I’m back from my time abroad and, thus, back on the same continent as the World Cup. In fact, the U.S. will be playing Bosnia and Herzegovina just 15 minutes from my house.
Alas, $1,300 nosebleed seats are a wee bit out of my price range and, frankly, kind of ridiculous. For a Round of 32 game? Should we expect similar prices when Alabama hosts James Madison in its 9 vs. 24 first-round College Football Playoff game in 2028?
More on that in just a bit.
Do you believe America’s team will win the natty this year? Loaded on offense & defense. Can’t find any weaknesses, especially with portal additions !!! Lfgoooooooo Irish — Tim from Heaven, aka ND!!!
Never, ever say the words “can’t find any weaknesses” about your own team. Kiss of death. The only reason you can’t find any weaknesses is because the Irish haven’t played a game yet. Check back with me about six games in if they’re playing like 2025 Indiana.
But in all seriousness, Notre Dame is loaded. It’s rare these days for any team to bring back both its star quarterback (CJ Carr) and nearly its entire starting defense, much less last year’s mythical analytics national champion. (Kidding.) The Athletic’s Dane Brugler wrote last week that ND has a decent chance to produce double-digit draft picks for the first time since the Lou Holtz era, led by stud cornerback Leonard Moore. Sophomore safety Tae Johnson also has a chance to be an All-America-caliber player this season.
Now, there’s the itty-bitty issue of replacing two first-round running backs (Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price) who combined for 2,046 rushing yards last season. Notre Dame feels good about the next wave, led by third-year back Aneyas Williams, who averaged an eye-popping 9.3 yards per carry on just 24 attempts last year. Still, if you’re taking the over on Vegas’ lofty 11.5 win total, you must think Carr will be ND’s focal point and throw for well over last year’s 2,741 yards. And you may be right.
I’d be stunned if the Irish aren’t a high seed in the CFP come December. But they’re just one of seven teams I feel strongly about, joining Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon, Miami, Georgia and Texas. The biggest difference between ND and those teams is that ND isn’t likely to be tested as often in the regular season. ND faces just three teams in my post-spring Top 25 — Miami, BYU and SMU, of which only BYU is on the road.
The Irish may finish 12-0 or 11-1, but we still might not be entirely sure whether they’re a true contender.
The expanded 48-team World Cup has led to tons of great stories, including Cape Verde getting a draw with Spain and advancing to the knockout stage. Germany and the Netherlands have already been eliminated in the round of 32. With evidence mounting that increased access in sports allows teams that otherwise wouldn’t be competing to flourish, isn’t a 24-team CPF a no-brainer? — Luigi M.
I knew this one was coming.
First of all, it just so happens I was in Berlin the night of a Germany match and in Amsterdam the night of a Netherlands match during my trip. It very much reminded me of a college football Saturday. Streams and streams of people wearing their colors, TVs on at every restaurant. Also, the games were on very late due to the time difference. I figured this is what it’s like to be a Michigan State fan when their game at USC kicks off at 11 p.m. local time.
So, of course, as soon as I hopped on both countries’ bandwagons, they went home early.
As for Luigi’s question — I don’t think the World Cup-CFP comparison applies. For one thing, the World Cup field is truly open to anyone who can qualify. It is intentionally designed to be all-inclusive. A 24-team CFP would only create more access for 8-4 Big Ten and SEC teams. Realistically, six of the 10 FBS conferences would still be playing for one or two spots. As much as I’d love to see the CFP equivalent of Cape Verde, the public reaction would be, “Who has Cape Verde even played?? Eswatini?!”
But the bigger issue is this: There is no regular season for a super-sized World Cup to ruin. People are already pushing for them to go to 64, and I say, why not? It’s a once-every-four-years tournament that has no impact whatsoever on the annual seasons of the Premier League, La Liga, MLS, etc. They’re not even the same teams. If the CFP were a once-in-four-years extravaganza, I’d be right there at the front of the line saying the more, the merrier.
Alas, it is not.
Stew: Question about Darian Mensah. Everyone is lauding Miami for getting him, and he had great numbers last year at Duke, but no one seems to mention that Duke lost five games. I hope he’s great for Miami, but what is your take on his ability to win games? — Anonymous
Duke went 8-5 last year primarily because of a horrific defense that ranked 122nd nationally in yards per play (6.28) and allowed at least 30 points in seven games. Mensah wasn’t perfect. He had a particularly rough day in a 45-19 loss to Illinois in Week 2, with an interception and two fumbles, and he threw two picks in the Blue Devils’ embarrassing loss to UConn. But he was hardly a turnover machine, throwing just six picks in 14 games. If anything, Duke might have been a .500 team (or worse) without a quarterback who threw for nearly 4,000 yards on 66.8 percent completions.
