NIL

Lessons from Levi

Published

5 months ago

August 22, 2025

The defining act of Timmy Chang’s life was one of defiance.

A high school All-American quarterback at Saint Louis, Chang held offers from some of the premier programs on the West Coast. Schools such as California, USC, Washington and Utah all lined up for his services.

Levi Chang wanted to see his son spread his wings and ascend to the Mainland, but Timmy Chang wanted to be different. He wanted to stay home.

Timmy Chang became the crown jewel of Hawai‘i’s 2000 recruiting class, which remains in conversations as perhaps the school’s greatest ever in local football circles. Chang spurned multiple Pac-10 opportunities for a program that went winless in 1998.

“We shared a lot of special moments,” Chang told Aloha State Daily of his father. “I don’t think he necessarily wanted me to stay home, and I get that because a lot of parents are the same way. My parents were the same way, ‘don’t stay home, boy, go experience (something different).'”

Chang went on to become a four-year starter at UH, setting an NCAA record for career passing yards. In 2022, he returned to become the head coach of his alma mater. His fourth season at the helm begins on Saturday at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex when the Rainbow Warriors take on Stanford at 1:30 p.m. in a game that will also be televised nationally on CBS.

Described as a disciplinarian, Levi Chang was a school administrator who also coached basketball and officiated college football games. A common assignment was serving as a play clock official during Hawai‘i games at Aloha Stadium. He was there when his son broke the NCAA career yardage record on Nov. 6, 2004 against Louisiana Tech. After delivering a seven-yard touchdown pass to Jason Rivers, Chang retrieved the ball and ran across the field to give it to his father.

Although Levi Chang was present for his son’s most memorable moments as a player, he suddenly passed away on Sept. 9, 2015, just as Timmy Chang’s coaching career was beginning to take off.

As the 10-year anniversary of Levi Chang’s death approaches, Timmy Chang continues to try to honor his father by the way he raises his own family with his wife, Sherry, and their five children.

“He was very loving, but very honest, upfront about what things had to be, why things had to be the certain way they did,” Timmy Chang said. “I find myself having those conversations with my kids now, and it’s pretty special.”

The course of Timmy Chang’s football career led him to multiple countries and states, a path that eventually led him back to his alma mater as head coach. Along the way, his father has remained a major influence.

Timmy and Levi Chang 2 082125 — Levi Chang witnessed Timmy Chang’s biggest moments as a football player. (Courtesy Chang family)

Finding love

Timmy Chang’s professional career never quite panned out the way he had hoped. After going undrafted in 2005, he signed with the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals but was cut during training camp. Although he quickly latched on with the Detroit Lions, he was cut before the regular season.

In 2006, the Philadelphia Eagles stashed Chang away to Germany, where he played for the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe. The Eagles then released him before the NFL season.

The next year, Chang relocated to Canada, where he played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL from 2007 to 2008. Although his time in Canada was brief, it was there that he met Sherry, a Hamilton native who served Chang during a team dinner at a local restaurant.

“He was a complete gentleman, and we just hit it off right away,” said Sherry Chang.

Timmy Chang returned to the restaurant the next night to ask Sherry out on a date, and “the rest is kind of just history,” she said. They’ve been together 17 years and married for nine.

Noting his humility and charm, Sherry Chang said she didn’t know about the type of fame Timmy Chang had on the Islands until the couple took a trip to Las Vegas.

“I knew nothing about football when I met him,” Sherry Chang says. “Didn’t know what a first down was, none of that stuff. Everyone was stopping him, wanting pictures and autographs. I was like, wait a second. Who is this guy? I had no idea.”

Another thing Sherry observed about Timmy? His relationship with his parents.

“His mom and dad are Timmy’s biggest fans,” Sherry Chang said. “Even when we were in Canada and I hadn’t met them yet, Timmy would call his parents every single day and talk to his dad about football and that was kind of their thing together.”

Timmy Chang family 2 082125 — (Courtesy Chang family)

Starting from the bottom

In 2009, Timmy Chang retired from football and returned home with Sherry. He decided to pursue a career in coaching, but first, he had to graduate from UH.

Sherry was by Timmy’s side, helping him send emails to every single FBS school. None got back to him.

