Latest / 3 and Out with John Middlekauff / The Return of Kauff on Campus: Big Ten vs. SEC, Arch Manning, Notre Dame & More

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The Return of Kauff on Campus: Big Ten vs. SEC, Arch Manning, Notre Dame & More · 3 and Out with John Middlekauff

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The Volume. What is going on, my friends at Netflix?
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: How are we doing? College football is back. We are
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: going to record a big preview. Oh, were you? What
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: is going on, my friends at Netflix? How are we doing? Hopefully,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: everyone is doing well. I thought, you know what? Kind
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: of a slow week. We got this buffer with the NFL.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Let's record a college football preview. Now, some of the
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: games have taken place. We recorded this late in the week,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: last week, before anyone played. My beloved Cal Poly Mustangs, hopefully,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: are 1-0. They're playing on ESPN, no big deal. And
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: I said, you know, let's... We used to call him
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Intern Jackson. Now we'll call him GLP-1 Jackson. The guy's
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: shedding pounds. Your boy, I lost some, but they came
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: right back. You can tell a single guy, you can
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: keep those off. But we're going to dive in. Biggest
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: college football guy I know. Just a junkie. So we
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: just will do a bunch of big picture thoughts going
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: into this weekend, which college football really gets to thrive on.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: But then you look at the schedule, you're like, we
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: need some better games. But that's a conversation for a
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: different day. Jackson, how you doing, bro? I'm doing great.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I'm happy we get to talk about some football and
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: not these NFL players trying to come and play college football.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Having that this week, week zero, week one coming up
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: next weekend, it's good that we can finally get to
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: talk about ball and all these players. I was thinking
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: about it the other day. you know, just preparing to
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: go on the show and talk in college football about,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: you know, too, being around fall camp, like these players
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: just going through the fall camp schedules of the whole
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: day is going in at like 5 a.m. and lifting,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the walkthroughs, the position meetings, the team meetings, the two-day practices,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: the films after, like all that kind of stuff. And
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: then you finally get to play an opponent where there's
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: no joint practices in college. Maybe that's something eventually I
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: know like Deion wanted to do potentially with Syracuse. That'd
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: be something I'd be a fan of. But also at
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the same time, a lot of fights, injuries we've seen
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: in the NFL. I just watched the Seahawks-Hard Knocks last night, too.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: That's why I got joint practices on my mind. But
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: happy to be here, man. It'll never happen because of
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: the poaching ability. In the NFL, if I play your squad,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: the floor bowl happened, the Packers can't just take Trey McBride.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: They can't just steal Jordan Love, where in college all
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: the programs that matter would never agree to do that
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: because all the shadiness, at least currently the way it's constructed.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: I do think that unless you really live in it,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: one reason the NFL– I mean the NFL is bigger
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: than college, but it kind of just– the conversation gets
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: going because some of those games do just create, whether
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: it's an injury, the joint practices– young players, definitely the quarterbacks,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: like Nussmeier, Aller, Carson Beck before he got his rib injury.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: If Carson Beck had kept playing, I think we'd be
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: talking like some of the guys that were viewed at
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: one point in time as first-rounders, but it wouldn't be
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the same if they were just in practice and unless
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: you're attending the practice. You don't need to go to
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Packer practice to get to watch them play three times.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: and rotate in some guys. And even like, hell, I mean, Herbert, Baker,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Jordan Love, a lot of the starting quarterbacks around the
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: NFL have at least played a series or two. So
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: that kind of, that gains a little momentum that college just,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: unless you're a sicko, which, you know, in the South and,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: you know, obviously Ohio State and stuff, camp reports, but
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: it's different than getting to see them play. That's what's
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: always so fascinating when you see the after games where
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: they meet up and you see the recruits that haven't
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: played kind of talk with the other coaches and I
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: think there was a video swirling last year with Keelan Russell,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: who now is the starting quarterback for Alabama, that he
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: was talking to, I think it was maybe LSU or
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: some other coordinator, and they kind of had to pull
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: him away. You've seen that with Miami and Jeremiah Smith.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: That kind of stuff in the game I just think
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: is funny to me, and hopefully we'll see as we
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: continue to move on with college football that it'll kind
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: of just get more rules set. Well, I said last week,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: part of what makes college football and any sport, the
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: NFL too, There has to be a balance. Like, you
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: kind of need the stories that my wife or mom
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: can grab onto. Like, whether you like her or not,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Taylor Swift has been incredible for the NFL's business, having
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: her around. Like, Diana Rossini stories, stories like that are big.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: College football has always had those as well. Hugh Freeze, right,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Bobby Petrino, Lane Kiffin. Like, those stories do matter to, like,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: the drama on the field, off the field, the NIL portal.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: I do think that college has kind of gotten to
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: this weird spot where it's become more about that than
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: the games. Now, maybe part of that is in the
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: offseason they don't have the draft and free agency. I
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: guess they kind of have a transfer portal. But just
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: in terms of set events in the offseason besides spring practice,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: and now these teams don't even play the spring game anymore.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: So that's the one nice part about the season. I
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: do get a little tired of everyone– Like Daquan Wright.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I was listening to a podcast at the gym trying
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: to get in the mindset the last couple days for
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: this top college football. LSU has like one of the
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: best tight ends in the country. So this– Daquan– he wouldn't–
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: this guy would– Daquan Wright was not going to be
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: a starter. Lane's just bringing these guys in to just
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: have extra bodies. And if you watched what was he like,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I don't know, seven days ago now, His justification before
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: I even knew that he was the guy leading the
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: charge for the lawsuit was basically like if these guys
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: become eligible, I can either recruit them and try to
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: sign them or play against them. Well, it's like Lane,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: you also created their eligibility by reaching out to their representation,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: but we'll get into him later. I did want to
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: start with, you know, I do think one powerful thing.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: this happens a lot. I think in the NBA more
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: than the NFL, like the West and the NBA was
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: better than the East for most of the internet era.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: It was like the power conference in football kind of
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: ebbs and flows. Uh, even if it's better, you know,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: football can be random. It's a, the giants took out
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: the undefeated Patriots. We had Nick Foles beat the Patriots. We,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: we don't really speak about that in the NFL in college.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: It's always been a thing. What conferences rank in the conferences, uh,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Now it's, I mean, being with Colin at Fox, I mean,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Big Ten, it's basically like the NFL and the Big Ten.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, Big Ten's a big deal there. But they
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: can kind of hang their hat on. The Big Ten,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: three straight champions, three different programs, two that everyone knows, right?
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Michigan Harbaugh, Ohio State, all those teams loaded with NFL players.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: And then Indiana. And I do think big picture... one
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: thing and I've always been an SEC homer because from
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: an NFL standpoint they've always had more players but there
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: is a financial element to the sport now that's changing
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: forever and Indiana's not a fluke if they got the
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: money they're not going to go away and Michigan clearly
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: isn't going to be a joke that they've been the
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: last couple years with Kyle and obviously Ohio State's rolling
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Oregon they've had unlimited money forever now they get to
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: use it above the table like This is a conversation
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: that's not going to die, and I do think there's
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: some pressure on the SEC this year to kind of–
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: because they did have the upper hand for a long
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: period of time. They were the best players, the best teams.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: They had Saban, and they had Saban and Urban at
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: one point. And if it wasn't for Urban during the
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: non-NIL era, remember he went to the Big Ten and
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: his big thing was like, who are you guys recruiting?
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: They weren't recruiting like– they weren't going into Florida. So
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: he kind of got the momentum going. But then it's like, yeah,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: you can recruit anyone now, but it comes with a cost.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: And do you have the money? I'm excited to see.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: I used to be, okay, it's a one-off situation. And
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Ohio State, since Urban, has been an SEC program. But
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: now it's kind of flipped. The Big Ten has the money.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: It's the reason Apple, Meta, Amazon, they have unlimited money.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Meta just lost a lawsuit in California. They have to
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: pay like... 12 billion dollars and the dude that interviewing
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: the attorney general was like they make way more than
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: that in a quarter so they're unfazed these are speed
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: bumps you know and i i just i think it's
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: going to be really interesting you know texas is has
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: his big 10 money but do the rest does georgia
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: does alabama does florida i'm just fascinated to watch this
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: play out over the next five years to get a
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: bigger sample size That's where you said that's good that
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: you said five years because it feels like the pressure
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: and maybe it's the pressure of the networks of ESPN
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: being so SEC heavy and Fox being Big Ten, even
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: though it's respectable to what you said about the three
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: title games. It feels like, though, if you're Greg Sankey
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: in this year, you always talk about being the deepest conference.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: You always talk about how we always get the deepest conference.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: We got Alabama, we got Ole Miss, we got Oklahoma,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: A & M all being competitive. But if you're this year,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: this feels like the first year for the SEC where
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: they finally have two schools that have combated with the
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: money that the Big Ten has in Texas and LSU.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: And LSU, it's a first-year head coach, 50-year guys, but
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: we know what Lane's done, so the pressure's already going
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: to be there to make the playoff. If you're Sarkeesian
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: and Arch, don't you kind of feel the pressure a
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: little bit from SEC and maybe Sankey's kind of like
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: leaning towards a Texas or a Georgia to kind of like, yes,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: you want the parity in the sport of all these
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: two things, loss teams, but they had no representation there.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: since Texas in the semifinals was the furthest they've had,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: not even an SEC team in the national championship. And
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: we've seen with Notre Dame and all these other teams,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: the further on you make it, you get four, $ 6
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: million a year. And that would kind of break some
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: credibility of the SEC side from that standpoint. But I
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: just wonder if you're Sankey, do you kind of pinpoint
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: certain teams at least this year that you can get
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: further in the playoff to at least give that competition
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: with the break 10 to kind of make this as
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: a discussion? Because right now the big times roll in
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: the SEC. I agree with you. The one thing is
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: on three, or maybe it was 24-7 sports, they did
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: this composite today of best overall rosters based on stars
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: with high school kids in JUCO. The SEC, I mean,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Georgia's one, Oregon's two, but then it's Bama and Texas. So,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's– and then Ohio State, Notre Dame, A & M,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: and LSU. So Alabama is a good example. When Greg Byrne,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: their AD a couple years ago, tweeted about donations, I
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: was like, bro, that is a bad sign. You can't
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: do GoFundMe for NIL. Not when a guard costs $ 800, 000.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: You're never going to be able to keep up. But
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: they do have a really good roster, clearly, based on recruiting.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: It's not like Saban just left and they turned into
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Mississippi State from a recruiting standpoint. I mean, you go
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: back to DeBoer at Washington, like he's– like he had
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: high-end NFL players, right? Pennix, first-rounder. Rome, a first-rounder. Polk
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: was a second-rounder, retired. McMillan, fourth-rounder. They had– was it
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: the tackle guard who ended up going, I think, in
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: the second round, who– yeah, who's a good– I don't
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: know how he is now, but he was– Fanu, I think.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: He was a really good prospect. Troy Fanu? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, so it's like this guy, and then he
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: gets there. They just named– in camp. One thing cool
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: about college different, like in the NFL, if you have
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: a quarterback competition, your team sucks. In college, it's pretty normal. Like,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: was CJ Carr in a quarterback competition last year? A
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: little bit. It was Kenny Minchie. It was kind of
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: a weird situation where Kenny Minchie was there a year before.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Kenny Minchie's now at Kentucky. I think it was a
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: quote-unquote quarterback competition, but it was the same thing with
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Julian Sane where ultimately they knew he was the guy.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: I think they wanted to see him just go through
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: the adversity of the battle and see how he is
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: as a leader through that, instead of just announcing him
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: early on. But see, that's the thing that's cool about college,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: is like, even say, let's say they were, they still
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: have to like, they're splitting reps in practice, right? Where
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: in the NFL, if you're splitting reps in practice, it's
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: a pretty big red flag. Like even Fernando Mendoza goes one,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: he doesn't get any first team reps really, till like
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: the end of camp. And it does, it's a huge
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: wild card because we've seen, and we'll talk about the quarterbacks,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: whether it's draft prospects or five stars, you just don't
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: know how– like Bryce Underwood, it was such a big
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: deal when they got– Portnoy and Larry Ellison, they all
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: got involved and they paid him like a four-year, $ 15
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: million contract or whatever. Nico was somewhat like that at Tennessee.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: It's like this guy is going to be just a
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: dominant figure. It's like, yeah, he could be the next
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Cam Newton or Tim Tebow or just a guy that–
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: is Jackson Arnold, how many times has he transferred now?
