Ranking EVERY Power Four College Football Coach | SEC Meetings Update | Brendan Sorsby Latest 🏈

Summary

Cover 3 College Football – May 28, 2026

Episode: "Ranking EVERY Power Four College Football Coach | SEC Meetings Update | Brendan Sorsby Latest"

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Cover 3 College Football podcast, hosted by Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli, and Danny Kanell, centers around three major topics: the release and analysis of the CBS Sports Power Four Coach Rankings, a heated discussion about the Brendan Sorsby gambling suspension situation at Texas Tech, and updates from the SEC spring meetings with broader playoff implications. The hosts dive into their personal rankings, audit ballot trends, debate coach trajectories and reputations, and banter about the wild state of modern college football.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Brendan Sorsby Gambling Suspension (Texas Tech)

• [04:49–11:26]
  • The NCAA denied Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby's reinstatement after a gambling suspension.
  • Tom's take: The situation is "black and white," rules were knowingly broken, and thus the NCAA’s decision is justified.

    "There are rules that say you can't gamble on football. You especially can't gamble on your own team. Every single player knows it." – Tom (06:10)

  • Danny points out the logic of Texas Tech publicly backing Sorsby: it shows future recruits and current players that the institution stands behind its athletes.
  • Both hosts are skeptical about potential success on appeal for Sorsby despite being upset about the situation’s impact on all involved.
  • Implication: Setting a lenient precedent (like a 3- or 6-game suspension) could lead to recurring violations.
  • Chip notes that Texas Tech can still contend for the Big 12 title despite Sorsby’s absence.

2. SEC Spring Meetings & Conference Realignment

• [11:28–19:45]
  • Rumors swirl about the SEC potentially breaking away for independent football governance.
    • Chip: “I do not think all of college football would be better for it, but I do think the SEC could do it.” (12:32)
  • Still, hosts doubt that such a split (football-only league) could be smoothly managed, especially regarding non-football sports.
  • Danny’s critique: Raising concerns about NCAA/NIL/transfer market “rules and structure.” If the SEC enforces stricter rules, will that hurt it in recruiting or transfer retention?
    • “If they want to have these rules…and everybody else doesn't…those good players…they’ll be like, I want more money, I’m going to leave the SEC.” (13:13)
  • Tom notes the mutual dependence between the SEC and Big Ten for media and national interest—even though they trade jabs.
  • The possibility of “bowl season” morphing into big nonconference neutral-site games as traditional bowls diminish.
  • Expansion scenario: SEC grows to 20 teams, creates 10-team divisions, keeps a robust schedule—but hosts see risk of regionalization and reduced national appeal.

3. Playoff Format, Cupcake Week, and Conference Scheduling

• [19:46–28:59]
  • Movement against "cupcake week" (late-season games vs. weak non-conference opponents), long an SEC target for criticism.
    • Tom: “I always thought it was smart…Give your team a week off…Let everybody rest up before the home stretch.” (21:46)
  • Danny wishes non-conference “cupcakes” were distributed throughout the year, not concentrated, to avoid boring weekends.
  • SEC schedule changes (adding a 9th conference game) stir debate—balancing entertainment, ratings, and strategic advantages.
  • Playoff expansion (12, 16, or 24 teams): Coaches and commissioners jockey to maximize spots for their leagues.
    • Danny: “I think Sankey is really backed into this corner…Is he going to stand up to his coaches and say no…or cave to the Big Ten and say, well, you know what, we have to listen…” (26:00)
  • The SEC has less internal unity than the Big Ten and thus may be disadvantaged in upcoming negotiations.

4. Mailbag: FSU Orientation Tips & College Baseball

• [33:09–36:56]
  • Advice for parents bringing their child to Florida State for orientation: visit Madison Social, try to see Doak Campbell Stadium.
  • Lighthearted banter about college baseball, attendance, and the experience of regionals vs. the College World Series.

5. Coach Rankings: CBS Sports Panel, Process, and Drama

• [36:56–70:33]
  • Top 5 Coaches (per aggregate ballot):
    1. Kirk Cignetti (Indiana)
    2. Kirby Smart (Georgia)
    3. Ryan Day (Ohio State)
    4. Marcus Freeman (Notre Dame)
    5. Dan Lanning (Oregon)
  • Debate over Cignetti vs. Kirby Smart for #1:
    • Danny: “When you talk about having to change a culture…What Kirk Cignetti has done…It’s hands down Kirk's.” (40:01)
    • Tom admits he put Cignetti #3, Smart at #1 due to “longer track record at the top level.”
  • Heated discussion about Dabo Swinney’s steep drop (not even top 10 on some ballots):
    • Danny: “To have him out of the top 25 is disrespectful.” (46:02)
    • Tom: “I put him at 15th…and I will use Mario Cristobal as a counter example…Cristobal addressed his shortcomings, Dabo’s stubborn, doesn’t want to change.” (46:12)
    • Specific callouts: Brandon Marcello ranked Dabo #28, shocking the group.
  • Lane Kiffin’s “hot coach” status is challenged—Danny thinks he's over-ranked due to lacking Power 4 titles.
  • The challenge of evaluating coaches with insufficient Power 4 track records (e.g., John Sumrall), and what rising/falling trajectories mean.
  • Transparent audit: Who’s homer/hater/extreme among voters
    • Chip is the biggest ACC "homer" and Big 12 "hater"
    • Tom is the Big Ten "homer"
    • Brandon Marcello is the Big Ten "hater," Brad Crawford is biggest SEC "homer"
    • Richard Johnson is the panel’s most “extreme” voter
    • John Talty named “Hater of the Year”
  • Ballot consensus and outliers:
    • Large ballot spreads for controversial coaches (e.g., Dabo Sweeney, Jeff Brohm, DeBoer).
    • Bill Belichick, newly in college coaching, receives extreme low rankings from several voters—despite his NFL resume.
    • Kobe Frye, new head coach, is also ranked near the bottom with little evidence.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Sorsby Education:
  • "I don't like the excuse of, you know, I just wanted to feel like part of the team. Bro, you are part of the team. You have a locker, you have a jersey, you're in all the meetings…I'm not happy about the situation…I think it's a crappy situation for everybody involved." – Tom (06:44)
• On SEC Split:
  • “I do not think all of college football would be better for it, but I do think the SEC could do it.” – Chip (12:32)
  • “If they want to have these rules…and everybody else doesn't…those good players…they’ll be like, I want more money, I’m going to leave the SEC.” – Danny (13:13)
• On Cupcake Week:
  • “No more Auburn against Samford. OK. No more South Carolina against South Carolina State. I want y'all to play somebody. So, yeah, no cupcake week.” – Chip (20:56)
• On Playoff Expansion Controversy:
  • “Is he (Sankey) going to stand up to his coaches and say no…or cave to the Big Ten and say, well, you know what, we have to listen…” – Danny (26:00)
• On Coach Rankings:
  • “What Kirk Signetti has done… I think it's hands down Kirk’s. Maybe even last year…the first year might have been the hardest when he didn’t have, you know, the talent he had.” – Danny (40:01)
  • “I put [Dabo] at 15th and I will use Mario Cristobal as a counter example. Cristobal addressed his shortcomings, Dabo’s stubborn, doesn’t want to change.” – Tom (46:12)
  • “I think Lane Kiffin is somebody who's too high…he hasn’t won any conference championship anywhere.” – Danny (48:44)
  • “You sit down, you’ve got like 13 top 10 coaches…and things get really, really difficult.” – Chip (49:53)
  • “Our hater of the year does not go to RJ… I gave the hater of the year to our man, John Talty.” – Tom (63:35)

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Timestamps for Main Segments

• Brendan Sorsby Suspension: [04:49–11:26]
• SEC Meetings, Split Threats, and Conference Realignment: [11:28–19:45]
• Cupcake Week, Schedule Issues, and Playoff Expansion: [19:46–28:59]
• Mailbag: FSU Tips & College Baseball: [33:09–36:56]
• Coach Rankings (Process, Audit, Debates): [36:56–66:07]
• Ballot Audits & Homer/Hater Callouts: [52:32–64:50]

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Tone and Style

The hosts keep the conversation lively, blending sharp sarcasm (especially at the expense of SEC self-importance and stubborn coaches), with a fair amount of inside jokes and gentle ribbing about each other’s regional and personal biases. They take the rankings process seriously but admit to limitations and subjectivity, debating philosophical questions of coaching value (past, present, and future projection).

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Final Thoughts

For those tracking the yearly evolution of Power Four coaching reputations, this episode provides a transparent look at how media members view program leadership in the modern, turbulent landscape of college football. It's as much about the process—personal and institutional bias, the challenge of comparing trajectories, the impact of recent trends—as it is about the resulting rankings themselves.