“You don’t realize how hard it is actually to get your foot in the door,” Sherry recalled.

The first person to take a chance on Timmy Chang as a coach was Mililani’s Rod York. It was the spring of 2012, and York decided to bring Chang on as the team’s offensive coordinator. In the interim, Chang was also a teaching assistant and substitute at the school. He also started a clinic on the side where he trained players.

Chang never actually got to coach a game at Mililani. June Jones, Chang’s coach at Hawai‘i, offered him a spot on SMU’s staff as a graduate assistant. In the months before he was set to report, Chang still sat with York for hours on end.

“All of a sudden I get the call from June, and I had to break it to Rod,” Chang recalled. “Rod had no offensive coordinator at the time, but I said, ‘Hey, Rod, I’m gonna stay until July.’ I’m gonna give you everything I know and we’re gonna sit here every day. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. … I owe so much to him for that opportunity.”

Timmy and Sherry Chang then moved to Dallas, cramming their small family into a one-bedroom apartment. Chang was a GA making $1,500 a month. With one baby and another on the way, food stamps and EBT were part of how they made ends meet.

Losing Levi

Later in Levi Chang’s life, he began making regular visits to the hospital for dialysis as a result of his diabetes.

After progressively losing feeling in his legs, Levi fell while walking up the stairs and hit his head. Although he was hospitalized, he was coherent and continued to have football conversations over the phone with his son. His death was sudden and unexpected. He was survived by his wife, Mary Ann, daughters Leigh Ann and Mary Elizabeth, and son Timmy.

Not having his father as a sounding board anymore made Timmy Chang wonder if he wanted to continue coaching.

Timmy Chang, the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at Jackson State at the time, decided to push forward.

The next child Timmy and Sherry had was in October 2017, a baby boy named Levi.

Timmy and Levi Chang 082125 — (Courtesy Chang family)

Not just any gig

Timmy Chang went on to run the offense at Emory & Henry before coaching receivers, tight ends and special teams under Jay Norvell at Nevada from 2017 to 2021.

Norvell accepted the job at Colorado State following the 2021 season, taking Chang and his family with him to Fort Collins.

Over in the Islands, the University of Hawai‘i football team was undergoing serious peril. In the midst of a mass exodus of players to the NCAA transfer portal, an impromptu Senate hearing was held to address the state of the program under then-head coach Todd Graham on Jan. 7, 2022. Former and current players, senators, attorneys and even York himself took turns airing their grievances on a virtual video call. Graham resigned a week later.

College coaches, across all sports, have a tendency to romanticize the notion of coaching at their alma mater. Timing is everything in the industry, and suddenly Chang was getting his shot after Jones turned down a two-year offer from former UH athletics director David Matlin.

Before accepting the position, Chang had to take a step back and consult the people in his corner. One day, he was sending out emails to schools, praying one would respond. Less than 10 years later, his alma mater came calling, a place he had never coached before.

“Jay Norvell, he put it really simple to me. He said guys like you and me, we don’t get jobs like this,” Chang recalled. “And that really hit home, because you never know when you get an opportunity, and the opportunity was now.”

When asked about Chang at Mountain West media days in July, Norvell leaned back and grinned.

“Yeah, I love Timmy. He’s like a brother to me, and he just is so loyal, so smart about the game. He’s so authentic,” Norvell said. “One of the most important things about coaching is that you have to be yourself or the players are not going to follow you, and players love Timmy because he’s authentic. He’s a great competitor. He’s very smart. He understands all facets of the game, offense, defense, special teams, obviously, was a great quarterback.

“When he was with me he never just went through the motions. He really tried to be outstanding in all those areas, and I think that helped him be a better coach. And that’s why I thought he’d be such a great head coach, because I saw how he worked and how he interacted with the players and, you know, this is a hard game. You got to be hard-nosed and and tough-minded, and Timmy has that as well. Sherry, his family, they’re a football family, and they’re great people.”

Chang also got his family to sign off on him accepting the job, and getting their permission was not something he took lightly.

“The pressure is not just on him. It affects the entire family and if he doesn’t do well, the scrutiny, it’ll affect all of us — his nieces going to school, his nephews and our children in the community,” Sherry Chang said. “He wanted to make sure that everyone knew what we were going to get into and if we were all on board. Right away, we were like, whatever you do, we got you.”