He also led his team to an ACC championship, a year after guiding Tulane to its conference championship game.
My only concern is that Mensah’s passer rating dropped slightly from 166.7 at Tulane in 2024 to 153.6 at Duke last season with the step up in competition. Worth noting, though: His career 158.4 rating is slightly higher than those of previous Miami starters Carson Beck (156.6) and Cam Ward (148.8).
Here’s my mini hot take: We may, in fact, be underestimating Mensah’s potential this season. I say that for two reasons: 1) He’s going to be playing with by far the best supporting cast of his career at Miami, including stud receivers Malachi Toney and Cooper Barkate (Mensah’s No. 1 target at Duke last season), as well as Mark Fletcher Jr. in the backfield; and 2) He’s got an excellent OC and position coach in Shannon Dawson.
The much bigger question for the Canes this season is their offensive line, which lost first-round tackle Francis Mauigoa and three other starters. Mensah’s ceiling may be tied to that of another crucial newcomer, five-star freshman left tackle Jackson Cantwell.
Darian Mensah has led his previous two teams to conference titles, but Miami’s success may be more dependent on the Hurricanes’ supporting cast. (David Jensen / Getty Images)
Paramount is releasing a docuseries on Texas Tech, with the same director as the Connor Stalions documentary. Do you think Tech is portrayed as villains or merely “victims of the times?” Stalions was made to be a villain, but I could see Tech being glamorized here. — Kenneth B.
That director is Micah Brown, and I thought his Stalions doc for Netflix in 2024 was well done. Some felt it was too sympathetic toward Stalions, but Mr. Manifesto showed his true colors in the footage of him lying throughout his NCAA interview. All in all, it captured the story well.
I have a feeling the Texas Tech one will be far more complicated. Any time the school itself announces the news, it should tell you the school will have some level of sign-off on what makes it to air. It sounds like the crew has had tremendous access all offseason, so you would hope that includes behind-the-scenes footage throughout the Brendan Sorsby ordeal. But with these “documentaries,” it’s all about how the director chooses to edit and frame that footage. Will Tech come off as a bunch of clowns scrambling to justify their actions, or as a bunch of sympathetic souls who were just trying to do right by their man?
I’ll be curious to watch. Though I can’t say Paramount Plus is one of my current streaming subscriptions. And I have a bunch of them.
What’s your take on the new NCAA eligibility rules? Are they good, bad, meh or something else? — Ed H.
I believe the new age-based policy is one of the most common-sense solutions the NCAA has ever devised, and the association implemented it relatively quickly. Not the old days of one committee passing it to another, hoping to get something done in three years. The issue began percolating at the start of this past basketball season and then ignited in January with the Charles Bediako case. Here we are in June with an approved solution.
The nuts and bolts are that athletes get five years of eligibility from the time they first enroll in college or turn 19, whichever comes first. Practically speaking, that means no more 24-year-old sixth-year seniors. If you stay healthy enough to play five full seasons, cheers to you. If you suffer three preseason ACLs in a row, man, that stinks, but no, you don’t get to keep tacking on years of college.
All of which makes total sense from a competitive standpoint.
Perhaps more importantly, it should reduce all those eligibility lawsuits. You’ve eliminated the inherent subjectivity and inconsistency of the old waiver process, in which a few folks in Indianapolis had to decide what constituted a medical redshirt or whether a 26-year-old pro basketball player in Europe checked the right boxes.
Are you 23 or younger? Great. Here’s how many years you have left. Case closed.
Of course, this being the NCAA, there are already lawsuits. Terminal litigator and NCAA thorn Darren Heitner has been racking up aggrieved basketball clients who used up their final season of eligibility this past school year and now want that fifth year that everyone after them is going to be granted. Personally, I don’t find that a sympathetic argument. Nothing is being taken away from them. It’s just bad luck.
But as we know by now, all it takes is one judge.
If anyone has a right to be ticked, it’s the rising high school seniors whose scholarship offers are being pulled by coaches trying to make room on their 2027 rosters for their current fourth-year players, whom they now get to keep for an extra year. This could be particularly acute in nonrevenue sports, where no one turns pro early.
