College Football Finally Got Interesting

Summary

Podcast Summary: Kennedy Saves the World

Episode Title: College Football Finally Got Interesting
Date: October 6, 2025
Host: Kennedy
Guest: Jimmy Failla

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Overview

This episode of Kennedy Saves the World brims with humor, banter, and sports commentary, as Kennedy celebrates a rare UCLA Bruins football victory over Penn State. She is joined by fellow Fox News personality and comedian Jimmy Failla for an irreverent deep dive into why college football ranks are so unpredictable in this new era, the joy of fleeting sports victories, and the bizarre news story involving former USC quarterback Mark Sanchez. The episode evokes both the exhilaration and absurdity that college football brings to fans, as well as the wider cultural quirks of sports fandom.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The UCLA Bruins’ Surprise Win

• Kennedy opens with exuberance for UCLA’s unexpected win over Penn State—ranked number 7 at the time.
• Both hosts joke about how little faith they had in UCLA, setting the episode’s playful tone.
• Jimmy: “You know who else should be down on themselves? Every a-hole that does preseason rankings for college football.” (01:00)
• Kennedy notes the preseason hype about Penn State and Texas, mocking their slide out of the top 25.

Notable Quotes

• “That Penn State is now ranked 28th.” – Kennedy (01:16)
• “The old Penn State is ranked higher in daycares than in football.” – Jimmy (01:19)

2. College Football’s Changing Landscape: Transfer Portal & NIL Deals

• Kennedy questions if instability is due to “the transfer portal and the nil money” (01:24)
• Jimmy agrees, pointing out unpredictable rosters, preseason bias, and how media hype over players like Arch Manning can be premature.
• Both express how little preseason rankings mean in a season defined by sudden upsets.

3. The Neuheisel Era at UCLA

• Discussion shifts to coaches: UCLA’s recent transitions and the heartwarming detail that Jerry Neuheisel (son of former UCLA coach/quarterback Rick Neuheisel) led the team as offensive coordinator.
• Kennedy celebrates the storybook quality of Jerry coaching his first game—and winning—while his dad calls the game on CBS.
  “In one game, this team figured out how to play football again.” – Kennedy (02:46)

4. The Joy and Pain of College Football Fandom

• The hosts reflect on the emotional rollercoaster of being a college football fan: hope, fleeting confidence, and frequent heartbreak.
• Jimmy: “That's what college football really is about. It’s about individual days.” (03:37)
• Alumni traditions, tailgates, and rivalries are what “define a whole season,” regardless of team record. (03:44)

5. The Mark Sanchez Incident: Sports Celebrity Gone Awry

• Kennedy recounts hearing that “Mark Sanchez was stabbed and in critical condition,” her first reaction being, “what horrible things have I said about him on X?” (04:08)
• Twist: Sanchez was actually the alleged aggressor—getting into a fight with a 69-year-old “grease man” (truck driver) after acting out in public.
• Hosts provide grotesquely funny descriptions of the grease collection job’s nastiness:
  • “It is like the closest thing to being a grave digger that they have in the restaurant industry.” – Jimmy (05:40)
• Both mock Sanchez’s future career prospects and the media cycle of fallen athletes.
• Kennedy (on the Jets): “The last time they won a Super bowl predates the moon landing.” (07:44)

Notable and Humorous Moments

• Kennedy’s first-responder guilt: “It was one of those moments where I was like, I don't want anyone to get stabbed…not that guy, not anyone I know.” (07:09)
• Jimmy’s moon landing joke: “So we hadn't even faked going to the moon yet. That's right. I said it.” (08:01)
• Predictions about Sanchez: “With that type of propensity for violence, he'll probably become the Democratic nominee for Attorney General in Virginia.” – Jimmy (09:36)

