Final & Future College Football Rankings, YOUR Mailbag Questions & more!

Summary

Cover 3 College Football Podcast: "Final & Future College Football Rankings, YOUR Mailbag Questions & more!"

Date: January 22, 2026
Hosts: Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli, Bud Elliott
Episode Theme:
A closeout on the 2025-26 college football season with deep dives into the final polls (AP and coaches), evaluation of end-of-year rankings, “way too early” Top 25s for next season, and a robust mailbag led by listener questions, focusing on legacy, predictions, and collegiate roster-build strategies.

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Main Episode Overview

The podcast wraps up the 2025-26 college football campaign with analysis and debate over final polls, coaches’ ballots, and the always-popular “way too early” 2026 rankings. The hosts also dissect team-building philosophies, the changing value of recruiting elite high school talent versus heavy transfer portal reliance, and field a series of detailed mailbag questions about Indiana’s surprise title run, NIL, the transfer portal, and much more.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Final Polls & Coaches’ Ballots (02:00–10:45)

• Indiana’s National Championship Season: Unanimous #1 placement in the coaches poll for Indiana, led by coach Kurt Signetti.
• Coaches’ Ballot Anomalies:
  • Miami ranked #2 by most, but Air Force’s Troy Calhoun only put them at #5.
  • Fran Brown put 9-5 Duke at #14, creating confusion.
  • Service Academy coaches, e.g., Brian Newberry, had controversial low rankings for Alabama.
  • “We always talk about… coaches poll, they just have the SIDs do it… But your name’s on it.” — Chip Patterson (05:34)
• Performance vs. Resume Debate:
  • Miami’s run to the championship game is valued for the strength of their late-season wins.
  • Bud Elliott: “If you’re gonna have Miami at 2, you are heavily weighting the wins…” (06:47)
  • Fornelli notes Miami only 7th in his own performance-based ratings (06:28).
• AP Poll Review:
  • Indiana #1, Miami #2, Ole Miss #3, Oregon #4, Ohio State #5.
  • Ole Miss jumps due to playoff performance, AP seen as “too reactionary to the playoff”—Tom Fornelli (08:55).
• SEC Unseated:
  • “No SEC team in the top six for the first time ever.” – Bud Elliott (09:29)

2. Way Too Early 2026 Rankings (12:00–23:40)

• Brandon Marcello’s CBS Top 25:
  • Ohio State #1, Texas #2, Georgia #3, Oregon #4, Notre Dame #5.
  • Bud: “Not a Marcel Reed believer… Aggies lose pretty good bit on O-line.” (13:20)
  • Michigan’s floor/depth keeps them in top 15 but not elite. “QB’s too good, coaching’s too good, floor’s too high for me…” — Chip (13:50)
• Notable Differences:
  • Disagreement on BYU, Ole Miss, South Carolina’s prognoses.
  • “If someone wants to drive an Oklahoma State hype train… they could be a surprise team at 9-3.” — Chip (15:46)
  • Penn State’s favorable schedule may inflate win total, but team strength is questionable (16:22).
  • Tom: 2026 will be his “heel turn” year—he’s in on playoff expansion, Chip is out on USC (17:07).
• Coaching Carousel Impact:
  • Gary Patterson likely to become USC’s DC: “I’m not guaranteeing it’s going to hit” — Bud (18:17)
• Top National Contenders Debate:
  • Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, Notre Dame, Georgia seen as the number one pool (20:56).
  • Georgia's defense and WR room major question marks (21:45–22:04).
  • Indiana, as champs, see skepticism about whether they can reload, and QB Josh Hoover is unproven (25:18–25:47).
• Roster Analysis & Portal Impact:
  • Major players: Oregon (Dante Moore), Ohio State (Julian Sayin), Notre Dame (CJ Carr), Texas (Arch Manning).

3. Mailbag — Indiana’s Blueprint & Blue-Chip Ratio (29:41–34:58)

• Listener Q: Did Indiana break the “blue chip ratio” with age and continuity, or is there a secret sauce?
  • Bud: “There are more avenues to winning it now. You need a lot less talent to win the national title.” (30:19–31:50)
  • Tom: “You can’t measure heart, you can’t measure grit…” (32:02)
  • Chip: The “secret sauce” is schedule alignment and development windows: “It’s about your group, everybody being on the same development schedule…” (32:45)
• Replicability:
  • There’s consensus that age, continuity, and a “window” were crucial, but it may not be replicable.
  • Having a #1 draft pick QB is a common trait among outlier champs (34:47).

4. Avoiding Regression & Portal vs. HS Recruiting (37:50–43:55)

• Indiana vs. Florida State:
  • How can Indiana avoid Florida State’s transfer-heavy regression?
  • Bud: “Stay true to who you are… don’t chase bounce backs from Bama/Georgia who couldn’t get on the field.” (38:41)
  • High school recruiting may improve but philosophy probably stays similar.
  • Fit and evaluation of “floor vs. ceiling” are key; Indiana masters scheme fit over chasing raw talent (41:13–42:13).
  • Tom is skeptical of any coachspeak: “I don’t believe anything Kurt Signetti says [at a] press conference…” (42:13)

5. The Transfer Portal, NIL & Roster Builds (47:29–59:10)

• Are Elite HS Recruits Squeezed Out?
  • General consensus: Not really; elite HS prospects (especially OL/DL) will still find homes (47:54–49:05).
  • “High school offensive linemen, the really good ones, are tremendous investments.” — Bud (48:47)
  • Quarterbacks and WRs with true 5-star distinction will still play early for top programs (49:57).
• Way-too-early true freshman QB influence:
  • Jared Curtis at Vanderbilt pegged as most likely immediate impact guy; timing and fit matter (50:53).
• Schedule and Preseason Analysis:
  • Hosts parse Big 12/SEC schedule quirks and Texas Tech’s unexpectedly favorable path (53:41–55:16).

6. NIL, Portal, and Fan Perception (56:24–60:09)

• Are NIL and the Portal Problems, Will We Ever See More Rules?
  • Bud: “Which rules are not being enforced?” and points out that schools, not NIL or the portal, are truly responsible for chaos (56:33–58:24).
  • Tom: “Can we just stop calling it NIL? Can we just say money?” (57:12)
  • Chip: “The schools… have the power to make the changes but are more than happy to tell fans someone else is the problem.” (58:18)
  • The hosts lampoon administrative finger-pointing (“The NCAA is an association of schools…you are blaming yourself by blaming the NCAA,” — Chip, 58:53), pointing out cycles of blame and lack of accountability.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Miami’s Ranking:
  • “If you’re gonna have Miami at 2, you are heavily weighting the wins and de-weighting the losses a little bit.” — Bud Elliott (06:47)
• On Indiana’s Secret Formula:
  • “You can’t measure heart, you can’t measure grit, you can’t measure want-to. And Indiana just led the world in art, grit, and want-to. And they also had the number one pick at quarterback.” — Tom Fornelli (31:50)
• On NIL and Transfer Portal:
  • “Can we just stop calling it NIL? Can we just say money?” — Tom Fornelli (57:12)
• Blue-Chip Ratio Discussion:
  • “You need a lot less talent to win the national title now. I’m gonna have to totally reconsider some of this blue-chip ratio stuff.” — Bud Elliott (31:24)
• On Coaching Carousel Moves:
  • “If Gary Patterson is Lincoln Riley’s defensive coordinator, does that change your thoughts on the Trojans?” — Chip Patterson (17:43)
  • “I’m not guaranteeing that it’s going to hit.” — Bud Elliott (18:17)

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Important Timestamps

• 02:00–10:45 — Postseason poll breakdown and reactions
• 12:00–23:40 — Early 2026 Top 25 and contender debate
• 29:41–34:58 — Indiana's blueprint and blue-chip ratio discussion
• 37:50–43:55 — Avoiding regression; Portal vs. HS recruiting
• 47:29–59:10 — Mailbag: HS recruits vs. Portal, schedule impacts, NIL/portal as perceived “problems”
• 56:24–60:09 — The real “problem” in CFB: portal, NIL, or institutional responsibility?

