Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Adam Rittenberg talks College Football, Steven M. Sipple on the Huskers & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports

Transcript

Adam Rittenberg talks College Football, Steven M. Sipple on the Huskers & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

• 0:02
  Our number 2 Millery Con and Iowa Sports Radio Network
• 0:06
  flagship at Des Moines sports station 106.3 KX&O.
• 0:10
  Trent and I have another hour to go off the bench from 2:00 until
• 0:13
  5. Lucas and Sean that time they're
• 0:17
  at Brenton Skating Plaza, Hoops Fest.
• 0:19
  Is that what Drake calls their big event here tonight, the lid
• 0:22
  lifter on Drake basketball. The boys will be out in downtown
• 0:25
  Des Moines from 2:00 until 5:00 and then Hoops Fest gets
• 0:29
  underway after that. Shortly thereafter.
• 0:31
  The Cubs starting lineup has just been released.
• 0:34
  Oh, perfect. By the way, Adam Rittenberg in
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  10 minutes. Stephen M Simple bottom of the
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  hour. Trent's plays of the day coming
• 0:42
  up at about 10 minutes before 2. Michael Bush will lead off
• 0:47
  Nicole Horner will bat second. No surprises yet.
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  Ian Hap is in 3rd gross. Buckle up.
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  Kyle Turner 4th hideous. Saya Suzuki will bat 5th.
• 0:57
  Good. Carson Kelly is in the sixth
• 0:59
  spot today. That's fine.
• 1:00
  PCA is in the seven hole too high.
• 1:02
  Dansby Swanson 8 Matt Shaw 9 Trent.
• 1:07
  It's the exact same lineup as yesterday when this team
• 1:10
  exploded for no runs. But you know what?
• 1:13
  At the end of the day, I mean, there's only one on the bench
• 1:14
  you're going to put in. By esteros, where do you put?
• 1:18
  Yeah, you take. If you put him in, you take
• 1:20
  Tucker. Out.
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  You're not playing him in the field.
• 1:22
  No, no, there's, there's nobody there's much out to.
• 1:25
  Second base No. No.
• 1:29
  Roll him out to 3rd. No, no, no, I I just don't.
• 1:33
  I just don't think there's other than Flip Dansby and PCA Move I,
• 1:40
  there's really nothing he can do, right?
• 1:41
  I'd love to be critical, but I can't.
• 1:44
  Happen three spot. I don't love that, but who are
• 1:46
  you going to put there? Bush flip flop him and hap, but
• 1:49
  haps it couldn't. I mean, he, he's, he's, he's an
• 1:51
  over. I put Suzuki in the three spot.
• 1:55
  Yeah, he had his home run streak broken yesterday.
• 2:00
  That would maybe be the only. Instead of instead of five.
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  The only tweak possibility? Get an extra bat out of it.
• 2:08
  You're you're looking for anything.
• 2:09
  Yeah, at this point, I mean, it's the exact same line.
• 2:12
  If there's just not a lot of a lot, a lot of guys on the bench,
• 2:15
  they can come in and and do the job.
• 2:17
  We'll see. We'll see where it goes.
• 2:18
  But man, oh man, boy, oh boy. The drama today that we're about
• 2:22
  to get, it's incredible. I mean, the Tigers left 15 guys
• 2:25
  on base yesterday. Nobody blamed themselves.
• 2:28
  And Flaherty goes for them today.
• 2:29
  If you're a Tiger fan, how you feeling?
• 2:31
  And I know there's a bunch in the listening audience because
• 2:32
  we hear from them. You know, Flaherty is a guy I
• 2:37
  just have never been able to understand because in terms of
• 2:40
  just raw stuff, it's good. He's and I don't know what it
• 2:45
  is. Is he mental Midget where things
• 2:48
  go wrong and it just it collapses because he has some
• 2:50
  hideous starts too. Those ones where he gave him 7
• 2:54
  or runs and two and a third. You know, things like that.
• 2:56
  He just has some absolute clunkers.
• 2:58
  But when he's right, he's in the upper echelon.
• 3:02
  In terms of raw stuff of starters, well, it's the same
• 3:05
  thing he he's another one of these oddity guys, though this
• 3:08
  will be his third straight start against the guardians no way 3
• 3:13
  consecutive his last two of the regular season came against
• 3:15
  they. Played so much in the end of the
• 3:17
  season. I mean, that makes sense when
• 3:18
  you, you know, put it out in front of.
• 3:20
  You and his last three starts have come against playoff teams.
• 3:23
  The Yankees went five, gave up two hits, no runs against the
• 3:27
  first time against Cleveland, went five, gave up three hits,
• 3:30
  one run and the last time out when four and a third, gave up
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  three, but did have 6 strikeouts in that game.
• 3:37
  Now on the other side, Cecione, yeah.
• 3:41
  About a 500 pitcher, right? He's 4.3 ERA not overpowering
• 3:48
  guy. Yeah, 7:00 and 7:00.
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  Record. Is he up?
• 3:52
  Recently, I mean you talk about the zigzag.
• 3:54
  Last time out gave a four time before that shut out, time
• 3:58
  before that, gave up two, shut out, gave up seven, then going
• 4:01
  back to his fifth star pack against Boston.
• 4:03
  This is the ultimate Who knows what you're going to get out of
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  this guy? What do you know about the the
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  Red Sox starter? I know nothing about him.
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  Connor Early. Connally Early.
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  I mean, just seeing the pitching match up early Schlitter, I was
• 4:17
  giggling to myself last night. I've taken a few of those early,
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  Cutterly early. He's 23, he's a lefty.
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  He's out of Virginia. All right.
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  Have I ever seen him throw a pitch?
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  Probably not. I know I haven't.
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  I don't. I don't think I have.
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  In fact, I'm looking through his game log.
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  I'll list it here on my app. Tigers last time out, went five,
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  gave up two earned runs, good start, 7 strikeouts.
