← Cover 3 College Football
Cover 3 College Football
Building THE PERFECT CFB Calendar | Post-Spring Power Rankings | Best Coach To Go On Vacation With | MUCH MORE 🏈
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- [00:00]
A
Foreign. And welcome Back to the COVID 3 podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Tom Fornelli, that's Danny Cannell. I'm Chip Patterson coming to you live on CBS Sports Network. Fired up to be back with you as we've got a little time to do a reset because spring practice is winding down. So what are we going to have coming up for you in a little bit? That's right, a post practice power rankings top 10 from all three of us. We will also be having a spring practice MVP and with all the coaches who are just hired who has had the best off season. So a little bit of transitioning into the summertime. But first reacting to some of the news of the week where there is a lot of conversation from the coaches about what the future of the college football calendar should look like because we're looking at college football playoff expansion, looking at potentially changing our start and end date to the season. And so we said, yeah, nice ideas guys. We got it from here. We are going to go through an exercise of trying to put together the perfect college football calendar. Now before we get to dates, Tom Fornelli, I know that you've got some overall requests or demands, however you would like to put them in terms of what we should have going forward with the future college football calendar. We what is the most important to you?
- [01:31]
B
I think if you look at the selection process in the expanded playoff now where there are so many at larges, even when we're just dealing with 12, that's going to obviously expand when we get to 24. And the arguments are going to be roughly the same but you're going to be looking at far more teams. So I think the one thing you have to do or you should do to try to create a more even playing field when it comes to something like strength of schedule, you should have a requirement for power four teams played. So if you are in a power four conference and you want to get an at large bid, you have to play a minimum of 10 games against Power 4 opponents. Now we've seen many of the leagues are going to nine game conference slates. That means you're going to have to guarantee at least one non conference game against another power four school. And Notre Dame would be included in this when they have their 12 game schedules and independence. So I think this does it accomplishes a few things. One, it kind of evens out the schedules in that it, it entices you to schedule bigger games to help your overall strength of schedule at the end of the year when it comes to comparing resumes. But it also just that then puts bigger games on the slate like we have seen in this 12 team era now where nine and three teams are getting left out. You know, Texas is threatening to cancel, you know, home and homes against Ohio State in the future. I think this would help prevent that a little bit. It would put in more appeal for those kind of games and it would also just, you know, it would lead to more even keel kind of comparisons when you're going head to head between these two, eight and four, nine and three teams. Because you can look at their overall strength of schedule and say, well, you had a chance to schedule bigger, you didn't do it. So we're not going to feel guilty about leaving you out. And then my other requirement that you saw there the first three rounds so through the quarterfinals should all be played on campus. I think that adds value to the regular season where we talk about how these games could make regular season, you know, games less impactful, less meaningful because if you lose them, it's, it doesn't really hurt you as much. But winning them helps you get a higher seed. And getting a higher seed in this case would mean you are playing those first three rounds at home. And we have seen in the 12 team era, that's a tremendous advantage. A home playoff game is a huge deal for these teams. Most of the home teams are typically winning. So I think you want to do it through at least the quarterfinals. Ideally I would have it through the semifinals. The only neutral site game would be the championship game. It's just knowing how things work and knowing how important those BCS New Year 6 Bowls have always been to the sport. I think they're going to want to keep that same three game rotation year in and year out with neutral sites at those bowls rotating them every other year. So I think the best we could get is quarterfinals and I would accept that.
- [04:05]
C
Tom, we disagree on a lot. I love these proposals. I absolutely love them, especially the 10 game, you know, power forward, 10 games regular season requirement, which if you're a program that's trying to get back, you know, maybe you're struggling, you want to schedule some wins, that's fine, by all means, go ahead, but you won't be eligible for the postseason. I'm fine with that. And it does put a priority on those big games that we see because all the reasons you mentioned, being able to compare across conferences, we'll have more data points that the committee loves to reference and it's great for the game. I will say though, it is something unique to watch because the last three national champions have had nine, you know, conference power four games and three pretty much cupcakes. And you know, in the case of Ohio State, they had a Washington game that was canceled the year that they won, so it wasn't their fault. But it is something that is interesting. And we've seen Lincoln Riley reference this. We've seen Kirk Signetti reference this. You have to schedule for a national championship. You have to schedule to get in. And I can't stand that because it does incentivize scheduling weaker non conference. So make it a requirement that you have to play 10 Power 4 opponents throughout the regular season. I love that.
- [05:09]
A
Okay, as we pivot our, our eyes to the calendar, we're going to give you a couple different options. Maybe choose one at least in terms of when the season starts and ends. And dk, I want to bounce this one potentially at you. How important is it that college football is dominating Thanksgiving week? Cause honestly, I spent more of this Thanksgiving trying to fret over Elaine Kiffin and the egg bowl and whether he was going to leave Ole Miss. Coaching carousel was going crazy. I was trying to spend time with family. I mean, what if we moved Army Navy to Thanksgiving and then allowed for some weather makeup games? Is college football important to be a part of the Thanksgiving weekend?