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Tone & Style Notes

• The episode features lively debate, sharp humor, and a confident, slightly skeptical tone.
• Insightful, inside-baseball commentary mixed with accessibility for less-obsessed fans, especially around shifting roster-building strategies and rules.
• Regular jabs at media narratives, poll voting inconsistencies, and administrative blame-passing.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

If you missed the show, this episode is packed with smart debates on the year’s final rankings, the quickly changing transfer/NIL-driven roster landscape, and what factors really drive surprise championship runs like Indiana’s. The hosts break down what matters for future success, why college football’s top tier is more open than ever, which teams to eye in (way too early) 2026, why the portal isn't destroying high school recruiting just yet, and how you should really interpret all the hand-wringing about NIL and the transfer market.

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For full poll breakdowns, philosophical arguments about the future of team-building, and a no-nonsense look at what matters in college football right now, this Cover 3 episode is a must-listen!

Transcript

[Chip Patterson]

NFL fans spend an average of 690 minutes a week thinking about football.

[Tom Fornelli]

That's over 11 hours. You're checking matchups, tweaking your fantasy roster, reliving big plays, arguing calls.

[Bud Elliott]

Football lives rent free in your head all week long.

[Chip Patterson]

And when the game's on, every decision matters.

[Tom Fornelli]

A winning play or the right timeout. Just 60 seconds can flip the entire outcome.

[Chip Patterson]

But here's the thing. Off the field, we forget to plan.

[Tom Fornelli]

We get so caught up in the pregame hype. The food, the drinks, the vibe, and forget the most important part of the day, how you're getting home.

[Chip Patterson]

So we're making it easier for you to plan ahead with Uber Code make a plan 26 take a minute to order an Uber and get 25% off.

[Bud Elliott]

Your next ride on a game day.

[Chip Patterson]

By using the promo code. Make a plan 26 now through February 9th. That's M A K E A P L A N 26.

[Tom Fornelli]

Whether you're hosting, headed to a local bar, or going to the game, make it part of your ritual. Take a minute, make a plan. Never drive impaired this message brought to.

[Chip Patterson]

You by Diageo, MAD and the NFL. Please drink responsibly.

[Bud Elliott]

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[Tom Fornelli]

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[Bud Elliott]

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[Tom Fornelli]

It's your call for the best college.

[Bud Elliott]

Football coverage from national signing day to the national championship and CBS Sports presents the COVID 3 Podcast.

[Chip Patterson]

And welcome back to the COVID 3 Podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Tom Fornelli, that's Bud Elliott. I'm Chip Patterson. Come to you [e-mail] cover3 and everywhere. Get you a podcast on demand. Thanks for hanging out. Smash that subscribe smash that like and come and join us in the chat aka the COVID 3 tailgate where dash the esper says halfback ISO to the like button. I mean it's right there. You don't. You don't. It's the. The gap is open, offensive line does the job. The like button is right there. Yeah, we are excited because this is the first of many, many Thursdays where a lot of the show is driven and determined by you. We had a bunch of people pull up to the tailgate early and get in some great questions that we will get answered before we get out of here. And that conversation is just going to continue to be ongoing all throughout the rest of the coming months. So there is one last piece of sort of wrap up business, right? Like we did our last instant reaction show, we sort of put a bow on, on lots of different things for the season, but one last time because we've got an AP top 25, because we've got a coaches poll. And you know what, I'll go ahead and tease this. We got some very interesting coaches ballots and coach rankings to discuss because we actually get to see, we get to now grill the coaches the same way we grill the AP voters. So one last time for the 2025, 26 season. Let's hit poll assassin. What? Tom Fornelli, have you familiarized yourself with the coaches poll ballot of newly minted national champion Kurt Signetti?

[Tom Fornelli]

I have not. No.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay, let me, let me, let me, let me just let you know. Shocker. It was a unanimous number one. So Indiana does check in at number one. He had great respect for his title game opponent. He put Miami at number two. He's doing it for the Big Ten. Oregon at number three, Ole Miss at number four, Ohio State at number five. Scanning, scanning. Makes kind of sense that. Oh, oh, that would be the Iowa Hawkeyes at 11 and the Alabama Crimson Tide at 12.

[Tom Fornelli]

He played them both. I mean we had a more difficult time with one than the other.

[Chip Patterson]

Baby. This is, I mean listen, he, he did it. This, this is lit. Led to one of the bigger sort of standout points. Other things from the, the coaches poll that stood out, in case you haven't seen it, everybody did end up putting Miami at number two except for one coach, Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun not respecting the Canes. Miami fans of which there are many and who love this podcast. Your Troy Calhoun not respecting the Canes. He had Miami all the way down there at number five. Fran Brown, great respect to the ACC champions. He had Duke at number 14. Nine and five Duke at number 14 on Fran Brown's ballot.

[Tom Fornelli]

So did he have Illinois in his top 10?

[Chip Patterson]

I mean we got Jim Mora Jr. Put Notre Dame down at 25. Talk about somebody. Talk about somebody who was had no time for the opting out of the postseason.

[Tom Fornelli]

No standing up for his fellow independent.

[Chip Patterson]

Service academies continue to be outliers here. How about Brian Newberry had Alabama at 21. Marcus Freeman had USC unranked. Don't tell me that. Listen, I tell you.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, this is a really, really good.

[Chip Patterson]

And we always talk about, oh, coaches bowl. They just have the sids. Do it. Coach poll. They just have the sids. Well, maybe, but your name's on it. Okay. And the first one and the last one, we get released and, and, and that's, that's where we start to see it. I wanted to actually, because we also had to fill out CBS Sports 136 ballots. Miami at number two. Good with that.

[Tom Fornelli]

Sure. Yeah. I mean, they lost the national title game.

[Chip Patterson]

Were you, were they number two on your 136 ballot?

[Tom Fornelli]

No.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay. I wrestled with it. I did put them at number two. I'd love to hear. I mean, obviously we're splitting hairs among teams that did not win the national title when trying to fill out the rest of the top five and, and so on, but I, I know this sounds crazy. I really did put a lot of thought into this. I'm curious to hear the, the other side of it.

[Tom Fornelli]

My 136 ballot is based on my rating that I do every year. Miami finished seventh.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, from a power rating, from a rating standpoint, that definitely checks out.

[Tom Fornelli]

It's not a power rating. It's just a, like a win.

[Chip Patterson]

It's a value.

[Tom Fornelli]

Performance rating, performance rating.

[Chip Patterson]

Sorry.

[Bud Elliott]

I think if you're gonna have Miami too, I think you're heavy. You are heavily weighting the wins and you're, you're, you're de. Weighting the losses a little bit. Right. Like, who has better wins than Miami?

[Chip Patterson]

That is what was my argument when I was finally, when I was finally getting down to it, that when you, if you, while these things happened like it seemed like lifetimes apart, the playoff run wins of Texas A and M, Ohio State, Ole Miss combined with Notre Dame is a really good collection of high end wins here at the end of the season. And that's what made me feel comfortable with going what normally is. Normally it's a no brainer because normally it's not the one seed and the 10 seed playing in the national title game. It's the one in the three or, you know, last year, I guess it was the seven and the eight. But, you know, we've talked about the seeds. Last year I, I ended up saying, I think that the, the wins at the end combined with the Notre Dame win to me outweighed the losses of Louisville and SMU combined with. I mean, I hate to go all Southeastern Conference here, the quality loss of playing Indiana closer than most teams played Indiana.

