G6

Ryder Burton Has the Swagger. Now He Needs the Stage.

After three schools in three years, UAB’s redshirt junior quarterback upset No. 22 Memphis the first time he started a college football game. Now he’s finally the guy — and the people around him believe it.

Bishop Davenport Went From Fourth String to South Alabama’s Foundation. Now Comes the Hard Part.

The redshirt senior’s journey from emergency duty at Utah State to a full season as the Jaguars’ starter is one of the best quarterback stories in the Sun Belt. In 2026, he has to turn it into wins.

Your Best Player Just Left. His Contract Says He Owes You. Good Luck Collecting.

NIL buyout clauses may be the only retention tool Group of 6 programs have against the transfer portal. No court has ruled on the merits.

100 Days, 100 Reasons G6 Football Matters

No. 100: MACtion

We cover your team. For you.

Why I'm building Diehard Sports Network — and why it starts here

The G6 was never allowed to compound

If the College Football Playoff had started with 24 teams in 2014, 21 of 80 qualifying programs would have come from the Group of 6. Every one of them was denied the chance to build on it.

THE BOARD: Jacksonville State Basketball

Ray Harper enters his 11th year with a 600-win career, a gutted roster and the same pitch he's always made: minutes, development and a track record.

Alabama has four G6 football programs. It's time they acted like it.

THE BOARD: South Alabama Basketball

Richie Riley lost 35.9 PPG and went global to replace it — six signings from five competitive levels across three continents

THE BOARD: Troy Basketball

Adam Howard returns to Troy after back-to-back championships, a coaching exodus and 50.7 PPG lost to the portal. The rebuild starts now.

The door that only opens from the inside

In 2003, Tulane’s president told Congress the system was rigged. Twenty-three years later, the same argument is being made by the people who thought they were on the other side.

THE BOARD: UAB Basketball

Andy Kennedy rebuilds the roster — again. The Portal King adds 12 players in a month.

USF’s Rob Higgins is building something different in Tampa — and the fan base is buying in

The only CEO of athletics in college sports has made three major coaching hires, added a Hall of Fame COO and broken ground on a $348.5 million stadium. His fan base approves at 95 percent.

The Pac-12’s tax return is a snapshot of the divide between Power 4 and everyone else

Revenue dropped from $566.6 million to $111.5 million. The rebuild projects $13.2 million per school. The gap between P4 and G6 is structural.

USF’s $350 million answer to a 30-year problem is going vertical

South Florida has never played a home game on its own campus. A $348.5 million stadium now rising in Tampa changes that in 2027.

Back When: The day Troy went to Starkville and announced itself

In their first crack at an SEC team as a I-A program, the Trojans went to Mississippi State as 26-point underdogs and won 21-9.

Alex Mortensen knows the job is hard. He wants UAB fans to know he’s not running from it.

The first-year UAB head coach gave his most detailed interview yet. Here’s what stood out for Blazer fans.

Savior or surrender: The G6 playoff proposal isn’t what it looks like

The White House wants to give the Group of 6 its own playoff. Before you celebrate, look at what they’re asking for in return — and what they’ve done every other time.

He didn’t know what football was. Now he starts for Troy.

Troy Athletics told the story of Tyler Cappi, a walk-on OL born in South Korea who didn’t discover football until age 12.

76 teams, same problem: NCAA tournament expansion won’t help the G6

Kevin Scarbinsky breaks down why the eight new at-large spots will go to 17-and-16 Auburns, not UABs.

The diehard fan, the Bones and the 911 call

A UAB super fan built a basketball version of the Battle for the Bones trophy, gave it to Penny Hardaway and threatened to call 911 when Memphis wouldn’t give it back.

The best rivalries in the Group of 6 — and the ones that should be

The UAB-Memphis beef over a JUCO big man got us thinking. What are the best G6 rivalries? And does the G6 have enough hate to sustain them?

A 24-team playoff sounds great for the Group of Six. Don't get excited yet.

Locked On College Football's Spencer McLaughlin breaks down why more playoff spots might not change anything for the G6 — and why the people making these decisions don't want it to.

They saved the program. Now they're being asked to save it again.

NIL donor fatigue is real at the Group of 6 level. The communities that built these programs are being asked to fund a system that wasn't designed for them.

Alex Mortensen is recruiting Birmingham

The first-year UAB coach is embedding himself in the city, rebuilding recruiting relationships and leaning on nine years with Nick Saban to restore the Blazers.

Back When: The day Jacksonville State hit the map

On Sept. 4, 2010, the Gamecocks walked into Vaught-Hemingway Stadium as a $300,000 sacrificial lamb. They left with an SEC scalp and a signal that the climb was just getting started.

The war never stopped

The current climate feels existential for the G6. But this class war has been raging since the first TV camera pointed at a football field — and I’ve been covering it for three decades.

Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould on rebuilding a conference from scratch: ‘This is about transformation, not transaction’

In a wide-ranging interview, Gould detailed the Pac-12’s startup mentality, Pac-12 Enterprises as a revenue engine, expansion plans and why nobody should underestimate the conference’s will to survive.

The G6 Diehard Podcast is coming

College sports through the lens of the Group of 6 — hosted by Tim Stephens

Roderick Robinson II is ready to be the guy at UAB

The former Georgia four-star spent three years learning behind one of the best defenses in the country. Now he’s bringing that education to a UAB backfield his coaches say could be the best in the American.

Jax State opens 2026 at NDSU — and the Bison aren’t your typical FBS newcomer

North Dakota State brings 10 national titles to the FBS. But as Jax State and James Madison have proven, the newbies can win quickly.

From Day 1, launching to something greater has been in UAB’s DNA

The 1989 UAB Club Football team went 0-6 and didn’t officially exist. It launched a program — and a whole lot more.

The Pac-12 is back on ESPN — sort of — and that’s a bigger deal than it sounds

CW Network-ESPN streaming agreement puts all Pac-12 football and basketball on the ESPN App starting summer 2026

'Room for more': American Conference commissioner Tim Pernetti on G6 playoffs, unified media rights and why conferences should stop tearing each other apart

In a wide-ranging interview, Pernetti laid out a vision for the future of college sports outside the Power 4 — and it starts with thinking bigger

Back When: Bryan Thomas takes UAB to the Big Apple

A Birmingham kid who turned a pee-wee football beating into a Hall of Fame-caliber college career — and gave UAB its first real claim to legitimacy

Jax State's 2026 conference schedule is set after Louisiana Tech settlement clears the way

The defending CUSA champions open league play at home against Middle Tennessee on Sept. 26

Back When: The day DeMarcus Ware put Troy on the national map

Twenty-one years ago, a kid from Auburn, Alabama became Troy's highest NFL Draft pick ever — and started a path to the Hall of Fame

South Alabama's Bullock, Voisin earn NFL opportunities after record-setting careers

The running back signed with Cincinnati; the veteran receiver heads to Tampa Bay for minicamp

New league, new mark: Pac-12 unveils evolved logo as conference prepares for relaunch

Student-athletes across all nine campuses introduced the new primary mark before the public reveal