Travis and Jason Kelce and their college shenanigans, plus trouble in Tuscaloosa

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Good morning! The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman joins us today to discuss the latest domino after Nick Saban’s retirement. But first, let’s take a trip to Cincinnati, Ohio …

Back to College

5 moments from Kelce brothers’ time at Cincinnati

Be sure to start your day — or end it with a beverage — by reading Justin Williams’ recount of Jason and Travis Kelce’s time at Cincinnati. It’s truly a teammate tell-all, so I picked out my five favorite quotes:

1. Craig Carey (Cincinnati LB, 2005-09): “We were having a party after one of the games and Jason was a little bit inebriated, let’s say, and he ripped the sink out of the wall in one of the bathrooms. And everybody was like, ‘What the hell? Who is this guy? This walk-on just ripped the freaking sink out of the wall.’” (Ah yes, now I understand the Big Kelc nickname.)
2. Tom DeTemple (Cincinnati long snapper, 2007-11): “I think it was St. Patrick’s Day. We’re getting ready for spring practice, and (Jason) goes and gets a Gatorade bottle and fills it up with Jameson. He puts a thing of tape around it and gives it to one of the water girls and says: ‘Do not give this to anybody but me.’” (The real question is, did the water girl try it?)
3. Butch Jones (Cincinnati head coach, 2010-12): “If you talk about love from a big brother and respect from a little brother, those two defined that relationship.” And later, Jones said, “Jason and Travis Kelce are the reason why I do what I do.” (I needed to add one tear-jerker.)
4. Craig Parmenter (Cincinnati OL, 2007-10): “That house could have been a sitcom.” (This whole story could be.)
5. Zach Collaros (Cincinnati QB, 2007-11): “I’d always say to (Travis), ‘Walk with your shoulders back. You’re the man.’” (Que Taylor Swift!)

Ah, but enough fun. Time to get back to business. With Buffalo head coach Maurice Linguist off to Alabama as a defensive assistant, college football insider Bruce Feldman has insight on one candidate who seems obvious for the Bulls to go after.

Brian Polian could be a good fit for the coaching opening at Buffalo. (Robin Alam / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Feldman’s Files

Buffalo’s search begins

Buffalo is one of the programs that got blindsided by the domino effect of Saban retiring last week. Linguist stepped down after three seasons Tuesday to join new Bama coach Kalen DeBoer’s staff, working under another former sitting head coach in Kane Wommack, who resigned as the head coach at South Alabama to become the Tide’s DC.

A Texan, Linguist led Buffalo to a bowl win in 2022 in his second season, but things regressed this past season. The Bulls went 3-9, dropping five of their final six games, and Buffalo’s offense struggled mightily. Now, the Bulls have another coaching search at a place where it’s hard to win … unless you’re Lance Leipold. The recruiting pool is not great relative to the rest of the MAC, and now the program is hitting the reset button.

One potential option is a coach with deep ties to the area who has head coaching experience and wanted the job a few years ago when Linguist was hired. Brian Polian is a former Buffalo assistant coach and knows the place well. His wife was born and raised there and still has family in the area. He led Nevada to bowl games in two of his four seasons taking over a tricky situation replacing local legend Chris Ault. Polian, the son of former Bills GM Bill Polian, left the sidelines a year ago to become the AD at his alma mater, John Carroll University in Ohio.

Coaching hires, especially ones made after the previous coach struggled, tend to focus on candidates opposite from the direction programs just went. In Linguist’s case, Buffalo hired a first-time head coach with no ties to Western New York.

The irony in this whole thing is Polian broke into the coaching business as a graduate assistant at Michigan State under Saban.