[Bud Elliott]

I mean thank God we have a 12 team playoff now for the purposes of actually determining a champion when the sport is like as compressed as this is, you know, for the 10 seed to go on a run like that, I, I think that really shows you something.

[Chip Patterson]

What about in the AP poll final? Indiana at 1, Miami at 2. Ole Miss does end up checking in at number three, Oregon at 4, Ohio State down at 5. Georgia, Texas Tech, Texas A and M, Alabama and Notre Dame round out the top 10. Anything from the rankings themselves or the AP riders a final time to, to. To let their voices be heard. Anything stand out about those?

[Bud Elliott]

I mean, I guess if you look at the, the magnitude of the loss that Oregon had in the semis compared to what Ole Miss, that's how you get that result. I think Oregon is better in Ole Miss, but I don't know if that's really getting like worth getting bit out of shape over. I guess.

[Tom Fornelli]

No, I mean they climbed six spots for beating Tulane in Georgia. Okay. I mean it's, it. I do think that the AP poll is a little too reactionary to the playoff. I, I think that they kind of didn't really take into account the entire season anymore as much as they just took into account what they watched. The last month.

[Chip Patterson]

I had Oregon and Ohio State ahead of Ole Miss on my final CBS Sports 136 ballot. You know. Yeah. Lots of different ways to spin that one.

[Bud Elliott]

First time ever. That FPI which you know, we have discussed is like really, really good in season. Sometimes the preseason stuff is wonky, but it gets good quickly. And they heavily weight SEC early, so we should give them some credit for like strongly correcting for the season's results. No SEC team in the top six first time ever.

[Chip Patterson]

Does that align with Yalls rating? Like I. Not the performance ratings but like with power ratings?

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, I think there's, there's definitely four and I think you can find two more that you would take over. The best SEC team.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, five in mind.

[Chip Patterson]

But yeah, power ratings wise. Is Georgia top SEC team?

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

In mine. Yes.

[Chip Patterson]

At the end of the season. Anything else stand out from the way that the. The final rankings all shook out? Before we look at we at at midnight, we tried to do a way too early guess now everybody's gotten a chance to weigh in. We'll have a little bit of discussion on the future rankings. Any. Any other final thoughts on the final top 25s of the season?

[Tom Fornelli]

I've been hammering it all season. So I'll hammer it one last time. Tennessee and Missouri still receiving votes despite not winning a single game against a team with a winning record. Missouri finished 8 and 5K. Again, no wins against a team of the winning record. And John Wilner had them 20th on his ballot. He had them ahead of Houston, Georgia Tech, Arizona, Washington, Tulane. He also did not rank James Madison, Navy, North Texas. I'm fine with not ranking them or TCU, but it's just Missouri at 20th.

[Bud Elliott]

Okay, that's a little sketch. I think Illinois, Washington should be in over the two. Over the two Big 12 teams at the bottom. Like I, I know Houston and TCU went 10 and 3, 9 and 4. I don't think they have a chance in hell to do that in the Big Ten.

[Chip Patterson]

That's got to be bowl game reaction of TCU beating USC and Houston beating lsu.

[Tom Fornelli]

You know who else beat usc?

[Chip Patterson]

Illinois.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, and I will say, like my thing, like I wish Illinois would have finished ranked because it would have been nice for them because I talked before the season began about how long it's been since they started a season ranked and finished at ranked. So for them to miss by literally two points from actually being able to accomplish it sucks. So I wish they had started ranked, but it does annoy me. Not so much TCU, even though I feel Illinois deserves it more than TCU. It's the fact that Illinois is 26 while USC is 20, despite the fact that Illinois beat USC. And you can argue Illinois has better wins than USC, but.

[Bud Elliott]

Great.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, Illinois, Washington, SMU, those, those first teams on the outside looking in. What about the way too early? Our friend Brandon Marcelo was tasked with like putting it all together for CBS Sports. He has Ohio State at 1, Texas at 2, Georgia at 3, Oregon at 4, Notre Dame at 5. We kind of did a little grab bag of, you know, the teams we thought would be in the mix. Other outlets have put out other rankings as well. Any. Anything stand out about teams that are or are not getting a lot of momentum in, in sort of the early snapshot. Guess at what things are going to look like next season.

[Bud Elliott]

Let me, let me pull up Marcelo's here. Just compared to what I have.

[Chip Patterson]

Did you do a way too early?

[Bud Elliott]

I did a way too early top 10 and. And AI still labeled it top 25. So I just rolled with it for engagement purposes.

[Chip Patterson]

Hold on. Did you do it? Did AI put it together?

[Bud Elliott]

No, I put it together right. And then it didn't look good. So I was like, all right, just do a top 10 but it still kept the top 25 label. And I was like, actually, this. This is perfect for engagement. Right? Because people will comment, where's the rest?

[Chip Patterson]

Right. Oh, okay.

[Bud Elliott]

So I just. I just rolled with it, y'. All.

[Chip Patterson]

The Bud Bot just has Software updated to 26.9, y'. All. The engagement on the Bud Bots, through the roof.

[Bud Elliott]

All right, so A&M6, like, the only real differences here. I. I don't have any material differences. I think you can like stuff that I had way different. I. I'm not a Marcel Reed believer. And the Aggies do lose, I think, a pretty good bit on the offensive line. So I did not have them. My top 10. Marcel had him sixth, Michigan nine. I did think about having Michigan in my top 10. Like, I didn't, but I think I had them, like, 13th. But I. I can certainly see the argument there.

[Chip Patterson]

You cannot get me down to, like, 16 with Michigan. I mean, you know, lose, obviously. Everything's relative. Teams got to be ranked against each other. But the quarterback and the coaching and the general floor is like, quarterback's too good, coaching's too good, floors too high for me to get too far. But I. I'm. I'm also. It's a little bit of. You got to show it to me before I'm really going to make an argument for somewhere, maybe in top eight, like, anywhere. Nine to 15 is probably fine for Michigan with me.

[Bud Elliott]

I didn't have Missouri ranked. That might be a mistake on me. Brandon had him 17th. I had LSU like, a 10th, yet on 14th, so whatever. I didn't have BYU in the top 20 again. I just. I. I don't think they're that good.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

You know, but he had him 12th. But I'm just going over differences here. It doesn't make me right or him wrong. It.

[Chip Patterson]

Like, it's January 22nd. Yeah. I said this on CBS Sports HQ yesterday. I was like, well, as we sit here on January 21st. Sure. Here, let's. Let's talk about it.

[Bud Elliott]

He had ole miss 20th again. I think this was published before Princely left for. This was published three days ago. That's before LSU got Princely. I'm.

[Chip Patterson]

This is.

[Bud Elliott]

This is well done. I. I mean, I. If I'm grading it based on what I have, I think Marcel did a fine job here. Like, there's nothing where I feel like it's egregious or, like, what the hell? You know, but some of it makes me think a little bit, which is kind of what I want at one of these. Right.

[Tom Fornelli]

I'M looking at this for the first time.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, nice.

[Bud Elliott]

I'm South Carolina 25.

[Tom Fornelli]

That is, that is standing out.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, I, I don't think so.

[Tom Fornelli]

What, what did South Carolina do this like Brandon, what's your explanation here? This has all happened last year too.