Growing pains

After moving to the Mainland and gaining 10 years of coaching experience, Chang returned home to a massive undertaking. The vast majority of players who left via the transfer portal were already enrolled at their new schools. Some recruits who had committed decided to sign with different programs. Morale was at an all-time low for the players who stayed. All the while, the team did not have a permanent stadium to play in.

By the time the Rainbow Warriors opened fall camp, they had 53 newcomers enter the fold. Chang and his staff had to get creative in finding recruits, looking places where others wouldn’t.

Local initiatives, some spearheaded by Timmy and Sherry Chang, were created in order to heal a fanbase that still had fresh wounds from the previous regime. Sherry Chang co-created the “Sistahhood Social,” an event for women to learn more about the team and football in general while raising funds for the program.

In 2022, Hawai‘i was still a program that was trying to recover from years prior in real time. The Rainbow Warriors trudged through a 3-10 season with a depleted roster. Losing, and the negativity from the public that came with it, took a toll on many around the program.

“There’s days I didn’t want to get out of bed,” Sherry Chang said. “We had definitely had a lot of dark days. I could just cry right now…”

Sherry Chang pauses. Tears start to form. Her voice breaks.

“We just love this team and these boys so much,” she said. “We pour literally everything we have into this program and sacrifice so much of our family time. It just means so much to us. Trust me, it hurts us more than anybody, especially [Timmy Chang]. He’s not gonna stop until it’s right. I’m really proud of what he’s done in three years, even though people don’t necessarily see it yet.

“But I feel like what he’s done with the culture and the community, he’s made huge strides, and I just know the winning’s going to come.”

“As a first-time head coach in the first year to now, there’s so much you’re processing and learning and going through,” Timmy Chang said when asked about the 2022 season. “And so as you go through those things, they all make you stronger. They make you better. You know what to do now. You know how to do it. You know what’s important.”

Moving forward

After Timmy Chang went 13-25 in his first three seasons at the helm, the growing sense around the University of Hawai‘i football team is that the hardest parts of the rebuild are over. The UH coaching staff feels as though in 2025, it finally has the team it’s been painstakingly building towards.

Some recruits the staff took a chance on, such as receivers Pofele Ashlock and Nick Cenacle, have become established impact players. Meanwhile, after winning the recruiting battle for quarterback Micah Alejado, the lefty from Ewa Beach is set to fully take the reins behind center. While some players were lost to the transfer portal with six-figure promises, others resisted and stayed.

“Timmy has had to build it from under ground zero,” said UH defensive tackles coach Jeff Reinebold, who witnessed Jones undergo a rebuild as a member of his SMU staff in 2008. “June had to build SMU from ground zero, but he had the assets. Timmy has had to come in and not only rebuild his roster, but he’s had to fine tune his coaching staff, he’s had to go out in the community and raise funds for a really underfunded program.

“What he’s been able to accomplish, and now hopefully a breakthrough year, and Chris (Brown) and everybody that’s contributed, we were subterranean [in 2022]. I mean, we were underneath the floor. … This team is better, it’s closer, it’s tougher than it’s been in a long, long time. What Timmy has done, if people see him on the street, they owe him a mahalo and a hug, because he has put this thing back in a position where we’re ready to now be Hawai‘i again.”

(Aloha State Daily Staff)

Timmy Chang family 3 082125 — Timmy and Sherry Chang have five children: Audri-Lee (14), Lion (12), London (10), Levi (7) and Adriana (4). (Courtesy Chang family)

Looking back

Timmy and Sherry Chang own an O‘ahu house and live in it with their five children, quite the upgrade from some previous stops.

“When we think back, that’s why I think we can appreciate so much of what we have now,” Sherry Chang said. “We try to always treat everybody with kindness because we were once in those positions and it can be taken away from you so quickly. We try to really just be where our feet are right now, and just enjoy and appreciate a lot of the things. But yeah, it wasn’t easy. We’ve moved schools countless amounts of times, and had children that we had to support, and so, I mean, it was rough for a little while, but I can’t believe where we are now for sure.”

The balance of raising five children while having the responsibility of resurrecting his alma mater is one Timmy Chang knows couldn’t happen without his wife.

