Kings of the North College Football

Everything that held the North back on a national level – coaches, the geography of talent, and attitudes about how college football should be treated – seems to have leveled out. When Ohio State faced Notre Dame in Atlanta at the end of the 2024 season, it was a coronation for the North, one paved by the destruction of several of the South's biggest brands. In Episode 5 of The 25 Year Winter, Dou...

It's finally here, the episode of The 25 Year Winter where we get into the South's (sometimes alleged, sometimes well-documented) rule-breaking as it took over college football. But it's not just that. In Episode 4 of our five-part series, Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis are dissecting attitudes: what fueled the South as it so cavalierly pushed the envelope and how the North counted money, touted...

It's a draft of Heisman Trophy contenders on Kings of the North, as Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis are joined by Ari Wasserman and Andy Staples of On3 to pick 12 Heisman contenders. Each of the four drafters picks two favorites, one medium long shot and one big long shot, while discussing the most important players and teams heading into the 2025 college football season. Before that, Doug and Bil...

As the SEC took control of college football, demographic shifts helped fuel that dominance by ensuring the region was flush with a large percentage of the country's best high school football prospects. To compound the issue, the North started leaking too much of its best talent. What did it amount to? Sustained success for the South. In Episode 3 of The 25 Year Winter, Doug Lesmerises and Bill Lan...

How deep is the Big Ten this season? Maybe deeper than it has ever been? On this Kings of the North, Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis dive into what they think will be an 8-way battle in the middle of the conference behind expected Big Ten leaders Penn State, Ohio State and Oregon. What will separate the next eight teams? Who has the easiest schedule? The toughest? And how does the middle of the Bi...

One of the edges for the South over the North in their dominant era of college football? Coaching. Nick Saban and Urban Meyer drove a new era of SEC excellence -- as natives of the North who spent much of their careers coaching in cold weather before turning around Alabama and Florida. How did the Big Ten let these Northern sons get away? Lacking superstar coaching power, the North also fell short...

Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis wrap up Kings of the North's coverage from Big Ten Media Days in Las Vegas with a discussion about Michigan. How should we be thinking about the Wolverines in 2025? What impact will Bryce Underwood have? That and more from our final show from Las Vegas. Thanks for watching. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our colle...

Oregon won the Big Ten last season, went undefeated through the regular season -- and then the Ducks saw their season end in their first College Football Playoff game against Ohio State. Yeah, the Ducks are angry about that. On this Kings of the North from Las Vegas, Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis talk with three Oregon players and dive into how their views of Oregon may have changed, as the angr...

Penn State is the preseason favorite in the Big Ten, according to KOTN poll. Will the Nittany Lions live up to the expectations? How are they handling them? Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis check in from Big Ten Media Days in Las Vegas to discuss. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ohio State, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers kicked off the first day of Big Ten Media Days, and Kings of the North was there in Las Vegas to dive into all of them. Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis run through all six teams, while interviewing Ryan Day, Jeremiah Smith, Caleb Downs, Luke Altmyer and Athan Kaliakmanis among others. Indiana-Illinois as a huge swing game for the season...

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti opened conference media days touting the strength of a league that's had the last two national champions, and why he thinks his College Football Playoff model is the right direction for the sport. Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis give their takes on Petitti's comments, and then welcome Nicole Auerbach of NBC Sports for more reaction from Day 1 of Big Ten Media Days...

Big Ten Media Days are here, and Kings of the North will be bringing you coverage from Las Vegas all week. To kick things off, here is the KOTN Preseason Big Ten Poll, the largest and most comprehensive Big Ten poll out there. KOTN gathered 54 voters -- at least one beat reporter from every Big Ten team and two from most -- as well as 20 national college football reporters to put together this pol...

The South and the SEC took over college football starting in 1998 -- and the North and the Big Ten helped let it happen. This five-part podcast series will examine the how and why of that -- from coaches to players to attitudes to geography to cheating to luck. Between 1998 and 2022, the North won just two national titles as Alabama's Nick Saban and a host of other Southern champs put the North in...

