The company line within the SEC is that no other conference matches the gauntlet of its conference schedule. Perhaps, but it's also true that no other conference plays as many cupcake games as the SEC. That's a sticking point for the Big Ten as the conferences try to reach an agreement on a College Football Playoff format for 2026 and beyond. The Big Ten wants the SEC to join it in playing nine conference games. The SEC, so far, keeps standing its ground at eight. That difference in conference s...
Jun 23, 2025•47 min
Tennessee’s mid-April quarterback swap damaged the Vols’ chance of making the College Football Playoff, but did the Nico Iamaleava for Joey Aguilar swap make the Vols one of the SEC’s weakest teams? That’s what one preseason publication thinks. Lindy’s magazine picked Tennessee 11th in the SEC in its conference picks. Might want to take a peek at that schedule, though, before predicting such a freefall for the Vols. On today’s episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams wade through Lindy’s SE...
Jun 18, 2025•12 min
Several SEC coaches enter this season facing an inflection point in their tenures. That doesn't necessarily mean each of these coaches is on the hot seat (not yet, anyway), but this projects as a defining season for coaches like LSU's Brian Kelly , Florida's Billy Napier and Auburn's Hugh Freeze . Kelly says he's got his best LSU roster to date. No argument here. Napier's Gators finished last season on a hot streak. Auburn hasn't shown much bite yet under Freeze, but he's got a new quarterback. ...
Jun 09, 2025•57 min
Battle lines are forming in the ongoing debate for the College Football Playoff's future format . The Big Ten wants to rig the playoff. The Big 12 and ACC fight against that. The SEC hangs out in the middle, unsure whether to side with the Big Ten or the other power conferences. To rig, or not to rig? That is the question. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams unpack the leading playoff formats under consideration. The hosts reject one potential playoff format, while keeping a...
Jun 02, 2025•55 min
The SEC's scheduling debate will renew when the conference's spring meetings begin later this month. It's that age-old question of whether to stick with eight conference games or bump up to nine. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams debate the merit of adding a ninth conference game versus sticking with the status quo. Retaining the eight-game format would sacrifice the annual nature of some secondary rivalries, like Auburn-Georgia and Alabama-Tennessee. Is that worth it? Wel...
May 15, 2025•51 min
Did Texas just assemble the best team money can buy? Maybe. Alternatively, it spent big for a playoff-caliber roster that will come up short of the national championship game once again, after two straight years bowing out in the semifinals. This much we know: The Longhorns spent big. Just how big? Well, the Houston Chronicle recently reported that Texas’ budget for its 2025 squad is expected to be in the $35 to $40 million range. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams debate w...
May 07, 2025•51 min
Kirby Smart remains the No. 1 coach in the SEC. Any naysayers, consider the reigning SEC champion. It's Georgia. When ranking SEC coaches , 1 through 16, the debate becomes lively after Smart, the obvious starting point. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams reveal their lists, from first to last. Auburn's Hugh Freeze becomes the subject of the biggest disagreement among the hosts. Adams also goes just a bit against the grain with his No. 2 pick....
May 01, 2025•58 min
Tennessee slapped a tire patch in the gaping hole in the rubber of its quarterback situation. UCLA’s disposable goods became the Vols’ prize. Tennessee is expected to add transfer quarterback Joey Aguilar from UCLA , after the Vols lost starter Nico Iamaleava to none other than UCLA. In other words, UCLA decided it would rather anoint Iamaleava as its starter than Aguilar, who transferred in December after two seasons starting for Appalachian State. That caused Aguilar to re-evaluate his options...
Apr 23, 2025•48 min
Nico Iamaleava reportedly wanted more money from Tennessee. The Vols wouldn’t meet his demands, so, Tennessee’s starting quarterback entered the transfer portal. Iamaleava now needs a new school to pay him to be its starting quarterback, while Tennessee needs a transfer to stay in the playoff contender column for this season. This public breakup between a quarterback and a school that had invested so much in him encapsulates the college football zeitgeist, as the April free agency period heats u...
Apr 16, 2025•46 min
March Madness just does not miss . This year’s tournament served fewer upsets but made up for it with an epic Final Four . The 68-team tournament provided another reminder that this annually stands as one of the best postseason events in all of sports – not just college sports. In contrast, college football supplies maybe the best regular season in sports, but its postseason often falls flat. Even College Football Playoff expansion didn’t totally solve the lackluster postseason finish. Can colle...
