Author: alaskaadmin

Week 2 of the college football season was nothing but thrilling. Oregon and Oklahoma faced massive upsets, Texas claimed the No. 1 spot in the rankings and Bob Chesney and UCLA are continuing to prove their offseason hype in the regular season. Notably, Mississippi State’s Kamario Taylor defeated its first Big Ten opponent on the road for the first time since 1980. But after two weeks, where do some teams sit in terms of their outlook on the rest of the year? On “The Joel Klatt Show,” FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt broke down teams that fall into three categories: Time to panic, stay calm and get excited. Time To Panic Klatt’s thoughts: “If not for those two defensive scores, that is a route. A route! The film was alarming for Oregon. On both sides of the ball. I think it’s time to panic. It’s not just the result, now they’re dealing with some injury issues… Injuries are always going to happen, there’s no doubt, but you don’t want them to happen when you’re trying to right the ship. “I was on a deep dive in both last year’s film from Oregon, and this year against Boise State, and what did I find? Oregon has run-pass tells in their offense, and this is a devastating deal… but the film was also alarming on the defensive side.” Klatt’s thoughts: “Oklahoma doesn’t have an offensive line and they cannot run the football. And in order to move the ball, John Mateer has to be Superman, or they’ve got to create explosive plays. And they couldn’t do either of those things against Michigan last week. Can you really rely on splash explosive plays the entire season? I don’t think you can, it’s ultimately what their Achilles heel was a year ago.” Klatt’s thoughts: “Washington barely snuck out a win against Utah State, 16-14 last week. The offense has not clicked, and that’s where Jed Fish’s experience and expertise lies. And yeah they’re 2-0, but I’m sitting here looking at their schedule and I’m like, ‘Oh I don’t know about this.’ “The offense has been hit by a ton of injuries right now. They lost their top two running backs. They lost wide receiver Christian Moss to a leg injury. Starting wide receiver Rashid Williams, he’s week to week… they’re banged up right now.” Klatt’s thoughts: “Does ‘panic’ encapsulate Florida State? I don’t think it does. Fired their athletic director on Monday – by the way that was the same guy who gave Mike Norvell his extension, so handwriting is on the wall there. The athletic department finished the 2025 fiscal year with $437 million of debt. Yikes. “The debt thing is a big deal, because if you fire Mike Norvell in the middle of the year you’re going to owe him $50 million… it would be roughly $800,000 a month until 2031… I bring all of that up because this roster is limited, reportedly it’s in the bottom half of the ACC as far as funding goes. They’re 3-14 in their last 17 ACC games. And look at their next four games against Power 4 opponents – this is like panic, panic, panic: at Alabama this weekend in Tuscaloosa; Virginia, which is a good team, they’re ranked; Louisville, which is a very good team, almost beat Ole Miss; and at Miami, who we think is one of the best teams in the country.” Klatt’s thoughts: “Time to panic. They were 8-0 last year at one point behind Haynes King. Now all of a sudden, they’ve lost six of their last seven. Their only win was a fourth quarter comeback against Boston College. I don’t love that. I don’t love the trajectory that’s going on at Georgia Tech. I just don’t. It’s time to panic there.” Stay Calm Klatt’s thoughts: “I think it would be easy to get excited based on the way that Colorado ran the ball against Georgia Tech, the way that they threw the ball last week against, granted, FCS Weber State, but this looks different. This looks a lot more real than any of the versions of Colorado. You see their nine-win team with Travis Hunter, Heisman trophy winner and Shedeur Sanders at quarterback – they largely just had elite, upper-level skill position players, and then got by everywhere else. This looks a lot more fundamentally sound. “They changed their philosophy over the offseason. They went from trying to go after splash recruiting and roster building to production over potential roster building, and it shows. They’re a lot tougher on the line of scrimmage, their defense can actually play up front, they’re committed to the run – they do it with a tight end and a fullback at times, which I really love that physical aspect of the run game.” Klatt’s thoughts: “Let’s all relax about Ohio State. Would they have liked to win that game? Obviously. Were they in position to win that game? Yes… Let’s just take a bit of a chill pill, can we? I mean this is a team that was dominating Texas in their building for three quarters, basically. Are they going to be ok? Yes, they are going to be ok. Mainly, the one they’ve got to get fixed is the fact that their defense was exposed late to volume. That’s what happened… What killed Ohio State was the fact that their defense was on the field for the entire fourth quarter and part of the third. So