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Like seven? Yeah, this is third school. And he was
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: a top five quarterback in that class of, I think, Nico.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: So it's just like things change really, really fast. And
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Keelan Russell, I hope he's incredible. I hope all these guys.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: I'm rooting for Arch, but I'm rooting for Bryce Underwood
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: to be good. History would say some of these guys
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: are just going to suck relative to college football high-level
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: quarterbacks for top 20 teams. Some guys will be kind
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: of in the middle. And that to me, like the
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Big Ten and the SEC, when you look at the
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Big Ten, you know, J.J. McCarthy was a game manager
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: and their team was so loaded. You know, Will Howard
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: is a real player, right? Obviously, Fernando Mendoza, real player. Oregon,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: who a lot of people are picking for the Big Ten,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: they got Dante Moore, real player. Indiana, highly thought of,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: real player quarterback. Sayan, real player quarterback. Honestly, if Michigan
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: had more clarity of quarterback, I think they would be
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: viewed higher. Where the SEC is like Gunner Stockton, who
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: feels like the SEC quarterbacks I grew up on. It's
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: like this guy's not going to play in the NFL.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: You know, removing Texas, Alabama is just your classic. Like, okay,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: they got this young hot shot. I don't know. I mean, maybe.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: You know, LSU, Sam Levitt. Okay, that's a real quarterback,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: but is he healthy? I mean, that's a crazy part
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: about him and Jordan Tyson is they got, like, injury concerns.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: That's the thing the Big Ten has. They just got
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: much more stable quarterback. You know, SEC, Jordan Maiava, just
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: established quarterback. You know, Washington was Desmond Williams. Is that
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: his name? DeMond Williams. Yeah. DeMond Williams. Like, he's a
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: real quarterback. How good he is, we can debate. But, like,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: their quarterback play is just way better, where it used
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: to be the opposite when I was– Doing the Fox stuff,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Colin rattled off this stat, one of the stat guys.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: They didn't have a quarterback drafted in, like, the first
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: round for, like, 21 years. It was over two decades from, like,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: late Kerry Collins all the way through, like, the early 2020s.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: They were not a quarterback operation. And now that's flipped.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: And that gets who's the most expensive quarterback on the market.
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• 17:06
  Speaker 1: The last thing I'll say on the Big Ten SEC,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: I did like what you said the other day talking
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: about how They're starting to work together, at least. I
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: think that's the one, if we had to say, pro
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: of the offseason for college football, it's felt like any
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: of the common sense, logical movements, Brennan Sorsby, this whole
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: NFL player stuff, Big Ten and SEC have been quick
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: to kind of work together, figure out the commissioners or
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: athletic directors or whoever to vote on in the conference
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: and set a ruling. That does make me feel a
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: little better about the future, about potentially those two working together,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: parting away from the NCAA. Because beforehand, we didn't see that.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: It was the NIL, the portal, all that stuff that
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: we're still trying to figure out, which it'll take time.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: And ultimately, both conferences have rules set. They just want
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: to be able to set their own rules instead of
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: having to rely on the NCAA. I think it is
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: kind of rewarding and promising, at least, to see those
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: two guys working And Notre Dame. But Notre Dame's, like,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: not even in a conference, which was so funny, them
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: kind of throwing their name third. Everyone lists them in
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: the ACC, though. Like, whenever they rank quarterbacks, I was
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: reading this quarterback ranking thing yesterday. It just went, like, SEC,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Big Ten, ACC. Cars included in the ACC. They're in
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: this weird world. Yeah, I agree. But I don't know.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: I just think it's kind of rewarding the fact that
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: you're at least seeing those two. They always butt heads, SEC,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Big Ten, and hopefully one day there can be a
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: non-conference game where that rivalry can continue. But I think
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: it's both spots. I saw that the big tank commissioner
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: got an extension. I'm sure Sankey's going to be there
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: for a while, too. Sankey feels like Roger Goodell, doesn't he?
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Like he's just a made man. He's the boss. You know,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: the Petitti, who is relatively new, right? Sankey has more
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: juice than anybody. It feels like, I mean, it feels
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: like you could just make Sankey the conference commissioner for
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: the entire football and they would be in really, really
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: good shape. I do think the quarterback conversation, I think
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: the coolest part about this year, I do think it's
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: insane that people put Arch as the number one overall
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: pick based on last year. Like there's no world based
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: on last year that have, if his name was not
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Arch Manning, he would be considered the number one overall pick.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: He wouldn't even be considered a top ten pick. And
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with that. First time guy gets to play,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: it takes some time. But, like, I do think he
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: represents the complete unknown this year. We've had stretches. You
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: go back to Burrow, Baker, Cam Ward, Fernando Mendoza. None
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: of those guys were projected not only number one picks as, like,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: first round picks. So quarterback, and I've been saying this
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: for a while, it's the one position where you can
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: just like go from fourth rounder to number one overall pick.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Or be viewed as a, like Garrett Nussmeyer was viewed
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: definitely a top 50 pick, right? And all of a
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: sudden he, Boom, has an awful year because of his injury.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: He couldn't lift, didn't play well, got benched. Goes in
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the seventh round. Now he's healthy, lifts. He looks pretty
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: good for the Chiefs. Chiefs love him. Honestly, might sneak
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: him either back up over fields. They're going to keep
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: all three. But my point is, like, you can Carson Beck.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: I was like, I would never touch this guy. Then, boom,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: by the end of the year, he's watching at Miami
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: in big games. You're like, this is a real quarterback.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: And he goes in the third round. Or, like, if
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: you look at the top 20 prospects non-quarterback, They are all–
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Jeremiah Smith could have the worst year of all time. Okay,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: he doesn't go four. He might go 10 or 11, right?
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Or some of the pass rushers. Peter Woods is a
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: good example last year with Clemson, right? Awful year. He
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: doesn't fall to fourth. He goes late 20s. So you
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: get pretty established as a position player or a quarterback.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Like you could tell me, yeah, Dante Moore could have
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: the most incredible season, be the lock number one pick.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: or have a disastrous season with the hype and go
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: in like the second or third round. All of these guys,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: you can tell me Sellers goes in the top five
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: or you tell me he goes in the fourth. You
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: could tell me John Mateer all of a sudden is
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: a top ten pick or it's just a disaster. That
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: position is more than the established big names like Notre
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Dame as a corner, right? So he could– he is, again,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: given health, right? The Tennessee corner last year, McCoy with
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: the knee fell the fourth round. But, like, if he
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: wasn't injured, he could have still had a shitty season
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: and gone 24th. Where the quarterbacks can ebb and flow. Like,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: it is complete– anyone– there is no known going into
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: this year a quarterback. It is based on the film,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: not the history and what you've done for me lately
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: more than any other position. Or there's no way Nussmeyer
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: goes in the seventh round because– You would have been like, okay,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: he got injured, weird season, coach got fired. He would
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: have gone on like the third or the fourth. But
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: it was so bad, everyone got off the scent. We
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: were all talking about returning production and the coaches coming back.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: That's where I think the unknown of quarterback is just
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: the unknown of everything. You talked earlier about how college
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: football is so much focused on the drama. It's because
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: there's so many portal guys and recruiting guys every single
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: year on a cycle. You're reading all these guys and
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: it's like, okay, well, how am I going to evaluate
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: this Pittsburgh linebacker who's now playing for Texas? or an
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: edge rusher or a five-star that's coming in, or even
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: for a guy like Dante Moore. They're going to have
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: three new offensive linemen, two guys transferring in. How is
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: that going to affect him against the pressure? Something against
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: Indiana that he could not do was the pre- and
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: post-snap and the pressure coming ahead. I agree. Aren't his
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: wide receivers and backs this year on paper better going
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: into the season last year? Obviously, the running backs, they
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: were injured last year. A lot better. And the receiver
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: room last year was injured throughout the year. Their best
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: wide receiver was Malik Benson. who had the big catch
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: against Iowa and Washington, and now he plays for the Raiders,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: who might end up being their number two or three
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: guy because their receiver depth is awful. So now you've
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: got Evan Stewart and De'Corey Moore. You do have two
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: running backs. The coordinator thing is a little interesting with them.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: It just seems like every quarterback, it's like, okay, CJ Carr,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: can we see a little more? You've got no running
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: backs this year. Can you take care of the offense?
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Julian's saying, their schedule this year is the hardest schedule
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: they've probably had the last decade. He's going to be
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: asked to do more. Can he do more? Can Arch Manning,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: and I get your point about Arch Manning and how
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: preseason he should not be the number one overall pick.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: I agree. I do think them going out and getting
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Cam Coleman, though, a for sure number one guy, I
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: think is going to help him a ton. From the
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: back end of the last year, you did see him improve,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: but I don't think the hype of him being a
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: number one overall pick, and with the reports, too, I
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: heard Todd McShay talking, Manning might be a 2028 guy.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: We don't even know for sure he's a 2027 guy,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: so why are we even talking about him as a
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: for sure guy? You know the clip that went viral
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: of Coleman's crazy catch that was like 70 feet behind him?