- [05:49]
C
Yes. I hate this idea because I think historically of college football, I think of rivalry weekend where you have Florida State, Florida, where you have the iron ball, where you have Ohio State, Michigan, I mean, just the laundry list of rivalry games, it's kind of synonymous with college football. Not to mention Thanksgiving weekend. It's probably one of the best football weekends of the entire season when you throw in the NFL as well. So for me, I think there are some traditions that are worth saving. And I do think obviously rivalry games, but I also think when they're played, that to me, was a date on the calendar that you marked and you. You scheduled your vacation around it, your family trip around it, because you wanted to make sure you knew exactly where you were on that rivalry weekend. So that is a weekend that I would rather preserve and keep intact. Where you do play those rivalry games on that weekend.
- [06:42]
B
It's. It's an interesting proposal in that, you know, as. As somebody like you guys who's been in this industry for a while now, I've kind of given up on the idea of having a Thanksgiving with family, understanding the kind of work that we have to do at that time of year. So, Chip, maybe you're still thinking about Putting together those dinners. Me, I'm just like, I'll show up, I'll eat, and then I'm going to go home because I have to go back to work. So there's definitely a part of me that would love to have Thanksgiving weekend off. It's just if I'm a television network executive, the fact of the matter is everybody in the country has those weekends off because of the holiday, except for those of us covering the games that are being played. So they are tremendous television windows to put college football games on because, you know, you have a captive audience that is sitting at home, sitting on the couch, eating turkey, eating all the fixings and watching football. The question for me, for college football is, do they. Do they reevaluate in the future? Because we know now, like, the NFL is playing three games a day on Thanksgiving morning, afternoon, and evening. We've also seen the NFL start creeping its schedule onto that Black Friday, which used to be a college football exclusive. It was just college games all day, and you didn't have to deal with the NFL, but now the NFL is creeping in on that territory. If the NFL continues to do that and the network see maybe those ratings sagging for the college football games, maybe then taking Thanksgiving week off becomes more appealing to the television networks, you know, broadcasting the games. But I think right now, on the surface, it's not a bad idea. I just don't think it would be an appealing idea to the people in charge who would be taking the final decision on this.
- [08:13]
A
Okay, what about bye weeks? Because one of the things that came out of the AFCA suggestions was that you go from two bye weeks to one bye week. So our next proposal is something that's actually very similar to what we would have, which would be a week, one that starts Labor Day weekend, and then 13 weeks to play 12 games, regular season wraps. Now we're going to get to the postseason here in just a little bit, where we are going to try to alleviate some of the layoff between the regular season and the start of the playoff. But, Tom, to you, is this probably the. The best way to move forward? Where is it very similar to what fans are used to.
- [08:52]
B
And the appealing part of option B to me is that Labor Day start weekend, because I do feel like it being the holiday weekend. It's something. It's kind of a landmark for everybody to look forward to over the offseason and the summer, as the summer's coming to an end officially, you know, unofficially, I guess with Labor Day, you know that you're Going to have that very first weekend chock full of from Thursday until Monday night on Labor Day. So I think that is excellent. The part I don't like is the only the one by week. If you're trying to get the schedule over on time so you can fit the playoff in and be done by that second weekend in January, because we've seen it time and time again, like bye weeks, they are important for players and teams to get healthy to get that rest. And now that we're playing a 12 game regular season and possibly asking these teams to add an extra five games to their schedule if they reach the College Football Playoff, we've seen in the 12 team era, by the time we get to the semifinals into the championship game, so many of these teams are banged up and injuries are having such a major impact on the outcomes of these games. I do not like the idea of only having one bye week. If all we were playing was a 12 week regular season, we could get by with it. But if you're adding on a longer playoff to it, it just does not make sense to me from a health perspective. If you want to care about the player safety and you truly mean that, but just as a fan and as a product, I want to do everything I can to keep these players fresh. So that way when we do get to the end of the season, the quote unquote biggest games, the semifinals, the title game, the teams are as healthy as reasonably possible going into those. So we get the best and truest matchups.
- [10:25]
C
So real quick, honestly. Yeah, go ahead.
- [10:28]
A
Oh yeah, I was just gonna say, can I, can I trade you then losing the Labor Day huge kickoff for getting an extra bye week like dk, let's roll option C. And tell me what you think about that one, because I think that this might be the midpoint that we're looking for in terms of we start when week zero typically would start, but then we have 14 weeks to play 12 games. Still wrapping on that Thanksgiving weekend. Is that something that'd be a little bit closer to what we're looking for?
