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Page S2From§Eachthe early evening edition — 2 October 2026

Protect College Sports Act protects sports by ending Mark Mitchell's fifth season days after passage.

“Court ruling leaves Mark Mitchell, other fifth-year college athletes in eligibility limbo”, 2 October 2026 (Photo via CBS Sports — the original report)

Hot Mic Moment

Somebody cut this feed before air. The same bill that just left Mark Mitchell without a season also hands the NCAA, The Hill reported September 15, protection from antitrust lawsuits — Congress wrote legal immunity for the trade association and an injunction-shaped hole for the labor. A press office calls that reform. This reporter calls it liability insurance for a monopoly sold as a players' bill. Get me the political desk.

Gushis side

GUS: Ladies and gentlemen, this reporter was there in spirit: Saturday, September 26, the President stumped for the Protect College Sports Act from the stands in Austin, Air Force One buzzing the field as Texas took on Oklahoma.

GUS: Four days later, Tuesday the 15th, the Senate passed the Act outright — introduced back in March, it sets pay rules, caps revenue sharing, and gives the NCAA's compensation fights a five-year statute of limitations.

GUS: Passage came two weeks later, September 29th, when the Senate unanimously sent the Act through — the most lopsided vote in that chamber's history.

GUS: Friday brought the bill's first customers: a Texas Court of Appeals, this reporter is reliably informed, dissolved the injunction propping up the eligibility of Missouri's lone fifth-year star, Mark Mitchell.

GUS: In this reporter's day a young man played his four years, hung up the jersey, and did not come asking Congress for a fifth season — and the young ladies never asked such consideration either.

Trudyher side

The location was Knoxville, not Austin — the New York Post reported the President cheered at a University of Tennessee game, the flyover before kickoff, Texas visiting, not Oklahoma.

Advanced, not passed — The Hill's own copy: the Senate only advanced it that Tuesday, with a five-year eligibility window, not a limitations clock, and antitrust protection for the NCAA built right in.

Unanimous it was not — The Hill calls it a sweeping bipartisan vote, no lopsided-history tally attached, and sweeping still falls shy of unanimous.

Kentucky, not Texas — CBS Sports, Friday: the Kentucky Court of Appeals dissolved it, and Mitchell's hardly alone; the same ruling left several other fifth-year players in the identical limbo.

Nobody asked for a blessing, sugar — the fifth year exists because that eligibility window is exactly what the Senate wrote into this bill two weeks before a Kentucky court took it back.

Desk's full, and you don't get to grandstand out of a correction — but you're not wrong on the receipt: The Hill, September 15, says the same bill protecting athletes also shields the NCAA from antitrust suits, and only one of those two protections survived Friday in Kentucky. Go lie down, and eat your mushrooms before next week's column — your memory's worse than the bill's follow-through.

“They flew a President into a football stadium to sell you a bill with "protect" right in the title, and the first paperwork out of it strips a kid's final season of college ball. Read past the name and the only guaranteed protection in that Act belongs to the NCAA, which gets immunity from antitrust suits while the players get a vacated injunction. That's not a players' bill, that's an insurance policy with a mascot on it.”
Sal
“Look, the Protect College Sports Act is a bipartisan achievement, sweeping, The Hill said so itself — and if a Kentucky court wants to dissolve an injunction, well, that's judicial independence, that's not on the bill. Did I say the bill has nothing to do with the bill? Scratch that. Point is it passed the Senate, that's the win, eligibility's somebody else's department.”
Chip

Earlier in this story

The receipts

· Senate passes ‘Protect College Sports Act’ with sweeping bipartisan vote from the morgue, 29 Sep 2026

· Senate votes to advance bill to regulate college sports, athlete compensation from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

· Trump stumps for Protect College Sports Act at Texas-Tennessee game: ‘Bipartisanship for the first time in a while’ from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026

· No. 1 Texas escapes Tennessee with thrilling SEC victory as President Trump watches on from Neyland Stadium from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026

· Audio problems plague ABC for Texas-Tennessee after warning of possible disruptions with Trump at game from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026

· Trump met with roaring cheers at University of Tennessee-Texas Longhorns college football game from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026

· Air Force One does majestic flyover before Trump attends highly anticipated Texas-Tennessee game from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026

· Trump trolls reporter: I don’t want fake news ‘like you’ from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026

· SEC crowd greets Trump with massive cheers ahead of Tennessee-Texas showdown from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026

· Trump to attend major Texas vs. Tennessee college football game — and coaches are worried about disruptions from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026

· Tennessee fans excited for Trump's attendance at game vs Texas: 'I hope he stays the whole game' from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026

· Trump set to attend Tennessee-Texas football game in Knoxville from the morgue, 23 Sep 2026

· Trump to attend Texas-Tennessee football game as he pushes college sports bill from the morgue, 24 Sep 2026

· 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

· GOP hopeful removes ‘Pro-Trump’ mention from campaign slogan in deep-red seat from the morgue, 23 Sep 2026

· Tennessee uses unusual alcohol tactic to get fans there early with President Trump attending Texas showdown from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026

· Live updates: Trump attends Texas-Tennessee football game in Knoxville; US, China to cut tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026

· Trump wants the Protect College Sports Act passed. What to know about the legislation. from the morgue, 26 Sep 2026

· We Need to Protect College Sports from Ted Cruz from the morgue, 18 Sep 2026

· This week on the Hill: Senate eyes final passage on college sports bill from the morgue, 20 Sep 2026

· College football pressure index: Four coaches, two QBs and one coordinator under the gun in Week 4 from the morgue, 20 Sep 2026

· Senate votes to move forward with Protect College Sports Act from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026

· Kirk Herbstreit defends having Ted Cruz on 'College GameDay' from the morgue, 18 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.