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Do you know what Texas refused to show in that clip?
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Was who threw the ball. And I'm going to guess,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: if it was the backup quarterback, no one would have
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: thought twice, right? If it's number like 18. See, I
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: thought it was a tip pass at least. I thought
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: it was tipped. Ball looked a little wobbly. Hopefully it
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: was tipped. Well, you see some arches balls again. I'm
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: not anti arch. He is a guy by week two.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: If he throws three, four touchdowns against Ohio state and
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: gets a bunch of momentum, everyone would be like, okay,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: he's improved greatly. But based on the information we know now,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: and I'm with you, there's even more pressure. I had
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: a buddy that is a personnel guy for top 12
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: college teams say on paper, they are, they are extremely loaded.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, And, you know, he's like, I can't even
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: imagine what they spent on Coleman. I mean, he's probably
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: a $ 2. 5 million player. And he's been a guy that's
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: been playing with Jackson Arnold and Peyton Thorne the last
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: two years. So you haven't heard a lot about him
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: because he was the same recruiting class as Jeremiah Smith,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: and people were kind of having them coming in as, like,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: the two top guys, A.J. Brown and Julio Jones. Now
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: you finally get to see him with a capable quarterback
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: and at least an offensive guy who, I'm going to
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: throw it at you, I feel like a lot of
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: people tension all the way to Sark. Or, sorry, Arch Manning.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Is there any type of pressure or neglect towards Sark
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: as a play caller if he can't even get this
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: done with the amount of talent they have offensively? Because
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: I say that, one, he has a Kirby problem. Two,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: in all these big games, their third down percentage and
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: average third downs around third and ten, third and nine,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: which doesn't help for Arch, especially if they couldn't run
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: the ball at all last year. I just question a
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: little bit from Sarkeesian, but I think with this year
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: and him finally getting the $ 50 million and the two
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: running backs, Relique Brown from Arizona State, Hollywood, some others
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: who decommitted from Bama because Bama didn't have enough money
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: to pay him, went over to Texas. They should be better.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: I just wonder, though, like, yes, Arch gets all the blame.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: He gets all the pressure and stuff, too. But I
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: would dangle Sark at least. He should get a little
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: bit of something heading into this year. Well, I think
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: of all the teams in, like, the top ten range,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Sark and Lane are under an immense amount of pressure.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Lane's immediately into the fire under crazy pressure. Sark, I mean,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: they probably have the most expensive roster ever. In the country,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: the Manning buzz, they have potentially like five or six
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: high-level first-rounders on their team. They get Ohio State at
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: home week two. Last year, it's like, okay, Arches first
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: start on the road. That's a tough game. It's like, oh,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: who do you end up playing? Well, it turns out
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: they had three guys that were drafted in the top
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: ten on defense. I mean, Ed Reed. It was a
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: tough spot. It was a tough spot. This year, though, okay,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: you've got a year under your belt. You bring in reinforcements. Honestly,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: there's probably more questions about Ohio State because in this
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: day and age of losing guys, this was Bama's big advantage.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: This was right as NIL was starting Kirby's big advantage.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: They went like too deep with first rounders. I mean,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Bama used to have running back rooms, like seven guys
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: that were all going to be NFL starters. So it's
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: like they had a wide receiver room of Devontae Smith,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Henry Ruggs, Jerry Judy, and Jalen Waddell. That was their
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: wide receiver room. I mean, it's impossible to do that
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: because of what they would all cost now. So those
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: days are done. And Texas, to me, is the closest
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: thing to that. And I just think the reason Kirby
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: punks Sark– It's just simple. And I'm not acting like
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: I'm fucking Chuck Liddell here. But I've been around football
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: coaches for my entire adult life. You can't fake being
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: a tough guy. And like Kirby Smart is a tough guy.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: He was a former safety. You just look like there's
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: a reason he was Saban's right hand guy. Saban. I've
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: met Saban. He's like 5'10. Saban's not beating up anyone physically.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: But Saban came from kind of the gutter in West
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Virginia where his dad owned the gas. Saban's a tough
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: guy from his youth. I was around Pat Hill at
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Fresno State. Pat Hill's a tough guy. Played center at
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: UC Riverside in the 70s. Sark's a quarterback, baseball, junior college,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: BYU guy. He's much more Lincoln Riley. Kevin O'Connell's not
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: a tough guy. Like Sean McVay, not really, but he's
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: good at finding tough guys. You can manipulate that, Kyle too,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: by putting emphasis on physical guys. And I do think
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: in college more than the pros, like the motivational aspect
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: matters a lot. And that's– Lanning and Kirby are kind
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: of like old– the new school– I mean, Kirby's older now.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: But Marcus Freeman and Lanning, probably a better example. They're
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: younger guys. That's kind of their thing. Where Sark's more like,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: in his perfect world, he'd want to win every game
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: like 60 to 20. Kirby gets a hard-on for those
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: games against Texas that's going to be like 25 to 10,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: where I just sack you 10 times. Remember after the game,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: he was talking about, I forget his exact quote, but basically, like,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: we knew we were going to get into a fist fight,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: and we planned on applying the pressure right from the jump.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Two years ago when they had Jalen Walker, I mean,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: they obliterated him. That's when, remember, Arch came in the
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: middle of the game. It was in a kind of,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: you know, they weren't as powerful last year because they
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: lost some guys, but I just don't think you can
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: fake that. And that's, to me, the thing with Sark
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: and kind of Lane. Like, those guys are bright, offensive,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connor. minds where it's like, yeah, Kyle Shanahan, Sean
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: McVay aren't, I wouldn't say, like, Kirby Smart and Nick Saban,
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: but they're like, yeah, we'll just have Aaron Donald, Miles Garrett,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Nick Bosa, Osa Adigazua, Fred Warner. Like, we'll just accumulate
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: those players. And I just think in college it matters, like,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: being a tough guy. Your teams reflect it. And so
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: I could not pick them to win the national championship.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: I do not trust them at all. The games that
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: they even won last year, when they lost at Florida
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: to Billy Napier, if you want to talk about a
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: weak opponent, that was horrific. But isn't Florida a pretty
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: physical team? They are. Yeah, they are. Kentucky and the
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Mississippi State on the road, those two games were– freaking
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: weird for Texas last year and their schedule's harder this
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: year and they could have some of those weird games
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: against inferior opponents too you're right like Texas is the
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: biggest wild card because you spent all this money but
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: the coaching staff and they did bring in Will Muschamp
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: they fired their DC Muschamp's going to be in there
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: which is funny having him and Gary Patterson both return
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: to college football which is funny in itself well that's
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: where to use my Kevin O'Connell analogy for Sark like
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: he does have floors so like part of the like
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Flores is worse at defense. And Flores is a tough guy.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Fangio's a tough guy. Muschamp's a tough guy. Yeah. You know,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: so that can– I do think, though, like Muschamp isn't
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: addressing the team before the Ohio State game. I'm pretty
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: sure Ryan Day was a linebacker. He played, like, linebacker
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: college in small school with Chip in New Hampshire. But, like,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: I just think that stuff matters. And then it'd be
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: one thing if, like, If Arch was the equivalent of
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Tebow or Cam Newton or Johnny, like just an all-time
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: great college player, regardless of his NFL prospect, I'd be like,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: they're so good, it might not even matter. Mario is
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: a good example. Like, say what you want about Mario.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: Has blown some games, like two of the crazier games
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: in the history of the sport. Was it the Virginia game?
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: Definitely Stanford, he blew it. I'm trying to think the
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: one where he kneeled. Georgia Tech? Yeah, he screwed up.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: He is a tough guy. Like, Mario's a tough guy.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: And I just– I think there's an immense amount of
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: pressure on Sark week two in that game, which is awesome.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, that game's going to feel– it did last year,
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: and it'll feel– the game last year was pretty ugly.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, no one could score. So boring. Which benefited who?
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Kind of the tougher, more physical team. And Arch was
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: terrible in that game. Atrocious. So I– that to me
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: is like– that's how you get evaluated on those games. Like, ultimately–
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: you know, I watched some clips– I saw sometimes these, like,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: on my Instagram feed. The, like, Peyton Manning's young– it
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: was just like, Peyton Manning runs. You know, it's kind
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: of being, like, funny. But also, it's just showing his
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: runs from, like, college and early in the pros. Like,
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: he actually wasn't as bad of an athlete is the
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: way we think about him when he got older. Like,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: he moved around really well. But at Tennessee, he beat
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: you with, obviously, his arm. And I just– I don't know, man. I– Like,
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: Lane and Sark, you can relate. They're just sucking down
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: GLP-1s like they're mints. Sark, his face looks skinnier and
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: skinnier every time they pan over to him. It's 100%.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: It's not just they're sober. They're clearly on the GLP-1s.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: I kind of like Kirby. You see, he gets a
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: little fatter every year. I think DeBoer's losing weight too, actually.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: I saw Caleb DeBoer the other day. DeBoer, 100%. I
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: feel it's a Jimmy Sexton thing. He's funneling all these guys'
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: GLP-1s to keep them skinny. Sark's face looks– Lane's been
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: skinny for a while, but he's tall and linear. Sark,
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: when you just see this view of him, you're like, Jesus,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: he looks thin. They might have heard your Mike McCarthy
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: take on him being fat and not being like the
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: ideal vision of an NFL coach. And Sark said, yeah, no,
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: I'm going to take this Ozempic and lose that one. Well,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: if you look at it, like A & M' s coach
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: is fat. Mario's not fat, but he's definitely not on GLP-1. Elko,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: you're talking about tough guys. Elko's a tough dude. You
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: want to put him on that list. Big time. Signetti,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: no GLP-1s, tough guy. Like, Signetti, offensive guy. Signetti's a
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: tough guy. Like, if you tell me Indiana's good again,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: which they probably will be, And let's say Hoover, and
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: that's the thing with the draft. What if Hoover's incredible?
