Latest / Off The Bench / Hour Two | Saints RB Needs, LSU Season Ticket Surge & College Hoops Talk

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Hour Two | Saints RB Needs, LSU Season Ticket Surge & College Hoops Talk · Off The Bench

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Off the bench.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: We have to Jacob Hester and Matt Flynn.
• 0:03
  Speaker 3: Okay, here we go where the.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Plays get broken down and science gets denied to come
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: off the bench. Hour two of Off the Bench Live
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: from the Raising Canes Studio.
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: Welcome an Hour number two. You're here on a Thursday
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: edition of Off the Bench. Tayler Schoffer with the Elonda
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: villar Real Cassie Spizzelli.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: Sorry about that.
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: The reason I was laughing, I just remembered, Uh, my
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: dad text me yesterday mid shift.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: I guess he had tuned in or something, and he
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: was like, what what does this mean? Why is somebody
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: in the YouTube? Jack keep saying rivers all wet? What
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: does that even mean?
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: I was like that of year the Hour two open
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: it it's the song. It just it made me laugh. Okay,
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: in this hour we're gonna hit a lot of different
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: topics here. Bill Bender coming up at eight thirty with
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: the Sporting News. Yesterday, Bill laid out an entire March
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: Madness bracket prediction. LSU not in that number. Surprised to
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: no one, but.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: We'll look at it. Maybe some of the team's LSU
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: is about to play.
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: Coming up here in the Sez schedule, how many teams
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: will the conference get in, what the one seeds look like.
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: We'll break it all down a little bit. Talks of
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: March Madness with our guy Bill Bender. LSU had a
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: record season ticket sale recently. We'll talk about the Lane
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: Kiffin effect here in Baton Rouge. Right now, though, I
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: want to look at the New Orleans Saints and these
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: free agent possibilities. The name Jeremiah Love is a name
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: that continues to get more and more attraction. You're an
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: option for the Saints to take it eight overall. I
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: wouldn't hate it because I think Jeremiah Love is really good.
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: I think he's the best running back in this draft.
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: I don't think I like it. Like if if I
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: am the GM of the New Orleans Saints, I'm probably
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: picking a big time receiver to pair next to Chris
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: Olave because I want to give my young quarterback as
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: much help as I possibly can. Now, it is a
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: deep receiver class. It's a deep headdresser class. I mean,
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: those are the two other positions. Everyone is mentioning that
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: class is pretty deep. While some may say you don't
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: need a running back at eight overall, the gap between
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: Jeremiah Love, and the second guy's probably bigger than the
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: gap between like Desmond By and David Bailey or Jordan
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: Tyson Carnell Tate. They're all kind of right there in
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: that same mold. But let's say they don't take Jeremiah Love,
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: they still do need a little support in the running
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: You have an a G and Alvin Kamara. What in
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: the world are you gonna get from Kendre Miller? I mean,
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: the guy stays hurt, what's going to happen there? Devin
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: Neil showed some plashes as a rookie. I would love
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: for Rod your guestimate, to be back because I think
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: he was really good at the end of the season.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: But none of those.
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: Guys are lead backs, at least not at this point
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: in their career, and you don't necessarily need that. I mean,
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: you could do a you could do a committee approach
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: with the running backs, but I think he would like
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: in a perfect world to have a lead back. Rolsa
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: Jackson at louisianasports dot Net put out two possible big
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: name free agents that the Saints may go after. We'll
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: get the first one out of the way, because it
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: looks like all the projections are that Breece Hall will
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: be franchise tagged by the New York Jets. It has
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: not happened yet, but that is the prediction. But for
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: the sake of this conversation, let's say it has not happened.
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: Let's say Breece Hall does not get franchise tagged. Is
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: that somebody the Saints could kick the tires on?
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: I think yeah.
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: I mean, Breeslaw's twenty four years old and he had
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: that knee injury as a rookie. I know that's a
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: concern for some people, but when you go back and
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: look at it, after that knee injury, he's played in
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: at least sixteen games for three straight seasons now, and
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: he's been really effective in a bad offense for the
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: New York Jets. I mean, I'm talking real, real bad.
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: He just eclipse one thousand yards for the first time
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: in his professional career on the ground. But he's a
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: guy that's been productive for a number of years, and
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: you just look at what he's done again. Rookie year,
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: he played in four, he played in seven games he
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: had the knee injury, but twenty twenty three, second year
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: in the league, nine hundred and ninety four yards five touchdowns,
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: but he averaged four point five a care However, five
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: hundred and seventy one yards receiving. That's over thirteen hundred
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: dollar purpose yards twenty twenty four eight to seventy six
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: on the ground, but another four eighty three through the air,
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: again over thirteen hundred yards. Last year he finally eclipsed
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: one thousand yard mark on the ground, but then you
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: got to add the three fifty receiving. He's a guy
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: that is super versatile and it's a good checkdown option
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: for Tyler Shuck. He's a guy that's twenty four years old.
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: The injury issue hopefully is behind him. He's been healthy
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: for three years in a row now, against sixteen games
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: played in three consecutive seasons. I think Bresee Hall makes
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: a lot of sense for this team. He's kind of
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: the size you're looking for. I mean, five eleven, two
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: hundred and twenty pounds. You ran a four to three
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: to nine in the forty and you could say, okay, well,
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: the touchdown numbers got to come up. I understand that,
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: but look at how much of a difficult time he
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: had in New York. Look at who his quarterbacks were.