For the full rankings and detailed ballots, listeners are encouraged to check out the companion articles on CBSSports.com.

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Next Episode Teaser:
Mailbag show on Monday, including more ranking debates and Q&A from listeners.

Transcript

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[Danny Cannell]

Welcome Back to the COVID 3 podcast

[Tom Fornelli]

with your hosts Chip Patterson, Tom Fernelli, Danny Cannell and Bud Elliott. It's your call for the best college

[Danny Cannell]

football coverage from national signing day to the national championship and

[Tom Fornelli]

CBS Sports presents

[Chip Patterson]

the COVID 3 Podcast and welcome back to the COVID 3 Podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Tom Fenelli. That's Danny Cannell. I'm Chip Patterson coming to you [e-mail] cover3 and everywhere. Get your 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 RJ and Lane and beach wine Guy and Jeffrey in college football tradition and Adam and Coach K and so are all gathered around for an interactive Thursday. Now I will say the big old bag of mail we see you, we are collecting. We've got great questions that are piling up. We will circle back to some of those on Monday's show as well. So an extra special mailbag show on Monday because we cannot wait another dagum day. The CBS Sports coach rankings are out. They were posted on Tuesday and Wednesday. So we're going to have some reaction to that. Tom and I were both voters. Tom also did the full analysis which included dk. I don't know if you got a chance to see this yet. We've got a little ballot audit this year now as part of the process. We have never been more transparent. We have never been more visible. A little bit later in the show, Tom will tell you of our 10 panelists who is the hater of the year and the homer of the year for every power conference based on your coach ranking. So go ahead.

[Danny Cannell]

That audit should be called the Troy Calhoun audit because I believe he's the only coach that reveals his rankings every week throughout the season of the coaches poll from the USA Today. So that should be an honor of him that we're showing this transparency that he is one who has come to the forefront.

[Chip Patterson]

On that great note, how do you get your hands on it? Does he tweet it?

[Danny Cannell]

I don't know if anybody really cares.

[Tom Fornelli]

I do. I read it every week.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

And then I send Troy a strongly worded letter either agreeing or disagreeing with what he ranked.

[Chip Patterson]

Well, for those who are not aware, Danny the as Danny is sort of referencing, the first coaches poll preseason gets revealed, we get to see all the coaches ballots. The last coaches poll final, we get to see all the coaches ballots in between. Got to get on the Troy Calhoun beat. She's step your game up. Let's go. So yeah, we were going to have a full audit of that as well. A few news items before we get into our coach rankings breakdown. We'll start with the Brendan Sorsby of it all. Brendan Sorsby, that the NCAA responds to the initial injunction it is. He is denied NCAA reinstatement. Texas Tech is currently planning its appeal. Tom, I. This feels like a position that I've heard you take confidently over the last couple of weeks where it's a little bit unique in, in terms of how we read this, how we see this. You know, we were predicting. Danny, you mentioned on the radio show, Michael McCann was thinking there could be a six game outcome that could still be here. But Tom, I remember that you were sort of hinting at, you know, the rules of the rules. Rules seem to be broken. They seem to be admitted that they were broken. Doesn't seem a lot of gray area. Is that, is that what you see here from the, the news coming out from the ncaa?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. Although, I mean, in the current landscape of how things have been going for college sports, it's still, you still don't know what the final ruling is going to be. But this was to me a very black and white cut and dried case. There are rules that say you can't gamble on football. You especially can't gamble on your own team. Every single player knows it. I mean, I know gambling, sports, gambling has become more prevalent in society, but they're all told before the year begins. You can do this, you can't do that. Just like every single one of us at our jobs, we might have the coolest jobs in the world, but there are some certain things we can't do at our jobs that other people can because of conflicting interests. This is a pretty huge conflicting interest for Brendan Sorsby. I don't like the excuse of, you know, I just wanted to feel like part of the team. We talked about it, bro. You are part of the team. You have a locker, you have a jersey, you're in all the meetings. It's just, it's, it doesn't work. I'm happy, like I'm not happy about the situation. I think it's a crappy situation for everybody involved. It's bad for Tech, it's bad for Soursby, it's a bad look for the ncaa. But they came to the right conclusion. They came to the only logical one. And I mean, I know like Danny, you felt maybe a six game suspension would be enough. I saw Fine. Bomb was saying it should only been three games. To me that's silly. Like, you broke rules. There are rules in place. You break them, you get punished for them. And this is what I think the logical reason or logical conclusion should be. And now Texas Tech has to figure out a way to move on without him.

[Danny Cannell]

To be fair, I don't think. I didn't say.

[Chip Patterson]

I think you were predicting that's the

[Danny Cannell]

way I think would happen. I am totally fine if he is banned from playing. Like, I think the ridiculousness in all of this is when fine bomb goes on there and blames the ncaa and it's like, Howard, like, we don't ever hear of the beer Companies blamed for DUIs or like it makes no sense whatsoever to blame somebody else. The rules are very clear. You know what you can and can't do. But I do think it's interesting. And this is where I don't think this is over. Like, the school president puts out from Texas Tech says they're still behind Soursby. They're still going to try to take this to the next level. I think they still have Jeffrey Kessler on retainer. As somebody who's still looking to try to get this overturned. I will have no problem if they say Brendan Torsby can't play. I just still wonder if the reason they are still pushing this forward is that they think there's a chance they could possibly get this to six games in a best case scenario. I don't think there's any way. He only gets three. Do they.

[Tom Fornelli]

Do they think that there's a chance they could win down the line because Jeffrey Kessler's telling them, oh, yeah, oh, yeah, let's just, just keep paying me. We'll keep appealing this. We'll eventually we'll get somewhere. We'll get this overturned. I. And I don't. To me, I am not a lawyer. Bud's not here. But I feel like I know enough. I have enough reading comprehension to understand what the rule says you can and cannot do. And he clearly did something that you cannot do and then openly admitted to doing it on many different occasions. He's not exactly like saying, no, this is not true. These are all lies. There's no proof. He's like, oh, hell yeah, I did that. Here's why I did it. Oh, okay. I guess I can't play anymore. Like, there's no defense.

[Chip Patterson]

Texas Tech University University President Joey McGuire, the head coach. It is good business. I'm not being cynical about this, but it's good business for them to back source. Be as loudly and proudly as possible. You know, in the same way why some schools might opt not to try to pursue legal action against somebody who transfers out of the program. Because you are also messaging to your future players and to players you're trying to recruit. You're trying to show if you come to Texas Tech, no matter what happens, we are going to stand behind you. So I totally understand the motivation from the Texas Tech side, especially publicly. I, I think this goes back to. My first thought is even if it's a six game, which also three game, four game, six game, we've got not a lot of precedent here.

[Danny Cannell]

Right.

[Chip Patterson]

You know, when we had ineligibility, when

[Danny Cannell]

I think what's dangerous is the precedent they would set if they only did three, four, six games. But Kentucky, this is going to happen again, like, Right. I mean, it's, it's, it's almost inevitable that somebody's going to get caught. They're knuckleheads. People aren't that smart. Like, you think you can get away with it. Somebody else is going to get caught. Do you really want to set that precedent that, oh, it's only six games or it's only three games? That's what I think. That's why I would tend to believe before I talk to Michael McCann, I'm like, yeah, there's no way they're going to let this, you know, off with a lighter sentence because they don't want to establish that standard.

[Chip Patterson]

Mm. Yeah. Because when we had your impermissible benefits and those cases were racking up seemingly every single season, we'd have one or two. There was a little bit of a math problem that you could do where, okay, this will be about a three or a four game or like, oh, gosh, this is a six or an eight game. When I hear suggestions, I think you're just grabbing numbers out of thin air, just thinking, you know, half season, quarter season, but not with any tie to precedent or the NCAA bylaws along the way. Again, I think Will Hammond's really good. I think Texas Tech can still win the Big 12 without Brendan Soursby.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, whoever put in the chat, I hope you grab the under 11 and a half. Just be careful.

[Chip Patterson]

Just. They can still win 11. Guess the other thing. So 11 and a half to 10 and a half has been the win total odds move. They can still win 11 games.

[Danny Cannell]

Absolutely. They could.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Yeah. So we'll, we will keep you updated, obviously, on all the latest. Will Hammond's live latest on recovery is that he could be early as. He could be ready as early as week three. That's the Big 12 opener against Houston. Texas Tech, though, could be moving through as they've got our boy Kirk Franklin, former Tulsa quarterback Kirk Francis. Kirk Franklin, the former Tulsa quarterback who will be, who will be lining them up to start the season if Sorsby can Not go. Lots of buzz coming out of the SEC spring meetings. I know our guy Brandon Marcelo has been, has been down there doing some great work. John Talty as well. They've been. Whether it's Pete Golding weighing in. I mean, Steve Sarkeesian's got ideas. I mean this. Any coach, any athletic director, Georgia president's talking about breaking away. That's the one that.

