Bishop Media Sports Network
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show With Brandon Derrick September 30 2026
Jason Bishop Show September 30 2026
Return Of The Old Swamp
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
We’re done with the first month of the college football season.
One big question I have is, are the Florida Gators back? They became an elite program when Steve Spurrier became the head ball coach in 1990.
He coached in Gainesville from 1990-2001 and had a record of 122-27-1. He also won six SEC championships, won a national championship and played in another. He averaged more than ten wins per season and coached a Heisman Trophy winner (Danny Wuerffel).
Urban Meyer had the second-best tenure after him from 2005-2010. His record was 65-15. He also won two national championships, two SEC championships and he also coached a Heisman Trophy winner (Tim Tebow).
They have struggled to find consistency after Meyer left. Their last head coach was Billy Napier (2022-2025). He had one winning season in 2024, when they went 8-5. He was fired during the 2025 season after starting 3-4.
Jon Sumrall was hired as the 31st head coach at UF on November 30, 2025. I thought he had a similar profile to Napier because he’s coming from a much smaller program. He coached at Troy (2022-23) and Tulane (2024-25). His record was 43-12 at both schools.
Napier mainly stuck around to start his final season because he had quarterback DJ Lagway returning. After Sumrall was hired, Lagway transferred to Baylor.
We’re only four games into Sumrall’s first season but the Gators are 4-0. They beat #4 Ole Miss, 52-28 in the Swamp. It tied Florida’s most points against a top-five team since beating Florida State 52-20 in the 1996 national championship game.
“It’s not asleep, but it ain’t fully awake yet. It’s being kind of stirred up a little bit,” said Sumrall, who became the first coach in Southeastern Conference history to lead his team to 200 or more points in his first four games.
“We’re going to get there. It’s coming.”
“I didn’t come here for us to be average.”
Junior running back and Atlanta native Jaden Baugh looks like the best back in college football. Last season he rushed for 1,170 yards, 8 touchdowns and averaged 5.3 yards per carry.
He also had 33 receptions, 210 yards and 2 scores.
After four games he has 600 yards, 11 TD’s and averages 7.2 ypc. He had 142 yards and 3 touchdowns against the Rebels.
Baugh became the third player in school history to top 100 yards rushing in five consecutive games, joining Emmitt Smith (1987, ’88) and Fred Taylor (1997). If he can sustain this, he could win the Heiman Trophy.
“That means everything to me, just having my name up there with those guys,” Baugh said. “They did so much when they were here. And just being able to follow their footsteps and excel, that just means so much to me.”
The Gators are now ranked #8. We will see if they can handle success.
I also want to talk about the impact the new offensive coordinator, Buster Faulkner is having. He was the OC/tight ends coach at Georgia Tech from 2023-25. He was the offensive quality control coach at Georgia from 2020-22. The Bulldogs won two national titles while he was there.
He got his QB, Aaron Philo (Georgia Tech) to transfer with him when he was hired at Florida. Philo has passed for 917 yards, 7 scores and 2 interceptions, while completing 72.4% of his passes.
The remaining schedule is @ #25 Mizzou, South Carolina, @ #1 Texas, #2 Georgia, Oklahoma, @ #24 Kentucky, Vanderbilt and @ Florida State.
I think the Gators will win ten games and make the College Football Playoff.
Brunswick High Pirates Coach’s Show with Byron Slack September 29 2026
Bulloch Academy Gators Swimming Toward Playoffs
By: Joseph Stuckey
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
This past Friday, the Bulloch Academy Gators made a statement win on the road in Locust Grove, defeating Strong Rock Christian 42-7. With this win, the Gators moved to 6-1 on the season with only their 3 district games left to play before moving into the playoffs. Before district play starts, the Gators get a much-earned bye week.
In their last 2 contests, the Gators have outscored their opponents 98-7 with dominant wins on the road over both Strong Rock and Robert Toombs. It’s hard for me to put my finger on which side of the ball is most dominant for the Gators.
On offense, the Gators keep humming along, with very few possessions that don’t end in points. The Gators have adapted into a little more of a balanced attack this season, adding some efficient passing elements.
On defense, the Gators basically eliminate running plays with a “swamp of gators” tackling the ball carrier, limiting one-on-one tackling. At the same time, the secondary looks improved from last season and is doing a better job of not giving up long passes.
The big question mark for the Gators defense this season is whether they can get back to the defensive standard that led to the state championship in 2024.
In 2024, the Gators allowed only 6.5 points per game in the regular season; currently, they sit at 16.4 points allowed per game. That is still a very impressive number because it’s basically telling the Gator offense that if they want to win the game, all they have to do is score 17+ points, which the Gators have been doing in the first quarter alone recently.
For playoff seeding, the GIAA uses MaxPreps rankings to determine the brackets based on their rating. The Gators currently have a 46.87 rating, which is #4 in all of the GIAA. Just for reference, John Millege Academy, which handed the Gators their only loss this season, is currently #1 with a 52.66 rating.