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: He had Zach Wilson for two years. He had Aaron
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: Rodgers who had an okay season with the Jets. That
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: entire team was just all messed up with Robert Sala
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: getting fired mid season. I mean that all whole offense
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: was a mess and this year Justin Fields was his quarterback.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: I mean, think about how much defense is if keyed
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: in on Breese Hall and he still had success like that.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: If you put him in a Saints offense with Tyler Shuck,
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: who defenses have to respect, I think Breshall could have
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: a breakout year for the New Orleans Saints. And a
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: guy at twenty four years old, depending on what his
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: contract situation looks like the guy you could give a
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: two to three year deal to if you wanted to.
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: He's just now entering his prime. I really like that option.
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: But again it is worth noting he will likely be
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: franchise tagged by the New York Jets. That is the
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: projection right now. At the moment, he has not been.
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: The guy that looks like he will not be franchise
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: tagged and will test the free agent market. Is Travis
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: Etn of the Jacksonville Jaguars I would love this fit
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: in New Orleans. I think he is exactly the type
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: of running back they need. I mean five to ten,
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: two hundred and fifteen pounds. You look at what Travis
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: Etn's been in the NFL. He hasn't been a super
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: efficient runner. However, I think that had a lot to
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: do with the Jacksonville Jaguars offense. Look at Liam Cohen
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: coming in this year. Trevor Lawrence had a career year.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: Travis Etn had a career year. I mean that offensive
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: line in front of Etn the first two or three
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: years he was in the league was poor. I thought
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: their coaching was really poor as well. Look at what
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: he did a season ago, two hundred and sixty carries,
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: eleven hundred yards rushing, seven touchdowns, but he really flashed
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: through the air six receiving touchdowns on the season, so
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: he had thirteen total and another three hundred.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: He's a guy who's a lot like Brisaul.
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: I mean, in four years in the NFL, Travis Etn's
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: approaching fourteen hundred yards receiving and caught one hundred and
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: sixty eight passes. He's another guy plays very similar to
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: haw Alvin Kamara did and Travis Eten's twenty six years old,
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: a little bit older than Bresaul, But I mean not
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: the injuries, the number of games he is played seventeen seventeen,
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: fifteen seventeen, Travis etn has been about as healthy as
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: you can ask for, and even behind that really poor
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: offensive line for the Jacksonville Jaguars, three out of his
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: four years he's eclipsed one thousand yards rushing eleven twenty five.
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: Is a rookie one thousand and twenty twenty three eleven
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: hundred last year, and he's averaging over four yards per carry.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: The Saints offensive line.
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: Can continue to get better and again pair him with
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: a Tyler Shuck with a really good play caller like
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: Kellen Moore. You saw what he did in an offense
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: with a good play caller like Liam Cohen. I don't
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: see why he can't have that same success under a
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: guy like Kellen Moore. I'm not saying he's not a
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: good running back. He's one of the best running backs
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: in the league. But look at Sakuon Barkley in that
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: entire Philadelphia Eagles offense this year without Kellen Moore. To me,
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: that was the biggest stamp in the Kellen Moore category
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: as far as in favor of him than anything he
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: did with the Saints this year was how bad the
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: offense was in Philadelphia. They fired their offensive coordinator after
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: a year, so they're on their second coordinator since Kellen Moore,
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: and he hasn't even been gone. He's been going eighteen
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: months and they're on offensive coordinator number two. Saquan took
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: a step back in efficiency, Jalen Hurts was all over
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: the place, he was erradic at times, all of that
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: without Kellen Moore. With Kellen Moore, they were dominate. Sakuon
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: Barkley was the best player in the league, and they
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: win won the Super Bowl. I'm not saying the Saints
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: with Super Bowl contenders next year, but Kellen Moore is
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: going to get the absolute most out of these playmakers.
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: Travis Etn's a playmaker. He's a guy that's been so
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: under the radar. I mean, I remember coming into this season,
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: the talk all off season long. I never figured out
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: why was Travis Etn is gonna lose his starting job
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: to Tank Bigsby, Like that's gonna happen. And you turn
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: on the first preseason game for the Jacksonville Jaguars and
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: Travis Etn isn't starting running back, No, doesn't matter, is
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: still gonna be Tank bit be trust me, that's what
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: everybody said.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: I never really understood why, because.
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: Again, Etn did about as good as he could have
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: on a really bad offense in Jacksonville.
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: For three years.
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: And what happened before the season started they traded Tank
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: biggs be out of town and he was the third
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: string running back for the Philadelphia Eagles this year. And
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: Travis DN had a career year two hundred and sixty yards,
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: eleven hundred rushing, seven touchdowns. He's a He's a guy
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: that has been very productive. I mean, thirty eight hundred
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: yards rushing in three years in the NFL is really
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: really good. Twenty five touchdowns. But for whatever reason, he's
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: just been an under the radar guy, probably because he
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: played for the Jacksonville Jaguars and people forget their an
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: NFL franchise half the time. He's just one of those guys.
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: To me, that makes a lot of sense for New Orleans.
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: I would be happy with a Jeremiah Love. I would
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: be content with it. I would come in here on
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: a Friday on OTB the morning and after Round one
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: of the NFL Draft. I don't think anybody in this
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: room or any of the other shows on this station
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: would say the Saints absolutely botched it, terrible draft pick.
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: They should have picked Jeremiah Luve. I think the response
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: would be, Jeremiah Love is a really good player. I
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: think he's gonna make a lot of plays for the Saints.
