I am loathe to give advice to anyone, least of all a collection of readers who have found my work at completely different points of careers and lives. But there is at least one thing I feel comfortable advising, as a hard and fast rule:

You do not want to get to discovery.

Plenty of entities in college football have learned this lesson, maybe most recently of note the Kansas athletic department, which attempted something awfully similar to what it seems like LSU is trying to do with Brian Kelly’s buyout right now: get out of it because they just don’t want to pay it.

In LSU’s case, they now have to prove that former AD Scott Woodward didn’t actually have the authority to fire Kelly, meaning they haven’t yet triggered the seven-day limit on introducing claims that the firing was for cause. Good luck with that.

To go back for a second and revisit the Kansas thing: then-AD Jeff Long wanted to hire Les Miles, and needed to get rid of head coach David Beaty. He just had one problem: the school was broke and didn’t have the money from boosters to foot Beaty’s buyout and a suitable contract for the former LSU coach. So, Long and some backroom staffers decided to fire Beaty for cause, citing the most milquetoast rules violations you could imagine as a valid reason to not pay the (shockingly low by today’s standards) $3 million severance.

There was just one problem: Beaty hired a good lawyer. In this case, Michael Lyons of Dallas. For fun, take a look at Lyons’ profile on his company website, and where the $2.5 million settlement he negotiated barely cracks the list of his notable legal victories.

Right, the discovery thing. Beaty essentially won this case in that phase when Lyons forced Kansas to turn over video footage from Miles’ practices where his staff was doing the exact thing they accused Beaty of, and then had Long admit in deposition that he would not fire Miles for the act.

The funny thing about contracts is that you typically have to honor them, even if it takes a few years in court. The only exception to this might be Jeremy Pruitt, but even he finally has a court date in trying to claw back money from Tennessee.

As noted by Tom Mars, maybe the most prominent lawyer in the college athletics space, it really feels like LSU is cooked in this new case. 

The Tigers clearly intended to fire Kelly and AD Scott Woodward, then panicked when Woodward beat the administration to the punch without tying up the loose ends of negotiating a proper buyout settlement. The Governor’s impromptu screed against football coach buyouts – which wasn’t necessarily wrong, just maybe poorly placed within a press conference ostensibly about SNAP benefits funding for the state – amped up the pressure on the administration to find a way out of paying the full package.

And now school administrators are scrambling to pick up the pieces and find a way to claim some kind of nominal victory in the case. Unfortunately for them, Brian Kelly has never been a particularly affable person and the first job he’s ever been fired from doesn’t seem like the place to start feeling charitable.

All I can assure you is that no one involved actually wants this to go to discovery. It’s Louisiana, there are skeletons in all the closets, and Kelly is no stranger to uncomfortable work environments himself. 

We’re now in a high-stakes game of chicken, with enough vitriol involved that everyone might just lose sight of the personal cost in escalating further. If both parties continue to hold their respective lines and we get to an actual trial, I just hope we get a special College Gameday episode with the whole crew live from the Baton Rouge Courthouse.

Growing up, my two favorite musical acts were Outkast and the White Stripes. To hear Andre 3000 shout out Jack White and specifically this 51 second song from White Blood Cells at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony last week was pretty surreal. Make sure to check out the full Outkast section from the ceremony, especially Tyler the Creator nailing Bombs over Baghdad.

You are not going to learn how to make this dish from the video above, but it is entertaining and you can just order it at your favorite local pub anyways.

No. 3 Texas A&M vs South Carolina (Noon, ESPN)

It would be pretty fitting for this to be the week that the Gamecocks put it all together and the Aggies look mortal, because it wouldn’t really change anything other than giving South Carolina faint hopes of sneaking into a bowl game. 

Arkansas at LSU (12:45 pm, SEC Network)

The Hogs currently sport the seventh-best offense in the country by Bill Connelly’s SP+ ratings, and could very easily finish 2-10 with a positive point differential on the year. Somehow this all makes sense, because it’s Arkansas. 

Kentucky vs Tennessee Tech (1:30 pm, SEC Network Plus)

I don’t want to alarm anyone, but Tennessee Tech is like really good this year. The Golden Eagles, long past the days of Watson Brown and Da’Rick Rogers, are No. 6 in the FCS polls with a 10-0 record and have put up 60 points on three separate occasions. Just something to keep an eye on, as Kentucky attempts to put together an honest to god winning streak for the first time since 2023.

No. 4 Alabama vs No. 12 Oklahoma (3:30 pm, ABC)

Alabama cannot run the football, ranking an abysmal 110th in rushing success rate (how frequently an offense gains 50% of needed yardage on first down, 70% on second and 100% on third or fourth). Oklahoma leads the country in that same metric on defense. If the Tide are going to win (and maybe, finally, end the Sooners’ playoff chances for good) they’re going to have to win through the air. 

