out at me.

The Jaguars aren’t simply flying to London once a year, playing a football game and coming home. They’re attempting to create actual football fans at the grassroots level. If the NFL is serious about becoming a truly global league, what Jacksonville has built in the UK may be one of the most important experiments in the sport.

On today’s Show Pony Live: hot honey, the NFC North, the rapidly changing economics of college sports and the NFL’s international future.

Thanks, as always, for riding with the Show Pony.

ShowPonyMedia.com

I‘ve spent a good chunk of the last two days talking about this while filling in for Chris Russo on Mad Dog Unleashed.

And apparently I’ve struck a nerve.

Callers like Bill in Chevy Chase and the legendary Gummy Dave from Maryland have weighed in. Everybody seems to have a different answer for what the NFC North is going to look like.

The more we’ve talked about it, though, the more one question keeps bouncing around in my head:

Why not Minnesota?

Because there seems to be a coronation happening with the Chicago Bears. The Bears have arrived.

Caleb Williams is becoming a superstar. Ben Johnson has figured everything out. Chicago won 11 games, won the division and finally won a playoff game. Now they’re ready to take another giant step.

Maybe.

I’m not arguing that Chicago isn’t good. I’m asking something different:

Are we sure they’re that good?

Before We Crown the Bears...

There was something almost magical about Chicago’s 2025 season.

And magic can be difficult to reproduce.

The Bears finished with an NFL-best plus-22 turnover differential. They led the NFL with 33 takeaways while committing only 11 giveaways. It was the first time since the 2011 49ers that one team led the league in takeaways while also committing the fewest turnovers.

That’s incredible. It’s also a massive part of Chicago’s success that I’m not willing to automatically carry over into 2026.

Turnovers fluctuate. Then there were the comebacks. Chicago won six regular-season games after trailing in the final two minutes.

Six!

They did it once more against Green Bay in the playoffs, meaning the Bears won seven games between the regular season and postseason after trailing inside the final two minutes. No NFL team since at least the 1970 merger had done that.

That’s awesome. It says something about Caleb Williams. It says something about Ben Johnson. It says something about the belief that developed inside that team.

But I’m also not sure it’s a sustainable formula.

There is a difference between saying the Bears were lucky and saying some of the things that contributed to an 11-win season are difficult to reproduce.

I’m saying the latter.

So if the turnovers come back toward earth and two or three of those miraculous finishes go the other direction, what exactly are the 2026 Chicago Bears?

Still good? Absolutely.

The runaway favorite in the NFC North? I’m not there yet.

Which Brings Me Back to Minnesota

Seriously.

Why not the Vikings?

The NFL has this bizarre tendency to convince us that whatever happened last season establishes a permanent hierarchy.

It doesn’t. Minnesota went 9-8 last year. Do you remember what happened the year before that?

The Vikings went 14-3.

Kevin O’Connell didn’t suddenly forget how to coach football. Brian Flores didn’t suddenly forget how to coach defense. Justin Jefferson is still one of the best receivers on Earth. T.J. Hockenson is still there.

And now Minnesota has added perhaps the most fascinating reclamation project in the entire NFL.

Kyler Murray.

O’Connell officially named Murray the Vikings’ starting quarterback Tuesday after what Minnesota had characterized as a genuine competition with J.J. McCarthy.

And I can’t stop thinking about it.

Because we’ve seen something remarkably similar happen in Minnesota before.

Remember What Kevin O’Connell Did With Sam Darnold?

Think about what Sam Darnold was when he arrived in Minnesota. Talented.

Former high draft pick. Didn’t work with his original franchise.

Turnover prone. Questionable decision-making. Probably a bridge quarterback.

Then he got around Kevin O’Connell, Justin Jefferson and a functional offensive environment. Suddenly everybody had to reconsider whether Darnold himself had been the entire problem.

Now O’Connell gets Kyler Murray.

And here’s what’s interesting:

Kyler has already been considerably better in the NFL than Darnold was before arriving in Minnesota.

Murray isn’t some quarterback whose NFL success exists entirely in our imagination. We’ve seen it.

He was the No. 1 overall pick. He won Offensive Rookie of the Year.

He’s made two Pro Bowls.

In 2021, he completed 69.2% of his passes, threw 24 touchdowns in 14 games and finished with a 100.6 passer rating.

Arizona started that season 10-2.

Even as recently as 2024, Murray started all 17 games and completed 68.8% of his passes for 3,851 yards, 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, while adding 572 yards on the ground.

That’s not an elite quarterback season. But it’s certainly not evidence of a quarterback who can no longer play.

Which makes me wonder:

What if Kyler Murray was a square peg in a round hole?

What If Arizona Never Completely Figured Out Kyler?

I’m not absolving Murray.

There have been legitimate questions about consistency, preparation, durability and whether he ever developed enough as a traditional pocket passer to complement his extraordinary athletic ability.

Those questions don’t disappear because he’s wearing purple.

But sometimes the NFL becomes obsessed with forcing quarterbacks to become something they’re not.

Kyler Murray is 5-foot-10.

He’s an incredible athlete. He can create outside structure. He changes the geometry of a defense with his legs.

He can make throws from bizarre platforms that most quarterbacks wouldn’t even attempt.

Maybe the answer isn’t trying to transform Kyler Murray into the quarterback you’d design in a laboratory. Maybe the answer is designing an offense around the quarterback he actually is.

And doesn’t that sound like something Kevin O’Connell might be pretty damn good at?

O’Connell Doesn’t Need Kyler to Be Superman

This is what I love about Minnesota. Kyler doesn’t have to rescue this franchise. He has to play point guard.

Get the football to Justin Jefferson.

Use Hockenson.

Take what the defense gives you. Operate within O’Connell’s structure. And then, when everything breaks down?

Go be Kyler Murray.

That’s the combination that intrigues me. O’Connell provides the structure.

Murray provides the chaos. And Murray has everything in the world to play for. He’s 29 years old.

Arizona moved on. The gigantic contract is gone.

The expectations surrounding him have completely changed. This might be his last great opportunity to change the way his NFL career is remembered.

Play well in Minnesota and suddenly Kyler Murray isn’t the disappointing former No. 1 pick Arizona discarded. He’s a legitimate starting quarterback again.

Maybe even a really good one.

But I Have a J.J. McCarthy Concern

There is another side to this that we talked about on Mad Dog.

I worry about J.J. McCarthy.

Not because I know what he’s thinking. I don’t. Neither does anybody calling a radio show or writing a column.

But I think it’s fair to wonder where he is mentally and emotionally entering Year 3.

Think about what has happened. Minnesota drafted him 10th overall in 2024. He tore his meniscus and lost his entire rookie season. He finally got his opportunity in 2025 and struggled.

Then came more injuries — a high ankle sprain, a concussion and a hairline fracture in his throwing hand.

Now he’s entering Year 3 and has lost the quarterback competition to Murray. O’Connell continues to publicly emphasize McCarthy’s development and the importance of having him ready, so there is no basis for claiming McCarthy has checked out or lost confidence.

