How good are the skill players at Iowa State, Penn State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon, Syracuse and other Northern schools, including ... Rutgers?

On this Kings of the North, Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis draft the Top 10 Big 4's of their 26 Northern teams. The Big 4 parameters -- it's a QB and three skill players from any combination of running backs, receivers and tight ends.

You might be surprised at some teams picked in the Top 10 and equally surprised by some very good teams left out.

As always, thanks for joining the discussion on Kings of the North.

Is college football getting better or worse? On this Kings of the North, Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis are joined by two special guests to discuss that.

Adam Rittenberg of ESPN and Amanda Christovich of Front Office Sports give their views as KOTN examines the past, present and future of college football.

Doug, Bill and Adam discuss:
• Whether the regular season is better or worse (01:30)
• Whether determining a national champion is better or worse (12:00)
• Whether the treatment of players is better or worse (23:45)
• Amanda then drops by to give insight on the future of player compensation and to discuss her blockbuster story on the NCAA and lobbying in Washington for Front Office Sports (35:15)
• A final look at whether it's getting better overall for different levels of teams (56:50)

Thanks for joining Kings of the North.

Are the Ohio State Buckeyes in National Championship or Bust mode for the 2024 college football season? Is that what the Michigan Wolverines were, and lived up to, in 2023?

On this Kings of the North, Doug Lesmerises investigates the recent history of Natty or Bust teams and figures out whether Ohio State fits the bill. He checks into:

• The 6 teams with the most NFL Draft picks in a year, who all won a title with those players
• The 4 parameters to make a Natty or Bust team
• The 11 teams in the BCS era who have so far been Natty or Bust -- and only 4 won it all
• Then Doug's old co-host Shehan Jeyarajah joins the show to discuss whether Natty or Bust is a good or bad thing, how he would handle this season if he were Ryan Day, and whether multiple teams can be Natty or Bust in the same season.

Thanks for joining Kings of the North.

What college football games in the North will draw the most TV viewers this year? TV is controlling and reshaping college football, so on this Kings of the North, Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis try to think like TV execs (like it or not) while drafting the Top 20 Northern college football TV games for this season.

First, they dig into seven Northern CFB topics, including a huge recruit visit for Indiana, a new player at Purdue, some confused head coaches, the new EA Sports college football cover, returning production, a Kansas rumor and a 1-star review for Doug's gaslighting of himself over Colorado.

Then it's the TV draft, where games like Ohio State-Michigan, Alabama-Wisconsin, Texas-Michigan, Colorado-Nebraska, Ohio State-Oregon and Penn State-West Virginia fly off the board.

Which teams could be the new TV darlings of 2024? The guys have two suggestions. And how much will TV miss Jim Harbaugh?

As always, thanks for joining Kings of the North.

Frantic 14 - (06:30)
Top-10 Most Watched 2023 Northern Games - (31:30)
2024 Television Draft - (47:20)

Northern college football is in a bridge year for the 2024 season when it comes to quarterback play.
Of the 26 Northern teams discussed on Kings of the North, 14 have projected starting QBs in their last years of eligibility.

Here's the good news -- a ton of Northern teams have young backup quarterbacks ready to take over in 2025.

On this episode, Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis run through all that, and then they finish the show with a draft of 16 quarterbacks based on the winning, awards and stats they should compile for the rest of their careers.

That means drafting QBs with one year left -- like Oregon's Dillon Gabriel, Ohio State's Will Howard, Colorado's Shedeur Sanders and West Virginia's Garrett Greene -- with young quarterbacks with multiple years left -- like Notre Dame's C.J. Carr, Ohio State's Julian Sayin, Iowa State's Rocco Becht, Michigan's Jadyn Davis, Nebraska's Dylan Raiola and Michigan State's Aidan Chiles.

This will give you a full QB picture for all 26 Northern teams, and it will prepare you for the Northern quarterback renaissance to come.

Thanks for joining Kings of the North.

Quarterbacks in last year - (7:00)
Young quarterback discussion - (19:30)
Quarterback 2024 recruiting rankings - (26:40)
2025 Quarterback Questions - (45:30)
Quarterback draft - (1:14:00)

Spring football is a wrap, and Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis run through five final Northern teams on this episode, meaning they have now covered all 26 of their Northern teams after spring football.

First up is Washington, which held its spring game on Friday night. Reflecting and rebuilding is the name of the game for the Huskies, who did get interesting QB play and showcased a possible young receiver breakout.
Then it's to the four Northern teams that didn't hold public spring games:

Doug and Bill talk BYU

(39:40) Ryan Burns of 247Sports and Gopher Gridiron Radio talks Minnesota

(55:42) Zach Heilprin of The Camp: A Wisconsin Football Podcast joins to talk about the Badgers

(1:10:05) Matthew Shelton of WildcatReport joins to talk Northwestern

(1:27:05) Then Doug and Bill finish with Whatcha Watching, Eating and Thinking on Challengers, hot chicken pizza, farmers markets, John Mulaney and the Doppler.

Thanks for joining Kings of the North.

Northern teams like Ohio State, Cincinnati and Michigan added major players in the spring transfer portal window a year ago. What's the biggest Northern action happening in the spring portal window now?

On this Kings of the North, Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis compare this transfer class to a year ago, talk about why more QB movement didn't happen, plan a calendar of handsome Northern punters, and cover portal moves for schools like:

• Rutgers
• Minnesota
• Washington
• Michigan State
• Pitt
• Colorado
• Michigan
• Cincinnati
• Syracuse
• Penn State

And more. Thanks for joining Kings of the North.

From Nebraska to Oregon, and Rutgers to West Virginia, six more Northern teams held spring games over the weekend and Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis are back to cover them on the latest Kings of the North.

Plus, Doug has some stats on the North in the 2024 NFL Draft that are interesting in how uninteresting they are.

Topics covered on this episode:
• Oregon spring game (01:45)
• Nebraska spring game (17:00)
• The North in the NFL Draft (28:08)
• Maryland spring game (36:00)
• Maryland hiring Brian Ferentz
• Colorado spring game (47:55)
• West Virginia spring game (59:45)
• Rutgers spring game (1:10:45)

Plus some talk on a guy we thought was named Bazooka, and a Warren Sapp story.

Thanks for joining Kings of the North.