College football full of … delusion and illusion
National View
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What do college football coaches at Media Day events have in common with carnival barkers on the midway?
They all exaggerate the prospects of winning.
Based on the opening remarks of the 18 head coaches at Big Ten Media Days, it is fair to assume that every team in the conference will somehow go undefeated.
Life under the big top of college football's preseason is now characterized by hype, illusion and delusion.
The art of self-preservation in the head coaching profession is colored by over-the-top optimism weeks before the first kickoff.
Granted, no one is standing at the mic and projecting a national championship.
Instead, the NIL-era CEOs of each program ramble on about the depth of transfer talent on the roster, the winning culture that has developed and the momentum that has been carried forth from the previous campaign.
"In the last two years in the Big Ten Conference, we're No. 4 behind Indiana, Oregon, Ohio State in four really cool categories -- win percentages, Power Four wins, home wins and ranked wins," said Illinois head coach Bret Bielema. "I think if Illinois was in that messaging, as in that spot in the Big Ten Conference, a lot of people would find that hard to believe. But not for me."
Despite the unabashed boasting, Bielema's marquee postseason win in 18 seasons as a head coach at Wisconsin, Arkansas and Illinois is the Badgers' inconsequential 17-14 squeaker over No. 12 Arkansas in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day 2007.
In the big time, all records and results are not created equal.
A 9-3 record at Indiana this year is not going to be as satisfying as the same mark at Arkansas, which is coming off a 2-10 season.
And as sure as weak non-conference schedules will camouflage the pretenders among the contenders, the day of reckoning awaits when laugh lines delivered by coaches at the podium in July will transition into surly responses in October.
What's that old saying?
Better to under promise and over deliver.
Hail to the Presidents
The selection of unheralded Washington & Jefferson to play California in the 1922 Rose Bowl prompted a San Francisco Examiner sports columnist to sniff, "All I know about Washington and Jefferson is that they are both dead."
The resulting scoreless tie -- a first and only in Rose Bowl history -- did little to raise W&J's national profile.
Competing today in the relative obscurity of NCAA Division III, W&J has distinguished itself by ranking third all-time in DIII history with 798 wins in 133 seasons.
Participants in the 1992 and 1994 national championship game, the Presidents have produced 42 consecutive winning seasons, which is the third-longest active streak among all NCAA divisions.
W&J kicks off the season Saturday at Utica.
All pumped up
After evaluating his new team on film, first-year Florida head coach Jon Sumrall made weight training an offseason priority.
"You have to be resilient and strong to play this game,'" Sumrall said. "You cannot break. Well, how do you not break? You have to be resilient, strong. You have to train that way."
The Gators' collective improvement totals nearly 14,000 pounds in power clean, bench, squat and deadlift.
"The growth has been real," Sumrall said. "It's as impressive as what I've seen any group
do over this length of period we've just had."
Kicking quandary
As camp was winding down at West Virginia, head coach Rich Rodriguez was still waiting for one of his placekickers to claim the position.
"Who can kick a 35-yard field goal is still a question," Rodriguez said.
Of the three contenders, only redshirt senior Jack Cassidy, a transfer from Western Kentucky, has attempted a field goal in game action.
A native of Northern Ireland where he competed in Gaelic Football, Cassidy was successful on all three attempts for the Hilltoppers last season, splitting the uprights from 41, 53 and 55 yards.
No ordinary kingdom
USC's new $225 million football performance center has been described as "magical" by head coach Lincoln Riley and promoted as the "crown jewel" of the university's ongoing athletic facilities expansion.
Dedicated spaces in the three-story facility include a recovery suite that features
float beds, infrared therapy beds,
sleep pods, AI-powered
massage chairs from Japan, and
zero-gravity chairs.
"The recovery technology we have not only gets us ahead of where we were at, but it puts us ahead of just about any athletic facility out there," Riley said.
Notables ...
■ Taylor Farms has filed a lawsuit against former executive and Cal football alumnus Brian Thure for allegedly embezzling more than $32 million for unauthorized uses, including establishment of a $1 million football endowment at Cal.
■ Labeled by one media outlet as "the biggest gamble in the Big 12 Conference," TCU transfer quarterback Jaden Craig set Harvard career records for passing yards (6,074) and touchdown passes (52).
■ Among Power Four programs, Stanford is enduring the longest active bowl drought at seven consecutive seasons.
■ Illinois leads the nation with 13 one-score wins since 2023.
■ Hawaii starting quarterback Micah Alejado was voted Mountain West Preseason Offensive Player of the Year after throwing for 3,106 yards and 24 touchdowns last season when he was selected as the conference's Freshman of the Year.
■ Transitioning from FCS to FBS as a member of the Mountain West Conference, North Dakota State is 9-5 all-time against FBS opponents, including a 23-21 win over then-No. 13 Iowa in 2016.
■ Once ranked as the highest-paid player in college football with a projected $6.8 million in NIL income, Texas QB Arch Manning is now ranked No. 20 with a valuation of $2.5 million that is based on tracked compensation from colleges and collectives.
Quotables
"I'm ready to show the world that just because some players and coaches are gone, we're not going to fall off. We're ready to shock the world."
-- Wide receiver Deuce Alexander, optimistically forecasting the first season at Ole Miss without head coach Lane Kiffin
"I'm telling you, this dude is monomaniacal about we are going to get better and win. That's all he talks about."
-- Former Miami wide receiver Michael Irvin on the focus and intensity of Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal
"Your investment level equals your expectation level. We have a group of guys that went through some hard stuff in 2025. We're better because of what we went through."
-- South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer on the commitment of returning players who were 1-7 in SEC games last season
"The last two years for us have not been up to the standard, and I'm not shying away from that...That's not just in the wins and losses. That's in a lot of other things as well."
-- Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell reflecting on his team's 3-6 and 2-7 Big Ten records in 2024 and 2025, respectively
Jim Caltagirone, a former member of Penn State's sports information department, comments on the national scene for Gameday. He can be reached at jimclion4ever@gmail.com.