Let all the Bulldog faithful rally behind the men who now wear the red and black with two words, two simple words which express the sentiments of the entire Bulldog Nation: Auburn Sucks.
Georgia professor debates that Georgia is once again cursed, and it’ll be 2062 before we see another National Championship.
From Knox’s bio:
I study the wind: why it blows, where it blows, what it blows around, and how to protect people from it. This subject is called atmospheric dynamics…
As the wind blows…maybe he knows something the rest of us don’t.
So it’s a bit of two parter debate here…on one side, the “what we don’t know” stemming from the deaths of a Georgia player and staffer after the 2022 Championship celebration is cause for a karmic ban from success for another 37 years. On the other, is the odd take that Kirby missed on Fernando Mendoza and can’t handle the NIL era.
I’m not arguing that there was some shady stuff surrounding the drunk driving incident, so that’s not the point of this.
But if you’re going to get moved by a story from Mendoza that somehow Kirby was sleeping on the job and “that made all the difference” then you’re a bit touched. Mendoza made some spectacular plays in Indiana’s championship run, but you could’ve slid Beck or Stockton into that roster of semi-pros and likely had the same result.
Hell, that’s the commoner’s take on Stetson Bennett, right? Didn’t matter who was under center, it was an All-Pro team and we couldn’t lose? Sheesh.
No, the greater thing I have at issue here is that a person who has three letters after his name and is clearly a person who does research and studies would actually be under the impression that Kirby would’ve started ANYBODY other than Gunner last year. You really think Mendoza had that much of an upside over Stockton where Kirby would’ve broken his traditional commitment to the veteran, Doc?
If further research is required, please look up Justin Fields. Beck and Van der Griff experienced the same.
Anyway, what’s your Sunday take on the professor’s thoughts?
Vanderbilt comes to town on October 3rd, and what would be a normal Homecoming game against a (formerly) SEC weakling is somewhat more interesting chiefly because of a recruiting saga gone south (or gone north?) that involved Jared Curtis.
Getting our first five start quarterback to Georgia since Justin Fields and Brock Van der Griff seemed like a big deal at the time, although most of us were skeptical. One, we know Kirby’s history with five star quarterbacks. Two, we know our history with five star blue chips on the offensive side of the ball since NIL. It seemed impossible, and, it probably was.
He committed to Georgia, though, then de-committed, and committed again.
And then, something amazing happened. Amazing, not in the awesome sense, but more in the amazingly WTF way.
“Diego goes to one of his games on a Friday night,” Tim Beck recalled. “Diego calls me that night, and he says, ‘Hey, man, you got to see this kid’. I go, ‘Yeah, we know about him, we know about him, Diego’. He (Diego) didn’t think we knew about him. It’s like, ‘yeah Diego, we know about him, but he’s not interested in us, he’s committed to Georgia’. And he goes, “Well, I talked to him. I think he’s interested’.”
As for that next morning, after the late-night call from a stunned Pavia, Beck would come to find out that not only was Jared Curtis interested in the Commodores, he made it a priority to pay attention to what Vanderbilt was doing on the field.
“He really didn’t have a favorite team that he was. He really didn’t have a favorite player that he watched,” Beck told OutKick. “And so, I called Jared the next morning, on a Saturday morning, and I talked to him a little bit, and one of the first things i said is, ‘Hey, I know you, you haven’t been really been watching much ball, but I was just curious’.
“And before I got through my sentence, he stopped me and said, ‘Coach, I got to be honest with you, the only team I’ve watched this year has been Vanderbilt’.”
So Curtis was brought to Vanderbilt by a wandering Diego Pavia who didn’t even know who he was. Amazing. But wait…there’s more…
So, when noted attorney Ryan Downton and his highly regarded, successful wife, Pearl Downton, decided it was time to invest their time into the NIL space of college athletics, they needed to know Curtis was first making the decision to attend Vanderbilt for the right reasons.
There were no monetary offers when the quarterback started to engage with Vanderbilt on a more consistent basis, which came when the Commodores hosted Missouri last season, which also brought “College Gameday” come to town.
In fact, the Downtons had not even thought about starting an NIL IP entity that could help Vanderbilt athletes, even though they were fully-engaged as donors and fans of the program.
But, once they knew this wasn’t just a ploy from Curtis to drive up the price and that the five-star actually wanted to stay in Nashville to create his own legacy like the one he was witnessing Pavia put a bow on, it was time for the family to start making calls.