“She does an unbelievable job. I would not be sitting here without a rock and support like Sherry, and so very grateful,” Timmy Chang said.

Although Timmy Chang’s father never got to see him rise up the coaching ranks to become Hawai‘i’s head coach, his presence remains.

“His dad would have freaking loved everything about this, just seeing him and seeing what he’s accomplished,” Sherry Chang said. “I honestly feel like, truly, when his dad passed, he definitely had a hand in Timmy’s career and where it went and the success he found. They had such a close relationship, a great relationship, and I know he was a big part of shaping who he is now.”

Timmy Chang attended the University of Hawai‘i against his father’s initial wishes. He was eventually able to show him why.

“It was something like validation,” Chang recalled of handing the record ball off to his father, which currently resides in his mother’s home. “Like, this is why we stayed home, dad. We stayed home because we wanted this thing to be special, right? I wanted to bring value back to this state and make this place my home eventually.

“That’s why giving that ball was so special. It was countless hours and nights and days of talking, training, success, failure, crying, getting hurt, triumph. Along the way, it’s just all built up for dad. Hey, man, we did it. This is why we did it.”

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up here for our free Daily Edition newsletter.

Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.

NIL

Bo Jackson could leave Ohio State, seeking major NIL deal

Published

12 minutes ago

January 9, 2026

Your Sports Nation

After Ohio State’s College Football Playoff exit at the hands of the Miami Hurricanes, the Buckeyes have been bleeding players to the transfer portal.

22 Buckeyes have entered the portal as of Wednesday afternoon, including two running backs, James Peoples and Sam Williams-Dixon.

Now, Ohio State may be at risk of losing a third, the program’s star freshman.

Ohio State portal entries so far, with 9 Days left in the portal:
– QB Lincoln Keinholz
– RB James Peoples
– RB Sam Williams Dixon
– WR Quincy Porter
– WR Mylan Graham
– WR Bryson Rodgers
– WR Damarion Witten
– TE Jaleni Thurman
– IOL Tegra Tshabola
– IOL Jayvon McFadden…

— Swish (@swishxvibes) January 7, 2026

Ohio State running back Bo Jackson may be entering the transfer portal if the Buckeyes cannot meet the desired amount he and his camp are seeking. According to WBNS-TV, Jackson is seeking an NIL deal that would surpass what Ohio State’s running backs earned last season and rival some NFL rookie contracts.

“From what I understand, the request from [Bo Jackson] is more than what TreVeyon [Henderson]’s salary was for the New England Patriots this year,” Jeremy Birmingham said on The Beat with Austin & Birm Thursday morning. “And, more than both TreVeyon and Quinshon [Judkins] made in their final year at Ohio State, and maybe combined.”

Per reports from On3, Judkins’ NIL valuation at the end of his Ohio State career was $1.1 million. For Henderson, while less than his counterpart, reportedly made over $700,000 at the end of the 2023 season.

Additionally, Henderson’s contract with the New England Patriots is a four-year rookie deal valued at just over $11 million, with a $4.7 million signing bonus. Henderson’s rookie year base pay with New England is $840,000, with a $1.1 million signing bonus.

Based on those figures, it appears that Jackson and his camp may be requesting the Buckeyes to pay somewhere in the realm of $1.8 million to retain the freshman.

If all the rumors are true, Ohio State will have to decide whether spending a huge chunk of its NIL money to pay just one starter is worth not letting him slip into the transfer portal. A nearly $2 million NIL deal for Ohio State would cost around 10 percent of the program’s total NIL budget of last season, which Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork said cost around $20 million.

Ohio State will have to decide if Jackson’s freshman performance is worth the high pay. During his first year as a Buckeye, Jackson rushed for 1,090 yards (No. 24 nationally) and six touchdowns (No. 120 nationally) over the span of 13 games. Jackson averaged 6.1 yards per carry.

In Judkins and Henderson’s final seasons with Ohio State, the running back duo both rushed for more than 1,000 yards each and combined for 24 rushing touchdowns in 16 games.

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College football program loses 34 players to transfer portal

Published

1 hour ago

January 9, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Just one year ago, Colorado was one of college football’s most talked-about success stories.

