Own the group chat with The Weekender, highlighting the biggest stories in college sports, standout writing from Eleven Warriors and a glance at what’s next.
An Ohio Judge Could Help Texas in Its Game Against Ohio State
Butterfly effects are fascinating.
On July 9, Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Chris Wagner granted a preliminary injunction that allows 24 men’s and women’s basketball players to seek a fifth season under the NCAA’s new age-based eligibility model. That result has already spurred another set of suits, including one from former Texas offensive lineman Cole Hutson.
Hutson filed in Travis County on Friday, seeking a temporary injunction that would give him a fifth season in 2026. The 6-foot-5, 308-pound lineman appeared in 48 games and made 23 starts across four seasons with the Longhorns. Should Hutson win the case and return to Austin, he could give the Longhorns an help for their heavily-hyped Week 2 meeting with Ohio State.
Just to kind of drive home how wild things are, that's Hutson in the photo at the top of this piece taken at Dallas Cowboys rookie minicamp in May.
Anyway, the injunction would give Hutson a third chance to beat the Buckeyes. Texas lost to Ohio State, 28-14, in the 2024 College Football Playoff semifinal and then fell to the Buckeyes, 14-7, in last season’s opener at Ohio Stadium.
There is one more wrinkle in the Ohio ruling. The NCAA said Wagner’s apparent ties to Xavier and the University of Cincinnati were not disclosed to the parties. Wagner graduated from Xavier, earned his law degree at Cincinnati and is married to a dean at UC Law. Interestingly, five plaintiffs were affiliated with Cincinnati or Xavier. The NCAA has said it will pursue a reversal, including a stay; no court has found that Wagner had a conflict of interest.
The Ohio judge who granted 15 athletes additional eligibility did not disclose his school “ties,” NCAA says in a statement to Yahoo.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) July 10, 2026
Chris Wagner is a graduate of Xavier & Cincinnati Law. His wife is a dean at UC Law.
Five of the athletes are affiliated with Cincinnati/Xavier. https://t.co/Zg0rnK1m7F pic.twitter.com/F6v3qucHzY
It is a preliminary basketball ruling, not a decision in Hutson’s case. Still, the possibility of an Ohio court decision helping Texas add an offensive line depth for a game against Ohio State is the particular brand of college sports absurdity the NCAA has earned.
Kelsey Mitchell Is on an Unbelievable Heater
While plenty of WNBA attention naturally follows Caitlin Clark, former Ohio State guard Kelsey Mitchell has made sure the Indiana Fever’s other All-Star starter is impossible to ignore.
Mitchell scored a season-high 33 points in Indiana’s 108-88 win over the New York Liberty Saturday, shooting 10-of-14 from the field and making four 3-pointers. It was her second consecutive 30-point game and her 15th career game with at least 30 points.
A season-high 33-piece for Kelsey Mitchell
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 19, 2026
Mitchell shot 10-of-14 from the field and knocked down 4 triples to lead the @IndianaFever to their second straight win.
It marked her 15th career game with 30+ PTS! #WNBASeason30 pic.twitter.com/mAq5TIWhqe
She has scored at least 20 points in 10 straight games, the WNBA’s longest active streak. Over that 10-game stretch, Mitchell has scored 273 points (27.3 per game) with no outing below 20 points. She sits third in the WNBA at 23.3 points per game, behind only A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum, and is shooting 49.5% from the field and 42.3% from long range.
KELSEY MITCHELL OVER HER LAST 10 GAMES:
— Women’s Hoops Network (@WomensHoops_USA) July 19, 2026
pic.twitter.com/N35G0v3G8U
Mitchell will start in next weekend’s WNBA All-Star Game, the first starting nod of her four consecutive All-Star selections.
Brian Kelly Remains Brian Kelly
Five years after he left Notre Dame for LSU, Brian Kelly is still explaining why he left Notre Dame for LSU.
In a recent appearance on The Independent podcast with Matt Fortuna and Pete Sampson, Kelly said he had been “mischaracterized” for the way his Notre Dame tenure ended. Kelly said, “I didn’t leave Notre Dame because they couldn’t win a national championship,” before explaining that he had only said he would leave for “a place that can win a national championship.”
Brian Kelly told @Matt_Fortuna and @PeteSampson_ he was "mischaracterized" for how he left Notre Dame.
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) July 14, 2026
"I didn't leave Notre Dame because they couldn't win a national championship. Those words never came out of my mouth.
"What I said was if I'm going to leave, I'm going to go… pic.twitter.com/zK1M37SJAQ
That is, in fairness, a distinction. It is also a distinction that asks everyone to ignore why it sounded like Kelly believed the program he left was not positioned to win a national title.
The semantic work is especially absurd given the explanation Kelly offered shortly after joining LSU in 2022: He said he wanted to coach in an environment with the resources to win a national championship.
The best thing about Brian Kelly is that we all know who he is at this point. And most of us have decided we just don't like him as a person.
ICYMI
Four-Star Defensive Tackle Karlos May Commits to Ohio State
Larry Johnson landed his fourth top-150 prospect in Ohio State’s 2027 class as four-star Alabama defensive tackle Karlos May committed to the Buckeyes.
Sweet Home Alabama
Speaking of Karlos May, Dan Hope explores the impressive recruiting work Ryan Day and his staff have been able to doing in the state of Alabama since Nick Saban's departure from the Crimson Tide.
Who's WR2?
Jeremiah Smith is the best player in college football, but the Buckeyes still need a clear WR2 to emerge before the season begins.
WHAT'S NEXT
- 48 Days: Ohio State football's season opener vs. Ball State
- 90 Days: The Buckeyes face Indiana in Bloomington
- 132 Days: The Game