6. Closing Banter and Personal Notes

• Hosts part on a high-energy note, joking about their weekends, family gatherings, and post-game rituals.
• The mood is celebratory, with Kennedy encouraging listeners to “have a phenomenal week.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:09 – 01:19: UCLA’s shock victory & preseason ranking failures
• 01:24 – 02:13: The transfer portal/NIL and team unpredictability
• 02:13 – 03:09: Jerry Neuheisel and UCLA’s coaching drama
• 03:18 – 04:08: College football fandom—moments that matter
• 04:08 – 06:21: Mark Sanchez incident and grease man saga
• 07:44 – 08:21: NY Jets’ legacy & moon landing jokes
• 08:53 – 09:36: Sanchez’s legal trouble & career speculation
• 10:11 – 10:42: Post-game celebrations and final sign-off

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Notable Quotes

• Jimmy (on preseason hype):
  “You know who else should be down on themselves? Every a-hole that does preseason rankings for college football.” (01:00)
• Kennedy (on fleeting sports glory):
  “If that's all we get, like, that's what it means to be a UCLA Bruin. Like, you get a glimmer of hope, a sense of false confidence for a moment until your dreams are summarily shattered.” (03:24)
• Jimmy (on the meaning of college football):
  “That's what college football really is about. It's about individual days.” (03:37)
• Jimmy (on Mark Sanchez):
  “With that type of propensity for violence, he'll probably become the Democratic nominee for Attorney General in Virginia.” (09:36)

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Overall Tone and Takeaways

The episode vibrates with comedic energy and a sense of camaraderie, poking fun at the absurdity of fandom, media narratives, and sports egos. Kennedy and Jimmy provide a cathartic space for sports fans—especially those supporting underdog programs—while slyly skewering celebrity culture and the spectacle of modern college football.

Listeners walk away entertained, with inside jokes and a peek behind the wild, unpredictable world of college sports and its larger-than-life personalities.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

Hello and welcome to this episode of Kennedy Saves the World. This is the UCLA Bruins victory lap celebration. After defeating the number seven football team in the country, Penn State, we all assumed, me prime among them, that the at the time 04 Bruins would get a good bloody buggering the likes of which no one who is affiliated with the school wanted to live through. And we had pre salved our bottoms. Having said that, it was a tremendous, I gotta say, a blowout. 42:37 Bruins on the right side of victory here. And Jimmy Fala joins me to discuss how great this feels because someone very close to both of us is a big Penn State fan.

[A]

Is he ever. And he's a little down on himself right now. You know who else should be down on themselves? Every a hole that does preseason rankings for college football. Because, you know the number one team was preseason Texas. You know the number two was Penn State. You know what they both have in common? They're not even ranked in the top 25.

[B]

Yeah. That Penn State is now ranked 28th.

[A]

The old Penn State is ranked higher in daycares than in football.

[B]

So is it because of the transfer portal and the nil money? Is, is there. Are there just so many outstanding variables that it's impossible to know what a team even is at this point?

[A]

I think that's a big, big component of it. I think there's one other aspect to this is that Penn State was returning a fair amount of a pretty successful team. So that kind of motivated people to put them above Ohio State because they had a little more turnover. And I think on the other Arch Manning side of this, they had just decided he was the number one pick in the upcoming NFL draft without him throwing a pass. When they played Ohio State in week one. Yeah, when they played Ohio State in week one, he was in like 62 commercials. Was like every commercial. And then right now he's like tied for the national lead in interceptions. So the point is, don't listen to any of these people. UCLA was winless.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Coming into this game.

[B]

But then they finally got rid of desean Foster matters. So Jerry Neuheiselle, his dad, Rick Neuheisel, not only was the coach of the UCLA Bruins, not, Not their greatest era, but he was also the quarterback. His son Jerry Neuheisel, also a quarterback, and he had applied. So he's been on the coaching staff for a few years now. Cute kid. He applied for the OC job under DeSean Foster, but they said DeShawn Foster already suffers from inexperience. You, Jerry Newheisel, also inexperienced. So then when they cut to Sean Foster loose, the little baby New Heisel is like, give me a shot at the OC job. I want to do it. I can do it. He was born at ucla and so they give it to him. And in one game, this team figured out how to play football again and. And his dad was calling the game on cbs. That's what was so cool.

