Follow The Money | August 12, 2026 | Hour 3

**SPEAKER_1** (0:05)
This is Follow The Money with Mitch Moss and Pauly Howard on VSiN.

**Pauly Howard** (0:11)
Welcome back, good to have you. Mitch on vacation, Pauly in the moose, VSiN eSports betting network.
Breaking news, Deshaun Watson will start Saturday for the Browns and play the first half. If everything goes to plan against the Bears, so some money coming in on the Browns. When you talk college basketball or college football, there's only one choice. The great Pat Forde. It's been too long. He joins us now on the Progressive Guest Line at ByPat40, on X Sports Illustrated as well. Check out as the lists are starting to come out. He's got top 25 most intriguing, and he was at all the media days, and he joins us to talk a little college football. Appreciate the time, my friend. You were there. Did you think the SEC did some damage with the whining and complaining?

**Pat Forde** (0:54)
Yes, sir, Pauly. Definitely. I mean, you're not in the same position you used to be if you're the SEC.
You can't come in with this high and mighty entitled sort of mentality of we need this, we deserve that when you're not doing it on the field. I feel like they just have ignored the results the last couple of years, particularly last year, and just kind of still are living in this era of we're number one. When they're not, clearly the big 10 is number one, and when you can't even get a team in the final, when you've not made it further than the semifinals, three straight years, you've watched three different big 10 teams win, when Alabama loses a playoff game by 35 to a team from the big 10, you're out of bragging rights. Go earn some and then come back and talk to us.

**Marc Malusis** (1:49)
I want to ask you about LSU staying in the SEC. What does it look like year one for Lane Kiffin down in the Bayou?

**Pat Forde** (1:57)
A lot of talent, you know, they've pulled it together, that there was already residual talent there. And then, you know, they did a lot of work in the portal.
So I expect it to be a better LSU product than we saw under Brian Kelly. It better, given all the upheaval that went into bringing in Lane Kiffin and all the money that went into it with staff and with players, they need Sam Levitt to come through. Last year, he was pretty disappointing at Arizona State, but he also was injured. They need him to come through. They need Lane to be more than just a sideshow and really actually like out scheme some people, which he did do, I thought, last year at Ole Miss. I thought it was his best coaching job.
But a lot of pressure, a lot of expectations. We'll see if they deliver against a pretty challenging schedule.

**Pauly Howard** (2:47)
He is number two on your most intriguing list for coaches. And I think you've been on this for 15 years, just baffled that this guy keeps getting great jobs and he's had one good year.

**Pat Forde** (3:00)
Yeah. No, it's incredible. I mean, nobody has failed up like Lane Kiffin. That's for sure. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm not even sure it's failing up so much as just somehow moving up. Because he has not failed per se, except for what the Raiders he certainly did. He was younger than any USC. Yes. But he did do good work at Ole Miss.
But geez, Luis, I mean, think of the jobs he has had and he's won a grand total of zero championships of any kind. Maybe at Florida Atlantic, I don't know. But he's had a lot of things given to him, and it's time to produce in a spot where they absolutely expect to produce on the highest level.

**Marc Malusis** (3:44)
How about Sark down there in Texas, Pat, with Arch at quarterback, and how much pressure, how intriguing is that storyline when you're looking at it from a coaching perspective?

**Pat Forde** (3:55)
Yeah, hugely. From the coaching perspective, from the quarterback perspective, Texas, I don't know about how much, who spent the most or anything like that. I think Texas won the portal more than any other school. We'll see when they put it on the field, but in terms of on paper and addressing absolute needs, they got studs at receiver, they got studs at running back, they got an underrated stud at linebacker, Sheen Biles from Pitt. And so they built all this around Arch.
Last year, I think we were saying, can Arch elevate Texas to a title? Now, I think we're saying, can the rest of Texas elevate Arch to a title? Because we've seen him and he's good, and presumably getting better, but he's not your instant superstar savior, but he was built to be by a lot of people. So I think they did the smart thing in terms of bringing in what they did. And yes, now, I mean, for Sark, on paper, this looks like your best team you've ever had, maybe even by a wide margin. Time to go do something.