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Why couldn't he be a top 10 pick? Whose team's tougher,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: Indiana or Texas? That, to me, gets back to, like,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: if Muschamp can become their Flores or Fangio, then okay.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Muschamp's kind of been, you know, his star has dimmed dramatically.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: This ain't 2012. Yeah, it was like, I think the
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: last time his stardom was the Georgia defenses, 2022, what
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: was it, 2020, 2022, where Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, that
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: type of run he was at. But no, man, I agree.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: It's going to be fun to watch. Obviously, Texas is
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: going to be a fun team to watch throughout the
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: entire year. Just the headline of the sport of having
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: Lane and then Arch. But it brings me back to
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: my point earlier about that's why I think you spend
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: this much money. If you're Greg Sankey, I think you
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: are looking at Sark and Kiffin. One of you two
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: needs to make some noise and go to the college
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: football playoff and contend against these Big Ten teams. I'm
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: counting on you. But the schedule... is going to be
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: really brutal for Texas where the toughness part of the
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: lack of toughness part of Sark, this was the guy
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: that at the SEC media days was complaining about Ohio
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: state game from last year. If they lose that game
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: to Ohio state and they ended up running the table
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: on our nine and three again, that's what you're all
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: going to hear from him. And it's annoying. It's like,
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: why don't you just beat, why don't you beat Ohio
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: state this year at home? When you know, we all
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: know your roster, you bring more talent, Like Ryan Day
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: in Ohio State, the adversity they have this year with
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: how hard their schedule is and their quarterback and all
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: the defense. Like, come on, Stark. Like, let's get shit together. Like,
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: that's my thing with him. Like, stop bitching and let's
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: just play. Okay, let's– this is going to be a
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: major story all season. Notre Dame, who obviously everyone agrees
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: they are one of the best teams in the country.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: They were last year when they got left out. Their
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: quarterback has a chance to be a high-level draft pick.
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: Their coach is a star. They do lose not just
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: one star running back. I mean, the other guy, if
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: he can be healthy, looks like, I mean, Seattle might
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: be their starter. So, I mean, that's for a defensive coach,
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: what do they want to do, play defense and run
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: the ball? I do, like, my main issue is, and listen,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: they did this ACC, what do they consider it? Not agreement, partnership. Yeah, yeah.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: So they're not in the conference, but they play a
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: bunch of their teams every year, and it rotates. It's not–
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: like a couple years ago, North Carolina, three or four
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: years ago, doesn't look as bad, right? When Dan Toney
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: had Michigan State rolling, they were one of the better
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: programs in the conference, and now they suck. You know,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Purdue is an embarrassment. Their schedule– Wisconsin's– I mean, their coach–
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: if it doesn't go well and their schedule is easy,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: it could be fired like middle of the year, right,
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: in fickle. So, in their first game, that Lambeau game
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: is going to be pretty cool. Yeah. But they'll probably obliterate.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, what's– I think it's like 18 and a half,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: 19 and a half, 20 and a half. Yeah, so
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: if they won that thing like 40 to 10, would
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: anybody be shocked? Like that's kind of the expectation. Their
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: schedule is going to be a major point of conversation.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: And their margin for error is– you know what's funny
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: is you watch the hard knocks, the dude– hammock that
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: you coached NAU is the running back coach yeah yeah
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: the beat he was the head coach that beat Notre
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: Dame right yep yep so I I do think the
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: conversation of like it ebbs and flows in the Big
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: Ten or even the SEC though I I think SEC
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: schedules consistently are harder. They have less teams. You just
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: like Florida and Tennessee aren't the same as Minnesota and
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: Wisconsin to me. So the middle tier stills and playing
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: on the road there is harder. But the high end,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: if you do like Miss Oregon, Ohio State on a
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: given year, your schedule can be pretty easy pretty fast.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: But Notre Dame's schedule this year, and I would imagine
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: the next couple years, just is pretty bad. So you
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: remove the Miami game. I mean, at BYU, it's probably
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: going to be a night game. It's TBD now, but
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: let's just assume it's a night kickoff. It's not an
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: easy game, but if Notre Dame's rolling, they'll– I mean,
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: there's a chance they have won Wisconsin, Rice, Michigan State, Purdue,
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: North Carolina, Stanford, I mean, by an average margin of victory,
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: potentially like over 20, over like a six-game span. It's
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: going to be a massive conversation, their schedule all season long. Yeah,
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: and I think one little nugget, they do have more
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: ranked games on their schedule than Miami does. Just a
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: little nugget there if you want to check Miami's schedule. SMU,
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: that's a real team. But they could also be an
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: unranked team by the end of the year too. But also,
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: I mean, Brett Lashley's kind of been– that's a secret
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: coach that's got an extension. They're trying to keep them
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: around and kind of keep them competitive in the ACC.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: I don't think anyone else is ranked. North Carolina, no chance. Stanford,
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: no chance. Navy, I guess, could be if they're good. 25.
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: Boston College, I mean, Bill O'Brien would probably get fired.
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: Go peep Miami's schedule. Go peep Miami's schedule a little bit.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: But I think this year, because the whole thing of
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: the sport right now. But again, that's my point. The
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: conference is ACC sucks, but it does rotate when you're
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: in a conference. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And now with some
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: of these, I think Indiana, Notre Dame, or having a
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: game scheduled later on, you can kind of cancel these
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: non-conference games. Indiana's done that a bunch so they can
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: get easier non-conference. So some of these games that Notre
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: Dame has in line for the future, Alabama, Clemson, whoever,
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: could get canceled. Going back to this year, though, with
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: Notre Dame's schedule, this is going to be the year
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: that pisses everyone off with Notre Dame. There's 142 days,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: 20 weeks from September to the national championship January 27th.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: Marcus Freeman, Dan Lanning, Sark have all talked about this,
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: how the depth in rotating guys early on in the
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: season means so much because of just how long it
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: is and try to prevent injuries. The whole point is
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: trying to get to the playoff. Can we just get
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: to the playoff? And Notre Dame's run they made, to
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: go all the way to the national championship. They were
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: dealing with D-line injuries. J-Love had some injuries and stuff too.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: And their schedule was bad when they had that season.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: But my point is, how easy their schedule is, they're
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: going to be able to rotate a bunch of guys
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: early on and also sit guys like CJ Carr not
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: having to play an extra quarter in these games. That's
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: going to benefit them way more in the back end
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: of this college football playoff run because they're also getting
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: all these guys rotated that they're, one, recruiting at an
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: elite level, two, retaining. And I just think that's going
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: to be an even more greater advantage for them versus
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: teams like Oregon, who got to go play Ohio State,
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: Indiana this year, or whoever they've got on their schedule,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: the Big Ten teams, or Texas. Like those type of,
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: when you hit Ole Miss, it's going to be a
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: lot different than you're hitting Rice. Like you're going to
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: be hitting some of these big opponents. And I just
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: think this year specifically, and one of the nuanced rules,
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: and I bring it up just because people forget about it,
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: is this year is the first time where Notre Dame,
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: if they're in the top 12 ranked before the final
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: ranking comes out, they're automatically in. It's not like last
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: year where they can get out because of certain things.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: If they're ranked in the top 12, they are for
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: sure in. And people are going to be mad about
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: Notre Dame because of their circumstance of being independent and
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: how they shouldn't have this rule. But all the conferences
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: sign off on this. So it's going to be interesting
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: to see this year if that also comes into play.
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: They should be 11-1. They should be 12-0. They're loaded
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: this year. That's not the point. But I just think
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: because of their schedule and how easy it is and
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: how much they're going to be able to play their
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: deep guys early on is going to give them such
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: an advantage for the playoff. That's why a lot of
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: people are picking them to win. Do you think– that's
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: a good point. That they– because Miami, when they did
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: the home-and-home with Miami, right, and granted they've been playing
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: like the Miami-Penn State, like they have a couple unique
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: kind of– obviously USC– But they've been playing Miami since
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: before I was– like when I was born in the mid-' 80s.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: Miami played them last year week one in the humidity
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: of Florida, and it was brutal, and Notre Dame kind
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: of wore down. And it was an advantage for Miami. Well,
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: their game against Miami is in early November. So it's like, okay,
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: you play us week one. We're going to play you
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: late in the season. That's been their– You know, USC
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: and Notre Dame go back and forth on– obviously Notre
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: Dame wants to play USC in November, right? So when
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: you come to South Bend, it's fucking cold. And USC
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: is like, we will, I guess, pick up the rivalry,
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: but it has to be early in the season both
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: ways because we're not going to play like Ohio State
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: one week, then play you, and then have to go
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: on the road to Michigan. Like that's– it's like I
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: do somewhat understand that. But that is a pretty big advantage.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: playing miami like if you just played miami week two
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: just on a nice you know early early fall you
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: know september day in south okay what i mean november
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: it could be 30 degrees in that game and that
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: i would imagine nbc that game's already at 5 30
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: at night so what's is south bend three hours ahead
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: two hours ahead of us whatever i mean it's it's
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: it's at night i mean it's so it's That's a
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: big-time game. I mean, there's no way around it. I
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: also think the money advantage, too, with Notre Dame is
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: going to get a lot of people mad, and I
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: think people see, obviously, the Notre Dame helmet in the
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: background of my setup. I do think they eventually would
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: have to join a conference, but them being independent this year,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: the SoFi deal they got for $ 20 million, they have
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: their own NBC deal, they're going to have an ability.
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: When they made the college football playoff a couple years ago,
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: they had $ 20 million all to themselves versus... When Georgia
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: made a little bit of– actually, they didn't make a
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: run because they got eliminated in the first round. But
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: when Texas did or Ohio State, they're splitting these. It's
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: not like Ohio State got that whole $ 20 million from
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: when they won the national championship. It was kind of
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: diversified between the conference or the teams that were in
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: the playoff, I believe. But I just think the money
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: they're about to get, and with the schedule, Notre Dame's
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: got a great path to make the national championship, but
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: they're also going to get highly criticized. And especially if
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: they win it all this year, there's going to be
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: a lot of people hunting for them to join a conference. Yeah,
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: and I do– I mean, this feels inevitable, but it
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: doesn't feel that close, that kind of the North versus
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: the South. And they kind of– I mean, it's pretty easy.
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: But the problem with these TV contracts is it's obviously
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: more complicated than snapping your fingers. But it's a pretty
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: easy transition to me. You know, Notre Dame, Cal Stanford,
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: you know, to bring the academic and football prowess. And then,
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: you know, the North Carolinas, Clemsons, kind of that world
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: goes to the South. Miami. I don't even know what
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: you call it. I guess you could just keep it
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: SEC Big Ten. Big Ten, they've got 18 teams. It's
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: just kind of the world we're in. One take of mine,
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: I was thinking about this today, maybe over the last
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: couple days, is that in college basketball, winning a national
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: championship is a really big deal, but if you make
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: a Final Four, you hang a banner. If you're Duke, UConn,
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: making a Final Four. Last year, UConn, they didn't win it,
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: but making the Final Four, even the National Championship game,
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: that was a really, really big season. A lot of
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: teams that make the Final Four, like Gonzaga or whatever,
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: sucks to not win the championship, but it's a big deal.
