About this episode

The episode reveals insights from college football coaches about title favorites and frauds, along with discussions on coaching pressures and listener questions.

What do college football coaches actually think behind closed doors? In this episode of The Audible, Bruce Feldman and Ralph Russo break down Bruce's anonymous coach survey. The guys dive straight into the takes, revealing which hyped contenders coaches are calling the biggest frauds before flipping to their ultimate national title favorites. Moving beyond the survey, the crew examines the mounting pressure on coaching hot seats across the country. They debate whether Lincoln Riley faces a Brian Kelly-style crisis at USC and evaluate the market appeal of major coaching retreads like Brian Kelly and Jimbo Fisher looking to get back on the sidelines. Finally, the guys close out the show with a packed listener mailbag. They tackle predictions for the Border War, share their all-time favorite college football books, and run a fascinating thought experiment on what this season would look like under the old four-team playoff format. Timestamps 0:00 -  Intro 1:23 - Coaches Confidential Survey 1:55 - CFB coaches pick the biggest frauds 12:30 - CFB coaches pick the ’26 nat’l champs 15:39 - CFB coaches pick the biggest sleeper 18:38 - Coaching Carousel 18:56 - Jimbo Fisher & Brian…

People in this episode

Hosts: Bruce Feldman, Ralph Russo

Topics covered

• college football
• coaching hot seats
• anonymous coach survey
• national title favorites
• coaching retreads
• listener mailbag

Keywords

• college football
• coaches survey
• national champions
• coaching carousel
• mailbag
• hot seats
• frauds

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Athletic

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• LSU vs SEC: Lawsuits, Loopholes, and Lingering Questions + Week 1 Predictions · September 1, 2026 · 38 min
• Bill Belichick & UNC Stun TCU, Beach Wins Out at USC, NC State Flops | Week 0 CFB Recap · August 31, 2026 · 40 min
• The Big Ten & SEC Ban Pros + Arch Manning Top 100 Slide + Week 0 Picks · August 27, 2026 · 1h 1m

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