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Today in college football news, absolutely, I will try the Takis Fuego Wendy’s meal.

The Video Game: Flashy new stuff? Less micro-managing?

Quick Snaps

“I’ve been a celebrity in this state for over 30 years.” Extremely rare thing to hear from a MAC coach, but when 1995 Heisman Trophy winner and 2000 NFL All-Pro Eddie George says it, it’s undeniable. Hey, did you know Bowling Green’s new head coach is also an actor? Let Cameron Teague Robinson tell you all about it.

A College World Series finale fitting this chaotic baseball season: No. 6 LSU vs. No. 13 Coastal Carolina, beginning tomorrow at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. It will be either the Tigers’ eighth title (still second behind USC, though the Trojans have won it just once since 1978) or the Chanticleers’ second (2016).

  Still have to remind yourself Dana Holgorsen is at Nebraska as OC? Well, he might actually be in Austria, Greece or Mexico right now, but you know what I mean.

Tennessee, Houston and Texas QB commits were among the stars at what Bruce Feldman calls one of the best Elite 11 crops he’s seen in decades.

“The Athletic spoke with more than a dozen people in charge of and around officiating. Almost all said officiating is better than it’s ever been, that the correct call percentage is somewhere around 98 percent, though some say it hasn’t improved enough or become consistent enough with technology. Coaches’ feelings are mixed.”

2025 Countdown: Hellos and goodbyes in the Mountain West

If the Boise State Broncos win the Mountain West again this year before leaving to turn the Pac-12 into Basically The Mountain West, they’ll leave with seven MWC titles in their 14 years as a member.

Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State are also leaving with the Broncos after this season. Since 2010, the only team outside this group to have won the MWC was San Jose State in 2020.

Odds are good that, this December, defending league champ Boise State will make like 2011 CM Punk (or 2023 SMU, Texas and Washington) and leave with the title. Despite the departure of Ashton Jeanty, one of history’s greatest Heisman runners-up, FPI grades the Broncos as FBS’ single biggest conference favorite, with 45.6 percent odds of repeating.

But how’s this for a tidy storyline: No. 5 on the list of the nation’s biggest conference favorites is Dan Mullen’s UNLV (37.7 percent) — the team that spurned the zombie Pac-12 to stick around as the neon star of next year’s zombie MWC. This season, UNLV-Boise (round one?) is on Oct. 18.

Now let’s turn to region expert Chris Kamrani with a couple Qs.

In your recent UNLV story, Mullen said, “I’ve always thought this could be a sleeping giant here.” The Rebels have always ranked right behind UNC at making people say that. After last year’s run and this big hire, is there reason to believe it’s finally happening?

“It boils down to how much you believe in Mullen as a program builder. He did it at Mississippi State at a level never seen before, but failed to do the same when the stakes were much higher at Florida. Mullen is taking over a winning culture cultivated by former head coach Barry Odom, but the Rebels lost a ton of talent to graduation, especially on the defensive side of the ball. If you remember, UNLV did as good of a job on Jeanty as anyone in the country last year, and did so twice.

“Mullen’s bread-and-butter will always be on offense. That’s what will ultimately determine if UNLV can win the Mountain West. He landed former Virginia starting QB Anthony Colandrea and former Michigan QB Alex Orji. He’s loaded up on receivers in the portal, because, duh. Players know Mullen’s offense can be symphonic. They have accumulated talent to help them compete with the alpha of their world, Boise State. Now it’s about waking that snoozing giant Mullen speaks of.”

All things considered, Bronco Mendenhall going .500-ish at Virginia and New Mexico is probably about as impressive as him going 8-4 or 9-3 at BYU. Do you imagine him sticking around at Utah State long enough to build something better than .500-ish?

“I can’t think of a more head-scratching move in the coaching carousel in recent years than Mendenhall returning to the state of Utah. I guess there have been others that made my scalp itch. And they all involve Mendenhall. I was stunned when he left BYU for Virginia and more stunned when he returned to coaching in Albuquerque. Bronco has always marched to the beat of his own drum.

“Building a winner in Logan will be a tall task. Utah State has been relevant in the MWC twice in the last decade. The talent on the roster had slipped in recent years. But one trait Mendenhall has is adaptability. He’s a defensive-minded coach who had high-octane offenses at BYU. Just last year, despite New Mexico’s average season, the Lobos ranked fourth in the country in total offense. I’m going to assume USU will be Mendenhall’s last stop as a college football head coach. If I were a betting person, which I am not, I would say he’ll have the Aggies in conference contention in a few years’ time.”

And now let’s lateral the ball to Stewart Mandel for some mailbag before we head out for the weekend:

Mandel’s Mailbag

Will the new CEO (Bryan Seeley) of the College Sports Commission publicize what the penalties will be moving forward for improper NIL or under-the-table recruiting enticements? — Nick K.

All we’ve gotten are some nebulous quotes from administrators assuring us the penalties will be “substantive,” “stiff,” and “severe.” Either this is the most leakproof endeavor in the history of college athletics, or, more likely, they’re not finished devising them.

While we’re at it, here’s a list of some other specifics notably missing so far about a body that we’re being told will get the NIL landscape fully under control and fundamentally change how the enterprise operates.

