All Episodes

August 8, 2025 53 mins

Heisman Trophy predictions, Josh Pate moves to On3, college football unionization, and the Top 25 coaches poll — this live stream breaks it all down at once. We kick off with our preseason top five Heisman finalists: Cade Klubnik, Garrett Nussmeier, Dante Moore, Arch Manning, and Jeremiah Smith—analyzing schedule, stats, team success, and voter storylines based on recent trends where nine of ten winners were QBs from top‑10 final poll teams.

Next: Josh Pate’s seismic jump from 247/CBS to On3—what it signals for the power shifts in the college football media landscape and why brands and insiders are watching this evolution.

Then we move into the first real step toward stabilizing college football: unionization discussions. We unpack the August 3 meeting with 23 Power 4 GMs in support of collective bargaining, NIL caps, agent certification, and on-field pay protections. Is college football about to get organized?

Finally, we compare the brand-new Coaches Top 25 poll to my preseason rankings — there’s overlap in the top 12 but also notable disagreements. We dive into teams like Boise State, BYU, Clemson, and Oklahoma to explain why coaches and I see things differently.

If you’re a college football fan who demands straight, honest analysis—and info you won’t get anywhere else—this is the live stream for you. Like, subscribe, ring the bell, and hit share. Be one of US.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:20 Five players that should be on your Heisman radar

04:33 Clemson QB Cade Klubnik

06:50 LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier

08:07 Oregon QB Dante Moore

10:45 Texas QB Arch Manning

12:35 Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith

14:45 Other names that could content for a 2025 Heisman trophy

17:50 Josh Pate leaves 247 and joins On3- why this is a big deal for college football coverage

22:45 On3 hire of Zak Herbstriet hire doesn't deserve the criticism its getting online

26:15 Athletes.org and 23 Power 4 GMs get the ball rolling on collective bargaining talks

33:25 The AFCA Coaches Poll Drops

38:20 Comparing and contrasting the Unafraid Show top 25 with the AFCA Coaches Poll

#clemsonfootball #JoshPate #Preseasonrankings #top25 #CollegeFootball #Heisman #NIL #On3 #247Sports #Unionization #lsufootball #cfblive #CoachesPoll #NFLDraft #Recruiting2025 #CFBPlayoff #APPoll #UnafraidShow #CollegeFootballMedia #CFBNews #NILContracts #CFBUnion #collegefootballpodcast #sports

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the College Football Show. It's your boy, George Reister,
and today we got to talk about the Heisman Trophy
and I'm gonna give you my top five predictions, and
we got a huge shakeup in the college football media landscape.
Josh Pate is leaving two, four to seven and CBS
to go on to on three and why that matters

(00:25):
to Unafraid Show and why it matters in terms of
the college football media landscape and those websites for rivals
and everything else in between. And then the first step
to college football stability, unionization is coming to college football.
And we got to talk about the top twenty five

(00:45):
pole that came out from the coaches. It got released
and we are going to compare it to the best
preseason top twenty five that there is over here on
the Unaffraid Show. So thank you for coming here. Make
sure that you like, subscribe, get noifications, and most importantly share,
because this is the place where we talk about college

(01:05):
football simply, honestly and give you the information that you
can't get anywhere else. So be one of us and
make sure that you take the information that you go
share with your friends, because you will then be the
talk of the college football town. But we are going
to start with the Heisman Trophy, and let's talk about

(01:26):
it honestly, right because it's no longer about necessarily being
the best player in college football. It's about being the
best player on a team that wins and then stays
in the national spotlight all year. And it does help
a lot if you are a quarterback, because in the
last eleven years, the nine of the Heisman winners have

(01:46):
been quarterbacks. The only exceptions last year with Travis Hunter,
and he had to play both ways, essentially doing with
Charles Woodson did Outstanding wide Receiver, actually did more than
Charles Woodson did outstanding wide receivers and an outstanding dB
as well. And then you had DeVonta Smith winning in
twenty twenty, and even then, dude was putting up video

(02:08):
game numbers on an undefeated Alabama team. And since twenty ten,
only what four nine quarterbacks have won the award altogether? Four,
that's it, Derrick Henry in twenty fifteen, mark Ingram and
then obviously Smith and Travis Hunter. So you guys don't
miss anything that we're going and doing here on the

(02:31):
Unafraid Show, because every Heisman winner in the past decade,
they did come from a team that finished in the
top ten of the final ap POP, with seven of
them making the college football playoff. Let's just look at
it in the history, right if you go all the
way back to twenty seventeen, Baker Mayfield, quarterback at Oklahoma,

(02:53):
made the playoff. Kyler Merray, quarterback quarterback at Oklahoma, made
the playoff. Joe Burrow twenty nineteen quarterback LSU record second year,
won the national championship. DeVonta Smith won it all eighteen
hundred yards receiving. Bama went undefeated. Bryce Young took Bama

(03:14):
to the national title game in twenty twenty one, Caleb
Williams in twenty twenty two. Now they missed the playoffs,
but he's you know, eleven and three top ten team.
You get the picture. Jaden Daniels that's one of the
exceptions because his team finished number thirteen in the final poll,

(03:35):
but his stats were absurd highlight reels they could not
be ignored. And then you had Travis Hunter this last year.
So this is mainly turned into a quarterback award, But
more importantly than that, your team has to stay in
the national conversation and be relevant. They have to be
super relevant as it comes to the national conversation, otherwise

(03:58):
you have no chance and you have to have some
preseason hype. So with that in mind, here are the
five guys that I believe will end up in the
as Heisman finalists at the end of the year. And
we are going to start with the guy from the
team that I picked to win the national championship. So
you guys can go back, go look at the College

(04:19):
Football Playoff show and go look at the video where
I talk about the preseason top twenty five. Because I
have been consistent, I have been honest, and I have
been real, and cade Klubnik and Clemson are going to
be in the national conversation all year because he's a
young man that's still trying to prove himself. His sophomore year.

