Nick Saban and Peewee from Grand Bay: The legendary coach and his most famous caller
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Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff Writer
ON A THURSDAY night in September, Nick Saban sat in front of a crowd of fans with a headset on, bracing himself for a question. The Crimson Tide were coming off a loss to Texas, their first home nonconference loss since Saban’s first season in Tuscaloosa way back in 2007.
Even worse, the Longhorns manhandled Alabama up front, pressuring Jalen Milroe on 49% of his 39 dropbacks and sacking him five times. Alabama averaged just 3.1 yards per carry.
Saban knew what was coming. Here was Peewee from Grand Bay, always the first caller on “Hey Coach & The Nick Saban Show,” the weekly call-in radio program. Peewee had a specific interest in the offensive line, so much so that he was sometimes called the “line coach emeritus” by Saban.
But before Peewee could even ask a question, Saban went on the offensive.
“Well, Peewee, I’ve been wanting to talk to you all week, man. I mean, we gotta firm up the pocket,” Saban says, gesticulating like he was talking to his team. “We’re setting too soft. We’re getting pushed back in the middle. Aight, everybody thinks we can’t hold up against the blitz, but they’re sacking us with a four-man rush, one three-man rush. Only one sack came off of a pressure. So I wanted to ask you: What the hell’s going on?”
“So I wanted to ask you, ‘What the hell is going on?'”
– Coach Saban during epic rant on Hey Coach while taking call from Peewee #RollTide | @Alfa_Insurance pic.twitter.com/1fZeJdExRE
– Crimson Tide Sports Network (@UA_CTSN) September 15, 2023
There wasn’t much Peewee could add.
“I believe you covered it all right there, Coach.”
The setting for the weekly show, in a restaurant in front of a crowd, always revealed a different side of the fiery coach, showcasing the masterful way that Saban handled the pressure cooker that is Alabama football. At news conferences, Saban hammered home his points while sometimes hammering the people who asked the questions. But here Saban was disarming a fan before he could even get started. The coach demonstrated weekly on the show that he was quick on his feet, self-effacing and most of all, genuinely loved hearing from the people who loved his team.
And for people like 65-year-old Elbert “Peewee” Roberts of Grand Bay — “in the very southwest corner of the state of Alabama, four miles from the Mississippi state line” he said — it offered a direct line to the most important person in the state.
“He’s always said when he came to the show, that that was his first opportunity for the entire week to see and talk to people outside of the football complex,” Peewee said. “And I’m the first guy that calls.”
In November, Peewee made the 250-mile trip to Baumhower’s Victory Grille in Tuscaloosa to see the show in person, which he’s done from time to time. Once, in 2014, the show’s producers said that Peewee hadn’t called in. That was concerning to Saban, who stopped the show and said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We’ve won a lot of games around here with Peewee calling first.” Then, he looked up, saw Peewee right in front of him, and broke out into a big smile.
This fall, Saban made it a point to bring Peewee up and introduce him to his guest, broadcaster Brad Nessler.
“Peewee is really, for those of you who don’t know, is really the offensive line coach,” Saban said. “We get very good coaching tips every week. … Any information that you give me that I pass along to them, I tell them, ‘This came from Peewee.’ They respect that. They respect you for all that you’ve done to help them. So we appreciate that a lot. … You know, when you help ’em get better and they respect you, then they don’t want to disappoint you. So they’re really out there playing hard for you.”
Peewee had become something of a known commodity around the program, even being called a “reluctant folk hero” by AL.com. He’s gotten to meet Saban and his wife, known as Miss Terry. He got in a car accident once on the way to the Iron Bowl and broke his leg and was unable to make it to the game, and got a shipment of gourmet apples from the Sabans. Nick Saban’s retirement stunned everybody in college football, including Peewee.
“Him and Miss Terry have always been very nice, very very kind to me,” he said the evening Saban announced he was hanging it up. “They sent flowers to both of my parents’ funerals when they passed away here in the last few years. I’ve enjoyed it. I think he did, too. I just got along good with the man. I ain’t nobody, man. I’m just a guy who loves Alabama football.”