[Danny Cannell]

Kirby too. Kirby too. You can see the alignment there. You wonder who came up with the first initial suggestion that they possibly could pull away.

[Chip Patterson]

I think they can. By the way, for the record, I want to say like, first statement, the SEC could break away and have its own football governance league. I do not think all of college football would be better for it, but I do think that the SEC could do it.

[Tom Fornelli]

But what would that do for their other sports? Like, do you think they could float basketball and everything else just on their own because no other league is going to take them if they break away so that they just become a football only conference and get rid of everything else?

[Chip Patterson]

Or they exist as a football only conference, but exist as an NCAA conference and everything else.

[Danny Cannell]

Would the NCAA let them?

[Chip Patterson]

I don't know.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, like, see that's what I would.

[Tom Fornelli]

That's what I'm saying. Like if I'm, if I'm the NCAA and March Madness comes around and like the SEC schools are like, we don't want to play football with you anymore. We're too good for you. And I'm like, well, we don't want your teams in our tournament.

[Danny Cannell]

Baseball, softball, like all the other, all the other sports.

[Chip Patterson]

Because football exists with a very, very loose and continuously fraying tie to the NCAA at all. I think the idea of self governance in football but remaining an NCAA member in the other sports, they could figure out some way to set this up. Now I, it could be just a threat to try to get what you want, right. But at least when they heard it, I was like, yeah, they could, they could have their own playoff and not participate in every. In the way that it's existing for everything else, by the way.

[Danny Cannell]

I do. And that somebody just put in the chat like Kirby crying is kind of not as comical because you didn't hear him complaining about the lack of structure for the past 20 years when it was a free for all with bagman under the table and everybody was kind of like, wink, wink, nod, nod, we know what's going on, but we'll look the other way. The other thing is too, are they not worried at all about losing players like talented Players, if they want to have these rules and structure in place, which, by the way, I hope. I wish all of college football would have rules that we actually honor. But if they do it and everybody else doesn't, you don't think those good players, if they want to transfer, they'll be like, all right, I want to go, or I want more money, I'm going to leave the sec. I mean, I think that could be detrimental to the SEC as this powerhouse that we've known it.

[Tom Fornelli]

I also do wonder if, like, if the SEC does want to break away, they kind of need a foil. I think. I feel like they would financially, theoretically, I think they would survive just fine on their own. But I also think they would need the Big Ten because, you know, like, you could. Like, they. They openly dog each other. Like, Greg Sankey's out there taking subtle shots at the Big Ten. The big. Tony Petiti and the Big Ten are always out there taking subtle shots at the sec. Like, I think ultimately they need each other for that. And I just feel like if you're the SEC and you go alone when you think of. And they're going to take this as a shot, but I don't mean it as one. When you think of how SEC fans typically respond to anybody from outside the SEC talking about the sec, it's clear they care a lot about what people think of their league. If they're off on their own and nobody but the SEC is paying attention to the sec, do they lose some of that, and does the sport lose kind of the league lose some of its luster and lose some of its television appeal because of it? Because if you become regionalized, like, this is a sport that has started taking a whole lot of money in because it has been nationalized. If you do the opposite, you just go back to being a Southeastern Conference where everybody in the Southeast cares and everybody else can go kick rocks. You're probably not going to get as much money in the long run.

[Chip Patterson]

I think that the way that I imagined it when I heard was that you would still have the opportunity to play a football game. Ohio State, Texas could still happen and you could.

[Danny Cannell]

Right.

[Chip Patterson]

Cash in on the money.

[Tom Fornelli]

But why is Ohio State trying to help them?

[Chip Patterson]

Ohio State would do it to play the game. Like Ohio State, Texas are going to play in Dallas and they're both going to get $2 million for it. And the game is going to be on a. You know, get a huge number and go be like this. Like the bowl season is dying, but the bowl season is secretly being co opted into the regular season. That's all these home and homes that are getting canceled and replaced with neutral site games. It's just basically that that's the bowl. Like the bowl games are now happening in week two. And I think that you could see a world where the SEC expands by adding four more. They get to 20 teams to 10 team divisions. You build out a nine game conference schedule. You know, you, you blow this thing out, but you still have room for your Texas, your Georgia, Florida State, for Ohio State, Texas. And you allow those schools to capitalize individually because the schools are the ones that make money off the neutral site game. Conference doesn't. So that's the motivation for the big Dogs is you would still be able to go drive revenue from those kind of games.

[Tom Fornelli]

But if you're Ohio State or you're Florida State and you're still playing in a system where you are competing for the College Football Playoff in the national title, why are you playing an exhibition game in the middle of September that won't count or help or hurt you and could just end up getting your players hurt and then end up costing you a chance to win that national title and get the College Football Playoff money.

[Chip Patterson]

I think those are old rules for new ideas. You're talking about the motivations as though they're still existing in the College Football Playoff and not that the SEC splintering would wreck the entire College Football playoff system. To where? To your point, the Big Ten picks up two so they can get to 20 and now all of a sudden we've got the freaking super bowl and you both have your own like little playoffs and they play into one big college Football Playoff national championship.

[Tom Fornelli]

So if you go to the park every Saturday to play basketball with a group of guys and you've been doing it every Saturday for years and then all of a sudden those guys say they don't want you playing with them anymore. They want to have their own game. You aren't allowed. You're still going to show up hoping to play with them?

[Chip Patterson]

No, but I might grab the one guy I like to play with and go play over at First Pres. First Pres has a good game on Tuesday nights. You know, I don't need to be down at Roanoke park on Wednesday.

[Danny Cannell]

I just, I side more with Tom in this. Why would you do something to help them make more money when they kind of screwed you over and said we're taking our ball and going home? I think it would be disastrous for the sport. Like I think that is the nuclear option. That I would hate to see. I could only imagine the amount of hypothetical national champions they would declare by saying, oh, we would have been seven point favorites over the champion from the Big Ten or the rest of college football. I think it would be awful for the sport. And I, I don't, I don't think it happens. I think it's saber rattling. I think it is where, you know, there's a lot of negotiations take place. We're going to do this, we're going to do that. I don't think in seiki, Greg Sankey for as much, you know, heat as well, taking shots that I'll take at him. I do think he is very cognizant, even alluded to this the other day, that he is concerned about the big picture of what college football looks like going forward. I don't think he wants to have that be his legacy, the guy that orchestrated the SEC going on its own.

[Tom Fornelli]

I'll say, I'll say, I'll go further. I'll say Greg Sankey's the best one we got going, period, point blank wait of the commissioners, of the commissioners right now. Best one in the sport.

[Chip Patterson]

What if he does want to be the one that leads the SEC out on its own? Because that's a thing that he considers glorious, you know, I don't know.

[Tom Fornelli]

I don't think he does.

[Danny Cannell]

I don't think, I don't think it

[Tom Fornelli]

doesn't strike me as a Sankey kind of thing.

[Chip Patterson]

I, I again, I do not root for it.

[Tom Fornelli]

The biggest question I have is why is the Southeast always trying to secede

[Chip Patterson]

from something space, not used to living close to each other, always trying to break off.

[Tom Fornelli]

As soon as something doesn't go their way anymore, they're like, we're leaving.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, because you, we used to used to always be able to just move. There's just all this land, you know, you could keep going. All of a sudden you start running into bodies of water and territories and indigenous people. I don't know, man. It gets complicated. What? Let's see. No cupcake week. All right. Do you know who I thought fought for no cupcake week? Oklahoma. Okay. Off the top of my head, I've got a lot of late November instant reaction shows where half the top 10 didn't do anything. But thank God Oklahoma had to play a meat grinder. I mean, Tom, I think Oklahoma's been in the A block of the cupcake week like three years in a row. You know, Oklahoma's a. Hey, if we've got to play somebody tough in cupcake week, all y' all need to play somebody. No more Auburn against Samford. Okay. No more South Carolina against South Carolina State. I want y' all to play somebody. So, yeah, no cupcake week.

[Danny Cannell]

I will, I will say, though, and we've brought this up, even though I used to make a little, you know, meme with cupcakes and say here's, you know, actual cupcakes. Say here's the schedule this week. I have pointed out that the SEC just happened to it all line on that weekend. If you go look at the Big Ten's first three weekends of college football this season. Now, I know we have Ohio State, I know we have Michigan. I know there's a couple others sprinkled in there, but it is a cupcake preseason for most of the Big Ten. Why can't we figure it out where we just kind of sprinkle them in throughout? Like, why does it have to be so aligned one way or another? Like, I would love to and I don't have a problem with 3 non conference that are a little bit easier. But, like, have them every third week, have them dispersed so that we don't get these crappy weekends for an entire conference where we don't have great matchups. Like, sprinkle them in throughout.

