AP Top 25 Reaction + College Football Zagriculture

In this college football podcast episode, we react to the first AP Top 25 of the 2026 season and our first preseason poll as official AP voters. We run through the top of the rankings, compare the national poll with our own ballot and talk about what it feels like to put actual votes behind all the opinions we’ve spent the offseason developing. Which teams already look a little too high or too low, and how much should anyone really trust a preseason poll before the games begin?

Then it’s time for some Zagriculture. We take a bank of familiar college football narratives and draft the ones we’re most willing to push back against. Is Notre Dame really just a product of its schedule? Is Dabo Swinney actually cooked at Clemson? Can USC finally build a respectable defense under Lincoln Riley? What should we expect from Oregon when the biggest games arrive in January, and how much faith should anyone have in Lane Kiffin eventually delivering a championship at LSU? Along the way, we also wander into Ole Miss, Iowa and several other preseason assumptions that may look very different a few months from now.

Plus, Ty gets talked into an alarmingly specific Iowa offensive prediction, Dan dabbles with weird phrasing, and we continue preparing for Week 0.

00:00 - Intro
00:02:56 - AP Top 25 Reaction: The Official Ballot Drops
00:14:00 - Game Intro: College Football "Zagriculture" Explained
00:17:02 - Zag 1: Pete Golding's Ole Miss Ceiling vs. Lane Kiffin Standard
00:21:32 - Zag 2: Lincoln Riley & USC Building a Respectable Defense
00:28:31 - Zag 3: Iowa's Explosive Offense Potential with Jeremy Hecklinski
00:36:50 - Zag 4: Notre Dame's Playoff Ceiling & Schedule Criticism
00:42:44 - Zag 5: Is Dabo Swinney Cooked at Clemson?
00:52:03 - Zag 6: Oregon's Championship Potential in January
00:59:36 - Rapid Fire: Big 12 Favorites, Belichick, Colorado, & Lane Kiffin
01:10:16 - Outro & Community Updates

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