(04:40):
Obviously that wasn't pretty because it was a decent year
by college football standards, but up to Clemson standards, nah,
that wasn't gonna cut it or even what we believe
the standard Lid is for himself because last year he
improved his yards per attempt by over a full yard

(05:01):
and had a six to one touchdown interception ratio. Over
there in a Clemson, South Carolina, and he's got great weapons.
He's got two of the top seven wide receivers in
the entire country, and he's got a great schedule to
set him up because it starts out in the national
spotlight at the beginning of the season with a game

(05:23):
against LSU and another guy that just so happens to
be on this list, and then he's going to play
a long list of teams along the way that struggled
to defend the past in twenty twenty four, so that
gives him help like Jaden Daniels got two years ago
winning a Heisman Trophy. Bad schedule or bad defenses or

(05:46):
a situation where your defense doesn't necessarily have to pan out.
But Clemson's defense should be good this year. Now he'll
be on a top team. If they can beat LSU
he plays well, he will have the edge over Garrett
Nusmayer as well, So there is something and he will
have some preseason hype as well, because if you think

(06:08):
about it, Kate Clubnick is the smart bet for twenty
twenty four, the smart bet because that LSU defense was
putrich prior to that, so to think that they're going
to be rolling on all cylinders at the beginning of
the season. Yeah, nah nah nah nah. And then you
know three of his last four games could be against
ranked opponents with Florida State, Louisville, and South Carolina. So

(06:32):
everything sets up for Kate Klubnik. If Clemson can win,
especially that South Carolina game and that LSU game, and
be a college football playoff team, that means that he
will be standing on that Heisman stage. Now I just
mentioned his name, and that is Garrett Nussmayer, quarterback over

(06:52):
there at LSU. I believe that he has a legitimate
chance to be on that Heisman stage because last season
he got to five hundred than twenty five pass attempts
last season, that's forty more pass attempts than Ky Klubnick.
And that was in one less game. And one thing
that Brian Kelly, his head coach, is gonna do. They
are going to air it out. That's how Jaydon Daniels

(07:14):
was able to win the Heisman Trophy while he was
there at LSU. And truthfully, Brian Kelly has a long
track record of quarterbacks making elite going into their second
year in the system. And if LSU's defense actually give
the Tigers a chance to compete at the highest level. Then, yes,
Garrett Nussmeyer is going to have his name in the

(07:34):
Heisman conversation just by default because he's going to put
up stats, and then he would be on a top ten,
top twelve team as well. That absolutely matters. Now, he
is going to have to cut down his turnovers just
a little bit, because he threw twelve picks last year
and then the average number of interceptions that the last
six Heisman winning quarterbacks have thrown in a year that

(07:57):
they won the award was six, and none of them
threw more than seven. So Nussmayer for him to win,
he's gonna then have to protect the football. Now, another
kid that I do believe is going to be on
the Heisman stage. It's Dante Moore over there at Oregon. Now,
people keep treating Dante more like he's this unknown commodity,

(08:17):
walk on quarterback, little engine that could. But if you
think about it, when he was at UCLA, we actually
watched him do some very positive things in twenty twenty three. Now,
granted everything was not perfect, not by any stretch of
the imagination, because it is it was, he probably would
have stayed at UCLA, but then he transfers sits behind

(08:38):
Dylan Gabriel for a year, and it's like, uh, huh, oh,
you don't think that this kid that everybody in the
country was after, who actually did some good things as
a freshman, chose to sit down and learn and mature
voluntarily when he could have went to other places to
go play. All of a sudden that he's gonna be
a bump. Nah, I don't think I do not think so,

(09:01):
because truthfully, his season numbers as a true freshman they
weren't even all that different than DJ Lagway's at Florida
last year. The difference is UCLA was just bad, and
Lagway is heading into his sophomore year with tons of hype.
People actually think that he might end up on the
Heisman stage. Now. One of the complaints about Moore at
UCLA was inefficiency. So lucky for him, he's in year

(09:25):
or two of an Oregon offense that is built at
making the most efficient decision. We saw it out of
Bowl Knicks. It got called a checkdown merchant. Oh, it
will never make it. Then goes in there and has
a fantastic rookie year in the NFL they tried to
talk about Dylan Gabriels, same thing. Oh, now he's in
a position where he might get a chance to play

(09:45):
as a rookie as well in the NFL. Come on, man,
but here is the truth. Like, I am taking a
risk with putting Moore's name out there, but I've been
consistent about it because I think he's on a perfect
situation thrive out there at Oregon. But voters don't watch
every single game, especially West Coast games, so a lot

(10:06):
of it is going to depend on what more does
with the whole country watching when he travels to the
Happy Valley to play in state, and you know that
the Oregon marketing machine is going to push him as
long as the Ducks are in contention. So if you
think about it, Oregon is starting inside of the top ten,
and everybody's in all the major polls. So you start

