College Football Live - CFB LIVE - LIVE IN BATON ROUGE

Episode Date: September 4, 2026

Join our crew Jen Lada, "Stanford" Steve Coughlin, Des Howard and Pete Thamel on today's episode of College Football Live. Thamel gives updates from yesterday's court case in Louisiana. The crew talk about which new head coach can make the biggest impact 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

Early morning on a Manhattan sidewalk, a shooting caught on surveillance video. It was an assassination style killing, and everybody saw it. A new podcast series from ABC Audio in 2020 goes inside this captivating case. I'm ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmeyer. Listen to Burden of Proof, Luigi Mangione, wherever you get your podcasts. Fire TV. Moisture in the air. People very excited for the big game taking place here tomorrow night.

That, of course, the Tigers v. Tigers, Clemson, visiting LSU. And we've had an awful lot of conversations about LSU. Not as many about the X's and O's and the matchups as we would like. But you know what? We are here in week one and we are excited to talk some college football. I'm Jen Lattah. This is Stanford Steve Desmond Howard. Joining us, as always, alongside the authority, Pete Bammell.

All right. A huge game between LSU and Clemson. We will get to some of the details of that game, but there has been obviously developing news all week long. Here on college football live, let's try to get you caught up. It is, of course, the legal battle between LSU, the NCAA and the SEC as it continues.

Dekwon Wright, Zavion Harris, currently clear to return to college football after brief stints in the NFL, according to an injunction issued by a Baton Rouge judge last night. That leaves Lane Kiffin with a major roster decision to make by the end of the day today, Wright and Harris reacting to the news last night. My emotion is really high right now. You know, it's been a little long going for me, especially, you know, all that happened to me.

So it's just, you know, a relief, really. So I'm glad to hear, you know, it went outweigh a little bit. What are you most looking bored to about Saturday? Just putting on a college uniform again and going out there and have fun and embracing my opportunity. It's about student athletes. It's not about Coach Kiffin. It's not about LSU. It's about treating these kids fairly.

It's about the fair application. You're going to apply the rules. Apply them fairly to everyone. So today justice was served. And justice was served to the SEC. It was served like a cold cup of gumbo. And that judge forced them to eat it. Got to get that Bayou reference in there.

Don't you? Our Pete table has been monitoring this, covering this for, It seems like forever, Pete. What is the latest you can tell us? Can you make that up, by the way? The Cold Cup of Gumbo from the local district attorney who's a lawyer in the case. It's unbelievable. So where we are right now, picture that big 60 minutes clock ticking.

Tick, tick, tick, tick over us. LSU has until 1159 tonight to decide whether or not to put Dayquan Wright and Xavier Harris on their roster. You know, the court orders significantly encouraged them to do as such, to do right by the athletes. SEC through a federal lawsuit has made very clear they don't want them on the roster. 15 SEC presidents have also made it clear. Numerous attorneys generals have also made it clear. The CFP even throughout a statement today, basically saying they don't want NFL players on

rosters in concert with the other leagues have done. So there is significant risk if LSU to Lane Kiffin, to the budget, and to the future of LSU as an SEC member, if they put these players on the roster. So the decision has to be made and has to be made tonight. And no one is tipping their hand yet. everyone is staying silently. I will say this, Jen, if you think about the calculus of this decision

and how it's going to get message, there's no better night in college football than that have a news dump than the Friday night before the games. Because come Monday, we're not going to be talking about a backup tight end and, you know, pretty good defensive linemen.