[Tom Fornelli]

I'm on the record, I know we like SEC gets crap for it, but I always thought it was smart. Yeah, play your cupcake in November, don't play them in September. Give your team a week off after they've been playing for three months. Let everybody rest up. Give yourself a chance to heal up before you hit that home stretch. Like, I've always thought it was smart. I've always, like, when Big Ten fans or ACC fans or Big 12, and back then the Pac 12 fans would argue how it was unfair. My counter was, you should be doing the same thing. Why are you playing that FCS team the first week of the season? Play them in the 15th. Messed up. So, yeah, I mean, I don't know. I mean, I'm not sad to see it go as far as just entertainment wise because, yeah, that Saturday in November gets a little dry with some of the games that are available because so many of the top teams are playing nobody that weekend. But I don't know. I, I feel like, honestly, it's, it's bad timing. Like, if I'm adding a ninth conference game to my slate, I probably shouldn't be getting rid of a cupcake week the same time. I should probably be trying to keep cupcake week alive as long as possible now and then maybe getting rid of one of those bigger non conference games. But we all know who's in charge now, and it's not the schedule makers or the athletic directors. It's the people who want to make sure that, hey, I don't know if you saw this, but our ratings dropped off a little bit that Saturday, November. We gotta fix this quick.

[Chip Patterson]

That, that sounds like the classic 21 minutes is deep enough. That's on the tom, how many times has it been like, guys, we don't want you to write as much. We just want you to write like more better. And then they come back and they're like, we didn't write as many stories last month, so now just whatever, just write more. And then they're like, guys, we're just writing too much now. Write less but more better. It's just constantly, you know, swinging on

[Tom Fornelli]

that quality over quantity. Let's do more with less.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, they've. Somebody came in with a bar chart and they're like, hey, somebody who's never watched college football, you know, like, let's call it McKilty, you know, some consultant firm, random, you know, whatever. They came in there and they were like, okay, guys, so we've done some deep analysis. Something happens here in late November to all your revenue, to all your television ratings. Like, what? What happened? What can we. This is what we're going to fix. Congratulations, Greg Sanke. Your conference just paid millions of dollars in consulting fees for someone to tell you you get more ratings without cupcake guessing. Allegedly.

[Tom Fornelli]

I don't know.

[Chip Patterson]

No reporting here. What else from SEC media days stood out? And then we'll start to get into the coach rankings in a little bit.

[Danny Cannell]

I think I have a theory. I don't even know if it's a theory. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. I think Greg Sankey is in a really tough spot. John Sumrall, I think, kind of let the cat of the bag when he. It was great because he was like, all these guys got duped. I didn't get duped. But he said it felt like the coaches were misled on the expansion of the playoffs when they got to nine games. Like if they went nine conference games, the trade off was going to be all right, we'll sign off on that, but we're going to go to 16 and we're all on board and it's going to work out perfect. But I think what's happened is. I don't think, I don't think Greg Sankey, I don't think he realized the Big Ten was all of a sudden going to bring 24 to the table and play this 24 or nothing like that's it, we're staying at 12, we're going to 24. And I really think Sankey is going to be in a tough spot come this fall because I do think the nine game conference schedule is going to hurt the overall win loss records. I think you probably will see the committee stick to what they've done for a long time and they'll probably go with the teams with the better records. Sure, There might be 19 and 3, possibly two from the SEC, but how many total is that? If it's only three or four teams from the SEC, those coaches are going to be livid that were left out. They're going to be selling Sankey. Hey, I don't care. We cannot stay at 12 and then Sankey's in a. He's got a really bad hand because Tony Petiti knows all this and he wants 24 ultimately. So I, I think Sankey is really backed into this corner. Where is he going to stand up to his coaches and say no, 12 is what we want, it's better for the game. Or is he going to cave to the Big Ten and say, well you know what, we have to listen to my coaches. We got too many teams left out. Let's go to 24. We get way more teams in and a better chance to win a national title because I think the majority of people are like, oh, there's going to be a stalemate. We're just going to stay at 12, which again, I think a lot of us would be happy with and that's just fine. But I don't know if he's going to have the luxury of staying at 12 again if you have a Texas left out again, a Vanderbilt at 10 and 2. Like I think he's going to catch a lot of heat if he tries to stick with, let's just go another year of 12. I think he's going to take a lot of heat for it.

[Tom Fornelli]

I wonder. I actually think the SEC is better off with 16. Like I understand why their coaches would want 24 because it's going to be so much harder. But I just feel like on average they will have a greater share of teams in the 16 team field than they will in the 24 and that's what Sankey wants.

[Danny Cannell]

But the Big Ten is saying, no, we don't want 16, we want 24. Take it or leave it. We'll stay at 12. Because the Big Ten, if they win another title, they'll be like sitting there. No problem. We'll just stay at 12.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. Sankey, because he's good at his job, is thinking about the long term benefits to his league, where his coaches are thinking about the benefits for themselves.

[Chip Patterson]

Right. Because the coaches, the coaches are taking the approach of you can't hold me to a playoff or bust mentality. There's too many of our schools talking about SEC schools that are being held to playoff or bust mentality than there are spots for the SEC in a 12 team playoff. I'd say that's what's the money. That's what the money's for. But you know, it's. It is also a fair criticism. And I think that that's why people see 24 and they think about it like college football has been viewed for 100 years. A top 25 mindset. Are you in the top 25? Are you one of the top 25 best teams? We talk about final AP top 25 finishes because they connect the sport from 1936 to now. You know, so if you're going to say ranked or not ranked, coaches understand that. But the number of 12. Steve Sarkeesian said it on Sirius. I saw him sit down there and he was like, you go one for the G5, you go one for Notre Dame, you go two more. Probably conference automatic qualifiers. Now all of a sudden, plus the Big Ten is going to have a couple top teams. I mean, how many spots truly are there for the sec? The SEC ain't. I mean, in the current format, they're not going to get more than five, right?

[Danny Cannell]

No. Did you see what Sark also said about going to four?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Go backwards.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah. And. But then he said, have a end of season tournament within the sec. And he said, have one from, you know, the four conferences. The problem with that, and he did slip it in there because he kind of caught himself backed into a corner. He said, and maybe you have the loser of the SEC still getting into the sport. Yes, by the way. Which again, kind of goes back to the system we were in. Because I would be. If you said four and it's just a four conference champions, however you determine it is great. I'd be all for that. I think it'd be a ton of fun.

[Chip Patterson]

We'll see what you got, Tom.

[Tom Fornelli]

I'm just, I'm keeping my mouth shut. I've just.

[Chip Patterson]

Why? Just.

[Tom Fornelli]

It amuses me how many times I say things and then after being told every time I say it three Years after things happen, people are arguing for the things I argued about earlier that they told me I was an idiot

[Chip Patterson]

for saying, oh, what, staying at 4?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. Just. It's like there was a comment, we put it on the screen about how if we go to 24, you know, it'll. It'll lead for people sitting out their starters in November. You said that about 12, too. Like, it's just. Whatever, man. It's a lot of people just getting really, really angry and overreacting to things that'll change. But I don't know. Again, I used to be part of it, so I'm not, like, judging you. But we are. We are through the looking glass here, people.

[Chip Patterson]

I'll tell you what, this is like an honest. You know, we've got takeaways from SEC spring meetings. Whether it's John Summerall or Kirby Smart or President Moorhead from Georgia or Greg Sankey, there is not alignment within the Southeastern Conference right now. That is the takeaway that I've got. And if they're not all together, then the idea that we're going to be making big decisions before December 1st does seem a little bit unlikely.

[Tom Fornelli]

You know where there is alignment? The Big Ten.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, they're just all like, yeah, everybody's.

[Tom Fornelli]

Same party line.

[Danny Cannell]

Yep.

[Tom Fornelli]

It makes me, like, pretty confident which side's gonna end up winning in the long run.

[Chip Patterson]

In the long run, beaning being down.

[Tom Fornelli]

It'll be a 24 teamer. Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. But let's see.

[Tom Fornelli]

And I'm gonna love it.

[Chip Patterson]

I know you are.

[Danny Cannell]

I think we're all gonna love it.

[Chip Patterson]

Love it.

[Danny Cannell]

Well, it's going to destroy the sport. Might there be differences?

[Chip Patterson]

Every. Everyone's gotten very high and mighty about the what's good for the sport. But how many times do you talk to a player and you try to ask them about a topic like this and they're like, just tell us who to play and where.