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: College football, it's like you either win it or you're
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: a failure. And two years ago, Penn State, for example,
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: they get to the Final Four, and James got no
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: credit for that. Now, part of that, it was weird
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: the way they ranked it, so he played, what was it,
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: SMU and Boise? It's not like he beat Texas and
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: Ohio State on his path to the Final Four. But regardless,
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: no one's like, he made it to the Final Four.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: Like last year, Ole Miss probably values a little bit more.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: They've just had less success historically in recent memory than
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: Penn State of winning some national championships and feeling like
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: true national championship contender in their conference. But like Ole Miss,
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: it feels like it's more like a basketball program, the
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: way they looked at that run. Like that was a
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: really big deal to make the Final Four. I do
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: think we should look at Final Fours in college football
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: like we do in college basketball because making it that far, one,
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: you've had an incredible regular season in one of your
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: big conferences, and two, if you're not one of the
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: top four seeds, like what Miami did to get to
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: the Final Four to play Ole Miss, they had to
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: beat A & M and Ohio State. And A &
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: M was on the road in Texas. So it's like,
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: that was an incredible accomplishment. So even though they lost,
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: like you made the Final Four, you made the, like
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: that was an incredible, that's why I think Mario, you
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: kind of forget everything behind him. I just think we
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: need to look at it a little differently. Definitely when
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: we got to the Final Four, whatever, in 2014 or
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: whenever that first year was, we just left the, you know, BCS.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: I guess, was it technically still the BCS? But you
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: know what I mean, like the four teams for like, seven, eight,
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: nine years or whatever it was, that ain't the same
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: as this. Like, if you make the final four, that's
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: an incredible accomplishment. And, like, Ole Miss should be applauded,
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: all the four teams last year, just like the four
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: teams the previous year. That's really, really impressive. And I
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: wonder if we can ever start to shift. Like, it's more, like,
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: if we go to 24 teams, like, I'm sorry, making
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: the playoffs isn't that incredible of an accomplishment, right? Because
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: there's a big difference, like, There are teams in the
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: top 25 at the end of the year. They're like,
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: that kind of sucks. Not everyone in the top 25
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: views it the same. Yeah. It's like some of the
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: records with FCS when they do a 24 team. It's
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: like 7-5 Lehigh makes the playoff. But it's like you're
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: 7-5 and you didn't really beat any. Because Missouri goes
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: like 8-4 every year and they play four nobodies. They
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: got such an easy schedule this year too. But a
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: team I wanted to mention, to your point about the
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: Final Four– You mentioned Penn State. Another team that they're
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: not getting credit for making them the Final Four last
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: year was Oregon because of how blown out they got
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: against Indiana 16-0 the year before against Ohio State. Both
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: those games that they've lost have been competitive for a
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: quarter or maybe a half a quarter. So it's like
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: for Oregon and Dan Lanning, yes, you did make the
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: Final Four. That's an accomplishment. But because of the amount
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: of talent he has coming back, because it's Oregon with
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: the NIL, and the stigma around Oregon, how they can't
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: finish it, they always choke. That also adds to it,
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: where not a lot of people are giving them credit
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: because they made it to the next step, and they
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: faced one of the greatest teams we've ever seen in
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: college football, but instead, the way they did is why,
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: to your point, no one's really giving them credit because
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: of all the stuff they have coming back this year.
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, Texas Tech had the number two overall draft pick.
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: Did the Panthers take They're de-tackling the second round, who's
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: a monster. And the 49ers took the other pass rusher
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: in the third round. I mean, they had three guys
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: go in the first, one second overall pick, and then
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: a second and a third rounder on their defensive line. Like,
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: that was– Texas Tech was a defensive team last year, right?
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, their defense was incredible. And was Jordan Rodriguez,
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: that his name, the middle linebacker, got drafted in the second?
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: Their defense was incredible. If you gave them just a sub,
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: remember how bad their quarterback was in that Oregon game?
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: They just had a solid offense. That was an NFL defense,
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: which is a crazy thing about Texas Tech because that's
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: never been the case. So I just think that we
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: need to shift it a little bit. And it also
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: goes to some of these teams that it's impossible now
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: for a lot of these eight and four teams. This
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: is a thing with like Potsy, for example. If Alabama
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: goes 8-4, I saw like Brandon Walker and Pate talk
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: about this. And it's like, oh, Kalen's on this crazy
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: big extension, right? All these guys make a ton of money.
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: It's like he gets a couple years, Keelan Russell, who
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: looks like got a chance to be some hybrid of
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: like Jalen Milrow meets Ty Simpson. Can pass, can run.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, if it hits, he could be incredible, right?
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: But who knows? But like he could just go 8-4.
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: And that's just like, what are you going to do,
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: fire them over 8-4? Because the previous year, Brian Kelly
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: was like 8-4, 9-3. That is not good enough at
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: these places. Well, their mentality. And how do you shift
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: the mentality of like, yeah, you're going to have some 8-4,
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: 9-3 years? The days of just, especially Bama, they were
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: just so used to being like 11-1 was a weird year.
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: So that to me is people freak out now, but
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: you don't have unlimited money to pay these guys $ 50,
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: $ 60 million to walk away I think that's going to
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: be a weird spot. Yeah, Belichick this year has a
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: shitty year. You fire him, right? Norvell's been in shambles.
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: But Sark and DeBoer and Lincoln Riley, some of these
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: names that, yeah, Sark went 9-3 this year. It would
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: feel like he went 2-10. I mean, if DeBoer goes 8-4,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: people will like, I mean, won't know what to do
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: with themselves. If Lincoln goes 8-4, I mean, how many
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: young guys is he playing? Very possible. You go 8-4 and, like,
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: lose a couple games by one play, and it was
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: honestly the difference of 10-2 at 8-4 was, like, three
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: or four plays, truly. Missed field goal in, like, a
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: fourth-quarter pick. That's going to happen. So that's, to me,
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: the weird part about college football is now Jimmy has
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: negotiated these crazy contracts. Is everyone just going to be
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: paying people 50, 60? That doesn't happen in the NFL.
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: It's going to happen in college. I do wonder if
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: last year was a little bit of a tipping point
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: and people pumped the brakes a little bit on that
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: because I guess Brian Kelly kind of had to go,
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: but did James really have to go? No. And a
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: lot of these coaches got extended because of all these
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: big schools that were looking around like Penn State and
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: LSU and stuff. But to your point about DeBoer, the
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: funniest part about him He's two and over as Kirby
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: Smart in the regular season, but no one wants to
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: talk about that. Or no one wants to talk about
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: him making the playoff last year, which I do. He
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: won a game! Literally won a game against Oklahoma on
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: the road with a banged up quarterback in Ty Simpson.
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: I do think it's smart for DeBoer, though, from his
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: standpoint of going with Keelan Russell. And it's funny. You
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: got a guy in Austin Mack who's a four-year guy
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: who was with him on that national championship roster that's
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: been following him along the ways. But tough business, buddy.
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: I got a five-star dual threat guy that could be
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: the best quarterback we've seen in a while. starts him.
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: That's where I think the slack for Alabama fans, they've
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: got to let this ride with Keelan Russell. And he
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: can kind of have the excuse of, oh, this is
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: a five-star freshman guy. to his extent of not getting fired,
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: but the buyouts and you're trying to upgrade your facility
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: in Alabama, they have a great facility. But if you
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: look at Notre Dame and Oregon and LSU that just
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: upgraded in USC, like they're going to be a program
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: that in the next couple of years is going to
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: have to upgrade their facilities. So how are you going
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: to pay the buyout of Kalen DeBoer if you want
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: him gone on top of getting a new coach with
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: the facilities? And it's the same AD that's been begging
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: for money. So I agree. Like, I think we all
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: kind of overreact and you, we were talking last night about,
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: you know, topics for today, Lincoln Riley. I was always
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: in the impression like this year, like, oh yeah, like
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: he's definitely on the hot seat. And you kind of
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: think about a schedule in like what he has this
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: year of a number one recruiting class in 2026. I
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: looked at the depth chart today. They're going to start
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: four guys, freshmen this year. And that's kind of Lincoln's
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: saving grace of if these guys show some promise as
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: true freshmen, let me ride them out and let me
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: ride this class. But at the same time, $ 80 million
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: con and $ 80 million will pay out. Like, you're not
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: going to fire him. And who are you going to
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: replace him with? Well, I'll tell you one problem for
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: him is the first four weeks were a joke. Even
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: Fresno State. I mean, this ain't 2008. So he's going
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: to be 4-0 going into the Oregon game in L.A.
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: Then he has a stretch that goes Oregon, Washington, at
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: Penn State, Ohio State, Indiana. I skipped Wisconsin. I'll give
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: him a win there. So he could– he'll be 4-0,
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: and some of these games are going to be blowouts, right?
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: He'll score 50, 60 points in a couple of them,
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: San Jose State, Louisiana, Rutgers, whatever. They're going to look awesome.
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: And then he plays Oregon game day. It'll be like
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: a huge moment. Doesn't that feel kind of like Penn State,
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: Oregon last year? But hopefully USC, if you're Lincoln Riley,
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: your team doesn't quit on you like Penn State did
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: because they will– run you out of the building if
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: that's the case. Like, if your team looks like that.
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: But it's pretty understandable. Let's say, okay, they're not as
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: close to as good, and they lose by 14 points
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: or whatever. But then they got to kind of lick
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: their wounds. They got to play Washington. It's one of those, okay,
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: the buildup for that game. Then they get Washington and
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: Penn State in, like, back-to-back weeks. You kind of got
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: to gather yourself. All of a sudden, Oregon could bleed
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: into another loss, and you've still got Ohio State and
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: Indiana looming. So I just think that this year– Like,
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: clearly roster-wise, based on recruiting, they also have an advantage.
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: They can– California legally allows, I think, you to pay
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: high school kids. So they can buy– like, part of
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: the reason that their recruiting class was number one is
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: they could give them the NIL deal when they're still
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: in high school. I don't think you're– like, it was
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: a huge advantage. Someone was telling me about that. It's
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: like they can pay them up front early in their
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: career before some of these other programs can. And I'm
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: not saying those guys still might not have gone to USC, but, like,
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: when money's the difference, hey, I can give you your
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: 500 grand now or, you know, a large percentage of it, whatever. And,
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, they have no excuse. Just look at the
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: high school football in Southern California. I had a buddy
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: watching the championship game last year. It was, like, modern
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: day versus whoever they were playing. And, like, half the
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: both sides of the ball for both teams, like, all
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: these guys were going, like, Ohio State, Ole Miss. Like,
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: you can't let these guys leave. But SC is a
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: great example is, like, The hype on them, I think
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: 9-3 would be an awesome season. 9-3 would be an
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: awesome season. If I had to bet money right now,
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: it feels like 8-4. Yeah. It feels like 8-4, especially
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: when you factor in that many young guys. Why? Because
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: these other programs are just so far, like they're going
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: to go to Indiana and win in 11, it's 11-14.