ELI GOLD, THE voice of Alabama football since 1988, missed all of the 2022 season battling stage 3 cancer. He spent 186 days in the hospital. Upon his return in April 2023, Alabama sought to help Gold cut back on his workload, but there was one part of the job he wouldn’t give up.
“I said look, one thing I ask you not to take away from me is the Nick Saban Show,” Gold said. “It’s educational for me, stuff that I learn on Thursday that I can use on the broadcast on Saturday. But I just love being with the guy. I’m learning from him. He is a teacher.”
Coaches everywhere used to do radio shows with live callers, but they’re becoming more and more rare. Of those that do, several take pre-written submissions on social media or through email. Bob Stoops quit taking calls in 2012 after an obnoxious caller asked why he showed up and the team didn’t. Florida State stopped after an in-person guest asked Jimbo Fisher “where’s the loyalty to the program, Jimbo?” amid rumors he was headed to Texas A&M. In 2019, the “Inside Michigan Football” radio show was moved from Ann Arbor’s Pizza House, where it had been for more than a decade, to Schembechler Hall on UM’s campus where it is now closed to fans. Kirby Smart doesn’t do a radio show at Georgia.
But Gold reiterated what Peewee said, that Saban has always told him that the show was a highlight of his week. He worked the crowd, signed autographs and even invited a media member each week to sit between him and Gold and ask questions of their own.
➡️Coach Saban on @Lane_Kiffin -�� pic.twitter.com/OILD3S4o0r
– Coach Johnny Croyle (@CoachCroyle) January 5, 2024
“I have been told this by his wife, by his secretary Linda Leoni, by other people, that he genuinely loves doing that show every Thursday night,” Gold said. “I said, ‘you guys don’t need to blow smoke up my rear end’ and they said no, it’s the one day of the week he gets out of the office at a decent hour and sees people that he doesn’t work with every single day. It is just a breath of fresh air for him.”
Gold thinks he started doing the show in 1990 with Gene Stallings — which is about two years after Peewee said he started calling in to talk to Bill Curry — and said he’s always marveled at Saban’s ability to embrace the fans, even as he won his way into history.
“Look, the coach is not as tolerant for bad questions as he is for good,” Gold said. “But he will never embarrass a fan. If there’s a bad question from a media guy, he might look at him and it might be a little uncomfortable. But if Ralph from Sylacauga calls in and has a question, even if it’s not a good football question, he’ll explain it, because they were kind enough to call in.”
And Peewee never wanted to be the guy that set Saban off, so he’d focus on his responsibility during games.
“I see what happens when people ask Coach silly questions. I’ve seen it for reporters. So I tried not to ask some of them because I didn’t want him going off on me,” he said. “I tried to pay attention to the offensive line during the games. Everybody else wants to try to follow the ball.”
That’s a fan after the head coach’s heart. But that’s the level of detail that fans came with for Saban on the show.
“We don’t get, ‘What’s Miss Terry’s favorite flavor of pudding?’,” Gold said. “We get good solid football questions. And Coach respects our fans for wanting to learn.”
The fans are serious and well-behaved. There are no “Tyler from Spartanburg” incidents, like on Dabo Swinney’s show this year, where a caller suggested Swinney’s $11.5 million salary didn’t make sense given Clemson’s 4-4 record. Swinney responded by telling Tyler, “I don’t care how much money I make. You’re not gonna talk to me like I’m 12 years old. … You’re part of the problem, to be honest with you.”
Gold said like any radio show, he has a “dump” button to keep any uncouth incidents from making air. But the fans aren’t the problem.
“He’s just very loose, the coach is,” Gold said. “The only times I have had to use it was when the coach himself got a little bit blue on the air.”
It’s in those moments, when Saban is excitable, engaging and funny, that Gold said he told listeners that this was the real Saban. It’s also one of the only times Gold got the eye from Saban.
“So what he’s saying is that during the week, I’m a schmuck?” Saban asked the crowd. Gold replied, ‘Well, Coach, that’s your words, not mine.”