[A]

What a great moment for them and what a great moment for you. It's like, you know, the timing of this stuff is hard to predict. You never know when your team's going to get its only win of the year.

[B]

Ye.

[A]

The fact that yours came in such a nice weekend I think is great for you. So I'm excited.

[B]

And that's, you know, it's like, if that's all we get, like, that's what it means to be a UCLA Bruin. Like, you get a glimmer of hope, a sense of false confidence for a moment until your dreams are summarily shattered.

[A]

Thrown into a wood chipper. But that's what college football really is about. It's about individual days.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Because every one of these games is a. It's a pre game, it's a tailgate, it's the alumni hangout. You watch the game. But it's these little moments like this that define a whole season. Like, think of Army Navy. Their record is irrelevant beyond that game all the entire season. Success is defined by that. And that's kind of going to be the case for UCLA because no one looks at them like this is a bowl team that's going to run away from. Going to run away with it. I mean, they are a bold team.

[B]

I do hope this means something. I do hope little Jerry Neuheisel as the offensive coordinator and Tim Skipper, who's like the new coach out of nowhere. I hope they figure it out, motivate the players and get them to take all of their individual talents and put it together as a team. Because anyone can be defeated. Unfortunately, the UCLA prunes have proven that four out of five games. So what I also want to talk about on the UCLA front. So when I heard that Mark Sanchez was stabbed and in critical condition, I immediately panicked, thinking, oh my God, what horrible things have I said about him on X? And I was like, oh no. And I was like, how do I go back in time and erase awful things that I said? Because God forbid, like, this is political violence. It turns out he was being an A hole. He was being a USC Trojan and this is just another butt fumble where he was like, I don't know if it was espresso martinis. Felt like some sort of a speedball. The guy was on doing wind sprints at 12:30 in the morning. Gets in the face of a deaf trucker who's just trying to.

[A]

The grease guy.

[B]

Load up his grease truck.

[A]

Guys, can I give you guys some background here on who the grease guys are of America? Okay. The gre. The grease guys are actually picking things up from establishments that the garbage truck won't take.

[B]

So putrid and disgusting.

[A]

Yeah, that's a really rough gig.

[B]

It's rancid grease that God knows what has been frightened over and over and over again.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And it is beyond spoiled.

[A]

It is like the closest thing to being a grave digger that they have in the restaurant industry. And that guy's seen a lot of horrible things and is surrounded by a lot of horrible things and is just banging it out. He's gonna stop by, pick up this one, pick up that one.

[B]

69 year old man.

[A]

69 year old man working.

[B]

He knows he has to grind it out for whatever reason, but he's a tough job. He's in the job that no one else wants. Takes his hearing aids out because the truck is so loud. It drives him crazy. And then he's got this ass in his physical. Move your truck. I gotta do wind sprints. And if you look at the 69 year old, it looks like he got his head caught in moving chopper blades.

[A]

Terrible.

[B]

Like his whole face is cut open. It's like, yes, Mark Sanchez was stabbed. Mark Sanchez allegedly stabbed this guy in the face. Don't go anywhere more Kennedy saves the world right after this.

[A]

It's Will Kane Country. Watch it live at noon Eastern Monday through [e-mail] or on the Fox News YouTube channel. And don't miss the show. Listen and follow the podcast five days a week at foxnewspodcasts.com or wherever you download your favorite podcasts. It's insane. It doesn't sound like I wouldn't think he's getting his broadcast job back. That's a tough one to justify when.

[B]

You hire a USC Trojan.

[A]

Do you mean to tell me the school of O.J. simpson hired violent athletes? I don't know if I can sign off on this, but that's funny.

