College Football Unfiltered

Who are college football's top 25 coaches? USA TODAY recently released its rankings, and, in a bit of a stunning development, Tennessee's Josh Heupel was nearly left off the list entirely. He checked in at No. 24.

Hey, don't blame us. 

On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams examine the case for Heupel being the SEC's most underrated coach.

Toppmeyer had a ballot in USA TODAY's coach-ranking project. He discloses where he ranked Heupel and explains his surprise that his colleagues view Heupel so differently. He also offers another SEC coach he believes is underrated in the USA TODAY list.

Adams agrees with Toppmeyer that Heupel is vastly underrated in this USA TODAY pecking order, but Adams lightly pushes back on where Toppmeyer ranked Lane Kiffin. Adams would've voted Kiffin a little bit higher than his cohost did, but Adams didn't get a vote. Adams tasks Toppmeyer with securing him a ballot for the vote in 2027.

We've got the College Football Playoff all figured out. Well, we'll give it our best guess, anyway.

The dog days of summer are the perfect time to cook up our first CFP bracket predictions, but here on "SEC Football Unfiltered," we arrive at our picks a little differently: It's a team effort.

Hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams are each responsible for supplying six teams. No overlapping picks. No overriding the other host's choices. Keep going 'til we hit 12 qualifiers.

The selections begin in a chalky manner, before Adams sprints to pick a Big 12 qualifier so that Toppmeyer won't pick BYU.

The final count looks like this: four playoff qualifiers from the SEC, plus a final Big Ten pick from Adams that makes Toppmeyer come unglued.

Georgia no longer rules college football, but Kirby Smart still lords over his peers within the SEC. Georgia owns back-to-back SEC titles. With Gunner Stockton back, can Georgia make it three straight? The schedule sets up nicely.

On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams play a round of fact or fiction as they examine eight scenarios within the SEC.

Georgia's chance for an SEC three-peat is among their debates.

They also examine the playoff case for LSU and Alabama, consider Arch Manning's Heisman Trophy prospects and highlight a first-year coach poised for a breakout season.

Shane Beamer's rump roasts on the hot seat. Even he admits it.

South Carolina's coach acknowledged his hot-seat status in a recent interview with the Greenville News. He's not the only SEC coach on the hot seat, although the coaching carousel projects to be quieter this season, after six SEC schools hired a new coach last year.

On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams list five SEC coaches on the hot seat.

Beamer tops the list, but another coach coming off a losing season isn't far behind. Two coaches at premier SEC jobs claim spots on the hot-seat list, too, despite the fact that they have playoff appearances on their resume.

Toppmeyer and Adams also each offer a wild-card contender for the hot seat.

And with the first pick of the "SEC Football Unfiltered" quarterbacks draft ...

Yes, it's that time of the offseason. We're going head-to-head drafting SEC quarterbacks in an effort to build the best four-deep collection of QBs.

You know the top names. Trinidad Chambliss. Arch Manning. Gunner Stockton. And more.

But, who's first off the board?

On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams each draft four SEC quarterbacks as they try to outduel the other. Once a player comes off the board, the other host cannot select him.

With the first pick, Adams eyes a proven starter with playoff experience. 

All of Toppmeyer's picks are returning starters in the SEC, while Adams reaches for a couple of transfers, and he twists the knife with his final pick.

Tennessee gave Brendan Sorsby a sniff. LSU heavily courted the Cincinnati transfer.

Sorsby chose Texas Tech, as one of the most premier transfers of the winter shopping season. Then, the floor fell out. The NCAA learned Sorsby placed thousands of bets on sports and declared him ineligible.

Now, a Texas judge has granted Sorsby an injunction that’ll block the NCAA from enforcing its gambling rules and allow Sorsby to play this season.

Will SEC teams regret missing out on Sorsby, or did they dodge a troublesome situation?

On today’s episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams weigh in on the Sorsby saga and the reverberations of the judge’s ruling.

They also debate whether LSU or Tennessee would be better served with Sorsby than their current quarterback situations.

Later in the episode, the hosts react to Athlon’s top-25 rankings. Eight SEC teams are ranked, and Toppmeyer and Adams earmark a few as being overrated, while they highlight one unranked SEC team as being worth a top-25 look.

