College Football Live - CFB LIVE - COURT IN LOUISIANA

Episode Date: September 3, 2026

Join our crew Zubin Mehenti, Sam Acho, and EJ Manuel on today's episode of College Football Live. Pete Thamel joins to give updates from the ongoing court case in Louisiana. The crew talk about which QBs are under the most pressure, and preview this weekends slate. All this and more on today's episode of College Football Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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And we have developing news right off the jump as we expected in a courtroom in Louisiana as we speak on one side athletes looking for eligibility. On the other side, the NCAA, the SEC, the commissioner Greg Sankey, the decision could largely impact how the 2026 college football season plays out with everyone in the SEC. in the sport on pins and needles waiting to see what happens. If it's happening in the sport, the epicenter will be there. Pete Thamble is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Pete, I want to get to what's happening in that courtroom behind you in just one second. But in the last couple of hours, we have found out

there's an even bigger development happening in another courtroom. This is a US district court in Alabama. So before we get to all the Lane Kiffin drama that you were there to report on, tell us about this late breaking development in Alabama. So Zubin, in the courthouse behind me right, now. SEC Commissioner Greg Sanky is entering his second hour of testimony in the state court hearing

that involves 44 athletes. You'd think that would be the biggest story in college sports today involving the SEC, but it's actually not. Just around the time that Sanky was taking the stand here in Baton Rouge, the SEC filed a federal claim suing LSU, LSU's board of supervisors, Lane Kiffin, Athletic Director of Verge Osbury. Basically, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, legal equivalent of running the Statue of Liberty. Nobody saw this coming at this moment. Everyone expected the SEC to follow the Big 12 playbook from the Texas text situation and file federally for the First Amendment right, essentially for the SEC to enforce their own rules. Very few people until last night expected Greg Sanky to even be here today. There had been talk out of the SEC

that was very unlikely all week. Not only did Greg Sanky appear, but basically at the same time he appeared in their own backyard. The SEC's based in Birmingham. They filed federally trumping this moment in a significant way. You know, it's unknown how this federal lawsuit is going to play out, but if it plays out anything like the Big 12 one, which is this is clearly crib from the playbook, we could get a ruling soon and LSU would face long odds. But think about this, but just like the enormity of this. The Southeastern Conference filed the federal lawsuit today against one of its flagship original members, the athletic director, the football coach,

and the board of supervisors, and they did it essentially while the commissioner of the SEC was on the stand in a different lawsuit. It is surreal and it is wild. In the courtroom, we don't have electronics in the media, so nobody knew it was filed. One of the plaintiff's attorney scribbled something down on a piece of paper and handed it to another plaintiff's attorney,

and then it was basically brought up in the courtroom, and there was just a buzz. Wait a minute. Did he say that the SEC is suing Lane Kiffin in LSU? It was something straight out of a movie, Zubin. And that's where we are today in Baton Rouge. It is a truly surreal scene. In football parlance and end around for the ages as I'm just trying to process what you're saying.

So let's remember where you are. You're in Baton Rouge to cover a completely different court hearing, which we thought that to start the day would be the hearing. Just help us set the scene. We've been angling towards this moment, Pete, for quite some time. What's going on inside that courtroom? Our viewers need to know take us there. Sure.

So, Zubin, it's a cramped, crowded courtroom. The judge actually called it cozy and comfortable to start. And it's packed. It's standing room only. There are about 14 athletes, male and female, from the suit, which has 44 athletes involved in it. There are so many lawyers involved that they had to roll in chairs to fit them all. The attorney general from the state of Louisiana is here.

The two main lawyers who spoke with, the most today are both attorney generals, one from Baton Rouge, one from New Orleans. They're clearly rivals and don't like each other. They've been snapping at each other all day during testimony. So there's so many people in the courtroom. They've essentially put all the athletes in what you would think of as the jurors box. And what's unfolded is Greg Sankey is the first person to come speak and testify before the court. And he's been there for over two hours. One of the lawyers, Tony Clayton, pressed him on how much money he made. He said in his lax tax filing it was $4.8 million a year.

