I had a request this week: no NIL-related questions. If I’d run this thing on Wednesday as usual, I would have been able to pull it off.

But I pushed it back a couple of days to finish my post-spring Top 25, and … you’ll never guess what happened.

Everyone, including the media, knows players have been getting paid directly for decades. With that backdrop, how can anyone take what Nick Saban said seriously? Why is everyone afraid to call Saban what he is: a hypocrite? — Brandon W.

I believe Jimbo Fisher did just that — quite emphatically. He said he has first-hand knowledge that Saban has been doing illicit things in recruiting as far back as when they worked together, which was 18 years ago. Reporters can’t make those accusations without some indisputable form of proof, but Jimbo, if you’ve got receipts from 2004, please email me at [email protected] .

That being said, if, as you suggest, everyone knows players have been getting paid directly for decades, then are we to believe Jimbo that Saban has been doing it for two decades, but that he himself — a college football coach in the South for the past 22 years — has never once done the same?

It seems to me there’s enough hypocrisy and schadenfreude to go around for everyone.

If you want to ridicule Saban for something, how about his bizarre and repeated insistence lately that the lack of NIL regulation is going to ruin “parity” in college football. There is no parity, there’s never been parity, and of all the coaches at all the programs to suggest so, it’s a man who’s won nearly half the national titles of the past decade. This would be like Amazon suggesting if someone doesn’t do something soon, the small book stores of this country might be in trouble.

But I think we know what he really means. “Parity” = the way recruiting always worked prior to July 1, 2021, which he and his program had effectively mastered. The rules changed overnight, and someone else (Texas A&M) figured out how to use it to their advantage before he did, and now the sky is falling.

Who wins a cage match between Saban and Jimbo? — Nick M.

Well, Jimbo is 14 years younger and at least 4 inches taller, so I’d like his chances.

But let’s talk about who eventually “wins” this war of words.

By going full-scorched earth like he did, Jimbo essentially raised the bar by which his A&M tenure will be judged to the absolute highest imaginable level. Either he’s going to build off last year’s upset in College Station and that historically great recruiting class he just signed (with no financial help whatsoever, right?) and be forever known as the guy who stood up to Saban; or, Saban’s team beats A&M by five touchdowns in Tuscaloosa this fall, Alabama’s collective steps up and tilts the recruiting wars back in its favor, and Jimbo goes down as the guy who did a whole lot of smack talking with very little to show for it.

I get why Jimbo felt the need to defend himself and his program, first against Lane Kiffin and now Saban. Beyond the suggestion they may have broken rules (which Saban came back and denied he was alleging), he wants the story of that 2022 class to be his and his staff’s exceptional recruiting, the culture they’ve built, etc., etc. The suggestion that money was a deciding factor undermines that message.

And yet, there’s an alternate universe where Jimbo doesn’t fall for that trap and comes out and says, “Hey, credit to our people. They figured out how to play the NIL game quicker and better than any of y’all. Hate the game, not the player.” (I realize he would never say that last part.)

In the meantime, though, it makes for amazing entertainment.

If the Big Ten ditches its divisions, is all hope lost for the moderately successful schools (Maryland, Minnesota, Purdue, etc.) to ever go to the Rose Bowl again, as it’ll be that much more difficult to reach (much less win) a conference championship game? Same could be asked of the Pac-12. — Karl T.

Indeed. I’m a little perplexed right now, because on the one hand, everyone complains that the same three or four teams make the CFP every year, but now we’re clamoring for scrapping divisions, which would all but ensure that the same three or four teams make the Power 5 conference title games every year.

For example, Ohio State has played in six of the past nine Big Ten title games. But if there were no divisions in 2016 and 2021 and you just went by conference record, the Buckeyes would be at least 8-for-9. If the SEC went by conference record this whole time, Alabama would have picked up appearances in 2011, 2013 and possibly 2017 (there was a three-way tie) to make it at least nine of the last 11 years.

And that’s based on the teams playing the actual schedules they did. In a world with no divisions, Northwestern probably isn’t making two of the past four Big Ten title games because it would have played more games against Ohio State/Michigan/Michigan State/Penn State and fewer against Iowa/Nebraska/Minnesota/Illinois. Missouri, which won the SEC East in 2013 and ’14, would have had to play more Alabama/LSU/Auburn and gotten fewer Tennessee/South Carolina/Vanderbilt.