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: I probably would have went a different direction, but hopefully
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: it works out. That should be your response if the
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: Saints draft Jeremiah Love. But if they don't, and I
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: don't think they should, Travis Etn is a very good
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: option for again, twenty six years old. You could give
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: him a multi year deal. He would slide into B
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: or RB one right away. I like Alvin Kamara. He's
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: done a lot for this franchise, but let's call it
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: like it is. I mean, Alvin Kamara is a declining player.
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: He is in and out of the lineup last year
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: with injuries and even when he was on the field again,
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: a lot of it not his fault, but what he's
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: done the last three years. In twenty twenty three, six
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: hundred ninety four yard rushing, five touchdowns, three point nine
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: a carrey in twenty four, it went up a tick
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: four point two a care this year a career low
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: three point six yards per carry, scored one rushing touchdown.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: Alvin Kamara has done a lot of good for this
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: team for a number of years, but three.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: Years in a row.
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: I mean in twenty twenty four he almost had a
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: thousand yards rush and it was nine to fifty. The
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: efficiency wasn't quite there, and then the worst yards per
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: carrey of his career came this past year.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: I get it. The offensive line was awful.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: And I just said the same thing about Travis Eten
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: about how when he was put in a better position
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: to succeed, he was right there. The problem with Alvin
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: Kamara is he just finished his age thirty season. He's
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: gonna be thirty one years old at some point next year.
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: Travis Athens twenty six, Briestalls twenty four.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Love Kamara. I think he still has a role on
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: this team.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: But if you want to bring in a productive running
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: back that you know can get the job done, bring
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: in one of these guys. Spend your first round pick
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: on a Jordan Tyson, a Carnell tait Hell, even go
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: edge rusher if you fall in love with a guy
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: and he falls to number eight, I would go receiver.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: I think you need playmakers on the outside. He's like,
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: let's say you do add Travis Eta or Argument's sick.
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: You would then have Etn Kamara, Kendre Miller, provided he's healthy.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: We're not sure what his futures are going to look like.
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: In New Orleans, Devin Neil, who I thought showed flashes
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: at times, and Audrick Estimate, who had a good end
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: of the year.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: That's a really good running back room. You would have
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: a lead back.
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: But none of these guys would be required to have
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: three hundred carries on the year. But you can look
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: at the numbers, raw numbers and say, oh, well, Bresols
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: only rush for over one thousand yards one time, and
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: Travis etn his efficiency's been down at times. In Jacksonville,
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: the Saints did not have a five hundred yard rusher
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: this year. They need all the help they can get.
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: I think the allion's going to be better. I think
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: you're finally set at the quarterback position, and you're sitting
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: pretty at number eight over all, because you have your
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: quarterback of the future. You could go a lot of
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: different ways Jeremiah Love could be one of the options.
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: I would go elsewhere and maybe looking free agency for
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: a running back. All right, we're gonna take a time
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: out when we get back. L s U a lot
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: of season ticket sales. The uh raw numbers came out yesterday.
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: We're looking at all next and uh how the Lane
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: Kiffin effect is in full swing here in Baton Ridge.
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: That's coming up next here on off the bench, off
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: the bench.
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• 15:29
  Speaker 2: the bench with Jacob Hester and Matt Flynn.
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  Speaker 4: All right, welcome back in Thursday edition of Off the Bench.
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: Taylor Sharp here with the elandravill Rial Cassies, Bazally along
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: for the ride as well. Thanks for hanging out with
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: us here this morning, guys. The Lane Kiff in effect
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: is one hundred percent real, whether you want to believe
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: it or not. So Matt Moscono on After Further of
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: You was joined by ViRGE Olsbury on Tuesday, and Verge
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: said that LSU had forty four thousand people on the
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: football season ticket waiting list, and apparently before that the
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: most they had ever had was seventeen thousand. Verge said,
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: it's Lane Kiffin, it's the team he recruited, the players
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: he brought in, and the great home schedule we have. Obviously,
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: LSU opens up at home against Clemson. They'll host A
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: and M and Alabama. Both of those teams made the
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: College football Playoff a year ago. Texas and Archie Manning
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: will make their first visit to Betan Roots since nineteen
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: fifty three. For years, everybody's been asking for that return
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: trip from twenty nineteen.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: Well, you got it.
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: But when you look at the total number of season tickets,
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: we have it here. You can read the article on
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: Louisiana Sports dot Net, and LSU spokespersman told LSN that
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: season tickets are sold out, with approximately seventy one two
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: hundred and fifty sold and renewals were near ninety eight percent. Guys,
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: I appreciate Verge talking about the great home schedule. I'm
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: excited about the home schedule. This is Lane Kiffen. This
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: is what you get when you hire a guy who
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: is a rock star among college football, like this guy
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: right here at Lane Kiffin.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: You had to expect this.
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: Whether you wanted Lane Kiffin here or not, you had
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: to know that if LSU hired him the minute he
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: stepped foot on campus, this is what you were going
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: to get, and honestly, it's what LSU needed. Look, I
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: have loved this LSU football program my entire life. I
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: fell in love with LSU football at like five years old.
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: I mean I remember LSU versus North Texas and Tiger Stadium,
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: first game I ever went to.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: I was hooked.
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: I mean I went to every home game during the
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: two thousand and seven National Championship season. I watched Jake
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: and Matt play that National Championship in the Superdome and
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: when I was in the sixth grade. Still my favorite
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: sporting event that I've ever been to. And I will
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: admit that the last three or four years, it's just
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: been kind of stale for me. Guys, and I love
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: covering the team, but the past couple of years covering
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: the team it has felt more like a job that
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: actually being a fan of the university. And that's okay,
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: because I mean, it kind of is a job, but
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: I would.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: Like it to be both.