GOLD UNDERSTANDS THE importance of his voice to a legion of fans who build their Thursday nights and Saturdays around listening to it during football season, and he is grateful that he had a 17-year run with the greatest coach of all time. The Alabama job carries a unique burden due to its history, legacy and its role as the biggest show in the entire state, with apologies to Auburn.
“We don’t have professional sports here, nothing in the entire state,” Peewee said. “All we really have is college. This sport, football, has divided families. It’s caused marriages and it’s caused divorces. I don’t know if other people or other fan bases understand.”
So Peewee, a season-ticket holder for 30 years, always figured, if he had a question about the program, why not go straight to the man? He focused all his attention on this show and not the others where callers screamed and ranted. And in return, Saban seemed to take a shine to him.
“In the last year, [Saban’s] really loosened up even moreso in talking to people,” Gold said. “And in the case of Peewee, this year it’s been like a comedy show, the two of them, opening up the program. It’s like Laurel and Hardy talking about the offensive line.”
So imagine you’re a fan from Grand Bay getting a shipment of apples from the coach after a car accident. Imagine the coach and his wife sending flowers to your parents’ funerals. Imagine Miss Terry’s assistant walking up to you and saying, “Are you Peewee?” and handing you a football signed by Nick and Terry Saban. Imagine the Alabama coach asking you why you were at his show in person two weeks in a row but missed the week of the Iron Bowl, telling him you had to work, and having him reply, “Well, hell son, I coulda fixed that with one phone call.”
Then imagine hearing it’s all over.
“I’m not really over the shock of it,” Peewee said. “We all knew it was coming at some point in time. But I just didn’t think it would be now and I didn’t think it would be like this.”
But Peewee won’t be going anywhere. He’s ridden out the highs and lows and he’ll be ready to roll with the Tide once again.
“When Coach Stallings came in, I talked to him all the time,” Peewee said, going through the list in his head. “Coach [Mike] Dubose, Mike Shula … I actually got to go to a couple shows while Fran [Dennis Franchione] was our coach. He just bailed out on us because of the probation and then went to A&M and didn’t do nothin’ there. I never really got to talk to Mike Price because he was an idiot.”
So he has worked through his emotions this week, ultimately writing Saban a letter and emailing it to one of his connections in the athletic department. He thanked him for bringing Bama out of the “dark years” and all that he and his charity had done for the school, the program, the state and the players who played for him.
Coach I can honestly say I will miss being able to talk to you to ask you questions or have you turn it around and ask me questions about our offensive line each week on your radio show. I have looked forward to that each and every week over these last 17 years. … The Bama Nation loves you and Miss Terry very much!! Forever your friend and offensive line coach Peewee Roberts. Roll Tide!!
It’ll be hard to move forward with the next coach, but Peewee was there before Saban, and he’ll be there for Kalen DeBoer.
“It’ll be different, that’s for sure,” Peewee said. “But it will still be about the University of Alabama, right? I’ll be there for the next guy. As long as I can pick up the phone and call, I’ll be there.”
As we approach the one-month mark of the 2025 college football season, the state of quarterback play among the contenders (and pretenders) across the country is becoming clearer.
LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Penn State’s Drew Allar and Texas’ Arch Manning — all for different reasons — have followed hefty preseason hype with relatively slow starts this fall. Elsewhere, Josh Hoover (TCU), Haynes King (Georgia Tech) and Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt) are looking very much as expected, and some of the nation’s biggest offseason question marks, including Oregon’s Dante Moore and Texas A&M’s Marcel Reed, have emerged as surprise stars.
Week 4 was a big one for transfer passers as Joey Aguilar (Tennessee), Carson Beck (Miami), John Mateer (Oklahoma), Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) and Beau Pribula (Missouri) all built on impressive starts with their new programs. Meanwhile, fellow portal quarterbacks Jackson Arnold (Auburn), Devon Dampier (Utah) and Jake Retzlaff (Tulane) experienced their first stumbles in their new uniforms Saturday.