(10:29):
inside the pack, inside the top ten, you go ten
and two, eleven and one, you are going to have
a legitimate shot to be on the Heisman stage. So
this ain't far fest at all, So slow down with
that all right, now, this one. A lot of people
have been preaching his Heisman hype for two years now,
that is arch Manning. Now, remember, the Heisman is voted

(10:53):
on by a bunch of people who follow storylines above
everything else, and nobody know I repeat, no college football
player has a more recognizable and hyped up storyline than
arch Manning in twenty fifteen, and he would actually have
a chance to do something that neither one of his uncles,
Eli or Peyton had a chance to do, which was

(11:15):
actually win the Heisman Trophy. Now, all eyes are going
to be on him in Austin, Texas, and all he
has to do, if we're really being honest, is to
not suck. If he doesn't suck, he's going to be
in the Heisman conversation all year long. And even if
he doesn't improve, you just take what he did last

(11:37):
year and extrapolate that data over a full season and
put him in Steve Sarkisian's system. You're looking at a
potential forty five hundred yards and forty four touchdowns, and
plus he can run a little bit because he's athletic.
He's a mobile quarterback, not a runner, not a statue.
He's a mobile quarterback, which is exactly what people want

(12:00):
nowadays in the backfield, making every decision at the quarterback position. Now,
the question is what's going to happen with Arts taking
on a tougher opponents than he did last year and
it well with an inexperienced offensive line because they graduated
so much talent. I mean, but here's the truth. But

(12:20):
even eighty percent of those totals that I just talked
about for a first year starter is going to get
him some votes, and then the name recognition and being
on one of the better teams in college football is
going to help. Now, the last one is Jeremiah Smith,
and we have seen it is not easy for a

(12:41):
wide receiver to win the Heisman. It is not, but
it is also not impossible because we just saw it
with DeVonta Smith. And I will not count Travis Hunter
as much because Travis Hunter was literally playing both sides
of the ball. But when you come into a season
as the consensus player in football on a defending national

(13:03):
champion team with a wide receiver room that's good enough
to discourage defenses from brackening you. Not that double covering
him is going to be you know that, Not that
that would even matter because he's bigger, quicker, and stronger
and faster and more agile than pretty much anybody that
he's lined up against. Here's the truth, Jeremiah Smith is

(13:25):
up against it because his hype is starting so incredibly high.
So if he goes out and just does what he does,
what he did last year, he ain't gonna be on
the Heisman stage. He has to go silly. He's got
to go dumb. He's got to go stupid for him
to be able to win the Heisman Trophy. And when
you look at his season last year, one third of

(13:45):
Jeremiah Smith's touchdowns last year came in the College Football
Playoff and this is a regular season award, so how
does that figure. So Smith is gonna need to equal
his you know, total season production last year in the
first twelve to thirteen games of the year to actually
stay in the conversation and make the finals. But he

(14:07):
also needs to do two other very important things. He
absolutely has to have a good game in the opener
against Texas. That is an absolute must for him to
stay in the Heisman conversation. And they had the best
pass defense in the country last year, and he needs
to make good on that guarantee to beat Michigan. That

(14:28):
is that is the second thing that he needs to do.
And then that leaves us with two names, well, with
a few names. That leaves us with a few names
that I believe could replace Jeremiah Smith if those two
things don't happen. Number one, we got joh Mateer over
at Oklahoma. Now he was lights out at Washington State.

(14:51):
We're talking about a three thousand yard pass or potentially
with a thousand yards rushing as well, which should put
you on the Heisman stage. But this, this feels like
it's gonna have to be a mentality switch for the
Sooners because Boomer Sooner last year they played football like, hey, hey,
hey offense, don't lose the game for the defense, not

(15:11):
the offense. Go out there and win it for it.
So hey, hey, defense, you do your job. No, it
was hey a offense, Hey, don't lose it for the defense.
Don't turn the ball over make silly mistakes. So if
the Oklahoma offense is significantly more explosive this year, they'll
be in good shape. Another name is Leonoris Sellers because

(15:32):
he's got games against Clemson at Texas A and m
at LSU and they played Bama. So you do that
and you take care of business, and you are a
college football playoff type team. Leonora Sellers at South Carolina
is going to have a shot at the Heisman Trophy finalists,
big well being a finalist for their award. Another one

(15:55):
is DJ Lagway. I do not believe DJ Lagway is
going to be on this stage, and I don't think
there is a way. And it's not because he's not talented.
It's just that he missed all the spring ball, He
started fall camp hurt, so it's gonna be tough for
him to be his optimal self or what or live
up to all the hype when you're not fully healthy

(16:18):
and you haven't had as much practice time leading up
to it. That is the only reason why DJ Lagway
is out of this conversation. We gotta talk about Drew Aler.
He has every single thing teed up on the platter.
Running backs, offensive line, wide receivers, defense, a defensive coordinator,

(16:39):
just won a national championship game, and he's got Oregon
at home they play Ohio State. What more do you
need to be able to win a Heisman Trophy and
get on that stage. But the problem is Drew Holler
has to be better. He's got to be the best
version of a game manager because he has not proven
yet that he is specially, so he either has to

(17:01):
be special or be the best game manager around and
beat Oregon and beat Ohio State and then the trophy
will probably be his. And the last one is my
ultimate dark horse for the Heisman stage because nobody was
predicting Cam's Kataboo to be there last year and my

(17:21):
Cam's cataboy for this year, boom, Demond Williams. Demond Williams
over there at Washington. If Washington who hosts Ohio State
on Mont Lake this year? If they beat Ohio State, Oh,
you can book it. You can book it. Demond Williams
will have cash his ticket to be at the Heisman ceremony.