[B]

I felt some level of redemption because I truly felt so bad and so scared. And I was like. It was one of those moments where I was like, I don't want anyone to get stabbed. Yeah, of Course, you know, it's like even like a horrifically conceited USC Trojan with the most unremarkable NFL career. Like, not that guy, not anyone I know.

[A]

But they're probably, they said the judge could sentence him to time served because he was a New York Jet. So it's like, I mean, how much, how much do you subject a guy to?

[B]

Oh, the poor jets, man, oh, man.

[A]

It's is just in the season. 05.05 right now with a new coach, by the way. And the one thing I give the Jet fan credit for, because the last time they won a Super bowl predates the moon landing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It was January of 1969. So we hadn't even faked going to the moon yet. That's right. I said it. That's right.

[B]

Did a special on the moon landing. He's an excellent expert here.

[A]

Yeah. It was called Moonlighting Factor fiction. I'm not kidding. The best part is I'm not, I, I. We called up NASA at the time. Now this is pre Sean Duffy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm like, hey, can we come down and film a little something for our Moondock Factor fiction. They're like, what size jacket you wear? I'm like, I'm a 46 regular. They're like, oh, we'll send you a jacket. I'm like, that's amazing. They're like, and no, you can't come. And I'm at the phone. So I got sent a jacket. The first one, I have one real one and like six fake ones that are actually just as cool. You can get them on Amazon for like 30 bucks, but they're rad. Yeah. The NASA jackets. But I was not allowed down there because they think I would have figured it out.

[B]

I'm on to them, sniffed out the truth.

[A]

I am the tv.

[B]

What do you think happens to Mark Sanchez? I mean, he's obviously going to get.

[A]

Sued for, I would hope so.

[B]

Million dollars.

[A]

I would hope so. I think it's going to be really hard if he's criminally charged to retain him as a broadcaster. I mean, you know what the long view is, sadly. What it usually happens in national media when somebody flames out like this. In five years, he can be doing like local USC broadcast as an alumni for real. Like, that's what I mean. He might be on a local radio broadcast. I don't know the answer to that. But I mean, for his sake, get help. I think he'll blame drinking and addiction and do that and try to create some sympathy for himself.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But dude, if you're beating up a 39 year old man.

[B]

There's 69.

[A]

Except the same man. If you're 38 going on 39 and you're beating up a 69 year old man, there's no version of this problem. Yeah. And there's no version of this where you're the victim.

[B]

Yeah. And I don't remember this happened. What, like that's not a defense.

[A]

Yeah. So if I had to guess, with that type of propensity for violence, he'll probably become the Democratic nominee for Attorney general in Virginia. He'll probably. Jay Jones will step down.

[B]

Jones has some problems. This is not the time for those text messages to come out, girl. I mean, it's, you know, it's like everyone wants to be a tough guy. Everyone wants to be tougher than Trump.

[A]

Yep, that's the problem. And you don't have to play that game. Yeah, but no one got the memo. It's so dumb.

[B]

This is play the game, you win the prize.

[A]

Amen. Well said.

[B]

All right, Jimmy, let's go have a hell of a week.

[A]

Believe it.

[B]

You're loaded up with pork shoulder and.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Jenny f. Cooked. She. She. She. She had family in town. Right. So Jenny smoked a pork. Whatever the hell it was, and Lincoln won a football game and Jimmy drank himself senseless in the yard. We stopped recording. Right.

[B]

Talk about the Yankees.

[A]

This is. Yeah, we're not gonna. That's. No. If you talk about the Yankees, I'm gonna be hanging out with Mark Sanchez tonight attacking Grease men. That's no way to live.

[B]

This has been Kennedy Saves the World. Go have a phenomenal week along with Jimmy Phela. I'm Kennedy. Listen ad free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple podcasts and Amazon prime, members can listen to this show ad free on the Amazon music app. Oh, go ahead and leave me a review while you're there. I'd love to hear what you have to say. You've been listening to Kennedy Saves the World on the Fox News podcast network.