You’re essentially eliminating much chance of a conference-title Cinderella. Maybe that’s fine, given those “best team in the weaker division” reps rarely actually win the championship game, but even if it’s just a 5-10 percent chance now, it’s going to 0.1 percent in a “two best teams in the conference” scenario.

Who’s a team everyone needs to pump the brakes on in 2022? — Eric S.

Definitely USC. I saw where one national writer moved the Trojans all the way up to No. 4 in his preseason rankings following Jordan Addison’s commitment. As Dolores says to Mariano toward the end of Encanto: Slow down.

I got a pretty detailed glimpse into USC’s personnel while reporting our behind-the-scenes story earlier this week on the Lincoln Riley transition. While that is quite a star-studded offense now with Caleb Williams, Travis Dye and now Addison, its defense remains woefully undermanned. USC made some nice pickups in the portal that will likely become starters — CB Mekhi Blackmon (Colorado), LBs Shane Lee (Alabama) and Eric Gentry (Arizona State) — but that’s not enough for DC Alex Grinch to drastically upgrade a unit that finished last season 112th in the country.

Granted, Riley took teams to the Playoff at Oklahoma that had next-to-no defense — the Kyler Murray 2018 team in particular ranked 114th but made up for it by scoring a national-best 48.4 points per game. But that was with a program that had a firmly established culture, including a staff that had largely remained together for the duration of those players’ careers.

Star power or not, it’s expecting an awful lot of Riley that he would come in and, in a matter of months, flip half the roster, install an entirely new staff (save for one assistant, Donte Williams) and lead USC to an 11- or 12-win season. The Trojans have still got to face teams I have ranked No. 4 (Utah), No. 5 (Notre Dame) and, possibly in a conference title game, No. 12 (Oregon), plus an explosive UCLA offense.

I’ve got them No. 13. I could see them cracking the Top 10. I could also see them going 7-5.

It takes a big man to admit when he’s wrong, so what is the worst prediction/take you have ever made? — Asa M.

There are so, so, so many possibilities but one that comes to mind immediately: I talked myself into picking Notre Dame to beat Alabama in the 2013 BCS championship game. I even came up with all sorts of bizarre theories why.

I blame it on the old 38-day break between the conference title games and the last game. It gave me way too much time to talk myself into something that from the very first drive looked utterly foolish in hindsight.

But it’s a new day in South Bend …

Do you feel Notre Dame’s chances for Playoff success has gone up or gone down since Marcus Freeman has taken over as head coach? — David C.

I feel like they’ve gone up, for one simple reason: Marcus Freeman can recruit at a national championship level. Not that Brian Kelly didn’t land top-10 classes and churn out some great NFL players, but to get into the CFP and beat an Alabama/Clemson/Georgia/Ohio State, you’ve got to recruit at the absolute highest level. Kelly could never quite crack that ceiling. His last five recruiting classes (2017-21), while ranked fairly high, had just one five-star signee between them: 2020 tight end Michael Mayer. That same year, Clemson signed five, Alabama and Georgia four, Ohio State three.

Then Freeman joined Kelly’s staff last year. He landed five-star LB Jaylen Sneed (Hilton Head, S.C.), and, upon moving up to head coach in early December, helped finish the program’s highest-ranked class (No. 7) since 2013. Now, the first 13 commits of his first full class, led by five-star edge rusher Keon Keeley (Tampa), have the Irish currently ranked No. 1 on 247Sports. Granted, these early rankings can be deceiving because teams’ class sizes vary so drastically (No. 2 Texas Tech already has 20 commits; Alabama has three). But even if you go by average recruit rating, Notre Dame’s 93.54 is third only to USC and LSU among the Top 25 schools.

And he’s doing this despite the fact Notre Dame to this point is not getting involved in the collectives-buying-recruits market. If Notre Dame can consistently sign top-5 classes under Freeman, it can compete for national titles.

Having said all that, I have no idea whether Freeman can do the other 8,000 things it takes to build a national championship program; he is currently 0-1 as a head coach. The man he’s succeeding is infinitely more proven. But Kelly had hit his Notre Dame ceiling, which even he apparently realized. It’s early, but it looks like Freeman is changing at least one important variable.