But come on. He’s human. Wouldn’t you wonder how he’s handling this? You lose your rookie year to injury. You finally get the job.

You don’t play particularly well.

You battle more injuries.

Then your organization brings in a quarterback another franchise discarded and he takes your job.

That’s adversity.

Maybe McCarthy responds beautifully. Maybe sitting behind Murray becomes the best thing that ever happened to him. Maybe it gives him time to develop without having an entire franchise sitting on his shoulders.

But Minnesota may need him.

Murray hasn’t exactly been Cal Ripken.

That’s the part of the Vikings that makes me nervous.

The Murray experiment could work spectacularly and Minnesota could still find itself needing McCarthy at some point. If that happens, what version of J.J. McCarthy are they getting?

I don’t know.

Neither does anybody else.

And What Exactly Are the Lions?

I’m also not burying Detroit. At all. The Lions went only 9-8 last season.

But here’s a number that should make everybody reconsider dismissing them:

Detroit had a plus-68 point differential.

Chicago’s was only plus-26.

That doesn’t mean Detroit was secretly better than Chicago. Wins matter.

But it does tell me Detroit wasn’t some bad football team that needs to be torn apart.

If the Lions can get their defense healthy and make enough improvement on that side of the ball to complement an offense that can still score, why exactly are we declaring their window closed?

I’m not.

Green Bay Scares Me for a Different Reason

The Packers are different.

My concern with Green Bay is whether they have enough depth to withstand the injuries that inevitably accumulate over a 17-game NFL season.

But if they’re healthy? I don’t want to play them. Jordan Love threw 23 touchdowns against only six interceptions last season.

At full strength, Green Bay can beat anybody in this division. So when I look at the NFC North, I don’t see Chicago and everybody else.

I see four fascinating teams with legitimate questions.

Chicago: Can they reproduce an NFL-best turnover margin and all those ridiculous late-game escapes?

Detroit: Can the defense improve enough to support an offense that was still productive?

Green Bay: Can they stay healthy enough to maximize a dangerous roster?

And then...

Minnesota: What happens if Kevin O’Connell fixes Kyler Murray?

That’s the one nobody seems to be talking about enough.

Could Minnesota Be This Year’s Seattle?

Every NFL season produces a team we collectively miss.

We spend the summer staring at last year’s standings and convincing ourselves we understand what’s coming.

Then a quarterback finds the right coach. A defense gets better. A few players rediscover themselves.

A team wins a couple games early. Confidence builds. And suddenly the team we had penciled in for eight or nine wins isn’t fighting for the final wild card.

It’s fighting for something much bigger. Why can’t that be Minnesota? I’m not predicting the Vikings win the Super Bowl.

I’m saying stop treating them like an afterthought.

They were 14-3 two seasons ago. They still won nine games during a messy 2025.

They have Kevin O’Connell.

They have Brian Flores.

They have Justin Jefferson.

And now O’Connell gets a 29-year-old former No. 1 overall pick and two-time Pro Bowler whose career has reached a crossroads.

Maybe Murray is cooked.

Maybe Arizona correctly concluded that the best version of Kyler Murray is gone.

Maybe McCarthy ends up playing significant snaps anyway. Those outcomes are entirely possible. But there’s another possibility. Maybe Arizona was simply the wrong situation at the wrong time. Maybe Murray needed a coach who understands exactly what he is instead of obsessing over what he isn’t.

Maybe playing with Justin Jefferson in Kevin O’Connell’s offense reminds everyone why Kyler Murray was the first player selected in the draft.

Maybe Minnesota becomes one of those teams we look back at in November and say:

How did we not see this coming?

That’s what I’ve been kicking around with callers on Mad Dog for the last couple of days.

Bill in Chevy Chase had thoughts.

Gummy Dave from Maryland had thoughts. Everybody has thoughts about this division.

Mine is pretty simple. I’m not ready to crown Chicago. I’m not burying Detroit. I don’t want anything to do with a healthy Green Bay team.

And Minnesota?

Why the hell not?

Sometimes careers end when a quarterback leaves his first franchise. Sometimes leaving is exactly what saves them.

Kevin O’Connell has already helped rewrite one quarterback’s story in Minnesota.

Now he gets Kyler Murray.

Sleep on that combination if you want.

I won’t.

Presented by AR’s Hot Honey

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Presented by AR’s Hot Honey

Before we get into the Jaguars, a quick word from the people who help make Show Pony Media possible.

AR’s Hot Honey has become a staple in the Childers household. Chicken biscuits, pizza, breakfast sandwiches — put it on basically anything that could use a little sweet heat and thank me later.

Go check out AR’s Hot Honey and use promo code SHOWPONY15 for 15% off your order.

Now, let’s go across the pond.

When I think of the Jacksonville Jaguars, I’ll admit my first thought isn’t exactly NFL glamour.

They’re not the Cowboys. They’re not the Steelers. They’re not the Packers, Giants or Eagles.

Jacksonville is a relatively small NFL market, and the Jaguars have never been one of those franchises that automatically commands the national spotlight every Sunday.

And yet, when it comes to the NFL’s future in the United Kingdom, I think the Jaguars may be one of the smartest organizations in the entire league.

I’ve been fascinated by the NFL’s international push for a while now. Part of that is probably because I am obsessed with English soccer and British sports culture in general. But I’ve also wondered whether American football could ever become something more than an occasional novelty overseas.

Today, while filling in on Mad Dog Unleashed, I got a chance to dig into that with Thomas Hensey, Co-Founder and COO of the Union Jack Classic.

And I came away from the conversation looking at Jacksonville completely differently.

Because the Jaguars aren’t just playing games in London. They’re helping build football in Britain. There is a massive difference.

Jacksonville Didn’t Just Visit. It Stayed.

This is the part I didn’t fully appreciate until talking with the founders of the Union Jack Classic. The Jaguars have a full-time operation in the United Kingdom.

Think about the significance of that.

This isn’t some marketing department in Jacksonville spending six months figuring out how to sell tickets for an October game at Wembley. They have people there. They have infrastructure there.

They have relationships there. And they’ve spent years learning the British sports market.

That commitment starts with Jaguars owner Shahid Khan, who also owns Fulham Football Club. So Khan isn’t dipping his toe into British sports. He’s immersed in it.

Meanwhile, the Jaguars have made London an enormous part of their identity, developing a presence around their games there and building relationships that extend well beyond game day.

Over time, they’ve essentially created a blueprint for how an American professional sports franchise can establish itself overseas.

And here’s the key:

This isn’t just about selling Jaguars jerseys.

It’s about growing the game.

Want to Grow Football? Give a Kid a Football.

One thing Hensey told me really jumped out.

According to him, more than 250,000 kids under the age of 10 are playing flag football in the UK.

That’s an incredible number.

We’re talking about a country with one of the richest sporting cultures on Earth, where soccer clubs aren’t simply teams — they’re practically civic institutions.

You’re not going to walk into Manchester and convince some 35-year-old who has lived and died with his football club since birth that he suddenly needs to become obsessed with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

That’s not how this works.

But give a football to a seven-year-old?