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, what's the weather going to be like in
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: mid-November in Indiana? Like that's, that could, that's Lincoln or
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: I ain't built for that. Remember last year we went to,
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: illinois and got worked that's my thing with lincoln it's
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: if you have a hard schedule we know that you
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: have a young talent we know that he's got to
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: show at least one of these patterns that he's had
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: at usc that can just be gone he could show
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: that he can be in a top 10 team hasn't
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: been a top 10 team since he's been there 6
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: and 13 against top 25 teams hasn't won east coast
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: like he plays at penn state and there's a lot
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: of hype around this penn state team this year which
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: i don't know why because people are so schedule driven
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: when it's literally a copy-and-paste version of Iowa State over
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: to Penn State. This is the same Penn State team
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: that was 6-6 last year. I don't understand the hype
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: between them. That's a game, if you're Lincoln Riley, you've
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: got to win that game. We've got to win. It's
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: going to be a wideout. It's going to be a
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: tough environment. But your roster, your quarterback's way better than
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: Rocco Becht, especially the talent that they brought. I just looked.
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: They have 46 new transfers, 22 from Iowa State. Come on, Lincoln.
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: You've been in the Big Ten for a couple years now.
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: You've been able to get these offensive line, defensive line.
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: You've got to win that game. Show at least you
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: can win on the East Coast. And at least, like,
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: this season's moving on. We know you at least can
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: do something because you haven't been able to beat a
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: top-10 team or win on the East Coast or East
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: time zone. One thing I wrote down is, like, you know,
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: of all these teams that we talk about, Oregon, of
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: all the top teams, is the only program that's never
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: won the national championship. And I would say a lot
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: of people, if not necessarily picking them, like let's say
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: they're picking Miami or Notre Dame, they're basically picking Oregon
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: to be, like, one C right there. If you put
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: a gun to their head, they're like, they would all admit, yeah,
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: they could win it. And I do think when I
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: was scouting in 2012, I went through the program and
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: I did feel like their team was pretty incredible. They
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: had a D line with Dion Jordan that went third
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: overall and Buckner and Armstead that were young. Their D-line
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: was huge, but they lost to Stanford that year. And
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: this was pre-playoffs. This was pre-14 playoffs. So, I mean,
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: a loss back in the day when a loss would
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: derail your season. It was devastating. I mean, look at
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: last year. I mean, Miami loses to Louisville on, that,
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: was it Friday night when Carson Beck threw all those picks?
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: And like, whatever. I got the photo of the kick
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: six behind me when Bama lost to Auburn. Like that
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: game propelled him the SEC championship, the national championship. Just
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: one play, one loss. It derails your whole season. Well,
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: that's not the case anymore. So like, when I look
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: at Oregon, it's like, Can they finally make it happen?
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: Can they finally do it? And I do think there's
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: just like, you know, he's recruited well. But this goes
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: back to Lincoln. Chip is a good example when I
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: was going through Oregon of like, Bilotti had that thing
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: as a really good program. He just took it to
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: the next level. Bob Stoops had that thing as a
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: really good program. He just took it to the next level.
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: like the Bakers, the CeeDee Lambs, the Mark Andrews. They
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: were Hollywood Brown, P. Ryan, Joe Mixon, Orlando Brown. Look
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: at their players, Creed Humphrey. That is who Oklahoma recruits.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: I mean, did you see some of the clips of R.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: Mason Thomas at Kansas City through the first couple weeks
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: of preseason? It's like, geez, this guy looks sweet. Oklahoma, newsflash,
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: they recruit sweet dudes. You know, Adrian Peterson, Sam Bradford. Like, Baker,
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: they've been recruiting players. Baker kind of walked on and
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: called them and said, I'm here. But that's beside the point. Like,
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: it is really, really hard to go to a place
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: that's in shambles. Like, what Pat Fitzgerald is doing at
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: Michigan State. You know, what Chesney is doing at UCLA. Like,
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: this sucks right now. It happens a lot in the NFL.
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: When you've just been losing, Liam Cohen show up. It's like,
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: figure this thing out. In college, sometimes you can get
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: a job. Like, Dan Lanning got a great job. Kirby
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: Smart got it. Now, Kirby took it to the highest level,
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: but Georgia wasn't like a joke. They just were like, eh,
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: just always like 12th or 8th. Like, there's something missing.
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: Those are the best jobs. Like, LSU. It's like, they're
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: already pretty good. You just got to take them to
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: the next level. And Link has just kind of been
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: stuck in this neutral, like, I don't know. Does he
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: have it in him? To me, does he have it
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: in him? And I think that I never loved the fit.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: He's a small-town Texas guy who coached at East Carolina,
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: played at Texas Tech, coached Texas Tech, and then Oklahoma.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: My brother-in-law married a girl whose entire family is from
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: a one-street-light town in Oklahoma. It's a little different than
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: going into Brentwood and Hollywood and Malibu. It's just a
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: different world. And they have this advantage now paying these guys, but, like,
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: I don't see them beating Oregon. Definitely not Ohio State
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: or Indiana. And they've proven over the last couple years
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: they've dropped random games. Right? And there are just some
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: weird trap games. Like at Wisconsin in late October. That
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: could be weird if Wisconsin's not bad. At Penn State,
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: like are they just going to– a good Oregon would
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: just go and bang, bang, win those two games, right?
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: Is USC? Is Indiana bang, bang, win those two games?
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: Like I just can't put USC in the– like Georgia, right?
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: You just go around the good programs. Bang, bang, win. Miami, bang, bang, win.
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: I just– USC, everyone's like this is a sleeper team.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: Like I don't know. They're starting two freshman receivers this
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: year too. when you lose Makai Lemon and Jacoby Lane. Like,
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, that's just like a big transition with a
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: guy that by Avakin is a gunslinger. He has an
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: interception problem last year. How will he be this year?
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: Their defense, like that's been the Achilles heel of something
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: that's Lincoln Riley's had. So I agree. And no Notre
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: Dame on the schedule. And they still got a tough
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: schedule this year. So. I thought we could kind of
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: wrap it up with I got a team and again
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: I'm a little biased everyone is it's Notre Dame Miami
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: I would say obviously Oregon some people go out on
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: a limb and go like Texas I mean it's the
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: same teams everyone's picking rightfully so I mean that's kind
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: of how it works especially now with the NIL but
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: you know if we saw last year that I mean
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: Texas Tech was in the second round Right? I don't know.
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: Who knows? Their quarterback situation is kind of a problem.
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: They lost a lot on defense. But is there another team?
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: Because to me, Oklahoma, Mateer was a legit Heisman Trophy candidate.
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: Breaks his hand, I think, in the Auburn game or thumb.
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: And then he came back. It might have been the
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: following game. But missed two weeks. And came back, the
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: Texas game, he just, I mean, it was a joke.
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: He couldn't throw. It was, I commend him, but it
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: was bad. And then I think they had a bye,
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: and he kind of was a little bit better down
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: the stretch, but they were winning on defense. And to me,
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: don't love my quarterback looking like a linebacker. That's, you know,
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: that's a little, he's a little big for my liking.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: You don't need to do that. So it gives me
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: a little pause. But I was watching. There's not much
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: on TV right now in the middle of the weeks.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, nothing. I'm watching Greg McElroy on ESPN2 on
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: just my TV. I think it's just his podcast. It's
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: like the best thing on. And he was just going
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: over Oklahoma. Their skill position is better than it's been
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: the last couple years. Their defense is going to be awesome. Venables,
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: you see, just got a big extension within the last
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: couple weeks, which is deserved. I mean, you make the playoffs. Like, okay,
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: everyone can breathe. He's fine. But there is– if this
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 1: guy plays and is just in the Heisman conversation, I
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: think they could be really good. Now, their schedule, obviously Texas, Florida, LSU–
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, they're– They're in the SEC. It is what
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: it is. So, oh, you know, Michigan week two. Is
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: Michigan good? You know, is Bryce Underwood good? I don't know.
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, hell, who was there that said he couldn't throw?
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: Like made big headlines? Remember that? No, there was a
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: guy that went in on a recruiting trip. It was
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: someone famous that has a kid on a recruiting trip
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: and was like, this guy can't. This guy can't throw.
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: And it kind of went viral. But regardless, like, Oklahoma
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: wins that game. They're going to have some momentum. And
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: I just– I think Oklahoma, extreme long shot relative to
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: the top dogs to win the national championship. But I
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: do think there's a path for them to just kind
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: of be in the mix in the final four. And
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: it's football. Like, let's look back. Should Ole Miss, based
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: on their roster, based on their situation, based on their
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: defensive talent, been able to beat Georgia and go toe-to-toe
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: with Miami? No. But this isn't a seven game series.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: This isn't like Portland versus Oklahoma State. Because in a
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: one game scenario, if that was the NBA, Portland could
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: just knock out Oklahoma State. Like it happens all the
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: time in the NCAA tournament. That's football. Like Ole Miss
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: was by far, I mean their quarterback was a magician
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: and their skill guys were good. But like roster wise
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: of all the non- of all the Power 4 teams
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: in the playoffs, I mean, they might be the worst
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: when you factor in their defense. Like Texas Tech way better,
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: Texas A & M way better. Obviously, Indiana, Notre Dame, Oregon,
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: those programs were all better. Miami, Notre Dame, it wasn't
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: even there. But it shows you, like, your quarterback gets hot,
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: you just start making some shit happen. But Oklahoma's defense
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: is good. Yeah. But he's got that magic, too, kind
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: of like Chandler's, where if you can get him to
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: the playoff, he can kind of make those impromptu plays
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: on his own. His problem is going to be just
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: the basic stuff and if they can get a running game.
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: That's my one hesitant with Oklahoma and all these teams
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: that have bad running games like Oklahoma and Alabama that
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: don't address it in the portal. I just– that's the
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: only hesitancy with them. You bring two guys last year
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: that had 400 yards apiece. They couldn't run it. But
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: they had Jason Witten, so that could help too. Who knows? Yeah,
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: Mateer's best case scenario is he's like a poor man's
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: version of like kind of Johnny Manzelli. but remove Johnny's
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: cocaine for Mateer's protein. I do think... It makes me nervous.
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: He's a little too jacked. He's so jacked. Their schedule, though.
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 1: It is tough, but I think to their credit, you
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: do get Ole Miss and A & M at home.
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: And Oklahoma, towards the back end of the year, some
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: of those wins they were able to stack and kind
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: of survive were at home. And I think it's a
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: big home advantage for Oklahoma. I don't mind that pick.
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: That's a big long shot. I think for me... I
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: was trying to think of a long shot in that range.
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: You get to around that kind of range of, do
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: I go to South Carolina? That might be too far
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: of a national champion. Maybe that's a long shot for
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: the CFP. I'm going to bring this team up, and
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: it's not a sleeper, but it's a team that no
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: one's talking about, and we haven't even discussed on the pod,
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: is Indiana. Being at 6 in the AP poll, when
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: I played at Montana, a quick little story, 2018, I
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: was house first recruiting class coming in. And that year
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 1: we missed the playoffs. There was no expectations, but he
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: recruited half of like the recruiting class. Cause it's weird.