[Bud Elliott]

And they did not finish with.

[Tom Fornelli]

Then you've got. Oh wow. You also considered Kentucky and Oklahoma State. Now I guess that's just calling like your signetti shot. They're looking for that kind of team.

[Chip Patterson]

But I listen, if, if somebody wants to drive an Oklahoma State hype train, I think there is enough upward momentum that they could, they could be a surprise team at 9 and 3. Right. And be one of the great turnaround stories, I suppose.

[Tom Fornelli]

But I, I think, I think Brandon's got Louisville a little high. I think he's got Missouri a little high. I think, I think he's got Penn State. Right. I have seen other top 25s where I feel like they've got Penn State way too high. Considering Penn State is basically just going to be last year's Iowa State team, but now with a Big Ten schedule.

[Chip Patterson]

Big Ten schedule asterisk because it is a very, very favorable, big favorable schedule both in terms of Big Ten draw and non conference schedule. And that's when we get down to the Is your preseason ranking reflective of team strength or are you trying to predict what the records are going to be at the end of the season? Because if we're playing the win total game, Penn State has a lot going in its favor to be able to stack up a lot of wins. But team strength, perspective. It's fair to wonder what Iowa State east is going to look like compared to the other powers in the Big Ten.

[Tom Fornelli]

I guess. But I mean I've seen them like ranked in like the top 15 of some of these things and I'm just like, okay, Chip, where do you have USC? Like top five, top three?

[Chip Patterson]

No, I'm telling you, this is 2026 is going to be the year of the heel turn. Tom is in on college football playoff expansion and I am out on usc. This is, this is going to, this is going to be 2026 is the year of the heel and maybe the year of the heels we'll see. But the year of the heel, at least in terms of Tom being in on college football playoff expansion and me being out on usc. Instead I'm gonna go with Texas. Texas is my number one who surely they've never let anybody down ever before, right?

[Tom Fornelli]

No.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, it's. Ah, crap. I should have lift Put this as a little news item, but since we're talking about usc, it makes sense. What do you make of the, the Gary Patterson to usc? It seems like it's one of those things that eventually will happen, but there's whatever kind of hold ups a lot of targeting zeroing in on. I'm sure we've got to just get all the contractual stuff settled. But if Gary Patterson is Lincoln Riley's defensive coordinator, does that change your thoughts on the Trojans in any like market way?

[Bud Elliott]

A little bit. Yeah, I, I, so it makes sense. Like Lincoln Riley's from Texas. I'm sure he grew up noticing like how good Gary Patterson's defenses were. So I understand that like, like where the, the interest there might come from. I also think that given like he hasn't been in that role, you know, for a while, like the potential variance of the outcomes I think is, is pretty wide. If it hits, awesome. But like I, I'm not guaranteeing that it's going to hit.

[Tom Fornelli]

I, I don't know that it's necessarily an upgrade. I just don't know that it's necessarily a downgrade either.

[Chip Patterson]

Gary Patterson actually gave the, the Lincoln Riley quote back in like 2017. I think was the, the one is like because in the Big 12 before expansion you got to play everybody and then in the Big 12 title game oftentimes you had played the opponent. And after Oklahoma beat TCU pretty handily in that Big 12 title game, Gary Patterson said it's tough enough to scheme against Lincoln Riley for one game. You got to do it two times in the same season. You don't stand a chance. So clearly there's a little bit of respect there between your defensive mind and your offensive guru as they say. So yeah, it'll be interesting to see obviously. Certainly seems like we are barreling towards that being a part of it for, for USC next season. There's also some personnel that needs to be replaced. They had some old experienced guys that were really good on that Trojans defense and so we'll, we'll see once all the pieces start to come together. I'll check in with them in spring and, and see how high or low I am. But I am, I am to start the year. I am not going to be back in on usc. Instead I am taking Texas.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, I'll check back in with you in August.

[Bud Elliott]

For guys who have covered the sport for a long time like Bama, outside the top 15 in, in a lot of these preseason tutor like too early top 20 fives is kind of striking. Fox Sports had Notre Dame 12.

[Chip Patterson]

That's low. That should be competing for number one.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, I had them too. Which maybe two is high. But if Notre Dame is 12, I.

[Tom Fornelli]

Have a feeling I know who wrote Foxes. Is it RJ Young?

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah. I was like, who writes for. I have no idea who writes for Fox. So I was like, RJ gets a little.

[Tom Fornelli]

He's. He's an outside the box thinker sometimes.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay. Also a fan of the COVID 3 podcast. What's up, RJ? What. What about the number one? You know, that's. That's an ultimate. You got a lot of teams. Where do you draw the circle for teams that you would consider for number one?

[Bud Elliott]

Oregon, Ohio State, Texas, Notre Dame, Georgia are the five I thought about.

[Chip Patterson]

I would not. If I was tasked with writing the article. I'm not all the way there on Georgia for one, but I would not get to six before I included Georgia.

[Bud Elliott]

I think Georgia likes their roster a lot.

[Chip Patterson]

Hell yeah, they do.

[Bud Elliott]

And had to spend a lot on retention because they know that they have some serious studs. And I think if all those studs hit, even though I don't love the quarterback, I don't think he's like a first round type kid. I think he could be good enough with experience and maturity that like I could see them winning it.

[Chip Patterson]

Wide receiver room also is going to be losing a good.

[Bud Elliott]

It's always a question with Georgia, like, that's the one spot they have not done a good job of developing. They usually have to go out and buy it.

[Tom Fornelli]

The bigger difference to me for Georgia next year is I'm going in wondering about the defense. That's not really something I've ever had to do before, but based on what I saw from that pass rush this year, it's like if they play the same way they did this year, I don't think that's the number one defensive team in the country.

[Bud Elliott]

They are going to need the young guys to step up for sure.

[Chip Patterson]

I. But to Bud's point, that's also what I've gotten the sense of is that they really like the young guys. Yeah. And that there will be good opportunities to build on like from. From a Georgia standard with 20, 21, you know, being the A or the A plus, this was kind of a what? A B plus team and they won the SEC and you know, were knocking on the door of being able to make it all the way to the semifinals.

[Bud Elliott]

I mean, think about this. Like, I'm not saying this would have happened, but hypothetically, if Georgia did not have to spend so much on retention. Do they keep Jerry Curtis? Probably like people like teams have to make decisions like this now. You know, if you go sign a five star quarterback that, that's, that's a seven figure like year one expenditure maybe.

[Chip Patterson]

That's an interesting question. Or Jared Curtis just thought that Barton.

[Bud Elliott]

Said love Dandy, love the fit.

[Tom Fornelli]

Right.

[Bud Elliott]

Like a very good chance to play right way.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

It's like this general manager is just so damn handsome.

[Chip Patterson]

So handsome.

[Tom Fornelli]

Got.

[Chip Patterson]

He's got great vision. You know how, how, how does he, how does he got the. The eyes for this great hair?

[Bud Elliott]

I mean like great hair. This podcast used to have better hair.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

100% the hair drop off when we lost Barton. Immense. Yeah. So again CBSSports.com our friend Brandon Marcelo put that together. Ohio State is his number one. And yeah, like come on dog, you got Julian saying you got.

[Bud Elliott]

NC State fans are really mad that we did not give them credit for retaining C.J. bailey, which we should do. That was good. Obviously Cal, you know, keeping Jaron is also huge. You know a couple teams had nice like defensive wins in the portal window. So we should, we should mention that.

[Chip Patterson]

The, the NC States also. Tell me if you've ever heard this one before. NC State could be an ACC dark horse. They've got a favorable schedule. They've got a quarterback back.

