Building the Beast: Shrine Bowl preview and CFP National Championship Game takeaways
The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL
The Athletic
4.6 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The end of the college football season is something of a starting bell for NFL Draft season, and the annual all-star games get everything going. It begins this week with the Shrine Bowl, a showcase event for draft prospects. Eric Galko, director of football operations and player personnel for the Shrine Bowl, joins Dave Helman and Dane Brugler on this episode of The Athletic Football Show's Building the Beast to preview the event. Before that, though, Dave and Dane highlight their takeaways from Indiana's thrilling 27-21 win over Miami in the CFP National Championship Game.
Rundown (timestamps are approximate)
2:00 CFP National Championship Game takeaways
31:22 Shrine Bowl preview with Eric Galko
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Host: Dave Helman
Co-Host: Dane Brugler
Executive Producer: Michael Beller
Video Producer: Katy Duffy
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to another episode of Building the Beast. |
| 0:05.8 | I am your host, Dave Hellman, and the national championship is in the books. |
| 0:10.0 | The Indiana Hoosiers beat the Miami Hurricanes to cap off an undefeated season. |
| 0:14.8 | Dane Bruegler and myself talked through all the standouts, all the biggest impressions from just a phenomenal way to cap off the 2025 college football season, |
| 0:24.0 | which also marks in earnest the beginning of the 26 draft cycle. Special interview for y'all on this episode. |
| 0:31.6 | Eric Galco, the director of football operations for the East West Shrine Bowl, was gracious enough to join us to talk all things |
| 0:38.7 | Shrine Bowl, some of the biggest pieces of his roster for this year's game, players he's |
| 0:43.4 | intrigued by, players he things could make an early impact in the NFL, best positions on |
| 0:48.9 | the roster, all that good stuff, great conversation with Eric coming up at the end of this |
| 0:53.5 | episode. So it's a loaded one. |
| 0:55.8 | First, our annual listener survey is live and you can participate by going to theathletic.com |
| 1:01.0 | slash survey 26. |
| 1:03.1 | Three lucky entries will win $100 worth of Amazon vouchers. |
| 1:06.6 | So whether you're a longtime listener or a new one, we want your feedback. |
| 1:10.5 | Go to theathletic.com slash survey 26. |
| 1:13.6 | The link is also in our episode description. |
| 1:16.6 | And with that, let's start the show. |
| 1:23.8 | Well, Dane, if football season's going to end, at least it ends on a high note. |
| 1:28.8 | And really, what else could you want from a national championship game than what we got on Monday night? |
| 1:34.8 | The Indiana Hoosiers cap off a perfect 16 and 0 season. |
| 1:38.6 | They down the Miami Hurricanes 27 to 21. |
| 1:41.5 | But I'll just be honest. |
... |
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