It appears to me that what is missing today from sports is a team that can be recognized as a “villain”. A team that galvanizes fan bases and the teams they play. Do you see a team that could become that villain in college football, a la The U in the 80’s and 90’s? Or am I now an old man shouting at a cloud? — Joseph A.

I guess that depends on what you mean by villain. The U became that program not so much because it was winning so many football games but because the ‘Canes were so unapologetically anti-establishment. The celebrations, the penalties, the swagger. Also, let’s be honest: Racism. It’s pretty cringy today to go back and look at the way college football viewed Miami in the 1980s and early ’90s. Catholics vs. Convicts? Guessing that T-shirt would get confiscated at most stadiums today.

I answered a question in here a few weeks ago wondering how Lincoln Riley became such a villain upon leaving Oklahoma. If USC starts winning big, I could absolutely see the Trojans filling that role, for much the same reason people turned on the Golden State Warriors when they got Kevin Durant. (Now they’re the good guys again, I’m told?) Fairly or unfairly, Riley has become the poster for “poaching other teams’ stars” — first Caleb Williams and now Jordan Addison. If USC does become a national title contender, there’s going to be a perception they skipped straight to third base.

Meanwhile, Texas has been seen as the realignment villain for at least a decade now. They just haven’t been relevant enough on the field to sustain anyone’s angst (outside of College Station). If Steve Sarkisian gets the Longhorns back to Mack Brown territory — not something I’m betting on, but stick with me — I don’t see the ‘Horns being viewed as a feel-good story.

And finally, what about … Miami? If Mario Cristobal gets the ‘Canes going, it won’t take long for The U to become polarizing again. Why? Because their fan base will make sure of it. There is not a cockier group to be found when they’re winning … which, save for 2017, has been awhile. But you’re already seeing the seeds forming with mega-booster John Ruiz openly bragging about using NIL to help land recruits/transfers. Frankly, I miss the days when the Hurricanes were on top because they elicited much stronger reactions from opposing fan bases than Alabama or Georgia today.

Is Dave Doeren the best coach in NC State history? — Will G.

I don’t claim to have an encyclopedic knowledge of NC State coaches, but Doeren has been there nine years and has yet to win more than nine games or finish higher than No. 20 in the AP poll.

That’d be pretty depressing if he is.

What’s the outlook for Coastal Carolina? Do they have realistic NY6 aspirations? — Dan G.

Well, Grayson McCall’s back, so that alone is cause for optimism with the Chanticleers. Last season, he quietly broke the FBS single-season pass efficiency record (set by Alabama’s Mac Jones a year earlier), throwing for 2,873 yards, 27 TDs and three INTs. Watching him run Jamey Chadwell’s unique spread/triple-option offense is a thing of beauty. And the fourth-year junior, listed at 6-3, 210 pounds, still has lot of room for growth.

Problem is, Coastal lost almost every other significant contributor from its 22-3 run the past two seasons. The Chanticleers had a remarkable 18 senior starters last season, including two NFL draft picks, TE Isaiah Likely and OLB Jeffrey Gunter, and seven others who signed free-agent deals. They do bring back a couple of productive young running backs, Braydon Bennett and Reese White, and DE Josaiah Stewart had an impressive 12.5 sacks as a freshman, but I’m doubtful a Sun Belt team can lose that many quality players from one year to the next and not miss a beat.

I did not consider Coastal for my post-spring Top 25.

I wouldn’t necessarily write off the Chants as a factor in their own conference, especially given the state of flux around them. Two-time conference champ Louisiana lost head coach Billy Napier and his staff, not to mention longtime QB Levi Lewis and other key players. Appalachian State, which beat out Coastal in their division last season, lost nearly its entire starting defense. Meanwhile, half of the Chants’ league schedule is teams that weren’t in the conference a year ago: Old Dominion, Marshall, Southern Miss and James Madison. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing, but it’s different.

I expect the massively improved Sun Belt will be even more competitive with the new members, but I don’t see a New Year’s Six contender in this year’s group. I’d be surprised if it’s any team from outside the AAC or Mountain West.

What schools are truly better jobs than Oregon? I understand natural recruiting grounds, but I’d rather be the coach at Oregon than USC. — Joe S.

I do love Eugene. I wouldn’t blame anyone for making that choice.

But if you think Oregon is a better job than Ohio State, for one, I can only surmise you’re basing that decision on pot laws.

(Top photo of Nick Saban: Zach Bolinger / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)