Quick housekeeping from Alex and Richard first: We’re taking this chance to tell you again about 6 Zone Duo, a new national women’s volleyball podcast from our squad here. Erin Sorensen and Amie Just are doing a great job with it. You can subscribe anywhere you get podcasts, or on YouTube. It’s free!
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Welcome to the College Football Newsletter, where we know what a library smells like. It smells quite nice, if we’re being honest.
I regret to inform everyone who hated the Ted Cruz GameDay segment that the vibes will continue this Saturday. President Donald Trump will be in attendance in Knoxville for the Texas-Tennessee game. But he is just attending the game, not making a 10-minute appearance on ESPN, as SZD’s Richard Johnson reported on Thursday for CBS Sports. (Guest picker: Johnny Knoxville.)
The folks who will actually be inconvenienced in this instance will be the fans attending the game. With any president, security has to make sure he is safe. That requires blocking areas in and outside of the vicinity. Vols and Longhorns fans should probably show up even earlier than expected with this news.
But how bad is it? Luckily, we do know someone with a firsthand account of attending football games when the president is visiting. Take it away, Richard:
It is deeply inconvenient when the president attends a sporting event, and I do mean any president. I’ve been to Army-Navy with Biden and Trump, and it really is quite something.
Whenever you go to a game with the president, they basically freeze all the gates for a period of time when he’s getting in, so nobody can get in or out. There’s obviously enhanced security that you can see and some you can’t.
There was a national championship game, I believe, between Georgia and Alabama in 2017, where he went, and the choke points were really bad. That also has something to do with getting in and out of Mercedes-Benz Stadium overall.
For a place like Neyland Stadium, it’s going to be wild because the ingress and egress are different there. It’s an older stadium backed up against the river versus a modern pro stadium dumped in a massive parking lot. If you’re headed there this weekend, good luck.
Also, I understand the myriad of criticisms of Trump for [insert reason], but I fear I must admit: if I were the president, I would definitely go to as many sporting events as he does.
That’s the fan experience. For players and coaches, it might be different. Steve Sarkisian is under the impression that whenever the president moves around the stadium during the game, all radio communication (including between coaches and players) is briefly shut down. We’ll see what happens there on Saturday, and if players and coaches discuss it postgame.
Speaking of politics: Are you registered to vote, and do you have a plan for Election Day? Take five minutes to establish a game plan.
Here’s what we dropped into your podcast feeds this week:
Team of the Week (derogatory): our new series with Rodger Sherman has mostly focused on a team celebrating a positive outcome. We examined how high of a ceiling Oklahoma State has in the Big 12, and we celebrated UMass’ tremendous upset against Rutgers. This week, we’re pivoting to a team that is down bad: Arkansas. The team is down bad already and new coach Ryan Silverfield is already talking like a coach on his way out. But the team’s problems are bigger than that. Let noted Silverfield hater Alex Kirshner explain the situation.
Thursday Tasting Menu: our Week 4 preview dropped yesterday because life happens sometimes, but that doesn’t mean the menu isn’t as fresh. Alex and Richard look ahead to Oregon vs USC, a game where both teams can’t afford to lose. Does it reach Anxiety Bowl levels? Take a listen to find out. Or if video is your thing, you can watch it on our YouTube channel.
Some recommended reading and listening:
For Slate, Alex covered Meta’s Muse AI app and found that the biggest hurdle for the app from Big Tech may be Big Tech itself.
Richard provided a video breakdown of Florida’s offensive line on a 4th & 1 that really encapsulates how Jadan Baugh is able to get some space. And For more on the numbers behind Baugh’s early-season performance, check out David Cobb’s piece at CBS Sports.
Matt Brown over at Extra Points wrote about why the Protect College Sports Act is a bad idea that does nothing to address the things it claims to fix. He also made a video covering it.
Bill Connelly ranked the best College Football Playoff games over at ESPN. The Oklahoma-UGA game in Athens is a good occasion for it.
Hopefully the Vols Navy will do us all a favor and accidentally blow up Neyland with all that 'shine.