[Tom Fornelli]

Right. Just except for Notre Dame players.

[Chip Patterson]

Put the schedule. Put this.

[Danny Cannell]

Got him.

[Chip Patterson]

Got him. Yeah. No, it's, you know, play. Put the schedule together. Tell me. Tell me when to go, when to play. We are high level college football players. We are not thinking about resting starters or trying to, like, game theory, what might happen. We want to go out, we want to compete, we want to play football. So the College Football Playoff expansion will or won't happen at a time, and when the dates are set and the teams are announced, they will go play to compete for the national championship. All right, coming up on the other side, some of your questions in the tailgate and checking out the CBS Sports Coach rankings for 2026, our ballots, our reactions and more nukes. Game day at my place is kind of a big deal. If I'm grilling, chilling and watching hoops, my outdoor patio setup better be ready to play. That's where Wayfair wins. From patio seating and umbrellas to grills and grilling accessories, Wayfair's got it all and it shows up fast. I'm talking championship level, fast and easy delivery. So level up your grill game and your outdoor chill game and head to Wayfair.com now to get your outdoor space ready for the season. Ready to soundtrack your summer with Red Bull Summer All Day Play. You choose a playlist that fits your summer vibe the best. Are you a festival fanatic, a deep end dj, a road dog, or a trail mixer? Just add a song to your chosen playlist and put your summer on track. Red Bull Summer All Day Play. Red Bull gives you wings. Visit RedBull.com BrightSummerAhead to learn more. See ya this summer. So good.

[Tom Fornelli]

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[Chip Patterson]

So good.

[Tom Fornelli]

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[Chip Patterson]

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[Tom Fornelli]

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[Chip Patterson]

That's why you rack back here on the COVID 3 podcast. This one 10:42am Eastern Time. Beach wine guy jumped in and said Bud and Danny proud Noel Parenthood here. We are taking our son to FSU for summer school orientation next week. Any tips on what we should make sure to do, see or avoid while we are there?

[Danny Cannell]

See our cr See our people at Madison Social. They always treat us great. They treated Cover three great. It's a great time. You could probably find a way to get into Doe Campbell. See the stadium so probably a little bit open. Maybe do some stadiums if you want a little workout. The only thing it is rough in the summer it is hot. So I would say find some ac. Make sure you have a good hotel there. Yeah man that's awesome. Congrats. Summer school orientation should be fun.

[Tom Fornelli]

I would avoid the athletic department right now. Make sure your kid is there for academics only and do not distract yourself with the sadness of the sports baseball

[Danny Cannell]

teams hosting a regional this weekend. Come on.

[Tom Fornelli]

There we go. That's what you should do this week.

[Danny Cannell]

If you're if it's this, if it's this weekend? Yeah, if it's around the baseball. If you could see some of that, take that in, that'd be fun.

[Chip Patterson]

Are tickets tough for College World Series games?

[Tom Fornelli]

I imagine so.

[Danny Cannell]

For the regional, Yeah. I think Florida State all. I think they had the best attendance in the acc. It's a great. It'll be a tough ticket to get into if they're there.

[Tom Fornelli]

Does it work like a regional at, like, the NCAA tournament where you have to offer tickets to the other teams, or is it just, hey, if you're in Tallahassee, buy them all up and

[Danny Cannell]

just, I don't know, boo like hell

[Tom Fornelli]

for the other teams.

[Danny Cannell]

I don't know how it works.

[Chip Patterson]

Season ticket holders get a first dibs, Adam, because right now for the regional in Chapel Hill, I saw some scuttlebutt about season ticket Carolina baseball. Season ticket holders kind of running the number up for people that are trying to get in. Anyway, some consternation on those fronts, but I do think that there is a visiting package similar to a away football game or anything else that through the school you would be able to get some. I don't know if it's the whole. I think you do have to buy by session. I don't think you can buy the booklet like you could for an NCAA regional, at least not for the. The early rounds here is like the

[Tom Fornelli]

year I tell myself, like, around this time with, like, the regionals and the College World Series. It's like, I'm gonna. I'm gonna get into college baseball. And then I watch like, half a game. I'm just like, nope, can't do it. Just. It's. Baseball is one of those sports where it's like, unless it's the elite of the elite, I just. I can't watch it.

[Danny Cannell]

Super is gonna start to get fun. Super regionals and Omaha is a ton of fun. That's a good time to start watching.

[Chip Patterson]

It is a different sport.

[Tom Fornelli]

Mm.

[Chip Patterson]

I had. Tom. I had one of those afternoons, I think it was last summer, where I had one screen was running big inning, you know, in the other screen, I was watching the College World Series and, oh, boy, there were a lot of leaky bouncers that just gets in the

[Tom Fornelli]

outfield, cleaned up, balls being thrown all over the place. I'm like, why? This is Little League.

[Chip Patterson]

All of a sudden we have like, seven times the amount of celebrations and trash talking and seven times the amount of unforced errors.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yes, exactly. Exactly.

[Danny Cannell]

And because they celebrate every time they

[Tom Fornelli]

do something good, it's so rare.

[Danny Cannell]

And because it's played in June, especially in the south. I used to call regional action and supers with espn. I'd call college baseball and the amount of rain delays and summer afternoon storm. I got stuck in Chapel Hill for like six, six days. Could not wait to get out of there. And I love Chapel Hill, but it was like they read like days were just gone because of the rain and 14 inning games. Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

That are going to just like keep going and going. Oh, yeah. Let's see. SEC is a baseball conference. Oh, here we go. Lane jumped in at 9:14am Eastern Time. This will be a nice pivot to our coach rankings since we were ranking coaches. Hypothetically, who would you allow and not allow to date your daughter?

[Tom Fornelli]

Only coach I'm letting date my daughter is Dabo Sweeney. None of these.

[Danny Cannell]

He's married, Tom.

[Tom Fornelli]

I'm just saying, if he's not married. Kirk and Dabo, the only two I would let even near my daughter.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

Dabo would be the hell out. Yes. Yes. I would put Mike Norvell up there. Character. I could appreciate him.

[Tom Fornelli]

So he shows up.

[Chip Patterson]

Danny, more field passes for that one.

[Tom Fornelli]

Marvel shows up at your front door in cornrows.

[Danny Cannell]

I would love the current. Even though he's happily married too. He would be loaded.

[Chip Patterson]

Kalani Sataki.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah. Class act.

[Chip Patterson]

Class act.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah. I mean, the more fun list is who would you not let date your daughter? Everybody who's not there's a number one at the top of that list. That's pretty easy. Yes. Thank you, Austin.

[Tom Fornelli]

I will say we're joking, but the only coach who's likely to show up to date your daughter is Bill Belichick.

[Chip Patterson]

Yes.

[Danny Cannell]

Well done.

[Chip Patterson]

Lane will just play pickleball.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, that's right.

[Chip Patterson]

Bill's committed. All right. Tom, you say that like a dig. Bill's going to the cheerleading competitions.

[Tom Fornelli]

He's a good boyfriend.

[Chip Patterson]

That's a good boyfriend. All right. That is good. Good commitment through and through. Yes. The CBS Sports coach rankings were revealed on CBSSports.com this week. The 68 through 26 on Tuesday, top 25 released on Wednesday, compiled by ballots of 10 different CBS Sports experts. And one of the big headlines, change at number one. Kirby Smart missed out on the top spot because Kurt Signetti and the meteoric rise that we have seen from the Indiana Hoosiers gave him the narrowest, and I mean narrowest of edges for the top spot. Ryan Day checking in at 3. Marcus Freeman continuing his vertical ascent in the rankings. He was a big mover after leading the Fighting Irish all the way to The College Football Playoff last season. And this year, he continues that momentum up to number four. And Dan Lanning, after getting to the College Football Playoff semifinals last season, rounds out your top five. I got to start at number one. Danny. The. I know you obviously. The. You got the gear.

[Tom Fornelli]

We.

[Chip Patterson]

We have interviewed him a ton. You've interviewed him a ton as well. We are big fans of Kurt Signetti here on the COVID 3 podcast. Do you. Were you surprised to see this? Even though he's got one national title to Kirby Smarts two?

[Tom Fornelli]

No.

[Danny Cannell]

Every time we've talked about this list, I've talked about doing more with less. And I know Indiana does not. They have totally different resources than they did five years ago. But when you talk about having to change a culture, all these other coaches had programs with rich tradition. I mean, Kirby Smart took it over from Mark Richt, who had him knocking on the door. Ohio State. We all would have with Ryan Day and how much heat he took for inheriting Urban's team and the winning culture there. Notre Dame, pretty good situation. Brian Kelly left it in Oregon. Maybe the best resources that are out there. What Kirk Signetti has done by turning a culture around and getting a fan base around and just. And being able to win games and actually do it and get it done, I think it's hands down Kirk's. And that he. And maybe even last year, the first year, might have been the hardest when he didn't have, you know, the talent that he had. This year, he didn't have a Fernando Mendoza, you know, as a number one pick in a Heisman Trophy winner. And yet he still made the College Football Playoff. I think what he's done his first two years is remarkable.

