Until Saturday: A show about college football The Athletic

What are reasonable and unreasonable expectations for fanbases of some of college football's most interesting teams? Ari Wasserman is joined by The Athletic's Kennington Smith III and Ralph Russo of the Associated Press to solve what rational, and irrational, benchmarks Alabama, Michigan, Colorado, Clemson, and more should hit this season. Kenny and Ralph are subjected to an expectations lightning round before the triumvirate reveal which fanbases are the most irrational.

Listen to Ralph on the AP Top 25 College Football Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ap-top-25-college-football-podcast/id1138957862

Read Kenny's SEC schedule breakdown:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5556938/2024/06/12/sec-football-2024-tv/

Rundown:
- Reasonable/unreasonable expectations: Alabama (3:00)
- Texas to the moon? (13:00)
- Notre Dame standard in '24 (22:30)
- Is Ole Miss a National Championship contender? (30:15)
- We're the "Michael Jordan of being wrong about Texas A&M" (39:15)
- Colorado fans, let's be real (47:00)
- Miami boom or bust (52:30)
- Clemson, Dabo need to "stand on buisness" (59:30)
- Can Michigan win The Game? (1:06:00)
- Lightning Round: FSU, Penn State, LSU + more (1:09:30)
- Most irrational fanbases (1:12:30)

Call/text the Until Saturday phone and leave us a question for a future mailbag and/or Sunday Sound-Off podcast: (316) 462-9852

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Chris Vannini and Ari Wasserman discuss reports of the Big 12 and CUSA, among other conferences, exploring private equity investment and selling the naming rights to their conferences. Does the Allstate 12 roll off the tongue? Later, special guest Jessica Smetana, co-host of The Dan Le Betard Show and Notre Dame alumnus, hops on Until Saturday to share her takes on the vibes in South Bend. Afterward, Chris and Jessica nominate major trap games this season. From UCF-Florida to Clemson-App St., where do these look-ahead matchups rank on the "Trap Scale"? Lastly, Jessica faces a round of Notre Dame trivia unlike any other.

Check out Jessica on The Dan Le Betard Show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dan-le-batard-show-with-stugotz/id934820588

Read more on the Big 12 exploring private equity, sale of naming rights: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5562395/2024/06/13/big-12-private-equity-naming-rights/

Rundown:
- Big 12 (and others) exploring private equity investment & sale of naming rights (:30)
- Notre Dame vibe check with Jessica Smetana (11:30)
- Trap Games & Trap Scale! -- Colorado vs NDSU (32:30)
- Notre Dame-Louisville (38:30)
- Florida-UCF (43:30)
- Clemson-App St. (47:00)
- USF-Miami (52:00)
- Notre Dame trivia! (58:00)

Call/text the Until Saturday phone and leave us a question for a future mailbag and/or Sunday Sound-Off podcast: (316) 462-9852

Subscribe to the Until Saturday newletter & join in answering the Question of the Day!: https://theathletic.com/newsletters/until-saturday
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We are less than 100 days from the start of the college football season! Ari Wasserman and Chris Vannini pinpoint the year's biggest 'pressure cooker games', or the matchups that will draw the strongest overreactions from either fanbase and send supporters into a tizzy. Would the losing party in LSU-USC lose faith in their head coach after a season of heavy investment in the defensive staff? Which programs are the guys dying to play as in Dynasty Mode in the upcoming EA Sports College Football 25 video game? Plus, Nebraska AD Troy Dannen spoke candidly about his perception of the direciton of the sport, and Huskers' NIL coffers. Can a team like Nebraska compete in the new world of CFB?

Troy Dannen video:
https://www.tiktok.com/@247.huskers/video/7377540168561069355?is_from_webapp=1

Listen to our 'Secrets of NIL and the transfer portal' episode:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/podcast/83-the-andy-staples-show/episode-1117/

Rundown:
- Troy Dannen on Nebraska's NIL war chest + future of the sport (3:00)
- 2024's Pressure Cooker Games: Miami vs Florida (14:00)
- USC vs LSU (23:30)
- Nebraska vs Colorado (28:15)
- Tennessee vs Oklahoma (38:30)
- Texas vs Texas A&M + The Game (43:00)
- Top 5 Dynasty Mode teams (54:00)

Call/text the Until Saturday phone and leave us a question for a future mailbag and/or Sunday Sound-Off podcast: (316) 462-9852

Subscribe to the Until Saturday newletter & join in answering the Question of the Day!: https://theathletic.com/newsletters/until-saturday
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Which national championship model is harder to emulate: Georgia's or Michigan's? Ari Wasserman and Max Olson thoroughly mull over Rodrigo A's fan-submitted question. Which programs could model themselves after either champions? Max went through the arduous task of re-ranking the 2020 recruiting class in an effort to see who REALLY won it. What did he learn from Ohio State, Michigan, Tulane, Georgia, and more?