(17:42):
So y'all just take that with what you will, all right.
Next thing up, Josh Pate is leaving two four seven.
Josh Pate is leaving two four seven and going on
three and on three slash rivals. This is a big deal.
This is a big deal because in the college football

(18:04):
media landscape, where digital media landscape, Josh paid is the
biggest name around. Obviously, you know you have the cover
three podcasts, which is good solid verbal Joel Klatt does
this thing, but Joe Klatt's a little bit different because
he's an announcer, so, you know, so it's a little
bit different. You got Unafraid Show, you got a few
other shows that are really really good as as well.

(18:29):
But this is significant because Josh paid is the guy
who ends up on some of the you know, the
the videos for some of the SEC teams and all
that stuff. So but this has proven something right because
Josh Pate started out as an independent creator, right similar

(18:49):
to the Unafraid Show, Unattached, but then he moves over
to two four to seven sad Slash CBS, and now
he's with the corporate bohemoth, and now he leaves there
and goes to On three. So this proves that no
matter how independent you are, how big you get, you

(19:11):
always need some level of distribution and amplification to send
things up. And this feels like Kevin Durant to the
Warriors right now, the Warriors went seventy three and nine.
On three is going seventy three and nine right now.
They have up their ante, They have upped you know,

(19:32):
a lot of the game. And then their founder, Shannon
Terry is the one who basically started this whole you know,
recruiting site, business stuff. And now he's up the ante
with ON three. And now let's talk about what this
means for ON three in Rivals, because ON three picked
up Rivals and then you're like, aren't there aren't they

(19:55):
competing sites? Well, they have turned Rivals into the high
school arm so high school recruiting and that's what two
four seven specializes in, but also college football content as well,
and so Rivals and ON three are essentially splitting the duties.
Rivals is going to take the high school sports duty

(20:15):
while ON three is going to focus exclusively on college
football and be their college football entity. Like these are
supposed to be two separate things. But what does this mean?
Because you also have a big you know, a guy
who's been pushed by ON three in DJ Pikeel he's

(20:37):
a guy who is Josh Pate replacing him? Will DJ
go somewhere else? Did they over recruit him like they did?
Did they recruit over him like they do in college football?
Where you know a guy sitting there thinking is my
turn up next? And then here comes buddy coming out
the transfer portal. Five of you know, first round pick

(20:59):
coming out the transfer You're like, yo, I thought I
was up next, ma'am, and that's going to be the question.
So I do believe that they are going to be
some significant moving parts and shuffling of chairs. Where with
Josh Pate going over to ON three. And I did

(21:19):
notice that this was labeled as a partnership and not
a you know that he's just coming into ON three.
And this is where Josh has done a really good
job is instead of just working for a corporate behemoth,
he still has owned his IP. So there's a level

(21:42):
of freedom and independence. That means that when you leave places,
that means that you take your your RSS feed for
your podcast, that means that you keep your YouTube channel,
and you don't have to start fresh and start all
over again. And those things are extremely valuable. And this
is why I chose to do what I did with

(22:02):
the Unafraid Show, chose what I chose to do with
you know, George Reiser's College Football podcast is because that way,
once the corporate behemoth come comes coming, comes calling, now
we got options and we have options you know on
the back end as well, where you grow together and
everything else. But now there has been some a little

(22:28):
bit of drama, right there's been a little bit of
drama surrounding this whole thing, and the drama surrounding the
Josh Payton situation is not from Josh Pate. The drama
surrounding it has been from zach Herbstreet. And if you
don't know who zach Herbstreet is it and you probably

(22:49):
recognize that that name Herb Street, right, So this is
what has been. This tweet got some people real mad.
This tweek got people real mad. Zach Herbstreet is going
to be a national college football analyst four on three. Now,

(23:13):
a lot of people got upset with this. I am
not one of those people that got upset with it. Now.
Is there probably some nepotism involved with his dad? Kirk? Hell? Yes,
but if I have that opportunity available to me, yes,
I'm going to make sure that my kids are setting straight,
just like you guys are too. That doesn't mean that

(23:34):
you get to stay in line. It just means that
sometimes you get the first shot in line. So he's
still gonna have to prove himself. And there have been people,
oh man, he just hey, hey, why are you hating?
He ran his dad's Twitter account and I'm looking at
his Twitter account. Ain't a whole lot going on except
Cincinnati Reds Baseball, and you know, and Golden Retriever picks

(23:58):
on there. So I'm not I'm mad at Zach. I
hope that Zach does a great job on at on three.
But you have a lot of journalists who are upset. Now,
let me break this down for you that which you
could where you can fully understand it and give you
my own personal perspective on it. So me, being a

(24:19):
former NFL player, there have been times that I probably
cut the line in front of other people where that
have been doing it or wanting to be in this
space where I have my own solo radio show on
Mad Dog for four years. People probably wanted those spots
who had been doing it significantly before I started in

(24:39):
twenty fourteen. Now, I also a lot of times start
out behind, you know, like let's say a Cam Newton
who was a Heisman Trophy winner, NFL MVP. Cam jumps
the line in front of me. When it comes to jobs.

