Bill Bender, Sporting News College Football Reporter

Bill, thank you for taking the time to join us.

It's good to be on. Hey, I returned one kickoff in my life in high school, and I got lit up. So that was a very short-lived life as a kickoff returner.

But you know, that was many, many years ago. I know I can't do it now. Hey, listen, we're in the same boat.

I am not catching the football to run anywhere. Them days are over, Bill. They're over. They're over.

But speaking about the guys who do and can, I want to talk to you about this. There's been a lot. This is a wild summer. I can't keep up with the transactions and the transfer portal and the teams. It's like, we got teams that move. We have coaches that move. We have divisions that move. Like, this is crazy.

Let me start here. What has been the biggest story between the National Championship and today? I think Nick Saban retiring. You know, obviously, and the hole it creates and the expectations on Caleb DeBoer. They had a bunch of guys transfer. Caleb Downs, maybe the best player in the country. He goes to Ohio State. But I'm starting to come around the other way on Alabama.

You start to realize, hey, Dylan Monroe was very efficient once he took a hit, a hold of that starting job. They have a lot of four and five star talent coming back. And Caleb DeBoer took Washington to a National Championship game in two years. And oh, by the way, they won the SEC last year.

So I'm back around. And I know Nick Saban is a huge presence, the largest presence that we miss on Media Day. I actually have a question for you.

I was asking some people today. With Saban gone, do you have the biggest presence on the podium? I think he does. I can't come up with somebody else that does. Your name, the name, I missed the name.

Say the name again. Theon Prime. With Saban gone. Oh, Theon, of course.

Of course. And I was thinking about that today because Saban had such a presence on the podium at SEC kickoff where everybody listened. That's the way I could describe it, because he was going to say what he was going to say. We all listened. And I felt like that about Theon this week. Theon wasn't over the top. But he says something. We all listen for better or worse in between.

Yeah. Theon Sanders is like it's like going to church. Every press conference is like going to church and everybody has to take communion and listen to Theon. And how do you think he's going to perform with all of these these new transfers that are coming in? He raved about the new offensive line. He's he's bigging up his players.

Of course he is. But I mean, what are they going to do in the new Big 12? Well, I think I've been making this analogy with the new video game. They're probably going to be the most popular team on it because they have the highest ranked quarterback in Chidor and the best receiver in Travis Hunter.

So if I'm playing video games, I'm throwing deep every play. And I can't wait to play that, by the way. Real life is going to be interesting to see. I think on their starting projected starting lineup, two guys that haven't transferred at some point. And they did address the offensive and defensive line.

That's where it starts. That's what caught up with them in October and November last year. If that improves, I do think they're going to grab hold of the consciousness again, like they did last year. I think September right off the go that Thursday night opener against North Dakota State. We're going to tune in. We're going to be interesting. And Chidor, I mean, I think he absolutely is going to be a top five pick.

And I feel like I feel like I'm saying that with confidence. I really do believe he'll be that. The Bill Bender is joining us from the sporting news. You talk about Deon and we talk about Saban being gone.

Somebody else is gone. And we discussed him when we discussed him earlier on in the show is Harbaugh. This man is now coaching the Chargers. Michigan is now has Moore leading the ship. We know the formula up at Michigan. But Sherone Moore, as he didn't wake up yesterday, we know McCarthy is also gone. What's going to take place between Michigan and an even Ohio State moving forward? How long is Moore going to get a leash? I think this year is a bit of a honeymoon.

And I realize which program I'm talking about. Just that they won their first national title since 1997. Sherone proved himself in the biggest state as possible. You know, they beat Penn State on the road. They beat Ohio State.

He held it together. And they've recruited well in terms of they're not getting a ton of recruits. But the recruits they're getting have high star ratings. So I say all this, their schedule is brutal. Texas comes to Ann Arbor. USC and Oregon come to Ann Arbor. They got to go to Washington.

They got to go to Ohio State. To me, 9 and 3 or 10 and 2 is a successful season this year with that schedule. And losing 13 guys to the NFL draft, including their quarterback.

But you know, they are a program where that's not going to last forever. If they go 9 and 3 this year, coming back to 2025, you're expecting 10 and 2 or 11 and 1 with that program that Jim Harbaugh and Sherone Moore, because Moore was definitely a part of that, that they built there. The Bill Bender joining us from the sporting news. You mentioned Texas going on to take on Michigan. We know Texas, Oklahoma.

Old days are gone. They now come on over here to my neck of the woods and the SEC. With the college football playoff being expanded, obviously this is to their benefit. How do you think they're going to perform this first year in SEC? You know, if you would have told me three years ago that Texas would be more prepared for this than Oklahoma, I probably would have shook my head in disbelief. But I think the Longhorns have the best quarterback room in the country right now with Quinn and Arch. And they have guys behind those two.

It's wild to me in that they have stability with SARC. They've really built a good program there. Oklahoma's not too shabby either.

They won 10 games last year. And yes, the bowl game was bad, but lots of proud programs. And I think both of those programs are so psyched to wear that SEC patch on their uniform because it's going to help in recruiting.