Read Max's 2020 re-ranking: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5510780/2024/05/28/college-football-recruiting-2020-class-rankings-revisited/

Rundown:
- Re-ranking the 2020 recruiting class (2:30)
- Michigan and Missour's talent development (10:00)
- Ohio State's misses on defense (17:30)
- Rounding out the top-10 (22:30)
- Texas eeks out a top-10 finish (29:00)
- Is Georgia or Michigan's championship blueprint harder to replicate? (35:00)
- Playoff schedule dropped (52:30)

Sign up for our FREE newsletter to answer future Questions of the Day: https://theathletic.com/newsletters/until-saturday

Call/text the Until Saturday phone and leave us a question for a future mailbag and/or Sunday Sound-Off podcast: (316) 462-9852
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Chris Del Conte, athletic director at the University of Texas, gave the college football world a gem last week while on the Paul Finebaum Show. There he exclaimed just how great the Red River Shootout is compared to its new conference mates' rivalry games. So, is Texas-Oklahoma the BEST SEC rivalry game? Ari Wasserman, Max Olson, and Scott Dochterman share their thoughts on the matter as well as their favorite rivalry game experiences. We now have kick-off times for games in weeks 1-3. (We can finally start to smell the new season!) The guys place the top matchups from the first few weeks in a tier list of "A" through "F", though, there are no F-tier games - we love all of CFB! Where will games like Georgia-Clemson, Florida-Miami, Arizona-Kansas State and more rank? Plus, cliff notes from last week's SEC Spring Meetings.

Read more about a 9-game SEC conf schedule: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5529284/2024/05/30/sec-football-schedule-nine-games/
Read more about scholarship limits and the death of walk-ons: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5525379/2024/05/28/sec-football-coaches-roster-limits/
Private equity, injury reports, and more: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5530740/2024/05/30/sec-meetings-greg-sankey/
Big Ten schedule analysis: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5530629/2024/05/30/big-ten-football-tv-schedule-analysis/

Rundown:

A 9-game SEC conference schedule? (1:45)

Roster limits + the end of walk-ons? (8:30)

Is Red River the BEST SEC rivalry? (16:15)

Our most memorable rivalry game experiences (31:30)

Tier list of weeks 1-3 games (39:30)


Call/text the Until Saturday phone and leave us a question for a future mailbag and/or Sunday Sound-Off podcast: (316) 462-9852
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Former stud Alabama running back and NFL vet Damien Harris joins Chris Vannini on today's show! Damien opens up about how his family and newborn son have helped him weather his difficult transition out of the NFL following a scary injury last season with the Buffalo Bills. He also weaves some hilarious and insightful stories about Nick Saban, his former coach. Damien opines on NIL, the transfer portal, EA Sports College Football 25, the NFL and Bill Belichick and more. Lastly, Chris tests Damien's knowledge of his career in a game of trivia.

Who's the Big Ten dark horse? Sign up for our FREE newsletter to answer future Questions of the Day: https://theathletic.com/newsletters/until-saturday

Rundown:
- Damien Harris on the end of his NFL career and family (1:00)
- What was Damien's reaction to Saban's retirement? (4:00)
- Crimson Tide's epic RB room with Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs, et. al (12:00)
- Why didn't you transfer? (14:00)
- Kalen DeBoer & expectations in Tuscaloosa (17:00)
- Clemson battles & hate (23:00)
- Favorite memory from college (26:30)
- Death of amateurism & how would Damien have navigated NIL, player compensation (29:00)
- EA Sports College Football 25 (38:30)
- Transfer portal's impact (45:30)
- Texas, Oklahoma transition to the SEC (47:00)
- Bill Belichick impressions + NFL experience (53:00)
- Damien Harris trivia (58:30)

Call/text the Until Saturday phone and leave us a question for a future mailbag and/or Sunday Sound-Off podcast: (316) 462-9852
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