College football’s mega-staffs don’t generate a return on investment, as LSU, Texas A&M and Oregon prove.

If you were looking for chaos in college football, this past weekend provided numerous examples of teams sending their fans into panic mode, while donors panicked after millions of dollars were spent building rosters.

We saw Lane Kiffin get escorted through a swarm of Kentucky fans who stormed the field after the Wildcats pulled off an overtime win against an LSU team that was one of the biggest stories of the offseason, thanks in part to their forbearance.

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A few hours earlier, Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko decided it was smart to go after one of the biggest team-centric websites in all of college football, because it’s obviously TexAgs’ fault that the Aggies head coach dug through a roster littered with expensive plays.

Then there was the Red River Rivalry, who delivered one of the most shocking matches of the season. Oklahoma knocked off No. 1 Texas on a last-second field goal, forcing Longhorn fans to reevaluate their expectations over the next couple of months.

LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin talks with a game official during a game against the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky on October 10, 2026. (Getty Images)

And then there’s the story of UCLA going to Eugene and dissecting the Oregon Ducks, behind the incredible coaching job Bob Chesney did this season with the Bruins who had them undefeated and ranked 15th in the latest polls.

What do all these results from Saturday have in common?

Money can’t buy you heart, or even cohesion, when you finally spot the ball.

Sorry, LSU. This isn’t your typical nine-game conference schedule.

If LSU fans are to hear the word patience from head coach Lane Kiffin one more time, the fan base is going to be on fire with two months remaining in the regular season.

And no, playing an extra conference game isn’t the reason some teams are dealing with the injury bug, even if Kiffin wants to awkwardly joke about why his team is struggling in a tumultuous time.

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The Tigers were beaten by Kentucky last weekend because that team either doesn’t know how to finish games or gets fooled by the highlights that Sam Leavitt occasionally creates.

LSU spent more than $100 million on a coaching change that saw Kiffin leave Ole Miss with the attitude that he was going to immediately build a roster capable of contending for a CFP title this season, and the school had no problem displaying it.

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In fact, steam is starting to rise from the overcooked okra, and the preseason talk coming out of Baton Rouge is starting to sound like overcooked crawfish.

Will Stein, head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, celebrates the 35-34 overtime victory against the LSU Tigers at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky on October 10, 2026. (Getty Images)

You can’t ask for patience from an LSU fan base that has done everything asked of it over the last six years, including Brian Kelly’s final years.

This is a football team that has spent over $45 million on its roster and has already suffered two losses this season, the latest coming to first-year Kentucky head coach Will Stein.

There’s no time for patience, as Kiffin is discovering a little more than a month into the regular season.

Mike Elko has a problem, and it has nothing to do with a fan site

So Texas A&M, struggling once again, finally caught up with its head coach, and it happened during one of the most awkward press conferences we’ve seen from a College Station team, and that’s saying something.

Remember how many times I wrote about donors to the Aggies program receiving a return on investment for the amount of money contributed to building a roster outside of what the school itself spends?

After their third loss of the season, once again in lopsided fashion, Texas A&M fans are officially hitting the panic button. It wasn’t even close last weekend, as Missouri beat the Aggies 27-6.

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And since we live in a “win now” world based on the transfer portal and the amount of money spent on rosters, Aggie fans are not in the mood to hear about “building” with quarterback Marcel Reed and this expensive football team.

It’s one thing to lose games in dramatic fashion, like what happened with the Texas Longhorns against Oklahoma. But the Aggies have been destroyed, and it’s not the fault of their loyal fans, the majority of whom subscribe to TexAgs.com on a monthly basis.

But Mike Elko, when asked what he would say to fans upset about the Aggies’ disastrous 1-3 SEC record, decided it would be a good idea to call the site’s owner, Billy Lucci.

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If you’re not familiar with Lucci, the man has created one of the largest college sports websites that also hosts a plethora of influential donors on his website’s message boards in support of Texas A&M athletics.

“There’s a difference for me between the fan base and social media, and so there’s a group that I don’t really care about. Billy’s (Liucci) cesspool can become Billy’s cesspool,” Elko deeply mentioned. “Our fan base: stay with us. Stand behind us.

Head coach Mike Elko of the Texas A&M Aggies reacts during the first half of a game at Tiger Stadium on September 26, 2026 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Tyler Kaufman/Getty Images) (Tyler Kaufman/Getty Images)

“We’re going to build something. This is what we told you we were going to build. We’re in a really bad situation right now, but we’re going to get through this.”

Going after one of the most influential voices in college athletics isn’t the wisest move, especially when a majority of fans subscribe to this website, and are also beyond fussing over the 2026 results.

Good luck with that, Mike.

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Dan Lanning owns it. Steve Sarkisian is lucky Texas only has one loss

Let me be clear: Just because Oregon’s head coach says all the right things doesn’t mean things are any easier for fans.

That surely doesn’t make mega-booster and Nike owner Phil Knight any less unhappy with the current results.

But right now, Oregon finds itself with two losses this season and the last one came without Dante Moore, who was still recovering from a concussion. Even then, the story shifted from the Ducks’ potential Big Ten title run to Bob Chesney making UCLA look like the Bruins of old in one of the best stories we’ve seen this season.

The Ducks find themselves in an uphill battle and can’t afford another loss with a roster worth well north of $40 million. And if we’re being honest, this looks like a team destined for an eight-win season, which is another prime example of no return on investment during this chaotic time in college athletics.

As for the Texas Longhorns, someone finally made them pay for their mistakes.

Of course, it’s surprising that Oklahoma was the team that handed them their first loss of the season. But if you really paid attention to this Texas team, you’ll realize that if Ohio State could have finished the job in Austin and Tennessee had an offensive boost outside of its running game, this could have been Texas’ third loss of the season.

Oklahoma Sooners defensive lineman Trent Wilson (90) tackles Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning (16) during the first half of the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas on October 10, 2026. (Kevin Jairaj/Imagn Images)

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For all the headlines Arch Manning is making, with rumors of him being a top-10 pick or the second coming of one of his uncles, the quarterback has had an average season so far.

It’s not a fiasco, or at least one media outlet decided to characterize it at some point last season. Manning is just a good college quarterback, with plenty of room for improvement.

He’s not great. Maybe one day he will be. Right now, he’s just an average quarterback who threw two interceptions against Oklahoma, including one returned for a touchdown.

For Texas, he can count on his defense to get through games, and maybe steal a few along the way (Tennessee). But unless Steve Sarkisian comes up with a number of different looks or hands over responsibility for the game, this team is doomed to suffer another loss or two.

You’re witnessing one of the most chaotic opening months of a college football season in recent memory.

In the midst of all this, there are a number of very wealthy college football promoters wondering what they will get for the millions of dollars spent to help their favorite team succeed.

We have tried to warn you about this return on investment in college athletics.

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This is non-existent unless your team hoists the CFP trophy at the end of the season.