[Tom Fornelli]

So they have any running backs or wide receivers.

[Chip Patterson]

They do the, the backup when if you go back in and watch the bowl game against Memphis, names escaping me right now. But remember Hollywood opted out. The backup's a good player.

[Tom Fornelli]

I not disparaging the young.

[Chip Patterson]

I would say Memphis's defense is not.

[Tom Fornelli]

I have seen a lot of people look very good against that Memphis defense.

[Chip Patterson]

I, I believe I, I think in general I think he's a good player. Duke Scott. That's it. That's his name.

[Tom Fornelli]

What a number one consideration.

[Bud Elliott]

No, no. Top 10.

[Tom Fornelli]

Oh no, no, not no. I thought they did that last year we've been here.

[Bud Elliott]

No, I just like a lot of their pieces. If they're right on the quarterback they took from Georgia Tech, I think they have a massive coaching upgrade. Like obviously I didn't think Napier can coach for the damn honestly, I think there was like a good roster builder but I mean every bit as bad as Mario as far as coaching in my opinion. More continuity from quarterback. Some of the young guys keep developing coaching upgrade, new energy. I could see it.

[Tom Fornelli]

My number one is either Ohio State, Oregon, Texas or Notre Dame. Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

So you don't have Georgia in there Is there anybody else who's on the fringe? Like if a couple things hit, you could see it.

[Tom Fornelli]

I could see Georgia. It's just I need to see the defense improve. Other than that, no. I mean I would put Indiana in there just because they are the reigning champions, but I don't know.

[Chip Patterson]

I put them one.

[Tom Fornelli]

Like I think Indiana is going to be a top five team next year. Probably still on the hunt for that just because they've done a really good job in the portal. It's just we don't know if Josh Hoover is going to be Mendoza and they have a whole lot to replace.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, there, there are teams that I would kind of like what I was saying earlier about Michigan. There are teams that I want to make sure I include before I get into the mid teens.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

But then also I, I'm not, I need to see something else before I'm going to push them up into that conversation where Oregon's got back Dante Moore and Ohio State's got Julian Saying and Notre Dame has CJ Carr and who's, who's our fourth? Oh, Texas has Arch Manning. You know, like you've got Aaron Philo. Ain't doing it for me when that's the competition that we're talking about up there in the top five.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

Definitely not top five. Yeah, I, I, if you put them top ten. I don't know that I agree they deserve to be there yet. But on roster I don't fully disagree.

[Chip Patterson]

What about Ole Miss? We haven't mentioned them.

[Bud Elliott]

I think it's strongly Chambers related to. If Chambers is back and they get the ruling from the judge and that holds up, then I could see Ole Miss being there because Chambers is a really good college quarterback.

[Chip Patterson]

In, in just a second we are going to hit a break and then really open things up with some of our Early Bird tailgate questions. But a live question from the tailgate right now all the time. You already answered it. G6. Who, who would you buy? How about this as a stock. Who would you buy stock in when it comes to teams from the American, the Sun Belt, you know.

[Bud Elliott]

Memphis again.

[Chip Patterson]

Charles?

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, they, they still spend.

[Tom Fornelli]

I have no idea. Boise, unlv continuity on the coaching staff at least. Sunbelt. I don't know what James Madison is going to look like next year. They've lost their coach and a bunch of players again. But that program's typically been pretty solid. Even though what happens to Tulane without Sumrall? I don't know. It's. Yeah, it's, that's the thing with the G6 now because every single we talked about it like every all conference player gets poached by a P4 school, you have absolutely no idea what these teams are going to look like next year.

[Bud Elliott]

If Heartline can coach worth a damn, I could see USF in the American. By the way.

[Chip Patterson]

Be very interesting to keep an eye on. And coming up on the other side, your questions, our answers and more next.

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[Chip Patterson]

Back here on the COVID 3 podcast. It's been a while, but I'm very happy to hear from you. Let's head down to the mailroom. All right, before we got that. Before we got that. Excuse me. Before we got rolling, Coach K pulled up to the tailgate and he asked, do we think Indiana's success in breaking the blue chip ratio comes from being old and wise or is there a secret sauce? The common fan is missing.

[Bud Elliott]

I mean, I've been doing a lot of work on this. Obviously. I I think that with the quality of teams that are winning the national title being greatly reduced from what they were from five or 10 years ago. And we'll see this play out when the NFL draft comes. I think it opens up more opportunities. Right? Like you previously, the formula to win it was, was really pretty simple. Like you needed to have like a boatload of future pros on your roster. They all needed to kind of coalesce roughly the same time you get some contributions from some really good young guys. Now I, I think there are more avenues to winning it. Like, I don't know if that's the most likely way to do so, but if you're operating under like a. Not a true salary cap era, but like a. Somewhat of a salary cap era, I think some of these teams are probably going to start spending up for higher floor players who have a limited pro ceiling because they're really good at playing college football. Whereas before that just didn't work. Right. Like, because the teams could hoard all the NFL guys, you know, and, and I mean there are national title teams from the last decade that ended up having like eight first rounders starting for them and an additional six that went top 100. Right. Like, I don't care how good and old you are, like, you're not beating that. It, like, but now you don't have that anymore. Like, that's just not a thing. And so I think you need a lot less talent to win the national title. Now I'm gonna have to like, totally reconsider some of this Bluetooth ratio stuff.

[Tom Fornelli]

You know, the problem is here, it's. It's you talent evaluators, you data boys. You, you can't measure heart, you can't measure grit. You can't measure want to. In Indiana just led the world in art grit and want to. And they also had the number one pick at quarterback. And you put all those things together and just, you know, you watch all your five stars just bow and get pushed out of the way because. Because the peppermint juggernaut came rolling through.

[Chip Patterson]

I really enjoyed our conversation. Love it. I really enjoyed our conversation with Cooper and I think I've. I've landed on a new idea of the secret sauce. I think it's schedule. He talked about teams being like a different or being on the same schedule or classes being on the same schedule. Do you know who else was old? Miami.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yes. Some reason that got lost in the conversation.

[Chip Patterson]

Totally lost in the conversation that Miami was old as crap too. Yeah, no, I think that it's about schedule. And I even thought about the blue chippiest of the blue chip teams like your Alabama and your Georgia teams. Sure, Alabama and Georgia are always good, but the ones that really did it and took it to the next level had a couple of special classes, all on the same schedule and then you popped and you had that little peak. And then guess what happened after that schedule was done. A little bit of a regression and you haven't necessarily been able to see that, that same type of level. So the secret sauce to me is about your, your group, everybody being on the same development schedule. Like I need to do a better job of defining it. But I think that the secret sauce, like your window. Your window. Yeah. All that stuff I think is the secret sauce. Undeniably this was Indiana's window. I mean you had all, all the guys that came over as part of the plan like this. That's what makes Indiana one of the most interesting teams in America for 2026, is that you do this will be another year beyond the, the project. Right. And you've, you've re established expectations and I think that inside that program the expectations are going to remain the same, but it's just going to be a little bit different, you know, now that we're starting to lose some of those individuals that have been a part of it basically all the way back to jmu.

[Bud Elliott]

That's a great point because even if you could have, if Indiana had assembled this team with the exact same players like just for this year from random schools, they would not have had that same continuity, you know, going up. Right. I, I think that, that how replicable is Indiana is a really interesting question. I, I don't think it's super recordable. I do think there are some lessons you can take and apply to your roster. Building 11. Not every take has to be a shoot the moon. Hey, we like, we need this guy to have, you know, top 100 pick upside.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

But it damn sure helps if you got, if you got the number one pick quarterback.