With four full weeks of college football in the books, here’s our take on the Top 25 and how early-season quarterback situations are developing across the country. — Eli Lederman
Previous ranking: 1
Freshman Julian Sayin is off to a terrific start through three games, having replaced national championship-winning quarterback Will Howard. Sayin ranks 29th nationally in QBR (77.2) and is completing almost 79% of his throws. Sayin didn’t put up big numbers in Ohio State’s season-opening 14-7 victory over then-top-ranked Texas. But he was accurate and avoided any big mistakes (sacks or turnovers), which allowed the Ohio State defense to salt away the win. In Week 2’s 70-0 victory, Sayin set a school record with 16 straight completions to begin the game. Then, in Week 3, he passed for 347 yards as the offense got rolling against Ohio in the second half after a slow start. Some big tests loom ahead, most notably on Nov. 1 against Penn State and in the regular-season finale at Michigan. But Sayin has impressed so far with his poise and precision. — Jake Trotter
Previous ranking: 3
Carson Beck has helped lead the Hurricanes to a 4-0 start following a 26-7 win over Florida on Saturday. Though his performance against the Gators was not up to his standard — Beck went 17-of-30 for 160 yards with one interception — he is still completing 73% of his passes on the season and has helped position Miami in the top five as a CFP contender. Beck has shown an ability to make big plays in the passing game with his receivers, who are skilled at going up and making acrobatic catches or coming down with jump balls. Following an open date, Miami plays Florida State in Tallahassee, and Beck said he is looking forward to playing in Doak Campbell Stadium for the first time. — Andrea Adelson
Previous ranking: 2
The Ducks continue to boast one of the most balanced offenses in the country as they totaled 305 passing yards and 280 rushing yards in their 41-7 win over rivals Oregon State Saturday. One slight difference about this week’s performance, however, was that they let quarterback Dante Moore loosen his arm a bit more. Whether it was by design or not, it worked; Moore threw 31 passes for 305 yards and four touchdowns, all season highs. It was another reminder that no matter how good the Ducks have been this season, Moore still has more in the tank. Even if he doesn’t have the kind of off-the-charts pop that others at his position might boast, the sophomore has proved he can be efficient, explosive when needed and, most importantly, capable of managing Oregon’s offense to perfection so far. — Paolo Uggetti
Previous ranking: 4
After a slow start to the season due to a torso injury, Tigers quarterback Garrett Nussmeier again looked like one of the best passers in the FBS on Saturday, albeit against FCS program Southeastern Louisiana. And with a trip to Ole Miss coming up next, it couldn’t have come at a better time for LSU. Nussmeier completed 25 of 31 passes for 273 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in 2½ quarters of action against the Lions. It was the first game in which he threw for more than 250 yards this season. “This week was big about trying to find our rhythm and getting in stride heading into SEC play,” Nussmeier said. LSU coach Brian Kelly thought Nussmeier did a better job seeing the field and throwing in rhythm. — Mark Schlabach
Previous ranking: 7
Veteran Drew Allar is off to a bit of a slow start statistically. He ranks 111th in QBR (38.4) and has thrown just four touchdowns over three games. But the Nittany Lions have yet to be pressed, as they coasted past Nevada (46-11), Florida International (34-0) and Villanova (52-6). The spotlight, however, will be on Allar and Penn State next weekend when Oregon visits for a prime-time, “White Out” showdown. Allar admitted over the summer that the time has come for the Nittany Lions “to get over that hump” against big-time opponents. Under coach James Franklin, Penn State is 4-20 against teams ranked in the AP top 10 — and Allar has only one career top-10 win (Boise State last year) as Penn State’s starting quarterback. Beating the Ducks this time around would be a huge statement for Allar and the Nittany Lions. — Trotter
Previous ranking: 5
Any lingering quarterback concerns that Georgia fans had about Gunner Stockton were probably put to rest after his performance in a 44-41 overtime victory at Tennessee on Sept. 13. The sophomore completed 23 of 31 passes for 304 yards with two touchdowns and ran 13 times for 38 yards with another score. It was a much better performance for Stockton, who struggled to get the ball down the field in a 28-6 victory against Austin Peay the week before. He led the Bulldogs on four touchdown drives of 72 yards or longer, including one near the end of regulation that resulted in his 28-yard scoring pass to London Humphreys on fourth down. Georgia’s offensive line needs to get better, and Stockton needs to improve at keeping his eyes down the field while scrambling. — Schlabach
