Can College Football Schedules Be Fixed?

Welcome to the latest episode of Hot Takedown, FiveThirtyEight’s sports podcast. On this week’s episode (Aug. 22, 2017), we ponder the Indiana Pacers’ allegations that the Los Angeles Lakers tampered with the Pacers by trying to lure Paul George to L.A. Next, we’re joined by SB Nation writer Bill Connelly to preview college football. We talk about the validity of preseason polls, the lack of parity in NCAA football, and which metrics are most important. Plus, a significant digit on Felix Hernandez.

Here are links to what we discussed during the show:

• Tom Ziller at SB Nation wrote about whether tampering should still matter in the NBA.
• Check out more of Bill Connelly’s work in SB Nation’s 2017 College Football Preview.
• On Monday, the Associated Press released its first poll of the college football season, and results were mixed, according to The Ringer’s Shaker Samman.
• Significant Digit: 51.8, the number of wins above replacement that Felix Hernandez has produced in years the Mariners did not make the division series of the playoffs.