They pressed them on Did he fly here private today? He said yes. It has been compelling and spicy. After about an hour, Sanky asked for water, and they took a break, and he's still been up there. Some of it has been dense legal things. They brought up the NCA rulebook and how bylaws are applied. But essentially, with these athletes surrounding him, they're asking Greg Sanky, should the SEC have the power to prevent this 50?

Remember, this whole lawsuit is rooted in the class of 2022. the class of 2022, many of these members are seeking a fifth year here. But there's also the NFL part of this, which has made this national headline. So inside the courtroom are Zabian Harris and Dayquan Wright, the two Ole Miss transfers who each had cups of coffee in various levels of the NFL and are now back and they've expressed their intention to transfer to LSU. They obviously haven't transferred to LSU there. But they're sitting there watching this unfold today in this Baton Rouge courtroom.

There's really been no indication of how this is going to go, Zubin. And the judge is expected to rule from the bench today, but nothing is certain. But it just kind of feels like if we're going to hear for some athletes, we're just getting underway here this afternoon. But already, the drama has been thick. This is unbelievable. One of the most powerful people in sports is sitting there on the stand squirming with nowhere to go. Meanwhile, LSU is wondering who they're going to have on their roster Saturday as they try to go undefeated and make the playoff. But the real group that's undefeated, billable hours.

And that's Pete Thammell with a surreal update today from Baton Rouge. Louisiana. That is simply incredible. Wow. All right, fellas. I hope Florida State and Texas had a law school. It is a pleasure to welcome E.J. and Sam inside college football live. I'm Zubin Mahenti in honor of Acho. I'm wearing the boldest thing in my wardrobe. Still not even close to my man Acho. So on a serious note here, what Pete just said, we are truly an unprecedented territory. We've been playing this great sport. You guys played. This is over 150 50 years old, we are seeing things we have never seen or never imagined DJ. We would ever see playing out in real time.

When you heard Pete, what are you thinking? And days before, a huge game, too. Like, that's the other thing that comes to mind for me, if I'm laying Kiff in there from some of these players that are trying to get out there and play. But ultimately, here's my stance. Okay. NFL players, whether you signed a contract, whether you had a cup of coffee at training camp, whether you were a part of the draft process, you cannot go back to college football.

I understand the whole ruling with the five for five and all that with the five years. But ultimately, if these players have made the team, they're not coming back to a college team. So I just think it's a competitive advantage. I understand a coach like Lane Kippen trying to, you know, help his roster be better and build it up as much as possible for depth. But I just feel like you're crushing the fabric of what we've all known. As you said, 100 plus years of college football, amateur athletics for a pro to then come back to the college ranks. Well, the fabric has already been crushed if you're seeing these amateur athletes getting paid for their performances. And so for me, my stance is actually very different.

I think with this small class of players, they do deserve the right to be able to finish out their fifth year. The starting quarterback in North Carolina who played a couple days ago is going on his six years. He's 24 years old. He's six years in college football. Dayquan Wright, some of the guys were talking about their class of 20 and 22, they only played four years. And then the idea of the people are shocked that a player might leave the NFL or not even, these guys haven't even made it to the NFL yet, but leave an opportunity to go to college. The reality is this, you look at the practice squad contract for an NFL player.

Number one, it's week to week. Number two, if an NFL player stays on the roster of the entire 17-game, 18-week season on practice squad, that's about $250,000 maybe. Deacon Wright was probably getting double that last year. It comes back to probably going to get triple that this year. And so there's an earning potential and earning opportunity for these players. You say it's practice squad. What about active roster? The rookie minimum for the active roster of NFL players is about $850,000.

Yes, that's right. Right? College players who have gone to the NFL are currently taking pay cuts. Some of them are. Think about what you just said. Think about what you just said there. And so there's an incentive for a player to be able to maximize their earning potential.