We're going to be talk about the 60 games that have happened and there's going to be wins and upsets and injuries and everything like that. So don't be surprised if it stretches a little bit into the evening tonight before LSU's decision comes. Common sense says they would capitulate. That's what Texas Tech did in this situation. The Big 12 filed a federal First Amendment lawsuit to have their own thing. They were to have a hearing. Texas Tech said, you know what? We should probably follow along. They're going to have the power in this. We're going to go. So what LSU does, we shall see. But the fact that it's gotten this far makes nothing certain. Oh, how long ago the Sorsby saga seems at this point, you guys, months at this point. Des, what do you suspect will happen? What do you suspect Lane will do? Well, I think that Lane never made.

that this would go this far. I think it was a huge miscalculation on his part. I think Lane said, well, you know what? It'll be us, LSU against the NCAA. The NCAA, everybody's punching bag, right? No one likes the NCAA. I think that's what he figured would happen in this situation. But then when Greg Sankey and the SEC said, hold up, pump your brakes,

we're not doing this, we don't want to be a part of bringing NFL players to come football. Then I thought Lane had gone out too far. You couldn't step back. And now it became a just a standoff between Lane, LSU, Greg Sankey, and the SEC. And I think now with all the lawsuits and this and that, he never imagined this will happen. I don't think he's going to play these players, Steve, because I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze at this point. That's exactly what I How much is this worth? Yeah. Like, and to your point, going back to the beginning when he had a vision of what it was going

to be, there's no way he envisioned this. And now it's to the point is, is this really worth it? So I just worry that, I will say, I don't know how he's doing, dealing with his team and getting ready for a game amidst all this. It's all anyone's talking about around this town. We've been here for a couple days. So I just, it comes down to, is it worth it? And that's where I think.

Hey, I'm glad you mentioned that. I did a media availability earlier today. And I told him, I said, if there's one coach who I think his personality is uniquely qualified to handle this specific situation is Lane Kimping. And there is something to be said for trying to gain a competitive advantage, trying to use every loophole and every advantage to try to put your team in a position to win. But I think to your point earlier, they have the number one transfer class in the country. That talent should be able to get the job done. I'm not sure you need these additional two players to go out there and win some of these games. All right.

And speaking of the game, there is a game that Lane and his team and Davo by extension and his team need to worry about. Time for our players to watch. It's brought to you by Rippling. Clemson quarterback, Christopher Vig. How do you say this young man's last name? Vizina. Vizina. Thank you so much.

Vizina. CV to make it short. I'm going to do that from now on. Exactly. Vizina will make his second career start after throwing for over 300 yards and three touchdowns against SMU last year. His counterpart, Sam Levitt, was the top quarterback transfer from this year's cycle and among the many marquee names that moved to Baton Rouge this year. And I think even my faux pa there is an example of the different stories of these two quarterbacks.

We are all very familiar with what Sam Levitt has done, what his journey has entailed. And then on the other side, you have Clemson. They've brought some guys in, but have been a little bit more hesitant to use the transfer portal like some of these other programs have. So Pete, I'll start with you. What are the keys for Clemson to get a victory? in this game. Well, I'm going to start with Sam Levitt. And there's a question we've been asking on the set of why. Why is Lane Kiffin doing this?

I think part of it is Lane Kiffin feels like he has a really good team. And if you're going to play until January 25th, that's when the national title is, you need depth. So that's why he's doing it. But his optimism is based in Sam Levitt. 24, Sam Levitt at Arizona State, one of the top quarterbacks in the country. A prospect the NFL

was intrigued by, dual threat, beautiful arm, accurate. Last year, we got the Liz Frank early in the season against Baylor, and he simply was a different player. There's a huge dichotomy between 24 and 2025, Sam Levitt. They are confident at LSU. They have the 2024 version and they're going to roll him out Lane Kiffson's system and they're going

to have a lot of success. Being able to be at practice yesterday, I forgot how electric and elusive he could be as a runner. You know, like you mentioned the foot injury. He wasn't himself last year and you go back to the season before when he led the team to the playoff and winning the Big 12 and he's a

factor in this game and I also believe he's going to help in the run game. LSU the last two years simply gave up trying to run the football. And what did it do? A guy had a top 10 team last year, got their quarterback banged up, and it was a lost season. They fired their coach. And the one thing that people forget to mention about Lane Kifford and Charlie Wise Jr.,