- [10:54]
C
Yes. My favorite option is just having week zero, which is crept. It's gotten bigger and bigger. Remember, it was one game, then it was three games, now it's five or six and seven games. Let's just make that the start of the regular season. But I still think you could preserve Labor Day weekend for some of those bigger matchups, like have some of those marquee non conference games that we do see on that weekend. Let's still schedule those so it Feels like a bigger weekend. And week zero could be some of those weaker power four or, excuse me, group of six opponents or FCs opponents that you almost use like a pseudo preseason game. Now we know how that'll go because if you start doing a week zero, there's going to be too much temptation for the networks say hey, like people don't really want to see those games. They want to see the bigger matchups. But I was honestly stunned at the coaches willingness to say, you know what, we don't need a, we don't need an extra bye week. We'll just do one bye week because they want to end the season early. Then they cannot complain about players being banged up. And you know, when you go on the playoff run, I never want to hear that again. But I was honestly surprised because I'm with Tom. I want to see two bye weeks to preserve the players health. You know, safety, it is a priority. I mean that's a big reason why the rules have changed so much. So let's make sure we keep it a priority by allowing them another week to recover and then during the season.
- [12:07]
A
So what we are proposing essentially is to start the week, the season, one week earlier, but still in the regular season at the same time we throw the conference title games out and jump right into the playoff without a layoff. Tom, is that, is that checking some of the boxes of stuff you want to see?
- [12:24]
B
Yeah, I think if we're truly trying to make sure we get the season done by mid January and it doesn't drag on until the late end of January, early February, this is the best option. You just start the season a week earlier, you add in the extra buy and then you immediately, immediately get into the playoff instead of having that longer layoff between the last game of the regular season and then what would have been conference championship games and then to finally starting the first round, I think you just get right to it. But Danny, to your other point about the lack of buys and why coaches are okay with it, I think my theory is part of the reason is now that we're going to probably see that 5 for 5 rule coming in and the red shirts kind of going to be getting thrown out of the window. The bigger programs, the Power 4 programs are like, well, we've got enough bodies to where now, you know, if we're dealing with injuries, we don't have to worry about burning red shirts now. I, I don't agree with it. I still think that it's a bad idea long term for both the development and for the quality of the games we're going to be dealing with. But I'm guessing that's at the behind the the idea. But yeah, I think starting a week early, getting that extra buy, getting rid of conference championship games and then going straight into the playoff and then keeping, you know, the one thing the AFCA did also maintain, they want to give Army Navy that spotlight window to keep to itself as was, you know, by executive order, presidential decree must be maintained. I do think that's important too, because I love the Army Navy game. So I, I think that when you're looking at all the parameters that we're kind of forced to work with, that is the best option on the table right now.
- [13:50]
C
Can I say real quickly what a potential wrench in everything the Army Navy game could be? Because there will be seasons when army or Navy could be in the discussion for a 2014 playoff? Because I was one, my initial thought was we'll just have them play at noon on December. They can have their own window. Like do they need the whole day just happen to have their own window? But there's a very real possibility you could have the playoff set and they could be a part of that discussion. And that throws a wrench in everything. So I think that might be something that we'd have to sacrifice as college football fans and say maybe we move that to rivalry weekend. But that would be something that would shock a lot of people. And I do want to preserve it because I do think it's one of the best rivalries. It's one of the best spectacles in the sport. That's the one like hiccup that I don't really have a good solution for.
- [14:35]
A
Yeah. And for the postseason, again, we're, we're looking at December 5th, which would normally be conference championship game, Conference championship weekend. We're doing the first round December 12th, which would be that Army Navy game. DK, that's when we'd be getting into the round of 16. The 19th would be the quarterfinals. Then you little bit of extra time off as you've got Christmas around there. But then that lands us on a, on a New Year's Day college football playoff semifinals, which personally I think rocks. You know, you would just have your afternoon game, your evening game, similar to what we had in the four team era. Then again, this is using a 26, 27 calendar. We'd be finished as the coaches proposed on January 11th. DK, I know you loved still talking about the playoff on January 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th. And I do agree with you it was easy to fill out that content calendar when we still had game previews to do, but when we look at this as the conclusion to what we've had so far, could you rock with this as the calendar for a 2014 playoff?
- [15:36]
C
Absolutely. The less dead time the better. I would just add one asterisk too to our calendar. I would have the transfer portal open the day after the championship game like it'd be because right now it's on January 2nd. Let's just move it back a couple weeks. I know it kind of becomes complicated because of the school semesters, but somehow, amazingly, they've been able to figure out a way before when players transfer towards the end of that portal and class have already started. That would be the one thing I would add in here is have the transfer portal open after the championship game, just like it did in college basketball. Then midnight of the championship game is when it opened. I do the same thing with football too, to prevent some of those awkward situations where you have players already hitting the portal and their team's still playing and or the advantage that teams that aren't playing in the playoff have over the teams that still are.
- [16:23]
B
Another wrinkle too, you mentioned. Yeah, you mentioned starting the transfer portal the day after the championship game. Do we get rid of the early signing day and move it back to its traditional February date? So that way the portal is open and that way you can finalize your recruiting classes afterwards and give those players maybe a chance if they see their spot gets filled by a big name transfer. Maybe now they're able to decommit and go somewhere else. Just something else we have to figure out.