Now we’re talking. Let the kid throw it. Catch it. Run with it. Score a touchdown. Have fun.

That’s how you grow a sport.

The Jaguars’ JagTag program has been part of that effort, introducing kids to American football through a version of the game that’s inexpensive, accessible and easy to play.

And that’s where I think the NFL’s international strategy gets really interesting.

Because that seven-year-old doesn’t need to become a Jaguars fan tomorrow.

Maybe he becomes a player. Maybe she becomes a coach. Maybe they become NFL fans. Maybe they start watching college football.

Maybe 25 years from now they’re taking their own kids to Wembley for an NFL game.

That’s how sports cultures develop. Not through marketing campaigns. Through generations.

Roger Goodell Deserves a Ton of Credit, Too

I know. I know.

Giving Roger Goodell credit isn’t exactly America’s favorite pastime.

But he deserves a lot here. The international growth of the game will ultimately be his legacy.

The NFL recognized years ago that its growth opportunities couldn’t be limited to the United States. Obviously there’s a business motivation. Nobody should be naive about that.

More countries mean more viewers.More viewers mean more media rights. More sponsors. More merchandise.

More money.

Welcome to professional sports.

But something else happened along the way.

The NFL discovered there are people around the world who genuinely love this game once they’re exposed to it. London has become the ultimate proof of concept. Remember when an NFL game in England felt like a gimmick?

It doesn’t anymore.

Wembley has become synonymous with the NFL’s British presence. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium might be the best NFL facility outside the United States.

And multiple NFL games in London every fall now feel completely normal.

That’s not an experiment.

That’s a market.

And the Numbers Are Starting to Get Serious

Hensey told me the NFL has developed a fan base of roughly 14 million people in Great Britain, including around 4 million avid fans.

Whether you’re talking about Jacksonville or Dallas, those are numbers worth paying attention to.

And Hensey wasn’t the first person from the UK football community who has told me this.

My friend George Sommerville of College Chaps, based in Glasgow, has talked with me about just how passionate the hardcore American football community has become over there.

These aren’t people casually watching the Super Bowl because it’s something to do.

There are legitimate football sickos in Britain.

My kind of people.

The people who will watch a random college football game at an ungodly hour because apparently we all made terrible life decisions.

And demand for NFL tickets reflects it.

Tickets for London games can disappear almost immediately.

People want this.

The NFL deserves credit for creating awareness.

But Jacksonville deserves credit for something more difficult.

They stayed.

Then There’s the Union Jack Classic

This is where today’s conversation really got my attention.

The Union Jack Classic is trying to bring something uniquely American to the UK: College football. Not an NFL game. Not an exhibition.

College football.

The bands. The cheerleaders. The traditions. The pageantry.

The entire wonderfully ridiculous spectacle that makes college football unlike anything else in sports.

And if you’ve read Show Pony Media for more than five minutes, you know that’s the stuff I care about. College football isn’t merely the 60 minutes between kickoff and the final whistle.

It’s the experience.

It’s why people start tailgating six hours before kickoff. It’s why grown adults argue about fight songs.

College football is weird.

And beautiful.

And uniquely American.

The Union Jack Classic wants to introduce Britain to that.

But there’s a problem. Putting an American football game inside a British soccer stadium isn’t as simple as painting some lines on the field. Locker rooms. Coaches’ boxes. Goal posts. Sideline configurations. Equipment. Game-day operations.

There are a thousand little things most fans never think about.

You know who has spent years figuring all of that out?

The Jacksonville Jaguars.

“The Tip of the Spear”

Hensey told me something that probably best summarizes Jacksonville’s role in all of this:

The Union Jack Classic couldn’t do what it’s trying to do without the Jaguars.

The Jaguars actually offered to help.

Rob Yowell of the Union Jack Classic was on Full Ride with Rick and I last week and sang a similar tune. He described the Jaguars as fantastic partners, assisting with the infrastructure and logistical challenges that come with staging American football in a stadium designed primarily for soccer.

And Yowell used a phrase I absolutely loved.

He called the Jaguars:

“The tip of the spear.”

That’s exactly what they are. They’re the organization out front.

Learning. Experimenting. Making mistakes. Figuring things out. Building relationships.

And then helping other people grow the game.

Yowell put it even more simply:

“The Jaguars are huge in growth of the game.”

That’s a pretty remarkable position for an NFL franchise to occupy.

This Is Bigger Than Creating Jaguars Fans

And I think this is where Jacksonville deserves the most credit. The Jaguars aren’t simply trying to create Jaguars fans. They’re helping create football fans. That’s a much bigger opportunity.

There is already a domestic American football ecosystem developing in Britain.

The British American Football Association has an established game with multiple levels and thousands of participants. The Union Jack Classic is involved with that domestic football community and serves as title sponsor and key partner.

Then there’s youth flag football.

And now comes something that could pour gasoline on the entire thing:

The Olympics.

Flag football will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

I don’t think we should underestimate what that could mean internationally. The Olympics give young athletes something every sport desperately needs.

A dream.

A British kid doesn’t necessarily have to dream about becoming Patrick Mahomes. Maybe she dreams about winning a gold medal for Great Britain.

Maybe he dreams about playing college football in America. Maybe another kid simply falls in love with playing flag football and eventually becomes an NFL fan.

It doesn’t matter.

The gateway is the game. Get the football into their hands. The rest can happen organically.

Jacksonville Figured This Out Before Most

That’s what I kept thinking about after my conversation with Hensey.

The Jaguars may never have the history of Green Bay. They may never have the national following of Dallas. Jacksonville may never be one of America’s great sports markets.

But maybe none of that matters for this particular conversation.

Because the Jaguars recognized something incredibly important:

International sports markets are built through commitment, not appearances.

You can’t parachute into London once a year, throw some Union Jacks around the stadium, sell a bunch of merchandise and declare victory.

You have to be there. You need people on the ground. You need relationships. You need youth programs. You need to understand the stadiums. You need to understand the culture.

And perhaps most importantly, you need to help people who are already trying to grow the sport.

The Jaguars have done that.

Full-time operation in the UK.

Years of games in London.

Shahid Khan’s ownership of Fulham.

JagTag. Youth football. Relationships throughout British sports.

Now assistance with projects like the Union Jack Classic. That’s not a promotional stunt.

That’s a strategy.

The Jaguars’ Biggest Win Might Come Thousands of Miles From Jacksonville

There’s something wonderfully ironic about all of this.

I’ve spent years viewing Jacksonville as one of those NFL franchises somewhere below the league’s glamour teams.

Maybe I’ve been looking at them through the wrong lens.

Because their greatest strategic advantage might not be what they’ve built in northern Florida.

It might be what they’re helping build thousands of miles away.

London.

Manchester.

Birmingham.

Glasgow.

And everywhere else a kid picks up an American football for the first time.

The Jaguars are essentially making a bet on the football fan of 2035, 2040 and 2050.

Maybe that fan’s first experience with the sport isn’t watching the Jaguars at Wembley.

Maybe it’s playing flag football at eight years old. Then they watch an NFL game. Then they discover college football. Then they pick a team.

