The first round of the College Football Playoff (CFP) was supposed to be a celebration of the “Group of Five” (G5) dream. Instead, for Tulane University legend Shaun King, it became a waking nightmare. Following a humiliating 60-10 defeat at the hands of Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels, King returned to “The Coach JB Show” in a state of raw, unfiltered frustration, describing himself as “emotionally unstable” and “hijacked” by a performance he deemed a total embarrassment to his alma mater.

“I’ve Never Been More Embarrassed”

Shaun King, a man who knows what it means to lead Tulane to greatness, did not mince words when analyzing the Saturday slaughter. While the outcome—a lopsided victory for the SEC powerhouse—wasn’t entirely unexpected by some, it was the manner in which Tulane lost that sent King into a tailspin.

“I’ve never been more embarrassed than I was on Saturday,” King confessed, admitting he had to turn off social media to avoid the tidal wave of mockery. “I didn’t feel like my alma mater truly believed. I didn’t feel like we played with a ‘we about to shock the world’ mentality. Our good players didn’t make plays, and the quarterback was ass from start to finish.”

King compared the performance to the “Bad News Bears,” lamenting that on the biggest stage in the program’s recent history, the Green Wave looked unprepared for the speed and physicality of a high-level Power Five opponent.

A Mockery of the System?

Host Coach JB was even more clinical in his assessment, calling the matchup a “mockery of the playoff system.” JB argued that putting teams like Tulane and James Madison (who was also dominated by Oregon) into the same bracket as SEC and Big Ten giants is setting them up for failure.

“We saw SMU and Boise last year get absolutely molly-wapped in the first round… and yet we did it again this year,” JB noted. He argued that in the modern era of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) and the transfer portal, the resource gap between the G5 and the elite Power Five programs has become an unbridgeable chasm. JB suggested a lower-tier playoff for G5 teams to ensure competitive games rather than the “belt to ass” situations seen over the weekend.

The NIL and Transfer Portal Reality Check

The discussion took a somber turn as the panel discussed why the G5 can no longer compete like the “Boise State or Utah of old.” Coach JB pointed out that back in the day, scholarships were the only currency. Coaches could find “diamonds in the rough” and develop them over four years. Today, any “dog” discovered at a school like Tulane or JMU is immediately scouted and poached by bigger programs with deeper pockets.

“Any good players on James Madison or Tulane… they’re probably not returning to that school next year because teams are watching,” Big Smitty added. This revolving door of talent makes it nearly impossible for G5 schools to build the veteran depth needed to survive a four-quarter war with a team like Ole Miss.

The “Cause and Effect” of a Blowout

King attempted to defend the program by noting they only returned five starters from last year, but JB wasn’t having it. He accused King of “hyping” the team up and then “snitching” on them when they failed to deliver.

“In football, there’s a cause and effect,” JB explained. “You can take the soul out of somebody… you go out there with a plan until you get hit in the mouth and then you lose all your confidence.” He pointed to a critical interception thrown by Tulane when the score was 7-0. Instead of tying the game, the mistake led to a 14-0 deficit, and the “Green Wave” quickly became a puddle.

A Message to the Future

Despite his anger, King ended with a plea to future G5 playoff participants. “To next year’s G5 team: if they don’t change the construction of the playoff, we got to show up and show out. They are giving us an opportunity to participate in this… we can’t be out there playing like the Bad News Bears.”

As Shaun King puffed on his “victory cigar” (ironically lit for a JMU point-spread cover rather than a Tulane win), the reality of the new college football landscape sat heavy in the room. For Tulane, the “Wave” didn’t just crash; it was pulled out to sea by a much larger tide. Whether the playoff system adapts to prevent these “non-competitive” games remains to be seen, but for now, the legends of the G5 are left picking up the pieces of a very rough weekend.