- [16:47]
A
Love it This I what we are. We've got all the answers for you here on the COVID 3 podcast and CBS Sports Network. I'm glad that so many of the decision makers are such big fans of CBS Sports Network and the COVID 3 podcast. Coming up on the other side, A lot of new hires in college football who's off to the best? Start the best off season among new hires and more.
- [17:08]
C
Next,
- [17:17]
D
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- [17:50]
A
Back here on the COVID 3 podcast. Sometimes your first year can be the most important in a coaching tenure. Sometimes it is the first months, especially in this transfer portal era. So we wanted to look at all of the new hires at the FBS level and ask ask which new hire has had the best off season so far. So, Tom Fornelli, a lot of different choices, Power conference, non power conference, sec, Big Ten, ACC and more. Who has your attention as a new hire? Who's had the best off season?
- [18:22]
B
Yeah, I, I'm going with the basic answer here. I, I did not go very deep on the depth chart trying to find, you know, maybe the interesting underrated one. No, no, I'm going with the obvious choice. Give me Lane Kiffin at lsu. Who? Chip, you talked about it in the first segment. We spent a whole lot of time during the College Football Playoff last year wondering about Lane Kiffin and what his future is going to be as his Ole Miss team was competing for a playoff spot and eventually getting a playoff spot. But all the discussion about his team was is Lane Kiffin leaving for lsu? Which he obviously did. So you would think that for a guy to leave a team in the College Football Playoff for another program, a direct rival within the same conference, he probably had some decent assurances about what kind of help he was going to get. And we have seen that play out pretty quickly because not only is Lane at lsu, he's bringing a whole bunch of new players with him. They have the number one recruiting class in the country again le led by Sam Levit, the big name quarterback from Arizona State. They got Jordan Seon, one of the best offensive tackles that was available from Colorado, a former five star prospect. And you look at everything and you see the reporting and apparently, you know, we saw yesterday or the day before there was report that Jordan Seon's getting about four, four and a half million. And you got to think what Sam Levitt's getting is probably going to be more than that because he's a quarterback. And the reports are as Lane said, you know, he was going to get about 40 million for his roster going to LSU. And now that feels like it might have been a conservative estimate. So he's got the job that where he feels like he can win national titles. He's clearly getting the financial support needed to put together the kind of roster that can compete for a national title. And the cherry on top of the he's a magazine cover boy. He's got them. He's got GQ coming to town doing the photo shoot. They're going to be a big old feature on Lane Kiffin GQ Gentleman's Quarterly. Lane Kiffin. Everything is going Lane Kiffin's, you know, way so far this off season. Now all he has to do is, you know, win a national title because if he doesn't, he's going to get fired. But so far, things are trending in the direction where he's going to be able to do it. He has no excuses not to. And honestly, no matter what you think about Lane Kiffin, you cannot argue that he is not a very good football coach. He's the. What he was able to do at Old Miss is one of the more impressive things we've seen. And he's been able to win at fau and now he's going to get a chance for the first time since, you know, the USC debacle, which did not end well for a younger Lane Kiffin. He's got a chance to compete for national titles. I don't know if LSU is going to do it directly right away in 2026. I think they can. But I do believe this is a program now under this leadership that is certainly trending in the direction to where we're going to be looking at LSU as a national title contender year in and year out for a while.
- [20:56]
C
Way to go, Captain Obvious. Just take the easiest choice off the board. You know, I mean, that was such a slam dunk. It was off the board. I was, you know, I was going to make a case against it that Sam Levitt missed the spring, that the expectations are sky high. But as far as like optimism vibes around Baton Rouge, they're at a sky high all time. I went a little bit of a different direction. I went with Eric Morris at Oklahoma State, cuz. So hear me out on this one because he still has a top 10 portal class. I think they're ranked seventh with 53 new players. A lot of them including his running back and his quarterback from North Texas who followed him to Oklahoma State. But I also look at this as a, as a coach who can turn things around pretty quickly in the Big 12. Like Lane Kiffin's gonna have to do this against the SEC schedule where their win total is only eight and a half. If you're Eric Morris and you get the six wins, you're thinking, hey, what a step in the right direction. Even though it was just a few years ago, Oklahoma State was playing in the conference championship game and came about a half yard short from making the College Football Playoff. Oklahoma State did have a pretty strong tradition of winning records and consistently being in the race But I think you talk about the spring game that they have with Drew Mestemaker lighting it up. You got that high powered offense going to throw it all over the yard. Oklahoma State fans are extremely happy with them. By all accounts things look on the up and up there in Stillwater. So I went with Eric Morris as one of the winners from the coaches in the spring.