The Buffaloes finished 9–4 in 2024, riding national attention, high-profile transfers, and head coach Deion Sanders’ star power into bowl relevance and Big 12 respectability.

As a result, expectations entering 2025 were significantly higher, with the belief that continuity and experience would push the program forward.

Instead, the season collapsed: Colorado stumbled to a 3–9 record, managing just one conference win and struggling on both sides of the ball.

The Buffaloes routinely found themselves outmatched, and the optimism that defined the previous year slowly gave way to frustration as the team lost its final five games, including back-to-back conference losses to Utah and Arizona, both of which saw Colorado allow 50-plus points.

Adding insult to injury, former blue-chip recruit Kam Mikell announced his decision to enter the transfer portal on Wednesday, becoming the 34th Colorado player to leave the program since the end of the season.

A highly regarded, four-star recruit (No. 2 ATH in the 2024 class by 247Sports) when he arrived, Mikell was initially viewed as an offensive chess piece capable of contributing at wide receiver or in the backfield.

In 2025, Mikell’s role shifted primarily to the run game as Colorado searched for offensive answers, appearing in 10 games and totaling 75 rushing yards on 19 carries (3.9 yards per carry), along with two receptions for 5 yards.

Despite his athletic upside, a defined role never materialized, ultimately leading him to pursue another opportunity elsewhere.

More concerning, however, is that his exit reflects a broader exodus that has rapidly reshaped the roster.

Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver Kam Mikell. — Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver Kam Mikell (18) runs the ball during the second quarter against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium. | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

More than 30 scholarship players have entered the portal, highlighted by leading receiver Omarion Miller (808 yards, eight touchdowns on 45 receptions) and leading tackler Tawfiq Byard (79 total tackles), along with several linemen and depth contributors.

The volume of departures is among the highest in the country this cycle.

This level of churn is not entirely new under Sanders, who, since arriving at Colorado in 2023, has aggressively leveraged the transfer portal to rapidly overhaul the roster with experienced college players and high-profile recruits.

To his credit, those exits have been paired with incoming talent, as Colorado has already added 22 transfers, including Texas linebacker Liona Lefau, Missouri offensive tackle Jayven Richardson, and Notre Dame cornerback Cree Thomas.

Still, the scale of departures following a losing season is far from ideal.

NIL

UCLA lands a top transfer in James Madison running back Wayne Knight

Published

2 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Your Sports Nation

UCLA has landed a transfer who could hasten Bob Chesney’s rebuilding efforts.

Wayne Knight verbally committed to following Chesney from James Madison to Westwood on Wednesday, giving the new Bruins coach a high-quality running back to pair with quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

Showing what he could do on a national stage last month, Knight ran for 110 yards in 17 carries against Oregon in the College Football Playoff. It was the fifth 100-yard rushing game of the season for Knight on the way to being selected a first team All-Sun Belt Conference player.

Combining excellent speed with the toughness needed to break tackles, the 5-foot-6, 189-pound Knight led the conference with 1,357 rushing yards. He also made 40 catches for 397 yards and averaged 22.3 yards on kickoff returns and 9.5 yards on punt returns. His 2,039 all-purpose yards were a school record, helping him become an Associated Press second team All-American all-purpose player after ranking third nationally with 145.6 all-purpose yards per game.

Knight, who will be a redshirt senior next season in his final year of college eligibility, becomes the seventh player from James Madison to accompany Chesney to UCLA, joining wide receiver Landon Ellis, defensive back DJ Barksdale, tight end Josh Phifer, edge rusher Aiden Gobaira, right guard Riley Robell and offensive lineman JD Rayner.

UCLA also has received verbal commitments from Michigan wide receiver Semaj Morgan, Florida wide receiver Aidan Mizell, San Jose State wide receiver Leland Smith, Iowa State running back Dylan Lee, Boise State offensive tackle Hall Schmidt, Virginia Tech defensive back Dante Lovett, Iowa State defensive back Ta’Shawn James and California edge rusher Ryan McCulloch.

But no incoming player can match the production of Knight, whose highlights included a career-high 211 rushing yards — including a 73-yard touchdown — against Troy in the Sun Belt championship game, earning him most valuable player honors for the Dukes’ 31-14 victory.

