How CFB actually works
Let's pile up a collection of real-talk explainers. We don't have to talk about the way college football is supposed to work; we can just talk about what it actually is. We're all friends here.
How Army rescheduled a 12-game season in two months
West Point will now host eight games if the 2020 season is played entirely
Requesting Comment
Power imbalances have made it nearly impossible for college athletes to talk honestly to the media without risking their careers.
Why gaps are the most important building blocks of every play
Once you understand the ABCs of football, you can begin to understand anything else about the sport as well.
How college strength coaches are handling quarantine
The simple answer: the same way everyone is doing anything right now.
6 ways to make the NFL’s stupid Wonderlic thing actually good
Let’s not only test intelligence in better ways, let’s get some good TV out of it.
Your new head coach will probably be gone within 4 years
It’s time to start saying goodbye.
Here’s what we should do when coaches leave after Signing Day
This should cost someone money. That money should go somewhere specific.
The states that produce the least college football talent
How long’s it been since your state had a five-star?
Each CFB signing class averages 2.5 different #1 recruits
Congratulations to your school and its rival for both signing the #1 recruit.
25 lies to tell yourself each National Signing Day
It's the most self-delusional time of the year, and everyone's gonna tell the same lies together!
How 1947 Michigan helped the Chiefs win the Super Bowl
And more about Fritz Crisler, one of the most important football coaches ever.
The 8 types of football coach
Which kind of football coach are you?
All the ways Ole Miss’ fake pee changed the world (updated)
On Thanksgiving 2019, a Mississippi man pretended to pee like a dog. Then nothing was the same.
Ambition Tiers: How boldly should *your* CFB team schedule?
Whether it’s a good idea to challenge yourself depends in large part on who you are.
Dynasty Mode: The 7 ways CFB dynasties end
Let’s pick a metric that gives us a list of dynasties, and then let’s find some common threads.
The weird Granddaddy: How the Rose set six strange standards
Why are bowl games called "bowl games?" The answer to that and several other questions go back to the Rose Bowl.
Four hours is all we need
Most of the time, the Rose Bowl is a cog in the machine it created. And then one afternoon each year, it’s a dream made real.
The first Rose Bowl was one of the worst games ever
Fittingly for this sport, the 1902 Rose Bowl was ugly as hell, made a lot of money, and spawned a tradition that lasted generations.
Nope, adding bowls hasn’t meant less competitive bowls
If you want to watch evenly matched football, then here’s some good news: now we have a lot more of it.
23 excuses for losing your bowl game, ranked by desperation
A guide to talking around an embarrassing postseason L.
The 6 biggest lessons of the Early Signing Period era
The introduction of a December signing period has crunched the recruiting calendar and created competing incentives.
Cars: college football recruiting’s most storied currency
The most American invention has always fueled the market of the most American sport.
Do recruits remember your school’s last national title?
Here’s how old they were the last time your team won something big.
CFB has SO MANY Coach of the Year awards. Let’s make each unique
You know how the NBA has hilariously literal awards like "Most Improved Player?" Let’s make all 9,000 of college football’s coaching awards just as specific.
So you want to fire your coach without paying his buyout ...
Here’s how it might be possible for colleges to exploit the NCAA’s enormous rulebook in order to get out of deals they don’t like any more.
What do search firms actually do?
This is why athletic departments pay tens of thousands of dollars, even if they end up hiring their first choice anyway.
College football’s many GAMES OF THE CENTURY, somewhat ranked
Every few years, we get a game of the century. Let’s codify that a little bit and see which GAMES OF THE CENTURY are truly OF THE CENTURY.
Introducing RUTGERS GAMES, a specific kind of CFB blowout
You know that feeling when a Power 5 team has no hope whatsoever of competing against a supposed peer?
The Realignment Window: Winning when the good teams leave
Leaving for a better conference sounds enticing. But what if you stay put and win your depleted league? These are the best teams ever at doing that.
Rutgers invented basically nothing about college football
After the first football game, "The Birthplace" had little to do with the sport’s evolution. And was that first game even football?
How Playoff rankings actually work: short and long versions
The committee’s rankings release every Tuesday in the latter half of the season.
FAQ: What regular people should know about Cali’s amateurism law
We’ll keep this updated as needed.