(24:59):
This this is why you cannot wait on other people
to give you jobs, whether it's in the music industry,
the college football, sports content industry, or anything else you
have to In this day and age, everything is available
for us to create the content and the audience that
we want. And once your audience is built big enough,

(25:24):
you become the line. You jump the front of the line.
Because if you look at Josh Pay, Josh Pay don't
have no college football. The story and history wasn't in
the legendary player or nothing like that. The guy who
understands college football is a good storyteller, can relate to
people and shows up consistently day in and day out.

(25:45):
That's all that people can ask for. They and you
know they relate and enjoy your content. That's all you
can ask for. Because the thing that we have learned
in this attention economy is that the people who can
grab the attention are are going to generate the most money,
the most clicks and everything else and get the most opportunities.

(26:07):
So don't hate the player. Just understand the game, all right.
Next thing is college football is in order and there
is nothing there is nothing that President Trump's executive order
can do to save the college football that you know

(26:29):
love and trust. The score Act with Congress that can't
save the college football that you grow up with. In
the nostalgia going back on repealing nil legislation in the
transfer portal. That ain't gonna fix it either. There's only
two things happening that can fix college football, and we

(26:53):
are on the precipice of one of them happening. Because
on Sunday, August third, tw need three power for general managers.
They met with Jim Cavali and Brandon copelandofathletes dot org,
which is a players association to discuss, amongst other topics,

(27:13):
collective bargaining. Collective bargaining is the absolute answer for stability
in college football. There is no other answer. It ain't
President Trump, it ain't Congress, it ain't repealing nil to Trent.
None of that is going to cast stability, none of it.
It is collective bargaining and I will explain it to you.

(27:34):
It is the same thing that goes on between the NFLPA, MLBPA, NHLPA,
NBAPA and the leagues. Those entities negotiate with the leagues
for the rules that they are going to operate under,
and in college football that would be healthcare, scholarship, nil, punishments,

(27:59):
everything under the sun would be negotiated. And then you
know what, there are no antitrust lawsuits after that because
it has been collectively bargained, and guess what if you
if you want to play in college football, it'll be
just like playing in those leagues. You have to operate
under those rules period. Otherwise you can go choose to

(28:21):
do something else because these are the rules that govern
the House. And if you don't like the rules that
govern the House, then go follow you a lawsuit and
try to do something different. But it ain't gonna mount
to too much. Now, there was this meeting that happened
on August thirty, like I told you, five hour meeting,
and it was reported that one hundred percent of the
general managers and attendance were for both collective bargaining and

(28:45):
for removing a portal window during the season. So then
you're like, okay, so if everybody's in agreement with this,
what's the disagreement. I'll explain to you. Because they also
discussed performance based incentive compensation models and a formal agent
certification process and registry. How can anybody hate any of

(29:06):
these ideas? You can't. They make too much sense. But
the problem is that it disrupts the power because if
those entities a players union, and who are they going
to negotiate with because they can't negotiate with the ACC,
Big Ten, Big twelve and all the other conferences. They

(29:27):
can't negotiate with them individually. There has to be one
single entity that they negotiate with. But the problem with
that is there is Tony Pettiti, Greg Sanki and the
rest of the college football commissioners, your Mark and all
of them. They have to give up power, and that
means that there will be a level of parody brought

(29:48):
to college football because if it's under one entity, that
means that they will negotiate their media rights together. Instead
of SEC being with ABC and ESPN, Big TI being
with Fox. No, they will all negotiate. They will all
negotiate together end up getting more money, but the money
is going to be divided in a way that everybody

(30:10):
pretty much gets an equal share. An equal share means
equal marketplace, equal everything. Now granted, Ohio State is the
Dallas Cowboys. They're gonna be talked about more than anybody else.
You know, Alabama's the Pittsburgh Steelers, Oregon is the Patriots.
You know, all of the big names are going to

(30:31):
get discussed way more. That doesn't mean that there's gonna
be parody of coverage and amount of games on national television. No,
that's not what that means. But what it does mean
is that those teams are going to be significantly more
susceptible to having down spurts, while while now giving Rutgers, Vanderbilt,
Mississippi State, you know, NC State, all a significantly higher

(30:57):
probability to win the conference. That's the difference and that's
the thing that is going to come down to. So
when we get collective bargaining, then you will know that
we are on the sign to stability, and that means
that we essentially have a superconference, which when I talked
to Kyle Whittingham in the interview on UNA Pray Joe

(31:19):
Go check it Out, talked about that he believes that
that's coming in the next five years now. One of
the people that was at that meeting, Jim Cabally, who
I talked about, he told Pete Nikos Have on three
that the first step to getting anything done is to
getting everybody in the same room together, And for Kabali,
it might seem that the first step is that, well,

(31:40):
that that's the first step into pushing his plan forward
to enact federal legislation that would give D one athletes
a special non employee status, which would fall right in
line with Donald Trump's executive order as well. Now, in
that executive order, it does say that athletes can't be

(32:02):
designated as employees of the colleges. Now, mind you, executive
orders and I've talked about that are only relevant to
the executive branch. But he does have some control over
federal funding to some of these schools, so that could
be an issue for it, and he can you know,
press some pressure point buttons if he really wanted to

(32:24):
about that if they didn't want to adhere to it,
and you will get negotiations about Title nine and everything
in between, which would make things a lot better. But
there is another idea that exists out there that was
put forward by the Tennessee Balls athletic director Danny White,
is that instead of designating them as employees of the universities,

(32:47):
that the athletes then unionize, so then the athletes would
all be employed by the same outside organization, which would
subject and keep them intact and in line with the
uniform rules. I'm not mad at Danny White's plan, and
I actually think that that's better because if the athletes
are under one entity, unionized now you can collectively bargain