Knight will join a group of running backs that includes senior Jaivian Thomas (294 yards rushing and one touchdown in 2025), redshirt senior Anthony Woods (294 yards rushing in 2025) and redshirt freshman Karson Cox (nine yards in two carries during his only appearance as a true freshman).

With Knight on board, the Bruins presumably have their starting running back in Year 1 under their new coach.

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NIL

LSU’s $3.5 million NIL offer to Cincinnati transfer QB Brendan Sorsby revealed

Published

3 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Former Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby took over the title as college football’s most-expensive player after reportedly inking a $5 million agreement with Texas Tech, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. Sorsby formally committed to the Red Raiders on Sunday night over heavy interest from LSU and new head coach Lane Kiffin.

According to Nakos, Sorsby’s deal with free-spending Texas Tech will make him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in college football in 2026 after former Georgia QB Carson Beck signed a $3-3.5 million deal with Miami last offseason that could reach $5-6 million with incentives. Duke quarterback Darian Mensah earned $4 million this past season after transferring from Tulane.

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But before the oil money-backed Red Raiders raised the financial bar, LSU and Kiffin reportedly offered Sorsby a financial package much more in line with the Mensah deal last year, proposing a $3.5 million offer, according to documents obtained by Yahoo! Sports insider Ross Dellenger. LSU’s Sorsby offer included a third-party NIL marketing deal through the Tigers’ multi-media rights partner, Playfly Sports Properties, that would be exempt from counting against the school’s revenue-sharing cap, per Dellenger.

Documents: LSU proposed to QB Brendan Sorsby a $3.5M NIL guarantee thru its MMR partner.

In a fascinating window into QB bidding wars, schools are using corporate sponsors to exceed the cap with lucrative promises that haven’t yet passed the clearinghousehttps://t.co/5Or09TFtk9 pic.twitter.com/pOztmpsOK2

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 7, 2026

The 11-page NIL contract between Playfly and Sorsby, obtained by Dellenger, was never signed and is purely a proposed service agreement. Though it does provide an interesting look at how schools are utilizing outside NIL agreements to develop a compensation package without exceeding college football’s $20.5 million salary cap that stems from the House vs. NCAA settlement in June.

Dellenger also points out that the proposed contract would be, in theory, only a portion of Sorsby’s total compensation. The NIL deal even includes certain language suggesting LSU also planned to compensate Sorsby through direct revenue-share payments from the school, likely in the range of at least $1 million for a total figure that would be competitive with Texas Tech‘s $5 million package, per Dellenger.

The $3.5 million NIL deal is a marketing guarantee created by Playfly through NILSU MAX, an independent, self-sustaining collective formed in conjunction with LSU athletics and Playfly to “identify and secure NIL opportunities for Tiger student athletes,” according to the university’s website.

As Dellenger points out, the Sorsby contract obtained by Yahoo! Sports “shines a light on the method in which universities — not just LSU — are assembling financial packages for some athletes: with a portion of direct university revenue-share payments, plus a portion of NIL third-party guarantees that have been promised yet not cleared.”

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SEC’s great college football ride over

Published

4 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Your Sports Nation

How big did ESPN crash with its unfettered bias in promoting the SEC for postseason play?

Well, it’s hovering around a face plant.

The network’s favorite horses for college football’s greatest prize have mostly faltered.

Only one SEC team is left in the playoffs.

And what this all means is the SEC has been caught by the rest of college football. It is no longer, in a competitive sense, light years or even a bright blinking stop light, ahead of the rest of the Power Four conferences.

If the ACC’s Miami beats the SEC’s Mississippi Thursday night, ESPN and the CFP committee greasing of the SEC pathway was felonious piracy of playoff money.

When the SEC loses one of its biggest foghorns in Paul Finebaum, you know that storied, propped-up league is in the doldrums and exposed in the era of NIL, where everybody else can pay their players.

Finebaum, a longtime Alabama radio host and national TV personality, went on ESPN’s “First Take” on Tuesday and admitted, even he, voted by Awful Announcing.com as the most biased personality in college football, could not defend the SEC this season and its limitless hypothetical victories.

The CFP committee gave the SEC five of the 12 playoff berths. The SEC is 2-7 in bowl games this postseason.