[Tom Fornelli]

Chip had him second.

[Chip Patterson]

I had him second.

[Danny Cannell]

Wow.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. I'm ready for a full audit. No, this. Listen, it was 1.6 to 1.7 was the average ballot ranking. And when you consider how many voters we had, that means that there was also. There was also a one for Ryan Day, right?

[Tom Fornelli]

No, Ryan Day did not receive a single first place vote. I had Signetti third, by the way. I was just throwing Chip under the bus. That's fine.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, I. Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

So what did you have? 1 and 2.

[Tom Fornelli]

Kirby and Ryan and then Signetti just simply the longer track record of doing it at the top level. Like, I think that you easily argue what Kurt did was more impressive than what Kirby and Ryan Day have done. But I also think that George has been so good under Kirby that we kind of forget that when he won a national title, it was like nearly 40 years since they'd last done it. It's not like in Georgia. He took over a Georgia program that was winning national titles already. He's the one who did that. He did it twice. So I give him credit for that. Ryan Day, I mean, clearly Ohio State is one of the more advantaged positions in the sport, but he's won a national title there and I just think that he's been there longer. So I just barely edged him over Signetti. That was the tough choice for me. Kirby, number one was easy.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. I mean, two national championships they currently have back. They're the back to back SEC champs right now. You know, the complaints about these one and done showings in the 12 team format are for fans in Athens because when it comes to trying to like, what are you putting? Are you putting these other coaches without national championships ahead of him? No. So that's it. If you want to shift around those top three, among those coaches at the very top, obviously Dabo Sweeney is another active coach with the ring man.

[Tom Fornelli]

Not even in our top 10.

[Danny Cannell]

Wow, the disrespect coming at dabo. One bad season, everybody's ready to flush him down the toilet.

[Chip Patterson]

I do you want to do this?

[Tom Fornelli]

I thought I had dabo at 15th and I thought, I thought I was going to be the low man. I was.

[Danny Cannell]

Not for me, lately, I would.

[Tom Fornelli]

No. One of our voters had dabo 28.

[Danny Cannell]

Oh, my gosh. That person be fired.

[Tom Fornelli]

Should I.

[Danny Cannell]

Should I dox them? Yes, put him out. I'll send the letter.

[Tom Fornelli]

Say this. I mean, he did tweet out a graphic of his top 25 and Dabo wasn't on it.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, was it Marcelo?

[Tom Fornelli]

It was Marcelo. Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Wow.

[Danny Cannell]

Marcelo. My goodness.

[Chip Patterson]

So it is difficult. And those of you who have listened to these discussions every single year understand every voter has to weigh how much do I factor in past success, how much do I factor in the present? And for a lot of these coaches, you also kind of have to factor in your bias with trajectory. You know, like, I might think John Sumrall is a really good coach, has zero track record at the power conference level. But I take what little bit I know and I try to apply that and try to spin it forward to factor in some rankings. And what happens in a lot of these, my own tiers of my ballot is that you've got some guys that are kind of moving up but need to prove a little more and some guys whose heyday is maybe past. Do you know who used to be in the top five? No brainer was Lincoln Riley because the recent success on paper doesn't even stand up to when he was winning Big 12 after Big 12 after Big 12 after Big12 making it to the College Football Playoff every single season. I mean, let's see what was Lincoln ends up 17th, 17th, you know, high

[Tom Fornelli]

vote was 12th, Lois was 25th.

[Chip Patterson]

I was nine on dabo because to your point, Danny, last season was the first year since 2010 they were outside of the top 25. Like that is an. A remarkable, remarkable track record of consistency. But I do think it's also clear to look at the way that the program has been trending since 2020 and say that it is not moving up. Right. Like I've got nine, which means I am hanging on to those national titles and six straight ACC titles and thinking that stock price is kind of going down because there's some other names that are kind of trending and moving up. It's a tricky, tricky spot.

[Danny Cannell]

I don't think it's that tricky. I think Dabo has done enough and established enough and I feel like if I just had a clip from him, the presser where he talks about his resume, it would be better than me doing it. You mentioned some of those. It really is one bad year and, and this is much his fault. Maybe this comes in the ranking how he's trying to done it without some of the resources that he has and that without everybody else has done. I do think he's slowly starting to come around for that. But I still think he's one of the. I think he's definitely a top 10 coach in the game. Absolutely. Like to have him out of the top 25 is disrespectful.

[Tom Fornelli]

I, I put him at 15th and I will use Mario Cristobal as a counter example. Mario Cristobal is a coach who obviously he got to the title game last year and that's going to help his stock. But he didn't win a national title. Dapos got two. But I've been very critical of Mario Cristobal over the years. Mario Cristobal did what a good coach does. He realized what his shortcomings were and then he addressed them. You realize that his in game management wasn't great. So what did he do? He went and got a nerd to help him with the in game decisions and we saw the improvements that it made for Miami on the football field last year as the sport has changed. Dabo stubborn, doesn't want to change with it. He wants to keep doing it his way. No matter how many times the results show that, hey, you know what? Your way is not quite the way anymore. And if you want to keep winning, you need to do that. So I'm not saying it's like, morally he's allowed to do whatever the hell he wants. He's the head coach of the program. It's just if I'm ranking coaches based on their ability right now and, like, putting it together as a list of who I would hire at the moment, like, if I. If I was doing it strictly on who I would hire, Devil would have been much lower on my ballot than 15 because I wouldn't touch him right now because I don't think he's built for this.

[Chip Patterson]

But date your daughter, number one.

[Tom Fornelli]

Date my daughter for sure.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

Get a nice job, you know, somewhere, just like. Yeah, I know. So. But yeah, that's why I ranked him low, because I just feel like he is being stubborn and refusing to adapt while the other coaches have adapted, Done a much better job of, you know, being a leader. Like, being. There's more to being a leader than just being the guy in charge. It's recognizing your own weaknesses and fixing them. Like, I also saw, like, there was comments in the chat about how Ryan Day shouldn't be ranked aside because he's nothing without an offensive coordinator. We give coaches credit for recruiting players. Do they not deserve the same kind of credit for recognizing coaches and hiring them and getting them on their staff to help their team? Why is that different?

[Chip Patterson]

I think that's part of the crystal ball bump. Exactly what he was able to do, bringing in Shannon Dawson. That offense was led by Josh Gaddison. The. The first Mario team had Josh Gaddis as an offensive coordinator and Kevin Steele as a defensive coordinator. And, like, think about how far they have come on both sides of the ball since going five and seven in year one of the Mario era.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, like, do you want your. Do you want your head coach to be somebody who has no idea who a good assistant is? Like, he's terrible at hiring assistants. That's what you want?

[Chip Patterson]

I think.

[Danny Cannell]

I think if he has another bad year, let's say they're another seven win year, which maybe they are, then I would be okay with dropping him. Well, one bad year is not enough for me to ding him that far.

[Chip Patterson]

For the record, also, Tom is being extremely critical of a coach that he has 15 of 68 on a ballot. Power conference coaches. Where did you have crazy competitive.

[Danny Cannell]

See, I think Lane Kiffin is somebody who's too high. I know he's the hottest coach out there right now, and everybody wanted him, but he hasn't won any conference championship anywhere. He's been. He's had. And yet he's had the resources to

[Tom Fornelli]

do it all title at fau.

[Danny Cannell]

I don't think he did.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, he did.

[Danny Cannell]

He.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, he did.

[Danny Cannell]

They lost potentially in the Conference USA final.

[Chip Patterson]

Was Lane one of the wide range? Actually, let's. Let's hit a break, and then let's

[Tom Fornelli]

do conference titles at fau.

[Danny Cannell]

Oh, my.

[Tom Fornelli]

Three years, he just sandwiched him. He had a five and seven or year between them, which completely inexplicable. No idea how that happens at fau, but he did win two conference titles.

[Danny Cannell]

Put it on the resume, then. I'll still take Dabos over his.

[Chip Patterson]

Well, all right, so let's see. I had Lane at 12 on my ballot, which was behind Dabo at 9. But Lane, I would buy more stock in succeeding in the modern era. He just hasn't coached in the college football playoff game.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, I had him at 8.

[Chip Patterson]

So this. It's crazy. And what do you do with Kyle Whittingham? That's another coach that's around there in that area. Adam, you don't want to get to 15?

[Danny Cannell]

No, I would have Kyle Whittingham in the top 10.