(33:13):
with one entity, and then everybody's playing under the same
rules instead of people playing under different rules, which which
I think everybody is common sense stuff. All Right, The
next thing up, the coaches poll has come out, The
preseason coaches poll has come out, and the coaches clearly

(33:37):
establish one thing. Now, mind you, maybe coaches actually do
do their own preseason ballots, but I know for a
fact a lot of these coaches during the season are
not doing their actual ballot. There's an assistant in turn,
somebody else's actually doing their coaches ballot, because if you

(33:57):
think about it, they're so focused on their own team
and who their opponent is that week, they're not you know,
you don't have you know, Steve start Steve start keysing
on the week that he's playing Georgia also watching SMU
and watching BYU and Indiana No, because he doesn't have

(34:18):
them on the schedule at any point in time, so
he's not watching that. But here is what we did
learn from the coach's poll is that the coaches clearly
believe that a champion needs to lose before you can
crown anybody else, because they don't care that Ohio State lost,
you know, sixteen seventeen starters. They don't care because of

(34:42):
the way they voted Ohio State in the poll. And
so you have they had Texas one, you had Ohio
State two, Penn State three, Georgia Ford, Notre Dame five,
Clemson six, Oregon seven, Alabama eight, LSU nine, Miami ten,

(35:05):
and then you got Arizona State eleven, Illinois twelve, South Carolina, Michigan, Ole,
miss which I think is clipped way over ranked SMU
Florida Tennessee. Tennessee will not be a top twenty five
team this year. You can book it Indiana, Kansas State,
Texas A and m Iowa State BYU, Texas Tech and

(35:29):
Boise State. And here's what I saw with this is
that it first of all, it creates a preseason number
one and number two of Texas and Ohio State. So
that puts so much impact on the season and how

(35:50):
those conferences are viewed from that game. So let's say
that Texas goes out and beats Ohio State, and then
Texas go and loses two or three big ten games.
Now all of a sudden, everybody's going to be trying
to transit the property. Oh see look the SEC so
much better than the Big ten and then vice versa.

(36:11):
And mind you, both of these teams are breaking in
new starting quarterbacks. Texas has pregtd a new offensive lie.
Ohio State lost a lot of starters. So are we
going to judge that at the beginning of the season.
But the point is that it sets it up. And
I do believe that this coaches pole is going to

(36:34):
impact the AP pole that is going to be coming
out soon as well. It is because there's no way
that people don't see this pole. There's no way. And
then the other part is that they are split on
Clemson because Clemson got two first place votes. Think about this,
Clemson got two first place votes and still finished behind

(36:58):
Notre Dame who got in sixth place, who got no
first place votes. So that means for Clemson to finish
six and get two first place votes, that means you
got people putting Clemson ten, eleven, twelve for them to
finish six. And I find that interesting because I got

(37:19):
Clemson as number one. But people are looking at history,
they're looking at at acc bias. They don't believe in
I guess k Klubnick, while they believe in Drew Oler
and other mysterious quarterbacks. They believe in these dudes. They
believe in Gunner stocked in at Georgia. They believe in
all these guys and whoever Notre Dame is trotting out

(37:41):
there was a car more than they believe in what
Davio's doing over at Clemson. I'm just saying that is
something to be noteworthy as well. Another thing notable was
that Oklahoma's not in this top twenty five. They were
at number twenty six. So what does this say about

(38:02):
the hope over there at Norman because it's the first
time in twenty five, twenty six years something like that
that they were not in the preseason top twenty five
of the Coach's Pole. Now here's the thing is who
said you boy don't know ball? Because when I put
up my Unafraid Show poll, my Unafraid Show preseason top

(38:26):
twenty five, all the comments were crazy, Oh you don't
know ball, you don't know what you're talking about, George,
blah blah blah. What I put mine out over a
month month and a half before the Coach's Pole even
came out, And you know what, HHM interesting, same top
twelve as the Unafraid Show Top Top twelve. But honestly,

(38:47):
those are the ones that are easy to get right,
and it just shows you that I'm not over here
on the crazy island. But here is what you have
to notice and pay attention to. And I'm going to
take you through the top twelve in a moment to
see where the coaches and I disagree. But first let's
look at the teams that are outside the top twelve

(39:09):
and how that they had them ranked. So let's pay
attention to this. Well. Actually, first of all, go over
to on a Fraid Show watch my top twenty five video.
We'll put a link in the comment for it the
way you can, you know, check it out and watch
the comments as well. So you got Boise State coming
in at number twenty five, and I believe that that's

(39:30):
probably because the coaches wanted to make sure that they
included at least one at large team on their ballot,
and Boise State was last year's college football Playoff representative
from the G five and I don't have them in
my top twenty five, but I do believe that it's understandable. Now,
UNLV is my pick this year to make the college
football Playoff over Boise, but it's not crazy to have

(39:54):
Boise in this spot. But there's no asding Gent. Their
quarterback matics just okay, I believe, but he if he
takes a big step forward, they have a chance to
get in. Now the coaches have Texas Tech at twenty four.
That's not far off from where I have them at
twenty one. And this is the highest expectations that we're
being real the highest expectations that the Red Raiders have

(40:18):
had coming into a season in almost two decades, and
it is going to be fun to see if Baron
Morton can actually help them stay in the top twenty
five throughout the year. Now, one of the more fascinating
things about the coaches Poe is the respect that they
have for BYU because even after losing their quarterback so late,