And this small class of players was left out. Players before them are still playing. Players after them will get a fifth year. There's a few players that only get four. And I think they should deserve that opportunity to play a fifth. All right, fair enough. We should also mention just for purposes of context,

these guys both played in college and the NFL. So they kind of understand what's going on at both ends. All right, let's quickly get to the actual game we want to talk about. And quickly, courtesy of our good year, fast plays and how fast of a year has it been. Last year at this time, it's LSU, it's Clemson. It's Brian Kelly with all the pressure on him.

He doesn't even survive the year. Neither team has the year they want. Sour taste in their mouth. So now both teams return. Both teams look vastly different, especially at the quarterback position. EJ, let's start with you there. This is your specialty.

You won a conference championship playing quarterback. Tell me about both guys here. Very interesting. Both have been in college for a long time. played a ton. One hasn't played a ton. Right. I'll start with LSU's quarterback, Sam Leavitt, very shiny object in the transfer portal. And for good reason, he's an extreme athlete. He has a rocket launcher forearm. He got everybody excited in the 2024 season when he was at Arizona State, took that team to a college football playoff. He had the Liz Spring injury that shortened his

season last year. That's a big question mark of what kind of guy would he be back now at Baton Rouge? Yes, he has a bunch of great players around him. Trade Ed's green is, I think, one of the best tight ends. But ultimately, he has to get back comfortable. And I think he has to start fast in this game this weekend. Now, Christopher Vazina is an interesting one. For one, he stuck there throughout the time at Clemson. I really respect him for doing that. Didn't get a chance to play behind K Klupnik, but now this is his opportunity. He also went a long time in this training camp of trying to get that job. I think the big key for him is gaining confidence. And keep this in mind, he did get a chance to play a lot last year against SMU in that game. Through over 300 yards.

So this is somebody who's certainly capable and certainly dabble's only going to make a decision of the guy who can be best fit to go into that environment and win a game of LSU. But it's so instructive, but you said the fact that he's been around so much longer than Tate Reynolds, and it still took him almost the entire camp to win. It does say something. You have been around the Clemson program in person. I know you've talked to the team. You've always raved about their defensive personnel. Well, and not just me, Davo Sweeney. When I went and talked to the team, was maybe two years ago, Davo was talking about one of their star defenders who was a young player named Sammy Brown, who was outstanding. Now he's not so young anymore. It's one of the

best linebackers in the game. What stands out to me is his awareness. This is the last time we saw Sammy Brown play. There's going to be this motion. All of a sudden he says, okay, running back, offset motion. Hold on. I see something coming. I think it's going to be an inside play coming to his, the offenses left. All of a sudden, he's pointing it out, calling out, and he makes the play, but not just him. The entire defense knocks back this Penn State offense, keeps him out of the end zone. But that's just one play in the red zone. Let's go to the very next play. He's off the ball, but he's also versatile. He can go on the ball as well and not just run up the field and get lost in the off the field. No, he shuffles down like a true defensive end should.

Yes, he's unblocked, but he stays flat across the line of scrimmage and makes the tackle. another red zone stop, but it's not just that. You may not be able to see this, but it's heartbeat of the defense. Watch him get the defensive line where they're supposed to be, and he's not going to make the play. Somebody else will, and you may not be able to see it on this film, but watch this play be made and then the celebration. It's like it's the players, but off screen, watch the,

we can celebrate with his teammates. He's not on this one. But my point is this, if you can celebrate with your teammates, when somebody else makes a play and you're not the one making a play, that to me shows leadership. So we can play on the field. he can be versatile, but the leadership, the heartbeat of the defense, I think that's why he's special. That's what makes his Clemson defense good.