Nate Bargatze speaks during ESPN’s College GameDay at Vanderbilt University on Oct. 25, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (Getty Images)
First, it was Jay Cutler, who just happened to be their next door neighbor. Once the former Vanderbilt quarterback was in, then it was time to call noted Nashvillian Nate Bargatze. It just so happened that Bargatze was already in, having mentioned on “College Gameday” that Curtis would be invited to have a small role in a movie he was starring in.
For what it’s worth, the Downtons represented Pavia in his litigation against the NCAA. Shocker.
In other words, Jared Curtis was brought to Nashville by the worst of modern college football…star-power NIL money, attorneys who argue for it, and an athlete who benefitted from it all.
If you didn’t have enough reason to pull for an all-out massacre of Vanderbilt on October 3rd, hopefully this helps.
From the NFL to College Football, a new pathway has emerged.
NEWS: A judge in Louisiana has granted a group that includes 16 football player –including several in NFL training camps this summer — a restraining order to allows them to return to college sports this season, per me and @DanMurphyESPN. pic.twitter.com/fUMzBolvbp
Former Ole Miss starters Dae’Quan Wright, Zxavian Harris and Wydett Williams, all of whom signed with NFL teams this summer, are among a group of athletes who were granted a temporary restraining order Wednesday to return to college for one more season.
The trio of former Rebels standouts joined 30 other athletes from a variety of sports in a lawsuit filed against the NCAA in Louisiana state court Wednesday.
The list of plaintiffs includes 16 football players, several who signed with NFL teams and participated in training camps earlier this month. Three of the players — Wright, Williams and former Oregon State running back Anthony Hankerson — are currently listed on NFL rosters for the Browns, Cardinals and Seahawks, respectively.
Those players have expressed an interest in being released from their NFL contracts, according to attorney Ryan Downton, and if their NFL teams release them by Sept. 1 they will be allowed to join a college roster under the restraining order.
“Courts across the country granting relief to ineligible athletes who already had every opportunity to compete in college – sometimes without even having a hearing – are failing to appreciate the destabilizing effect their rulings are having on college sports,” NCAA senior vice president of external affairs Tim Buckley said in a statement. “The lawyers bringing these cases seemingly won’t be satisfied until every professional athlete can treat college sports as a fallback option, regardless of the opportunities it strips from those who will never have a chance to begin their collegiate sports experience.”
So, it’s not just guys who didn’t make a roster, but it’s now guys who made a roster, already received their signing bonus, and decide that they don’t like the pay grade and want to go back to college for one more NIL payout…question is, how would any NIL money be available if it’s already been divvied up among the current college roster?
And as if Ole Miss needed any additional power on their roster from transfers.
Some interesting quick takes from yesterday’s AP Poll release:
Clemson is unranked for the first time in 15 years. Swinney took over in 2009 so he was there when they were last unranked, but the drop off of Clemson in the NIL era is something to be studied…from “our transfers are high school prospects who transferred to Clemson” to actually now having to lean on the portal, Swinney may be a few steps behind Kirby…but the question is, how long will IPTAY hold on to the Anderson College legend?
Also, this:
For 1st time in 18 years, Alabama is ranked outside Top 10 in @AP_Top25 preseason poll. Tide’s No. 13 ranking is lowest since 2008 when they started No. 24
If Kalen DeBoer isn’t on a hot seat in Tuscaloosa, then he must not be testing out the chairs around there.
Like I said in the previous post…beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa isn’t just a desire, it’s a necessity this year. It’s expected and, not a shocker here…it’s at night.
The only Dixieland Delight will be Georgia leaving with a W, and not just by Georgia fans, but pretty much the rest of the country and especially the SEC.
What happens when the blowhard of one program with the softest schedule in college sports talks crap about the other program with the softest schedule in sports? The geniuses are unleashed.
You’re not being fooled…that is a practice for Colorado Football. No, not the high school team…the Coach Amazon Prime Team.
As a friendly reminder, going in to the 2025 College Football Playoffs, Sanders had a higher salary than Mario Cristobal, Curt Cignetti, and Marcus Freeman. And Neon Deion has a $33 million dollar buyout.
As you are aware, there are several former student athletes (chuckle) who are now in a position to get a fifth year of eligibility given the Colorado injunction that was provided last week.