No. 9 Alabama, gifted a berth after almost losing to two-win (SEC) Auburn got annihilated by No. 1 seed Indiana. No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 3 Georgia have all been eliminated. Only No. 6 Mississippi remains and plays No. 10 Miami Thursday night.

Here’s Finebaum’s admission.

“There’s no way to defend the SEC,” Finebaum told “First Take” with Stephen A Smith. “It’s been terrible.”

“I kept wrapping my arms around Alabama and saying, ‘Stephen A. remember what they did, they went through that gauntlet in the middle of the year,” said Finebaum.

“Well, a lot of those teams they beat really weren’t very good after all. They lost in bowl games, and they looked terrible. So it’s a rough year for the SEC. Ole Miss is it, regardless of the Lane Kiffin story, which I know we’re going to talk about. But if Ole Miss loses Thursday night and I’m sitting around having to defend this league to you, Stephen A. saying ‘No big deal that it’s three years without an SEC team in the national championship game’ there’s no defense. It’s been rough,” Finebaum admitted.

Writing for ESPN, longtime college football pundit Dan Wetzel put it this way:

“It’s not that the SEC isn’t still “good” or even capable of winning a national championship — Ole Miss might very well do it. Top to bottom, it might still be the best league, with the majority of schools all-in on football.

“That said, the days of complete domination, all-SEC national title games or deep, juggernaut teams are clearly gone, perhaps forever. This isn’t the same.”

What’s happened is both good and bad.

Good because college football television viewership is skyrocketing. It’s never been so popular to follow, watch and get involved in what’s going on between the sidelines.

It’s bad because of all the chaos, movement, gaudy money numbers and purchase of talent.

For the SEC, revenue sharing, NIL and the transfer portal has spread around talent to other programs and hurt the depth of their own teams.

Alabama used to be the king of talent. So was Georgia.

Now we’re seeing those storied programs get pushed around, ran past and chased down and tackled.

Illinois coach Bret Bielema told ESPN this week, “This is the most fun I’ve ever had in coaching because you know you’re on a more equal playing field. The introduction of the portal, NIL, and revenue sharing is the most game-changing development in my 32 years of coaching.

“It’s hard when you would do what you have to do as long as you possibly could and in the end, sometimes it just didn’t matter,” Bielema explained about recruiting back when he was at Arkansas and Wisconsin.

“Now you just come to work every day knowing that blue blood, red blood, orange blood, whatever, everybody’s got a chance, man.”

Before Texas Tech’s tires blew out against Oregon, we saw the Red Raiders purchase themselves a Big 12 championship and berth in the CFP.

We’ve seen Indiana, check that, Indiana, become the nation’s darling and No. 1 team in the country and favorite to win it all.

Ohio State is home. Oklahoma is home. Texas is watching from home with Georgia and Alabama and Penn State.

The door is open.

Yes, it’s all kind of a mess.

But recent chaos has become the game’s equalizer.

It has also exposed the raw brand worship and advancement of SEC teams by the media, especially ESPN, the owner of CFP television rights for all the games.

ESPN’s interest? Is it really determining a fair field? Or advancing its ratings by picking brands for increased revenue?

The fact the SEC gets an unfair advantage in preseason polls, then rides that with questionable scheduling and far too much credit for intra-conference wins, has been exposed.

It is a mess that’s taken the SEC off its high saddle ride and made the rest of the cowboys eligible to enjoy the roundup rodeo.

The College Football Playoff logo is printed across a backdrop during a news conference in Irving, Texas. | AP

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Oregon’s Lanning, Indiana’s Cignetti talk Peach Bowl, CFP in Atlanta

Published

5 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Jan. 8, 2026, 9:20 a.m. PT

ATLANTA — Ahead of the College Football Playoff semifinal matchup between No. 5 Oregon football and No. 1 Indiana, the sometimes prickly and often witty and snappy personalities of head coaches Dan Lanning and Curt Cignetti shined Jan 8 at the College Football Hall of Fame down the road from Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The coaches traded barbs about friendly competitions throughout the week, like signing footballs before the press conference, and discussed the transfer portal, affairs surrounding collegiate athletics and the upcoming Peach Bowl Jan. 9 in Atlanta.

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