BIG NOOOOOOOD SATURDAY PREGAME HANGOUT

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Good morning! We've got a long day of Bee One Gee football ahead of us. Let's get prepared by reading a few articles, shooting the shit, and talking ball.

Imagine that this post is like a very tasty orange/chocolate biscotti and a large coffee spent with Pat McAfee! But now imagine that he's nowhere to be seen or heard from. Ahhhh. That's better. Go dunk that biscotti in silence. Good stuff.

Let's get to it (and if you're a daily reader, you've already seen these links)

From the OTR!

What games are on tap this weekend?

And what are you looking forward to?

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All of Our Basketball Previews! Right Here! In a Big List!

Get ’em while they’re hot.

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From Elsewhere!

• You all aren't going to believe this, but Pat Fitzgerald feels "100% vindicated." 
• You're actually not going to believe this one. Luke Fickell is sticking around into at least 2026 at Wisconsin. I mean, the coaching market is pretty busy right now, so I get it. But Wiscy fans probably aren't stoked. 
• We've got a pretty great slate of one-off uniforms across CFB this week. Boston College honors a hero from 9/11, Marshall remembers the tragic loss of the 1970 team, UCF goes Space U, and Tulane makes a snow cone. Wait, what? 
• The YouTube TV/Disney dispute continues apace. Enshittification continues. 
• Coming to you from FOIABall, a relatively new indie publication, they've got internal documents from DHS showing just how overarching their surveillance network is. They're using facial recognition at, amongst many other locations, college football games. This is a both horrifying and incredibly well researched long read. The modern panopticon is already in place. It will only get worse. 
• And now for something completely different. An Oakland County, Michigan resident has fled her home due to an infestation of raccoons. Insult to injury, her management company has refused to fix the hole in the roof (through which the adorable but sneaky gremlins have entered) until the raccoons are gone. She's withholding rent, as she should. Who's the real rodent in this scenario? (I have been notified that raccoons are not rodents. I'm sticking with the bit regardless of facts.)

I know that I'm reusing words from last week, but it still matters:

A quick interstitial before the silliness. Millions of our fellow Americans have continued to go without food assistance, known as SNAP or food stamps for the past week because of the impacts of the month-long government shutdown. They might get food, but it depends on the courts and the government. If you have the ability to do so, I would ask that you give to your local food bank. If you don't know where your local food bank is, check here. The need is real. The moment is dire. Please consider doing what you can. It matters more than we can possibly know. Please go do good. It matters.

America. Fuck yeah.