[Chip Patterson]

Yes.

[Bud Elliott]

Like in almost all the cases in which you had teams on the lower end of the blue chip ratio winning it like your quarterback went top 12 in the draft or higher.

[Chip Patterson]

Ariota could have broken it. And wasn't he a 1 1.

[Bud Elliott]

Right, right. Like the first, the first year that Clemson won, obviously, you know, like Desean went 12th. The Cam Newton team. I mean like it's hard to measure his impact but like clearly like he, he was that team.

[Chip Patterson]

Speaking of one one. Just no free ads here. I think we're just reporting on the news. But do you guys know your LinkedIn password? I feel like I need to reset that.

[Tom Fornelli]

It's saved on my computer, but I don't know what it is.

[Chip Patterson]

LinkedIn, unsurprisingly, is one of the few social media apps that Fernando Mendoza has on his phone. So at Media days, he was talking about social media and he revealed that the only social media apps he has on his phone are LinkedIn and YouTube. So I'm sure he's a subscriber and a member of the Tailgate and a big fan of the COVID 3 podcast [e-mail] cover3. Hey, Fernando. Congratulations. Fernando did, in the wake of winning the national championship, offer a LinkedIn update? Have you guys seen this yet?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay. Monday night my teammates and I had the honor of raising the national championship trophy and bringing a college football title back to Bloomington, Indiana for the first time in history. With the guidance of our coaches and unwavering support of Hoosier Nation, our band of brothers made the unbelievable believable. Here's what winning a national championship taught me about B2B sales. Kidding. Kind of. Number one, believe in yourself. Four years ago I was a two star recruit playing a high school football 30 minutes from hard Rock Stadium with a dream of playing at the highest level. Then two days ago I became a national champion in that same stadium surrounded by family who never stopped believing in me. Number two, take the risk. When it's fourth and five at the 12 yard line, go for it. And number three, remember who got you there. Thank you to my teammates, coaches, support staff, professors and everyone behind the scenes who helped make it happen. Awesome.

[Bud Elliott]

And I think like I think he's smart to be in on the bit 100.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, yeah. No, that to have your your grand statement be a LinkedIn update was very, very good. All right, we got one more this question came for this is Indiana related? Then we'll continue the conversation. Take it elsewhere. This question came from Twitter this morning. We we asked if you had anything you want us to break down on the show somewhat related to what we've discussed here. Trainer Tommy jumped in and said Florida State went 24 and 4 in the 202223 with a transfer heavy roster. Indiana has just gone 27 and 2 with a transfer heavy roster. What does Indiana do to avoid the hard regression that Florida State saw despite continuing to spend in the portal? Their high school recruiting seems similar.

[Bud Elliott]

Well, I think what they did is more impressive for a number of reasons. Like A they won the whole thing, right? B, they've Done it in at least the first year of the rev share era. And I would define the like full nil plus portal era as 23 on. There was some nil and portal going on in 2122, but it was like the teams that were willing to do it had a massive advantage in that time and Florida State was one. Right. But now everybody spins for Portal players. So you know, like, what's Keon Coleman going for compared to what Forge they.

[Chip Patterson]

Got him for double tough timing.

[Bud Elliott]

Sure.

[Chip Patterson]

Real tough timing on Keon Coleman.

[Bud Elliott]

But like that was one of like.

[Chip Patterson]

No, that wasn't me. Not. Not me. Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

Shoot. What do they do? I. I think you have to like stay true to who you are. One of the things Florida State that I think they realized was they needed. They tried to get players who they missed out in high school who ended up signing with Bama in Georgia and they like. I do think that. I still think a lot of these bounce backs off those rosters are bad bets. Like you have like, it's not like Bama and Georgia's coaches suck. So if you're taking a kid who couldn't play there, there are examples.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean the problem is with Jeremiah Wilson.

[Bud Elliott]

Right.

[Chip Patterson]

You know, like it was the backer.

[Bud Elliott]

With Arkansas who went first round. Like there are guys like this.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

But a lot of times I don't think like taking those guys and banking on them to be like good for you right away and also have the high end upside I think is the mistake. High end upside. I still kind of believe in on some of those dudes, you know.

[Chip Patterson]

Dj, you also was just a huge whiff.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

And he was hurt and it was bizarre. Like the staff wouldn't admit it all year. My guys, he wasn't wearing a knee bracelet at Oregon State. He is now like really going to pretend like, like that they got weird with that.

[Tom Fornelli]

He's fine.

[Bud Elliott]

I'm like, okay, yeah, sure he is.

[Chip Patterson]

How does Indy. How does Indiana. Do you think Indiana changes its high school recruiting profile?

[Tom Fornelli]

I would imagine it makes it more attractive to some of the blue chip high school prospects for sure. Yeah, I don't. I mean they will probably go after guys they weren't considering going after earlier. But I don't know if it changes their overall approach.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, they're probably like, they're probably hearing from better prospects, right? Well, not probably. We know they are and we don't know their high school scouting is any good. Now granted what they did to jmu, it was. Becker was a guy the old staff had. They Decided like they stayed the one.

[Tom Fornelli]

Guy get rid of the.

[Chip Patterson]

There. There's a very corner that. Not a very. There is a very small corner of college football fandom where Virginia Tech fans were just counting up the Virginia high school players on Indiana's roster and just like, oh my gosh, how did all of these guys get out? And sort of, you know, very much being disappointed about the way that things had gone for the last at that point, five to six years because of how deep we're talking about this in the process.

[Bud Elliott]

If we can stay on Indiana for a minute here.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

If you take Kurt Sanetti at his word, it seems like complete BS that their secret sauce is valuing experience and production because that's the easiest thing to measure in the portal is production.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[Bud Elliott]

What they value might be different. Like maybe placing. Like, are they great evaluators of that? Like, everybody is about the same evaluator of production. They might be great evaluators. In fact, I'd say almost certainly are of fit for what they need. Like, so they might be great evaluators are fit for purpose. Right. And then also like, how much weight do they put on production versus potential? Which ended up being a great bet in an era which you don't have to be a great team to win the national title. Right. Relative to the standards of yesteryear. So I think that is something people will probably copy a little bit more like more balanced waiting in your incoming player class of like experience. Floor versus ceiling.

[Tom Fornelli]

I don't mean this as an insult. I've. I've got taken the approach that unless it's during a sideline interview, I don't believe anything Kurt Signetti says. If it's in a press conference environment, I don't believe a word he says like that. Oh, we had a terrible practice. We had this. Oh, we come out, we went by a thousand.

[Bud Elliott]

So wait a second. So you guys run a, a huge variety of scheme and you're also an amazing tackling team and yet you run really light practices that are real short.

[Tom Fornelli]

We don't practice. We don't even. We don't even have practice. We've never had one. We just, we read, we talk about.

[Bud Elliott]

Our feelings, update our LinkedIn.

[Chip Patterson]

I. I saw Kieran mention it in the tailgate. It could be vibes. I mean, he said mental evaluation. Right? I mean, he like.

[Bud Elliott]

No, I think that's a good point, actually.

[Chip Patterson]

I. They just might have an idea, like when we could bring these guys on campus, they sit down and they talk to them and, and they Make a judgment of whether or not you've got the head to be a part of this. This program.

[Bud Elliott]

But Portal is so speed dating.

[Chip Patterson]

I know. Like, that's an evaluation skill.