Then football becomes part of their sporting life.

And eventually they have kids. That’s how you plant roots. The NFL isn’t simply visiting Britain anymore.

It’s becoming part of the British sports landscape.

And the Jacksonville Jaguars may deserve more credit for that than any other franchise in the league.

For a team I’ve always thought of as a relatively small-market NFL operation, that’s one hell of a position to have carved out.

Maybe the Jaguars aren’t simply playing in the UK. Maybe they’re helping build the NFL’s next great market.

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What exactly happened in Washington last week?

For a few hours, it looked like the Protect College Sports Act might actually find a way across the finish line before the Senate left town for its August recess.

It didn’t.

Trey Wallace of OutKick joins me on today’s Show Pony Live after living the story in real time. Trey was up into the early morning hours working his sources and trying to figure out whether lawmakers could pull off a last-minute deal to get the bill to a vote.

He takes us behind the scenes of a wild night: what he was hearing from sources, why the legislation ultimately stalled, what may have been added to the bill at the last minute, and whether there is actually a path to passage when Congress returns in September.

And September could be enormously important.

Trey gives his prediction for what happens next with the Protect College Sports Act — and what passage, failure or further delay could mean for the future of college athletics.

But our conversation goes beyond Washington.

We also dig into another enormous battle developing behind the scenes: the future size of the College Football Playoff and the role television networks could play in deciding it.

There are billions of dollars at stake.

We discuss why ESPN may have little incentive to dramatically expand the playoff while it controls the current media rights, and why FOX could benefit from a much larger postseason — potentially as many as 24 teams — that could eventually put those rights back on the open market.

That creates a fascinating question:

Are the conferences really deciding the future of the College Football Playoff — or are their television partners increasingly helping shape what that future looks like?

Trey is one of the most plugged-in reporters covering the intersection of college sports, politics and the rapidly changing business of the industry. This conversation provides a window into just how complicated the next few months could become.

On today’s Show Pony Live:

• Trey’s late-night reporting as the Protect College Sports Act hung in the balance

• Why the Senate ultimately left Washington without voting on it

• What could happen when lawmakers return in September

• What the bill would actually mean for college sports

• Why the fight over CFP expansion isn’t simply about football

• ESPN’s incentive to protect its current playoff position

• Why FOX could benefit from expansion and another opportunity to bid on CFP rights

• Whether a 24-team College Football Playoff is becoming a legitimate possibility

The structure of college sports is being decided right now — in conference offices, television boardrooms, courtrooms and the halls of Congress.

Trey Wallace helps us make sense of all of it.

Show Pony Live — presented by AR’s Hot Honey.

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Subscribe to Show Pony Media for more independent coverage and conversations about the rapidly changing world of college sports.

Presented by AR’s Hot Honey

Before we get into this, a word from the people who help make Show Pony Media possible.

If you haven’t tried AR’s Hot Honey, what are you doing? Put it on chicken, biscuits, pizza, breakfast sandwiches — basically anything that needs a little sweet heat. I’ve become legitimately addicted to the stuff.

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Now, onto something considerably less sweet.

The SEC-Big Ten Split Now Feels Inevitable

I was up until almost 2 a.m. Friday night watching X.

That sentence alone probably tells you how deranged I am about college sports.

Ross Dellenger and the other college sports insiders were tweeting updates about this bizarre, late-night congressional process surrounding the Protect College Sports Act. There was talk of the Senate hotline. Negotiations. Amendments. Objections. Maybe a last-minute breakthrough.

And I kept refreshing.

And refreshing.

And refreshing.

I wanted the Hail Mary.

I wanted Kordell Stewart to roll left and launch the damn thing into the Ann Arbor night.

I wanted Michael Westbrook waiting in the end zone.

Just give me one miracle.

It never came.

The Senate left Washington without voting on the Protect College Sports Act. The legislation isn’t officially dead — another attempt is expected after the August recess — but that night felt significant to me.

And I was genuinely sad.

Which is weird, because I didn’t even love the bill.

I Didn’t Need Perfect. I Needed Something.

Read more

On tonight’s episode of Show Pony Live, presented by AR’s Hot Honey, Northern Illinois Athletic Director Sean Frazier joins me for one of the most insightful conversations you’ll hear about where college sports are headed.

Northern Illinois is entering its first football season in the Mountain West Conference, a move that represents far more than a change in opponents. It’s a strategic decision in an era where athletic directors must think as CEOs, balancing finances, competitive success, media exposure, student-athlete experience, and long-term sustainability.

We dive into:

• Why NIU made the move to the Mountain West.

• How the Huskies are preparing for their first season in a brand-new league.

• The realities of conference realignment.

• Managing NIL and the transfer portal.

• What life is like for a Group of Five athletic director in today’s rapidly changing landscape.

• Whether college sports are finally settling into a new normal—or if even bigger changes are still coming.

Sean has earned a reputation as one of the most respected administrators in college athletics because he’s willing to think differently. As schools across the country wrestle with unprecedented challenges, Northern Illinois has embraced a long-term strategy centered on increasing revenue, strengthening its brand, and positioning itself for the future.

If you’re interested in where college athletics is headed—not just this season, but over the next decade—you’ll want to hear this conversation.

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe to Show Pony Media so you never miss an episode.

Presented by AR’s Hot Honey. Use promo code SHOWPONY15 to save 15% on your order.

Twenty-four days.

That’s all that separates us from the return of college football.

Fittingly, the season won’t begin in Tuscaloosa, Columbus or Austin. It’ll begin more than 3,500 miles away.

TCU and North Carolina will kick off the 2026 season at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, continuing what has quietly become one of the sport’s most fascinating traditions.

The Aer Lingus College Football Classic has become college football’s annual opening act overseas. The modern series has featured some intriguing matchups, including games between Nebraska and Northwestern, followed by Notre Dame-Navy, Georgia Tech-Florida State and Iowa State-Kansas State in recent years. It’s the product of years of work by Irish tourism officials, Aer Lingus and Irish American Events, who have made Dublin an annual destination for college football while showcasing Ireland to millions of American viewers.

It’s no longer viewed as a novelty.

It’s part of the calendar.

And it got me thinking.

We’ve spent decades talking about college football expanding conferences, television contracts and the College Football Playoff. Maybe we’ve been looking in the wrong direction.

Maybe the biggest expansion isn’t happening inside the United States.

Maybe it’s happening outside of it.

The NFL has been laying the foundation for international growth for years.

The International Series began in London in 2007. Today, regular-season games are played across London, Germany, Brazil, Spain and soon Australia. Roger Goodell has made global expansion one of the league’s defining priorities, with the NFL openly discussing a future where every franchise plays internationally on a rotating basis.

But the NFL isn’t just exporting games.

It’s exporting the sport itself.

Read more

Daley is not some fringe roster player, either. He led Indiana with 17 tackles for loss last season. His return is a major development for the Hoosiers, but the ruling also opens the door to a much larger conversation about eligibility, roster management and just how chaotic college sports has become.

We get into what this decision could mean across the country, because Indiana will not be the only school trying to take advantage of it.