The 3 remaining opponents for the Gators have an average rating of 22.39, with only Frederica Academy currently in line for a playoff spot. So, I say all of that to say it should be a smooth ride to the playoffs for the Gators.
The goal for the Gators is a top-2 seed in the playoffs, as that would let them host the quarterfinals and semifinals in Statesboro, and then, coincidentally, the state championship would be in Paulson Stadium. The Gators won the 2024 state championship at Paulson Stadium as well.
In my personal opinion, if the Gators win out, there should be no issue locking up a top-2 seed, as Strong Rock was ranked #3 in AAAA and #4 First Presbyterian Day recently lost to Frederica Academy on 9/18.
This means that as the rankings get updated, there will be a major separation between the Gators and their challengers in AAAA.
The Gators could end up as the #1 seed, as current #1 Stratford Academy is 5-1 but does have to play John Milledge in a few weeks.
So if the Gators handle their business and win out, they will be looking at 3 playoff games in Statesboro to potentially capture their 2nd state championship in 3 years.
Group Of Six College Football Playoff Contenders
By: Capers Childs
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The College Football Playoff bracket is different for the 2026 season because there is no longer a guaranteed bid for a Group of Six conference champion.
Instead, the automatic bid goes to the highest-ranked team from the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt, regardless of whether that team wins its conference championship.
With this change, the race for the Group of Six’s spot in the College Football Playoff becomes even more competitive.
With that being said, I think James Madison, Troy, Memphis and the University of South Florida have the best chance of earning that spot.
Starting with James Madison, the Dukes have gotten off to a strong start in 2026. The recent win over San Diego State is especially important because it came on the road against an FBS opponent.
JMU also forced two turnovers in the game and finished with 417 yards of total offense.
The Dukes also have several important games remaining, including games against Marshall, App State and Troy. If JMU can continue winning, especially against its stronger Sun Belt opponents, it could be a contender near the top of the Group of Six rankings.
Troy is another team that could enter the playoff conversation. The Trojans are also off to a good start. Troy’s only loss came against No. 20 Missouri, 27-17.
The Trojans actually started the game strong, scoring the first 10 points and holding Missouri scoreless in the first quarter. Although the loss keeps Troy from having a perfect record, playing a ranked SEC opponent provides them with a quality opportunity to strengthen its résumé. The Trojans also have important Sun Belt games remaining, including a game against JMU on October 29.
Memphis is another contender because of the strength of its nonconference schedule. The Tigers only have one loss and that was to Boise State.
The game against Boise State was particularly important because both teams entered the season as teams expected to compete for the Group of Six playoff spot.
Memphis still has several meaningful American Athletic Conference games remaining, including games against Tulane, Army and South Florida.
If Memphis can finish the season with a strong conference record, those games could play a major role in determining where the Tigers are ranked at the end of the season.
Finally, South Florida has also put itself in position to compete for the playoff spot. The Bulls are undefeated. One of USF’s victories came over Army and that was big because Army entered that game undefeated, making it a meaningful conference victory for South Florida.
The Bulls also have several important games ahead, including UTSA, East Carolina, Memphis and Tulane.
The November 12 matchup against Memphis could be a good contest because both teams are competing for position within the American and potentially for the Group of Six automatic bid.
Overall, James Madison, Troy, Memphis and South Florida all have paths to the College Football Playoff.
The new format makes the race more complicated because winning a conference championship alone does not guarantee a playoff spot for these teams.
Instead, they need to build the strongest overall résumé possible. As the season continues, wins against quality opponents, avoiding losses and performing well against other Group of Six contenders will be important.
The team that finishes highest in the final rankings among these conferences will earn the automatic playoff bid, and that makes every remaining game important.
How The Atlanta Braves Won The NL East
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Has the Atlanta Braves season in 2026 been flawless? No. That being said however, most teams in baseball would trade their seasons with the Bravos in a heartbeat.
When you factor in all of the adversity that seemed to be never ending for the franchise, the season has been almost unbelievable.
Think back to the middle of February. Spring training is supposed to be the time of unrealistic optimism, but for Atlanta, it was a time of blow after blow.
Just when camp was beginning, the Braves learned that Jurickson Profar was popped for the second time for the league’s performance enhancing drugs policy and would miss the entire season.
Just days later, Atlanta learned that pitchers Joe Jiminez, Spencer Schwellenbach, Spence Strider all were hit with the injury bug.
Throughout the season there has been numerous impact injuries with AJ Smith-Shawver, Bryce Elder, Strider…again, Reynaldo Lopez just to name a few.
Through all of the injury bugs (almost felt like an infestation), the Braves sat atop the NL East virtually from opening day. The lead ballooned to as many as 10 ½ games in May but had the division at an arm’s length the entire back half of the regular season and wrapped up their seventh NL East title in the last nine years with a September 20th win over the Astros in Houston.
How did the Braves overcome everything? The old adage of “everyone has to deal with injuries at some point” is true, but the Braves felt like it was a decade worth in one season.