[Chip Patterson]

That's a problem. Danny, I'm telling you, you sit down, you've got like 13 top 10 coaches. You've got an easy top. But things get really, really difficult, which leads to a lot of wide ranges. High, high, low. Hater of the year. Ooh, let's do a little ballot audit. So coming up on the other side, who was the biggest SEC homer of all the panelists? Who was the biggest big ten hater? We'll get into all that and more next. Have you ever rearranged your furniture and discovered the carpet underneath looks brand new, while the rest of it looks, well, not so new?

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It's time for a carpet upgrade.

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[Tom Fornelli]

Honestly, the biggest surprise to me was that Pete Golding finished second, not first, because Pete Golding was going to be a fascinating kind of case because he's won two playoff games, including a win over Georgia, right?

[Chip Patterson]

Massive one.

[Tom Fornelli]

But he was not the head coach that got Ole Miss to the playoff. He was the defensive coordinator. So it was going to be one of those things where how much credit did you give him for those playoff games compared to the overall kind of resumes. And as you can see, he finished as high as 38th on one ballot and he finished as low as 65th on others. So it wasn't that, you know, like, that was not surprising. What was surprising was such a wide range on Jet Fish. Like, I figured he would be somebody more in that solid like 25 to 40 range on most ballots, but 21 to 49, that gave him a 28 spot. Different. But other than that, I mean, I think this, this list makes a lot of sense because where you typically see the coaches at the top, easy to figure out. The coaches at the bottom are typically easy to figure out because what most of us do is we take the guys who haven't been head coaches before and we immediately slot them at the bottom.

[Chip Patterson]

Davita Pritchard, Tosh Lupoi. You know, like you're just gonna Be

[Tom Fornelli]

Bill belichick according to 3 of our voters.

[Chip Patterson]

But I guess Bill Belichick did not deserve last place behind other coaches who had not even coached.

[Tom Fornelli]

Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. But anyways. Yeah. So you look at this like Jeff Brahm, I feel like makes sense because a lot of us hold him in high esteem. But you can also argue that he's kind of hit his ceiling and he's never really able to break through it. So it's like there's maybe you don't want to hire the guy who you know is probably going to lose three or four games every single year.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, crap. I was the high man there.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, you were at 19.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

No smart one.

[Danny Cannell]

Whoever had 45, I have a problem with. Is that Marcelo again?

[Tom Fornelli]

It's going to be Mars. Here's the thing. If it's an extreme vote, it's either going to be Marcelo or Richard Johnson.

[Danny Cannell]

Most of the time I'm calling out those two dudes.

[Tom Fornelli]

Let me see.

[Danny Cannell]

I think Jeff Brahm should securely be in the top 30 at work, worst case. And that even goes back to. You might have hit a ceiling. But what about what he did at Purdue? Has everybody noticed what Purdue has done since he's left? They have done nothing. And he had him at eight, nine wins. And he's been one of the most consistent coaches in the ACC since he's been there. Has not had a drop off with. You could argue with the quarterbacks that he's done it with. I know Tyler Shuck has done pretty well in the NFL, but he has, he has. I think he's one of the most underrated coaches on this list.

[Tom Fornelli]

Richard Johnson had him at 45. Fun fact, no other voter had him lower than 27th.

[Danny Cannell]

Okay, so Richard's an outlier.

[Chip Patterson]

All right.

[Tom Fornelli]

Richard really just doesn't like Jeff Brown.

[Danny Cannell]

Gosh, what'd he do?

[Tom Fornelli]

He's not a Jeff Brown. You know, he's not. He's not a guy that loves Jeff Brown.

[Chip Patterson]

My. My biases to. To the number are pretty like I am high. They are unsurprising. I am 5.6 spots higher than the average voter on Jeff Braum. I'm 7.3 spots higher than the average voter on Brett Bielema. I'm 6.8 spots higher than the average voter on Brent Key. I mean, it's just all my guys, you know, just second year in a row.

[Tom Fornelli]

By the way, Chip is the high guy in Belema, so people will think it's going to be me. People think I'm the homer Chips. The biggest line I homer on this show.

[Chip Patterson]

What about the smallest margins? This is also the one where we've got the most consensus among the voters. You'll see at the bottom of this list names like Scott Frost and Colin Klein. I would say that falls into your Tom's very accurate assessment that filling out the top and bottom of the the ballot is about the easiest part of this. Everything from 20 to 45. Feels like there's some, some good arguments here. Danny, anything surprise you about spots with a lot of consensus?

[Danny Cannell]

No, because I think these make a lot more sense.

[Chip Patterson]

Like you said.

[Danny Cannell]

See some of the guys towards the bottom, there's consensus first year head coaches or second year coaches. I think those make complete sense. And then I think the top five, top seven ish range, it's all names that you know are household names that have all had a lot of success. So I'm not surprised at all.

[Tom Fornelli]

I'm going to air them out because I'm still kind of annoyed about it. Brandon Marcelo, David Cobb and Andre Raja want you to think that Tavita Pritchard, who has never been a head coach anywhere at any level, is a better coach than a guy who has won six Super Bowls.

[Danny Cannell]

They have. Forget Super Bowls.

[Tom Fornelli]

Those are the three people who had Belichick last.

[Chip Patterson]

Forget the six Super Bowls. Four FBS wins. No 3, three FBS wins and a victory over the Richmond Spiders. Okay? It's more than they could say. Come on, you want to.

[Tom Fornelli]

Richard better win five games this year, boys. That's all I'm saying.

[Chip Patterson]

Homer. Homer and hater. You, you want to give a. Let's put some people on blast. Let's. Let's let them know. Tom, why don't you, why don't you let the people know conference by conference, Homer and hater of the year.

[Tom Fornelli]

Well, I mean, first of all, get these numbers here. You can see the Big Ten had the best overall average rank at 30.11. Just narrowing getting past the SEC. The SEC was the best last year. You can see that the Big Ten in SEC also dominate the top 10, top 25 and top 40. You can call that bias. I would just simply point out that the Big Ten in the SEC have won 10 of the last special titles, which is typically going to lead to you thinking their coaches are higher. You look at the Big 12 and you think, wow, did Bud. Was Bud the only voter for the Big 12? Look at how low every single average ranking was there. First of all, Bud was not a voter. And second of all, the Big 12 lost Matt Campbell it lost Kyle Whittingham and it lost Chris Kleiman, who were all typically top 20 to top 15 ish coaches every single year. That really hurt their rankings, losing those three guys, replacing them with guys who were untested and unproven. So you see their ranking kind of just tank so they don't have a single top 10 coach. As for the biggest homers in every single league, nobody will be surprised to learn that the biggest ACC homer is our own Chip Patterson.

[Chip Patterson]

Let's go.

[Danny Cannell]

Way to go, Chip. You have my average solidarity. Way to go.

[Tom Fornelli]

Where was I compared to average ACC ranking was 35.82.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay.

[Tom Fornelli]

The average ACC ranking was 36.88. 36.88.

[Chip Patterson]

So I'm only up by a spot. I am one spot per coach. Bias fair on you. Just being in the acc, you. I understand what you understand, which is that life in this conference is unlike any other conference in America.

[Tom Fornelli]

The biggest ACC hater is our Brad Crawford, who averaged at 37.94 just behind me. I was the second biggest hater of the acc, but in my defense, I have to host this show with three big old ACC homers and it's just a counter balance that I really cannot help with. But anyways, biggest big 12 homer, the guy who hates all the coaches, Richard Johnson. No surprise that the one, the one league that finished dead last is the one that Richard Johnson was highest on his average Big 12 ranking was 40.94. So it's not like he's in love with the league. And the biggest Big 12 hater, it's not Bud Elliott, but it is once again, our very own Chip Patterson. Chip, congratulations on hating the Big 12. Your average ranking for that league was 45.38. Just thinks the whole league belongs in the bottom 23 of the sport.

[Chip Patterson]

I know, Danny, I know you got to run soon, but I'll offer a quick rebuttal here because I think it's a big picture. College football thought the schools that change that you made the point of were schools that were traditionally competing for and winning Big 12 titles. I think that within the Big 12, the quote unquote traditional powers of the post Texas Oklahoma exit have really been jacked up by Texas Tech.

[Danny Cannell]

Right?

[Chip Patterson]

Texas Tech and BYU's Money Gun have sort of had a reverberating effect where Kansas State and Iowa, I mean Iowa State had to replace Matt Campbell, but it's just, you know, these. These schools that have been in the Big 12 title game are all of a sudden like, okay, gosh, we got to get on our horse. Sometimes that involves making a new hire. So a little bit of a sea change. And, yeah, unproven coaches do get dinged on my ballot.