(40:39):
Jake ratzlife, they have BYU at twenty three ahead of
Texas Tech. And now I think that this is going
to look smart for the first half of the season
because BYU schedule is one hundred percent friendly and LJ.
Martin is going to eat up a lot of the
arts in a running game. But I have them falling
off later in the season, which is why I did

(41:00):
not include them in my preseason top twenty five at all.
Now at twenty one, the coaches have a two way
tie between Iowa stayed in Texas, A and m Now
I have Texas, I will excuse me, Iowa State at sixteen,
and I have text saying them just outside of my
top twenty five. Now. I believe that Iowa State fans

(41:20):
have legitimate concerns about the size and depth after last year,
but a healthy linebacking crew and talented wide receiver transfers
are going to help their star quarterback Rock Obeck, who
people need to understand is a very good player. If
you put Rock Obec on Penn State, I would have
them winning the national championship probably and their head coach,

(41:42):
Matt Campbell, he is clearly making noise in the Big twelve,
but down in college station when it comes to Texas
and them, they're gonna need to handle business at home.
They got Auburn, Florida, and South Carolina all coming to
cayle Field, and they're gonna to take care of them

(42:03):
games to stay in the top twenty five. Now at
twenty the coaches they like Kansas State two spots below
where I have them so that's four big teams in
the first six spots. Maybe the Big Twelve actually has
a chance to get two teams in the College Football
Playoffs this year because I got them up there the
coaches poll ap pole, and when I put out my point, everybody,

(42:27):
oh my god. There are so many Big twelve teams
and the big half in the second half of it,
because that's where they belong. But here's the thing about
that Kansas State team. Though, here's the thing about that
Kansastate team. They're gonna have to win non conference games
to maintain their respect. And I made a video about
how important it is for the Big Twelve this year

(42:48):
that their non conference as a conference is going to
be crucial for them getting two playoff spots in that
is the only way. Now. I believe Kansas State's quarterback
Johnson and Austin Romaine, they could be two of the
top five players in the conference this year, and you
wouldn't be surprised to see him make the College Football

(43:09):
Playoff like I have a make it at nineteen. The
coaches have Indiana, and I've already been accused by everybody
under the sun disrespecting the Indiana by calling them a
bold team in twenty twenty five instead of a playoff contender.
But they're head coach Kurt Singaddy. He might be onto

(43:29):
something by scheduling Week nine conference games. If Indiana is
gonna get this kind of early season respect from here
on out, that will put them in a brilliant spot. Now,
mind you, as a college football fan, I hate it
and it stinks, but at Indiana that might be the philosophy.
Now eighteen another twenty twenty four college football playoff team

(43:50):
in Tennessee. Now, if they had kept nico Ea Malaava,
maybe maybe right, but that don't help the O line,
and it don't help their wide receiver who even lost
Squirrel Right. But now this preseason ranking, oh god, it
feels like they got a reward for last year's efforts
because I can't see them going back there again now.

(44:12):
I can't also hate at the coaches for having Florida
at seventeen because I got him at fifteen. And it's
wild to me to think that Billy Napier dude is
still on the hot seat after exceeding expectations up last
year and setting the Gators up for his ranking going
into twenty twenty five, But seventeen is also the preseason
coaches ranking that Dan Mullen had at Florida in twenty

(44:35):
twenty one when he got fired and eleven weeks into
the season, it gave him that permanent vacation for going
five and six. Now, expectations are only going to wrap up.
So Billy Napier better hope that his star quarterback DJ
Lagway is healthy now at sixteen, just like the coaches

(44:56):
asked him you, I got him at thirteen because I
think that they'll do a good job of replacing the
production that they lost their running back, well at the
running back position, and the question is will they repeat
as a College Football Playoff participant? Well, it does help
that they host both Louisville and Miami at home instead

(45:17):
of going on the road. Now at fifteen, we have
the biggest difference in my opinion between myself and the coaches.
They have Old Miss and I personally have Old Miss
as an eight win team this season. But it doesn't
mean I think that the Rebels are gonna stink. I
just think that they're going to have to reset a
year behind a young Austin Simmons at quarterback and they'll
be right back for a CFP spot in twenty twenty six.

(45:40):
So leave me alone, old miss fans. I'm telling you
like it is now. At fourteen, we both have Michigan,
and I'm Michigan at fourteen contingent upon them starting mikey
Kean at quarterback and playing to win right now, because
I'm not sure that the coaches that they believe that
Bryce under is ready to leave a top lead, a

(46:02):
top five or top fifteen brother team as a freshman.
So I'm going to assume that we are on the
same page here, that me and the Michigan coaches are
on the same page that yes, you might want to
break Bryce's Underwood in, but you're gonna lose a game
or two because of Bryce Underwood and playing a true freshman.
True freshman aside from Jamil Holloway don't win national championships,

(46:27):
Just Sam. The coaches they have South Carolina at thirteen.
I got them at nineteen, and they'll have every single
opportunity to prove us wrong and get inside the top
ten quickly because they'll be favored in their first five games,
and then they'll get the privilege of heading down to
bat Rugs to play LSU. Now before we get to

(46:48):
the top twelve, who else did I have in my
top twenty five that weren't in the coaches top twenty five.
I at Iowa at twenty five, the coaches had him
at thirty three, At Auburn at twenty four, the coaches
had him at thirty. I had Washington at twenty three,
and the coaches had him at forty one forty one.
It's a damn shame that I gotta be the Huskies defender.