Enter Thomas Castellanos.
Former Florida State quarterback Thomas Castellanos is pursuing legal action regarding his eligibility for a fifth year of college football, his agent Joe Hernandez told On3. He will be represented in the matter by attorneys Darren Heitner and Ryan Downton.
Castellanos is expected to file a lawsuit in Texas, requesting an injunction against the NCAA and for a judge to allow him to enter the transfer portal. With last week’s ruling in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, Castellanos was granted a fifth year as part of the class-wide preliminary injunction against the NCAA.
Now he is suing the NCAA to ensure he can enter the transfer portal. Judge Charlotte Sweeney wrote in an order earlier this week that the Colorado suit does not open the transfer portal, which is why Castellanos is preparing to file one.
On the up side, Castellanos could suit up and play for Florida State for another year, earning some additional NIL money since he went undrafted in the spring NFL Draft.
On the downside, Castellanos could suit up and play for Florida State for another year.
Maybe they’re having a talking competition in the B1G. Or maybe this is Purdue’s AD trying to give credence that Indiana vs. Purdue is a “marquee” game for the Hoosiers this year.
Purdue’s new athletic director:
“Every recruit, every current student athlete will hear this message repeatedly. We are here to win championships. If you don’t want to win championships, go to Indiana.”
Why is it absolutely no surprise that Indiana made the first big splash using the Colorado injunction?
Sources: Indiana star defensive lineman Stephen Daley will return to the Hoosiers for his fifth year. He led Indiana in TFLs last year with 19.0 and also added 5.5 sacks, and his addition looms as a significant boost to a talented and deep Indiana defensive front group. pic.twitter.com/m4GURH0gVi
Daley, if you can recall, is the one who hurt his leg while celebrating the Hoosier B1G Championship win and rendered himself out for the CFP. Indiana won it all anyway, but he watched it from the sideline.
Looks like he’ll have a chance to run it back, and even if he’s out of game shape, he won’t have to worry about playing until sometime in late October, anyway.
Notre Dame’s scheduled home-and-home football series with Indiana has been canceled at Indiana’s request, according to reporting from The Athletic’s Pete Sampson and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde. The two schools announced the agreement on April 19, 2021, with Indiana set to visit Notre Dame Stadium on Aug. 31, 2030, and the Irish scheduled to play in Bloomington on Sept. 27, 2031.
Under the terms of the 2021 contract, per Sports Illustrated, the canceling party owes $250,000 when the game is called off more than two years out, $500,000 with one to two years’ notice, and $1 million inside a year of kickoff. At more than four years from the 2030 date, the lowest tier applies.
This should come as no surprise to anyone, especially given that Cignetti proudly boasted about making his schedule easier with lighter OOC opponents.
For anyone surprised about Indiana dropping the Notre Dame series… Cignetti has already said the quiet part out loud about scheduling
Now, of course, Cignetti likes to point out that the B1G is already tough enough, so why stress yourself with a quality OOC opponent. Sure, let’s go to the stats, Curt:
Sure, there’s four B1G teams in there and four SEC teams. Seems even right…well, let’s look at the inverse of this:
From Chris Low, here’s the worst records against Top 25 teams in the past five years:
Colorado 0-16 Maryland 0-15 Rutgers 0-15 Cal 0-14 NW 0-14 Va. Tech 0-12 Virginia 0-11 Houston 0-10 Vanderbilt 1-18 W. Va. 1-17 Nebraska 1-16 Wisconsin 1-15 Iowa 1-13 SMU 1-9 Auburn 2-20 Purdue 2-19 Michigan St. 2-18 Arkansas 2-17
Yeah…that’s 8 B1G teams…8 of which post a worse record in the past five years than *checks notes* Arkansas.
The five in bold italics are on Indiana’s mighty B1G schedule this year…their other four? USC, Ohio State, Michigan, and Washington, all of which were in the Top 20 of the best records, although one could argue Michigan and Washington are shells of their programs from two years ago…so basically you have what amounts to a two game schedule, you brag about the power of your conference, and then cancel an out of conference series with Notre Dame.
Yes, he won and has the right to talk. Yes, he has bragging rights. Never thought I’d say it, but when the day comes where I have more respect for Just for Men, it’s a dark day indeed.
And for all those saying they can’t wait for the redemption day for CC, I don’t see it coming anytime soon with a schedule like this.