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: I have the ability to separate fandom versus Hey, let
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: me break it down for you. Here's how it is.
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: I'm not going to cut any corners just because I'm
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: a fan of this team. But it was a team
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: that was hard to pull for. We talked about it
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: last year a little bit. Even when LSU was winning
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: games late in the season, they weren't fun to watch, Like, yeah,
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: it was great that LSU beat Clemson, and everybody was
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: excited about it because it was your first time winning
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: the season opener since twenty nineteen. I was fired up
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: as hell watching it from the house, But you didn't
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: realize that that game wasn't a one off, it was
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: a sign of things to come. I was in Orlando
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: a Universal Studios for this second game of the year
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: when LSU was playing Louisiana Tech, and my gosh, I
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: was glad I didn't have to watch it and only
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: had to listen to Chris Blair on the broadcast, because
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: that was abysmal. You beat up on Southeastern fine, and
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: then you play Old miss and then you knew you
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: had a big problem. Even when Lashue was winning games
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: last year, they were not fun to watch. Did anybody
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: enjoy watching LSU VERSUS Arkansas this year? I mean I
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: enjoyed it because they won in the last minute of
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: the game, But outside of that last drive, it was
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: kind of a snooze fest. I mean, you could count
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: on one hand the number of big moments Brian Kelly
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: had here at LSU. Going for two against Alabama, winning
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: that game great, that was awesome. Winning the West year
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: one under Kelly great. You chopped it away at the
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: end of the season when you got rolled over by
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: Texas A and M. Somehow the overtime win two years
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: ago against Ole Miss right here in bedroom, that's it.
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: I mean outside of that, can you think of a
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: game win or loss that had a bunch of juice
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: under Brian Kelly?
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, hand up.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: When LSU moved on from Brian Kelly and there were
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: so many candidates being talked about, Lane Kiffin was the
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: one name that so many fans latched on too, Me, Landra, Jake, Matt,
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: everybody kind of said, hey, at least on this show,
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: we'd be happy with Lane Kiffin. Lane Kiffin's a good coach,
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: but there's more than just Lane Kiffen out there. I
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: was always a big fan of Kenney Dillingham. I saw
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: him take Arizona State to the College Football Playoffs should
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: it be Texas if not for a miss targeting call?
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: And I saw Sam Levin in the portal and I
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: was like, Hey, your best option to get Sam levit's
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: probably to hire Kenny Dillingham, bring him over. Little did
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: I know what Lane kid was about to do. Lane
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: Kiffen Win got Sam Levitt. He went and got Jordan's Seaton,
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: the number one left tackle in all of college football.
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: In the transfer portal, he got Prince Will Luman Miellen.
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: Heven't got TJ. Dottery, who was a miss As leading
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: tackler a year ago. This transfer portal class is so stacked.
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: I feel like we don't even talk about TJ.
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: Dottery.
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: Tyd Benfield, who was a top three safety in the
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: transfer portal from Boise State, played a lot of big
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: time football, played in the College Football Playoff two years ago.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's an LSU Tiger.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: Everything Lane Kiffin has had to do along the way,
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: he's nailed it. I'm not saying Lane Kiffin is gonna
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: win a national championship year one, but there's excitement around
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: this program. There's a buzz that hasn't been here for
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: me since after LSU beat Texas in twenty nineteen and
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: I was like, hang on a second, we got a
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: little something going. This offense is different than what we've
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: seen in the past. I was on cloud nine after
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: that Texas game because I was like, Okay, you beat
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: Georgia Southern, great, what are you gonna do against the Longhorns?
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: You go perform like that in DKR against that Texas team.
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: I get it didn't finish the season like everybody thought
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: they would, but at that point with them, Sam Ellinger,
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: those receivers, they had a lot of hype around that team,
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: and you took over that stadium, you could feel there
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: was something different.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: There's just a different feel in the air. Right now.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: I'm saying Lane Kiffin's gonna win the national title year one,
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: but he has certainly brought a much needed spark to
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: this program. Everyone seems to gravitate towards Lane Kiffin.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: The media.
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: Think about how big he was covered when when he
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: decided to leave Ole Miss and go to LSU.
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: That was national news for three weeks.
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: It was kind of made a lot bigger deal and
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: blown out of proportion than it probably would have if
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: if it wasn't Lane Kiffin, if it was another coach.
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: I get they were going to the College Football Playoff
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: and all that, but a lot of coaches jumped ship
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: and went to other teams. It's the Lane Kiffin effect.
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: We've talked about it here. Look at all the players
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: he retained, Trey des Green, DJ Piggott, You got Barry
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: and Durham back for the players. It's Lane Kiffin. Blake
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: Baker looked like he was gonna get the two lane job.
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: He decided to stay here in Baton Ridge. Charlie Wise
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: Junior had multiple options. He could have stayed at Old Miss,
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: he could have went to multiple NFL teams. Pittsburgh Steelers
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: showed a lot of interest in him. He decided to
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: stick with Lane Kiffin. Just earlier this week, it looked
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: like Jake Olsen was going to go and coach for
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: Washington in the NFL. He decides to come back and
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: coach under Lane Kiffin. This is exactly what this city
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: and this program needs. And again it's you still have
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: to go out there on the field. You still have
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: to do it. You still have to.
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: Win these games.