Previous ranking: 8
So far, things could not have gone better for the Seminoles with transfer quarterback Tommy Castellanos, who has been a perfect fit for the offense and the team in general. Castellanos has thrown for 594 yards and three touchdowns this season, completing 71% of his passes, while adding 139 yards rushing and three scores. Florida State has not had to rely on the passing game just yet, as the Seminoles have steamrolled their opponents on the ground. Castellanos did have a bit of a scare in a 66-10 win over Kent State when his leg got rolled up on, but he said afterward he was “all good.” — Adelson
Previous ranking: 9
Washington State transfer John Mateer has delivered on the hype that followed his offseason arrival in Norman. Through four games, he has already taken care of his principal objective: stabilizing a Sooners offense that finished 113th in total offense a year ago. But Mateer has also brought with him a brand of playmaking ability Oklahoma hasn’t had at the quarterback position since Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts rolled through the program in the late 2010s. Following Saturday’s 24-17 win over then-No. 22 Auburn, Mateer ranks sixth nationally in passing yards (1,215) and tied for second among Power 4 quarterbacks in rushing scores (five). He was far from perfect facing an SEC defense for the first time, and Mateer’s turnover tally (four) and propensity for working himself into trouble are worth keeping an eye on as Oklahoma stares down ranked matchups in six of its final eight games of the season. But there’s no doubt that Mateer has significantly raised the floor for the Sooners’ offense. The question now is just how high the ceiling can be this fall. — Lederman
Previous ranking: 6
The Aggies had a bye week, a fortuitous break after an emotional trip to Notre Dame where they won on a fourth-down touchdown with 13 seconds left. It was A&M’s first road nonconference win against a ranked team since 1979 and first road win against any ranked team at all since 2014. Marcel Reed was just 17-of-37 in that game but threw for 360 yards, and KC Concepcion and Mario Craver have provided the 3-0 Aggies with the big-play threats they lacked last season. Last year, A&M got off to a hot start, beginning 7-1, including a win over No. 8 LSU. Then, a slide started, beginning with a road loss to South Carolina followed by a 43-41 triple-overtime loss to Auburn. The Aggies get the Tigers at home next week, who are coming off a road loss to Oklahoma, to try to keep this year’s momentum rolling. — Dave Wilson
Previous ranking: 20
Although Indiana retained many of its top players from its 2024 CFP team, it needed to replace standout quarterback Kurtis Rourke. The team plucked one of the top available transfers in Cal‘s Fernando Mendoza, who joined his younger brother and fellow quarterback Alberto Mendoza at IU. How would Mendoza adjust? The answer came Saturday with a near-flawless performance, as Mendoza had three more touchdown passes (five) than incompletions (two), finishing with 267 passing yards and finding four different teammates for scores. He became the second FBS player with five passing touchdowns and 90% completions against an AP ranked opponent in the past 30 years, joining Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud in 2021 against Michigan State. Mendoza could end up being an upgrade from Rourke. — Adam Rittenberg
Previous ranking: 12
After four games, Rebels coach Lane Kiffin has a good problem on his hands. Ole Miss has two quarterbacks who are more than capable of running the offense. Starter Austin Simmons won the job in camp and has thrown for 580 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions. Simmons injured his ankle in the fourth quarter of a 30-23 win at Kentucky on Sept. 6, and backup Trinidad Chambliss has played even better in his absence. In Saturday’s 45-10 rout of Tulane, Chambliss passed for 307 yards with two touchdowns and ran for 112 yards on 14 attempts. In the past two wins over Arkansas and Tulane, Chambliss threw for 660 yards with three touchdown passes and no interceptions, while running for 174 with two scores. With LSU going to Oxford, Mississippi, next week, Kiffin faces a difficult decision. “I’m not saying he’s Russell Wilson, don’t get me wrong, but there’s some similarities in that kind of in the ‘it factor’ and how he moves and holds himself, you know, that I’ve kind of said that since he’s gotten here,” Kiffin said of Chambliss, who won two Division II national championships at Ferris State in Big Rapids, Michigan. — Schlabach