- [22:20]
A
Yeah, you certainly have a vibes upgrade like your year over year vibe improvement from as bad as it got against Oregon last year. When you're just getting shellacked to now all of a sudden feeling like you've got some positive momentum. I can go there. I went with an ACC coach, a coach who's got his first head coaching opportunity, but one who very quickly identified what he was going to need for success. Success. I'm going with new Cal head coach Tosh Lupo now after getting the job at his alma mater, he got on a plane, he went to Hawaii and made sure that of all the things that were going to be present for him in year one there in Berkeley, he was going to have his star quarterback Jaren Kave. Saga Polotelli ready for a sophomore season with the bears, gets JKs on board and then what does he do? Goes to surround him with upgrades at wide receiver, upgrades at running back. Some of their transfer portal additions I think are definitely show some the chances that this is a group that is going to be able to take steps forward and maybe even be seven, eight wins and start to be a real problem in the middle pack of that acc. So in terms of your what your to do list was and being able to accomplish those tasks, locking down your star quarterback and getting him more help. Tom, by the way, that's another quarterback who showed up on your drops list, right? Jaren Kiave Saka Volatelli dealt with a lot of drops from Cal wide receivers last year so I went with Tosh Lupoi on that one as well. Tom, what do you think of our under the radar picks right here?
- [23:53]
B
I. I think they're both excellent choices. I forgot, you know you mentioned that you were going the ACC and I was trying to think it's like I'm still in that age where I can't remember that Cal is in the acc. So I'm sitting. So when you brought Tosh Lupo I'm like oh yeah that's right. But I think that's an excellent choice. He's gotten off to a very good start. You know you also got some guys from Oregon to come down south with him to Berkeley, which will help that roster. And Danny, you're right. Like you look at Oklahoma State in its recent history, it's been one of the best Big 12 programs like Mike Gundy had that thing humming for a while. It wasn't until the last few years in this Portal era where they kind of fell off because Gundy was a little slow to adjust. But now you're bringing in Eric Morris. He's not as slow to adjust. I think this is an Oklahoma State team that might not be competing for a Big 12 title right away, but is certainly going to be a factor in the Big 12 under Eric Morris for the next few years.
- [24:40]
A
We've got some homework right now. That's right. We are filling out our ballots for an Updated CBS Sports 138 over@cbssports.com so we're going to give you what our top tens look like. A little post spring power rankings, a top 10 from all three of us and more.
- [24:58]
B
Next.
- [25:06]
E
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- [25:37]
A
Back here on the COVID 3 podcast. Nice time at the conclusion of spring practice to take everything that we've learned. We've seen some of those new depth charts come together. We've seen the quarterback battles sort of take place during these spring games and spring practices. Let's re rack them all. A college football now. Luckily for you, we're just doing a top 10 though next week. Be on the lookout for a new CBS Sports 138 over at CBSSports.com Danny, why don't you take us through your top 10 to get us started after spring practice.
- [26:09]
C
All right. Well man, I gave you my top two I think in November last year, so I had to stick with them because I think they've only improved since then. I know Arch Banning had the little surgery, but we know the backup position is solid with D. Bell the way he's been doing. But Cam Coleman, by all accounts, people say he's wowing out there. Will Muschamp is the new defensive coordinator, has really been impressive. I think he's going to gain an edge there. And then number two, Oregon. How about Evan Stewart all of a sudden showcasing what he can do. We know what Dante Moore can do at quarterback now. We got Dylan Raul as well. Plus the pieces they retained. They did not lose that much off the defensive side of the ball. I know they have to place both coordinators, but I'm still going with the Oregon Ducks there, followed up by Ohio State and they lost a ton. That's why I did not have them at number one because of the defensive losses that they lost so much star power on that side of the ball. And then I've got Notre Dame. Of course, a big part of that is the schedule. Miami, the Darien Mensa signing I thought was huge. Schedule was big. But Darian Mensah bald out in the spring game, looks like he's very comfortable. I feel almost shameful putting Indiana this far down at 6 because of the success Kirk Signetti's had. Then I got the Georgia Bulldogs seem forgotten about, but they still probably are the cream of the crop in the sec. Followed up by Texas A and M with Marcel Reed coming back. LSU with all those pieces. We talked about Lane Kiffin, that close to $50 million portal class. And then rounding it out, Ole Miss. Don't sleep on Ole Miss. Trinidad Chambliss is back. They have the number two recruiting class right behind lsu. Pete Golding in his first full year, he showed what he could do in the, you know, in the postseason last year, getting a couple big wins for them. I'm going to go with Ole Miss there to round out the top 10.
- [27:47]
A
All right, Tom, what you got for yours?