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  Tampa A's, A's, and his next start listed after those four
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  he's made in the major leagues. Yep, was June 18th.
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  Yeah. Is he so?
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  Is he bad in the minors? June 18th as he was facing the
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  Horn Frogs of TCU. Good God, so that recently in
• 5:02
  college. That is what they have listed
• 5:04
  here for Connerly. Early.
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  No, no, no. No pressure, kid.
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  Yankee Stadium must win. Going from a home match up
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  against TCU 5 starts later, here's a deciding game in the.
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  Play offs now Crochet was good on Game 1, so he saved their
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  bullpen. They got to the bullpen a little
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  earlier yesterday. Oh my.
• 5:26
  So the the Jays got to be licking their chops right with
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  the and if you're the television, let's say the
• 5:32
  Yankees win. We're talking about the Yankees
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  here, but they're playing a team that doesn't rate.
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  That's zero effect. The television ratings do not
• 5:41
  they don't count. What do you put them in these as
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  the early game? Even though, and I'm not saying
• 5:46
  the Yankees are going to win. I have no idea who's going to
• 5:48
  win this game if but if the Yankees win, what do you do?
• 5:51
  Do you get it out of the way? Do you know what the TV windows
• 5:53
  are for Saturday? Off hand I think.
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  I think I maybe retweeted it yesterday.
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  Two fours? I don't know.
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  Let me see if I can. Now it's got to be.
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  Similar to what we've got now, right?
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  Noon 3/5 and. Saturday Here are your start
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  times. And if they listed who they will
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  be potentially? They have not 1:00 four o'clock
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  63830 and that will be the Mariners game.
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  That's got to be, yes. Yes, that will be.
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  The The Dodger starting. Well, not necessarily.
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  Now I'm looking again. If potentially if the Red Sox
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  advance, it will be so you're and the start times are all
• 6:31
  different. If that happens.
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  Holy crap, this is a mess. Still to be determined.
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  Will you put the Yankees first? No, the answer very.
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  Even though it's Toronto. I don't think it'll matter.
• 6:44
  I don't think so. Well, that's one that they have
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  listed. That'll be a 3:00 first pitch.
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  If it's Yankees, Blue Jays, that'll be a three.
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  Where? Where's Dodgers?
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  Phillies. We know that series is set.
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  That's got to be prime time. That will be 5:30 if it is
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  Dodgers, Phillies with the Yankees advancing, or 5:00.
• 7:04
  So we know that's locked in. Are the cups listed because
• 7:08
  Cappy called back yesterday said that Bob Nightingale had his
• 7:11
  information all wrong? Because that's what I was.
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  Yeah, that's that's what I retweeted.
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  Here is the Bob Nightingale. Well, that's what I'm looking at
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  right now. And and what does it say?
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  Doesn't it say? If the Yankees today.
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  He's going to be able to watch the Cubs before he go sees the
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  Eagles on Saturday. If the Yankees advance, what
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  this said, this was a release and it I guess subject to
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  change, it says that right here on it, it would be a 1:00 first
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  pitch with Cubs Brewers if the Yankees advance.
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  If the Red Sox advance Cubs, Brewers would be the late game
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  at 8:00 in Milwaukee. All right, well, we'll see.
• 7:46
  Gabby's going to have to figure something out, but the Cubs are
• 7:48
  going to have to help him out for him to have that problem.
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  And I'm not sure that they will the way they're they're they're
• 7:53
  seem that they're gripping the bats tight.
• 7:56
  No runs offense is in there, by the way, in advance of having
• 8:02
  Adam Rittenberg on and these things make my head hurt.
• 8:05
  The Big 10, what do they call those firms that are they?
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  Hedge funds. Hedge fund that we're going to
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  is this going to is this help me out because I hate these
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  stories. I want to talk about the box
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  score. I want to see what I saw with my
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  own two eyes. I don't want to talk about this
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  stuff. What is this a good thing the
• 8:26
  the the revenue? It's more money, but you know,
• 8:32
  I've had business people, you explain it to me in this
• 8:35
  fashion. You bring in private equity in
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  order to grow your business. OK, That's what it is.
• 8:43
  And. What do they need to grow?
• 8:45
  So the thought process behind this is this is more creating
• 8:51
  more business, creating more of using the Big 10 brand to get
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  more. So instead of going what's the
• 8:59
  fast food restaurant in Nebraska?
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  Runya, Runyans. Runyans, instead of having that
• 9:03
  on the patch and you get your $500,000, no, the Big 10 is
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  going to sell those rights and the Big 10 is going to go to
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  AT&T and Apple and the like and then the Big 10 will sell those
• 9:15
  kind of branding. Speaking of branding, have you
• 9:17
  noticed what is just showing up for the baseball playoffs and
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  every single playoff game? And it dawned on me when I was
• 9:23
  watching that I didn't see this. And we both watched a ton of
• 9:26
  baseball. And this absolutely was new as
• 9:29
  of Tuesday. And it's a brand.
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  What's that? And it's on every batting
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  helmet. Oh, yeah.
• 9:34
  Strauss. Strauss, Yes, absolutely.
• 9:37
  Those are the Remember the umpire patch that came out a few
• 9:40
  years ago. And we were both out now.
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  What the hell is this? Yep.
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  And we looked it up. Yeah, we did.
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  I don't remember what it was. And.
• 9:44
  We figured out a new company. Mm hmm, that is the.
• 9:47
  Element. That's what it's about.
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  So the private equity firm would be using that in that found
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  money, that new income, that's how they get the 120th of a
• 9:57
  share that they're basically paying so.
• 9:59
  Why is the guy in Michigan, who's on the border regions so
• 10:02
  steadfast against this? I will never go for this.
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  What's he? What's he afraid of giving up?
• 10:08
  Well, let's say there's a lot of layers to it, but one of I think
• 10:11
  the most important layers, for the most part, we're talking
• 10:14
  about state entities. You can't sell the Children's
• 10:18
  Hospital. I hope not.
