Sports
College football 2026 basics, 1 month out. Plus: You see the squirrel yet?
The Pulse Newsletter 
Good morning! Apologies for the incoming reminder that summer days are waning. Today:
Catching Up, Part 1: What you’ve missed in college football
After a 39-day World Cup, history’s longest, lots of sports fans surely looked up and noted … whoa, fútbol Americano starts soon.
A month from today, in fact. College football’s Week 0 begins with Bill Belichick’s turbulent Tar Heels in Dublin, Ireland, against TCU, the first team to humble them last season.
With that in mind — and all 32 NFL teams now at training camp, which we’ll get to tomorrow — let’s look ahead. I brought on the author of our college football newsletter, Until Saturday, to go over a few preseason FAQs. (Conveniently, that author is me, Jason. You’ve now realized I’m not Chris Branch. Hello there.)
- College football overhauls itself to a dizzying extent every season. What now? Steady-ish, for once! There are sponsored jersey patches now, including Notre Dame’s that might’ve cost $20 million. The Playoff will remain at 12 teams, though powerful figures want more. And FCS mega-dynasty North Dakota State moved up, then saw an NCAA rule change that could mean an FBS Playoff run in Year 1. There, that wasn’t so bad?
- Well, isn’t college football just a glorified NFL minor league now? Last December, the Upper Iowa University Peacocks won something called the Leg Lamp Trophy, a la “A Christmas Story.” What can the NFL offer that evokes such glory? (To answer the question, the NCAA failed to prepare for the inevitable player-compensation era, and now its schools are stuck hoping Congress can bail them out. Again unlike the NFL, which mostly sorted that stuff out long ago.)
- Lane Kiffin. Texas Tech. What were those scandals, again? And are they gonna pay off for those scoundrels? Kiffin left Ole Miss during a Playoff run, taking over rival LSU. He then landed the No. 1 class in our transfer rankings, and Stewart Mandel has the Tigers at No. 10 in his current top 25. No pressure! As for the Red Raiders, who will be without big-money transfer Brendan Sorsby due to that gambling thing, the job falls to Will Hammond, who ranks No. 35 in our QB Tiers ranking.
- Who’s gonna win it all, then? One of the same ol’ teams? Hey, this has become the sport where longtime jobber Indiana wins a national title. Lots of things are possible. This time, the Hoosiers were picked to finish behind Ohio State and Oregon in the Big Ten. As for the SEC, Georgia and Texas are favored. Elsewhere, Notre Dame hype is, for once, actually as high as people think it always is.
Once college football kicks off, college football is a blast. Every time. CFB newsletter signup. Let’s hit some news.
News to Know
FIFA to sell stake in World Cup
FIFA’s banner PR week continues, as global soccer’s governing body — following the most lucrative sporting event in history — announced plans to sell a stake in a new company that will run its premier events. FIFA says some of the expected billions of dollars from private investors will go to member federations. But the plan is drawing immediate backlash because, among more philosophical concerns, someone in President Trump’s extended family is expected to be involved through the lead investment firm. Read our full report.
More news
You Gotta See This: It got squirrely in Detroit
This happened Monday night, but for obvious reasons, we had to circle back to the squirrel incident at the Tigers’ Comerica Park. Quickly power ranking my favorite parts:
- You just have to admire the sheer tenacity of the squirrel itself. This went on for most of an inning. The gall! The grace! Surely, an NIL deal is already in the works.
- A tie between the grounds crew member who simply opened a door and optimistically tried to will the squirrel to exit — a fruitless tactic recognized by toddler parents everywhere — and Orioles outfielder Leody Taveras’ brave attempt to fling the squirrel … somewhere.
- The real star might actually be Tigers play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti, who was seemingly built for this moment. Click the GIFs to hear his full call.
Watch Guide
7:40 p.m. ET on MLB Network
It’s still surprising to see Chicago atop the AL Central, and time is running out for the club to decide what to do at the trade deadline. The Yankees, in their own tight division race, already took the first two games of this four-game set.
8 p.m. ET on USA
A straight-up banger of a WNBA night. Dallas (18-9) and Paige Bueckers sit fourth in the standings, with Atlanta (16-10) and Angel Reese in sixth. Another strong matchup, Valkyries-Mercury, follows at 10 on CNBC.
8 p.m. ET on Apple TV
We’ve written plenty about the state of all-star games, generally, and all the usual caveats apply here. But they can still be fun, and … well, it at least has potential if you’re not into hoops or baseball. Full primer on format and rosters here.
Pulse Picks
One more item to wrap up the Tour de France: 21 photos that tell the story of the historic race. Click.
In the year since Emmanuel Clase’s pitch-rigging scandal broke, has MLB done enough to protect against this happening again? A majority of players in our anonymous player poll said yes.
There is drama in British swimming, where star Adam Ramsay-Peaty is caught up in a celebrity family feud while trying to navigate an evolved outlook on his sport. It’s all a bit messy.
It’s an important week in baseball, and Andy McCullough’s latest MLB mailbag is brimming with useful trade deadline nuggets.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Folks, please, enough with the behind-the-back pitch.
Most-read on the website yesterday: Pre-training camp NFL Power Rankings. More on that tomorrow.
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