What's going on the world of college football recruiting? KOTN dove in on the 400-plus blue-chip prospects in the 2026 recruiting class to see where there from, where they're going, what the emerging trends are and how the North is doing defending its turf and stealing players from the South. Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis also discuss Indiana's weak scheduling and a big recruiting win for West V...

With SEC Media Days underway, KOTN would like to remind everyone that the last time college football gathered in Atlanta, it was to watch two Northern teams play for the national championship, as Ohio State beat Notre Dame. Anyway, let's fix the College Football Playoff. The SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 want different things from the playoff, and Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis are here to talk out the...

It's Deion Sanders and Colorado vs. Fran Brown and Syracuse in the final KOTN Showdown of the offseason. Who would you rather be in 2025 -- the Buffs or the Orange? But first on this Kings of the North episode, Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis check in on some talk from Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark at the conference's media days. He touted the Big 12's returning production at quarterback -- co...

Could Oregon, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Kansas State and Illinois have their greatest college football seasons in program history in 2025? On this Kings of the North, Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis, look at their best individual seasons for their 28 Northern teams and see which teams had had them recently -- hello Michigan and Iowa State -- which teams had them a long time ago -- how ab...

What were the biggest college football recruiting wins in the North this summer? From Michigan to Pitt, from Notre Dame to Washington, from Ohio State to BYU, from Utah to Penn State, Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis explain the biggest recruiting moves and what they mean for Northern football. Then it's the latest KOTN Showdown, as two former Big Ten West foes square off: Minnesota vs. Northwester...

Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis are back with another Kings of the North, exploring the rebuild situations at West Virginia and Purdue and what's worked for successful turnarounds in the past. Then, it's another KOTN Showdown between the Mountaineers and Boilermakers. Who would you rather be in 2025? But first, BYU needs a new quarterback. Thanks for watching and listening to Kings of the North. H...

College football rivalry week continues on Kings of the North with 10 new rivalries that the sport could give us in the next decade, thanks to the College Football Playoff and the occasional appropriate push from conferences when needed. What could new rivalries like Notre Dame-Clemson, Ohio State-Oregon, BYU-Colorado and West Virginia-Cincinnati mean for college football? Then it's time for Doug...

What is college football's perfect plan for protecting rivalries, especially those rivalries that are not protected by conference affiliations? On this Kings of the North, Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis identify the 18 most important non-conference rivalries, starting with Iowa-Iowa State and Pitt-West Virginia, and then create a plan to keep them alive and thriving. Then it's the next-tier rival...

Ohio State vs. Oregon, the defending national champion Buckeyes vs. the Ducks, the only undefeated regular season team of 2025. Which college football program would you rather be in 2025? On this KOTN Showdown, Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis run through the Buckeyes vs. the Ducks at quarterback, skill positions, offensive line, defensive front seven, secondary, coaching and intangibles. And then...

Is college football's coaching hot seat a real thing? KOTN has always wondered about the talk around coaches in danger of getting fired, and dove in to investigate how coaching pressure really works, and which coaches should be worried or not in 2025. Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis will give you three categories of coaches who get fired, and candidates for each label, while reminding you there ar...

It's time for another round of College Football Playoff picks as Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis offer their updated predictions for the first time since the end of spring football. Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Florida, Texas -- which SEC teams are they picking? Who's the Big 12 champ? Will Notre Dame be back in the playoff? Which Big Ten teams will be in the postseason? Plus, a look at the odds to make...

What does the House vs. NCAA settlement that will allow the direct payment of college players mean for fans? Doug Lesmerises looks at the new world of college football from the fans' perspective to open Kings of the North. Then Doug and Bill Landis talk about the hiring process of Northern coaches -- how they got to their jobs, what hires made sense and didn't, how many were head coaches before. T...