Previous ranking: 17
Behren Morton took some rough hits on Saturday, including a hit to the head that knocked him out of the Red Raiders’ road test at Utah. But Texas Tech did not miss a beat when backup Will Hammond stepped in to replace him. The redshirt freshman threw for 169 yards, rushed for 61 yards and led a 21-0 scoring run in the fourth quarter for a massive 34-10 victory against then No. 16 Utah. Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said Morton will be fine, and a bye week is arriving at a good time for this team. But Hammond, who put up the second-best QBR (96.3) in FBS during Week 4, has done more than enough to prove he’s ready to help this team win if called upon. — Max Olson
Previous ranking: 10
A tuneup against 0-4 Sam Houston might have been what the doctor ordered for several scuffling Longhorns who had yet to find their stride this season. Arch Manning accounted for five touchdowns — three passing and two rushing — and completed 14 passes in a row a week after the Longhorns’ offense got booed after 10 straight incompletions against UTEP. Saturday, Manning finished 18-of-21 for 309 yards, including two touchdown passes of 53 and 13 yards to Ryan Wingo, who had just nine catches and one touchdown in the first three games, and edge rushing star Colin Simmons recorded his first solo sack of the year. The Longhorns head to Florida on Saturday hoping to keep building momentum in their SEC opener against the 1-3 Gators before facing Oklahoma, which beat Auburn to move to 4-0, in Dallas the following week. — Wilson
Previous ranking: 16
Joey Aguilar and Tennessee faced a unique test this week, needing to get back on track after a devastating loss to Georgia last week. Safe to say, they passed it. Aguilar threw for 218 yards and three touchdowns and needed to play only one drive in the second half as the Vols broke out to a 42-7 halftime lead and cruised 56-24 over UAB. The Vols are averaging 53.5 points per game through four games, and Aguilar has 1,124 passing yards and 12 touchdowns. They have an explosiveness that they lacked with Nico Iamaleava at quarterback last season, and the defense has been fine against teams not named Georgia. Starting next week at Mississippi State, however, the Vols embark on a run of three road trips in four games. We’ll see if Aguilar’s solid early form travels. — Bill Connelly
Previous ranking: 13
The Cyclones were idle this week ahead of next week’s home game against surging Arizona. At 4-0, Iowa State is off to a promising start, but it has to turn in a comprehensive win against an FBS opponent as all three such wins have come by one score. Quarterback Rocco Becht is finding a way to help pull these games out, but Iowa State needs more explosive plays from its offense if it expects to seriously compete for the Big 12 title. — Kyle Bonagura
Previous ranking: 15
Ty Simpson had to wait years to win Alabama’s starting job, and his tenure began as inauspiciously as possible with a dire loss at Florida State. Simpson has been almost perfect since, however, completing 41 of 46 passes for 608 yards and seven TDs against UL Monroe and Wisconsin. The Tide rolled in both games, setting the table nicely for an enormous and potentially season-defining trip to Georgia next Saturday. If Simpson looks good in a Tide win, he enters the Heisman discussion and Alabama’s CFP bona fides get a nice boost. If he struggles and Bama loses, the CFP starts to seem like a pipe dream. — Connelly
Previous ranking: 19
Beau Pribula has had it pretty easy early in his tenure as Mizzou’s starting quarterback. He has completed 72% of his passes with an 8-to-2 INT-to-TD ratio, he has been a solid scrambling weapon at times, and he has been able to turn around and hand the ball off to Ahmad Hardy and Jamal Roberts. They’ve taken it from there. The running back duo rushed 35 times for 214 yards and two touchdowns in Mizzou’s 29-20 win over South Carolina on Saturday night. Despite missing left tackle Cayden Green, Mizzou had 285 yards rushing, Pribula took only one sack and Mizzou went 7-for-13 on third downs. Only some third-down brilliance from the Gamecocks’ LaNorris Sellers kept this one competitive, but the Tigers moved to 4-0 by finishing the game on an 11-0 run. With a buy game against UMass and a bye week coming up, it looks like Pribula will lead an unbeaten team against Alabama in Columbia in a couple of weeks. — Connelly
Previous ranking: 18