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: You have some ties to some guys, but some guys
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: you don't want. And around the time where he came
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: in the signing period, it was just a weird overall time.
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: But that second year, was when he was able to...
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 1: How many stars on Jackson's name? Zero. Oh, no. No, no.
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: Walk on up Montana? Yeah, no. No way. My only
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: offer was a New Hampshire D2 offer, but that's... Washed athlete.
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: But we made it to, that's all that matters. But
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: year two, we made the quarterfinals, and that was the
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: first year with the portal and having a whole high
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: school recruiting under your belt. And then eventually we would win,
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: go on to win the big sky. But that was
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: because of the cultural and the staff that was there
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 1: from the first two years. That stuff rambling on, I think, matters.
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 1: For Indiana, that year one, no expectations. Make the playoff.
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: Like that recruiting class they had coming in, was probably
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: the worst recruiting class that Cignetti's ever had from a
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: portal perspective. Curtis Rourke was a great quarterback, but Ohio
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: was where they got him. That second year, they go
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: around the top 25 recruiting class of the portal. Some
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: people don't think he's going to do it. They get
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 1: Mendoza from Cal. They get the running back from Maryland,
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: Ken State. They win the national championship. That roster also
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: was a team, NFL draft-wise, they didn't have the greatest
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: talent compared to the Ohio States or the Michigans that
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: got like top 10 NFL draft value. My point is,
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: is the year three is always the year that we
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: always talk about these college football programs finally figuring out.
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: And this is a team that just won the national championship.
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: And because of that brought in five stars to recruit
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: in the portal, you brought in a quarterback from TCU
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: instead of before you went to Cal. And before that
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: you went to Ohio. Now you're starting to get the
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: number one quarterback in the portal. Now you're starting to
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: get the number one receiver in the portal. And, oh, yeah,
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: you've got four offensive linemen coming back, the guys that
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: have stayed on your program for the next couple years.
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: Because my biggest thing with Indiana is they don't make
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: a lot of mistakes, and their coordinators are still there
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 1: for the past three years. They don't leave. They don't leave.
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: So you get these two coordinators and one that's a
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: psycho on defense who does his post-snap movement that confused
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: the hell out of Dante Moore. And the flip side
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: of things for them offensively, they don't false start. They
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: don't hold. They don't make a lot of mistakes. And
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: the one thing with them, too, kind of a college
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: football nugget, just a football nugget, since the green dot's
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: been in college football, they break the huddle at 15
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: seconds every time. Why? Because the helmet communication goes away.
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: So my point is, is this year three, we're treating
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: Indiana like, okay, like Mendoza last year, like, oh, they're
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: going to be bad or they're going to be, you know,
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: make the playoff and not win the national championship. This
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: is the year that they're going to be even more dangerous,
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, because of all the guys that they're
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: able to recruit and resource now because of what they've
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: done the past couple years. And that cultural coaching stuff,
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: that matters as it continues to sustain on. And I'm
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: surprised that Haynes and the offensive coordinator for Indiana didn't
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: even get an interview or were offered a group of
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: six jobs, a group of five. When has that ever
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: happened where a national championship coordinators don't get any looks
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: out of Howard Forest School? So I just think that
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: over time, like, I think Indiana can win the national
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: championship 100% this year, especially with Ryan Day and Dan
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: Lanning's number that Cignetti has. So kind of a long explanation. No,
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: but their schedule is a joke. North Texas, Howard, Western Kentucky,
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: they're going to win those games. And he runs up
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: the score. And especially with new people, you know, new quarterback, like,
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: He's going to win a couple of these games, 60-3.
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: And Nick Marsh, the Michigan State wide receiver, sorry to
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: interrupt you, but he's a first-round caliber receiver. Surratt got
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: drafted in the fourth round. Omar Cooper was like a
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: late first-round guy. So the guys that you're bringing in
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: now are guys that are going to be caliber enough
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: to be a first-round. They're offensive linemen too. So it's
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: like now Indiana is going to start getting those top
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: 10 premier guys like the Ohio States and Michigans that
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: are going to get drafted in the NFL draft because
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: of what they've done in the past years. I think
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: people are just sleeping on it. I don't know how
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: you can sleep on Indiana going 16-0, but it just
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: feels like they are, and they're plus 1,000. Well, last
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: time Michigan State had a big transfer wide receiver was
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: Keon Coleman, who's been underwhelming in the NFL. But for
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: Florida State that year, it was big time. Remember that
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: first game against LSU, and he's mossing people in the
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: end zone? It was kind of a coming-out party. Now,
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: I do think Surratt, the back-shoulder throws was excellent, and Cooper–
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: I was reading, I think his training camp's been a
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: little hit or miss, but they got Becker coming back,
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: so this Michigan statewide receiver. Kalon Black, who was a
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: really good player for them, had 10 touchdowns. Like, he's
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: going to be the Niners' backup running back. And, you know, clearly,
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: Cignetti's going to want to run it. But North Texas, Howard,
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: Western Kentucky, Northwestern, Rutgers, Nebraska. I mean, he's winning all
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: these games. He's turning all these players. Then the schedule, like,
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: then he goes Ohio State at Michigan. You know, and again,
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: Michigan's an unknown. But their known is, like, Kyle's just
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: been at Utah for, like, 75 years. So, like, it
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: is a transition for him, too. But if you just
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: can replace the Kyle we've known at Utah to Michigan, like,
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: they're going to be good. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And the
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: other thing with Michigan, with Bryce Underwood, whether he can,
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: you know, we'll see how good of a passer he
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: can become. Did anyone– and I know people didn't watch
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: Utah like they do some of these other big programs.
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 1: Kyle won a lot of games with guys that couldn't
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 1: really throw. Yeah. I watch Snoop Huntley sometimes in the pros.
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: I'm like, this guy is so much better for the
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: Ravens than he ever was. Utah, he couldn't complete a pass,
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: and they were winning 10 games with him. Then he
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: goes Minnesota, USC, Washington, Purdue. Their schedule actually is not
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: that hard. I mean, they get Ohio State at home.
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: Hot take. I was going to say hot take, they
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: get more wins than USC would be my hot take
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: with Michigan. If they could win that Oklahoma game week two– Well,
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: if Michigan's good, then Indiana, that back-to-back, that's a real, like,
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: Ohio State-Michigan. They get USC at home. At Washington could
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: be a tricky game. I don't know. Washington's kind of
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: one of those, like, you could tell me they finish
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: the year, like, 15th, or you could tell me they
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: finish the year, like, 7-5. I don't know. They're another schedule. See,
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: the Big Ten, they have so many teams. Like, who
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: you get, Washington plays USC. Like, Iowa's going to be
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: pretty good this year. Penn State, Indiana, Oregon. I mean,
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 1: Washington's probably be 8-4. I just think for Michigan, the
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: coordinators they brought in in Whittingham as well, too, from
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: what we know with Sherone Moore. I get Bryce Underwood,
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: all the money coming in. There's going to be a
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 1: lot of pressure on him, obviously, to perform because you're
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: spending that much money. But this couldn't be a better
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: situation for Michigan. Having a guy in Whittingham whose literal
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: model and philosophy has been something that Michigan has always
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: been with Harbaugh. You lost it with Sherone. and you're
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: going to get it back this season. The offensive line
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: and defensive line is going to be good. They've got
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: two really good running backs, young talent on the outside,
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: and finally an offensive coordinator that last year they were
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: second in the country at rushing at Utah. And to
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: your point, Devin Dampier can't even throw the ball. So
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: now you've got a guy in Bryce Underwood who's 6'4,
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: and at least he's got a gun. He can roll
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: out in the pocket and move a little bit. You've
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: seen flashes. It's just going to be for him just
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: the growing up progression and the mistakes, like, I mean,
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: it was a bowl game, but the Texas game. He's
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: going to play– I mean, they're scheduled defensively for Bryce. Oklahoma,
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: they're going to be a top, what, 5-10 defense. Iowa's
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: always good. Say what you want about them. They don't score,
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: but they play D. I mean, that's a legit defensive program. Indiana,
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 1: a lead defensive program. So, I mean, Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma,
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: those are three, like, block top 10 defenses every year.
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: Oregon's clearly going to be awesome on defense. And Ohio
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: State for the last two years under Patricia has been
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: awesome on defense. So it's like, I mean, that's, I
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, is Michigan a sleeper team this
• 1:16:32
  Speaker 1: year too, kind of? Or is that, I mean, they
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: just play a lot of good teams. The Indiana thing,
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: you know my take, is like any of the other
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: top programs. And you could even go to LSU. You
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: could go to, you know, USC, Michigan. If any of
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 1: those teams had just ran the table and won like
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: they won, They would be– we could argue preseason rankings
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: are kind of stupid because you just have no clue now.
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: It's all these writers. But, like, they would be a
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: lock number one, whoever had just ran the table and
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: was an established brand with, like you said, they upped
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 1: the portal game. Indiana– I mean, if Indiana this year just–
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: to me, this gets back to the Final Four. If
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: they just go playoffs– if they go playoffs again– let
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: alone Final Four. Like, that Cignetti has done. I mean,
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: they're just a power program. Don't you think he's got
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: a little swagger to him, too, with Josh Hoover? He
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: had those comments in the offseason, like, yeah, like, you know,
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: his previous school, he threw a lot of interceptions, kind
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: of blamed, kind of gave a little shot to Sonny
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 1: Dykes a little bit. What'd he say? We run the
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: ball here? Yeah, we run the ball. And a lot
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: of those interceptions for Hoover, like, again, a lot of
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: people watch TCU. They were down a lot of those games.
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: He was forcing a lot of balls late, and those
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: interceptions were those fourth quarter down 20 points. So I
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: think he's going to be sweet. I don't know if
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: he's going to be a first-rounder, first overall pick like
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: Fernando Mendoza. But, again, there are only clips on social media,
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: but him and Charlie Becker look pretty sweet, and they've
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: got a good connection. I saw people having Becker as, like,
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: a top-20 pick. The guy went from no one had
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: ever heard of him. What was he, Vanderbilt? Is that
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: where he came from? He's a three-star out of Nashville.
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 1: They recruited him in Indiana. He's out of high school. That's– Oh,
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 1: he just came to Indiana. Yeah, his redshirt freshman– his
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: redshirt year, I guess, was the first year they made
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: the playoff with Curtis Rourke. And it was funny. I
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: talked to Carter Smith. Oh, that's why I think Vanderbilt.
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: He's from Nashville. Yeah, he's from Nashville. But he was saying, like,
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: he's been making plays in scout teams since he's been there,
• 1:18:24
  Speaker 1: just an under-recruited guy. And to my point, like, my
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: last closing thing on Indiana is, like, What are you
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: going to do with Nick Marsh that's a potential first-round
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: pick if you can develop this three-star guy and turn
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: him into a first-rounder? Surratt's over from Simon Frazier to JMU.
