Husband. Dad. I write about college football for The Athletic and talk about college football on The Audible. Tips? Compliments? Email stewart@theathletic.com.
Sunnyvale, CA
- Tweets 80,545
- Following 896
- Followers 219,339
- Likes 830
Pinned Tweet
Very excited to share this project.
With a lot of reporting, we came up with the estimated roster budget for every P4 team.
They go up as high as $55M and start as low as $8M.
See where your team ranks. And everyone else's.
Read for free:
nytimes.com/athletic/interac…
79
116
741
471,843
Clemson is about to go from being ruthlessly booed at home to 2-0 in the ACC in the span of 6 days.
10
3
119
12,990
It's hard to believe this is the same JKS that burst on the scene last year. He looks so uncomfortable and hesitant in this offense.
16
10
198
16,823
Northwestern hung tough. You can see the Chip Kelly effect on offense. Big game next week vs. Penn State to open the new stadium.
Indiana is still very good. Just not as dominant.
26
12
382
21,664
Aidan Chiles has been fantastic in the second half. Who saw this being a 2-point game with 5 minutes left?
7
2
78
14,518
Apparently Indiana’s season is going to be just a little bit more dramatic this year.
13
1
272
20,641
Stewart Mandel retweeted
Do multi-million dollar NIL deals force a coach's hand on who starts? 💰🤷♂️
@BruceFeldmanCFB, @slmandel, and @ralphDrussoATH dive into the mailbag to debate the awkward reality of managing highly-paid quarterbacks.
📺: piped.video/h375vjgtWwc?utm_sou…
1
3
8,789
Stewart Mandel retweeted
"Whatever is the most inconvenient result that keeps the controversy going tends to be what happens." 🍿
@ralphDrussoATH explain why the Western Michigan vs. Boise State matchup is a massive storyline that impacts how the committee views Michigan.
📺: piped.video/h375vjgtWwc?utm_sou…
1
3
3
24,196
College athletics is just one big recurring "We're all trying to find the guy who did this" meme.
LSU athletics projects $26 million deficit after $44 million deficit last year; president says program must ‘stop that bleeding’
footballscoop.com/2026/09/24…
37
95
1,360
173,556
Stewart Mandel retweeted
The hottest trend in college sports investigations? No paper trail.
I wrote about how these high-profile external investigations at schools like Michigan and North Carolina are completed with no formal, written report.
Free to read via @TheAthletic.
nytimes.com/athletic/7623865…
4
23
49
66,764
Looks like the final vote on PCSA will be early next week and should sail through. Every procedural vote has had 70+ Senators in support.
2
1
1,379
Stewart Mandel retweeted
New Audible: @slmandel @ralphDrussoATH & I discuss the breakout star of the first month of the season Mississippi State QB Kamario Taylor; why Boise State-WMU should be getting more national attention & we answer your mailbag questions: piped.video/watch?v=h375vj…
5
8
42,474
Stewart Mandel retweeted
No. 20 Oregon heads south to battle No. 12 USC in a massive West Coast crossroads! 🦆✌️
Can Dan Lanning fix the early errors, or will the Trojans pull out the big home win? @BruceFeldmanCFB and @ralphdrussoATH weigh in.
📺: piped.video/T9PXfy1nGco?utm_sou…
3
6
84
22,116
This week's Mailbag:
-- Some of my readers are mad that Trinidad Chambliss is still playing college football.
-- Where does NC State-Vandy rank in inexcusable losses?
-- Ranking the SEC's QBs and more.
Read for free.
nytimes.com/athletic/7621940…
2
4
35
23,837
I can’t remember the last time I needed to see a movie the first night it comes out.
(Actually I think it was Borat).
16
8
507
297,607
Say what you will about the pro-PCSA folks, the other side comes off as unserious when they propose stuff they surely know will never see the light of day.
Sen. Cory Booker, with Sen. Chris Murphy, has filed an amendment to the Protect College Sports Act to cap coaching salaries at $5 million a year, per a copy obtained by @YahooSports.
It is one of 35+ amendments filed. Most of them have little chance of being accepted.
118
18
167
83,390
Week 3 TV ratings, per Nielsen.
LSU-Ole Miss (ABC): 10.9M
FSU-Bama (ABC): 7M
Kentucky-A&M (ESPN/ABC): 5.4M
UGA-Arkansas (ABC): 4.2M
UNC-Clemson (ESPN): 3.6M
Mich St-ND (NBC): 3.2M
Hou-T Tech (FOX) 3M
Ohio St-Kent St (FOX) 2.7M
Miami-Wake (ESPN): 2.3M
UF-Auburn (ESPN): 2.1M
74
110
894
434,826
Just because someone covers a specific school doesn’t mean they’re “affiliated” with it.
Also, the national writers are listed by their alma mater, as if Rece Davis only covers Alabama.
I see this graphic all the time on social media.
It contains a lot of data, and one thing that often gets lost is the conference affiliation of the writers being polled.
So I made a cleaner graphic that just shows the writer affiliations.
This is who holds the votes.
85
10
149
66,175
Interesting story. It’s probably not sunk in yet that Week 0 is going to be Week 1 next season.
How college football is scrambling to solve a scheduling ‘puzzle’ when Week 0 becomes Week 1 in 2027
Look for SEC games on Labor Day weekend, a rivalry 'landing' on the Big Ten's regular-season finale and an ACC shuffle halting a long series. Plus more ⏬
nytimes.com/athletic/7618631…
7
6
103
62,078
My 4 colleagues who covered LSU-Ole Miss shared their experiences, and this observation from @SethWEmerson is so spot-on.
nytimes.com/athletic/7615039…
48
153
1,919
165,969