• 10:20
  You can't sell the vet clinic, you can't do these things for
• 10:25
  our universities because they're state agencies.
• 10:28
  Right. And that's where I think a lot
• 10:30
  of the pushback is coming from. So it's not a, a, a franchise
• 10:34
  like if you want to sell part of the Dallas Cowboys, right?
• 10:38
  I got you. That is the thought process
• 10:40
  behind it, and I understand that part of it now.
• 10:44
  Yeah, I do too. We've heard for years,
• 10:46
  eventually either the football program or the athletic
• 10:49
  department as a whole will just be a branding mechanism.
• 10:54
  But they're not student athletes anymore.
• 10:56
  There's athletes, right? They want to go to school, they
• 10:58
  can, but it's not going to become necessary in order for it
• 11:02
  to happen. I'm sure Adam Rittenberg will
• 11:04
  have some better answers than I. Do I'm not even sure I want to
• 11:06
  ask him. I think it bothers the audience
• 11:07
  like it bothers me. I don't, don't you think, do you
• 11:10
  think our audience wants to hear like, like behind this?
• 11:13
  I think they went up too. Deep in the weeds.
• 11:15
  Yeah, I think they want to know what exactly it is.
• 11:17
  Do you? Yeah.
• 11:19
  Because it's it's confusing. It's I mean, I, I hate these
• 11:22
  stories. I really do.
• 11:24
  I will say, OK, you can ask them because I don't understand it,
• 11:27
  but private equity story broke yesterday.
• 11:30
  I know doc worked on it. Scott Dockerman, who joins us
• 11:33
  every Monday from the athletic terrific guest, terrific writer,
• 11:37
  obviously very connected. He he's he was working on it in
• 11:41
  the summer and I clicked on it. Probably it might be the one
• 11:44
  article of docs that I never got through it.
• 11:46
  Just tell me about what's going on between the lines.
• 11:50
  Those are the things that I want to know.
• 11:52
  And I maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you guys do want and gals
• 11:55
  do want to hear that. All right, Adam Rittenberg
• 11:57
  coming up, ESPN.com. Grateful to talk to Adam a
• 12:00
  couple of times a year. When he finds time for us here
• 12:02
  in Des Moines, we'll hear from him.
• 12:04
  Stephen M Siple, a part of Husker Illustrated on three
• 12:07
  media and morning radio in Lincoln.
• 12:09
  He will join us to preview Michigan State and Nebraska sip
• 12:13
  with us each and every Thursday during the football season.
• 12:16
  Adam Rittenberg from ESPN.com and joins us right now.
• 12:19
  Adam Trenton. Ken, thank you for coming on.
• 12:21
  Appreciate it as always. I'm going to let Trent ask the
• 12:24
  first question because the private equity, the stuff, those
• 12:26
  kind of stories, they don't move my needle.
• 12:29
  And I guess they're worthy of talking about because it is a
• 12:32
  big story. I get it.
• 12:33
  But I'll, I'll just let Trent Addis get it because I'm not
• 12:36
  sure I know enough about. It yeah, what what should just
• 12:39
  to simplify it, Adam, what should our every Joe everyday
• 12:42
  Joe kind of fan. What do you need to know about
• 12:44
  this? What do we need to know about
• 12:45
  private equity when it comes into the Big 10 or any where in
• 12:48
  college athletics? I know the Big 12 has been in
• 12:51
  those conversations as well. What should the everyday fan
• 12:54
  need to know about this situation?
• 12:56
  Or is it just funny money? Don't worry about it, they'll
• 12:58
  figure it out. Well, you know, in the Big 10
• 13:01
  level, it may be at the end of the day, but it's something that
• 13:03
  a lot of these leagues are looking at because they have a
• 13:06
  major line item that they didn't used to have, which is
• 13:09
  compensating athletes. So, you know, they when you hear
• 13:12
  about sports being cut or the the doom and gloom things that
• 13:15
  are said by athletic directors, you know, this is one way in the
• 13:19
  minds of some to to ease that financial burden.
• 13:23
  And you know, so the Big 10 is one of the leagues that's
• 13:26
  talking about it seriously. I think one thing that it would
• 13:30
  do, which I think will happen anyway, which is again important
• 13:33
  because it hasn't been the Big 10 way forever is, is that
• 13:37
  you're going to see on equal revenue sharing.
• 13:39
  So whatever like the future model is, whether it's, you
• 13:42
  know, full on private equity or modified, you know what,
• 13:47
  whatever it ends up being, I think the days of, you know,
• 13:50
  Iowa and Indiana and Purdue getting the same revenue as Ohio
• 13:54
  State, Michigan are probably over.
• 13:56
  Now the the trade off, and this is important too, is, you know,
• 14:00
  if this is a way for the league to stay together, you know, as
• 14:05
  right now an 18 member body as opposed to going down the road
• 14:10
  of, of a Super League, which is also loomed over the sport.
• 14:13
  And what would the Super League be and who would be in it?
• 14:16
  Who would be out? Because if you're out, you know,
• 14:18
  your, your athletic program is, is forever changed.
• 14:22
  You know, you can see the difference between the power
• 14:23
  four and the group of five right now.
• 14:25
  Essentially, if there's a Super League and you're not, weren't
• 14:28
  part of it and there's some Big 10 in SEC schools that likely
• 14:31
  wouldn't be part of it. Your whole athletic program is,
• 14:34
  is, is, is different at that point.
• 14:36
  So again, that, you know, that's, that's another rabbit
• 14:40
  hole we could go down, but it's essentially it's, it's, I think
• 14:43
  we're headed towards the era of unequal revenue sharing in the
• 14:46
  Big 10, but also possibly a way to to stay together as a
• 14:50
  conference, even though people have so many thoughts about
• 14:53
  private equity. We don't have to go into those
• 14:55
  on the show, but it's it's a controversial topic.