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: So it's like the player development, and you keep both
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: your coordinators, where it's like, okay, Ohio State, you got
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: Arthur Smith. Oregon, you lost your two coordinators that were
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: both supposed to be really talented, and you got Wax
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: against Indiana last year. Like they're the, I would think
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: for me, at least they're the safest bet before the season,
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: but the national perspective, they're the third highest odds to
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: win the big 10. It's like, why aren't people looking
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: at Indiana? If I would have told you blind rank team,
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: they returned four offensive linemen and all the stuff they
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: have going on with their team, both coordinators and the
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: head coach, the one that Maddie like, Come on. And
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: that's good. Okay, one, get out of here on this.
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: This is a little, you know, I grew up going
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: to Memorial Stadium with my dad, walking up the hill,
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 1: watching Cal. And they were mainly in the 90s, not
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: very good. They had one year with Mariucci. They went 6-6,
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: and it was like a big deal. This year, I mean,
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: their quarterback, JKS, people think he's got to be the
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: number one pick in two years. Like, if it wasn't
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: for Tosh, who flew to Hawaii on his own dime,
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: slept on a bench– His introduction press conference happens. He
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: books a ticket to Hawaii and walks into their house
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 1: at like 11 p.m. at night Hawaii time. They did
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: not know he was coming. You know, maybe they did
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: by the time he got on the plane. He texted
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: them like, I'll be there tonight. But it kind of
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: blew them away. Because he would have been a guy
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: at most schools who were kind of in shambles. They
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: had literally just lost Mendoza the year before. Yeah. Tosh is,
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's going to be a portal king there.
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: Their schedule, they are a team that, I mean, is
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: it crazy to think they could win like 10 games
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: this year? I mean, this quarterback is pretty elite. Last year,
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: they were kind of rolling, and then they started losing
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: some weird games and kind of got derailed, then Wilcox
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: got fired. But UCLA, a lot of Syracuse, Wagners, you know, UNLV, Clemson.
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, UNLV is going to be one of the
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: better non-Power 4 programs, right? Clemson, Virginia Tech, who could
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: be way better. Their schedule's not as easy, I guess,
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: as people make it out to be, but is Cal
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: kind of a sleeper team? I think they're a very
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: sleeper team. I think they could finish second in the ACC.
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: I think if you want to pick a team, a
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: first-year head coach to have immediate success, Ron Rivera's the
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: GM there. They got a sweet running back from Washington,
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: Adam Muhammad. That's a name to look out for. That's
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: going to be alongside JKS. It's so quarterback, especially how
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: down the ACC is. If you were to go quarterback
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: matchup with all these teams that they're playing this year,
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: besides week one against Nico Imaliaba, UCLA, Cal, very sleeper
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: week one game. We're recording this week one. Stay up
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: late East Coast to watch that one because that's going
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: to be a pretty fun game. I definitely think Cal's
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: a sleeper team for sure. I love JKS. He's a
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: smooth guy, and I think Tosh just gets it. Him
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: being a younger guy, kind of that edge, the toughness,
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: Cal alum trying to bring everyone back. And if you
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: can show some wins early on, UCLA-Clemson in the beginning
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: of the season. We saw when Cal kind of had
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: a run a couple years ago when they played Cam
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: Ward in Miami in that weird game. Like, Cal can
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: show up a little bit. So, I agree. I think
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: they're kind of a fun sleeper team that I would
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: keep an eye on for sure. The one issue I
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: see is, like, it's a little NFL-y, but we're talking 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds.
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: Because they play in the ACC, they go to Syracuse.
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: That's a five-hour flight. They go to NC State, Virginia.
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: They just have some long travels. Now, they do get
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: Clemson at home, Virginia Tech at home, Wake Forest at home,
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: which is a big advantage for them from a travel standpoint.
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: You remember a couple years ago, it was Cam Ward's year.
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: They were up like 35-10 on Clemson. And they had like–
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: it was kind of the beginning of the end of–
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: he wins that game. That would have been a big,
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: big moment for him. And it was like a defining
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: Cam Ward moment where he started making crazy plays. They
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: had this one where he scrambled around through, and the
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: guy went like 80, and it kind of got the
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: momentum back. They were playing at like 11 o'clock at
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: night at Cal. I don't know what time Miami got home,
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 1: but it was a big moment for Mario because he
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: was kind of like, what's going on here? And you just–
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: when you have these crazy travels, if you're good, if
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: you're Cal– You get some big advantages playing some of
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: these teams, and it's a disadvantage traveling that far, but
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 1: they don't have to– it's not like they play like
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: Florida State, Miami back-to-back weeks or whatever. So it's– yeah,
• 1:23:02
  Speaker 1: I kind of like that. Can I give you a
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: Heisman sleeper before we wrap up? Malachi Toney, 38-1. But
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: how often– I mean, if you remove Devontae, how often
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: does a wide receiver win it? Their schedule, though– Their
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: schedule and the stats. Wouldn't the quarterback be more likely
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: to win it than him? But don't you think with
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: the schedules of how hard these– like Julian saying, oh,
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: they're going to play. Yes, you're going to play these
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: big-time games, but they do lose three games or two games.
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: How are you going to value that versus a Miami
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: team that's maybe a one-loss team? Ments is probably going
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: to get more attention if they do beat Notre Dame especially.
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: I just think from a statistical standpoint, in the last
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: two years, Mendoza and Hunter were both preseason 50-1. It's
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 1: something to sprinkle on, especially with a guy like Mensah
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 1: that's going to be a way better downfield vertical guy.
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: They're going to chuck balls deep against Central Michigan. I
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: don't know who they play in the beginning of the season, Syracuse, Clemson, whoever.
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: That's kind of like a long, long shot non-skill player
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: 38-1 because Jeremiah is like, what, 1,200? So you've got
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: the second-best receiver at 38-1. How– Darian Mensah, is he tall?
• 1:24:12
  Speaker 1: So it says on, I think on the thing, 6'1, 6'2,
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: maybe 6'3. But every time I see him next to
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 1: Malachi Toney, he doesn't look that tall. So he's probably,
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: if it ever says 6'1, on like your wiki, you're
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: probably like 5'11, 6 feet. Which in college is not
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: the depth. I would say he's like Ty Simpson height, 6'1, 6'2.
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 1: Maybe Julian Sands. For some reason I feel, maybe it's
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: because when I see JKS, I feel like a Tua
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: type player because he's left-handed Hawaiian. But he is tall. Like,
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: he's 6'2, 6'3. Like, he's legitimately a little taller. You know,
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: that's something to keep an eye on. Like, the Mensa hype,
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: I'd be lying if I watched much Duke last year.
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: But it's there. Like, what, like 6-6? That's what I'm saying.
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: Miami has no ACC championship. How funny is that? And
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: Duke comes in and Mensa's got one. So, you can
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: help him win on it. He's already got one more
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: ring than Mario does. Back-to-back ACC champ. Yeah, okay, we'll
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: end it on that. Anything else? You're skinny. You're feeling good.
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: You're just not eating bread. I need ball, man. I
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: need football in my life, bro. I don't know what
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: to watch. To your point about watching things, like Hard
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: Knock's the only thing that's been on that I've been
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: enjoying every single week. Spider-Man a couple weeks ago was incredible.
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: Do you watch any of that Spider-Man stuff, or are
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: you not a big Marvel sci-fi guy? No. Is that
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: on TV or like a stream or do you go
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 1: to the theater? Theater. Yeah, Spider-Man movie. It's pretty cool.
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: Tobey Maguire? No, it's Tom Holland. Tom Holland. Okay. I'll
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: check that out. Yeah, I don't mind it. I mean,
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't go to the movie theater for it, but
• 1:25:54
  Speaker 1: I would stream it. You don't miss the movie theaters
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: at all? When I went, I was in awe because
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: I haven't been in like two years. I hadn't been
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: since the previous Spider-Man. I went to see Obsession when
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: I was down... At Fox, I had Time to Kill
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 1: one afternoon. I was right by a mall. I was like, yeah,
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 1: I haven't been to a movie in a long time.
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: Just got some big-ass popcorn, M & M' s, put my
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: M & M' s in the popcorn, and just had a
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: Diet Coke. The problem is I hadn't been there in
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 1: so long. There were probably like 10 preview movies. I
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: was almost done with my popcorn before the movie started.
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: I swear to God, it was 20 minutes long. of
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 1: just the previews. I feel like there's more of that now.
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: There was an ad. There was an ad. It was
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 1: like a Kia ad or a car ad in the previews. Yeah,
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: they got to play all the ads before they can
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: play the trailers. It's dumb. Yeah, it was like trailers, ads, preview.
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 1: It was crazy. So, yeah, sometimes I miss just sitting
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: in the movie. But when you're not used to it,
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: you got to like, I can't check my phone, just
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: be present, watch the movie. It's a weird feeling. It's
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: like the Odyssey movie. What was it? Four hours long.
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: I'm waiting until that's, that's a movie I would watch
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: from home personally. Like I'm not trying to sit in
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: a theater for four hours, but I've heard it's great.
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: It's intense. It's a Christopher Nolan. I think it's the, yeah,
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: it's Christopher Nolan. I, I just didn't have, I don't
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 1: have four hours in the theater right now, but that's
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: the type movie where I think ideally you see in
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 1: the theater, you know, there are certain movies that are
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: better for theaters, but I'm with you. I just, I
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 1: gotta wait. Yeah. I'm not, I don't have four hours
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 1: to spend once football season starts, like no chance, but, um, yeah,
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 1: we got, it's here. Football's here. Thank God. You know what?
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 1: It's funny. The summer feels like it goes by slow,
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 1: and then training camps kind of start, and then it
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: actually goes by pretty quick, and all of a sudden
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 1: the games are on. Yeah. Which, especially for college, you
• 1:27:45
  Speaker 1: just need the games to start so we can just
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: stop talking about some of the stupid stuff. I agree.
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 1: And then the conversations become dumb because it's a bunch
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: of subjective arguing, which– I don't hate them. That's part
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: of college football. Who's better than who? The talk's going
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: to be quiet, and then the playoff's going to come,
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 1: and people are going to complain about how long the
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: playoff is and everything, too. It's just the constant cycle,
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: but at least we get to watch some ball soon,
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: and hopefully we get to see some good environments. My
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 1: ring light came off, too, while this happened. You look good, Jackson.
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 1: Good old live podcast. I look more pale, if anything. Okay,
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: we'll talk soon, Jackson. Sounds good. Appreciate you, my guy.
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 1: Good stuff. See you, buddy. Later. Later. The Volume.