Apr 09, 2025•44 min
The nation's best basketball conference supplied half the teams in the Final Four . Bravo, SEC. The SEC lived up to the hype throughout March Madness, taking the Sweet 16, Elite Eight and now Final Four by storm. Even so, oddsmakers point to Duke as having the best team, and if you've watched the Blue Devils throughout the tournament, you know that's a fair projection. So, which SEC team is better positioned to upset Duke in the national championship, if it comes to that? Auburn, or Florida? On ...
Apr 02, 2025•39 min
Cinderella went home before curfew, and true madness never appeared this March. That’s fine by the SEC. The relative lack of chaos in this NCAA Tournament proved good for the conference that qualified the most teams. The SEC advanced a record seven teams into the Sweet 16, and the conference retains an opportunity to sweep the Final Four spots. In today’s basketball-themed episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams grade the SEC’s performance so far, and they project the winner of each region...
Mar 26, 2025•47 min
The SEC has taken March Madness by storm , and the conference enjoys a strong chance for multiple Final Four berths due to its sheer volume of qualifiers and the lofty seeding of several of its teams. It’s not all that far-fetched to consider the possibility of the SEC claiming every spot in the Final Four. Among the SEC’s top teams, which faces the toughest path to San Antonio ? That might be Auburn. The No. 1 overall seed received a brutal bracket draw. On today’s episode, hosts Blake Toppmeye...
Mar 19, 2025•52 min
The conversation of best active coaches without a national championship begins with Gonzaga's Mark Few. You won't get very far down that list, though, before arriving at Auburn's Bruce Pearl and Tennessee's Rick Barnes. They're career winners. They've been great for their respective universities. Each owns a Final Four appearance. But, they continually come up short of the top prize. This could be the year one of those two coaches gets off that list. On today's basketball-themed episode, hosts B...
Mar 11, 2025•27 min
We’re doing this again. SEC brass are debating whether to go to a nine-game conference schedule, up from eight, for the 2026 season. The SEC has considered adding a ninth conference game for more than a dozen years but never before made the move. Commissioner Greg Sankey wants an additional conference game , but some within the league are hesitant, wondering if adding another tough game is worth the risk of a loss that could damage postseason hopes. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and ...
Mar 07, 2025•37 min
Pressure’s on the football coaches in the state of Alabama, but for different reasons. Kalen DeBoer knows the Alabama standard creates a playoff-or-bust mentality. That means his debut season ranks as a bust and ratchets up the pressure on his second season. At Auburn, the Tigers last tasted a winning season when Gus Malzahn coached the team. Hugh Freeze ’s buyout offers insufficient protection. He’ll be in win-or-be-fired mode in his third season on the Plains. On today’s episode, hosts Blake T...
Feb 26, 2025•44 min
A great annual offseason debate hinges on whether college football would benefit from an overarching commissioner – and whether Nick Saban would be the prime choice for the job, if ever created. We agree that a college football commissioner could enact some meaningful, widely popular changes within the sport, but we're not ready to cede this responsibility to Saban, who likely would foremost look out for coaches. In fact, we're ready to accept the job ourselves. On today's episode, hosts Blake T...
Feb 19, 2025•47 min
As many as 10 or more SEC football teams might be ranked in the preseason top 25 , but the playoff chances of those teams are far from equal. Take, for instance, Texas and South Carolina. While they might be about 10 spots apart in the rankings, their playoff outlooks are dramatically different. Some SEC teams enjoy schedules built for playoff qualification, while others face doomsday schedules. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams evaluate the playoff chance of each SEC team...
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 7 min
No SEC quarterback is more proven than Garrett Nussmeier, but if you're building a depth chart, would you go with the LSU quarterback first, or gamble on the upside of Texas' Arch Manning or Florida's DJ Lagway? Our annual SEC quarterback draft is back! On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams go head-to-head trying to build the best four-deep roster of SEC quarterbacks. Adams makes a safe choice with his No. 1 pick, then gambles with a couple of quarterbacks who haven't yet prov...
Feb 06, 2025•58 min
The SEC endured a rough showing this season. Short-term problem? USA TODAY's too-early preseason top 25 suggests as much. The rankings are loaded with SEC teams, but is it too much love? On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams react to the rankings and offer verdicts of overrated, underrated or just right for each SEC team. Mostly, they think SEC teams are being overrated, including teams like Alabama and Georgia that face quarterback transitions. But, they're especially bullish...