• How will CSC monitor tens of thousands of NIL transactions across every Division I sport to ensure the athletes and/or their agents are reporting all of them, and that they’re being paid the actual numbers it says in the contract?
• What are the inputs used to calculate fair-market value, and will you be transparent with the public in explaining exactly why a player got his deal rejected and is now opting to play for a different school?
• Let’s say a running back gets his deal rejected in August. Then, in Week 1, he runs for 250 yards and garners Heisman Trophy buzz. Can he get his fair-market value reassessed, and how quickly can that get done?
• Most contracts include a confidentiality clause. Does this mean you’re forcing the athlete to break it by submitting the deal to Deloitte? Will CSC cover the costs if they get sued?
• Along those same lines, an athlete who gets their deal rejected can appeal to an arbitrator who supposedly has “subpoena power” to produce documents. Can you really subpoena a third-party booster or company that is not bound by the House settlement and never agreed to this process?
• And what are the penalties, and will you announce them publicly?

I’ve got more, but I’ll hang up and listen for now.

(More Mandel mailbag here.)

The Niko Medved era of Minnesota Gophers men’s basketball is underway in Dinkytown. Ben Johnson is out, as is pretty much every player he had on roster last season, outside of two freshman, Isaac Asuma (Cherry, MN) and Grayson Grove (Alexandria, MN).

These days, however, patience is not a virtue in college athletics. The transfer portal, combined with the yearly distribution of $100s of millions in Name, Image and Likeness money allows the right coach, in the right situation to turn over a team and change the future faster than ever before.

That is especially true in basketball, where one or two big time talents can be the difference between dancing and sitting home in March. And there might not be a men’s college basketball program and fanbase more desperate to see a change in fortune than the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.

So, how are the new head coach and his AD going to turn things around in Dinkytown? By infusing it with a bunch of cash to pay players, through (a) an increase in NIL funding, along with (b) new revshare money that is about to flip college sports upside down.

But the question remains… how much money will they really have to spend and will it be competitive in the Big Ten? Well, that picture continues to come more and more into focus.

Larger than normal revshare split for Minnesota Gophers MBB

On July 1, all power five universities will get the green light to allocate $20.5 million of their yearly athletic budget to pay their college athletes, however they see fit. Just like most major Universities, the largest split of Minnesota’s revshare allowance (75%) will go to football.

But part of luring Niko Medved back to his home state was a commitment from Mark Coyle that the University of Minnesota would allocate more of that revenue split to men’s basketball than most other power five schools.

Related: Gophers MBB Searching for Another High Caliber Opponent

According to Chip Scoggins (Star Tribune), that commitment means Golden Gophers men’s basketball is expected to get 15% of the total $20.5 million, or $3.075 million. That amount alone would be 3X more than the NIL budget Johnson had to spend last year (see below). What’s left will be dispersed between women’s basketball, men’s hockey and volleyball.

Revenue-sharing models with other Big Ten and SEC schools show football taking priority, with 75% or more of the $20.5 million going to football players, a likely percentage for the Gophers…which could mean a 15% allocation of revenue sharing (or $3.075 million) to that sport.

Of the remaining 10% — $2.5 million — 5% is expected to go to women’s basketball, while men’s hockey and volleyball would split the final 5%.

Chip Scoggins – Star Tribune

Niko Medved promises bigger commitment to raising NIL funds

Last year, we know that Ben Johnson’s Gophers doled out right around $1 million in total NIL dollars, possibly less, depending on which report you believe. Either way, that number was up substantially from 2023-24. In other words, NIL was a struggle for Johnson from the very beginning.

Immediately after he was hired, Niko hit the recruiting trail. Not just for talent, but for NIL dollars too. Unlike his predecessor, Niko Medved understands the importance of NIL fundraising. If you don’t have money to pay players, you won’t be able to bring in talent. It’s really that simple.

How much NIL money were Coyle and Medved hoping to raise? In that same Star Tribune article earlier this month, from what Scoggins was hearing via “Gopher officials”, it was in the $2-3 million range, depending on how fruitful their fundraising efforts were. The hope was to accumulate $5-6 million for their total player budget next season.

And, per longtime local columnist Patrick Reusse (Star Tribune) — who would 100% know, based on his many connections within the Gopher men’s program — Medved & Co’s NIL endeavors have been extremely successful, producing near the peak of projections, or about $3 million.

Minnesota Gophers new men’s basketball player budget revealed

In total, that puts the Minnesota’s men’s basketball player budget for the 2025-26 season at the high side of previous projections, “in the neighborhood of $6 million”, writes Reusse — or 6X more than what Ben Johnson had at his disposal last year.

Medved will turn 52 in August. He has 12 seasons as the coach in charge. He is starting off with those experience advantages over Johnson, and also a program in which the AD is fully invested.

The Gophers now have a marginally competitive amount of dollars to spend on talent — in the neighborhood of $6 million (not stated directly by Medved).

Patrick Reusse – Star Tribune

If Reusse is correct (which I trust he is) then after months of talking, it appears both Coyle and Medved have delivered on their promises to infuse Minnesota Gophers basketball with cash that Ben Johnson could never even dream of, just one year ago.