- [27:50]
B
A lot of the similar teams to what Danny has. Different order, though. At number one in my top 10, you know, it's like there's like five or six teams you could really choose between and I think have a solid argument. I just went with the one that's the most consistent. So I put Ohio State at number one. Just playing the odds there. I I've got Georgia at number two. You know, if you look at the amount of returning starters in the nation, the only school with the amount of more amount of returning starters than Georgia, who's tied with a few other teams at 14 is USC at 15. This is a Georgia team that won the SEC year. It made the College Football Playoff. It's getting a year older. I think they will once again be one of the best teams in the country. Notre Dame is a team that, you know, missed out on the playoff last year, but I think we're all very high on the Irish going into the year with what they have at quarterback, the additions they've Made at the portal and just getting another year older and more experienced. Or again, Dante Moore coming back, not going to the NFL. You know, the Ducks are still going to be good and they have Dylan Raiola backing him up just in case there is an injury. That's one of the most talented teams in the country. It's hard to imagine them not having a top 10 kind of season at five. I have Texas. I, I get the hype, but Texas was number one last year and we saw how it worked. So I'm, I'm taking more of a wait and see approach with the Longhorns before I put them at number one. Even though I do expect them to be one of the best teams. At six. We've got our defending champion Indiana Hoosiers. We know they're going to be good. Will they be as good as they were last year when they had the number one pick at quarterback? That remains to be seen. But they should still remain one of the best teams in the Big Ten and hovering around the top 10 all year. And then Miami, the team that Indiana beat in the national title game, they're still just, you know, they're the cream of the crop in the acc. It's just hard to not see them having a good enough record to be in the top 10. LSU at 8. I mentioned Lane Kiffin, one of the best off season so far. One of the biggest hires. That is a team that is going to be humming this year. They're very talented and they have a good coach. They should be fine. Texas A and M. I'm a little more kind of not 100% certain about what the Aggies were going to see with Colin Klein leaving to take over Kansas State and some of the losses that they had on both sides of the ball. But I do think Mike Elko is a very good coach. So I'm giving them some of the benefit of the doubt. And then the biggest wild card here is. I wasn't sure what or not I was going to throw Texas in my top 10 because of the Brendan Soresby situation. But the more I thought about it, even if Will Hammond is playing quarterback for the Red Raiders next year, this is a team that's still more talented than most of the opponents it's going to be facing in the Big 12. So whoever's leading that conference will be a top 10 team, even if it's just on the periphery. So for now, I'm keeping the Red Raiders in my top 10 regardless of what happens with Brendan Sorsby.
- [30:16]
A
Gentlemen, I was folded Like a pretzel with this one. Okay. Because to my eye, at this point in the year, I've got 13 top 10 teams. Like spiritually, what looks like a top 10 team, I think there's about 13 teams that fit the criteria. But there is no question about the top tier for me, which is why you see a top tier that looks very much like what the both of you laid out. I've got Ohio State as my one, I'll throw Texas up there, Oregon right on their heels. So I do agree with that. Oregon, Texas as a potential title matchup. Indiana, like you mentioned, Tom, I just don't think you can put them that far down. I know you lost the number one overall pick in the Heisman Trophy winner. I you lost a record haul of Indiana NFL draft picks. But as Kurt Signetti has shown us, I'm going to believe his player evaluation and his transfer portal additions will be instant impacts for success. So I'm just simply not going to put Indiana that far down the line. That said, Notre Dame, Georgia, Miami, those are all teams that are still kind of top tier. Now where I had to start sort of making difficult choices was there at 8 where I have Alabama but not an LSU or including Texas A and M instead of an LSU or an Oklahoma or like you mentioned, Tom, this sort of Texas Tech asterisk where I don't know if it's Sorsby and he's playing the whole season, you could talk me into six. But if he's not playing at all and it's Hammond having to come back from injury, maybe it's more like 12. So very, very difficult to figure out for me once we get into sort of 8, 9, 10 because I don't think there's that much of a difference from 11, 12, 13. But at the same time that top tier, I feel pretty good about it at this point. One quick follow up here before we head to break and then talk about some spring practice MVPs. One team that none of us had in our top 10 power rankings and I'm curious if there's any thought here. Dk, I'll start with you. The Oklahoma Sooners were in the College Football Playoff last year. They returned some good pieces on the defense and they returned to starting quarterback in John Mattier. Where do they fit to you in this picture? At the top of the college football power rankings.
- [32:28]
C
See, that's it because I would have put them like in that group that's like, you know, top 13 for sure. But do they crack the top 10 and a lot of this comes back to Mater who, you know, I don't know how he's going to perform this year. There was so much when his play kind of dropped off that oh, it was his thumb. And then when he gets better, he' going to be totally fine. He's gonna be one of the top quarterbacks in the country. But if you did go back and break down some of the film before he broke his thumb, it still was a little bit erratic. He's still a bit more of a playmaker now. If he takes that next step, then absolutely. I think Oklahoma is not only a top 10 team, I think they're a team that could contend to make a deep run and even potentially vie for the national championship. But I kind of wanted to see it first before I just went out there and took the leap. And don't forget also they do have a little different game this year now they have to go to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan. You wonder how that could play out this season for them. But we'll find out about the Sooners early as that matchup comes early in the season.