their offenses are very effective in running the football. And that's what I believe LSU really wants back as a fan base. You think about LSU, you think about the championship teams, being able to run the football and have a balanced offense. Sam Levitt Healthy gives you all of that with one player. Yeah, I tell you what, guys. I'm excited to just see this team try to jail. I mean, you're talking about 40 plus new players, you know,

going through all this distraction. Everyone's asking them, hey, are you guys going to get these new players? What's Lane going to do? You know, so that's a huge distraction. You guys try to get used to the lingo, the expectations, everything else that comes with playing on a new squad. So I believe they're going to have to take it play by play, series by series

and then try to jail as a unit offensively and defensively because listen, that one, those guys are getting on the plane just going to just roll their hammers out there and let LSU roll over them tomorrow night. They're coming here to make a statement.

They think that they got the best death, the best Death Valley, and they're the real tigers. And it's like anything else. Even if you think this is a talent mismatch, control the clock, run the ball, win the turnover battle.

The longer you're in this game, the more questions LSU starts asking themselves, right because they're supposed to win this one. And then all of a sudden, you might have an upset on your hands at the hands of the visiting Tigers. Let's talk a little bit about our Labor Day weekend college football lineup. We roll it out with Stanford hosting number seven Miami. That game is on ESPN.

Then tomorrow it's a triple header on ABC. You got East Carolina visiting number 13 Alabama, Baylor and Auburn. Then that game, Clemson battling number 11 LSU in Death Valley on Sunday on ABC. You got number 24 Louisville and number nine, Ole Miss. Every single game we're showing you here is also available on the ESPN app. All right, let's go to the top story, stepping away from the courtroom, Pete. What else is going on around college football that we should be paying attention to? Well, North Carolina, coming off the best moment of the Bill Belichick era,

found themselves in some ugly headlines again this week, Jen. Michael Lombardi, the general manager, highest paid GM in the country, resigned from his position. Bill Belichick will need a new GM going forward in Chapel Hill. As for tonight, Oklahoma versus U-TEP, Texas transfer Parker Livingstone, I've been told is available and will play for the Sooners tonight. He'd missed some time in practice recently with a concussion. He's been cleared and we'll see the rare Longhorn to Sooner Transfer streaking down the field for the Sooners tonight. And finally, in a sneaky good game on Saturday, Tulane, a playoff team, Duke, the ACC champ, Tulane will be without its leading returning rusher, Jamari McClure. A couple of publications had McClure as the best tailback in the air.

AAC this year without McClure. It'll be a little tougher to find yards on the ground for the green wave this weekend. Good stuff, Pete, as always. Coming up on College Football Live, the preseason AP Top 5, I'll make their season debuts this weekend. What is the biggest question for each of these championship contender teams? We'll break that down next. College Football Live is presented by Fire TV.

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. Search 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts and start for free trial. Terms apply. Welcome back to college football live presented by Fire TV. Let's get you some fast play. It's brought to you by Goodyear. UMass visiting Rutgers last night. Jumped to the second quarter.

UMass was up 14 to 7 when William Pop Watson connects with Joseph Griffin Jr. It's a 31-yard touchdown. Great catch. UMass leaves 21 to 7. Fourth quarter now, 30 to 14. And inside the red zone, that's Curtis Kimmins, the fourth, taking it 17 yards to the house. UMass wins 37, 21, their first win over a power conference team since 1978.

How about Colorado visiting Georgia Tech? 42 seconds left in this game. Colorado down. First and 10. That's Julian Lewis finding Charlie Williams for the 20-yard touchdown. Colorado with a one-point lead. But Georgia Tech threatening, kicking a field goal to try to win this bad boy. And that's Boo Carter blocking the field goal.

So Colorado holds on. Here's Dion after the win. I told several people on the sideline, we're going to make it very, very interesting. But we're going to win this game. That's just the faith I have in these young men and the coaching staff. I told them it was going to be adversity, tremendous adversity, but we wanted to implement the adversity, not be the recipients of the adversity. But we were resilient.