• 14:58
  Well, if it keeps them together, that gets my attention because
• 15:00
  that's that's the absolute paramount what I want in a
• 15:03
  perfect world, because I hate the fact I'm sure you did too.
• 15:06
  I mean, the PAC 12, it's it's hard to believe that it's gone,
• 15:08
  but it is. It truly is.
• 15:10
  I want to go back to last week before we go forward because
• 15:12
  it's not the shiniest slate of games in the Big 10 last week or
• 15:16
  this week, but last week, I mean, Ohio State, I beg your
• 15:19
  pardon, State and Oregon 3/3 at the half.
• 15:22
  Oregon takes the lead. Penn State goes comes back, goes
• 15:25
  to overtime. As we know, Alan throws just a
• 15:27
  an inexplicable pick in in overtime.
• 15:30
  But is the criticism I where I'm going at him?
• 15:32
  Is the criticism of Franklin Fair?
• 15:34
  I mean, the resume says he struggled in these big games.
• 15:38
  Why can't they Penn State seemingly get over this hump?
• 15:42
  Yeah, it's kind of amazing. I really thought if there was a
• 15:45
  big game where more of the advantages lined up on
• 15:48
  Franklin's side, it was this one.
• 15:50
  It was, you know, coming off of an open week, Oregon having to
• 15:53
  make a long trip to State College.
• 15:55
  The game was at night, so you couldn't blame fox and pig noon
• 15:59
  for the kickoff time. And you know, in Penn State had
• 16:02
  more experience. And if for whatever reason, Drew
• 16:05
  Aller and this offense is not performing at a championship
• 16:08
  level and Oregon's talented defensively, but I don't think
• 16:11
  they're as talented as they look in the first 3 plus quarters.
• 16:15
  And so I mean, that's where the attention is right now.
• 16:17
  Why can't Penn State, why can't Drew Aller be at their best
• 16:21
  offensively in these big games? And that you even saw that in
• 16:24
  the my final loss to Notre Dame, a team that was certainly
• 16:28
  playing well, but I would argue was overachieving and was was
• 16:31
  not as strong talent wise as Penn State.
• 16:34
  So yeah, I think that's where Andy Codel, Nikki, the offensive
• 16:37
  coordinator and the staff and James have to really get to work
• 16:41
  here during the stretch that's upcoming against much weaker
• 16:44
  opponents, UCLA, Northwestern, before they get to, you know,
• 16:48
  that Ohio State, Indiana stretch later in the year where they're
• 16:51
  going to have to be a lot better offensively.
• 16:54
  When they lose those two games, they don't really have anything
• 16:56
  on their resume that's worthy of being in playoffs.
• 16:59
  So you know, that that's where the concern is, is, you know,
• 17:02
  Drew is not a first year starter like Arch Manning or a true
• 17:05
  freshman. So he's a guy that should be
• 17:07
  playing his best football. And, you know, maybe it's the
• 17:10
  the support around him or for whatever reason that offense is
• 17:14
  not really working right now and they've got to get it to work
• 17:16
  here soon. A lot of people this week
• 17:18
  talking about Miami may be the best team in the country.
• 17:21
  Of course what they did in week one against Notre Dame went
• 17:24
  against South Florida looked really good.
• 17:26
  Here we go again here comes Florida State off a loss.
• 17:29
  Are you one of the the people that is a believer in this Miami
• 17:32
  team and what they've been doing obviously up front is kind of
• 17:35
  been eye opening both on the offensive and defensive lines?
• 17:39
  Yeah, I, I think that you, you highlighted why I am a believer
• 17:42
  is, is, you know, Mario's always Mario Cristobal, their coach has
• 17:45
  always been great as an offensive line developer.
• 17:48
  That's what he played at Miami. That's what he coached for much
• 17:51
  of his career, including with with Nick Saban in Alabama.
• 17:54
  So they've always been a, a good offensive line to an elite one
• 17:58
  wherever he's been. I think defensive front this
• 18:00
  year has jumped out with Ruben Bain and Hakeem Mejador and some
• 18:04
  of the other players on their defensive front.
• 18:06
  So they're they're physical on both lines of scrimmage.
• 18:09
  They have a quarterback in Carson back who seems to have,
• 18:12
  you know, kind of found something again.
• 18:14
  And we forget how good he was for Georgia in the 2023 season
• 18:18
  and how many of us thought he would be in the NFL right now is
• 18:21
  maybe the first quarterback off the board.
• 18:22
  And last year just didn't go well.
• 18:25
  And then he got hurt and and now he's hit Miami.
• 18:27
  And so I think I think there's a lot of things in their in their
• 18:30
  favor going into this game. But you know, Florida State is
• 18:33
  still the nation's top scoring offense.
• 18:35
  And Gus Malzahn, who will have a really good plan to attack this
• 18:39
  Miami defense. And you know, Miami's going to
• 18:41
  have to show that they can get it done on the road.
• 18:43
  And, you know, they've had some nice wins and performances at
• 18:46
  home, but it's different on the road, as Florida State found out
• 18:49
  last week, as Notre Dame found out when they went to Miami.
• 18:53
  And Miami's going to have to be sharper and and, and more
• 18:56
  resilient. It's not everything is going to
• 18:58
  go their way. I wanted to take you to the Big
• 19:01
  12. We thought that there was like
• 19:03
  last year going to be a ton of parity in this league.
• 19:05
  We're seeing it again. Personally, I think that when
• 19:09
  it's all sorts itself out, Texas Tech is going to be on top.
• 19:13
  It's a big spot this week, obviously Houston, TX Tech.
• 19:16
  When you look at the Big 12, what teams do you see is
• 19:19
  potentially there that may find their way to Dallas?
