Texas silenced Neyland Stadium, as Colin Simmons recorded five sacks and Raleek Brown scored twice to beat Tennessee with President Donald Trump watching.
Page S3From§Eachthe breakfast edition — 27 September 2026
Bill credited with 78 votes gets a sideline endorsement, a GameDay pitch, and still no Senate passage
Hot Mic Moment
Get me the political desk. The president spent a Saturday inside Neyland Stadium working a football crowd for a bill the Senate has not passed, and the same live file that logged his return to the White House logged Iran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, rejected. The chamber took August and the cloture vote slid with it, and the last chance is still sitting in front of them. A senator wants the signature staged on a Saturday-morning television program. That is not a legislature. That is an affiliate.
Gushis side
The top-ranked Texas Longhorns walked into Neyland Stadium on Saturday and silenced it, which is no small errand in Tennessee. Colin Simmons put the quarterback on the ground four times. Raleek Brown found the end zone. Texas escaped, and it was thrilling.
In the stands sat the President of the United States, vouching for the Protect College Sports Act. He said, while attending the game, that "we actually had 78 votes, if you can believe it," and called Speaker Mike Johnson fantastic.
The bill has had its television run. Senator Cruz carried it onto ESPN's College GameDay this month, before a crowd this reporter would call spirited, sitting for an interview with Kirk Herbstreit. The president had not taken in a college game since January of 2025, when Miami took the championship from Indiana. Trudy, the young lady at the next desk who keeps my files so tidy, has the particulars.
Ahead of the senators' last chance, then, a sideline became a whip operation, and the wheels went up for Washington on Saturday afternoon. Senator Cruz has the celebration booked already: he wants the bill signed live on College GameDay once it passes. This reporter has covered signing ceremonies. Never one with a pregame show.
Trudyher side
Five sacks, Gus. Fox counted them Saturday, and Raleek Brown scored twice, not once. The man had a two-touchdown afternoon and you handed him a participation ribbon.
Sixty, sugar. Ted Cruz said it himself on the fourteenth: the goal was "not just to squeak by with 60 votes." And that arithmetic is untested. The Examiner reported on the twelfth that the cloture vote was delayed by the August recess, and The Hill puts Saturday's trip ahead of the senators' last chance before the lame duck.
Rece Davis did that interview — Examiner, the twelfth — and "raucous" was their word for the gathering. January of this year, and Indiana beat Miami: The Hill, the twenty-third, and it was his first college game since. I keep my own files. Go take the nap.
The Hill, the fourteenth — and it says plainly what the bill is for: "the big business of college sports." The country learned he was flying to Knoxville from OutKick founder Clay Travis before the White House confirmed it, per the Examiner on the twenty-fourth. When the sports-media man breaks the legislation, the legislation is a broadcast. Try those mushrooms they sell for the memory.
Gus, the mic was live, the booth heard you, and you just called the United States Senate a television affiliate on the air. Now — The Hill's Saturday file carries both the return from Knoxville and Iran's proposal to reopen the Strait rejected, and the Examiner has the cloture vote delayed by the August recess, with the senators' last chance still ahead of them.
“A man who already has 78 votes doesn't fly to Knoxville to sell it — he flies there because he doesn't have them. The closing argument for a law about the big business of college sports is a stadium visit and a promise to sign it on Saturday-morning television, because the show is the part you're meant to watch and the bill is the part you're not meant to read. The senators' last chance is still ahead of them, and the whip count ran through a press box.”
“Seventy-eight votes, that's bipartisanship, the president said so himself, and bipartisanship is what the American people — did I say the vote happened? That doesn't sound like me. The point is the Speaker's fantastic, the thing's essentially done, procedurally, and a president attending a football game is not lobbying, it's attending a football game.”
The receipts
President Trump left Knoxville for the White House Saturday afternoon after attending the University of Texas vs. University of Tennessee football game — an appearance coming ahead of senators' last chance to pass the Protect College Sports Act before recessing into a lame-duck period. Trump flew to Knoxville Saturday morning to watch…
President Donald Trump vouched for the Protect College Sports Act while attending the University of Texas versus University of Tennessee college football game on Saturday, saying he thinks House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) can ensure its success in the lower chamber. “Mike Johnson’s fantastic. And we actually had 78 votes, if you can…
President Trump will attend the University of Texas vs. University of Tennessee college football game in Knoxville on Saturday, the White House confirmed to The Hill on Wednesday. The game will mark the first college football game Trump has attended since January's College Football Playoff National Championship when Indiana University…
President Donald Trump is planning to attend the Texas vs. Tennessee college football game this Saturday, the White House confirmed to the Washington Examiner. The president’s appearance at the sports event comes as he continues pushing Congress to pass the Protect College Sports Act.
· Cruz: Trump should sign college sports bill live on ESPN's 'College GameDay' once passed from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Cruz faces rowdy crowd at College GameDay while promoting the Protect College Sports Act from the morgue, 12 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.