As Dabo always used to say, people say I don't use the portal. My portal is called the locker room. I believe in my guys, and I want him to do what they need to do. On the way, pressure, who's got the most of the big names under center with a huge season coming for all of them. E.J. ranks them. Sam criticizes them. And a reminder, students scan the QR code or visit Dr.pepper.com slash tuition by September 30th to enter for a chance to compete for $100,000 in the Dr. Pepper tuition giveaway

during conference championship weekend. We are back to rank those QBs next. College Football Live is presented by Ice Cold Dr. Pepper. College football. It's a pepper thing. In Toronto, every arrival

is a statement, and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025. Find your rhythm of. across a seamless 33-inch display and an immersive 19-speaker AKG surround audio system. This city demands agility and optic delivers with precision to make every drive extraordinary. Let's take the Cadillac. Find out more at Cadillac Canada.ca. Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac

definition of luxury. Real Canadian Superstore has everything you need this back-to-school season. Save on lunchbox savers like Ziggy's sliced delimed meat products for always 375. And get life brand peer Vita shampoo or conditioner for $8 each. At Real Canadian Superstore, when you're ready, we're ready, with a whole world and more. Welcome back to college football live, presented by Dr. Pepper. When Matt Campbell brought a bunch of his players over from Ames to State College, he also brought over one amazing tradition. He did it at Iowa State.

It's called Victory Day. First time at Penn State with him in charge. Helps kids with physical and mental challenges, be a part of the game day experience. Come out of the tunnel, hang with the guys, and feel like they are part of one of the great traditions in all of college football, some really good stuff there. Penn State debuts with Campbell this weekend. Many of these teams, San Stanford, will debut this weekend, including tonight on ESPN, with Colorado and Georgia Tech Prime in prime time tonight. We've already talked so much about quarterbacks on the show, but pressures in the eye of the beholder, what are your expectations,

what are you supposed to do? EJ. battled and won the pressure as a quarterback championship quarterback at Florida State out of the ACC. So you're up, my man. And QB is under the most pressure. However, you define it. We got all the familiar characters on the bottom of the screen. Let's go five to one. And look, I could have chose all these guys

but obviously all under pressure. But I'm gonna go number five here. CJ Carr under immense pressure, one, because, look, Notre Dame did not make the college for all playoff last year. Everybody was all sad. They didn't even want to go to a bowl game, Samacho, that's crazy.

But the big key here, you don't have your two first round running back. No Giardian Price, no Jeremiah Love. The defenses are gonna now scheme much differently against CJ Carr. There's a lot of pressure. there. Number four, I'm going Dante Moore out of Oregon. We're talking about championships coming out of the Big Ten. When is it going to be Oregon's time to get a championship? You think about

the games that they lost last season. There was only two of them to the eventual champion in Indiana. The second time they lost Indiana in CFP, they got absolutely embarrassed. A lot of pressure on Dante Moore to come back. Could have easily been the top five picking NFL draft, decided to come back to college. He got aware that championship at the end of the season. Number three, Archman. I was waiting for him. Sam Hacho's favorite quarterback. right here. Everybody's expecting all types of stuff from Arch, but here's the thing. You got a great team around you. You have a solid offensive line. You've got one of the best play calls in the country. The big key for Arch to not let this pressure get to him is being

athlete. The best I saw Arch play in the back half of last season when he used his legs. He took off and made plays. He ad-libbed. I think that's a key to his game. And you got to be at Ohio State there in week number two. Number two, Sam Levin. Are there anything going on in Bat Rouge right now? You think about this quarterback who's now a LSU tiger coming off a list, Frank injury. That's where the pressure is to me. Is he going to be the same guy? But also, is he going to be wiser in the hits that he takes? If you go back and watch the tape of Arizona State, yes, he made some amazing throws.

But fellas, he was getting into car wrecks all the time. You need him to be available and ready to go the entire season. Here we go. And number one, ding, ding, ding, Josh Hoover. You ask why. Okay, it's always hard to be the guy after the guy. What I mean by that? Fernando Mendoza was absolutely the guy last year.

year, 16 and 0, Hosman Trophy, winning a first overall pick and wins a championship for a team that never won. Now Josh Hoover comes in and think about this too. Two years in a row, Indiana's made it to the CEP under Co Signetti. Hoover cannot be the guy that does not get the Hoosiers back into the CFP. All right, now you got the toughest

job because the quarterback that played for the quarterback whisper rip apart his quarterback list. Yeah, that's tough job. For me, it's easy. Come on. I like your number two. I like your number three. I got question marks here, but I didn't start at number one. It ain't it ain't Josh Hoover, man. People have expectations from Pitt, Indiana, but they're or not as high as people may think.