[Bud Elliott]

Well, no, of course. Yeah. But I'm curious as to how they do that, because you can't get that by talking to the kid's agent, you know, in back channeling. No, you'd have to be talking to him beforehand.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Have a good idea. Yep. Whether. And you know, whether it is not sorting the statistics as much or but like grading tape and realizing who's locked into a game, who's in the right place at the right time, grading each snap, you know, based on assignments, those kinds of things like that. Those. Those are skills as well that I think could help with the intangible part of this.

[Bud Elliott]

We won't know some of this until the coordinators get hired away. Yeah. And then we'll start to figure out, like, what some of their secret sauce is behind the scenes. Yep. Maybe it's just Sig also, like, I want to know what, why, like, what was the actual beef between Saban and Sick?

[Tom Fornelli]

I'm guessing it was just Saban wasn't promoting him and Sig was like, all right. I mean, based on his whole Persona that you see with, you know, showing up and saying this, these teams sucked it like big kind of fu. Energy. I'll just go do it my damn self. Every time he got passed up for that OC job, he probably just got a little matter and said, f this, I'll go somewhere else.

[Chip Patterson]

Kurt Signetti was Philip Rivers quarterback coach in college.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

This guy has been around and seen some stuff.

[Bud Elliott]

It was a Chuck Amato staff.

[Chip Patterson]

Like anybody trying to, like, big time. It's just, he's too weathered. He's from a first family of football. Like, it's just. Yeah. I don't know if. I don't know if there is beef or I don't know what the beef is, but I could understand why the self belief and the desire to not sit there and take your. Yes, sir. I mean, think about the age difference between Kirby and Sig, and they're sitting there in that same staff room, and if he's getting treated like Kirby, he might be like, no, I don't think so.

[Tom Fornelli]

Also, I mean, Nick Saban and Kurt probably have pretty sizable egos, and it's not exactly the first time you would see those clash when they're in a room together.

[Bud Elliott]

Yep.

[Chip Patterson]

All right, coming up on the other side, will elite high school recruits get squeezed out because of the focus on the transfer portal, we'll give you our best answer. All that and more nukes.

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[Tom Fornelli]

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[Chip Patterson]

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[Bud Elliott]

Except Discover in a little place like this?

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[Chip Patterson]

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[Bud Elliott]

Right.

[Chip Patterson]

So we shouldn't get the parachute pants. These are making a comeback, I think. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. Based on the February 2025 Nielsen report.

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[Chip Patterson]

Back here on the COVID 3 podcast 9:19am Eastern Time well before the show got started. We appreciate you jumping in, getting the conversation going. Question for the mailbag. Will we get to a point in your opinion where high school recruits who are elite still don't find many homes in the elite because of the portal and roster turnover?

[Bud Elliott]

No, I don't. I don't think more than we have already seen in the last two years.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, I think the bigger change will be how many of them stick around with where they initially commit out of high school. Because if they are showing up at a program that is recruiting over them through the portal, they're not. We've seen. They're not likely to stick around.

[Bud Elliott]

Right, Exactly.

[Chip Patterson]

My initial thought here was that it is all position related.

[Bud Elliott]

Thinking quarterback.

[Chip Patterson]

No, I mean like we were talking about elite high school offensive linemen. Right, Right. Elite high school offensive lineman. If we continue to power forward. And if we do get to something anywhere close to employment or contracts, I mean, I mean, bud, you tell me, wouldn't a program be happy to give Jackson Cantwell a three year deal?

[Bud Elliott]

Well, yeah, and honestly, like high school offensive linemen, the really good ones are tremendous investments.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Like I don't think they're getting pretty.

[Bud Elliott]

Proven at this point.

[Chip Patterson]

I think offensive and defensive linemen are not getting squeezed out at any point for older players who can't play and don't have physical tools.

[Bud Elliott]

Right, Exactly.

[Chip Patterson]

That's my general thought. Now, quarterbacks maybe. I mean what's. Bryce Underwood came into this season with as much hype for a true freshman quarterback as we've seen in recent years. I mean we can you know, just sort of like snap call, try to throw out some other names if you've got them. But. And his year was fine. Is that Tom Fair? Like what's your, what is your assessment of Bryce Underwood's true freshman season?

[Tom Fornelli]

A lot of potential shown, a lot of inconsistency shown as well.

[Chip Patterson]

Who else would be in that club? True freshman like true, true freshmen who can come in and have an immediate impact.

[Bud Elliott]

Like position wise?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

I think the real stud receivers like, like your true 5 stars and nobody can guard at these all star games. You know, Jeremiah Coleman, Ryan Williams, when he was right. Like, like, you know, guys like that, I, I could see some of your lower end receivers getting less money from, from some of the top schools and maybe having to drop down to like a mid level P5 if they want to get the big time dollars. If you look at the trend though, roughly the same number of schools have signed a top 100 high school recruit in the last four years. Like it's, it's around 30 each year. Like it's not going up. Like, so we're not seeing all of a sudden like the 50th best program start to sign a top 100 kid out of high school.

[Tom Fornelli]

Here's, Here's a question for the mailbag from me right this very moment between like the incoming five star quarterbacks, Sean Henderson, Faison Brandon and Jared Curtis. Which one's the most likely to have an immediate impact?

[Chip Patterson]

Jared Curtis.

[Bud Elliott]

I think Jared Curtis because of the fit and because of the room.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

Well, Keyshawn for sure at Houston.

[Chip Patterson]

But we asked about Faison Brandon and that did not sound like it was a guarantee. And that seemed more like it. It might be 27 before Tennessee. Yeah. Is envisioning him taking over.

[Bud Elliott]

It's also like what's the pressure on the program. Like, I do think there's some pressure on Tennessee to, you know, not, like, not backslide.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, yeah. You can't be living with freshman mistakes.

[Tom Fornelli]

Wegman's back at Houston, right?

[Bud Elliott]

Who is Connor Wegman?

[Tom Fornelli]

Is he out or is he back one more year?

[Bud Elliott]

I feel like he can't be back. Right. I would expect Keyshawn to beat him out.

[Chip Patterson]

No respect. This podcast has never claimed to be a Conor Wegman podcast.

[Bud Elliott]

He looked better this year.

[Tom Fornelli]

He did. He looked a lot better this year.

[Bud Elliott]

Like, physically look better. And also, I mean, I. I think the coaching he was getting there was. Was really good. Wegman is back.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah. Keyshawn doesn't beat him out. I'd be surprised.

[Chip Patterson]

The way that I.

[Tom Fornelli]

Wanted to be both.

[Chip Patterson]

Like, out of play, like, planned or like, maybe Henderson.

[Tom Fornelli]

Takes it over as the season goes on. But I would bet that Wegman starts the year as a starter and you.

[Bud Elliott]

Have a. Henry, what's the early schedule? Is Big 12 schedule out?

[Chip Patterson]

Yep. It actually was released this week.

[Tom Fornelli]

Still waiting for Big Ten for some reason. It needs another week to get that out.

[Bud Elliott]

They open, they get Oregon State and Southern to start, and then you get.

[Tom Fornelli]

At Texas Tech and at Georgia Southern. What are we doing, folks?

[Bud Elliott]

And then. And then host ucf. I would start them right away because those are four games out of the five that I'm strongly expecting to win.

[Tom Fornelli]

And.

[Bud Elliott]

And, like, I think you can get some reps under your belt.

[Tom Fornelli]

Did. Did they schedule that Southern game after hiring Willie? Like, is that a. Is that a payback? Like, he's going back to Statesboro for. For a game?

[Bud Elliott]

I don't know. That's wild, though. Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

Like, that is some ACC stuff right there.

[Chip Patterson]

Didn't Georgia Southern play USC this year? Clay Helton got to go back.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Checks out well.