But it was never realistic that they could flip a switch and seamlessly implement a radical new policy. There will be unwanted short-term consequences. It’s still worth it for the long-term stability.
Stewart, use your crystal ball and give us the way-too-early Group of 6 vs. P4 upsets this season. Seems like the probabilities are slimmer than ever. Even if it’s not my school, love a good underdog victory. I think it’s good for the sport if we’re still supposed to pretend that the FBS is still a single division. — Bret C.
Oh, those upsets are alive and well. Last season brought us USF over Florida, Memphis over Arkansas, Army over K-State, UNLV over UCLA and others.
Here are a few possibilities for Week 1:
Toledo over Michigan State (Sept. 4): I fear Pat Fitzgerald’s first Spartans team could be really bad. He’s got serious rebuilding to do, and he’s trying to do it with a portal class ranked outside the top 50 on 247Sports. Granted, Toledo lost Jason Candle to UConn, but the Rockets are still considered a MAC title contender.
South Dakota State over Northwestern (Sept. 5): Technically, this isn’t G6; it’s FCS, but South Dakota State is a very good FCS team. The perennial championship contenders had a down year in 2025 largely because star QB Chase Mason was injured. He’s back. Northwestern will still be playing at its 12,000-seat temporary stadium for this game.
San Diego State at UCLA (Sept. 12): I’m bullish on Bob Chesney’s future at UCLA. I don’t necessarily expect him to tear it up right from the jump, though. Sean Lewis has the Aztecs on the rise after a 9-5 season. They’re expected to contend for the “Pac-12” championship. Perhaps they catch the Bruins napping.
I did not go into this expecting to pick three Big Ten upsets. That’s just how it shook out.
Bob Chesney could lead UCLA to success, but it might not come in his first season. (Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
I’m a townie Northwestern fan. Could you roll back your professional objectivity just a bit and tell us how you feel as a well-informed alumnus about the NU stadium replacement? I suspect it was fighting the last war and the money would have been better spent on better players. But I’m likely bitter that I’m going to be priced out. — Peter G.
As someone who hasn’t been to a game at Ryan Field since 2018 and is thus barely impacted, I think the whole thing is great.
While I’ll always have fond memories of the old venue, dating back to its days as Dyche Stadium when I was a student there, let’s be honest: It was nothing special. If anything, playing home games in a 47,000-seat library that only filled up when Ohio State, Michigan, Iowa, etc., brought 30,000 fans to town did the Wildcats a disservice. Downsizing to 35,000 makes more sense for the Big Ten’s smallest school, with fewer than 10,000 undergraduate students.
But the part I find most fascinating about the first new Power 4 football stadium in a dozen years is that it’s going to be so much more than a football stadium. It will host concerts. You can book corporate events there. And the outdoor plaza is designed to be a year-round cultural hub, with room for food trucks, holiday festivals and even an ice rink in the winter (which is roughly six months in Evanston).
If it works, it could be a major revenue generator for the school, unlike most college stadiums that sit unused 357 days a year.
But to Peter’s last point, I do find it curious that Northwestern has donors (mainly the Ryan family) with the means to fund a $900 million stadium but is not exactly swimming in NIL money. Florida recently announced a $1.45 billion stadium renovation. If the Gators have that kind of money in the ecosystem, how are they not pulling LSU/Texas Tech-esque transfer classes?
The answer, of course, is that there are many well-heeled folks who still feel more comfortable writing checks for buildings than for 18-year-old athletes. And that’s fine. But I always refer back to this Mike Locksley quote from 2023 about the program’s then-new football facility.
“Unfortunately, we moved in at a time when facilities have been de-emphasized in a recruit’s mind,” Locksley said. “Because they’d get dressed in the trash can for $25,000.”
The 5-for-5 rule is going to eliminate the All-Geezer team. I sure will miss that article each year. Can we get one last All-Geezer team? — Michael G.
The selection process for the 2026 All-Geezer Team is underway. It will be out soon.
And it is absolutely not going away. I’ve been naming an “eighth-year senior” team in the Mailbag long before there were actual eighth-year seniors. Plenty of guys play only four seasons and still feel like they’ve been in college for much, much longer.
Case in point: Nico Iamaleava (now at UCLA) and Jaden Rashada (now at Mississippi State) are only now entering their fourth year.