[Tom Fornelli]

Biggest Big Ten homer won't surprise anybody, but it is the very smart, very handsome Tom Fornelli who finished as the biggest Big Ten homer. But it's a narrow gap. Right on my ass are David Cobb and Chip Patterson. I did the math. I had. I was the high man on Pat Fitzgerald 30th. If I put Fitzgerald 33rd, David would have been the biggest Big Ten homer. Chip would have been second biggest. So very narrow there. So, you know, I'm not as homerish as you might think. The biggest Big Ten hater, Brandon Marcelo, just.

[Danny Cannell]

Wow.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, he had Kalani Sataki at five, but he's down on all the Big Ten coaches.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, but even that, it's. His average ranking was 31.39. So it's like when we're like, everybody was still pretty high on the Big Ten overall. Like, it was not a very wide range of final votes on that one. The biggest SEC homer is the biggest homer of us all. Like, just statistically. Congratulations to our Brad Crawford, who hates the ACC but absolutely loves the sec. Here's some numbers for you. Brad's average ranking for The SEC was 27.88. The second lowest was 29.44. That was John Talty. That's a 1.56 point difference just between first and second. It's 2.56 points lower than the average overall of 30.44. So on average, Brad was two and a half places higher for every single SEC coach than everybody else. That's insane. The biggest SEC hater, the Texan, Chris Hummer. You know, he's clearly upset about Texas joining the SEC and leaving the Big Ten in the lurch. And he's taking it out on all the big The SEC coaches with an average ranking of 32.56. And yeah, if. I don't know if we have the table ready for the most extreme voters or not. Did. Did we get that for Stryker?

[Chip Patterson]

I sent him the full report.

[Danny Cannell]

Sorry, I just have the widest and smallest range in the conferences.

[Tom Fornelli]

Well, as I mentioned earlier, Richard Johnson was our most extreme voter. He was the higher low vote on 33 different coaches. Now, that includes guys that you tied for. So, like, if six of us had a guy at number one, all six of them count as a high vote for that coach. So just to be clear, the second highest was Brandon Marcelo at 26. So Richard won this thing in a runaway. Then it was Cobb at 21st, Hummer at 20th, Shahan at 20th, Chip at 19, John Talty at 18, me at 15. So I was far less extreme than I was this year. I think I was third last year, Crawford at 15, and then the newcomer Cody Nagel, who I gave a brand new award to this year called the Please I just don't want to get yelled at award was the higher low man on only eight coaches. And to put four on that, six of those were ties. There were only two separate coaches in the entire ballot where Cody was the high or the low man on. And he was the low on both. But yeah, our. Our hater of the year does not go to RJ because while RJ was the low man on 16 coaches more than anybody else, he was also the high man on 17, which is more than anybody else. So I gave the hater of the year to our man, John Talty.

[Chip Patterson]

Let's go, John.

[Tom Fornelli]

John was the low man on 12 coaches, which was not the most hate as far as being low. But the difference is he was only the high man on six. So he was lower on twice as many coaches as he was high. So this is a man that just. He. He refuses to be impressed by any of you. Thinks you are.

[Chip Patterson]

I like it. John has standards, okay? He is not going to be impressed. You know, let's go. Hey, congrats to every all of our award winners from the the coach rankings ballot audit. Tom, you did have to put together the entire list. I'll give you sort of final word. Any big picture movements, changes, narratives, like what, what. What do you sort of see as. As all the rankings came together and you went. And you. I mean, you put together thousands and thousands of words to. To back it up. So please go read, Tom, as always on cbs sports.com, make your life better. But what. What did you know? QR code in the screen to go check out the coach rankings, which. What final word here. What'd you think? Looking at the coach rankings, it's like

[Tom Fornelli]

there are a few things that do always kind of like the Bill Belichick thing I thought was ridiculous, but for the most part, I don't get too upset by anything. I see because it is such a. Like a subjective thing where we don't give anybody any criteria. We just tell. They tell us rank. The coaches based on who you want to rank could be based on their resumes, based on the recruiting, based on who you think like future success going forward, who you'd Want to hire whatever the hell you want to do. So people have opinions and they're going to be different than yours. And it's like I, I tend not to, you know, hold it against anybody for what they do, even for the ones I disagree with. The biggest change I would make in our system is I would, if I would ask our editors to do this the week before Memorial Day. So I don't spend five and a half hours of my Memorial Day writing all this up. Because they send the ballots out and they're all due the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend. And then the piece.

[Chip Patterson]

You're not going to believe this. Not everybody got in.

[Tom Fornelli]

No, you won't. Crazy to believe that these lazy college football writers in May aren't being in a hurry to rank all 68 coaches. So it's like ballots are due the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend and the first piece runs the day after Memorial Day, which leaves me with a very small window called Memorial Day weekend to have to write the story. So that's the one thing I would change. So if our editors are listening right now, move it up a week, guys. Come on. Do me a, do me a solid here, please.

[Chip Patterson]

I think that the calculation of trying to, trying to tear it out is a way that I've had more fun with it, you know, to. When I, then I go back and put numbers. If you wanted to painstakingly go and watch my ballot come together, you can look at all the Google Docs revisions where it's like I go through and there were four 50s, right. I was like, I don't know, that kind of feels like a 50 group. And then, you know, I put them all together and then I have to go back and sort it out on a more granular level. There is a crew of coaches that I believe are good coaches. They are power conference coaches. So clearly in the college football world, they have achieved something to reach this point. And it's on my ballot somewhere in the 23 to 37. It's a big range, but it's just coaches that I don't yet have enough to be able to really throw them up into that top 15 conversation. They've, they've achieved enough that I'm not going to kick them all the way down. It's just a, it's kind of like the difference between seven and five and eight and four football teams. You know, it is just a very, very flavor taste based exercise through and through.

[Tom Fornelli]

And yeah, and I also, I wrote in the post where the behind the ballots post like biases do exist in that there are certain coaches that we interact with more, you know what I mean? That we know better than other coaches because based on whether you know, just the area we're in or based on the leagues that we cover. And when you are doing this, like for me, the top 15 to 20 was pretty easy. The bottom 10 was very easy. And then like you're saying it's that middle tier in between where you're kind of sitting there like, oh, really was.

[Chip Patterson]

What do you do with Matt Rule?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

And you're like big and complicated profile to try to navigate. When you've got Matt Rule right next to like for example, John Summerall. Those are two wildly different coaching profiles to try to rank against each other.

[Tom Fornelli]

Oh yeah. Like when you're at that 35th and 36th spot and you're trying to figure out, it's like, well, why am I really putting this one guy ahead of the other? Like what, what's. Honestly, what's the difference at this point? And it'll come down to it's like, well, I know this guy. Like this, this guy, I'm going to bump him up a little bit.

[Chip Patterson]

Or as I. Diaz was a fun one for me because I was like, I mean, he just won an ACC

[Tom Fornelli]

title at 7 and 5 at Duke. I know, but at 7 and 5 and I think that context matters.

[Chip Patterson]

I don't know. He won an ACC championship at Duke

[Tom Fornelli]

and he beat Virginia in that game and he finished the regular season 7 and 5. Like did Manny Diaz. And again, this is not a diss. It's just this is the things that I'm thinking about when I'm doing this. Did Manny Diaz win the ACC at Duke or did Florida State, Clemson and Miami not win it? What would you give more credit to? Did they lose it or did Manny Diaz win it?

[Chip Patterson]

Well, technically it's the coach who is ranked ahead of this, which is Rhett Lashley. SMU lost it at Cal.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

SMU wins a game in Berkeley in the final week of the season. We don't have the six way tie and it's just SMU against Virginia for the ACC title. Snip, snap, clean break. Ready to go.

[Tom Fornelli]

Thanks a lot, Rhett. You know what? Now that I think about it, I should have knocked you a few spots lower on my ballot for that.

[Chip Patterson]

Rhett Lashley. Another one where it's just like I generally think I was way higher on Barry Odom, you know, where I was just like, I don't know. I think Barry Odom's a good football coach. I know Purdue's getting stomped left and right, but I think they're in a better place with Barry Odom than they were.

[Tom Fornelli]

They were certainly more competitive.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. So lots of lot, lots of fun to be able to go through. I always very difficult to make those, but fun to see what it ends up looking like in the consensus. Head on over to CBSSports.com to check out the story. We will be back on Monday. Some of those questions from the big old bag of mail that we were not able to get to today. Come and hang out to watch live YouTube.com 3:11am Eastern Time and you can follow him on Twitter at Tom Fenell. You follow me at Jip Patterson. Tom, thank you very much. Thank you.

[Tom Fornelli]

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[Chip Patterson]

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[Tom Fornelli]

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[Chip Patterson]

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[Tom Fornelli]

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