We also discuss the fallout at Boston College after the school fired longtime basketball broadcasters Kevin Collins and Josh Maurer. Broadcasters are not disposable. They are the connection between a program and its fans, and too often the people making these decisions have no appreciation for the craft, history or human beings involved.

Finally, we look at college sports’ growing obsession with hiring executives from professional sports. Every school suddenly wants someone from the NFL, NBA or Major League Baseball to come in and “modernize” the operation.

But is that really what college athletics needs?

College sports keeps trying to become professional sports while forgetting the traditions, communities and relationships that made it special in the first place.

All of that and more on today’s edition of Show Pony Live.

Presented by AR’s Hot Honey. Use promo code SHOWPONY15 for 15% off at ARsHotHoney.com.

I am furious about this.

According to a report from Awful Announcing, Boston College has fired longtime men’s basketball broadcasters Kevin Collins and Josh Maurer because new head coach Luke Murray reportedly did not want anyone associated with the previous regime remaining around the program.

What an absolute disgrace.

Collins and Maurer had worked together calling Boston College basketball for nine seasons. Collins had been part of the broadcasts for 13 years, surviving three head coaches and five athletic directors. They were not assistant coaches. They were not responsible for recruiting. They were not designing the offense, managing the roster or deciding who played.

They were broadcasters.

Yet, according to the report, Murray wanted a “fresh coat of paint” and no remnants of the past around the program. The broadcasters were reportedly treated as part of the previous program’s “losing mentality,” even though Murray had never bothered to meet either man.

Give me a break. What a complete clown!

Imagine being so self-important that you walk into your first head-coaching job and apparently decide the voices who have faithfully served the school must be purged because they remind you of the past.

Does Luke Murray need to sage the radio booth, too?

Should Boston College repaint every hallway Collins and Maurer walked through? Should it remove every fan who attended games during the previous coaching staff? What about the ushers? The equipment managers? The people selling concessions?

This is ridiculous.

More importantly, it is cruel.

These are human beings with careers, families, responsibilities and bills. Full-season broadcasting jobs are incredibly difficult to find, especially this late in the calendar. Collins and Maurer were reportedly informed only days before August 1, leaving them almost no opportunity to secure comparable work for the upcoming season.

That matters.

This is the part people in power too often forget. They make a decision in an office, call it a “new direction” and move along with their lives. Meanwhile, the people on the other end have just lost income, security, identity and a job they may have spent their entire careers pursuing.

(Yes, that is a direct shot at radio programmers who say this to hosts all the time)

Broadcasting is not some interchangeable service performed by whoever happens to be holding the microphone.

It is an art form.

It requires preparation, storytelling, timing, chemistry, knowledge and trust. Great broadcasters become the connection between the fan and the team. They are there for the long bus rides, the ugly losses, the rebuilding seasons and the games nobody else wants to watch.

They give those games meaning.

Kevin Collins grew up a Boston College fan and described calling the Eagles as something close to a childhood dream. He reportedly handled engineering, play-by-play and color responsibilities, sometimes working road games alone, while providing the value of multiple positions on a limited budget.

His reward?

He was discarded by a coach who apparently would not even give him 15 minutes.

Collins and Maurer repeatedly tried to introduce themselves to Murray. Collins reportedly even offered to provide a catered lunch for the staff in exchange for a brief meeting. They never got one. Collins later offered to remain only as an engineer, without an on-air role, and was still rejected.

That detail tells you everything.

This was apparently not a decision based on performance. Murray did not listen, evaluate, meet with them or attempt to establish a working relationship. Based on the account given to Awful Announcing, he simply wanted anybody but them.

That is not leadership.

That is arrogance.

Real leaders do not walk into a new organization and immediately treat every person who came before them as contaminated. Real leaders evaluate people individually. They listen. They ask questions. They respect institutional knowledge.

They understand that human beings are not old furniture to be thrown onto the curb during a renovation.

Boston College’s athletic administration is just as responsible.

A first-time head coach should never possess the unchecked power to remove longtime broadcasters who do not report to him and have no control over the team’s performance. An athletic director’s job is not simply to surrender every time a new coach makes an unreasonable demand.

Someone needed to say no.

Someone needed to say, “These men have served Boston College professionally for more than a decade. You will meet them, work with them and evaluate them fairly before we consider replacing them.”

Instead, the school apparently allowed Murray to have his way.

Boston College has not even announced a replacement team. According to Awful Announcing, the school is conducting an open search without specific successors already in place.

So what urgent problem was being solved?

There wasn’t one.

Two experienced broadcasters lost their jobs so a new coach could feel as though every trace of the previous era had been erased.

Boston College should hire Kevin Collins and Josh Maurer back immediately.

If the athletic director and administration are unwilling to stand up for employees who faithfully served the university, they should seriously reconsider whether they are qualified to lead it. Their responsibility extends beyond satisfying the latest coach occupying an office.

As for Luke Murray, he should reflect on what leadership actually means.

It is easy to preach culture when you hold all the power. It is much harder to demonstrate character when dealing with people who cannot do anything for you.

Murray had an opportunity to meet two broadcasters who loved Boston College, learn about their work and decide for himself whether they could help promote his program.

Instead, according to this report, he had their livelihoods taken away without ever sitting across from them.

I hope Collins and Maurer land somewhere that appreciates their talent and loyalty. Broadcast jobs like these do not grow on trees, and neither do broadcasters willing to devote years of their lives to one program.

Boston College took them for granted.

The school should be ashamed.

One of the most interesting takeaways? Ryan believes something felt...different.

For years, SEC Media Days felt like the center of the college football universe. This year, he says some of the league’s swagger seemed to be missing. Is it simply the changing landscape of college athletics? Is the conference no longer carrying itself with the same confidence? We dive into why the vibe felt different and what it could mean moving forward.

We also tackle one of the biggest stories hanging over the sport: the Protect College Sports Act. Is meaningful federal legislation actually getting closer, or are we still a long way from any real stability? We discuss the latest momentum and what it could mean for the future of college athletics.

Of course, no conversation about Alabama is complete without talking football.

We break down the Crimson Tide quarterback competition, who has the inside track to win the job, and what Kalen DeBoer needs from the position this fall. We also debate whether Alabama has done enough to fix the rushing attack after last season’s struggles. If the Tide can’t consistently run the football, can they realistically compete for an SEC Championship or College Football Playoff berth?

Finally, we put Alabama under the microscope. Is this truly a playoff-caliber team? Are expectations being set too high—or are people sleeping on the Tide entering 2026?

It’s a loaded conversation covering Alabama, the SEC, and the biggest issues shaping the future of college football.

On today’s episode:

• Ryan Fowler’s biggest takeaway from SEC Media Days

• Has the SEC lost some of its swagger?

• The latest on the Protect College Sports Act

• Alabama’s quarterback battle

• Can the Tide finally fix the rushing attack?

• Is Alabama a legitimate College Football Playoff contender?

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Here goes again. An all too often recurring bitch fest about the direction of college sports from yours truly.

The Big East has hired Tim Brosnan, a longtime Major League Baseball executive, as its next commissioner.

