330 episodes
AP Top 25 College Football Podcast The Associated Press
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- Sports
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4.6 • 201 Ratings
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With the help of players, coaches, TV analysts, school administrators and NCAA officials, AP College Football Writer Ralph Russo tackles on-and off-field issues affecting the sport throughout the year. The show gives everyone from the casual fan to the obsessed alum, an insider look into the AP Poll and all that is trending on campuses around the country. Be ready for the big game, signing day or spring practice with this weekly chat about college football.
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Georgia’s championship; CFP expansion stalled
The 2021 college football season is over and Georgia is the national champion. The Bulldogs broke a 41-year title drought be beating Alabama in Indianapolis. To recap the game, lookahead at what’s next for each participant and take yet another dive into College Football Playoff expansion talks, Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated joins AP’s Ralph Russo. Georgia finally broke through against Alabama and it sure does look as if we could be heading for a few more years of the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide running college football. On the playoff front, the conference commissioners held three days of meetings in Indianapolis and remain nowhere near agreement on a new format. Is the chance of early expansion dead? Why are they going to keep going when it looks as if they are at an irreconcilable impasse?
Final AP Top 25: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
Looking ahead to 2022: https://apnews.com/article/college-football-sports-alabama-michigan-georgia-69d547c66646ee6621bbc5d3bb477814
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Caleb Williams jumps into the portal; What’s next?
There is a big game next Monday in college football with Georgia facing Alabama for the national championship, but the big news in college football comes out of Oklahoma. Sooners quarterback Caleb Williams has announced he is entering his name in the transfer portal. The former five-star recruit has decided to explore his options with former OU coach Lincoln Riley gone to USC.
Former Oklahoma offensive lineman Gabe Ikard, who now hosts Big 12 Today on SiriusXM’s Big 12 channel, joins AP’s Ralph Russo to talk about what’s next for Williams and the state or Oklahoma football. Also, Gabe and Ralph preview Alabama-Georgia. Can it be different this time around for the Bulldogs?
Email the show: APTop25mailbag@gmail.com
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A Trip Into The Transfer Portal
The transfer portal is hopping in college football with plenty more than just big-name quarterback going in and coming out. Joining AP’s Ralph Russo to look at some of the most interesting players available in college football’s version of free agency is Max Olson from The Athletic. Max has ranked the top 25 players currently available in the portal and you might be surprised to find out No. 1 is a pass rusher from an FCS school. Max and Ralph talk about the different kinds of prospects coaches can find on the transfer market, what positions seem to have the most value and why there is plenty of risk for the many Group of Five stars hoping to move up to Power Five schools. This is all still very new in college football, and we suspect there are lot of hard lessons to be learned by both players and coaches.
Email the show: APTop25mailbag@gmail.com
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College Football Playoff preview
Can Cinderella Cincinnati push mighty Alabama in the Cotton Bowl? Will Georgia enter the Orange Bowl against Michigan with the same swagger it had before getting taken down by the Crimson Tide?
Cole Cubelic of ESPN and the SEC Network joins AP’s Ralph Russo to preview The College Football Playoff semifinals. For Cincinnati to show it belongs, it will have to figure out a way to keep Will Anderson Jr. from wrecking Desmond Ridder and an offense with some big-play weapons. On the other side, Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young takes aim at a pair of All-Americans in Cincinnati’s secondary. Don’t expect Michigan to attack Georgia the way Alabama did, but the Wolverines will be happy to try to play bully-ball against the Bulldogs. Can Michigan deal with Georgia’s speed and athleticism on defense? Better question: Can Georgia’s offense handle a Michigan defense that has a game-wrecker of its own in Aidan Hutchinson? And who should be playing quarterback for the Bulldogs in the biggest game of the year?
Email the show at APTop25mailbag@gmail.com
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How do the splashy hires fail?
The coaching carousel is finally slowing down with the early signing period upon college football. AP’s Ralph Russo hits on both of those topics with two guests. First up, Steve Wiltfong, national recruiting director of 247 Sports, joins the show for an overview on where things stand with top recruits, top teams and schools with new coaches. There could be a new SEC school at the top of the recruiting rankings. Then Adam Rittenberg from ESPN joins Ralph to talk about Oregon’s new head coach, Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning, and what that hire says about what the Ducks want to be as a program. And at a time of great optimism, a pessimistic question: What would cause some of the most high-profile newly hired head coaches such as Lincoln Riley at USC; Brian Kelly at LSU and Mario Cristobal at Miami to fail?
AP All-America team: https://apnews.com/article/college-football-sports-ohio-alabama-crimson-tide-football-alabama-cfc6067ea8e0e269617f20fee772c9c9
Email the show at APTop25mailbag@gmail.com
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Mega Bowl Preview
Bowl season is here and there are 42 games to keep you busy from Dec. 17 to Jan. 4 before the national title game on Jan. 10 in Indianapolis. Matt Brown, college football editor for The Athletic, joins Ralph Russo from AP for their annual bowl preview that will cover every single game. There are some great early bowls matching some of the best Group of Five teams, including UTSA and San Diego State in the Frisco Bowl. The non-New Year’s Six games provide some compelling Power Five matchups with Clemson and Iowa State at the Cheez-It Bowl and Oregon and Oklahoma at the Alamo Bowl. The New Year’s Six has interesting matchups with a sprinkling of new teams such as Utah, Pittsburgh and Oklahoma State. Plus, Ralph gives his thoughts on some of the high-profile coaching moves at Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Miami.
Email the show: APTop25mailbag@gmail.com
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Customer Reviews
Great pod
I’ve listened to basically every CFB podcast & this paired with Split Zone Duo is perfect to me. Ralph is a nice guy with a traditional journo bent & an endless Rolodex of excellent guests. You won’t get steaming hottest takes or source pandering, just a great newspaper-era college football discussion. Keep it up Ralph!
Great podcast
Great podcast
One of the best
This is one of the best CFB podcasts out there. I listen to it often. Non-biased and always informative and entertaining.