Saturday’s win over Temple wasn’t exactly pretty, but then again, things rarely are for the Yellow Jackets. QB Haynes King likes it that way. Few quarterbacks in the country have proved their toughness more than King, who added three touchdowns in Week 4’s 45-24 win over the Owls. King’s ability to make plays with his legs is what sets him apart, but he has also been stellar as a passer — a big question coming off last season’s shoulder injury. Georgia Tech’s next two games are against Wake Forest and Virginia Tech — two of the ACC’s bottom-feeders — meaning he’ll have a shot to pad his stat line even more before a showdown at Duke on Oct. 18. — David Hale
Previous ranking: 21
Freshman phenom Bryce Underwood earned his first Big Ten road victory on Saturday with a 30-27 win at Nebraska. He didn’t put up crazy stats on the day — 105 passing yards, 61 rushing yards, one TD — but didn’t need to while the Wolverines’ run game overwhelmed a top-10 scoring defense with 292 rushing yards on 9.1 yards per carry (excluding sacks). Interim coach Biff Poggi loved the poise Underwood brought to the sideline and huddle that gave his team no doubt it’d win. The young QB’s developmental trajectory through four games remains extremely exciting to watch. — Olson
Previous ranking: 22
Diego Pavia fought for an extra year of eligibility in 2025 and is absolutely making the most of it. The sixth-year senior avenged last year’s upset loss to Georgia State with a 70-21 rout on Saturday night that has Vanderbilt off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2008. Pavia has dramatically raised his completion percentage from 59.4% last season to an SEC-best 73.9%, ranks among the top 10 in QBR (85.7) and is powering a top-10 scoring offense that’s putting up 47.5 points per game. The Commodores have one more nonconference tuneup against Utah State before an epic October schedule against four of the SEC’s best in Alabama, LSU, Missouri and Texas. — Olson
Previous ranking: 25
The Horned Frogs played a bit sloppy but never panicked against SMU in a 35-24 win, the last iteration of a rivalry that dates back to 2015. Josh Hoover threw for 379 yards and a career-high five touchdowns, and a stacked receiving room saw Eric McAlister become this week’s star, with eight catches for 254 yards (second best in school history) and three touchdowns, narrowly missing two more, one on an interception that was wrestled away from him and another on a possible TD catch that was ruled incomplete and wasn’t reviewed by officials. The defense held SMU to 384 yards, 4-of-13 on third down and the Mustangs’ fewest points all season. The Frogs, who snuck into the AP Top 25 at No. 24 this week, head to Tempe to take on defending Big 12 champs Arizona State on Friday night, a test that could start to reveal if TCU is back on its 2022 trajectory. — Wilson
Previous ranking: NR
If there wasn’t much talk about Jayden Maiava‘s season so far, then let the chatter begin. The Trojans’ quarterback was impressive against Michigan State in a 45-31 win, looking as comfortable as ever in Lincoln Riley’s offense. Maiva completed 20 of 26 passes for 234 yards (and crossed the 1,000-yard mark for the season) while adding three passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns too. It’s not clear yet just how good USC is and can be in the Big Ten and beyond this season, but through four contests, there’s no doubt that the explosive offense the sport has come to expect when Riley has a dynamic quarterback in tow is alive and well with Maiava under center. In fact, after putting up 517 yards of offense against the Spartans, the Trojans’ average yards per game for the year (604 per game, tops in the country) will go down. At the center of it all has been Maiava. — Uggetti
Previous ranking: 24
When the season opened, the biggest question looming over Notre Dame was at quarterback. It took until late in fall camp before CJ Carr won the job, and the Irish — fresh off a trip to the national championship game — might’ve reasonably been concerned about putting their fate in the hands of a QB with no starting experience. Turns out, Carr has been fine — throwing for 223 yards and two touchdowns in a 56-30 win over Purdue on Saturday — and Notre Dame’s Achilles’ heel has been the area the Irish might’ve felt best about: the secondary. Purdue threw for 303 yards and three touchdowns Saturday, and the battered and struggling defensive backs in South Bend showed little ability to adjust. Notre Dame might have its QB1, but the job now is stopping the other team’s quarterback. — Hale
Previous ranking: 11