• 19:22
  When it's all said and done, we get to the first Saturday in
• 19:25
  December. Well, I think Texas Tech
• 19:28
  certainly has that ability, You know, with the roster that they
• 19:31
  put together, they I think they made two really good coordinator
• 19:35
  hires. So I highlighted in a piece
• 19:37
  today in shield wood on defense and and Mac left, which on
• 19:41
  offense and I was just really impressed defensively with their
• 19:44
  performance on the road against Utah and, and all those plays.
• 19:48
  You can bring in good players, you can invest in your roster.
• 19:51
  They still have to play well together.
• 19:53
  And I think that that's what you started to see.
• 19:55
  And and so, yeah, I would be a little surprised if they're not
• 19:58
  one of those teams that ends up. You're making it, but the Big 12
• 20:02
  is is so relatively even from a talent standpoint, you know,
• 20:06
  Arizona State, you know, bounces back with with a with a nice win
• 20:09
  over TCU. Iowa State has been really good
• 20:12
  so far, but you're now losing, you know, two really good
• 20:15
  players and their secondary for the season, which is really
• 20:17
  unfortunate. How how are they going to bounce
• 20:20
  back? You know then and there's others
• 20:22
  that are that are you know, Utah still a team that I haven't
• 20:25
  written off as a contender in in the conference.
• 20:28
  And so, yeah, I think Texas Tech looks to be the most talented
• 20:31
  and best roster, but they've also not done it before.
• 20:35
  And that's a factor, you know, when you're when you're talking
• 20:38
  about teams like Arizona State that won the conference, the
• 20:40
  Iowa State's been to the conference title game a few
• 20:43
  times. So it's going to be a really fun
• 20:44
  race down to the end, which is what we all expected.
• 20:47
  Heck yeah. Last thing for you.
• 20:48
  And we've had this debate and discussion all week long, too.
• 20:51
  Speaking of tough conferences, usually there's a team or two
• 20:54
  that have kind of asserted themselves in the SEC.
• 20:57
  It's different this year. And we were talking about Vandy
• 20:59
  and Ole Miss in Mizzou at the top, which we, you know, teams
• 21:02
  we normally don't. How do you see the SEC?
• 21:05
  Who's the power in the SEC 5 weeks into the season, Adam.
• 21:10
  Well, there's a good. Story you should check it out on
• 21:11
  ESPN that my colleague Mark Slabaugh wrote He was with Lane
• 21:14
  Kiffin yesterday, the old miss coach coming off of a big win
• 21:17
  against LSU. And Elaine said, hey, the
• 21:20
  dynasty era is over in the sea, which I thought is a very
• 21:23
  important statement given who he is and who he's coached for.
• 21:26
  But you know, Nick Saban's gone, you know, Kirby Smart, his
• 21:29
  stranglehold on in the conference isn't what it was a
• 21:32
  few years ago. And so it's really created this
• 21:34
  wide open nature where, you know, Ole Miss could do it, LSU
• 21:37
  could get back into that mix. A&M has had a really good start
• 21:41
  to the season with a big Rd. win against Notre Dame and, you
• 21:45
  know, kind of a grinded out home win against Auburn.
• 21:47
  But they have some tough games of coming, including, you know,
• 21:50
  trip to LSU later on. They got to go to Texas.
• 21:53
  So it's it's going to be really fun.
• 21:55
  And you know, it's in Tennessee made the playoff last year.
• 21:58
  Like I wouldn't count them out the way that they played against
• 22:00
  Georgia. So the SEC feels really wide
• 22:02
  open to me. I think you're going to have a
• 22:04
  lot of two and maybe 3 last teams that are either in the
• 22:07
  playoff or in the mix for the playoff.
• 22:09
  And it just doesn't have the clear tier to me that you'll be
• 22:12
  having the Big 10 where you got Ohio State and Oregon and
• 22:16
  Indiana and maybe Penn State in that top group.
• 22:20
  And then there's a gap between everybody else.
• 22:22
  You know, the SEC feels like it's got a deeper top group, but
• 22:25
  maybe less separation, at least as we stand right now.
• 22:29
  That could certainly change. Texas goes on a run and you
• 22:32
  know, there's a lot of talent in that league.
• 22:33
  But you know, Ole Miss, hey, that opportunity is there for
• 22:36
  them as we speak right now, and it's there for a lot of teams in
• 22:39
  the SEC. Dynasty's over for bigger SEC
• 22:42
  with 9 league games, Kiffin says.
• 22:44
  I just clicked on it right now and we'll read it during the
• 22:47
  break. Thank you for the tip on that,
• 22:48
  and thank you for joining us, Adam.
• 22:50
  We appreciate your contribution as always.
• 22:52
  We'll talk to you down the road. Thank you, Adam Rittenberg.
• 22:55
  You got it. Thank you.
• 22:56
  Yeah. Good to talk to you, Adam
• 22:57
  Rittenberg, as we talk college football.
• 22:59
  All right, more college football, but let's go West,
• 23:01
  shall we? It's Sparty, it's the Oskers.
• 23:04
  It's 3:00 on Saturday. And Miller and Condon, we'll be
• 23:07
  back to talk to our buddy Stephen M.
• 23:09
  We come back before we go to break, though, time for another
• 23:11
  keyword. Let's get you to KX and o.com
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  right now. The keyword this hour is check.
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  Check at KX and o.com. Your chance to win $1000.
• 23:21
  Check at KX and o.com. It's Des Moines Sports Station,
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  One O 6 point 3K X&O. It's time for sin.
• 23:32
  Stephen M Simple talks with myself and Ken on Nebraska
• 23:36
  football. I mean, I have a radio show, we
• 23:38
  have callers. I pay attention to my Twitter
• 23:40
  notifications and all that. There's definitely some
• 23:43
  frustration. We talk Cornhuskers, and you
• 23:46
  never know what else is going to come up with 30 years on the
• 23:52
  Nebraska beat. Here's Stephen M Simple.
• 23:54
  As long as they're paying me to talk, I'm just going to keep
• 23:57
  doing it. I'm Lori Condon, welcome back.