Yeah. Give me Bryce Underwood at number one. I can see this. He struggled last season. I can see this. There's a new coach in Kyle Whittonham, new offensive coordinator. It's supposed to be a quarterback whisper.

If he doesn't get it right, all of a sudden, what are you going to do in Michigan? So that's number one. I love Levin, LSU, Archer 3. Question marks here, we'll talk about that later. But I'm two out of five. Very no. Appreciate it.

Okay. Talk about it later. He's keeping the pace of the show. He's like a producer on the set. He's unbelievable. One guy down here is Darian Mensa wasn't chosen here in our list, but it would be a great selection. This is what he did at Duke.

Remember before that, he was balling out at Tulane, and they're certainly hoping in Coral Gables. We'll see a little more of these numbers, except 2025 will be replaced by 20, 26 being oh so close last year. Of course, EJ, you're down there in the Sunshine State. You live down there. Take me inside what we can really expect to see as we put your QB hat on one more time. Well, look, I was lucky enough to be able to go to see Dary and Mintsa practice down in

Coral Gables. and one thing that jumped off the page is his arm strength. This dude has a rocket launcher of an arm, and we're going to see some of that in the tape. But more so, pay attention to the accuracy here, especially down in the red zone, where the defense doesn't have the backup as much. Things happen much quicker.

He's going to bounce in the pocket, buy some time here. But look at the placement of this football right there on top of the DB. He has no chance. And in fact, that's really good coverage by the DB, but a better throw to his guy, Cooper Barque, who's also now Miami Hurricane. By time, by time. Extremely patient in the pocket.

What does that do? It gives three defenders from Illinois to this. then come up to him, opens up a spot. He puts it in the only where the receiver on the back line of a crossing route could come in, touchdown Duke. Now right here, he's going to do a great job of using his ability to have vision. Look at the corner of the bottom of your screen

near the 10 yard line. He's going to be able to get up under this corner. If this ball is not thrown perfectly, fellas, it's either an I&T or it's a P-BU, but instead it's a touchdown for Duke. Tight split is going to bring and trigger a corner blitz at the bottom of your screen. Darien Minta understands that.

He's been watching film. He doesn't panic. He moves up in the pocket. Disdress in his face still delivers a catchable ball easy walking touchdown again for his guy Cuba Barcate who is at Miami big deal One of the reasons we're talking about Miami and Mentsa is because on Friday night you guys will be in the studio you know it they will take on Stanford who's already got one game under their belt big time rally knocked off Hawaii in the late stages a lot of offensive talk there but you want to hone in on what you've seen from the Cardinal defense I was extremely impressed by Stanford defensively and I love that tape of Derry Menta he's outstanding but this Stanford defense I think people might be sleeping on them why Chris Rashard is their new defensive coordinator. Remember that name from his time in Seattle? Legion of Boom.

Legion of Boom. But if you watch this defense on tape, it's not necessarily the splash plays. I get it. It's Week Zero Hawaii, but they are fundamentally sound. You're seeing guys stay in their gap lane integrity, wrestling integrity. Quarterback spies aren't overrunning the quarterback. And then last but not least, you just see them rushing together as one. They're an aggressive defense.

I get that. That's what the defense is going to be. But man, from a fundamental perspective, from a gap sound integrity perspective, this is exactly what you want to see if you're a Cardinal fan. This game will be Friday night when, college football arrive returns. The big game Sunday night is all about the running backs, not the quarterbacks. It's the guys on the ground. We'll tell you why. And a reminder, Chad Power, season two, presented by PlayStation all episodes streaming right now on Hulu.