My first reaction?

Damn It? Not another one!

Seriously...why are we so convinced that professional sports executives are the answer to fixing college athletics?

This isn’t just the Big East either.

The Big Ten hired Tony Petitti from Major League Baseball.

The Big 12 hired Brett Yormark from the professional sports world.

Now the Big East follows the same blueprint.

Apparently the hottest qualification for running a college conference is...not having spent your career in college sports. If you view sports as purely a way to make money, it looks like you are now qualified to run things.

And maybe that’s because the old college sports establishment completely blew it.

Let’s be honest.

For decades they sat on billions of dollars while refusing to modernize the system. Television money exploded. Coaches started making eight, ten, even thirteen million dollars a year. Athletic departments built palaces. Administrators kept telling everyone the athletes were “amateurs.”

Meanwhile, the people actually creating the product couldn’t even monetize their own name.

I’ve screamed about this for years.

College sports should have always been run as a nonprofit enterprise. The goal should have been creating educational opportunities for young people, not becoming another professional league. If there were billions to spend, those resources should have gone back into scholarships, athlete support, academic services, health care, and the people generating the revenue.

Instead, everyone else got rich. Like usual. People suck. Especially, people with power. I will believe as long as live that people who want power, should never have it and the people who don’t want it should be put in charge by hook or crook.

Then came the Alston decision.

Everything changed.

Now we have NIL, the transfer portal, revenue sharing, collectives, and a sport that looks more like free agency than college football.

So I understand why conferences looked outside the traditional college world. I don’t like it and I am flat out against it but based on how things have evolved against my will, I understand it.

But here’s where I get stuck.

Why Major League Baseball?

Have you looked at Major League Baseball lately?

The league has become the poster child for competitive imbalance.

The Dodgers seem capable of signing anyone they want. Every offseason another superstar ends up in Los Angeles. This week they added Tarik Skubal to a roster that already looked like an All-Star team. Whether you’re a Dodgers fan or not, it’s fair to ask whether the economic system is producing enough competitive balance.

Even beyond the Dodgers, MLB and the Players Association continue to face major labor tensions, with many observers already warning about the possibility of another work stoppage when the current collective bargaining agreement expires.

So let me get this straight.

College athletics—which is desperately trying to figure out governance, competitive balance, athlete compensation, and long-term stability—is looking to executives from a league wrestling with many of those same issues?

That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Now, to be fair, this isn’t really about Tim Brosnan.

By all accounts, he’s respected. He’s smart. He has decades of executive experience. He may wind up being an outstanding commissioner.

This is about the philosophy.

Why have we decided that the future of college athletics should look more and more like professional sports? Can’t we hit the stop button!

Every hire seems to move us another step in that direction. Every conversation turns to private equity. Investment firms. Commercialization. Media rights. Revenue optimization.

Somewhere along the way we’ve stopped talking about campuses, students, traditions, marching bands, rivalries, and what made college sports different in the first place.

That’s the part that bothers me.

Because here’s my dilemma.

The old college administrators got us into this mess. They ignored reality for too long. They refused to evolve. They fought every change until the courts forced them to change.

But now the replacement seems to be executives whose entire professional lives have been spent maximizing revenue in professional sports. Neither option feels right.

It’s like choosing between two quarterbacks you don’t trust on fourth-and-goal. One drove the car into the ditch.

The other wants to replace it with a race car.

And maybe that’s why I’ve become such a UEFA guy.

I know, I know. It sounds ridiculous. No governing body is perfect. But lately, they’re about the only major sports organization that seems willing to say, “Maybe not every decision should be about squeezing out another dollar.”

When FIFA President Gianni Infantino pushed the idea of selling off commercial rights to the World Cup through outside investment, UEFA was one of the biggest forces pushing back. More recently, UEFA announced ticket pricing plans for Euro 2028 that are designed to keep a significant number of seats affordable for actual supporters instead of turning every marquee event into a luxury experience.

Imagine that.

Protecting fans.

Protecting the sport.

Protecting the idea that not everything has to be monetized to the absolute limit.

Maybe I’m becoming a European soccer romantic, but I respect the hell out of that philosophy. If preserving the integrity of the game makes me a UEFA fanboy, so be it. I’ll dedicate my life to their cause. (Okay...maybe not my life. But you get the point.)

That’s what I keep searching for in college sports—a governing philosophy that remembers the sport exists because people love it, not because private equity firms or television executives see another revenue stream.

And I’m not convinced either gets us where college sports should be.

Maybe this is just nostalgia talking.

Maybe I’m chasing something that can never exist again.

But I miss the feeling college football used to have.

Take me back to 1995.

Northwestern is making its improbable run to the Rose Bowl. Saturdays felt magical. Rivalries mattered more than television inventory. Sure, there were under-the-table payments. Sure, there were stories like Eric Dickerson and the gold Trans Am. The sport was never completely clean.

But it still felt like college.

Today, it often feels like a professional league wearing school colors.

And every time another conference hires another executive from professional sports...

I can’t help but wonder if we’re moving even farther away from what made college athletics worth loving in the first place.

How do you feel about the hiring of pro sports guys as leaders in college sports? Let me know in the comments!

In this episode, we break down the biggest headlines from Big Ten Media Days, with a special focus on Indiana football and Michigan football following their appearances on the final day. We also discuss the most notable comments from Pat Fitzgerald, Matt Campbell, Bret Bielema, and Dan Lanning, and what their remarks could mean heading into the 2026 college football season.

From quarterback storylines and conference contenders to the biggest takeaways from coaches and players, we separate the coachspeak from the news that actually matters. Even though I wasn’t on-site in Chicago, this episode brings together the key moments, reactions, and analysis from all three days of Big Ten Media Days.

Whether you’re a fan of Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Indiana, Oregon, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, or any other Big Ten program, this episode will get you caught up on the conference’s biggest preseason storylines.

Presented by AR’s Hot Honey. Use promo code SHOWPONY15 at checkout to save on your order.

Today featured one of the dumbest mistakes I’ve made in a long time.

And it was completely my fault.

I’m down on 30A with my family, and for those of you who don’t know, 30A is on Central Time. Apparently, I forgot that little detail.

This morning we went to the beach, played in the ocean, had an absolute blast. The whole time I was thinking, “I’ve got plenty of time. Mad Dog starts at 3.”

Except... it starts at 3 p.m. Eastern.

That means it starts at 2 p.m. here.

Our rule at SiriusXM is to connect about 30 minutes before airtime. Meanwhile, I’m standing in the Gulf completely oblivious while everyone back in New York is wondering where the heck I am.

Apparently there were multiple missed calls.

Finally I looked at my phone and saw a text from Colin telling me to connect immediately. I remember thinking, “Why are they wanting me so early?”

I was unsure, but I joined the Zoom as he asked. I connected at about 1:57 local time, and suddenly I was live three minutes later. Needless to say, I was sweating through that entire first segment. Full-on panic mode was happening inside. I was so confused!

I was embarrassed. Mad at myself. And honestly still trying to figure out what day and what time zone I was in.

Sometimes life humbles you.