After four years of Big Ten basement dwelling, Coyle hand-picked Medved as the savior of this program. There was no long hiring process, no search firm. Coyle knew who he wanted and he did not hesitate. Now, he has doubled down on that hire with cold hard cash.

Related: Niko Medved, Gophers Add 4-Star UNC Transfer Commit

As long as the House settlement goes through, as expected on July 1, we should see (in theory) a roster that is 6X better than what we saw out of Gophers basketball teams in recent seasons.

With all that being said, Niko has no excuses at his disposal, even in his first year. He’s already been loaded up with far more advantages in today’s college sports landscape than the previous coach ever had. Because of that, being new isn’t a worthy excuse for failure.

Mentioned in this article: Ben Johnson house settlement Niko Medved NIL revenue sharing

More About:Minnesota Gophers Basketball

Finding the right players within the chaos of the transfer portal is the key to success in almost every college sports program. It has fueled Nick Mingione’s turnaround at Kentucky, where the baseball program appeared to be in a rut, only to be rejuvenated with unprecedented success over the past three seasons.

Kentucky won back-to-back regional championships, culminating with a run to the 2024 College World Series. The Wildcats followed that up with an appearance in the 2025 Regional Championship, the first time the program has ever advanced to three straight NCAA Tournaments.

Advanced Metrics in the Transfer Portal

Kentucky is looking to build on that momentum this offseason by adding talented players from the transfer portal. It’s a vast space with over 5,000 players. The Bat Cats’ 2026 roster is not a finished product, but they currently have a top-five transfer portal class, according to 64Analytics. Mingione shared with BBN Tonight how his staff navigates the talent pool in the transfer portal.

“There is so much video. There’s also so much data that we can capture,” said Mingione. “We’ve created our own little system that we just plug in and crunch the numbers and see how these people do against all of these different things and metrics that we feel are important.”

Kentucky isn’t just looking for players with a good batting average. They’re examining how well players hit the ball against the fastest pitches they faced and how well they hit against certain types of pitches. Additionally, they are just looking at the highlights. They want to see where mistakes were made and if they’re correctable.

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How Players Fit In at Kentucky

That’s just one part of the equation. You heard Mark Stoops talk about finding “the right fit.” Mingione wants players who fit the Kentucky baseball culture and are willing to buy in.

“We put a ton of stock into the phone conversations. It’s one thing to be able to watch the video, to be able to see that they meet the metrics, but are they who we are? Are they going to thrive in this environment? And do they value the things we value, like being a family? Are they committed to winning in all areas of life? Are they into the development piece? There’s so many levels to this, so we put a lot of stock into phone calls. If things go well, then the background checks.”

This isn’t a background check where they run a name through a system. Mingione and his staff are calling coaches and scouts who have been around these players to get a feel for how they are in the clubhouse.

“It takes a lot of phone calls, because it’s one thing to figure out what someone can do skill-wise, but it’s hard to find out what’s in their heart. How do we find that? That’s where I feel like we’ve done a good job of not only having talented players, but the right players,” said the Kentucky baseball coach.

Kentucky Baseball 2026 Transfer Class

The death penalty in college athletics refers to the NCAA’s power to ban a school from a specific sport for one or more years. There have been multiple instances of this occurring throughout the NCAA’s history.

In 1952, the Kentucky men’s basketball team was handed down the death penalty for allegedly shaving points. Southwestern Louisiana was slapped with it in 1973. While several other instances have taking place over the years, the death penalty is most often connected to SMU‘s football program and how in 1987 the program was found out to have been paying its players.

Decades later, institutes may now pay their athletes directly and outside NIL earnings can help compensate them even further. With this in mind, former college football coach Urban Meyer explained the death penalty would be hard to impose within the current state of college athletics.

“No, not with the litigation, the amount of money that’s — think about the 70s. Now, you didn’t litigate back then,” Meyer said. “I don’t believe you did. Once again, I’m not an expert. I wasn’t around much, certainly not to the level of now. Back in the 70s, I mean, team could barely, you didn’t have a training table. Now, you’re talking about NIL and budgets and coaches making millions of dollars, players making money. So it was a much different animal back then.”

While Meyer believes it is much more difficult for imposing a death penalty in the modern age, it’s not impossible. Over 70 years later, the 1952 UK basketball team’s point shaving scandal is still worthy of such a punishment. With gambling becoming a commonplace among sports fans in recent years, there have been several instances of college and professional athletes getting suspended, dismissed or released due to their ties to gambling.

So far, there has been one instance of the death penalty being handed down to a school in the NIL era. In 2024, Notre Dame suspended its men’s swimming team for the entire athletic year for allegedly placing wagers among themselves regarding the results from their competitions. Athletes only bet in-house and only during their swimming meets. In addition, a group chat containing derogatory messages saw members fail to “treat one another with dignity and respect.”

There has been speculation that college athletics may move away from the NCAA in favor of adopting a governing body more equipped to handle its current landscape. What that means for the death penalty in college athletics, just like almost everything else in the ever-changing industry, remains to be seen.