Why Brendan Sorsby's Comeback Fell Apart

The Audible with Stew, Bruce & Ralph: A show about college football

The Athletic

Football, Cfb, College Football, News, Sports News, Sec, Big Ten, Sports

4.4 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Texas Tech's wild offseason isn't over, the College Football Playoff could be expanding again, and the NCAA's latest eligibility overhaul is already facing legal challenges. Ralph Russo and Stew Mandel revisit the biggest Brendan Sorsby developments, debate whether ties should return to college football, discuss The Athletic's 1990s series, and break down why the College Sports Commission's NIL enforcement may already be changing.

Stew returns from Europe just in time to weigh in on the Brendan Sorsby saga, questioning whether the former Texas Tech quarterback received the right legal advice after his NCAA suspension ultimately shut the door on both the NFL Supplemental Draft and the CFL. Ralph and Stew also examine the NCAA's newly approved age-based eligibility model, why traditional redshirts are disappearing, and why another lawsuit is already challenging the system.

The conversation shifts to The Athletic's College Football in the 1990s series, with a nostalgic look at the era's broadcasts, legendary teams, split national championships, and the evolution of the sport. Ralph and Stew also engage in one of the show's most entertaining debates yet: should ties return to college football? Ralph argues they create meaningful competitive outcomes, while Stew believes they'd create complete Playoff chaos.

Finally, Ralph and Stew dive into the latest College Football Playoff expansion discussions, including scheduling challenges surrounding a potential 16-team field, Army-Navy weekend, championship timing, and the growing logistical battle between college football and the NFL calendar. They close by examining the latest changes to NIL Go, the College Sports Commission, revenue-sharing limits, and why both the SEC and Big Ten are already pushing to reshape college athletics' new financial model.

If you love College Football Playoff news, NCAA governance, transfer portal coverage, conference realignment, recruiting, NIL, and the biggest offseason storylines shaping the 2026 season, be sure to subscribe, like the video, and leave your thoughts in the comments.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the Audible, presented by Trader Joe's.
0:10.4	I'm Ralph Rousseau, joined today by my colleague.
0:14.1	Stuart Mandel is back.
0:16.2	Hi, Sue.
0:16.9	It's good to have you back.
0:18.1	You'll notice we are still down one.
0:20.6	Our colleague, Bruce Feldman, is gone.
0:23.4	You know, we've had very little time all three of us together,
0:26.1	but we definitely missed you, Stu, especially missed you last week when Bruce bailed out on me,
0:31.8	and it was just me on my own.
0:33.6	Luckily, Justin Williams came in to save us.
0:36.6	But, Sue, again, we missed you.
0:38.9	Where you been?
0:40.3	Where haven't I been?
0:41.9	It's great to be back.
0:44.1	Definitely ready to get back into work mode here.
0:48.4	Ralph, we have, my family and I have really become European, like, want to be Europeans, I guess would be the way to put it.
0:56.4	This was our fourth trip in the last five summers.
0:59.9	We always try to hit some new places we've never been.
1:02.5	And this year it was briefly in Prague, but the main ones were Berlin and Amsterdam.
1:09.1	I was blown away by Berlin.
1:10.7	I did not expect that to be.
	...

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