- [33:21]
B
Yeah, I they were definitely on the periphery for me. But the one thing Danny just mentioned is when you look at their schedule, the teams that are in our top 10, four of those teams are on Oklahoma schedule and that doesn't include the non conference road trip to Michigan. So Oklahoma could be a very good team again next year, but that schedule could lead to an 8 and 4, 9 and 3 kind of season and that's going to be hard to put them in the top 10. But that kind of record at that point. Point.
- [33:45]
A
All right, let's take one more review of the post spring practice power ranking. Top 10 from all three of our crew. Like we said, a lot of the same teams slotted in slightly different order. Your Ohio states, your Georgia's, Notre Dame, Oregon, Texas, Miami, all up there in that top tier. Then Texas A and Mike Elko. Some respect for the program he's building there makes all three of ours. With Ole Miss and Alabama and LSU and Texas Tech filling out the bottom and coming up on the other side, we want to hand out an MVP award. Who has impressed during this spring practice? And of all the coaches who are getting set to go on vacation, who do you want to go on vacation with? All that and more. Next.
- [34:43]
F
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- [35:16]
A
Back here on the COVID 3 podcast live on CBS Sports Network handing out a few superlatives coming out of spring practice, we asked for a spring practice mvp. An individual player who, with what he was able to do either in the practices or the spring games, or even with some of the work with the coaches, were able to really leave an impression on their program, on their fans and on us here at the COVID 3 podcast. Tom, for Nelli, who stands out as your Spring Practice mvp, I'm going to
- [35:49]
B
start with the caveat that when it comes to even not just fans but Notre Dame media, they tend to have an ability to overhype things that they are seeing during an off season. But I believe this year when I've talked people I've talked to around that program, you know, if you saw CJ Carr's numbers during the spring game, which by the way, the final score of which was 42 to 1, no matter what Chip Patterson tries to lie to you and say that it was and get you in trouble with Notre Dame Fighting Irish fans, CJ Carr's numbers weren't terrific in the spring game itself. But as for spring practice and the scrimmages that they had, the one thing I've heard from people repeatedly is that CJ Carr looked fantastic all spring long and that they are very high on him. And he was somebody last year who in his first year as a starter had some very impressive moments in big games. He had his bumps and bruises that you expect from a freshman, but the highs were high enough to where you believe the ceiling for this kid could be extremely high, like a Heisman candidate in leading Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff and maybe taking a deep run. And from everything he's been doing this spring, that feels like a reality that is coming our way. They are very high on him. Everybody was very impressed with what they saw, not just from him, but with his ability in this offense, with some of the new talent that they brought in. So I'm looking at CJ Carr. Obviously, Arch Manning gets a ton of hype. Dante Moore, coming back when he could have been a top five NFL draft pick, is getting a ton of hype. I think C.J. carr is the one quarterback that's kind of flying under the radar that could be on the precipice of a very special season. So I am giving him my spring MVP award for 2026. Congratulations, C.J.
- [37:22]
C
he would absolutely be a candidate for sure. And I do agree with you. He's flying under the radar. The schedule they have, he should put up monster numbers. I went a little bit of a different direction. Not somebody who's a returning starter, but somebody who's trying to win the starting job and has made the quarterback competition in Tuscaloosa that much more interesting. Because I assumed coming in, Austin Mack was going to be the guy. He stuck around. He's waited. Ryan Grubb comes back from Washington to join up with Kaylin DeBoer again. You know, this past season we saw some of those returns. I was like, oh, this is going to be Austin Mack's job. Well, all of a sudden, Kelon Russell has stepped into this conversation so much so it might be one of the more critical decisions that Kaylin Deborah has had to make as the head coach at Alabama. And if you pay attention to his spring game and what you're hearing from the people that have been watching him play, yes, his mobility and his electric ability to make plays with his legs has obviously been known about. But how about his ability to throw the football? In the spring game, he was 21 of 33 for 244 touchdowns and one interception. And that has once again kind of really made this quarterback competition that much more complicated. The young phenom there pushing to be the starter at Alabama is my spring mvp.
- [38:31]
A
Yeah, that's going to be a fascinating battle to watch in fall camp. Alabama, remember, had gets a chance at revenge against Florida State hosting the Seminoles in Tuscaloosa in September. I went to Darian Mensah there at Miami, who was very publicized. The efforts that Miami had to take to be able to get him away from Duke down to South Florida. And as we were going through the warm ups, we knew that spring ball, there were going to be a lot of players held out. Okay, Malachi Toney, Mark Fletcher, these experienced vets that helped lead the Canes all the way to the national championship game. They're not going to play in the spring game. Maybe I should adjust my expectations for a player who was second team all ACC last season. Well, Daggum at Darian Mensah looks like he's the best quarterback in the ACC now, now. And he looked fantastic at the Miami Hurricane spring game. Throw into backup wide receivers, throw into new fellow transfers like Cooper Barkate who joined him from Duke. He was extremely efficient. He was extremely productive. And it wasn't just spring game tosses, you know, like a seven yard slant that the wide receiver then takes 50 yards for a touchdown because they're doing two hand touch or flag football. No, we are talking deep throws outside the numbers, accurate throws. I think that Darian Mensah, you could argue he was the best quarterback in the ACC last year. I think his bad games left that a little bit leaning more towards Haynes King, who did end up getting the first team honors. But if you think about in this offense surrounded by better talent, Darian Mensah, he might not have to take those same chances to make those same kinds of mistakes. I think Darian Mensah is going to be the best quarterback in the acc and what we saw and heard from him this spring certainly backs that up along the way. Tom?
