CFB Newsletter: The Most Transformative Player You Can Think Of
Who do YOU think is the best answer to this question?
Welcome to the College Football Newsletter where we’re practicing our field goal kicking, just in case.
It’s late October and College GameDay is visiting a top SEC school that’s 6-1 with a Heisman hopeful at quarterback. If you told someone at any other point in time that the school we’re talking about is Vanderbilt, they would have called you a liar (and also a time traveler). But that’s where we’re at in 2025, thanks to Diego Pavia and the New Mexico State contingent that came with him to Nashville. It’s an incredible turnaround that not many saw coming.
More importantly, these moves might not be a flash in the pan, as Godfrey explains in an episode this week. Richard, Alex, and Godfrey wondered where Pavia stands among players who turned around an entire program.
So I had to ask Alex: Which singular college football player has made as much of a program-changing impact as Diego Pavia has — not just for the team as it’s currently constructed, but for future years?
The easy answer is Cam Newton or Joe Burrow, but I’m not even sure they make sense for this question. They were amazing blips who changed everything for one or two golden years, but LSU and Auburn had great teams before them and will have great teams after them. To me, the answer is a player who fundamentally leveled up his program in a way that had staying power even after he was gone.
This might sound contrarian, but I’m taking Oregon QB Joey Harrington, who started for the Ducks in 2000 and 2001 under Mike Bellotti. Harrington was the guy at the controls when Oregon jumped from a seven-or-eight-win program to a 10-or-11-win program, and he was also the vehicle for Oregon to start making an aggressive national marketing push. (Remember when the school put him on a massive screen in Times Square during a campaign for the 2001 Heisman?) Oregon was one thing before Harrington and another thing after him. A ton of that is because of the school’s own investments and choices, but a program on the doorstep sometimes needs a battering ram to break through. That was Harrington.
I personally didn’t expect a Joey Harrington mention in this newsletter, nor did I expect to see that Oregon uniform in the main image. I personally prefer the uniforms that the Ducks are wearing this week in collaboration with the Grateful Dead.
This is what the SZD crew dropped into your podcast feeds this week:
We had our second emergency episode of the year, this time for Billy Napier’s firing at Florida. You’re gonna want to listen to this one, especially because Richard is optimistic about the Gators’ future based on the building blocks that Napier established. For anyone keeping score at home, these emergency episodes count as part of our series, “The Job.” (I.e. there won’t be a second Florida show for now.)
One school that did get its own episode of The Job is Colorado State, which fired coach Jay Norvell on Sunday
Godfrey, Richard, and Alex focused on the 34 head coaches who will define this year’s coaching cycle.
The Week 9 Tasting Menu is live and it features two FCS games that are interesting for very different reasons. Richard and Alex also preview Auburn at Arkansas, which, well, I think we all know what is likely to happen here. If you don’t, check out this social clip from two weeks ago.
Host emeritus Godfrey stopped by The Main Course presented by Modelo to explain how Vanderbilt’s short term — and long term — success in the SEC was established. You can watch the video version of the segment right here.
Elsewhere in the sports world:
The NFL is as chaotic as it’s been in years. No one expected the Ravens to be at the bottom of the AFC North while the 49ers are at the top of the NFC West with a chunk of their starters out. Alex and the Hang Up and Listen crew over at Slate asked Nate Silver to explain the degree of chaos we are watching every Sunday.
Over at Extra Points, Matt Brown ponders what the limit is, if there is any, for schools to accept money from sponsors after the Holiday Bowl reportedly considered moving to Saudi Arabia.
Could Deion Sanders fit into this? Bowden's Florida State was certainly a quality program prior to his arrival, but his breakout seasons in 1987-88 were the first two of the 14-year streak of Top-5 finishes (with two national titles thrown in).
Ron Dayne....until Fickell decided to go spread. Wisconsin was a bottom feeder in the Big10, happy to get a win over Northwestern. Dayne won a Heisman and set the table for RB after RB to come through and gave Wisconsin an identity for a generation.