Portal’s closed but CU’s radical makeover continues. More than 50 players from Colorado have ended up in the transfer portal since Deion Sanders became coach. Many were pushed. CU’s radical roster makeover is unprecedented and fascinating. Max Olson of The Athletic joins AP’s Ralph Russo to talk about Coach Prime’s strategy and what turning over 70 players on a college football roster looks like and whether it can work. Plus, who are the remaining best players in the portal? Also, how di...

Coach Prime’s time; SEC tries to calm storm Deion Sanders has brought an excitement back to Colorado football that was seemingly gone forever. Now, how good can the Buffs actually be on the field? Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated joins AP’s Ralph Russo to discuss Coach Prime’s spring game, a buzz around CU and an historic roster overhaul. Plus, the Southeastern Conference talks getting tough on field storming, and Notre Dame’s Tyler Buchner jumps into the portal. Could that move add to th...

Turning prospects into pros What schools do the best job of turning their prospects into pros? The Athletic tried to quantify it with a research project and came away with some interesting findings. David Ubben joins AP’s Ralph Russo to dive into what could be learned by the star to conversion rates in the Power Five. Also, AP NFL writer Rob Maaddi recently released his mock draft. Russo joined Maaddi to run down the first round. In this week’s Three-and-Out, an excerpt of their co...

College sports purgatory A congressional hearing in the house of representatives last week on NIL did not create much optimism that lawmakers might provide a serious solution to college sports’ problems. Then again, maybe it really doesn’t need one. Ross Dellenger from Sports Illustrated joins AP’s Ralph Russo to talk about where things stand in what is becoming the search for the Holy Grail: That is a federal law to regulate name, image and likeness compensation for athletes. The whole ...

The future of conference realignment What will happen to the Pac-12? No, not in the next couple months, but in five, seven, maybe 10 to 12 years from now? Stewart Mandel from The Athletic is back with AP’s Ralph Russo to discuss the future of conference realignment. Instead of racing for to be the third-wealthiest conference and trying to kill each other off, should the Pac-12 and the Big 12 be working together? What about the ACC? Is it possible the conferences will grow so big th...

The Top 25 coaches, right now Who are the best coaches in college football? Stewart Mandel from The Athletic and Bruce Feldman from Fox and The Athletic run through their annual top 25 lists. AP’s Ralph Russo has his, too. Sonny Dykes enters the rankings with a bullet. Jimbo Fisher slides. Plus, Russo makes a case for Dabo Swinney over Kirby Smart at No. 2. Russo’s Top 25 coaches. No coaches with two or fewer seasons as a head coach are considered. 1 Nick Saban, Alabama2 Dabo S...

Anthony Richardson’s amazing NFL combine The NFL combine was last week and Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson was the star of the show. But what does that even mean? Why all the fuss about how high a quarterback can jump? Eric Edholm, draft analyst from NFL.com, joins AP’s Ralph Russo to discuss Richardson’s prospect status and how we should view all these combine headlines. Plus, will Texas’ Bijan Robinson be the next running back to push NFL teams into a re-assessing the value of t...

Preseason rankings: Man vs. Math.The 2023 college football season isn’t so far off that we can’t start the process of trying to surmise who the best teams will be. Right after the national championship game ends, the way-too-early Top 25s land. Now Bill Connelly’s preseason SP+ rankings have dropped. Connelly of ESPN joins AP’s Ralph Russo to examine some of the differences between the human rankings and the numbers. SP+ is more bullish on Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. The humans a...

The coordinator carousel. Alabama steals Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator. Notre Dame gets jilted by Utah’s OC. Georgia turns back the clock to replace Todd Monken. Ryan Nanni from the Shutdown Fullcast podcast joins AP’s Ralph Russo to discuss the coordinator carousel. Is Mike Bobo a sneaky good hire for Kirby Smart? Plus, looking back at Jalen Hurts’ journey to Super Bowl stardom, the state of the Florida Gators and how should the SEC put together a schedule now that Texas and Oklaho...

How much do stars matter? Ari Wasserman of The Athletic returns to the show to talk out a few disagreements he and AP’s Ralph Russo have had in recent months about just how much recruiting stars matter in college football. The lengthy discussions winds through the state of college football, some of the challenges of covering college football, why sports coverage has gotten so negative, and the balancing entertainment and journalism.Email the show: [email protected]