"Off the field, college football appears caught in a constant state of discontent. We can't agree on the proper size of a playoff. Years of winner-take-all media-rights stakes have turned conferences and conference mates against one another. Coaches sign players to contracts that are only theoretically enforceable, then openly try to poach other players from other teams with other theoretically enforceable contracts."
"On the field, however, the game remains utterly spectacular. As hard as it feels like we're trying to screw it up, we just can't. (Or at least, we haven't yet.) The 2025 college football season offered us epic upsets, dynamite playoff games at every level of the sport, iconic plays -- you probably know exactly what I'm referring to if I say "Cooper's catch" or "Chambliss' scramble" or " Mendoza's leap" -- and our first incredible national title game in eight years."
Off the field, college football appeared caught in a constant state of discontent, with debates over playoff size, winner-take-all media-rights battles pitting conferences against one another, and coaches signing and attempting to poach players under only theoretically enforceable contracts. On the field, the game remained utterly spectacular, producing epic upsets, dynamite playoff games at every level, iconic plays like "Cooper's catch," "Chambliss' scramble," and "Mendoza's leap," and the first incredible national title game in eight years. The season's drama and quality motivated a celebration of the 100 best games, including smaller-school gems and tight clashes such as Memphis' near-collapse against UAB and Illinois' narrow loss to unbeaten USC.
Read at ESPN.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]