• 24:00
  Just past 130 on a Thursday, Transplace of the Day, Circus
• 24:03
  sports sponsor. Those of those coming up in
• 24:05
  about 15 minutes. Let's head to Lincoln or
• 24:08
  Nebraska as we catch up with Sip.
• 24:10
  Not sure if it could be anywhere.
• 24:11
  I was going to say he's probably coming back.
• 24:13
  Did you talk to a group over lunch today?
• 24:14
  Sip. I did Veterans Club and
• 24:17
  Beatrice. I'm driving back to Lincoln on
• 24:21
  US 77. I'm pointed N if you want to
• 24:25
  look on a map. So that yeah, just a good crowd,
• 24:28
  great crowd, actually. Still, they're still interested
• 24:32
  here. Good stuff.
• 24:33
  Well, you're big and Beatrice, seemingly you go every year.
• 24:35
  You have one of those engagements over the years when
• 24:37
  we've spoken with you. So let's get to the.
• 24:39
  Last 12. Yeah, last 12.
• 24:41
  Is that right? Wow.
• 24:44
  Yeah, good for you. Well, here comes Michigan State
• 24:46
  and Aiden Childs, etcetera, both teams coming off a bye week.
• 24:52
  So there's no advantage there. One would, one would certainly
• 24:54
  think so. I guess that from the last time
• 24:57
  we saw them on the field was the field goal game didn't feel that
• 24:59
  close, but that was what the final score was to the to to
• 25:03
  this coming Saturday. How has the buy been?
• 25:06
  What did seemingly did Rule and company work on in advance of
• 25:10
  Sparty paying a visit? 3:00 Memorial Stadium, Saturday
• 25:13
  after. Afternoon.
• 25:16
  It's always a little bit complicated here.
• 25:22
  People are smart, though. Now here's the thing.
• 25:27
  It wasn't that bad, right? There's there's some improvement
• 25:30
  over here from Nebraska. They are not, you know, they
• 25:34
  don't, they're not getting penalized much.
• 25:36
  It's a cleaner look. You know, they don't make stupid
• 25:40
  errors. We saw a lot of that over the
• 25:43
  years here. Pretty they play, they play
• 25:48
  pretty smart football, special teams, tape.
• 25:52
  And that was almost like a strength that's changed for the
• 25:55
  better. They're getting very good
• 25:57
  quarterback play, really good. Dylan's good.
• 26:01
  Dylan's good. He's going to keep getting
• 26:02
  better. He's a good one now.
• 26:04
  You'll see it more and more. He wasn't, he was, he was not
• 26:07
  the problem against Michigan. But but the issue is, you know,
• 26:13
  fans are smart in the Big 10, Nebraska's included, and they
• 26:20
  got problems up front. Everybody knew up front on
• 26:24
  defense was an issue. It has been.
• 26:26
  And then Michigan, you watched the game.
• 26:29
  I mean, it lived in the backfield.
• 26:32
  I think Dylan dropped back 49 times and they were they had 24
• 26:36
  pressures, you know, half the time sacked him seven times.
• 26:41
  So here's here's the deal. This is what I've been saying is
• 26:47
  you can't protect and you can't run.
• 26:49
  I don't know. There's no magic trick there.
• 26:51
  I don't know what you do, but they against Michigan, Dylan
• 26:55
  made some things happen and got him 27, but it's going to be
• 26:59
  hard to do every week. And this is what we've seen year
• 27:02
  after year. I mean, you go back and look at
• 27:04
  since the rivalry was renewed with Iowa, Nebraska, on a yearly
• 27:07
  basis, you get to November, how banged up is Adrian Martinez?
• 27:10
  How banged up is Tommy Armstrong?
• 27:11
  I mean, we can go through year after year and maybe trending in
• 27:14
  that same kind of direction here as we localize things a little
• 27:17
  bit. So this match up against cross
• 27:19
  state rival Michigan State after seeing Michigan the game before,
• 27:23
  talk about a different way of doing things.
• 27:25
  Childs, when you watch him, sometimes he looks like the best
• 27:28
  quarterback in the league. Sometimes he looks like the
• 27:30
  worst quarterback in the league and that's kind of what you get.
• 27:32
  But he's got a set of receivers. Marshall looks like he's going
• 27:35
  to be 100% ready to go. Kelly, I love McCray, that dude
• 27:38
  is super fast. He's got a deep stable here.
• 27:41
  That defensive backfield. Those kind of the talk to
• 27:43
  college football early on. They are going to have a handful
• 27:47
  Eyeball, I believe was Sparty this weekend.
• 27:48
  What do you look at? What concerns you?
• 27:50
  What do you look at? Michigan State.
• 27:52
  Oh, it's the child's thing. I mean, it's I mean it's so much
• 27:57
  of that is the game. I mean, just how you handle come
• 28:01
  on. He's a big guy that can run it
• 28:03
  and he and he but he considers himself a passer.
• 28:06
  He completes 68% of his passes, 9 touchdowns, one pick thrown it
• 28:12
  well and he throws it down field.
• 28:14
  That's the other notable thing. He's his like, you know, his
• 28:18
  average, his completion rate downfield is good.
• 28:21
  It's not dink and doing. He'll whip it downfield.
• 28:24
  He's got an arm butting take off that scares every defensive
• 28:28
  coordinator in the world. So that's concerning.
• 28:33
  But I also look at, and this is where I try to be informative
• 28:38
  for your Iowa fans is that that's an issue.
• 28:42
  But as much as that's an issue in my mind, I'll be watching
• 28:47
  very closely just the running back run game.
• 28:52
  They have three big backs. They basically use two of them.
• 28:55
  Makai Frazier's 5/10, 2:15 list him at 2:10.
• 29:00
  He looks bigger than that to me. And and then they bring a guy
• 29:05
  off the bench who's 227 and, well, they, Yeah.