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: But this program's trending in the right direction, and there's
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: more juice under us now than my I've seen in
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: quite some time. All Right, we're going to take a
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: quick time out. When we get back, we'll shift years
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: to college basketball. Bill Bender of of the Sporty News,
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: he put out his entire field of sixty eight bracket
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: where teams fall breaking down a little march madness.
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: Next you're on off the bench, off.
• 25:16
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  Speaker 2: From the locker room to the airwaves. Gets off the
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• 27:13
  Speaker 4: Welcome back in Thursday edition of Off the Bench. Taylor
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: Sharp's sitting in here with you. I want to go
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: out to the phone lines right now. Welcome in our
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: guy Bill Bender from the Sporting News. Bill, How are
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: you this morning?
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: Hey Taylor?
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Thanks for having me on. How you doing man?
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: Absolutely I am doing well. Bill, I was every time
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: you put something out that I make sure to read
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: it because I mean, you know, I was talking to
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: Jacob Pester not long ago, and you know he's the
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: one that connected you and I a while back, and
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: I'm like, you know, Jake, it doesn't really matter the sport.
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: Bill is the guy to call, like, You're just a
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: wealth of knowledge. So I wanted to go kind of
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: kind of a little March Maddness preview here because a
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: few days back you put out March Maddness bracket prediction
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: three point zero of Bill Bender, and you know, I
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: was looking at it a little bit and want to
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: kind of to highlight a few things. Obviously, when you
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: look at the field, you got your one seeds Michigan, Duke, Arizona,
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: and Houston.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: Bill.
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: Out of that group, I mean, who do you think
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: would be like your number one overall seed. Like a
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: lot of people talk about Arizona. They've dropped a few
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: games here and there. Michigan's been dominant all year. I
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: mean right now for you, like, who is the best
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: number one seed out of that group?
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Oh, Michigan's the best team in the country until Saturday.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: You know when they played Duke. They have nine guys
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: that can put the ball in the basket. They have
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: a great club one track record. They're going into big
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: ten venues and you know they've won at Breslan and
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: beat Michigan State. They went into Doing one and commanded
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: that game. It's a really good basketball team. But it
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: doesn't mean they can't lose to Duke on Saturday. And
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: those Big twelve teams are in the mix, and I
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: think Florida out of the SEC has just been as
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: hot as any team in the country. So at Yukon
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: loses last night, so it's a very fluid number one
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: seed line. But I think Michigan has stood out a
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: little bit more than anybody else so far.
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: Speaking of the Florida Gators, I'm glad you mentioned them.
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: You have them at the three seed right now, Like
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: they're nineteen and six overall, but builder ten and two.
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: In the SEZ.
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: I mean right now, they kind of look forward away
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: the best team in that conference. They're on a pretty
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: impressive run right now. What is the highest like, if
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: Florida continues on this run that they're on right now,
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: what is the highest Florida could be seeded? I mean,
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: right now there are three how much can they improve on.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: That I think they could be a number one. And
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: I'm not just saying that to like say it. I mean,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: the pass is not that difficult. I mean, the Big
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: twelve teams will sort themselves out. Big ten teams will,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: you know, sort themselves without so I think you'll have
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: one at least one Big twelve one seed, one Big
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: ten one seed. I do probably that team out of
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: the ACC unless they get a couple bruises. And so
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: it comes down to, let's say Florida only lost like
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: one more games, won the SEC tournament championship, they would
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: have a very compelling case to be a number one
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: seed over a Yukon who lost Creyton. But there aren't
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: a lot of tournament teams out of the Big East.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you what, the SEC basketball is solid.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: It's a lot of fun. I still I just got
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: you know, how you get like roped into a game.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Just kept watching Alabama Arkansas last night, kept watching it.
• 30:25
  Speaker 6: What a great game that was.
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: Speaking of the SEC, like, let's just stick there. As
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: we were just talking Florida, I mean, how many teams
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: could we realistically see out of that conference to make
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: the Big Dance?
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: I mean, you know, they all the way down to Missouri. Basically,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: you know, can Missouri get in the tournament? I think
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Auburn's gonna be on it. It really depends on Missouri
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: and Auburn. You know, where does Auburn go there? Their
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: keen palm and net rankings are really good, but they've
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: lost a couple of games. You know, Texas, A and
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: M should get in. I think you could get double
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: digit teams again, not out of the question. It's just
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: a matter of which one of those couple teams there
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: at the bottom dripped off. You know, Georgia and Texas.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: It was a little tenuleous for them a couple of
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: weeks ago, but ten Texas is probably looking a little
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: bit better now. So you know, it's super competitive, kind
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: of like the conversations I have with you about football
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: that there. I don't know how many national championship contenders
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: are in the conference. There are a ton of teams
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: that could make the final four.
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: Bill transitioning out of the SEC to a team that
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: everybody seems to be talking about right now. You have
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: them as a ten seed in this bracket prediction that is,
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: of course, Miami, Ohio undefeated right now, how good is
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: this team all?
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: They're really good and I you know, look, I'm gonna
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: be a mac homer here. I went to Ohio that
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: was the rival for Miami. I don't necessarily like Miami
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: because of that. But this team's awesome. They remind me
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: of the Miami team that was they had my freshman
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: year of college. That's so long it's been when they
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: have Wally's irbiak and there's a lot big reason why
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: he's been out there a little bit. This is an
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: excellent Miami team. Four guys a shoot three pointer, I think,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: and I'm biased, even if they lose a game or two,
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: they should be in the tournament. And you can do
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: it if they lose in the MAC tournament and you
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: get a second MAC bid. Right now, they're about a
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: number ten in seed. I think they keep winning, they
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: should be higher. So they are a fun story. Travis
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Field's done a nice job with them. There's only so
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: many nice things I can say about a rival school
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: from my Aleno But you know that last one they
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: do come to the conbo in Ohio University would be interesting.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: If the Bobcats could play spoiler there.
