Duke Sues Mensah, (Way-Too-Early) Top 25
The Audible with Stew, Bruce & Ralph: A show about college football
The Athletic
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 January 2026
⏱️ 52 minutes
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Summary
Duke takes Darian Mensah to court over his two-year NIL contract after he entered the portal. You need a law degree to break down this stuff! CFP expansion talks hit a deadline Friday. Who’s pushing for expansion, and will we see it happen? The guys critique Stew's way-too-early top 25 for 2026, sparking a debate over Texas, Indiana's sustainability, and Penn State's makeover. Plus, what does Indiana’s perfect run mean for schools trying to replicate that success?
Stew’s Early Top 25 story: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6983984/2026/01/20/college-football-top-25-rankings-2026-predictions/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the latest edition of The Audible, presented by Trader Joe's. |
| 0:11.3 | I am Bruce Feldman, joined as always by my colleague from the athletic, Stuart Mandel and Ralph Russo. |
| 0:17.5 | We're going to talk about Indiana's huge win the other night in more detail. I mean, |
| 0:23.3 | I literally just flew back from South Florida this morning. We're also going to hit the mailbag |
| 0:28.7 | and get into some of your questions later. There's a lot to get to with the portal and how it |
| 0:33.9 | affects 2026 season, which, by the way, |
| 0:38.2 | Stu had is way early, top 25 that we will talk about in a bit. |
| 0:43.5 | We'll also talk about some expansion news. |
| 0:46.6 | Guys, where do you want to start first? |
| 0:50.7 | Well, Duke sued his quarterback. |
| 0:54.4 | That's a good place to start. |
| 0:56.1 | Yes, let's start with Duke suing its quarterback, Stu. |
| 1:00.0 | Could you tell us a little more about where things lie with Darien Mensa and Duke |
| 1:05.2 | and where both of those guys might be, where both of those entities might be heading? |
| 1:09.9 | Well, if you heard last weekend's podcast, you know that Daring Mensa, their star quarterback, |
| 1:17.5 | was making almost $4 million a year at like 4.30 in the afternoon on the last business day |
| 1:23.3 | that the portal was open announced his intent to enter the portal. |
| 1:31.6 | We all assume it's because Miami is offering a big payday on the other end, |
| 1:33.4 | but that is certainly not confirmed yet. |
| 1:36.2 | Duke was not happy about this, obviously, |
| 1:39.2 | because he signed a two-year contract at the time he arrived. |
| 1:41.1 | He's got a year left on that contract. |
... |
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