We didn't give up. Obviously, Colorado will hope to take some momentum from that win into the remainder of the season. Steve, your biggest takeaway from that game. It was how Colorado won. I mean, you think about Colorado in this coach prime era. It's been, you know, glitz and glamour and all. offense and high-powered, you know, offenses. Defense.

Like, you know, you thought this is going to be a high-scoring game. They went in with defense, keeping the team to 13, a drive at the end. You're executing a new offense with the offense coordinator, Mary, and blocking a field goal. Yeah. Like, you just haven't seen that in that error, and I think it's a testament to that coaching staff is still putting in the work and not giving up on anything and coming out with a new look. No, you're right about that. They were very physical.

I was surprised, though. Special teams played a huge role in that win last night. Multiple black kicks, kickoff return for a touchdown. I mean, special teams was huge, but got to give credit to Dion and his staff. They are out physical Georgia Tech. I did not expect that. But those guys did. You can tell.

And they just rotated back after, back after back. And Matt Berry, he made the best call that last drive. When Julian Williams, Julian Lewis was on the field, Matt Berry said, you know, he hasn't played that great up to this point. But he leads this game-winning touchdown drive. Everyone's going to forget about the past plays. And he sure enough did that a great game, great win for Coach Prime. We're going to get our first look at the top five teams in the AP poll this weekend, highlighted with Oregon taking on Boise State,

who is also a group of six playoff contender. And the action is not limited to Saturday. You've got Notre Dame beginning its Leave No Doubt tour from historic Lambeau Field. They're taking on Wisconsin. All right, guys, going down the list, what are your biggest questions for these teams ahead of the season? Steve, I'll start with you. I look at Ohio State, and I look at the questions that we have, and I look at Ohio State's offensive line.

The last time we saw this team, they lost their last two games. Julian saying was sack 10 times. Wow. 10 times in two games. They have to be better, take care of their Heismet trophy, hopeful quarterback. How about Oregon? I think Oregon Ducks, if not now, then win. I mean, Dante Moore, their quarterback came back.

People said he could have been the first round draft pick last year. He came back. They have a lot of talent around him. I think they have a manageable schedule. Dan Laning, Oregon Ducks, if not now, then when? I'm going to go down to Georgia. We know Gunner at quarterback. We know Nate Frazier, Tote and the Rock.

But Georgia has 68 first and second year players. It's one of the youngest rosters in the entire FBS. That number is tied for fifth. Look for bulldogs like defensive tackle Elijah Griffin. He's one of these big inside mallers, space eater run stuffers that Kirby Smart has thrived on. We know who he learned that. who had all those deep tackles when he was winning the titles, our friend Nick Saban. So I think the identity is going to form which of those young players arise.

I don't know if it's me, guys, but it seems like everybody in their mom was picking Notre Dame to win the national championship. And you know, I think I know why. CJ Carls coming back. He had a fantastic season a year ago. He's like a Heisman favorite. But I think they have a very, very, very manageable schedule, too. You look, that at BYU game, that can be a little tricky.

but they get Miami at home and they also get SMU at home too. So I think the schedule is why some people say, this team is going to run the table, get into the CFP and win it all. And then the SEC, you look at Texas. Is this the year for Steve Sarkesian? You know, off here last year,

rough start to the season, playing their best football at the end of the season, but they have to be better on the offensive line. They have to be better. All the problems started last year when they couldn't protect Arch Manning. What happens when you have a quarterback that doesn't get protection? Bad habits.

Bad habits caused a couple losses. Again, they fixed at the end of the year, but that offensive line has to start well this year for them. You know, I noticed the similarity with all of the teams that you guys just talked about, the top teams. Great quarterbacks. Great quarterbacks. We are expecting big things from this year that obviously carries a college

football team a very long way. 17 new head coaches in the power for this season. Which coach can pull a Kurt Signetti and bring their programmed massive success in their very first year. We'll highlight our favorites next on College Football Live. College Football Live is presented by Fire TV. It's going to be special. Already got the weekend off to it.