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: I'm sure, I'm sure you would you would hate if
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: the Bobcats played spoiler there.
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: On Miami Ohio.
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: Bill I, I didn't want to open up old wounds
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: for you talk about the rival school, but I had
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: to bring up Miami of Ohio. Of course they have
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: had an excellent season. Let's stick there kind of the
• 32:54
  Speaker 4: lower seeds in your projected bracket because I mean, look,
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: Miami Ohio right now, you have them as a tendc
• 33:00
  Speaker 4: But every year there's a team. You know, when everyone
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: wants to fill out their brackets, they always try to
• 33:05
  Speaker 4: pick one dark horse and they're like, hey, this is
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: my Cinderella team to go to the Sweet sixteen, the
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: Elite Aid, whatever it may be. Is there a dark
• 33:13
  Speaker 4: horse team for you right now that you think could
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: maybe make a run in March.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure about that. I mean, you know, Saint
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: Louis is not really a dark horse either. They're having
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: a fantastic season. The Billikins with Rabbi Abilla, so we'll
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: get to see him all over again, and they're really good,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: you know, in that thirteen to sixteen range. You know,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: Belmot's always dangerous, they're always a team. But they got
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: to get in the tournament first. You know, some of
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: these teams that are in that thirteen to sixteen range,
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: I think we're gonna hear a little bit more about
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: them if they get in the tournament. In particular, Yeah,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: North Dakota State, they're having a big year, you know.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: They they go up to the FBS in football, and
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: they've been really good in their conference in basketball. So
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: the Bison could have a one of these landmark years
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: for the program. I did chuckle when I saw Lenardi's
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: bracketology had Michigan playing app State in the first round.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: That's just that's just paying attention to your history on
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: the football side. There's no question I think that would
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: get a lot a lot of reaction if that game
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: actually happened, Bill.
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: Michigan fans would hate that. I mean they would be nervous.
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: They would be nervous, no question, Bill Bender, This Morning News,
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: our guest right now, Bill, looking at your bracket, the
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: field of sixty eight. You got four teams that are
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: on the bubble right now, Missouri, Ohio State, New Mexico
• 34:31
  Speaker 4: seedon Hall right now. If the season were the end today, like,
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: which of those teams do you think is most likely
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: to make that final field?
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: I think Missouri as long as they can win a
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: couple more games and you know, maintain a decent record
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: in the SEC. Ohio State would be a close second.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: It's Ohio State's the team that we're going to debate
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: all the way through selection Sunday based on those quad
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: one components, right like that. They haven't beat a Quad
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: one opponent and they've got an opportunity this weekend against
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: Michigan State to do that. But this Ohio State team,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: I think sometimes I'll watch them, I'm like, yeah, it's
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: a tournament team, and others other times it's like, no,
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: they're really not. And that's where when you're in that
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: spot where Missouri and Ohio State are, the thing you
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: got to watch for is that scenario. I was just saying, like,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: if Saint Louis loses, are they still in the tournament?
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: If Miami loses, are they still in the tournament? How
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: many big thieves will there be in the conference tournament
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: week which is coming up closer than we think, right, So,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: I think it'll be a lot of fun to figure
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: that out. But the long winded way of answering your question,
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: I'd give a slight edge to Missouri, but that really
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: is tenueless as well?
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: Bill?
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: Before we get you out of here, I mean, do
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: you you mentioned Michigan, you know, best team in the country.
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: Is is that your favorite right now to win it
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: all in March or you think? I mean, look, obviously
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: there's there's craziness in March Mata and it's that that's
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: why we call it that writers. I mean, is this
• 35:57
  Speaker 4: Michigan still lose right now?
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean they've had good teams in the past,
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: and you know, this Big Ten when we get into March,
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: the Big Ten's national championship drought's going to come into
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: focus again. I mean, I'm forty six years old. I
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: was in sophomore in college the last time the Big
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Ten won a national championship in basketball. It's crazy to me.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: You know, Michigan State in two thousand, So there would
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: be a lot of pressure on Michigan from that standpoint.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: I do think if I was filling out of bracket today,
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: I would probably put some combination of Michigan, Duke or
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: Houston in the in the championship game. I still like
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: Houston a lot because that defense, and of course they're
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: playing Arizona this weekend. It's like a mini Final four
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: on Saturday, by the way, So but yeah, I would
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: answer I would pick Michigan with the understanding that I've
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: watched Michigan national championship caliber teams not win the national
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: title with the Fab five and with Trey Burke and
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: you know, with John Beeline. So there'd be a lot
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: of pressure on those Wolverines. But man, they have an
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: extra year. They are very very good. Under Dustin May.
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: All right, Well, just one more for you here, Bill.
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: You mentioned kind of a mini final four here, obviously
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: Houston Arizona matching up Michigan with the Big Game as well.
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: Who do you like in those two matchups?
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: Well, I think, you know, obviously I'm gonna take Houston
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: in the first one, and then that second one. It's
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: tough one to call because it's gonna bring up you know,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: I growing up in Big ten country. One of the
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: most memorable regular season games I ever watched was the
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: five to five versus Duke in the regular season at
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: Chrystlaer Arena. It was an unbelievable game. Michigan lost to
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: Christian Lightner in overtime, and I'm wondering if this will
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: be that kind of memorable game. I'm gonna pick Michigan
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: to win, but man Duke is with Boozer and the
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: amount of talent they have, anything goes. I'm wondering, you
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: know what, I'm wondering, Taylor, what the TV ratings on
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: that will be? Oh's I wonder how many people are
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: tuning into that game. I think they're gonna be surprising.