When the Illini slogged through the first half Sept. 6 against Duke, struggling along the line of scrimmage, quarterback Luke Altmyer kept the team on track, avoiding major mistakes and buying enough time for a second-half surge. But Altmyer had no chance to be a hero at Indiana, which swarmed him all night, recording five sacks in the first half and seven in the game. Other than a 59-yard touchdown pass to Collin Dixon, Altmyer was limited to 87 passing yards on 13 completions and constantly faced pressure. He certainly can play better and will need to beginning this week against USC. But Altmyer was far from Illinois’ biggest problem in the Indiana debacle. He has given the Illini a veteran presence who, when given time, can pick apart defenses. — Rittenberg
Previous ranking: 14
The celebration in Utah about a revived Utes offense was premature, it turns out. Utah and Texas Tech were locked in a defensive tussle for much of Saturday’s 34-10 Texas Tech win before the Red Raiders finished the game with a flurry of touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The Utes struggled in both phases on offense, managing just 101 yards rushing on 31 carries (3.3 yards per carry) and only 162 yards through the air. The ineffectiveness of the offense was compounded by four turnovers that served as an unpleasant reminder of the past two seasons. — Bonagura
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Greg Wyshynski
The Chicago Blackhawks have settled a second lawsuit brought by a former player who claimed they were negligent in dealing with sexual assault allegations leveled against then-video coach Brad Aldrich in 2010.
The complaint was filed in 2023 in Cook County (Ill.) Circuit Court. Romanucci & Blandin, the firm that filed the lawsuit, identified “John Doe” as a Black Ace — a prospect who joins an NHL team as a reserve player for the postseason — during Chicago’s run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final. It listed 15 counts of negligence.
The lawsuit claimed that Doe was targeted by Aldrich, who “used his authority as a coach to groom, harass, threaten, and assault John Doe for sexual gratification.” Doe’s lawsuit accused the Blackhawks of “utter indifference and/or conscious disregard for the safety of its employees” in not taking action when made aware of Aldrich’s actions. The suit claimed that Doe suffered injuries and damages, including “great pain of body and mind.”
The two sides issued separate statements confirming that a deal was struck with Doe, but terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Doe was the second former Blackhawks player from that season to file a lawsuit against the team and reach a settlement. Forward Kyle Beach filed a lawsuit claiming he was sexually assaulted by Aldrich and that the organization’s senior leadership put off taking any action until after the Stanley Cup was awarded that season. He settled with the team in 2021.
The Blackhawks allowed Aldrich to resign in 2010. In 2013, Aldrich pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct with a 16-year-old high school hockey player he coached in Michigan. He spent time in prison and is now listed as a sex offender.
A trial date of Oct. 27 was set for John Doe’s lawsuit before the settlement.
Beach’s complaint inspired an independent review by the law firm Jenner & Block, which Doe participated in as “Black Ace 1.” That investigation resulted in the NHL fining the Blackhawks $2 million for their “inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response.”
Stan Bowman, the Blackhawks’ president of hockey operations and general manager, and Al MacIsaac, senior director of hockey administration, both stepped down in October 2021. Joel Quenneville, who coached the 2010 Blackhawks, resigned as coach of the Florida Panthers in October 2021 after a meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
All three executives were reinstated by the NHL in July 2024.
“While it is clear that, at the time, their responses were unacceptable, each of these three individuals has acknowledged that and used his time away from the game to engage in activities which not only demonstrate sincere remorse for what happened, but also evidence greater awareness of the responsibilities that all NHL personnel have, particularly personnel who are in positions of leadership,” the NHL said in a statement in July 2024. “Moreover, each has made significant strides in personal improvement by participating in myriad programs, many of which focused on the imperative of responding in effective and meaningful ways to address alleged acts of abuse.”
Bowman was hired by the Edmonton Oilers as general manager in July 2024. Quenneville was named coach of the Anaheim Ducks in May 2025.
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