You know, especially in the trenches. I think with Oklahoma, that's my big thing. In the playoff, got beat by LSU, Georgia, Alabama, and got beat up front. So do they make the necessary adjustments up front if the athletes that can win?

And no, it makes us to see it. I really do believe this 16-team SEC, it's going to come down to a war of attrition of sorts. Who can get through the toughest schedules? You know, some of these teams have absolutely brutal schedules. Oklahoma and Florida in particular. Well, Bill, you mentioned those Bulldogs.

I still feel kind of bad. My next-door neighbors didn't get into the playoff last year. I would say it's a foregone conclusion they'll get in this year. How do you think they're going to perform with the new competition?

They're still going to be right there. And their schedule's tough. Clemson, Alabama, Texas, Ole Miss, they play them all. It's like four or five top 10 teams. Carson Beck coming back huge. He settled in last year.

Really good performance. They lose Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkie. They're going to have to find some answers there. Defense is loaded. Kirby Smart's got it. He can play the underdog card.

He loves playing it anyway. Now he's going to definitely tell us that nobody believes in them because they didn't make the playoff last year. And they were one bad half away from possibly winning three straight national titles, in my opinion.

But it's going to be interesting to see. I think they're in that first tier of the SEC team, along with Alabama, Texas, and Ole Miss. So Bill, you talk about people being proud to have the SEC on their chest. We know that people are proud to be in the Big Ten. I want to talk to you about the ACC, because it's been rumored, it's been reported, and I think we've heard this for years now, honestly, that Florida State and Clemson, they're looking at all the money everybody else is making in different conferences, and that they want to bail.

Like, we got lawsuits. How realistic is it that over the next several years, Florida State and Clemson bail, and the ACC looks like the Pac-12 of the East? I really hope this doesn't happen.

I really don't. I didn't like that the Pac-12 died. I wouldn't like it if the ACC did. I think Clemson and Florida State, I hope they can straighten it out, but I understand the revenue gaps, and particularly with Florida State, when you're competing with Florida, and Clemson, who's competing with South Carolina in their own state, and Clemson's won two national titles in the last 10 years.

So I understand all that. I just wouldn't want to see this happen. If that domino were to fall, though, I know the Big 12 was being speculated about this, and that was just a scenario.

That's a long way off from that even becoming a real thing. I mean, what's stopping the Big 10 from going after those schools? At least Florida State. What's stopping the Big 10 from going from Florida State and Miami? And if you're really making an NFL-type cross-country conference, if I was the Big 10, this is speculation that there's nothing behind it.

If I was the commissioner, that's what I would do. Well, Bill, I'm going to ask you this question. I ask this to everybody, and there's no answer.

Nobody has an answer. But how are the conferences going to continue to evolve? Like, what is college football going to look like 10 or 15 years from now? I mean, are we looking at a group of five, a power five, a top two? What are we doing? I think it almost breaks down into three divisions, sort of, because to me, with the revenue-sharing piece of this coming, how many schools can actually play like that?

I think 40, 44. And the talk of a Super League, that gets squashed a lot. But I mean, I think there's gaps within the SEC. There's gaps within the Big 10. I watched some Big 10 games, and I'm like, maybe it's unfair to use Ohio State, but there are some teams that simply don't belong on the field with them. And it's like that in the SEC.

You know that. You know it's like that in the SEC, too. So how many teams can play like that? NIL, revenue-sharing, paying players. How big are the coaching staff now?

I mean, you've seen the team pictures, right? I mean, how many schools can actually afford to do that will be the big question in the next five to 10 years. Yeah, it's crazy. You think about the consolidation and what might happen. You know, why can't we just have the television distributors? They're the ones throwing around the money. Let them figure it out. It's quite interesting.

It really is. When you take a look at this upcoming season, who are you favoring to walk away with a national championship? Well, you know, all these preseason publications, ourselves included at Sporting News, have Georgia at number one. I think Ohio State, I'm a little surprised they're not number one on a couple of them. I think those are the two teams to watch, obviously. Who's built to win three playoff games? Who has the competitive depth to do that?

I think those two. Alabama. Oregon's really interesting to me because they're coming into the Big Ten transfer quarterback. Dan Lanning has recruited well. They're going to be fast. They're going to score a ton of points. They're going to be aggressive. They're kind of that team I'm watching that, okay, they could come in.

I watched them beat Ohio State a couple years ago in the shoes, so I know they can come into the Big Ten right away and compete. Bill, appreciate the time. What the hell are you going to be doing between now and August? Do you get a break? You slow down a little bit?

Hey, we're going to the beach this weekend up on Lake Michigan for my son's lacrosse tournament. Then I got to get to work. I think summer's over and it's time to get to work, right? And anytime I get to talk to you, it's not work. This is so it's not work. This is so much fun.

Hey, I enjoy chatting it up with you all the time, Bill. You're getting an exclusive copy of college football. What is the game called? College football. What are you a sports college football?

Twenty five. I'm looking forward to playing it, dusting off the old skills. It's been a while, but but I know I can return kicks on that a lot better than I can in real life. Hey, I'm in the same boat.

I'll sign up for the video game violence and not the real ones. Bill, enjoy the beach and we'll be talking to you soon, OK? Hey, no problem.

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