No. 25 Tennessee vs New Mexico State (4:15 pm, SEC Network)

The Aggies don’t have the firepower to make this a game, but they do like to hit and the Volunteers desperately need to get healthy for a stretch run against rivals Florida and Vanderbilt. 

No. 6 Ole Miss vs Florida (7 pm, ESPN)

A Hallmark movie plot, where stable boyfriend Ole Miss – who has done all the work on image rehab and roster payroll that Lane Kiffin could ever ask for – desperately tries to keep their man in the fold while handsome bad boy Florida tries to woo him with promises of program prestige and a short drive to Joey Freshwater-friendly Boca Raton.

No. 5 Georgia vs No. 11 Texas (7:30 pm, ABC)

In the two games against Texas last season, the Georgia defense had 13 sacks and 25 tackles for loss. Through nine total games this year, the Bulldogs have 11 sacks and 35 tackles for loss. This is just a different team than we’re used to seeing from Kirby Smart but it also might not matter? 

Georgia’s coaches won’t say it out loud but they would love to win this game, have Alabama and A&M take care of business, and sit at home getting healthy during the SEC Championship Game before a first round home playoff game.

No. 22 Missouri vs Mississippi State (7:45 pm, SEC Network)

A couple of playoff contenders would really love for Missouri to keep winning so they can continue to count the Tigers as a top 25 win. These two teams have half a healthy quarterback between them, so good luck figuring out what’s going to happen.

Tulane might be the only program that can pull out a “city edition” set that goes this hard, and is still a downgrade on their usual uniforms. 

No. 8 Oregon vs Minnesota (9 pm, FOX)

Oregon miiiiight still have a free pass to lose one more game, but it’s not guaranteed in an increasingly murky field. Still, tripping up against an objectively very weird Minnesota team would probably at least guarantee that both the Ducks and USC can’t make it.

No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 22 Pitt (Noon, ABC)

This is a massive, massive game for both teams with implications throughout the playoff field. Well, at least, that’s what everyone but Pitt’s coach thinks.

No. 18 Michigan at Northwestern (Noon, FOX)

Hey, uh, Michigan is stil very much alive in the playoff race. They’ll still need to do the funniest thing possible, beating a seemingly unbeatable Ohio State team for a fifth-straight year, but the road is crystal clear.

Also this game is at Wrigley Field, a venue that really does not need to host multiple football games every year.

No. 24 USF at Navy (Noon, ESPN2)

Weekly G5 critical matchup for playoff bids. If Navy’s quarterback is still too injured to play you can probabluy skip it.

No. 17 USC vs No. 21 Iowa (3:30 pm, Big Ten Network)

Iowa is probably finished in the playoff race, but Kirk Ferentz would love nothing more than to drag the Trojans into the abyss with them. USC likely controls its destiny in earning a fourth bid for the B1G, but needs to win this one and on the road against Oregon next week.

No. 19 Virginia at Duke (3:30 pm, ESPN2)

Phase one of the Have the ACC Miss the Playoff Entirely plan starts here, needing a Duke win to give the Blue Devils a clear pathway to Charlotte.

Kennesaw State at Jacksonville State (8 pm, ESPNU)

Winner takes control of the Conference USA title race, but more importantly the Owls – in their second year as a full FBS member – are firmly on the path to ten wins and a remarkable turnaround in Year One of the Jerry Mack era. Hootie Hoo.

No. 12 BYU vs TCU (10:15 pm, ESPN)

The Cougars are still on the periphery of the playoff bubble after last week’s loss to Texas Tech, but need to win out (and likely win the Big 12 title) to stay in the fold.

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Just a really fun headline from Kyle Rowland of NIL Wire: Boise State's "gothlete" is giving beach volleyball a radical new image. For some reason the Canadian Football League is changing its rules to more closely resemble the NFL, and Phantom Island details why this is something that no one really wants. Damien Hardwick and the coaching staff of the Gold Coast Suns aussie rules team are finding inspiration in Vanderbilt’s program turnaround, as featured in this interesting profile by Ralph Russo at The Athletic. According to Rolling Stone, Jason Isbell and the Drive By Truckers are reuniting for one show in December. The projected No. 1 pick in next year’s NHL draft is off to an interesting start at Penn State, Scott Wheeler at The Athletic followed him to a clash against rival Michigan State and you should be paying closer attention to college hockey. The Wall Street Journal on why Costco went all in on Kirkland branded products.