Wild start having all of this. College game day has arrived. Thrilled to be back and thrilled to be celebrating our 500th road show with Lainey Wilson, giving us a live performance and doing the celebrity guest picking on college game day 9 a.m. Eastern tomorrow morning. The coaching carousel in college football has been a wild ride. Look at this, these new faces, 33 coaching changes this off season, which of course includes Lane Kiffin coming to LSU.

When you look at this list gang, which head coach's debut are you most excited about, Steve? I feel like no one is talking about the University of Utah. And I look at Morgan Scali, who's a guy that's been there forever, played there, was on Urban Myers, undefeated 2014. And the idea of coach winning, all we talked about when you mentioned Utah is what's left. Yeah. You know, who left, I should say. Coach Littingham, Coach Beck, the two first round offensive tackles.

Scali's got his quarterback back and a huge opportunity. And that's been a very successful program in a conference where everybody just saying Texas Tech is going to do it again. I got to see it first. Utah has a great opportunity this year. Florida is at its best when its head coach has a little swagger, a little edge, a little chirpiness. We saw it when Steve Spurray was there.

We saw it when Urban Meyer was there. And we only have empirical evidence of John Summerall from the off season, but certainly the spirit is there. John Summaral's coaching results from his time at Troy and time at Tulane, where he made the league title game. All four of those seasons would indicate that Florida is going to be the Florida we remembered with a little bit of swagger, with a little bit of edge. And look, it's a talented roster, guys. They'd underachieved under Billy Napier, and hopefully the sum is now equal to the parts there. Some, I get it. Talking about a coach with some swag, look no further than Baton Rouge.

I mean, Lane Kiffin's debut, I think it's going to be the most debut coaching of any coach in the history of new coaches. Because the hype getting them here, leaving Ole Miss, and then everything that he's going through to get to this point today where they're going to coach and play against Clemson tomorrow. Just so much drama surrounding LSU and Lane Kiffin. I can't wait to see him actually take the field to coach the game against Davoswini and the Clemson Tigers. We talked about everything about LSU off the field, and I mentioned I was able to go to practice yesterday. To see how buttoned up that team is was really impressive. I mean, coaches are coaching their butts off and Lane's just proling out everything. He is uniquely qualified for this job.

Oh, I mean to handle the chaos that he has somehow created? Absolutely. Now it's time for game picks. It's presented by Dick's sporting goods tonight at ESPN, 8 Eastern, 7th-ranked Miami Hurricanes taking on the Stanford Cardinal. Pete, what do we need to know? We need to know Stanford is going to be short-handed, Jen. They're going to be down three offensive linemen who are projected opening day starters. They're also going to be without receiver Nico Brown and Edge, Gabe Kaminsky, who had one and a half sacks against Hawaii. They do have E-40 playing at halftime.

So that's going to get in there. Does it make you feel a little better? I give credit to Mario Cristoball. He's going over 2,500 miles to play a home game. Yeah, yeah. It's going to be a home game. I think Miami rolls. I think they name the score.

I have them playing in the National Championship this year. And I think they have plenty to prove with all the toys they got in the offseason. No, you're right about that. I've been to a couple of practices in Coral Gables and Darren Minza. He looks very sharp. He has Malachi Tony who's one of the best and not the best receiver in the country. But keep an eye on this guy. Number three, wide receiver Joshua Moore, too.

He's starting to come into his own. They have a lot of weapons out there. Like you said, Steve, they might just want to name their score tonight. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I love that Miami is making this big trip because, again, when we talk about the national championship, that'd be quite the hall as well. Get those guys ready for those type of road trips.

Make sure they know that they can do it. Thanks for hanging out with us here on college football live. We have college game day coming your way tomorrow morning, 9 a.m. Eastern. Laney Wilson will be the guest speaker, and it will be a circus celebrating our 500. Road Show.