(47:11):
That don't make no sense. Now, I had TCU in
the air well in their air raid at twenty two.
Coaches had the horn Frogs at thirty eight. I had
Utah at twenty the coaches had the Utes at thirty.
And finally, I like Oklahoma a lot more than the
coaches because I got him at seventeen. The coaches got
him at twenty six. Now on to the top twelve,

(47:32):
because the coaches that I both have Illinois and Arizona
State at eleven and twelve. Now, if you want to
hear directly from the coaches themselves about how they got
their programs to this point, check out my interviews on
Brett Well with Brett Beelima and Kenny Dillingham right here
on Unafraid Show. Both go ahead and click it after

(47:52):
this video because at the top ten spot, the coaches
have Miami and they made some great hires on the
defensive side of the ball. The running game looks solid,
their offensive line is ridiculous, and if Carson Beck lives
up to his salary, this is a college football playoff team.
And I'm actually an even bigger believer in Mario Christaball

(48:14):
than the coaches, because I got Miami at nine, but
the coaches they have LSU at nine, and honestly, with
how brutal the Tigers schedule is in twenty twenty five,
finishing ninth wouldn't be massive at all because it all
hinges on the defense, because this offense is going to
go crazy this year. And I have Brian Kelly's crew

(48:35):
at number eight. Now number eight, the coaches like Alabama,
and I feel like that that's redemption for everybody who
criticized me for having them at number ten, because nobody
is afraid of Alabama right now and they are going
like they used to be, able to throw their jerseys
out on the field and win them. Days is over.
Nick Saban ain't walking through that door again, even though

(48:56):
Kaitlyn the Boor is a really good coach, you know,
And it is nice for people to actually feel like
that because for the first time in over fifteen years,
Nick Saban is not on that sideline coaching. But everybody
in Tuscaloosa, they are pinning up every single doubt, every

(49:16):
single hate and just waiting to say, see, I told
just how. At number seven, the coaches have my Oregon Ducks.
And I've talked about this plenty, but this is a
championship caliber roster with a question market quarterback, and I
feel like I honestly feel better about the situation with
Dante more than the coaches do in their poll, which

(49:39):
is where I put my Ducks at number five. Now,
at number six, the coaches have Clemson, but they also
have two first place votes. So where are the two
geniuses that out there that are like me that have
Clemson's roster in twenty twenty five as the best in
college football with their coaching, with their play, with their

(50:01):
quarterback and everything in between. At number five, Notre Dame,
the Fight and Irast are the only team and the
coaches top six that did not get any first place votes,
and I got Notre Dame at number six. And whichever
quarterback they go with, whether CJ. Carr or Kenny Minchi,
they will have everything that they need to succeed. Physical

(50:23):
offensive line, one of the top running backs in all
of college football, and some good transfer wideouts. Now, maybe
they'll make another run to the championship game, but I
have them at number six now with three first place votes.
The coaches have Georgia at number four. I got them
at number seven. I've talked to a bunch of Georgia.

Speaker 2 (50:44):
People, even a here on onther Fraser, and they don't
believe like that yet.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
And I'm definitely not as high on this roster, especially
with all the unproven d line talent. Now, they might
turn out to be good, but we gotta make sure
that gunn Stalking that he eliminates turnovers and then Nate
Fraser carries the ball at least twenty times a game
and they can actually catch the ball this season. If

(51:09):
they do that, they are ACFP team number three. The coaches, oh,
they like Pan State.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
The Ninney Lions got fourteen first place votes. I got
Penn State at number three as well. But they're also
my top Big Ten team and the coaches have a
different Big Ten team ahead of them. Now we'll talk
about that in just second. I love Penn State's roster,
I do, but I have serious doubts about their quarterback,
Drew Awler, as I could not have stated that anymore

(51:37):
about him being a game manager, and and in the
slanderous way, not in the fact that every quarterback has
to be a game manager. Now I could be wrong,
but then again, they don't need him to be a
superstarter justify this ranking because if the defense plays up
to his capability and they feed the running back tree

(51:58):
duo of k Tron Allen and Singles, this is going
to be a special season for Penn State.

Speaker 2 (52:03):
All they got to two is win against Ohio State
in Oregon, and one of them's at home. Now the
coaches have Ohio State at number two twenty first place folks.
I got Ohio State at number four, but would well,
I would have never considered giving them the nod to
be number one after everything that they lost. Let's recap

(52:26):
in case you don't know, the offensive line oh was
no excuse me, the offensive coordinator, the defensive coordinator.

Speaker 1 (52:33):
Fourteen NFL draft picks all gone. Now. It doesn't mean
that they can't repeat as champions because they won it
all from the eight seed last year, but the idea
that they're the number one team out the gate, that
ain't even something that I could have even considered at all. Now,
maybe the coaches believe something that I don't, or maybe

(52:54):
that they just believe in that a defending champion that
they should be dethroned on the field, not just in
the preseason pop which probably is it. And finally at
number one with twenty eight first place votes, the Texas
Loan Ones. Now I got Texas at number two and
just out of caution for having a newer offensive line

(53:14):
to go along with Arch Manning. But this is probably
the best returning defense in college football, and we know
that that defense that it has a chance to win
a national championship. And you guys, that is the Unafraid
Show Daily Live for today. Make sure that you like, subscribe,
get notifications, and tell a friend about the show. Peace Out,
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