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's just me. I think the radiance of that
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: Duke Michigan game, we're gonna be off the charts.
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: I mean, I'm gonna I'm gonna be tuned in's. That's
• 38:06
  Speaker 4: that's the game that everybody's kind of circled for a
• 38:08
  Speaker 4: few weeks now once they realized it was coming up. Bill,
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: you have been a wealth of information as always. Look, guys,
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: if you want to see more of Bill's stuff, go
• 38:17
  Speaker 4: to the Sportynews dot com.
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: You can see his.
• 38:20
  Speaker 4: Full breakdown, detailed breakdown, field to sixty eight projected, and
• 38:24
  Speaker 4: a whole lot more from Bill.
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: Bill, thanks for hopping on with.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: Me today anytime. Thanks for having me. I'll talk to
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: you soon.
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: Appreciate it absolutely.
• 38:30
  Speaker 4: That was Bill Bender of the Sporty News. We will
• 38:34
  Speaker 4: take a quick time out coming back. We're closing out
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: hour number two, you're all off the bench.
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: Off the bench, all right.
• 38:41
  Speaker 5: Go to pelicanroof dot com on the website for Pelican
• 38:44
  Speaker 5: Roofing and Lafayette in Baton Rouge. They are boots on
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• 39:45
  Speaker 6: Hey baby, won't.
• 39:46
  Speaker 7: You loose way?
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: I can be your new dishes any baby.
• 39:52
  Speaker 6: What you gotta say, all you'll give is me is big.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: Two thousand and seven Shams Purple and Goal to the Core.
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: This is Off the Bench with Hester and Flynn Baton,
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: Rouge's go to for all things Louisiana sports.
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: Welcome back in final segment here in an hour two
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: of a Thursday edition of Off the Bench, Taylor Sharp
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: here with you, Londra Villa, Reale, Cassie's Bazzally.
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: Cassie, I'm struggling. You'll be fun.
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: Guys went those different things to different people. I explained
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: the other day that it's a good thing. I'm not Catholic.
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: I couldn't. I couldn't do Lynt, I couldn't do it. Cassie,
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: I'm someone who knows my limitations. Like I explained to you,
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: I explained to a landro I was like, I use
• 40:53
  Speaker 4: that as an excuse because like she made the point, like, well,
• 40:56
  Speaker 4: even though you're not cal like you could still give
• 40:58
  Speaker 4: up for Lynt.
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, that's my built in excuse.
• 41:02
  Speaker 6: I don't.
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: I don't want to.
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: I don't want a reason to do difficult things like that.
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: That's I'm just I'm a weak minded individual and I
• 41:08
  Speaker 4: know my limitations.
• 41:09
  Speaker 3: That's fine, It's it's no big deal. But like, I
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: wish you luck. You're one day in. I did it.
• 41:17
  Speaker 7: I did it last year.
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: I know I survived. I would I would have chose
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: something else, but.
• 41:22
  Speaker 7: Uh, however, last year I did cheat and I got
• 41:24
  Speaker 7: canes instead, which is not very a good Like you're good.
• 41:29
  Speaker 7: My goal is to like not replace it with something else,
• 41:32
  Speaker 7: like just I get you. I can't cheat and just
• 41:37
  Speaker 7: oh I'm not gonna get your place. I'm gonna be Keane.
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: Oh how the ashes go? Yesterday you got yours? Cassie,
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: Did you get your ashes?
• 41:44
  Speaker 7: I did, but for the first time ever, they didn't
• 41:47
  Speaker 7: draw like across my forehead. They just like sprinkled it
• 41:49
  Speaker 7: on top of my head.
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: Wait what I sprinkled?
• 41:52
  Speaker 7: Yes, Like I've been Catholic my whole life and that
• 41:54
  Speaker 7: that's never happened.
• 41:55
  Speaker 6: Ever.
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: Did you go to a different place or is this
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: I went to.
• 41:58
  Speaker 7: The church on Elish's camp as Christ the King, which
• 42:01
  Speaker 7: I've there was there a bunch of people. Maybe they
• 42:04
  Speaker 7: were just like, yeah, here eight o'clock at night. So
• 42:07
  Speaker 7: I don't know if they were just like, just get
• 42:09
  Speaker 7: out of here. Concern Well weird, Yeah, that is weird.
• 42:14
  Speaker 7: I've never in my life had ashes sprinkled off. Yeah,
• 42:18
  Speaker 7: And like I I am very close with my priests,
• 42:22
  Speaker 7: like at the church at home and so, like I
• 42:24
  Speaker 7: texted him. He hasn't responded yet, but I was like,
• 42:26
  Speaker 7: why did.
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: They do this?
• 42:27
  Speaker 7: Because I've literally been casting my whole life and I've
• 42:29
  Speaker 7: never seen this before.
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: It was probably one of those things where, like Landra said,
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: just like grab and go, like I mentioned, uh uh.
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: We we talked about this the other day. My dad
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: growing up in Alexander. He said they had a drive
• 42:40
  Speaker 4: through funeral home where they would prop up the casket
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: at the window you could pull up if you couldn't
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: stop in and pay your respects and go. Maybe it's
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: maybe it's something like that. Ludre, you played softball in
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: high school. What would you consider a lot of ron
• 42:57
  Speaker 4: scored in a softball game?