• 29:09
  Well, they, yeah, well, they just feel the lean on Nebraska
• 29:13
  and get 4 and 5 yards against Nebraska's undersized defensive
• 29:18
  line. Young, young in a lot of cases,
• 29:21
  undersized in a lot of cases. That makes things so much easier
• 29:25
  for child if that's the case. And I'm always thinking long
• 29:29
  term, I you got to negotiate this Big 10 schedule.
• 29:32
  They got to start tightening up. They're run game.
• 29:35
  Defense they seemingly I'll be looking at defensively sip what
• 29:40
  what worries you? But defensively they they don't
• 29:43
  get a lot of sacks. They don't get to the
• 29:44
  quarterback a lot. I mean, Michigan got to, to
• 29:48
  Dylan what, 7 times you said 7 sacks in that game last week and
• 29:51
  I'm I'm not sure the Michigan State has seven sacks as a team
• 29:54
  so far this. Year.
• 29:56
  So what they do, I think. They have 6.
• 29:57
  Is that what it is? So what do?
• 29:59
  What do they do on defense that might confound the Huskers?
• 30:03
  Nothing. I mean they're not, they're not
• 30:06
  terrible in the interior D line. So you might, it might be a
• 30:10
  little hard moving them and they're not bad at linebacker.
• 30:16
  They're so, but the other one, no, they don't.
• 30:19
  They don't. They don't get pressure often
• 30:22
  enough. One stat of interest is Michigan
• 30:29
  against Nebraska got 36 pressures, player pressures on
• 30:33
  Dylan 36. Michigan State has 46 for the
• 30:38
  season. So it'll look, I think it'll
• 30:41
  look. It'll, I mean, it tells you what
• 30:44
  Michigan did. I think, I think that it'll look
• 30:49
  much different. I think it could be a game where
• 30:52
  Dylan puts up a big number. If you give him time, he can
• 30:56
  play pitch and catch as well as about anybody in the country.
• 30:59
  So let's see now this is what you got to see, though.
• 31:03
  A lot of the talk here is they're tackled at a horrible
• 31:06
  game, Nebraska's tackles at a horrible game against Michigan.
• 31:10
  So there'll probably be moves made.
• 31:12
  I don't think you'll see the same too or, or you might flip
• 31:15
  one of them to the other side, that type of thing.
• 31:18
  I I I but, but the answer to your question is really nothing
• 31:23
  about Michigan's state defense scares you.
• 31:27
  So new defensive coordinator in after the deporture of of Tony
• 31:32
  White, what we see in the coordinators that have moved
• 31:34
  throughout the time you mentioned the run game, the
• 31:36
  concerns there, the concerns upfront, it's Nebraska.
• 31:40
  And with the bye week and coming off the heels of that one, I
• 31:42
  mean, is there there's some pressure on John Butler to get
• 31:45
  this thing turned around here? No, not, I mean not the three
• 31:49
  and one they lost by three. There's no, no, there's not.
• 31:53
  I mean, there's always, you know how it goes in college, but
• 31:55
  there's always like a degree of pressure.
• 31:57
  But it's not high. We're not there yet.
• 32:00
  I mean, we're not there yet. It's a Wick.
• 32:04
  I think almost every, not, I don't know, depends who you're
• 32:08
  talking about, but it's almost a weekly discussion.
• 32:10
  I mean, Florida States and they were in great, great shape.
• 32:15
  They beat Alabama and they played three up.
• 32:18
  They lose. Now the conversations change
• 32:20
  dramatically. So now, yeah, Tony White is in
• 32:23
  some hot water. Odd, right?
• 32:24
  They beat Alabama, they lose 1 game.
• 32:26
  And now, yeah, now people are like, oh, he's the right guy.
• 32:29
  So it's always, I mean, the beauty of your show and the
• 32:33
  beauty of college football and the beauty of the shows I do is
• 32:36
  overreacting. You can people expect you to
• 32:39
  overreact? They want you to overreact.
• 32:42
  So let's just keep overreacting and get paid to do it.
• 32:45
  Hell yeah. Preaching to the choir.
• 32:47
  So if you had last weekend off, guessing you watched quite a bit
• 32:50
  of college football. Let's keep it in the Big 10 from
• 32:53
  what you saw. Who would be your, I mean top
• 32:56
  three teams in the Big 10? Penn State goes down, Indiana
• 32:59
  struggles, but maybe should maybe got lucky leaving Kinnick
• 33:03
  Stadium with the win. The Ducks pulled one out in
• 33:06
  overtime. I think Maryland's a fake 4.
• 33:09
  No, you saw Michigan in person. Minnesota's off to a good start.
• 33:12
  USC can score a bunch of points. Who are the best teams in the
• 33:15
  Big 10 from what you've seen? I'm happy to say yeah, I'm happy
• 33:18
  to say I've seen a lot now with that by, I thought 11 hours of
• 33:22
  football watching. Isn't it beautiful?
• 33:23
  USC yeah, USI was like you guys, USC Illinois in its entirety.
• 33:29
  Washington, OH State in its entirety and Oregon and Penn
• 33:34
  State in its entirety. So I learned a lot.
• 33:37
  And what I learned is Ohio State and Oregon, I think will play
• 33:42
  for the national title. Those teams.
• 33:44
  Ohio State defense is beautiful to watch.
• 33:49
  I mean, that is a it's their breath take on defense.
• 33:53
  They're not good, though. Simply they're not bad, though
• 33:55
  they're receiving course. Ridiculous as usual, ridiculous.
• 33:59
  I mean, you got Jeremiah Smith and Carnell.
• 34:01
  Is it Blake or Tate? Parnell, Tate and Ennis is
• 34:06
  number 30. My those guys are, but the
• 34:09
  defense, they will take that team to the national title.
• 34:13
  What will happen is the defense will carry them.
• 34:16
  They will keep bringing fan along, Julian saying they'll
• 34:20
  keep bringing the offense along. It's it's it's shaky a little
• 34:24
  bit on offense, but they'll they'll be good.
