It is July 7th. College Football Live returned to your television today for the first time since last season ended, which means the most dangerous two weeks of the year — the period before SEC Media Days when coaches and fans are legally allowed to believe anything — is officially underway.
First, let's pour one out for the 2026 NFL Draft, which just mercifully concluded. The SEC set a new record with 87 total selections, because of course it did. Alabama and Texas A&M each put 10 players in the league, Georgia added eight, and the conference collectively spent the weekend reminding everyone that it doesn't matter how the regular season goes if you're churning out first-rounders. Touching moment. Very cool. Meanwhile, Garrett Nussmeier — the former LSU quarterback who spent two years being hyped as a future lottery pick by Tigers fans — slid all the way to pick 249, landing with the Chiefs. Two hundred and forty-nine. LSU fans who spent 2024 arguing he was top-five material are currently experiencing a very specific kind of grief that has no name but absolutely should.
Speaking of LSU and their entirely reasonable expectations: Lane Kiffin went on Tyrann Mathieu's podcast in June and promised the Tigers a national championship. Not 'we're building toward something.' A flat-out, unprompted title guarantee. This was already unhinged on its own, but then Urban Meyer went on Fox Sports on July 3rd and somehow escalated it. Meyer said Kiffin essentially needs to be 'within a swing' of a national title in Year 1, adding — unprompted and delightfully — that LSU fans are 'nuts,' and that when he retired he told himself he'd never go there again. Urban Meyer, a man whose entire coaching career is a cautionary tale about stress management, looked at the LSU job and said 'not for me.' That should tell you everything. Oddsmakers currently have the Tigers as a 3-point underdog when they host Arch Manning and Texas, and a 1.5-point dog at Ole Miss, where Kiffin just spent six years. So yes, the national title is right around the corner.
Meanwhile, Steve Sarkisian spent the offseason firing shots at Ole Miss academics, Texas Tech, and the College Football Playoff committee — apparently processing the Longhorns missing the bracket last year by burning bridges in every available direction. Stephen A. Smith publicly called him out for crossing a line. This is what happens when a coach with Arch Manning on his roster still can't get to the playoff: the vibes curdle and you end up in a Sporting News article being scolded by Stephen A. Smith in July.
Texas A&M, quietly, has the No. 1 recruiting class in the country entering July with 25 verbal pledges. The Aggies are doing what Aggies do — absolutely dominating the offseason in a way that will somehow result in eight wins and a vague bowl game. SEC Media Days are July 20-23 in Tampa. Coaches will say things. Fans will overreact. The cycle continues.
