SEC Football Unfiltered

Diego Pavia reacted to his second-place Heisman Trophy finish as only he would. "F all the voters," Vanderbilt's quarterback wrote on social media . Hey, he's talking about us! We're the voters. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams reveal their Heisman Trophy ballots and sound off on Pavia's response to not winning.  We take no significant offense to Pavia criticizing spor...

Did the CFP committee get the playoff bracket right ? Well, that depends on your perspective and your rooting interests. The bubble became awfully crowded, so not everyone was going to come away happy. Overall, Alabama and Miami seem like fair choices, but the course the committee charted to reach that destination became an exercise of the absurd. On today’s episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer an...

If you’d formed a list of candidates LSU should pursue after it  fired Brian Kelly , it might have looked like this: 1. Lane Kiffin 2. Revert to option 1 and get it done. LSU got it done. Lane has landed in Baton Rouge. Now, what does it all mean? For Kiffin, leaving Ole Miss on the doorstep of the playoff marks a sharp pivot in his redemption story and revives his renegade past. At LSU...

Two SEC schools will lose the Lane Kiffin sweepstakes . To the victor goes Kiffin, and all that accompanies this mercurial renegade. To the losers go ... a coaching search. In the meantime, Kiffin's current team pursues a playoff bid. Ole Miss must win the Egg Bowl to solidify its playoff footing. Never mind the Kiffin drama, says Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss , because the team remains "l...

Greg Sankey once mused about the SEC staging its own College Football Playoff . He didn’t follow through, but his conference has an outside shot of claiming half the spots in a 12-team playoff. Not bad, eh? The bubble’s getting awfully crowded, so what’s the most realistic outcome for the SEC? On today’s episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams consider the playoff for...

The  buyout  gods rested. The  money cannon  ran out of gunpowder. The  firing squad  took a weekend off. Folks, we just got through  a Sunday with no college football coaches fired . Do you believe in miracles? Are the firings finished for this season? Well, about that ... On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams discuss a few SEC coaches who mig...

The firings will continue until morale improves. Auburn became the latest SEC school to succumb to misery, firing Hugh Freeze on Sunday to put an end to his awful tenure. This becomes Auburn’s third firing in six seasons at a program that once punched at the highest level. As the Tigers limp toward what would be a fifth consecutive losing season, it begs the question: Is this still a good jo...

Brian Kelly came to LSU talking like Nic Cage from "Con Air" and promising national championships. He left a fired coach, with no national titles but plenty of buyout money on the way. LSU is hiring, adding an injection of rocket fuel into the coaching carousel. Of course Lane Kiffin will be attached to this search , but he's not the only brand name worthy of consideration. On today's episode, hos...

All Florida Gators fans want is the second coming of Steve Spurrier . Is that too much to ask? Not if Lane Kiffin wants the job. Kiffin is a slam dunk choice for Florida, but it's not a slam dunk he'll say yes. He's found success and stability at Ole Miss, where his Rebels are a playoff contender. What if Kiffin says no? On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams consider nine candid...

James Franklin is on the market, kicked to the curb by Penn State . He's a proven program builder, and, within the SEC, there are programs that need rebuilt. He's shown he can win in the SEC, too, having succeeded at Vanderbilt. True, he's got a history of flopping in big games, but he's a steady performer. Would any SEC programs be up for such steadiness? On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer...

College football’s 2025 season has become a fraud fest , and Texas auditioned for a starring role during a loss to Florida at The Swamp. Was that enough to get Billy Napier off the hot seat? (No.) But, the result pushed Texas closer to the brink of elimination from College Football Playoff contention, and it raised more questions about Arch Manning . On today’s episode, hosts Blake Top...

Hello darkness, my old friend. Let the ' Grumors ' begin again. Where will they end? Very likely, in the same place they always do: With Jon Gruden not coaching college football. Arkansas does need a coach, though, after firing Sam Pittman, so who if not Gruden? Bobby Petrino? No thanks. That’s another bad idea. On today’s episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams consider potentia...