Thankfully, the show settled in after that.

One of the highlights was catching up with my longtime partner, Rick Neuheisel. Since Full Ride has been preempted this week for conference media days coverage, it was fun getting to talk football together again.

Rick is at the Big Ten Media Days, and one thing immediately stood out.

He said the atmosphere couldn’t have been more different from what we heard coming out of SEC Media Days last week.

The SEC felt... frustrated.

There were conversations about congressional help, the future of college sports, playoff politics, and even whether the conference could someday split away from the NCAA. It felt tense.

The Big Ten?

Rick described it as a celebration.

Commissioner Tony Petitti made another strong push for a 24-team College Football Playoff, and the entire league seems to be walking around with tremendous confidence.

Honestly, why wouldn’t they?

The biggest story in college athletics right now isn’t coaching.

It isn’t recruiting.

It isn’t X’s and O’s.

It’s money.

Indiana has gone from being one of the sport’s underdogs to a legitimate power because resources have exploded. Curt Cignetti has become one of the hottest names in coaching.

Michigan State suddenly has significant NIL backing.

Illinois has wealthy alumni stepping up in major ways.

In today’s pay-for-play era, the schools with billionaire and millionaire support have enormous advantages.

Right now, the Big Ten feels like the conference of the “haves.”

Until meaningful rules exist around NIL and revenue sharing, that’s probably not changing.

Rick also ran into Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel.

Considering everything that’s happened—from the $12 million investigation into Michigan athletics to the announcement that he’ll be leaving his position—it had to be an awkward week.

Rick told Warde he respected him for showing up despite everything surrounding the situation.

Warde’s response was simple.

“I did my job. I have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Whether everyone agrees with that is another conversation entirely.

It was certainly one of the more interesting moments Rick shared from Chicago.

As for me?

I’ll be setting multiple alarms before every show the rest of this trip.

Trust me.

I’m not making that mistake twice.

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Thanks to AR’s Hot Honey for supporting Show Pony Media—and thank you for reading.

Sunderland Till I Die?

As most of you know by now, I love soccer.

Not just a little. It’s my biggest sporting passion.

Why? The people.

You all saw it during the World Cup. That’s why I love this sport. The singing. The dancing. The chanting. The scarves held high. Entire cities living and dying with ninety minutes every weekend. I’m completely obsessed.

And no country does it better than England.

I’ve been an English football fan for years. Every Saturday morning you’ll find me on the couch with an energy drink in hand, watching Premier League matches before most people in America are even awake. I love all of it.

But for the last several years, my heart has belonged to a little club called Chesterfield.

They’re currently in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. I actually became a supporter because the club was in serious financial trouble years ago. They needed supporters. I bought shares in the club to do my tiny part to help, and somewhere along the way, I fell completely in love.

They’re not a giant.

They’re proud.

I’ve even been featured in a book about Chesterfield because the author wanted to know how some random guy from Tennessee became emotionally invested in a football club in Derbyshire. I’ve sponsored players’ jerseys (Go, Jeff King). I’ve celebrated promotions. I’ve suffered relegations. It makes absolutely no sense...and perfect sense at the same time.

Maybe that’s because Chesterfield fits who I am.

I don’t naturally gravitate toward the glamour clubs. I like grit. I like people fighting against the odds. I like heartbreak because that’s life. Most of us aren’t born into championships and luxury. We struggle. We work. We hope.

My SiriusXM co-host Rick Neuheisel? He’s Manchester City. Arsenal. Liverpool. Maybe even Real Madrid. He’s polished. Successful. Country club. Golf guy. Won Rose Bowl championships. Everything seems to work out.

Me?

Give me the club that has been knocked down five times and keeps getting back up.

That’s why, as much as I’ve always enjoyed watching Arsenal, they never quite felt like mine.

My wife and I went to the Emirates a couple of years ago to watch Arsenal play Everton. It was magical. I cheered my heart out. I celebrated when they won the Premier League this past season.

But it still didn’t feel like the Chicago Bears.

Or even Chesterfield.

Maybe that’s because I grew up in Chicago instead of North London.

Or maybe it’s because fandom isn’t just about success. It’s about belonging. Which brings me to Sunderland.

Ever since the World Cup ended, I’ve been dealing with the same withdrawal every soccer fan has experienced.

Thankfully, the Premier League scheduled a preseason match in Nashville between Liverpool and Sunderland.

Usually, when I cover sporting events, I’m there because of SiriusXM. This time was different. For the first time, I applied for media credentials representing my own company, Show Pony Media.

That was a cool feeling.

When I applied, I casually mentioned to the event’s media director, Callum, that I’d be hosting for Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on Mad Dog Unleashed Thursday and Friday. I told him it would be a great opportunity to introduce Sunderland to an American audience.

They immediately jumped on it.

Not only that, they asked if I knew anyone else in American media who might be interested.

Absolutely.

The club had just unveiled one of the coolest jerseys I’ve ever seen—its Elvis-inspired away kit. Pink with black shoulders, inspired by Elvis’ iconic jumpsuits. It was created because “Can’t Help Falling in Love” has become Sunderland’s anthem, sung by tens of thousands before every home match at the Stadium of Light. It’s one of the most emotional traditions in English football.

I wanted people here to hear that story.

So I started making calls.

We arranged interviews on SiriusXM FC.

The Highway.

Storme Warren on TuneIn’s Big 615.

104.5 The Zone in Nashville.

Even SiriusXM’s Elvis channel.

Ian Taylor, Sunderland’s communications director, opened the door. I just tried to help however I could. That’s who I am. If I believe in something, I’ll pour everything I have into it.

The club couldn’t have been more appreciative.

They invited my wife and daughter to the match as their guests. My daughter has fallen in love with soccer recently, so that meant the world to us.

When CEO Tom Burwell came into our SiriusXM studios, they surprised me with a jersey signed by club legends Kevin Phillips and Kevin Ball. That wasn’t necessary. But it meant a lot.

Tom joined me live in Nashville, and I asked him a simple question.

“Why Sunderland?” Because that’s what Americans keep asking me. Who should I support?

Tom didn’t sell trophies.

He sold identity.

Sunderland isn’t London.

It isn’t glamorous.

It’s a proud working-class city in England’s northeast built on coal mining, shipbuilding, and industry. Generations of families worked incredibly hard, and through good times and bad, Sunderland AFC became the heartbeat of the community.

Football isn’t entertainment there.

It’s identity.

Founded in 1879, Sunderland became one of England’s great historic clubs, winning six English league championships and two FA Cups. They were once among the country’s giants.

Then came decades of decline. Relegation. Financial struggles. Ownership changes.

Heartbreak.

Millions of people around the world got to witness that pain through the Netflix documentary Sunderland ‘Til I Die, one of the best sports documentaries ever made. Instead of hiding from failure, Sunderland let cameras capture every painful moment.

Fans kept showing up. Forty thousand people.

In League One.

The third division.

Think about that. Most clubs would disappear. Sunderland didn’t.

Eventually, after years of frustration, they clawed their way back. Promotion to the Championship. Then promotion back to the Premier League.