Jan 29, 2025•46 min
Kalen DeBoer needs a quarterback. Now, who's it going to be? Alabama took a turn for the worse in DeBoer's first season, despite him inheriting a proven starter in Jalen Milroe. The position heads toward an uncertain future. Ominous or opportunity? On today's episode, Blake Toppmeyer of the USA TODAY Network is joined by Chase Goodbread of the Tuscaloosa News to unpack Alabama's quarterback situation, one of the most interesting position battles of the SEC's offseason. Ty Simpson headlines the c...
Jan 24, 2025•34 min
Let Arch-a-palooza begin. The Quinn Ewers era at Texas sunsets after the Longhorns lost to Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Arch Manning takes the keys to the Texas engine now, and the hype for Manning leaps off the charts. But, what are fair expectations for Manning in 2025? On today's episode, host Blake Toppmeyer of the USA TODAY Network is joined by David Eckert of the Austin American-Statesman as they preview what we should expect from Manning. They also offer their top tier of SEC quarterbac...
Jan 14, 2025•43 min
The SEC helped engineer the 12-team playoff. The powerhouse conference ruled the BCS. It dominated the four-team playoff. And, it planned to rule this format. Four bids? Five bids? More? A mirage, the SEC's vision became. The SEC regressed this season. The conference ain't what it used to be. As the College Football Playoff semifinals arrive, Texas stands as the SEC's lone representative. The Longhorns joined the conference a mere six months ago. They're an underdog against Ohio State in the Cot...
Jan 07, 2025•52 min
More teams, more drama, more bellyaching . The College Football Playoff's first round served a series of blowouts, resulting in blowback that the selection committee whiffed on its at-large picks. But, is the committee really to blame for the first-round drubbings, and if so, which teams would have been better qualifiers? Hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams debate that question on today's episode, offering diverging viewpoints. They also discuss which team impressed them most in the first round...
Dec 28, 2024•37 min
Georgia earned the bye, but which SEC team received the best College Football Playoff draw ? That’s difficult to answer. The second-seeded Bulldogs are one step closer to the national championship game than either Texas (No. 5 seed) or Tennessee (No. 9 seed). However, Texas will open at home against 12th-seeded Clemson, the playoff’s only three-loss team, before a potential quarterfinal against Arizona State, which is seeded No. 4 but ranked No. 12. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and ...
Dec 17, 2024•50 min
Missing the inaugural 12-team playoff leaves Alabama feeling out of sorts - and evaluating its schedule. In the wake of the College Football Playoff selection committee choosing SMU over Alabama for the final playoff bid, UA athletics director Greg Byrne indicated the football program will consider watering down its future non-conference schedules. Never mind that Alabama's three losses came against conference opponents. On today's episode, host Blake Toppmeyer of the USA TODAY Network is joined...
Dec 10, 2024•36 min
Will the College Football Playoff committee have the gall to deny the Script A and the allure that comes with Alabama a spot in the 12-team bracket? More to the point, will the committee be more interested in Alabama’s lofty strength of schedule, or its miserable showing in a blowout loss at Oklahoma? Miami’s loss to Syracuse left a playoff spot up for grabs. Top contenders for the bid include a trio of three-loss SEC teams (Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina), plus Miami. Who gets the bid? On...
Dec 03, 2024•1 hr 3 min
In the SEC this season, it just means more losses, more parity, fewer elite teams and a struggle to qualify teams for the College Football Playoff . Ole Miss got swallowed up in The Swamp. Alabama suffered malice at The Palace. Kalen DeBoer and Lane Kiffin each possessed enough talent to field a playoff team, so why are they left needing more chaos to serve them up bids to their underachieving, three-loss teams? On today’s episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams debate who endured a bigger...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 5 min
Tennessee needs help . The Vols won't be in full control of their quest for the College Football Playoff after losing at Georgia , marking Tennessee's second loss. And while Tennessee retains multiple avenues to receive an assist into the playoff, the most interesting one might be this: Lincoln Riley and his USC Trojans revive and beat Notre Dame in the regular-season finale, thereby spoiling the Irish's playoff hopes. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams take stock of Tennes...
Nov 19, 2024•1 hr 3 min
The CFP picture gained no clarity Saturday. In fact, it became more opaque after No. 3 Georgia fell to Ole Miss and No. 4 Miami went down against unranked Georgia Tech. Miami and Georgia remain in the mix, but make room for Ole Miss. It’s getting crowded on that playoff bubble, and you’d need a spreadsheet to tell you who’s best in line to make the SEC championship game. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams engage with a few CFP hypothetical situations in which there are too ...
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr 3 min