Used to be, the SEC bragged about its national championships. Rightfully so. During one 17-year span, the SEC won 13 titles.

Now, the Big Ten has won three straight national titles, and no SEC team has beaten a Big Ten opponent in a playoff game since 2022. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey denies a problem exists or that the Big Ten has pulled ahead. He says the SEC remains the best conference "by far," and he attributes the Big Ten's success to the ball bouncing "a couple of times the wrong way."

Sankey also said if the SEC was winning, nobody would ask him about losing. Well, no kidding.

Has Sankey lost the plot?

On today's episode,  Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams discuss Sankey's insistence that the SEC remains the nation's best conference "by far," even as the Big Ten racks up national titles and asserts dominance of the 12-team playoff.

The hosts disagree with Sankey's assessment of the situation, but they also say the SEC's commissioner isn't singularly responsible for fixing the problem. The SEC's coaches need to step up and deliver, too.

Speaking of coaches, what's up with Texas' Steve Sarkisian this offseason? He's slinging mud at Mississippi and riling up Texas Tech. Is this evidence of Sark feeling the pressure at Texas?

Lane Kiffin spent more than a decade rebuilding his career and his image after Southern Cal fired him. By last season, his career was soaring, and his likability had reached an all-time high. He was thriving at Mississippi.

Then, he became the hottest name in the college coaching carousel. You know the rest. He left Ole Miss on the playoff’s doorstep and became the coach at rival LSU. Now, he’s a college football villain again. How’s he handling that? We’ll hear from Kiffin on that very subject during today's episode with host Blake Toppmeyer.

Two weeks ago, Toppmeyer sat down with Kiffin for an extensive interview in his office at LSU. This interview was right after the Vanity Fair piece published.

Kiffin admitted that the impact his exit had on his image has "really started to bother" him.

The scrutiny, though, has only just begin. He'll face daunting expectations in his first season at LSU.

Toppmeyer discusses with Kiffin how he plans to handle being in the villain role once again, a role he’s held previously but then pivoted away from at Ole Miss before taking the LSU job and shifting his character arc once again.

All is quiet on the Alabama front. It’s been a sleepy offseason in Tuscaloosa, ahead of what’s a bellwether season for Kalen DeBoer’s tenure.

Alabama’s got one of the SEC’s few quarterback competitions between Keelon Russell and Austin Mack, but perhaps the biggest story came in April, when Alabama announced a two-year contract extension for DeBoer. His deal now runs through the 2032 season.

Good deal, bad deal, or otherwise?

On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams dive into DeBoer's extension, what it means, and why anyone talking hot seat with DeBoer is not living in reality. We also hear directly from DeBoer, after Toppmeyer sat down with the Alabama coach for an interview earlier this offseason to discuss his interest (or lack thereof) in the Michigan job and his unflinching commitment to the Tide.

Alabama is doubling down on DeBoer, and he's doubling down on Alabama. But, about that Rose Bowl loss ...

Later in the episode, a closer look at how the Big Ten is stealing a page from the SEC's playbook as it pushes for a 24-team playoff.

There goes that man, back in the headlines. 

Lane Kiffin typically basks in the spotlight and attention he generates, but is he ready for the level of scrutiny and pressure that'll center on him during his first season at LSU?

Already, Kiffin is stirring the pot with his recent comments in a Vanity Fair profile that rekindled Mississippi fans' ire for him, after he left the Rebels on the doorstep of the playoff.

Kiffin spent more than a decade rebuilding his personal and professional image after he got fired at Southern Cal. Then, he burned it all down for the LSU job. Worth it?

On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams discuss Kiffin's comments to Vanity Fair and debate how he'll handle a level of expectation he's not faced in more than a decade. 

Also in this episode, Toppmeyer reveals some details of his recent trip to Baton Rouge, where he interviewed Kiffin and LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry. Adams weighs in on Kiffin's comment comparing the blowback he's dealing with now, compared to what he experienced after leaving Tennessee.

Toppmeyer explains why Kiffin's first season will be particularly important, and the hosts predict whether LSU will make the playoff.

Later, Toppmeyer and Adams react to the AFCA coming out in favor of a 24-team playoff, as coaches lean into participation ribbons. Can anyone stop a 24-team playoff now?