False Start - College Football Podcast · John Buhler and Cody Williams

Episode 261: What Win Totals Mean for Alabama, Ohio State, USC, Georgia & More, Indiana Trolls Notre Dame

·31 min·2 clips

Dan Orlovsky has Ty Simpson as QB1 over Fernando Mendoza, and Cody says he cannot get there.

1. False Start - College Football Podcast focuses on how NIL, the transfer portal, and preseason win totals are changing college football’s shape. 2. Cody Williams hosts solo as Fansided.com content director, and John Bueller is absent for this week’s two solo episodes. 3. The episode asks whether college football has gained volatility from NIL while March Madness has lost the upset-heavy feel that built its brand. 4. Cody points to Iowa’s upset of Florida, High Point’s thriller over Wisconsin, and the lack of 13-, 14-, 15-, or 16-seed wins in the first round. 5. He notes that only the third NCAA tournament since 2008 has had no 13-through-16 seed wins in round one, with two of those cases in the last year. 6. He also says no mid-majors reached the Sweet 16, leaving only high-major and Big East programs in that group. 7. Cody argues that the transfer portal and NIL have made the power schools into “the have mores,” rather than helping the underdogs catch up. 8. He compares that dynamic to college football, where the Group of Six has a harder time keeping up but the top of the sport has also become deeper. 9. He cites Cincinnati, Boise State, Tulane, and JMU as examples of programs that could no longer make the same kind of run under the new system. 10. Cody says the 12-team College Football Playoff has become more entertaining because teams like Ohio State can still win it all from an eight-seed position. 11. He then turns to Jed Fish, Pete Nacos, and tampering, saying Fish is choosing silence until there are real NCAA guardrails and penalties. 12. Cody says Fish’s posture is calculated because naming names before enforcement would create PR noise without real consequences. 13. He next discusses reports about Kyle Whittingham and Utah, saying the exit appears messier than expected and included contract disputes. 14. The report says Whittingham wanted a raise and wanted to stay while Utah wanted Morgan Scali to have more decision-making power. 15. Cody says the Michigan move now carries more questions because Whittingham is associated with a cleaner image than many major-coaching hires. 16. He adds that the timing makes the first months of the Michigan tenure more interesting, even if he still expects improvement on the field. 17. Cody’s tone is conversational and opinionated, with long solo stretches, quick pivots, and repeated acknowledgments of when a topic is being framed for future follow-up. 18. The format moves like a monologue with named segments such as “First and 15,” “Big Ten energy,” “I saw the line,” “A slice of pumpkin pie,” and “the slot.” 19. Listeners who follow college football coaching moves, win totals, and transfer-portal debates would likely enjoy this episode. 20. Listeners looking for a tightly edited interview or a single game breakdown may skip it.

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