They earned it.

Nothing was handed to them. As I listened to Tom tell that story, something clicked. This felt familiar.

Blue-collar.

Loyal.

Hopeful.

Heartbroken.

Determined.

It sounded a lot like college football.

It sounded a lot like the Chicago Bears.

Honestly...

It sounded a lot like me.

Then something unexpected happened. The Premier League announced supporter watch parties across America for opening weekend.

Each club would have its own city.

Sunderland’s?

Nashville.

I offered to host it.

And they said yes.

So here I am.

The guy who randomly bought shares in Chesterfield years ago because he wanted to help a struggling football club.

Now helping another proud English club tell its story in America.

Life is funny like that.

Will Sunderland ever replace Chesterfield?

No.

But could Sunderland become my Premier League club?

It sure looks like it.

Maybe this is how these things happen. Not because you pick a team. Because somehow... The team picks you.

Maybe, just maybe...

I’m Sunderland ‘Til I Die.

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We also discussed Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel’s reported $7 million buyout, another reminder of just how much money is now flowing through college athletics. Athletic directors, coaches, television networks, conferences—everything continues to get bigger financially, and the stakes have never been higher.

With Big Ten Media Days getting underway in Chicago this week, we previewed the biggest storylines to watch. Which teams are legitimate national title contenders? Which coaches are under the most pressure? And what questions need answering before Week 1 arrives? The Big Ten enters another season carrying enormous expectations, and we’ll be following every development.

One of my favorite segments today centered around Lane Kiffin. I played several of his comments from SEC Media Days and reacted to them live. Kiffin remains one of the most unique personalities in college football. Whether you agree with him or not, he has a way of saying exactly what he thinks while keeping everyone listening. He’s entertaining, insightful, and unlike almost anyone else in the sport.

We also examined the growing movement involving Stanford football players, who are reportedly attempting to organize around collective bargaining. It’s another sign that the conversation surrounding player rights, employment, and the future structure of college athletics isn’t slowing down anytime soon. The legal and financial landscape of college sports continues to evolve, and this story could have implications well beyond Palo Alto.

As always, thank you for supporting Show Pony Media. If you’re enjoying the podcast, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, leave a rating and review, and share the show with another college football fan. Every subscription helps us continue growing this community.

Today’s episode is presented by AR’s Hot Honey. If you haven’t tried it yet, you’re missing out. It’s the best hot honey I’ve ever had, and it’s become a staple in my kitchen. Visit ARsHotHoney.com and use promo code SHOWPONY15 to save 15% on your order.

Thanks for listening, and I’ll see you next time on Show Pony Live.

SEC Media Days wraps up tomorrow in Tampa, and while I’m not there this year, I’ve probably consumed as much coverage as anyone.

I’ve spent hours listening to SiriusXM College Sports Radio all week. Olivia, Maz and the entire crew have been outstanding, bringing listeners every interview and behind-the-scenes conversation. They’ve made me feel like I never left Media Days.

Earlier this week, the biggest story wasn’t even supposed to happen.

Greg Sankey never planned to make SEC expansion or a potential split from the NCAA the headline. But when someone finally asked whether the conversations were real, he answered honestly. Suddenly, that became the story of Media Days.

Sometimes the biggest news comes from the question nobody expected.

Today, though, it was about the coaches.

Alex Golesh Impressed

If there was one coach who genuinely impressed me, it was Auburn’s Alex Golesh.

The guy just has it.

He was thoughtful. Detailed. Confident without sounding arrogant. Every answer had substance. You can tell he has a plan and understands exactly what he’s building.

Is Auburn finally stable?

Maybe—just maybe—Auburn has finally found some stability.

Lord knows that program has needed it.

Between coaching changes, expectations, boosters and constant drama, Auburn has spent years chasing itself.

Maybe having Tommy Tuberville sitting in the governor’s office is the strange football karma they needed.

I actually feel optimistic about Auburn for the first time in a while.

Now they have to prove it on Saturdays.

Alabama has one enormous question

Kalen DeBoer was exactly who Kalen DeBoer always is.

Calm. Professional. Measured. Impressive. But here’s the problem.

I still can’t erase what I watched last season.

Yes, Alabama made the College Football Playoff.

But that rushing attack? Good grief. It felt like every handoff ended with the running back reaching the line of scrimmage...and immediately falling over.

There was zero balance offensively. I actually think it hurt Ty Simpson’s NFL evaluation because Alabama simply couldn’t threaten defenses consistently on the ground. Can they fix that?

Does freshman phenom Keelon Russell eventually have to beat out Austin Mack simply because of what his mobility could add?

Then there’s Ryan Williams.

Now Ryan Cole Williams.

Will he become the superstar we expected again?

He looked like a future first-round pick early last season before seemingly disappearing. The drops piled up. The explosiveness faded.

Maybe the new name comes with a fresh start.

Georgia feels good with Gunner Stockton

Kirby Smart said Gunner Stockton is far more comfortable in the pocket than he was a year ago. He better be.

Last year, Rick Neuheisel and I admittedly weren’t sold.

Honestly, when we met him at Media Days, we joked he looked more like someone from Duck Dynasty than Georgia’s next quarterback.

The pickup trucks. The hunting. The fishing. We wondered if he was really ready. Then he went out and proved us wrong.

Now comes the next step.

They won national championships with Stetson Bennett because he played confidently within himself while an outstanding running game carried much of the load.

That’s the formula again. Georgia’s backfield is loaded. Stockton simply has to become comfortable being Georgia’s quarterback.

Florida’s culture has to change

One of my favorite interviews today came from Jon Sumrall. He talked about toughness. Not fake toughness. Not screaming toughness. Real toughness.

The kind that teaches players to become comfortable being uncomfortable.

That’s leadership.

Somewhere along the way, Florida football lost that identity. Personally, I still think the decline started when the Gators moved on from Dan Mullen. Now they begin another chapter.

Rick Neuheisel believes Sumrall has a legitimate chance to become Florida’s version of Curt Cignetti—a proven winner capable of changing the culture quickly. Florida desperately needs that. Because the last several years simply haven’t been good enough.

Texas A&M has to finish

Mike Elko sounded like a coach who believes his team is close. He should. The Aggies looked like contenders before fading badly late last season. Now the spotlight shifts to Marcel Reed.

Who is he? Is he a quarterback who wins the biggest games? Or does he still have another level to reach?

Right now, he hasn’t consistently gotten Texas A&M over the hump when it matters most. Year two should tell us a lot.

Ole Miss enters a new era

Lane Kiffin is gone. Now it’s Pete Golding’s program. Oxford believes it made the right decision to keep the momentum going internally.The roster still has talent.

The quarterback is a stud. The offense should still score a ton of points.

But now Golding has to prove he can be more than an outstanding coordinator. He has to become the face of the program.

Being “the guy” is different. We’ll start finding out this fall.

One more day

Tomorrow wraps up SEC Media Days.

The Big Ten is next.

Then the talking stops. Depth charts start taking shape.

And before long, we’ll finally get answers to all the questions we’ve spent this week debating.

I can’t wait.