what’s the fix? Well. you’ve got to figure out the red zone. They’re going to have to find a run game in the red zone, and find ways to execute better in the red zone.” Klatt’s thoughts: “Cautiously optimistic about BYU. I think that they are very good, but what we don’t know is can they level up? We’ve seen this before. I know Bear Bachmeier is a grinder and he’s a good player. I know LJ Martin is a good player. I know you’re going to play solid defense. I know all these things – I know you’re going to beat teams that are at your level or below. “I don’t know what to make of BYU at that level until they play Notre Dame, until they play a Texas Tech.” Klatt’s thoughts: “I’m going to stay calm. Let’s let Keelon Russell get good at quarterback. I wanted to get excited about them, and not because of Russell and not even because their defense was dominant against Kentucky… this other element showed up in the second half against Kentucky…they stayed committed to the run game…and they ran for over 150 yards. Now that’s a blueprint, a blueprint that allows you to keep the pressure off of your young quarterback. He’s going to continue to get better. “I’m cautiously optimistic about Alabama… I think they’ve got real high potential, a high ceiling if they can run it, bring their quarterback along, and allow him to be explosive both in the pass game and in the run game down the stretch. Klatt’s thoughts: “The freshman are really good, I love what they’ve got going out there. At wide receiver, Trent Mosley is a star, Kayden Dixon-Wyatt is very good. Their tight end, Mark Bowman, he’s excellent. Luke Wafle, their defensive end, is one of the better freshmen defensive ends that I’ve seen in a long time – he creates havoc in the backfield. And this is looking like what Lincoln Riley told us about over the course of the offseason. “But I’m going to be cautious with this one, and the reason is I still want to see it from a defensive perspective against better competition. I still need to see them play well, get after the quarterback and more specifically stop the run in a big matchup-style game.” Get Excited Klatt’s thoughts: “I’m excited about UCLA. Now, this doesn’t mean I think they’re going to the playoff. This means that, if I’m a UCLA fan, I am thrilled with how this season has started. You’ve got an experienced quarterback in Nico Iamaleava…Wayne Knight has been tremendous… (Bob) Chesney knows what he’s doing. He brought that entire staff, he brought all that core of players, this is a team that I think is going to knock somebody off in the Big Ten that we don’t expect them to knock off in the Big Ten. That’s a real team.” Klatt’s thoughts: “I am absolutely thrilled and excited about Miami. I think they’re better than they were a year ago. Here’s the thing that I’m going to hang my hat on: Darian Mensah looks like an upgrade at quarterback from Carson Beck. He looks dynamic, and that’s scary because they’re still dominating at the offensive line level. “They’re still dominating at the defensive line. That’s the DNA of their program, they’ve recruited very well… the one thing that gets me the most excited: Malachi Toney. Malachi Toney is an absolute cheat code. He is phenomenal, you can get him the ball anywhere and he can dominate a game.” Klatt’s thoughts: “Yeah it was sloppy for Texas, but I’m excited about Texas. If I’m a Longhorn fan today, I am fired up. Why? Because the ceiling has now been lifted off of my program. [Coach Steve] Sarkisian said it himself in the postgame presser: ‘Now we know we can.’ That was the most important comment, from any coach, across America on Saturday. “What’s more dangerous than a talented team? A talented team that believes. And now Texas believes. It wasn’t pretty. In fact, they’re watching the film thinking to themselves, ‘We should have won that by more.’ … I’m excited about those backs. Woo! Those backs can run, man.” Klatt’s thoughts: “You could tell me, ‘No, no, no, Joel, you need to stay calm.’ I’m not going to stay calm, I’m going to get excited about Michigan. And here’s the reason why: they won Kyle Whittingham’s way. His DNA was all over that field. He won the tug of war. “New coaches have to go in and win the culture of that locker room. And to win the locker room over, you’ve got to be more steadfast than the locker room. And that’s what that win did for them against Oklahoma. They did it with man coverage – that’s Kyle Whittingham. They did it with great pass rush. That’s Kyle Whittingham. And they did it running the quarterback, being rugged on offense. That’s. Kyle. Whittingham.” Klatt’s thoughts: “I am excited about Mississippi State, and I think you should be too. They’re quietly out there. They went up there and hammered Minnesota, and that’s not a bad Minnesota team… That’s a really good win for Jeff Lebby and Mississippi State. I love their quarterback, Kamario Taylor. He’s the new star on the block. This kid can throw it, he’s athletic. He’s big, 6-foot-4, 230 pounds. He’s mobile, he’s got an absolute cannon. This kid executes this system really well. “They will beat someone that raises your eyebrows in the SEC this year. I’m excited about Mississippi State this year. I really like them. Defense is playing well. In particular, last week didn’t allow an offensive touchdown against Minnesota.