• 34:26
  They'll be good by the end of the schedule and they will play
• 34:29
  for it all. Wouldn't be surprised if they
• 34:31
  play Oregon for it all. Oregon, they're just loaded up
• 34:35
  front and it was a it was a street fight in the trenches
• 34:38
  against Penn State. They barely won, but they to go
• 34:42
  in there and win that game in that circumstance and then they
• 34:44
  have a freshman lead them in rushing and a freshman lead them
• 34:48
  in receiving is remarkable. But but they're good.
• 34:51
  They're good up front. Those are those teams are are
• 34:54
  outstanding up front. So I like Ohio State 1, Oregon 2
• 35:00
  just by an edge edges Oregon. I think you got to say Indiana 3
• 35:04
  because of Penn State's lack of explosion offensively, and then
• 35:08
  Penn State 4. Sip Great stuff, brother.
• 35:11
  We'll be watching 3:00 on Fox, Michigan State in Nebraska and
• 35:15
  we will talk to you next week. Where to Maryland next week,
• 35:17
  right SIP. Yeah, going going to Maryland.
• 35:21
  Can't wait. We'll talk to you before that.
• 35:24
  Thank you, pal. Appreciate you coming on.
• 35:26
  Thank you, guys. Thank you.
• 35:27
  Yeah, good to talk to you, Stephen M Simple on Nebraska,
• 35:30
  Michigan State numbers 11 1/2 too many points kind.
• 35:33
  Of feels that way, doesn't it? I kind of want, yeah, I thought,
• 35:36
  I thought so too. If it would have been 10, then
• 35:37
  maybe a gun shop in there. But of course we are in a street
• 35:41
  fight with the boys in the afternoon.
• 35:43
  Yeah, we are. A virtual tie I had.
• 35:45
  Another winning week. I mean, come on.
• 35:49
  I'm not holding up my end of the bargain.
• 35:50
  What was I last week? I think 1, three and one.
• 35:52
  You were? Yeah, 1, three and one.
• 35:55
  Last week I went three and two. Good for you.
• 35:59
  Yes, now you still got a four-game lead between the two
• 36:02
  of us. You are 1410 and one.
• 36:04
  I am 1014 and one. Trying to erase that week one
• 36:07
  over. How many best bets have you hit?
• 36:09
  None. You haven't hit a single.
• 36:11
  One. I don't think so.
• 36:12
  All for five. They all count the same, lest we
• 36:15
  get down to a tiebreaker. Yeah, we're not typers, those
• 36:18
  jokers. No, Lucas is at a incredibly hot
• 36:22
  streak. I see his account.
• 36:24
  There is no way this is going to continue.
• 36:25
  Well, I I hope you're right man. Don't get nervous about those
• 36:28
  jokers. I would just got to beat them.
• 36:30
  This is the only time I'll play them in this contest, right?
• 36:33
  It's it. There ain't going to be no
• 36:34
  rematch. Trends, plays of the day, hockey
• 36:37
  over there, sports sponsors. Those are coming up next.
• 36:40
  Miller and Condon with you on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
• 36:43
  I'm Miller and Condon, Welcome back.
• 36:45
  Our final segment on a Thursday, an unbelievable sports Thursday.
• 36:50
  Trends, plays of the day coming up.
• 36:52
  You know, you tried to sell me on the beginning of the show
• 36:53
  because I hated tomorrow's sports calendar.
• 36:55
  Yeah, on on logging on to CISN and watching a little high
• 36:59
  school football. Or just flip on your radio and
• 37:02
  listen to myself. Well, you could do that too.
• 37:03
  You know, I'm gonna probably do the best of both.
• 37:05
  Worlds sync it up. Sync it up.
• 37:08
  Yeah, but it's Pizzetti versus Swenson.
• 37:11
  You know how many wins have those two guys got combined?
• 37:13
  707 hundred and something, right?
• 37:18
  I'm not sure how many times we'll face each other again,
• 37:20
  right? Probably been saying that for
• 37:21
  the last 10-15 years, but that's pretty special.
• 37:25
  Those two guys, they've caught, coached so many young men and
• 37:28
  made an impact on so many young men's lives.
• 37:31
  Well done. Jerry Pizzetti and Gary Swenson,
• 37:34
  I have utmost respect for both of them.
• 37:36
  All right, so that's tomorrow night and that's where you will
• 37:38
  be on the bull. But right now, let's get down to
• 37:40
  business. Circus Sports sponsors your
• 37:43
  plays of the day and there's three baseball games and a
• 37:45
  football game and away you go. I got. 5 picks for you.
• 37:48
  We got 2 numbers in baseball. I'm going to play the Padres.
• 37:51
  So you talked me kind of into it.
• 37:52
  We talked through it and it just led to that pot.
• 37:54
  I'm going to take the Padres even money against the Cubs.
• 37:57
  Going to lay it with the Yankees tonight with Schlitter minus the
• 38:00
  152 props in the Padres Cubs game give me over 2 1/2
• 38:05
  strikeouts. That's the number for Tayon.
• 38:07
  I'm going over 2 1/2 and I'm going over 3 1/2 for Darvish.
• 38:11
  I hate to save free money, but boy, those ones feel really good
• 38:14
  on the Circus Sports, Iowa App and Football tonight.
• 38:17
  Divisional game injuries aside, you know me, I got to take the
• 38:21
  points. Give me the Niners plus the Nine
• 38:23
  now at Circa. Well as long as the Rams win we
• 38:25
  survive survivor in circa we'll be back tomorrow.
• 38:30
  Sean and Lucas are downtown Des Moines the Brenton skating
• 38:33
  complex a hoops fest Drake's big night.
• 38:35
  That's two night. Glad you're with us, Miller and
• 38:38
  Condon. Weekdays noon to two talking
• 38:40
  sports with you on the Sports Radio Network.