- [40:22]
B
Yeah, I, you know it's funny when you look at Mensa like obviously Carson Beck got to the national title game with Miami, was the first pick of the second round, Mensah was playing for Duke. But I think as far as overall talent, you kind of touched on it and maybe like NFL projection, Darien Mensah is an upgrade over Carson Beck and we saw what Miami was able to do with Beck. I think he gives them a much higher ceiling than they had with that passing attack last year. And it's going to be very interesting to see what he and Malachi Tony
- [40:48]
C
combined today do and he gets a little head start. Remember, Carson Beck missed all the spring because of that elbow surgery. Darren Mensah getting more comfortable. He should hit the ground running right away for the Canes this year. But it is interesting to note that neither one of you guys, even though you love Dari Mensa, did not have the Hurricanes in your top five.
- [41:04]
A
Only. Only you. Only you. You're the original Miami believer. Always and forever. Okay, coming up on the other side, coaches are about to have a very small window for downtime. Who do we want to go on vacation with? And more next. Back here on the COVID 3 podcast. The we talked a lot about the calendar, trying to build a college football calendar here at the end of spring practice. The time of the calendar is actually for these coaches to be able to have a little time off before things really ramp up with recruiting in June and then eventually media days and fall camp in mid to late July. So we wanted to see who do you want to go on vacation with? Dk, what coach would you like to saddle up with for a little bit of time away?
- [41:57]
C
So I don't know about you Guys, when you go on vacation, you know, if you like to sit around the beach and just have a couple margaritas, if you like to sit by the lake. I like to be active. Right. Like, I like to get up and go, did you. Brett McMurphy had a great piece on Scott Frost. He said he's ran with the bulls in Spain, cage dived with great white sharks and climbed the highest peaks in America. Give me some of that for a little vacation. Get out there. I mean, I don't want to sit around and watch film. I want to be adventurous. I want to get out there and do some stuff. Scott Frost, he's like my age. I think we get along well. I think he can get outside. He can talk about other things besides football. Give me that adventure mindset right there, the running with the bulls, I might let him kind of, you know, take the lead or somewhere, kind of use him as a blocker. But I don't. I. I think it sounds awesome to hang with Scott Frost.
- [42:47]
B
Yeah. You know, I'm a Midwestern boy. I'm not really into spending my vacation sitting on a beach near an ocean. Although I'll do it. It's just if I have my personal choice, I want to be sitting on a dock, on a lake, or maybe on a boat with a. Fishing with a fishing pole and going drinking, maybe crushing a few Miller High lives with somebody. So I need another Midwestern boy to with. Give me Brett Vilma. I just want to hang out and go fishing for a couple days with Brett. Sitting out on. On a pond, on a lake somewhere, catching some bass, seeing what we can bring in and just having a good, good time, just talking, drinking beers, fishing, chilling out. That, to me, is an excellent vacation. And I'm going to choose Brett. But honestly, we know so many of them. There are plenty of college football coaches who I think fit that criteria of choices for me.
- [43:29]
C
Just be careful. Don't try to go toe to toe with Brett B. On those beers, because that could be a long day.
- [43:35]
B
I am out of practice. That's true.
- [43:39]
A
So I'm using some information that I picked up, that we picked up to inform my pick. Because when Washington coach Jed Fish is detailing some of the last little bits of free time that he has, he's talking about what? He's talking about putting together a golf trip with some of his oldest friends, with some of his college buddies. That is somebody who can celebrate the friendship and some time on the golf course. And that's what I would love to do with my time away. So if I could be on Jed Fish's next golf trip with his college friends, I do think that that would be a great way to spend a little bit of time away and get my mind right for the upcoming season. So I'll find out if he's a stick and I'll report back to the boys. Maybe we'll invite him to the COVID 3 tournament sometime down the line. Well, we are not going on vacation. No, no, no, no. We are going to be back on YouTube.com cover3 on Monday where you can find us us breaking down all the latest in college football and giving you the answers to some of your questions about the sport at large. So please head on over and subscribe if you have not already@YouTube.com cover3, or if you scan that QR code, you can find us and download us wherever you get your podcast. We're going to be having win totals coming before you know it, preseason previews and and more. So come and hang out and you can follow him on Twitter tomfinelli. You can follow him. Danny Cannell. You can follow me. Hippatterson Gentlemen, thank you very much.
- [45:16]
G
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