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Jerseys line the walls of attorney Tom Mars’ South Florida office, affixed to wooden paneling above a marble countertop. As the unofficial legal representative for anyone intent on challenging the NCAA, Mars has made a living navigating the dramatic shifts in the college sports ecosystem over the last two decades. That brings its share of memorabilia and cherished tokens of appreciation from clients he holds dear — even if, Mars concedes, he isn’t the world’s most devout college football fan. Ex-Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields’ jersey is part of the collection. Former Michigan and Ole Miss signal-caller Shea Patterson’s uniform was also previously in the gallery before it was relocated to Mars’ son’s place in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The most recent addition? A powder blue top signed by Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss. “College football as an industry is better off because Trinidad Chambliss is playing this season,” Mars told me during a recent phone conversation. “Everybody wants to believe his story isn’t over yet.” College sports are in a constant state of flux as rapid professionalization and commercialization have fundamentally reshaped the enterprise. The collision between an era of amateurism and unfettered capitalism has seen more issues resolved in courtrooms than anywhere else. Chambliss’ offseason eligibility case was a microcosm of this evolution — a clash between establishment and school over rules and regulations of a recently past era. The NCAA deemed he was not eligible to return to college football, arguing he had used up his allotted four years, first at Division II Ferris State in Michigan and then Ole Miss. The school contended he should receive a medical redshirt for a year he missed while battling respiratory issues during his days at Ferris State. The fight landed in a Mississippi courtroom in February, with a circus-like fanfare normally reserved for the Neoshoba County Fair or Saturdays at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Those involved admit they never quite experienced a hearing like it in their lengthy legal careers. Then again, the Rebels’ College Football Playoff hopes weren’t predicated on those hundreds of previous legal proceedings. “I always had confidence in me being back here, me being the quarterback at Ole Miss,” Chambliss said during SEC Media Days in July. “My case was valid. It was the truth, all that. So, my confidence never went down or up. It was always pretty high.” But before a packed courtroom celebrated Chambliss’ initial legal victory, before the broader world knew quite what the Rebels had in their quarterback and before Ole Miss’ head coach darted under the cover of night to Baton Rouge, the efforts to bring Chambliss were already well underway. “This is Lane Kiffin,” read a December 17 text message flashing across Mars’ iPhone. “Please call me.” ‘Ole Miss Was Always Home’ Mars isn’t one to respond to messages blindly. Sure, his number has been passed around media and college football circles. But a random text from a coach like Kiffin? That was less believable. Checking his voicemail, Mars received a call on top of the text, but the AI transcript misspelled Kiffin’s name as “Kiffen.” Surely it wasn’t real? He called back anyway. “I got out of representing players in eligibility cases like five years ago, and I haven’t done it since,” Mars told Kiffin. “But I’ll be glad to look at it, and if it has merit, and if the family and Trinidad want me to help them, I’ll see what I can do.” That December discussion spelled out what would turn into months of work; that Chambliss had battled illness during his time at Ferris State; that he might be eligible for another year and that the school was willing to support him in his endeavors. “After the third game, there were conversations internally about ‘Hey, there’s a real possibility given his medical history that he could get another year,’” Walker Jones, executive director of Ole Miss’ Grove Collective, told me. “We didn’t publicize that, but we were talking about it internally and the process had kind of started during the back half of the season.” Mars later enlisted the help of local attorneys. A friend of a friend connected him with William Liston — general counsel for the Grove Collective — and Mississippi-based attorney Trey Byars, a pair who formed the backbone of Chambliss’ legal team. Mars passed along a case file to Liston in early January detailing Chambliss’ bouts with respiratory issues during his days at Ferris State. Liston took a first glance at the paperwork as he boarded a plane from Memphis to Phoenix for Ole Miss’ Fiesta Bowl matchup against Miami. “What do you think?” Liston’s young son asked as the plane touched down. “This is a winner,” he