• 43:00
  Speaker 8: Well, are we talking about Oklahoma?
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you said this the other day and it literally
• 43:06
  Speaker 4: did not register, and I went back and looked at
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: it yesterday.
• 43:10
  Speaker 8: Okay, I'm curious though, tell the people to score.
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: It was like thirty six.
• 43:13
  Speaker 4: It was thirty four to four, zero, thirty four to nothing.
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: They beat the poor U in five innings.
• 43:20
  Speaker 8: By the right, did you find how long that game lasted?
• 43:24
  Speaker 8: Because that's what I'm curious about, Like, how long was
• 43:27
  Speaker 8: that game?
• 43:28
  Speaker 4: That's got to be the longest five inning game, like
• 43:30
  Speaker 4: I would imagine.
• 43:32
  Speaker 8: It doesn't tell you on the box score.
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: Let's see, I got the box score right here.
• 43:36
  Speaker 8: Sometimes it might or like on the stats.
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, let me get a stat I can't find it
• 43:42
  Speaker 4: right now, but anyways, let me I can find it.
• 43:44
  Speaker 4: Scoring by inning, Oklahoma put up an eight spot in
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: the first.
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: UTEP was great.
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: In the second inning, London, Oklahoma did the scoredy runs
• 43:54
  Speaker 4: in the second inning.
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: No big deal.
• 43:56
  Speaker 4: They followed that up with twelve and the third and
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: none in the fourth. Okay, fourteen runs in the fifth inning.
• 44:05
  Speaker 4: Fourteen runs in the fifth inning.
• 44:06
  Speaker 8: In that thing, they had like two grand slams.
• 44:08
  Speaker 4: I think, yeah, they had a lot of hits. My
• 44:13
  Speaker 4: question would be four twenty four.
• 44:16
  Speaker 8: I think that's how many hits they had.
• 44:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it was a lot, twenty five, twenty five hits
• 44:26
  Speaker 4: and yeah, thirty four RBI. Obviously they only struck out
• 44:30
  Speaker 4: one time. So twenty five hits, thirty four runs they
• 44:35
  Speaker 4: struck out once. That's pretty good. And they had ten walks,
• 44:41
  Speaker 4: so the majority of them were hits. I mean, twenty
• 44:43
  Speaker 4: five hits to just ten walks. My question is, is
• 44:45
  Speaker 4: Oklahoma softball program actually underrated?
• 44:49
  Speaker 3: No?
• 44:49
  Speaker 8: I mean, I mean they've been like on the top
• 44:52
  Speaker 8: of the thing the entire like for years since Patty
• 44:55
  Speaker 8: Gasso has been right.
• 44:56
  Speaker 4: I just feel like nationally, we don't like because you
• 44:58
  Speaker 4: called women's basketball when they won four straight under Geno Arema,
• 45:01
  Speaker 4: like that was everywhere. I mean, Oklahoma won four straight
• 45:05
  Speaker 4: national titles twenty one to twenty four, and I feel
• 45:07
  Speaker 4: like people just kind of forgot about it.
• 45:10
  Speaker 8: I don't know. Maybe I'm like two in it to
• 45:12
  Speaker 8: like see it from a sure of you. But I
• 45:14
  Speaker 8: don't feel like Oklahoma's underrated. But maybe I'm like, I
• 45:17
  Speaker 8: don't know, I just they're like a historically good program.
• 45:21
  Speaker 3: They're insane.
• 45:22
  Speaker 4: They have eight national titles from twenty to twenty twenty four,
• 45:27
  Speaker 4: including four straight and.
• 45:30
  Speaker 8: It was like and then the in between it was like.
• 45:32
  Speaker 4: Every other Yes, so it was thirteen, sixteen, seventeen. Yeah,
• 45:36
  Speaker 4: so they went sixteen and seventeen back to back, skip
• 45:40
  Speaker 4: three years, four straight. I mean, that's one of the
• 45:43
  Speaker 4: best modern dynasties we've seen in college across any sport.
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that might be the best.
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: Like, yeah, I get a Juniorrema and Yukon, but Oklahoma obviously.
• 45:53
  Speaker 3: Still really on the softball yes, yeah, And I mean
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: like it's it's not even closed, and like they're not
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: ranked No. Number One right now.
• 46:00
  Speaker 4: I'm like Oklahoma's they've lost two games already this year,
• 46:03
  Speaker 4: but they went that period of time where they had
• 46:05
  Speaker 4: lost like one game total in two years. Like I didn't,
• 46:10
  Speaker 4: I didn't realize just how dominant they were. I mean
• 46:13
  Speaker 4: I knew they were. And like, so your point, like
• 46:14
  Speaker 4: you're you're somebody you played softball, You're locked into softball.
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: But like what the.
• 46:18
  Speaker 4: Average sports fan, it's kind of been glossed over. I've
• 46:21
  Speaker 4: kind of glossed over it. Like I knew they won
• 46:23
  Speaker 4: a few championships here and there. I went back and
• 46:25
  Speaker 4: looked yesterday I was literally scrolling through our group text
• 46:28
  Speaker 4: saw the graphic you had sin and was like, that's incredible,
• 46:31
  Speaker 4: So shout out Oklahoma Softball. Thirty four runs all right.
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: On the other side, we got our three of OTB.
• 46:36
  Speaker 4: We got a big dealer, no big deal coming up
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: Next off the bench,