To me, it starts at the top. First year manager Walt Weiss should be heavily in the conversation for Manager of the Year award and was the perfect person in order to keep this team on the same page.
Weiss has shown he has been the perfect combination of old school baseball mind, and the willingness to embrace the new school additions to the game.
While the household names of Matt Olson, Drake Baldwin, and Ronald Acuna Jr (when he’s been healthy), have done their parts to get the Braves to the promise land of the postseason, it’s been the unsung heroes for the Bravos that have made this season possible.
Names like Mauricio Dubon who have done a little bit of everything for Atlanta, Mike Yastremski, Tyler Mahle and others have raised their standard to a new level in 2026 to propel Atlanta to where they wanted to be.
Nobody embodies this more than Martin Perez. How fitting was it that Perez started the game that clinched the NL East title for the Braves.
Perez was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training then was designated for assignment by the club on April 12th.
Yet not only was it his Sunday September 20th start that secured the division title for the Braves, a Perez start really kickstarted the pitching resurgence down the back stretch.
Atlanta broke into the month of August with a spot start for Martin Perez that found out he was starting about an hour and a half before first pitch. How did it kickstart something?
Perez took a no-hitter into the 7th inning. While I understand that is just one of 162, that is what really started a stretch of impressive starting pitching for Atlanta.
The Braves were plagued by borderline horrendous starting pitching for about a month, but the strong Perez open sparked the pitching staff that was bolstered by the semi-unknown Tyler Mahle at the trade deadline.
While there have been blips on the year for the Braves, they have continued to overcome, continued to fight for the clubhouse, and will enter the postseason as the 3-seed and have to play in the opening round, but who woulda thought that the postseason was in the cards for the Braves after hit after hit (and not in the good way) they have endured thru the season.
Jason Bishop Show September 24 2026
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show with Brandon Derrick September 23 2026
Protect College Sports Act
By: Michael Spiers
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For the past few years, I’ve written plenty about how college athletics has become almost unrecognizable.
The transfer portal has become free agency. NIL has evolved from athletes making money off their name, image and likeness into something that often looks a lot like recruiting payroll. Schools can now share revenue directly with athletes. And seemingly every few months another court ruling changes the rules again.
Something has to give. That is why the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA) currently moving through Congress deserves our attention.
The bipartisan legislation, sponsored by Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Maria Cantwell of Washington, cleared an important hurdle in early September when the Senate voted 77-22 to move it forward for debate and possible final passage.
At its core, the PCSA attempts to create one national set of rules, which is something college athletics desperately needs.
Among other provisions, the legislation would establish federal standards for NIL, place limits around revenue sharing, provide the NCAA and conferences certain antitrust protections to enforce rules, establish medical and health protections for athletes, and create protections for scholarships and roster spots in nonrevenue sports.
It also attempts to put some sanity back into the transfer portal by generally allowing athletes one unrestricted transfer without losing eligibility.
There are parts of that I really like. I’ve never had a problem with college athletes making money. If somebody wants to pay a Georgia quarterback to appear in a commercial or an offensive lineman to promote his business, good for them.
But what we’ve created isn’t really NIL anymore. When players are essentially being recruited from one school to another based on who can assemble the largest financial package, let’s at least admit what we’re watching.
That’s professional sports without contracts, salary caps or collective bargaining. College football needs rules, but the problem is deciding who gets to make them, and that’s where I’m a little uncomfortable with the PCSA.
One of the biggest criticisms is that it provides antitrust protection allowing the NCAA, conferences and schools greater authority to regulate compensation and enforce restrictions.
That deserves scrutiny. For decades, college athletics fought against giving athletes a larger share of the enormous amount of money they helped generate. The courts eventually forced much of the change we’re seeing today.
Now we’re being asked to give some of those same institutions greater legal protection to regulate the new system.
You can understand why athletes and their advocates might be skeptical. Critics such as Senators Chris Murphy and Cory Booker, the NAACP and athlete advocacy organizations argue the legislation places too many restrictions on players while doing comparatively little to restrain spending elsewhere in college athletics.
That’s a legitimate concern, but at the same time, doing nothing isn’t much of a solution either. I don’t believe the current system is sustainable.
Unlimited movement, constantly changing eligibility rulings, recruiting inducements disguised as NIL agreements and different laws from state to state aren’t good for the long-term health of college athletics.
And my biggest concern isn’t Georgia football, Alabama football or Ohio State football.
Those programs will survive. I’m worried about wrestling, swimming, track, tennis, softball and all the other sports that don’t generate millions of dollars in television revenue.
The PCSA specifically attempts to protect scholarships and roster opportunities in those sports, and that may ultimately be one of its most important provisions.
So, count me among those who believe college sports desperately needs guardrails. I just don’t want those guardrails to become handcuffs for the athletes.
The goal shouldn’t be returning college athletics to the old days when everyone made money except the people actually playing the games.
But the answer can’t be pretending the current system is working perfectly either.
Online
Radio/Podcasts