The SEC’s rivalries are set , at least for the next four years.  The nine-game conference schedule will preserve most premier rivalries, but there are some notable omissions. Alabama-LSU will not be kept annually. Neither will Florida-Tennessee. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams sound off on the SEC’s assignment of annual opponents. They highlight the teams...

Oklahoma is back! OK, so that’s a bit premature, but programs have been declared resurrected based on less evidence. Seriously, though, when evaluating SEC teams after three weeks, who’s playing better than Oklahoma? Combine the Sooners’ stout defense with cool-handed transfer quarterback John Mateer, and they’re playing like the SEC's most balanced team. Speaking of good d...

It’s Billy Napier vs. The Field in the race within the SEC to claim the season’s first buyout check. Florida’s embattled fourth-year coach coughed up the goodwill he built at the end of last season by losing at home to South Florida in Week 2. Gators fans exited The Swamp chanting for Napier’s firing. On this edition of “ SEC Football Unfiltered ,” hosts Blake T...

The Kalen DeBoer bandwagon has emptied out . It’s been left to rust. The Script A translated to awful in Alabama’s season opener, and if you're left holding stock in DeBoer, it's trading at a 52-week low. Alabama has about 60 million reasons (aka DeBoer’s buyout) to stay the course with its beleaguered coach. Talk of the hot seat probably remains a wee premature, but there’...

Everyone’s cooking up their final College Football Playoff predictions before the season kicks off, but here on “ SEC Football Unfiltered ,” we’re serving something unique. Why not put two heads together to create the ultimate playoff projection? On today’s episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams team up to create a single bracket. Each host gets to select six t...

College football is back. And its Week 1 lineup of games is as good as ever. Arch Manning will try to deliver a road victory for No. 1 Texas at No. 2 Ohio State, and No. 9 LSU will aim to assert itself as a contender against No. 6 Clemson, in what will be a pivotal game for Brian Kelly . LSU has never won a season opener under Kelly, who’s entering a pressure-packed season. Hype and pressure...

Auburn will retire Cam Newton's jersey number this season, an honor for a quarterback who delivered one of the greatest individual seasons in college football history, complete with a national championship. Newton's got company in the conversation for single-season greatness. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams reminisce about some of the most stellar individual seasons they'v...

Jon Gruden says he'd " die to coach in the SEC ." We must assume he's being hyperbolic, but the former NFL coach sounds serious about wanting to coach again – and wanting to coach in college. He's not the only former coach with an eye toward new opportunities. Former Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher says he's up for a return to the sideline , too. This projects as an active year for the hot...

The SEC buried the Big Ten in the US LBM Coaches Pol l. Fire up the preseason chants of superiority, but that will mean squat come College Football Playoff selection time. In fact, the SEC's poll takeover could be a sign of a playoff path filled with landmines, while Big Ten frontrunners Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon and Illinois enjoy cleaner routes to the postseason. On today's episode, hosts B...

Since the College Football Playoff’s inception, Alabama has never gone consecutive seasons without making the field. By missing the playoff last season, the Crimson Tide missed the program’s standard in Kalen DeBoer’s debut. He knows it . Now, Alabama has retooled with effective offseason maneuvering, but is it enough to make the playoff in the face of a tough schedule, with a ne...

No SEC football coaches were fired a year ago. What's the encore to that? Well, buckle up for a particularly spicy hot seat this season. Proud programs like Oklahoma, Auburn and Florida starve for success at a level their current coaches haven't proven they can supply. The hot seat doesn't stop there, either. On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams identify their top five SEC coac...

It was a matter of time before a media member introduced the rumor that Nick Saban wants to return to coaching. Greg McElroy did the honors this week, saying that someone "in the know" told him that Saban will coach again. McElroy later denounced the rumor he started. By then, it was too late. The rumor had gained oxygen and made the rounds at SEC media days . Never mind the veracity of this specu...

Auburn’s athletic director says the Tigers are determined to do things " the right way ." Never mind that Auburn’s recruiting class ranks last in the SEC . Have patience. Athletic director John Cohen’s words echo the sentiments of coach Hugh Freeze, who admits Auburn's recent approach is "not really to our advantage." Who cares about rules nowadays? Insisting on doing things "the...