I might be it up on my head. So where's that going to happen? He fights out the other's holiday and murders you? I think Chad Powers just died. Chad Power's season two, presented by PlayStation 5, all episodes now streaming on Hulu. In Toronto, every arrival is a statement, and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025. Find your rhythm across a seamless 33-inch display and an immersive 19 speaker AKG surround audio system. This city demands agility, and Optic delivers with precision to make every drive extraordinary.

Let's take the Cadillac. Find out more at Cadillac Canada.ca. Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. A new podcast series from ABC Audio in 2020 goes inside a case that has captivated the nation. To many people, Luigi Mangione is a modern-day Robin Hood. People were cheering. The demise of this person they'd never met, who was a father of two and a husband and had a

life and was just doing a job. From the Manhunt, ending in a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, to what authorities are saying about a possible motive. I'm ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmeyer. Listen to Burnin-A-Proof, Luigi Mangione, wherever you get your podcasts. College Football Live is presented by ice cold Dr. Pepper. College football, it's a pepper thing. On that note, let's take a look at our Dr. Pepper Trophy Run game of the week preview.

The good thing about these two teams, Louisville and Ole Miss, playing on Sunday night at Nashville at Nissan Stadium. Someone's going to win because out of the gate when they play big time teams, these teams have not been particularly successful. That'll change for somebody. Louisville Ole Miss again, ABC, Sunday night, 730. And you have your eyes on the backfield, but not for the quarterbacks. The guys of quarterbacks will be handing off. Yeah, I'll start with Ole Miss is running back.

He is special. Kiwan Lacey. And one, that was a huge piece for Pete Golden to keep as far as retaining great talent. But his ability to bounce off of defenders, but then also to have the speed coming out of those broken tackles to get another 10, 15, 20 yards. He's a great one-two punch in that backfield with his quarterback in Trinidad, Chamas. I'm expecting Kiwan Lacey. Look, he rushed for 1,500 last year.

That's really hard to do, but I think that's going to be another area. If you can get to 1,200, that's going to be key for Ole Miss, specifically to win this game against Louisville stout defense. Isaac Brown's the other one. Now, he didn't have 1,000 yards, but it's a two-head monster in that back, but I know Sam's going to hit both of these runbacks. Isaac Brown is one of those guys that has. Once he gets to the edge, it's straight speed,

and then he's able to break angles. Defenders are coming from 20, 15. yards away and they still can't get to them. So the running bat matchup in this game, I think is one where both linebackers need to be eating their witties, making sure they hydrate because they'll be running all night chasing these guys. And it's not just Isaac Brown. It's also Kiwan Brown for Louisville. They had, Louisville struggled last year. I got a chance to call a couple of their games. They struggled because they weren't able to run the ball because it's the injuries to both Keywon Brown and Isaac Brown. But now both these guys look like they're going

to be healthy. Both are extremely explosive. Also transfer Lincoln Kynholz, transfer Ohio to Ohio State. It's going to be quarterback and to be able to get that Jeff Brom quarterback under center offense. We'll be able to work some of that play action. So look out for both Isaac Brown and number 22, Kiwan Brown in this offense. That will be Sunday night coming up tonight on ESPN, Colorado, Georgia Tech. You'll see the guys on college football countdown one hour prior to kickoff.

Rambling Rec, Dion, who do we like? I like Georgia Tech. I think Alberto Mendoza, their new transfer quarterback, former national champion, and also Justice Haynes in the back. I like Georgia Tech. Also, that home crowd advantage is going to be tough for Colorado coming across the country. Once again, it all begins tonight. College Football Countdown, leading you into prime.

in prime time. It's going to be a great season. Mysteries unravel and stunning truths are revealed when 2020 investigates. Follow the clues, the evidence, the breaking new details. ABC's 2020 means true murder mystery. Shocking. If you follow true crime in 2020, then you've got to listen to this. Subscribe now to 2020 True Crime Plus. Add free exclusive true crime content.

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