[Tom Fornelli]

Just likes to check in on all their old.

[Bud Elliott]

That's a hard schedule for Houston, by the way.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

Like at West Virginia, at Colorado, at Utah, at Kansas State, at Texas Tech. Like, those are five hard places to play. Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Big 12 Big 12 road trips. Is that. That. That's some. Some math right there that you could apply to your preseason predictions if you wanted to. Like, just looking at where they're going distance and also just the difficulty of.

[Tom Fornelli]

Who has five environment. Yeah, it's the same. It's like the Big Ten in the Big 12, they have this situation where some teams are five and some are four. Now, you're going to see that in the SEC and the ACC or not. Did the ACC go to nine.

[Bud Elliott]

They did, but it's a modified.

[Chip Patterson]

I forgot.

[Tom Fornelli]

No, it's a calculus equation. I forgot. Yeah, somebody has like the derivative of a nine game schedule this year, but we don't know who.

[Bud Elliott]

Do you know who does not have an insanely hard schedule? Oh, Texas Tech.

[Chip Patterson]

Let's hear it.

[Bud Elliott]

So their roadies are at Oregon, State, at Colorado, at Oklahoma State, at Baylor, at Cincinnati. And they host Houston, Arizona State, Arizona, West Virginia, tcu. So maybe a little harder than this year, but like it's not insane. They don't play BYU and they don't play Utah.

[Tom Fornelli]

Nope.

[Bud Elliott]

Welcome back to the golf ball playoff, Texas.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, is that the easiest fast forward right now in trying to make preseason predictions?

[Bud Elliott]

I think so, yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

Hey, you know what? For all those Big 12 fans who got mad at us for calling them a random number generator the last few years, congratulations. You're no longer a random number generator.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, you got a juggernaut now. Congratulations. All right, let's see this one where we see portal or. Ah, here we go. Dirty Dogs 92 jumped in at 8:55am Eastern Time and said, think we'll ever see transfer portal? And Nil get rules that will be enforced. Also, everyone says nil is the problem in college football, but it's actually the portal that's the real problem. Thoughts? I translated this question as portal Nil. Everyone tries to, tries to stick the blame on something. How do you respond when a college football fan is talking to you out in the wild and they, oh, college. Oh, you cover college football, man, that's crazy. You know, this portal, portal this nil. You know, they, they. It is a, A true or false. It is a common refrain when we're out in the wild talking to people.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

That they're, you know, they're going to try to stick one or the other or sometimes pair them together. What is your response to, to that view?

[Bud Elliott]

Which rules are not being enforced?

[Chip Patterson]

I was thinking more about the second part. Like what is more of the problem or is, you know, how, how do you unpack the frustration for a fan who is blaming, blaming that as a reason why they are not feeling as enthused by college football?

[Bud Elliott]

I mean, I get it for Georgia. Like they no longer have this overwhelming talent advantage over everybody. So coaching matters more.

[Tom Fornelli]

I would say. How are the portal and nil not like very strongly related? Because a lot of people are entering the portal because of nil elsewhere.

[Chip Patterson]

Which.

[Tom Fornelli]

Can we just stop calling it nil? Can we just say money?

[Bud Elliott]

Oh, no, the schools don't want that.

[Tom Fornelli]

I mean, us. Can we just call it money? Like, because if we just start calling it money instead of nil, eventually the schools will call it money. That's how it works.

[Bud Elliott]

Right? I. Look, this mental lawsuit could be interesting on this. Like, if Mensa tries to say this was actually an employment contract that they were trying to sneak in here, which I think he might. That'll be interesting to see. Like. Like, if we talk on this thread a little bit. Like, does this speed up some of this, you know, kind of like, please don't look behind the curtain aspect of how these nil deals are actually structured? Like, are we gonna get rules? I think, like, the crux of the question is, are we going to get contracts that force a player to stay at a school?

[Tom Fornelli]

Washington, apparently.

[Bud Elliott]

Right. Well, it's up to the schools, really, if they want, like, mass, you know, control of that. But even employment contracts, for the most part, they very rarely, like, force you to stay somewhere. They usually just set the price to leave.

[Chip Patterson]

I. I think that we can go back to just an old Buddhism. Oh, it's not. The problem isn't nil. The problem is not the transfer portal. The problem is the schools, which are. Have the power to make the changes, but are more than happy to tell fans that somebody else is the problem. Because the school wants to keep you, the fan, invested in your season tickets and your merchandise and your donations. And so I can't be the bad guy. I need to be with you. I need to be in your corner on this one. So let's blame all this other stuff, right?

[Tom Fornelli]

But I blame the kids.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, oh, and that's my favorite. And this. This is an old one. Man, I haven't played this one. This is off, like, the second album. The NCAA is an association. That is one of those A's. It is an association of schools. So every time I hear a school administrator blame the ncaa, you are a part of the ncaa. You are blaming yourself by blaming the ncaa. So, yeah, you've got the power to change it.

[Tom Fornelli]

So he's taking responsibility and you're mad at him for it. What if he's blaming himself? He's taking responsibility and you're getting pissed off at him for it. What do you want him to do?

[Chip Patterson]

No, he. He or she. Tom is being misleading, right? No, maybe.

[Tom Fornelli]

No, maybe you're just so jaded that that's the way you read it. Maybe that person is sitting there taking full accountability for their actions, and you just don't want to hear it. You don't Want to believe it? Your mind's already made up.

[Bud Elliott]

You see this a lot with, like, municipal governments when. When they are sued and it's a case they should obviously settle, but it looks better for the elected officials to ride it out. And if they get hammered, they can blame the crazy jury system.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, like, don't admit.

[Tom Fornelli]

Right.

[Chip Patterson]

Don't.

[Bud Elliott]

Don't.

[Chip Patterson]

Right, Exactly.

[Bud Elliott]

If you get smoked on your lawsuit all of a sudden, well, look, it's. Man, just like. Right?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

When it's. When it's something you should have settled a year and a half ago. Yeah, yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Very good point right there. Did you ever. What was your law, by the way? I don't think we've talked about that recently.

[Bud Elliott]

We're in commercial litigation.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay. Did you ever run into the municipal legal system?

[Bud Elliott]

Not as far as that. Really?

[Tom Fornelli]

No.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Interesting stuff, though.

[Bud Elliott]

But my dad was a fire chief, so, like, I've talked to him a lot about this. He's, like, not with his district, of course, but, like, in consulting with other districts, he's, like, shocked at how often they should, like, actually settle this. And I'm like, that makes a lot of sense.

[Chip Patterson]

Like, yeah, legal action with the fire department involved type stuff.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, right.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Very interesting. Well, we'll have that conversation another time, maybe. That's a June mail.

[Bud Elliott]

I do have a hilarious story, actually. Well, I can't. Let me ask you if I can share, but It's. It's probably 15 years old now, so I think we probably can.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, we've. We've had. The statute of limitations has expired. Yeah, we'll. We'll do. Was that in Fort Myers, like, in that area? Yeah, we'll do Fort Myers Fire Department legal. Legal action stories in June. You gotta stick around for that one. All right, we will be back on Monday. We're gonna be going a little bit earlier than usual. Probably around 9:30, 30am Eastern Time. But be sure to, as always, stay up to date with our socials. Make sure you're [e-mail] cover3 so that you can know the exact time to come and join us. And you can follow him on Twitter at Tom Fenelli. You can follow him@Blood Elliot 3. You can follow me at Chip Underscore Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

[Tom Fornelli]

Thank you.

[Bud Elliott]

See y', all.

[Tom Fornelli]

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