said. That legal proceedings were in the works, however, didn’t ease the complex timing. Rumblings around the college football world suggested Chambliss would follow Kiffin to LSU — which Mars vehemently denied — or turn professional. “Did he entertain going to LSU? Maybe,” Ole Miss athletics director Keith Carter told me. “But I think, in his mind, Ole Miss was always home.” At the time of his February hearing, the quarterback had been training for the NFL draft in California. His eligibility limbo, though, put Chambliss weeks behind other prospects, given the uncertainty over whether he could actually return to school. “We really struggled for a little while there,” Byars said. “We were like, ‘Can we even really bring him back for this hearing? He is so far behind on training out there.’” Another thought crossed Byars’ mind: “What if we lose?” ‘Wasn’t Going To Be Denied’ There’s an old tale about Pittsboro, Mississippi, the tiny village north of nowhere and east of everything else. Tucked between the towns of Bruce and Calhoun City, a feud between the two municipalities — which still enjoy a healthy high school football rivalry on either side of the Skuna River — meant neither could agree on where to house the legal seat of Calhoun County. They found a middle ground. “Those two towns can’t stand each other,” Byars recounted. “So they just split the difference and stuck the courthouse there [in Pittsboro].” The two-story tower on the northeast corner of the courthouse is the highest structure within a country mile outside of a 120-foot, 47,000-ton cross down the road on Highway 9 that can be seen from its steps. The one-stoplight street splitting the center of town includes a handful of forgotten storefronts and the only two restaurants around — a run-down Mexican joint and Taneli’s, which triples as a lunch counter, tanning salon and live music venue. The courthouse sits opposite these establishments, its parking lot flanked by a decrepit dwelling overflowing with random knickknacks ranging from an old pink dog cage to plastic paint buckets and an aged grocery store cooler. It’s here that Chambliss’ college football future would be decided. “He wasn’t going to be denied in that courtroom,” longtime Mississippi newspaperman Rick Cleveland, who covered the hearing, told me. There are only around 150 people who call Pittsboro home. The crowd gathered at the Calhoun County courthouse that February day was almost twice that. Mars, Byars and Liston had already planned to have Chambliss escorted into the courtroom via a back entrance, while his legal team would enter through the front door. That plan changed when Byars’ powder blue GMC Sierra crawled into the parking lot, and he saw the crowd that awaited. The lawyers decided to follow Chambliss through the back door entry as well. Inside, the jury box next to the defense table was filled with reporters. The benches behind the bar billowed with curious onlookers, legal representatives and even former Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, an Ole Miss graduate who’d been intrigued by the NCAA’s ongoing fight for control. “You had a pretty good-sized crowd of supporters, probably mostly for Trinidad,” Musgrove told me. “I don’t think the NCAA had any supporters there, or at least cheerleaders.” Chad Logan, the pastor at First Baptist Church in Calhoun City and brother of a local sports media pundit, opened the proceedings with a prayer over Chambliss and that his eligibility might be restored. “We know you are the God who has extended to us eternal salvation,” Logan said, per Mississippi Today. “… You extended King Hezekiah’s life for 15 years. So since you specialize in extensions, we are asking for one more extension here today. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.” Cleveland leaned over the bench between breaks to ask an NCAA lawyer about the opening sermon. “If God is against us, we’re in trouble,” they chided. The deliberations lasted eight hours as Chambliss and his mother, Cheryl, explained the finer details of respiratory problems that forced him to miss his entire second season at Ferris State. Chambliss, who did not dress or play a snap during the campaign in question, told the court Ferris State head coach Tony Annese suggested he would receive a medical redshirt for the missed year. Ole Miss assistant coach Joe Judge discussed the potential opportunities Chambliss might miss by not gaining another year of eligibility. The NCAA, meanwhile, argued the quarterback’s medical records showed he forwent surgery that would’ve effectively allowed him to play that season, instead managing the issues with medication. “Looking back on it, I wish that waiver process had gone a different way,” Carter told me. “We feel like it should’ve gone a different way, but obviously happy with the outcome and happy that Trinidad’s back with us this year.” Back in Oxford, the Ole Miss football staff buzzed about the Manning Center. A video feed of the trial played inside the building, allowing coaches and administrators to keep tabs on the happenings just over the county line. Chambliss was eventually granted his injunction by Judge Robert Whitwell around 4:15 p.m., but not before NCAA lawyers departed the courthouse in an effort to make it to Knoxville, Tennessee, for another hearing. Whitwell threatened to hold the departing lawyers in contempt of court for their actions. The judge closed the proceedings by reading each word of his 30-plus-page decision, a tear or two trickling down the Ole Miss law school grad’s face as he delivered his findings. “The center of the college football universe was a small town in Mississippi featuring a deli/tanning salon across the street from the courthouse, a Mexican restaurant, a judge shedding tears and the plaintiff signing autographs,” joked Michael Katz, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal’s Ole Miss beat reporter. “Does it get any more 2026 college football than that?” ‘Embracing Every Moment’ Chambliss looked into the camera, arms hanging at his sides, fresh sweat from the evening’s last-second win over Louisville still glistening on his face, and grinned. “Going into this game, I’m super blessed to put the Ole Miss football jersey on again and to represent Rebel nation and ‘Hotty Toddy,’” he said last week during a “SportsCenter” hit with ESPN’s Nicole Briscoe. “I’ve been taking it day by day, embracing every moment and really every bit of it.” That Chambliss is back is about more than legal proceedings or a team of lawyers that, in their mind, exploited outdated NCAA regulations around eligibility. The ex-Division II signal-caller is believed to be among the country’s highest-paid quarterbacks. Jones declined to share exact specifics, though offseason reports suggest Chambliss is being paid in the neighborhood of $4.5 million. That kind of cash is its own wrinkle in college football’s new world order and how quarterbacks, in particular, weigh their draft options. Opendorse, a leading NIL data provider, issued its annual report this summer that suggested Power Four quarterbacks being paid $1.5 million annually are in the 90th percentile of earners. On3 reported in August that high-profile passers like Dante Moore (Oregon), Darian Mensah (Miami), Josh Hoover (Indiana) and Demond Williams Jr. (Washington) were each making around $4 million or more this season. Those figures easily rival first-year pay scales of first-round NFL rookies, creating more incentive for players who aren’t surefire early picks to consider sticking in college football an additional year. “The real issue is not can $7 million convince [a player] to stay, but, ‘How does he value himself? Do you value yourself as a first-round pick? Do you value yourself as second or third? Do you value yourself as a starter in the NFL?’” Cliff Stein, a longtime Chicago Bears front office staffer-turned-college sports consultant, told me. “… You’re not competing against money. You’re competing against the clock that has started to run. “You’re one year removed from where you can make big money [on a second contract]. You’re one year older. You’re [on a] one-year risk of injury and decline in performance. So if you value yourself now, at the end of this year as a first-round pick, you don’t know if that will change.” Chambliss himself is an intriguing NFL prospect. His height (6-foot) and lack of experience in a pro-style offense have him behind a number of the bigger names in this year’s loaded quarterback class, but his consistency has intrigued many. FOX Sports NFL draft analyst Rob Rang slotted Chambliss as the No. 9 quarterback in the 2027 class, just behind USC’s Jayden Maiava, former Cincinnati signal-caller Brendan Sorsby and South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler pegged Chambliss as a likely Day 2 pick last year. This season? The evaluation is more complicated, though he could easily climb with another dynamic campaign. “Chambliss was viewed as a likely middle-round prospect by the NFL scouts I spoke to prior to his decision,” Rang told me. “His production suggests he should go higher, but there was some skepticism as to how well he’d be able to acclimate to an NFL offense and his size is also concerning to some. “It was not lost on the NFL that Chambliss entered last season as a backup and that it was his only season at the Power Four level.” Back home in Florida last week, Mars reflected on working with Chambliss and the memories of that day in the Pittsboro courtroom. Shortly after the hearing, a box arrived at the house, addressed from Oxford. Inside was the jersey that now hangs in his office. Mars has since added another layer to his support for the Rebels quarterback, who will face his former coach when LSU comes to town on Saturday for one of the most anticipated Ole Miss football games in school history. “I think I’m the only person in South Florida flying a Trinidad & Tobago flag on my boat,” Mars quipped over text. If Chambliss leads the Rebels to victory on Saturday over Kiffin’s Tigers, flags won’t suffice. A statue in The Square might be more appropriate.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports