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Indiana Wins the Championship, Curt Cignetti's Legacy and Mendoza's Incredible Run · Others Receiving Votes

0:04
[SPEAKER_02]: All right everybody, welcome to the show, the seasons over Indiana rules.
0:12
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm Pat Forty, this is others receiving votes.
0:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm joined as always by Gene Wojahowski and Brian Fisher.
0:19
[SPEAKER_02]: As we put a bow on one hell of a season, incredible guys.
0:26
[SPEAKER_02]: And let me just first set the rules of engagement here.
0:30
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, Brian and I caught the three a.m. bus leaving the stadium got back to the hotel in Miami.
0:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Had like seven minutes to get something to eat before they threw us out of the hospitality room.
0:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I went upstairs packed and went to the airport.
0:45
[SPEAKER_02]: I have not slept.
0:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Brian could not have slept very much either.
0:49
[SPEAKER_02]: So Jean, no pressure, Carious.
0:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I had a wonderful evening of rest and I feel refreshed and I'm ready to go.
0:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what you guys aren't.
1:01
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm glad you're ready to go because we got a lot to talk about.
1:05
[SPEAKER_02]: I have very little in terms of a formal rundown here because we don't need one.
1:10
[SPEAKER_02]: We just know that Indiana went 16, no one won the national championship.
1:14
[SPEAKER_02]: None of us have ever seen anything like it.
1:17
[SPEAKER_02]: So we're going to talk about the playoff championship.
1:21
[SPEAKER_02]: uh... the indiana run the game the men doza leap everything uh... that we saw in my amy and what we've seen all season and uh... we're just gonna free form it so
1:35
[SPEAKER_02]: I just want I want to get your your your basic thoughts just what what was going through your minds Gene especially you because you're right now we're sitting next to each other so we had a basic I knew what was going through our minds But when you were watching all of this transpire Monday night I couldn't decide if I was watching a classic Or if I was watching a collection of classic moments
2:06
[SPEAKER_01]: the more I think it it truly was a classic game.
2:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe not in the purest sense.
2:14
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a bit uneven at times.
2:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Efficient was inconsistent.
2:19
[SPEAKER_01]: There were mistakes.
2:20
[SPEAKER_01]: There were intersections.
2:21
[SPEAKER_01]: There were penalties.
2:23
[SPEAKER_01]: There were penalties.
2:23
[SPEAKER_01]: It should have been called.
2:24
[SPEAKER_01]: It weren't.
2:26
[SPEAKER_01]: There was an entire quarter where our high-spin winner didn't complete a pass.
2:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And yet when you really go back and
2:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought it was, uh, it's going to be a game people remember and you can't always say that about national championship games.
2:46
[SPEAKER_01]: And yes, I know we're going to dissect the game itself as this podcast goes on, but, uh, big picture feeling.
2:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I just, when I turned off the TV and
3:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I just thought we had all seen something memorable and maybe the game wasn't as memorable as other championship games, but what it meant and what it signified and the characters that were involved in this game were what I'm always going to remember about that night
3:33
[SPEAKER_02]: That's an actually a wonderful summation.
3:35
[SPEAKER_02]: You did get some rest to chose.
3:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Way to be ready.
3:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, very nicely, you know, put together and coherent, unlike the two of us who certainly did not have much, much rest.
3:47
[SPEAKER_00]: It was just, it was amazing to be on the field last night and just to look up at the boards to say, national champions and have that Indiana logo on there.
3:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that,
3:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Of all the things that you could have said to somebody two years ago even even a year ago, you know, like that that would have been almost incomprehensible to think that Indiana this this program, which was the losingist in all of college football coming into this season would wind up a perfect 16 and no
4:16
[SPEAKER_00]: the first time since Yale in the 1800s, which is saying a lot, not just about the sport and what the road you have to go on to get to this point, but the thing that struck me was just being in those locker rooms before, and they've always been, it's so excited and they would talk about the journey, but there's just such an earnestness from those players.
4:39
[SPEAKER_00]: They enjoyed the journey to get here,
4:45
[SPEAKER_00]: and and how they got here.
4:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, you know, talking with, you know, the defensive MVP, McCellum Camerra.
4:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he was a guy who was recruited to JMU when they weren't FCS school.
4:55
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and he talked about playing at at that level and in the group of five.
4:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And now he's in the big 10.
4:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And now he's on the national championship, making plays like that put return.
5:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And
5:04
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it was it was just a crazy collection of moments and and you know to genie's point.
5:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I was appreciative that it was a good game.
5:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you know, we've been to so many of these national championship games and so often they do seem to be one sided.
5:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And for a moment there, you know, especially after, you know, my or Indiana jumped out to that to know lead on on memory and kind of thought.
5:24
[SPEAKER_00]: all right this this is could be danger territory this could get away from them this could turn into one of those one way traffic type of games and and it did and we got some classic moments we got a classic second half there's there's there's tense you know there's there's quite quite a bit of tense people there amongst the Indiana and the Miami Faithful at Hard Rock and you know I think looking back at it I think I will remember just the joy that everybody had there at the end of the day
5:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, it was fantastic, truly one of the best things I've covered.
5:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Not, you know, I mean, the Indiana run has been just this succession of aha moments of where they just kept proving themselves over and over and over.
6:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And yet at the end of the year point, I mean, to look up at the scoreboard and it says Indiana National Champions is like, that's the final aha, the final reveal.
6:17
[SPEAKER_02]: And they did have to earn it.
6:20
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, Miami made them earn it.
6:21
[SPEAKER_02]: They did not get mode down like Alabama.
6:25
[SPEAKER_02]: They did not self-destruct like Oregon.
6:28
[SPEAKER_02]: They hung in there and made this a heck of a game
6:36
[SPEAKER_02]: a couple of extremely memorable moments.
6:39
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that the Mendosa leap will be one of the iconic plays in God football history and we'll get to that.
6:46
[SPEAKER_02]: But, you know, the thing with the Indiana story,
6:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Is it just, it embodies all the sports lessons and the life lessons and all those things, that people want to get out of sports, right?
7:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Or the things that people say are the redeeming values of athletics.
7:06
[SPEAKER_02]: It is, you know, it required belief and extreme belief.
7:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Like Ted Lassell level belief, but that was fiction, this is real, optimism.
7:17
[SPEAKER_02]: The hard work that goes into making Indiana into something that had never been.
7:21
[SPEAKER_02]: And then with this team, the selflessness and the camaraderie and the joy that they played with, that I think we're not just side effects.
7:32
[SPEAKER_02]: They were necessities because they're not as talented as a lot of other teams we've seen.
7:39
[SPEAKER_02]: As Kurt Signetti pointed out last night, we're not going to have eight first round draft picks.
7:44
[SPEAKER_02]: and they'll have one, maybe a couple, I don't know, but they've got some pros, but this is not a stocked roster of professional talent.
7:55
[SPEAKER_02]: These are guys that had to come together the way they did and play to a sum that was greater than their parts or they couldn't have done it.
8:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I really couldn't have.
8:05
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, there were many times I thought in the game that I looked, Miami was bigger, stronger, faster key points.
8:13
[SPEAKER_02]: The first or second play of the game, the right guard for Indiana got absolutely teacettled.
8:20
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, he got blown backward like he was an eighth grader playing in a varsity football game, high school.
8:26
[SPEAKER_02]: It was just like, I was like, oh boy,
8:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, boy.
8:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And then you saw when they got Mark Malachi Tony loose in space, like in the end, it doesn't really have guys that run quite like that.
8:37
[SPEAKER_02]: So to beat a team with that kind of talent, and to beat a team with Oregon's talent and a team with Ohio State's talent.
8:47
[SPEAKER_02]: To me,
8:50
[SPEAKER_02]: coaching jobs and just teamwork jobs and so that part of it to me really makes the Indiana story, you know, something kind of almost on a on a different pedestal, you know, if I can just add one last thing and I'm joking about the, uh,
9:06
[SPEAKER_01]: getting a good night's sleep.
9:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I was actually very jealous of you guys because you're going to be able to say, as we're all those people in that stadium, I was there.
9:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I was there when history was made.
9:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And there was history made last night.
9:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And
9:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I think one of the other reasons why I enjoyed it so much was it wasn't and this is no knock on I'm just throwing these two teams out there let's say Ohio State and Alabama in a national championship game those fan bases
9:41
[SPEAKER_01]: That's almost a given that in your lifetime, you're going to be part of that.
9:48
[SPEAKER_01]: At Indiana, that wasn't even comprehensible.
9:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And so last night, to see these fans,
9:56
[SPEAKER_01]: In that moment, to see the fans at assembly hall go nuts after the interception, basically to end the game, to see joy, I mean just unfiltered and pure joy, about something they never thought was possible, become possible, was just, I think that's what really made it.
10:21
[SPEAKER_01]: more special than just about any other game we've ever seen.
10:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Because it was so new and fresh and real to a fan base that had never even given itself a chance to think in those terms and now their national champions.
10:41
[SPEAKER_02]: The fan base element of this cannot be
10:44
[SPEAKER_02]: overstated, I think.
10:46
[SPEAKER_02]: As you said, they embrace this thing like crazy.
10:50
[SPEAKER_02]: And yeah, there's a good percentage of them that are saying, I was there in the leaners, and they really weren't because those stadiums really were pretty empty.
10:58
[SPEAKER_02]: But.
10:59
[SPEAKER_02]: They're there now and Poe Islander is there and comes there's there was going to be no reward for it.
11:04
[SPEAKER_02]: You pay to go see them get their teeth kicked in for decades.
11:08
[SPEAKER_02]: So the way that the Indiana fans have just rushed into embrace this thing is incredible.
11:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I looked up they average day school record 51,000 in attendance this year.
11:22
[SPEAKER_02]: They had more than 51,000 at the Rosable.
11:26
[SPEAKER_02]: They had more than 51,000 at the Peach Bowl.
11:29
[SPEAKER_02]: If they could have gotten more than 51,000 in for a Miami game in Miami, they would have, but as it is, they still had more fans there.
11:37
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it's one of the most incredible
11:40
[SPEAKER_02]: fan displays I've seen you know for Miami to not have a home game in their home stadium was shocking and then just the total onslaught in the other two places and then yes the scenes from Bloomington Kirkwood Avenue like actually looking like it had been invaded I mean just this massive people there it was it was spectacular so I'm very happy for that fan base and and
12:08
[SPEAKER_02]: What it means for them and what I think at least allows other fan bases to aspire to.
12:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's broken the sport, right?
12:16
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, going on this for Indiana, that the losing is program and FBS of all time to win the national title, to go 16 and 0.
12:25
[SPEAKER_00]: It has broken a few people's brains.
12:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And we kind of saw that really the last couple of weeks of the offseason, the number of coaching firings that have gone on, the amount of portal tampering that we've gotten, the amount of money being thrown around in the sport.
12:40
[SPEAKER_00]: people are still coming to grips with this being a story and you know the curtsignetic standard if you will that's going to be applied to a lot of coaches moving forward like that is going to be a big thing I think in the sport and I just had Indiana but you know Lincoln Riley if you're a USC you know what why are you you're five now why is why is this still going on when Indiana of all places does that you know Lane Kiffin you know down there at LSU I mean you don't think those fans are going to
13:10
[SPEAKER_02]: No, I mean, there's no doubt that this is going to
13:13
[SPEAKER_02]: uh... i think it was was it uh... signet he said today Tuesday uh... there's paradigm shift yep yeah in terms of what's possible and uh... you know i think he's right and we'll see who else can capitalize on it but everybody can at least think about it and try to figure out if you can find the ultimate unicorn coach out there and find this ultimate gamer former two star yael commit quarterback who's going to turn into a high-spin winner
13:43
[SPEAKER_02]: So, yeah, it just feels like we're in a little bit of it, we're in a new sport, we just kind of stumbled through this prism onto this other side where, oh my gosh, all these other things are possible.
14:01
[SPEAKER_02]: But I want to ask you now, if I go about how good the Indiana team is by his crazy yardstick.
14:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I just said, I mean, I do not think there are overwhelming talent, but they play with overwhelming teamwork and efficiency, and that's the most important thing.
14:23
[SPEAKER_02]: there, you know, the ancient saying hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.
14:29
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, that is a hard working team that masks whatever talent deficiencies it had.
14:37
[SPEAKER_02]: So for the record, they finished 16 and I was Brian said, we haven't had that since the 19th century.
14:44
[SPEAKER_02]: They never trailed in a playoff game.
14:47
[SPEAKER_02]: They never had to turn over in a playoff game.
14:50
[SPEAKER_02]: They led the nation and turn over margin.
14:53
[SPEAKER_02]: They're second in Fuas penalty yards.
14:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And I just looked it up, that they went 16 games without ever having 50 yards in penalties in a game, which to me is crazy.
15:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm gonna have to do some research to find the last team that could say that for a 15, 16, 14 game season, even.
15:13
[SPEAKER_02]: They were dominant at time.
15:14
[SPEAKER_02]: They killed some good teams.
15:16
[SPEAKER_02]: So, is this an all-time great team?
15:20
[SPEAKER_02]: What, what do you guys think?
15:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Gene, any thoughts?
15:25
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you don't think Vence Young Texas, you don't think Cam Newton, Auburn, you don't think some of the great BAM, I mean, you keep on going back in Nebraska teams with Tommy Frazier.
15:39
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you're asking me,
15:42
[SPEAKER_01]: who might be the greatest team?
15:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And you just made all the arguments for it?
15:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't have a problem if you said, that's my choice.
15:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I use my choice as the greatest team that there's ever been.
15:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Someone asked Steve Sarkesian before the season started.
16:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I saw this on Twitter this morning.
16:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And said, do you think that there'll be a 16-in-0 team?
16:11
[SPEAKER_01]: He said, I don't think so, and he mentioned something about, and if there are, that team needs a statue built for it.
16:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, guess what?
16:22
[SPEAKER_01]: They better start building a statue in Bloomington for that coach and that team.
16:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he doesn't look like it.
16:35
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't necessarily throw like it.
16:37
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't act like it, but he's one of the great college football quarter.
16:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Tim Teeboish.
16:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you can you can make that comparison.
16:48
[SPEAKER_01]: You mentioned the the is that what they're calling it now the Mendoza leap.
16:52
[SPEAKER_02]: You're going to be able to buy a fairly favorite, I think, for this.
16:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:57
[SPEAKER_01]: So go into the IU bookstore, not too long from now.
17:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's going to be some artist who has done it.
17:03
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be framed.
17:04
[SPEAKER_01]: You can be able to buy it.
17:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's going to be in the basements and dents of so many who's your fans.
17:11
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be the greatest piece of artwork,
17:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I have no problem with saying that is one of the great teams you'll ever see in college football because of what it accomplished and how it accomplished it and I think there's a lot to be said for
17:31
[SPEAKER_01]: a team that, you know, as you said, the sum is greater than its parts, and because of that, that's why I believe in what you're saying, that's why I think you can really make that argument.
17:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I agree completely.
17:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't, you know, if you were, you know, playing a video game and they had, you know, the NCAA video game at the media hospitality room and, you know, people would play it and they'd pick random teams and all that, you would probably talent-wise, you'd pick
17:59
[SPEAKER_00]: You would pick those Nebraska teams, I mean, you would pick other teams.
18:05
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're talking about just pure talent, what they put together, yes, and a lot of undefeated seasons included in that, but, you know, Gene to your point, I mean, the execution factor.
18:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this team played almost perfect football.
18:16
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they led for 152 out of 180 minutes that they played in the playoff.
18:22
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Pat, you had all those, they scored in 60 of their 64 quarters this season.
18:27
[SPEAKER_00]: which is, you know, unfathomable.
18:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You think blowouts, you know, you have a sort of start with the first team.
18:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, a score in all but four quarters over a 16 game season is pretty impressive, you know, just the dominance that they displayed, you know, whenever they needed a play.
18:43
[SPEAKER_00]: they had that back shoulder working, you know, they, they would, that was an unstoppable play, you know, and we've seen, you know, back shoulder throws all the time in Call of Football, but this, this was a level from Mendoza to Becker to Cooper to whoever it might be.
18:57
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a level of perfection on that play that, you know, we'll, we'll be hard to top.
19:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that, that is, that is teach tape.
19:04
[SPEAKER_00]: As a lot of those assistant coaches will like say that they will be putting on in, in, in, in, in, meeting rooms across the country.
19:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And that just kind of adds to this ledge.
19:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if you were walking the field pregame like us, you know, and you were just walking those Miami sidelines as they were warming up and you're walking, walking by the Indiana players, you know, you would be putting a lot of money on on Miami to cover the game and maybe even win it outright.
19:27
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there was definitely a talent disparity, but the execution factor, that was what played into
19:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Indiana winning this not not only you know the way they did but you know the way they were able to execute throughout the season and that does lend Into not just how they did did this and how they made this run But it adds to their legend, you know every I think everybody understands this was not the most talented national champion of last 20 30 40 50 years But they are what are the best not only on the numbers, but based on on what they were able to do between lines
20:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, that's the thing is it's just the, what does it take to win games?
20:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Everything they did.
20:09
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you, that's the teaching tape really is just the whole thing.
20:14
[SPEAKER_02]: We're gonna block punts when we need to block punts.
20:16
[SPEAKER_02]: We're gonna cover kicks.
20:17
[SPEAKER_02]: We're gonna, you know, we're gonna make field goals.
20:20
[SPEAKER_02]: We are going to get hard yards running when we have to.
20:25
[SPEAKER_02]: And then yeah, the back shoulder, the back shoulder fades, the stop fades were, that was like Aaron Rogers to Devontae Adams for while with the Packers, like that level between Becker, who is roommate of,
20:38
[SPEAKER_02]: Fernando Mendoza and him, and that's the things, the things that make Mendoza to me, an NFL guy, the accuracy and the arm talent is motion isn't perfect, it's not, it's not Aaron Rogers delivery, but still.
20:54
[SPEAKER_02]: The accuracy, the arm strength, but then just the intelligence too of no one how to play and then rising to the occasion when you absolutely have to, which again, we will get to in a second.
21:07
[SPEAKER_02]: I guess kind of where I landed on this, it is absolutely an all-time great team.
21:12
[SPEAKER_02]: I haven't had a chance yet to figure out, is it number one, number three, number five, whatever.
21:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Hopefully I'll get to that at some point in time.
21:23
[SPEAKER_02]: But here's what's undisputable in my opinion, all the more so now.
21:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Kirk's igniting did the greatest job coaching we have ever seen full stop period.
21:32
[SPEAKER_02]: It's mind-boggling.
21:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Again, to go to Indiana to do this, but the leap forward that this team made from the best team in school history last year, and this team was better, dramatically better, and the stuff they did and the way they won, even the games when they were under duress.
21:54
[SPEAKER_02]: They found ways to win, but they weren't even that many of those, and as I said in the playoff,
21:59
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I think everybody was like, well, we'll see now.
22:01
[SPEAKER_02]: They're number one seed.
22:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Lot of pressure.
22:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Is the moment going to be too big for him?
22:07
[SPEAKER_02]: No, it never was.
22:09
[SPEAKER_02]: It never, ever was.
22:11
[SPEAKER_02]: And the one moment when it was a crisis, Kurt Signetti made,
22:16
[SPEAKER_02]: you know, one of the calls of his career, maybe it's certainly to this point, the defining call of his career.
22:22
[SPEAKER_02]: And then the defining play, but I want to get any thoughts you guys have just on Signetti and this job and within the realm of history.
22:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I went back and looked.
22:34
[SPEAKER_01]: At his very first game at IU, I think the beat, FIU, and the beat them soundly.
22:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And after the game, one of his first comments were, you know, we've got a lot to work on.
22:47
[SPEAKER_01]: But one of the things we have to work on is keeping fans and their seats after half time.
22:53
[SPEAKER_01]: and now fast forward to, to now.
22:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's not going to be a problem ever again as long as he's there.
23:02
[SPEAKER_01]: He has just changed and it doesn't happen that often and I guess the most recent would be someone like Saban.
23:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Someone who just changes everything changes the way you feel about an entire program,
23:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I know Brian during this whole season has talked about alignment, you know, the president, the athletic director, the head coach, that's what happened at IU, and it happened to perfection.
23:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, when Syraccusians talking about statues, well, you know,
23:48
[SPEAKER_01]: The trickle down effect of whatever he brings, and I'm not sure I can explain it, but whatever he brings was we saw it it was right in front of us and it went beyond being down on the field and looking to Miami the size of Miami's offensive line and looking at the size of I use players it doesn't matter.
24:11
[SPEAKER_01]: That's that is the gap that he bridged.
24:14
[SPEAKER_01]: He made those things not as important and I can't explain how he did it, but he did it.
24:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And from a practical standpoint, he just made himself a lot of money.
24:27
[SPEAKER_01]: He got what $2 million bonus for winning that game and they have to renegotiate
24:33
[SPEAKER_01]: his existing contracting got a 93 million dollar extension, they have to renegotiate his existing contract where he's among the top three highest page college football players.
24:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So from a monetary standpoint, it was an amazing thing, but way beyond that is just.
24:53
[SPEAKER_01]: He did something that nobody has ever done before and that's incredible and I loved his attitude and I loved seeing him down in the field and he had that little piece of a red confetti stuck to his neck on a sweaty neck or his gator-a-drenched neck and it just seemed also perfect.
25:14
[SPEAKER_02]: I you know what you bring that up in a just immediately makes me mad because I wrote that down I was so excited to get that my story.
25:21
[SPEAKER_02]: You had a piece of red confetti on his head and a piece stuck to his neck and guess Why it's not in the story.
25:27
[SPEAKER_01]: That's right.
25:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm wanting to 200 words and I felt like I barely scratched the surface That's a good this story is
25:33
[SPEAKER_02]: But no, to your point, he's not going to be top three.
25:35
[SPEAKER_02]: He's going to be number one.
25:36
[SPEAKER_02]: I would have to think he will be the highest paid coach in the country after this.
25:39
[SPEAKER_02]: If it takes a Mark Cuban kick in or whatever, it's going to happen.
25:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Anyway, Brian, your thoughts on, on SIG.
25:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I mean, you know, who would you rather take over him at this point?
25:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm sure we'll get to some offseason good offseason content down the road when it comes to breaking our coaches and who we might have up there.
25:58
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's nobody, I'd rather have in college football right now, running my program than then signating.
26:03
[SPEAKER_00]: There are 27 and 2, that's the best record in all the college football.
26:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, since he took over, you know, he has a national champion, uh, he is 16 and no this season and all they're one of the greatest turnaround in the sport, but you know, I think it was was almost magnified, you know, the difference that he made during this playoff front.
26:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you look up right in day and in that opener against Miami and in the cotton bowl.
26:25
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, what, you know, the turtling almost, you know, when, in the big 10-jambi chip game, you know, the big moments that Ryan Day has fallen up short, I guess, Michigan.
26:36
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there's no proof that Signetti has as any of that in him, you know, is his two games that he's lost, you know, they were significant underdogs, and they still played, you know, those, those, those those two losses close.
26:48
[SPEAKER_00]: You, you look at Kirby Smart, certainly losing in the, in the sugarbulls for the second straight year.
26:53
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... to a team that uh... didn't have their uh... head coaches shuffling back and forth at all miss uh... you know during that week uh... and head uh... you know a true program in chaos and and they had a big second half lead that they just let uh... slip away versus you know segmenty he he found those right buttons to push it wasn't just uh... call those right timeouts and and and tell them to go for it uh... you know uh... when i was in his office uh... the spring you know he he was going through
27:20
[SPEAKER_00]: every red zone play that not only Indiana had gone through, but pretty much the rest of the country, you know, trying to find those little things that would make a difference and his staff this week, you know, that they put in that QB draw that that Fernando Mendoza scored on on fourth down.
27:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And they had a lot of debates on what would be the best way to accomplish this, that that was not really
27:46
[SPEAKER_00]: some things along those lines at times, but nothing like what they in terms of formation and all that that they did there in the goal line.
27:55
[SPEAKER_00]: He understands football to a great degree, but he understands how to communicate that to the kids, he understands how to get everybody in the same page, and he has gotten the buy-in.
28:06
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the alignment is there at Indiana from the top, but it's also taken, you know, some pushing by Signetti.
28:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he understood that, hey, this is I'm going to have to go out and say things.
28:16
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to have to say the Google me line.
28:18
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to have to say those things that gets gets, gets others outside of Indiana kind of, oh somebody said that.
28:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, okay.
28:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that is he is very a holistic thinking in terms of the program, but also the minor details that you need to have on game day.
28:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And so if there's another coach out there that you'd rather have other than I would be all ears because I don't think there's anybody better right now in college football than Kurt Sigmetti.
28:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, here's the great news for Indiana, uh, one, signal, he says he's not an NFL guy.
28:52
[SPEAKER_02]: So you can take that off the board to, he said, last night, you know, I guess I should probably retire, but I'm not going to, I don't really do anything else.
29:01
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm a football coach, that's what I do, you know, I want to break down film.
29:05
[SPEAKER_02]: So, uh, he's staying at Indiana.
29:09
[SPEAKER_02]: And he's not looking retired, doesn't sound like any time soon.
29:12
[SPEAKER_02]: So the Hoosiers, like your dream run has an excellent chance of continuing.
29:19
[SPEAKER_02]: So amazing.
29:20
[SPEAKER_02]: And I do think, I mean, he has given them a decided coaching advantage.
29:28
[SPEAKER_02]: in maybe every game this year, probably every game this year, and especially the big games.
29:34
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's hard to do, that's hard to say, but that leads me to the big decision for the big play, the fourth down and five with nine minutes left in the game.
29:47
[SPEAKER_02]: And I wrote like 800 words just on this place.
29:49
[SPEAKER_02]: I thought it was so fascinating.
29:53
[SPEAKER_02]: They're they're ahead by three points.
29:56
[SPEAKER_02]: They can kick a field goal and go up six, but obviously it's still a one score game against a team that had found its rhythm.
30:04
[SPEAKER_02]: And Miami was gashin' them on the ground and they were getting receivers in space and they were moving and they were scoring in 17 to 14 at that point.
30:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Fourth down five, they send the field goal unit out.
30:20
[SPEAKER_02]: then Signetti calls time out and I thought it was because they were late on the clock and I even said to Brian I said why call time out just take a delay to take the five yards yeah and kick kick from five yards for the back then we're gonna kick and he said get out get the get the offense back out there we're going for it and uh and then they line up to go and i mean there's a big gutsy decision right there and then the play call
30:46
[SPEAKER_02]: I think took additional guts because you have the most efficient quarterback in the country and you have three elite receivers and you say now we're going to have the quarterback run.
30:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And you call the quarterback draw and they have done some good red zone quarterback draws.
31:01
[SPEAKER_02]: But to Brian's point, yeah, the signal he said that they had a 45 minute discussion about how to block this red zone quarterback draw.
31:09
[SPEAKER_02]: That's attention to detail and the way they decide to scheme it.
31:14
[SPEAKER_02]: And they were four wide and they had K-Lon black next to Mendoza the running back and he led through and he hit the linebacker and Mendoza followed and the, you know, part of the beauty of Fernando Mendoza, you know, I mean, he's he comes across as this goofy kind of dorky guy.
31:37
[SPEAKER_02]: And when you see him run he looks even goofier and dorkier.
31:44
[SPEAKER_02]: He's like a baby giraffe trying to elude prey or elude predators.
31:50
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, he's just kind of, he's all over the place.
31:52
[SPEAKER_02]: His legs are splan, he does not move feet fluidly.
31:55
[SPEAKER_02]: He is not Vince Young running the football.
31:57
[SPEAKER_02]: That's for sure.
31:59
[SPEAKER_02]: But he gets past the initial, gets past the line of scrimmage, makes a cut, kind of jumps over the legs of his center, and then it's on.
32:10
[SPEAKER_02]: After that, it is just a blood and guts football play.
32:14
[SPEAKER_02]: incredible blows through a linebacker knocks him two yards backwards on his ass and then makes the lunge for the end zone.
32:23
[SPEAKER_02]: The John L. way lunge and he gets blasted in the back and lands in the end zone with the play.
32:30
[SPEAKER_02]: People are going to talk about forever.
32:32
[SPEAKER_02]: I just want your thoughts on that play and Fernando Mendoza and his ability to rise to the occasion.
32:42
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, crowbar of Denver Broncos reference in there.
32:48
[SPEAKER_02]: It was an LA play.
32:50
[SPEAKER_02]: It was LA against the Packards.
32:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought we're going to have to do a wellness check on you this past weekend by the way.
32:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Dean believe me.
32:56
[SPEAKER_00]: We a lot of folks after the game on Saturday.
33:00
[SPEAKER_00]: We were checking in on Pat and I was on well.
33:03
[SPEAKER_02]: I was on well.
33:06
[SPEAKER_01]: They're planning the AFC championships, so just you'll be fine.
33:10
[SPEAKER_01]: But Mendoza, let's start off with the pregame.
33:14
[SPEAKER_01]: How'd you like Bendoza and maybe glance around?
33:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And then there's Tom Brady out there looking at you.
33:22
[SPEAKER_01]: The owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, other front office staff members there, and they're all there to watch you because they're thinking of taking you number one in the upcoming draft.
33:36
[SPEAKER_01]: He had an uneven game, if you really go back and look at it, started off fast and then in the second half, Miami may be adjustments, they get the corner back back, they hurry him on his throws, he's not his accurate, he seems not frazzled, but definitely there's pressure on him and he's having a little trouble adjusting to it.
34:05
[SPEAKER_01]: But when we get to that play and he told Scott Van Pelt after the game that the way it was supposed to be is if he came out and he saw a man to man he was supposed to throw it if he saw a zone he was supposed to run it he got out there and he read both he saw some elements of man to man some elements of zone and he decided to screw it I'm going to put it on me and I'm going to make I'm going to make the play.
34:34
[SPEAKER_01]: and he made the play.
34:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what's incredible about him.
34:38
[SPEAKER_01]: He does not back down from the moment.
34:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And you're right.
34:42
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a perfect description.
34:44
[SPEAKER_01]: He does.
34:44
[SPEAKER_01]: He runs like a baby giraffe.
34:46
[SPEAKER_01]: But a baby giraffe that has some power behind him.
34:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he is what's 65 to 30-ish.
34:53
[SPEAKER_01]: 225?
34:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
34:55
[SPEAKER_01]: 225, okay.
34:56
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not a small dude.
34:57
[SPEAKER_02]: No.
34:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And if he hits you, you feel it.
35:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And he hit
35:04
[SPEAKER_01]: So the way he executed it was amazing, the decision itself, I did not think was that much of a decision.
35:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I completely understood why Signetti chose to do that and do it in that moment because they don't really gain a lot by kicking the field goal.
35:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I thought it was the right choice.
35:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And then in the moment, Mendosa made the decision, I'm going to run it.
35:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And he executed it in Tim Tiboish fashion.
35:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's a reason why his legacy is forever cemented.
35:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm just wondering if that the draft running style there that the baby draft running style almost helped him out because you could see that the safety on the play he read it almost immediately that's oh that's a draw I don't know if he's reading the running back or he was reading windows but he he started screaming down hard and there was there was a lane you know he he windows could have gone left he could run right in the safety he kind of picked him out
36:12
[SPEAKER_00]: and went right and I mean, I've had probably, I think it three shots to get Mendoza and it was just grasping it air, you know, each time and, you know, it's funny, you know, killing black, the running back, that was kind of, they, they turned on the lead blocker on that play.
36:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they, they generously listened to him at 5-10 and, and 2-11.
36:32
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, I was down there on the field and standing next to him, and five, like I said, five ten is generous with them.
36:38
[SPEAKER_00]: But, man, he took on a guy, you know, the offensive line, you know, they really fired off on that ball, talking with them afterwards.
36:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they said to Netty, you know, after you called the timeout, and he was saying, you know, yelling at them, get back on the field, we're going for it.
36:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, that fired them up.
36:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And you could see that, you know, in that initial blocking, you know, that they, they
37:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it is an iconic play.
37:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, some of the kids afterwards, they were saying, like, whatever that they want to term that, they were like, throw it up on the facilities.
37:12
[SPEAKER_00]: It needs to be done next week.
37:13
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to have that play up there.
37:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And it really was one of those iconic moments.
37:19
[SPEAKER_00]: It was, Vince Young's camp ring to the corner of the end zone in the Rose Bowl.
37:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we will talk about that scramble in one of those iconic plays in college football.
37:29
[SPEAKER_00]: reaching for the Inzo, it's going to be on every book cover, I'm sure on the S.I.
37:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Commemorative Edition, that's going to be the lead image, you know, I mean, everything it came down to that and you talk about, we always joke about those Heisman moments during the regular season.
37:47
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you got to have one of those plays that stands out, and they had a few during the regular season, but that one, that one is the iconic image of this title run for the Hoosiers for sure.
37:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, no doubt.
38:00
[SPEAKER_02]: I did, I had a list of recent iconic plays that
38:05
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, this one, it's different.
38:07
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just, it's different, but the Vince Young run to the corner to beat USC 2006 BCS Championship game absolutely on there.
38:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Michael Dyer for Auburn, not being down spinning off the pile and running like 40 yards to set up the winning field goal for Auburn against Oregon.
38:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Sean Watson though, Hunter Renfro is only one yard pass, but awfully memorable because there was one second left.
38:32
[SPEAKER_02]: uh... Zika Lellett 85 yards through the heart of the south for Ohio State against Alabama and twenty fourteen uh... and then some of the great coaching decisions the boys you look in lateral
38:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Savings on side kick against Clemson there's a bunch of them.
38:49
[SPEAKER_02]: So you know, we'll history can sort out where it wants to put the men does a play, but it's absolutely among them and so the statues Yeah, they're we're going to be in front of Memorial Stadium if you've been to Indiana campus any of our listeners
39:04
[SPEAKER_02]: they have a fantastic statue of like the whole starting five of the 1976 undefeated team and really it would kind of be appropriate to have like a team statue of this team but I think you got to you got to go with two of them and you got to have signetti standing there with his hands on his hips and a scowl on his face and his old head set on and his head kind of cock-side ways and his eyebrow up
39:30
[SPEAKER_02]: because that's the way he looks to out most of the game, and then you got to have the Mendoza leap.
39:36
[SPEAKER_02]: Those are the two statues I expect to see outside the Indian football stadium at some point in time whenever they get around to it.
39:44
[SPEAKER_02]: And I don't think they'll take long.
39:45
[SPEAKER_02]: The euphoria is a powerful motivator.
39:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, and Pat, think of it this way too.
39:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I saw where the Miami DC said that they had a pretty good idea that play was coming.
39:59
[SPEAKER_01]: And he wished he would have called a timeout before the play to communicate better with his defense.
40:08
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not unusual for coaches to say after the fact, but they weren't shot by the play.
40:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And secondly, remember the other definitive, I mean, if we were going to do a statue, the other one we would have done was the throw against Penn State.
40:29
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yeah.
40:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, Mark Cooper.
40:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
40:31
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I mean, Mendoza was the difference maker.
40:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And
40:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And he doesn't always look like the Difference Maker, run like the Difference Maker, but somehow he figures out away when it matters most to rise to that occasion.
40:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So he did it in, and it deserved all the, what, 800 words you said you used in that in your, in your piece could it deserve more?
41:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it was that, that historic, that important.
41:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Then I did appreciate the fact that Fernando who is, you know, the absolute milk and cookies, grandmothers favorite, you know, perfect guy.
41:16
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I know you don't say that he actually dropped an F bomb after the game.
41:21
[SPEAKER_01]: He did, didn't know.
41:23
[SPEAKER_02]: That's F and go.
41:25
[SPEAKER_02]: He is, he, there is a little bit of sass inside of that guy inside of the choir boy.
41:31
[SPEAKER_02]: And, uh, it was fun.
41:32
[SPEAKER_02]: He was asked about it after the game and he said, he said, you know.
41:37
[SPEAKER_02]: We've done it.
41:38
[SPEAKER_02]: This is, we'd reached the pinnacle and I'd spent all season basically giving these cookie cutter media coached answers.
41:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, now we've done it.
41:47
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to go ahead and crawl a little bit.
41:49
[SPEAKER_02]: So good for you Fernando.
41:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for letting us see that side of you.
41:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, we also got to see, you know, the side I was right there was right in front of me and I mean, I'd almost choke me up.
42:01
[SPEAKER_02]: him when he first got to his parents after the game, you know, and bending down and hugging his mother, Elsa, who's stricken with multiple sclerosis, is his wheelchair, and then his father, Fernando as well, you know, and Fernando, he not senior.
42:14
[SPEAKER_02]: I think he's the third in Fernando's, the fourth or fourth and fifth, I don't know.
42:19
[SPEAKER_02]: But he was in tears and he's hugging the grandparents.
42:23
[SPEAKER_02]: And it just, I mean, you know, it was everything there and that, you know, one of the most touching scenes I think throughout the playoffs as everybody's gravitate to the Mendoza story is when they show mom and dad.
42:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Dad is always sitting down next to mom.
42:40
[SPEAKER_02]: He's not standing up cheering.
42:42
[SPEAKER_02]: He wants to be with her on her level.
42:45
[SPEAKER_02]: That's this kind of this caring, you know, that I think with this family, you know, I just melt your heart.
42:51
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, we are flinty, crusty, snide, jaded old sportswriters.
42:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm sitting there like, oh my god, you're going to grow over Fernando.
43:01
[SPEAKER_02]: What the hell's this man doing to us?
43:03
[SPEAKER_01]: You got up once, I think.
43:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Did he?
43:05
[SPEAKER_01]: We couldn't help himself, but he sat right back down and you're right.
43:10
[SPEAKER_01]: It's, um, it's love personified and it's a family personified and, um, and those are again, you know, you said at the very beginning, well, what makes this story so special isn't just that they won this game.
43:29
[SPEAKER_01]: it's all that is in the rapper and in that family and in that relationship and that moment.
43:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So private and yet so public is just you know reason 1,431.
43:47
[SPEAKER_01]: why we love this whole Indiana experience.
43:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and extended to the rest of the team, too.
43:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that was what kind of struck me, being around Indiana as much as Pat has this season.
43:59
[SPEAKER_00]: After the game, the student manager is kind of blocked out.
44:05
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Fernando's, you know, kind of locker.
44:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So he could have, you know, a little bit of his own space and his privacy and his dad kind of came in there afterwards and what was getting a few of his things, you know, after the game as well, you know, you see the embrace that he had, you know, with his brother on the end of the field just, you know, warming up, you know, I was watching him warm up and I mean, he was just so focused on a bird or Alberto.
44:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, trying to stay in the moment, you know, you just tell, you know, there was Tom Brady, there was Mark Davis and Jim, John Spiteck from the Raiders, they're all like right there in the corner, you know, as, as Fernandos warming up and getting ready to go and, you know, he, he was zeroed in and,
44:47
[SPEAKER_00]: you know that the everybody was embracing him everybody there I mean there was not a single word that was not like you know over the top effusive praise for the guy which you know I think that says a lot I mean this is a locker room full of 100 and plus 10 guys of you know a lot of different backgrounds but man he is one every single person over and in red and white.
45:08
[SPEAKER_00]: from from the fans to down into that locker room and and it was it was a special run and it takes a special guy, you know, to get that over the line and do that.
45:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, one of the things Cignetti said that thought that was great, you know, is that I mean they have.
45:24
[SPEAKER_02]: a great team bond and it's avid and it is you know aid and fissure and Isaiah Jones and the angel opons and and all these guys that are unbelievable teammates he said but sometimes you need one guy to be the the the the cement I think it's a fill in all the cracks and he said for nanos that guy unlike anybody I've ever seen before so again the intangible elements of what made Indiana great are incredibly compelling.
45:54
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, let's just hit a couple of the things and we will let Brian go to the airport in Miami and get on his way.
46:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Hey, did you know the big tens one, three and a row.
46:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Don't know whether you'd heard, but that actually happened.
46:08
[SPEAKER_02]: That has happened that is is happening three three straight championships three different teams Michigan in 2023 Ohio State 24 and in the flip banana.
46:20
[SPEAKER_02]: In 2025, Brian, you wrote about this, had some interchange with Tony Petiti, is it the Big Ten Sport now?
46:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, they certainly are loading over it.
46:32
[SPEAKER_00]: They are in top and they are saying it out loud, you know, I think that's that's been the biggest difference to me that I've noticed out of the Big Ten Country is, look, you know, that first one when Tony Petiti was, you know, first at Commissioner and in Michigan, there was obviously a lot of, you know, you know,
46:48
[SPEAKER_00]: external talk, if you will, surrounding that title with the Conor Stallions thing going on, the conference office is involvement.
46:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And in that story, I remember kind of watching Tony, you know, after that title game in Houston, and you know, he kind of watched the trophy presentation, and then just would, you know, no comment to everybody, made a B-line for some weighting SUVs, got out of there like, you know, it was nobody's business.
47:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, he last year in Ohio State in that room, you know, you could see himself right, you know, he was given hugs to guys and, you know, he was on the stage, you know, which was, you know, sharp difference from kind of his normally reserved personality.
47:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, this year.
47:28
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, tensions were a little tight with Michigan in 2012.
47:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and I don't know that that played a role, and you know, I was to you could tell he was opening up more, but he, he would still, you know, try to, it's to farm us in the media who are that asking for a comment or whatnot.
47:44
[SPEAKER_00]: This year, you know, he was trying to weave through everybody, trying to avoid all the celebrations and all that trying to get on his way.
47:50
[SPEAKER_00]: back to a few of his staff members at midfield, but he stopped.
47:55
[SPEAKER_00]: He stopped and talked, and he spent, probably the longest I've ever spent getting a comment from Tony, and I've been outside those CFP meetings for years now.
48:05
[SPEAKER_00]: He said five words on Sunday when it came to
48:08
[SPEAKER_00]: the format and all that about the playoff.
48:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, he was quite a little, a little kacious and saying, this is the only the beginning for the big 10, which is not kind of the talk you typically have heard out of him.
48:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And he spoke to this story, this being a great story.
48:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And it is a great story, not just for Indiana, it's a great story for the league.
48:26
[SPEAKER_00]: It's no longer Michigan and Ohio State carrying the banner for the big 10.
48:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I think having proved positive that a team like Indiana,
48:34
[SPEAKER_00]: came not only win a national title but go 16 you know make waves make a turnaround like this that means a lot for the big tin and it means a lot for certainly their league partners uh... you know air chanks was there he's an indian alum the the c-o fox sports um... you know that that was that was a big day for fox sports as well to have three straight big tin titles because they know what that means in terms of the ratings uh... for next season
48:56
[SPEAKER_00]: more people are going to be watching in the end, where people are going to be watching Michigan.
49:00
[SPEAKER_00]: We're already seeing that increased investment, not just to keep up with Ohio State and Michigan in a league, but you're seeing, you know, USC pumping money.
49:07
[SPEAKER_00]: You're seeing Illinois pumping money.
49:08
[SPEAKER_00]: You're seeing Purdue change coaches, even though it might be costly to do that to bring in new blood.
49:15
[SPEAKER_00]: You're seeing across the board in the big ten some progress.
49:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, I think they're starting to grow about it up north of the Mason Dixon line.
49:23
[SPEAKER_00]: that this is this is their sport they're starting to compete now and I'm fascinated to see the existential crisis as it balloons further south of the Mason Dixon line there in the SEC country and how that how that reaction ends up kind of really defining this the sport for these next couple years as this big tin SEC Cold War starts to work raging.
49:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Jane you're in Knoxville are they panicking south of the Mason Dixon.
49:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think they're panicking.
49:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you have to acknowledge the reality of it.
49:53
[SPEAKER_01]: It is three in a row.
49:54
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you look at next year, I think you could argue that Oregon, Ohio State,
50:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Heck, I'm not going to bet against Indiana, though it's unbelievably hard to go back to back national champions, but if I've learned anything from Kurt Signetti this year, it's not to doubt him.
50:15
[SPEAKER_01]: So, and, you know, Brian mentioned USC, maybe that's another team.
50:20
[SPEAKER_01]: So they certainly have a lot of power at the top of the conference that could make it foreign-erough possibly.
50:27
[SPEAKER_01]: But I don't believe that the SEC is simply going to seed the power of college football to the big ten.
50:36
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not giving up, and I could make a case for
50:40
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, Georgia or Texas or Texas A and M next year to be a contender.
50:46
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't think this argument is over, but there's no way you can ignore the facts and the facts are the big tens of one, three in a row, and it might win foreign a row next year.
50:58
[SPEAKER_01]: So,
51:00
[SPEAKER_01]: panic, no, but certainly there's work to be done in conferences such as the SEC that are used to being that conference.
51:11
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not that conference right now.
51:14
[SPEAKER_02]: No, that's that's part of the paradigm shift to me.
51:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Exactly.
51:19
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not irrevocable as you said.
51:21
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it doesn't mean the SEC didn't go back and have another run.
51:24
[SPEAKER_02]: But right now,
51:25
[SPEAKER_02]: the the run is lopsided in favor of the big 10 and the other part of it is the SEC hasn't even had a team in the championship game the last three years uh... so that is pretty significant and a departure of you know them at least being around and in the hunt for for a title but not not really the last three years so uh...
51:49
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, it is what it is and we'll go to SEC spring meetings and and I think it'll be time to ask those coaches there.
51:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
51:56
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, they got some questions last year about it, but that's going to be the topic this time around, although who knows we will have drummed up some other ridiculous existential crisis by in college football by then, but, but I, you know, I want to hear what they have to say you guys are taking it on the chin from the big ten.
52:14
[SPEAKER_02]: What are you going to do about it?
52:16
[SPEAKER_01]: But they're saying it already, Pat.
52:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Look at what Texas did during the portal season.
52:21
[SPEAKER_01]: The money that they spent, look at the players they brought in.
52:24
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I look at what Texas A&M is spending at.
52:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's obvious, look at what LSU has done.
52:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's obvious that they know the days of the past where the SEC, you know, the way that it was built and the conference was operated and the way that it won games.
52:45
[SPEAKER_01]: are the way to build programs, uh, techniques right the paradigm is changed and they they're the ones that have to adjust now.
52:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, they do they can what they need.
52:56
[SPEAKER_02]: They need better coaching than what they have gotten in some places, like at LSU, particularly comes to mind.
53:02
[SPEAKER_02]: But some other spot Florida for goodness sakes.
53:05
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, what is going on at Florida?
53:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, Bama.
53:09
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.
53:10
[SPEAKER_02]: The quarterback play Auburn Auburn has been a dumpster fire for four years.
53:16
[SPEAKER_02]: The quarterback play hasn't been as good.
53:18
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, you got Mendoza and Julian
53:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
53:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Don't say more, absolutely.
53:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
53:27
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, they've got, they've got some things they've got to take care of.
53:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
53:32
[SPEAKER_02]: But to that point, Gene, Gene alluded to it and we'll talk about this and then we'll get out of here.
53:37
[SPEAKER_02]: We put out our way to early top 25 for 2026 because if you're just not even a reputable website, if you haven't taken a wild, ridiculous, irrational, irresponsible guess at what's going to happen a year from now.
53:52
[SPEAKER_02]: So we've got that out there.
53:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Brian Fisher wants you to give us our top six or seven.
53:59
[SPEAKER_02]: So the win we can we can briefly debate or give our thoughts, Jean and I.
54:03
[SPEAKER_02]: What we think about it.
54:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I mean, you know, to your point, you know, Ohio State number one, you know, they have.
54:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Jeremiah Smith coming back.
54:11
[SPEAKER_00]: They have another high-spin finalist in Julian Sain coming back.
54:14
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, the buck eyes as they continually do the last three decades, right?
54:19
[SPEAKER_00]: They continually reload.
54:21
[SPEAKER_00]: The tricky thing about putting this together is obviously you don't know the schedules for everybody.
54:25
[SPEAKER_00]: You know opponents, but I think we've found that this year, the ordering of opponents.
54:29
[SPEAKER_00]: When you're playing buys, when you're playing back to back road game,
54:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Especially in the big tin given the travel concerns, you know, you are kind of taking a stab in the dark, but I think a lot of people are going to be pretty confident putting Ohio State never won just given what they have coming back and let's face it.
54:44
[SPEAKER_00]: We know how they are when it comes to motivation, certainly going into the year and how they can use that to fuel them on some of their CFP runs.
54:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Notre Dame is number two, Georgia number three, Texas number four.
54:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think there were some some consideration of for a lot of people given what Texas has done in the portal to to put them back at number one in the preseason Number five Indiana which you know, I think we had this debate obviously last year you know, we we you're
55:12
[SPEAKER_00]: initial formula had them in the top four.
55:16
[SPEAKER_00]: We put them at number five, you know, they've got some new new pieces.
55:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Certainly, Oregon's up there at number six.
55:21
[SPEAKER_00]: We got Mayan, Miami, who was just in the title game, returns a lot from this team.
55:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Certainly, some question marks at a key places at number seven, and I think we can break cut the list off at number eight with Texas Tech.
55:33
[SPEAKER_02]: There you go.
55:34
[SPEAKER_02]: That's that's our completely wild guess there.
55:38
[SPEAKER_02]: I did just see his effect a report that you know one of the big things that Miami's got coming in is Darian Mensa from Duke at quarterback.
55:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Duke is apparently suing Darian Mensa for a breach of contract.
55:51
[SPEAKER_02]: So we'll see you other than that has any effect on it.
55:55
[SPEAKER_02]: But Gene, do you got anybody you want to nominate?
55:57
[SPEAKER_02]: Number one for next year?
55:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I have Oregon, Notre Dame, Ohio State, IU, and Texas as my top five, and I was waiting to see what happened with Mensa and Miami, but that would be my top five.
56:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I briefly, for a nanosecond, considered putting Texas at number one, but I could hear you already going, no, no.
56:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, so I didn't do it, but given what Oregon showed me this here and what they have coming back, I'm willing to take a flyer on them as the way, way, way, way too early, number one for next season.
56:40
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, the great thing about the way too early is we have many monster revised them change them and pump them back out for additional content.
56:48
[SPEAKER_02]: uh... briefly here to end the show gene will jascues done phenomenal work on the podcast all season uh... is is signing off for now from the football side of things the podcast will continue uh... i'm gonna be at the winter Olympics so we got some things to figure out but the podcast will continue but jino's a football guy he's done great work for football and i think you might have a book coming out to jane that we need to uh... we need to
57:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, if I could just get a credit card number from you past, I'll put you down for some pre-orders.
57:22
[SPEAKER_01]: That's 100 book minimum, but with the money that you make, I'm sure it's no problem.
57:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I do have a golf novel coming out shortly before the masters.
57:33
[SPEAKER_01]: It's being published by Crown Publishing.
57:35
[SPEAKER_01]: It's called All Carry, which is sort of a term that is used in golf.
57:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And I hope people will look it up.
57:45
[SPEAKER_01]: It got a plug from John Grisham of all people.
57:48
[SPEAKER_01]: If you can believe it, and it was a gas to write.
57:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's built around the idea of a set of magic clubs that were made for the great Jack Nicholas.
58:04
[SPEAKER_01]: that somehow find their way into the hands of a, of a fired TV golf reporter and so there's some a mixture of fiction in fact, but I took great pride.
58:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying to make an authentic book, The Doubt With The World of Catties and Television and Father and Son, and of course, The Masters, which is where the book ends up.
58:32
[SPEAKER_01]: So thanks for letting me make a quick plug for it.
58:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And when we're done here, I'll just go ahead and get that credit card info from you.
58:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, sure.
58:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Operators are standing by.
58:43
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm aware.
58:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, it should be great, I look forward to it all carry everybody to check it out.
58:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, and thank you Brian and Pat for letting me be part of this podcast and thank you to our production team and to our sponsors during the course of the season.
59:02
[SPEAKER_01]: It's been a gas and I've really appreciated you guys letting me be part of it.
59:07
[SPEAKER_02]: We've loved it.
59:08
[SPEAKER_02]: It's been awesome and
59:11
[SPEAKER_02]: We hope this isn't good buy for forever.
59:13
[SPEAKER_02]: That's for sure.
59:15
[SPEAKER_02]: But we will, yeah, we will be reconvening here in a reordered format at some point.
59:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you to the listeners for all for a full season.
59:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Perhaps we'll bind into our exonvaldees coverage of college football as we Korean around.
59:32
[SPEAKER_02]: sometimes ineptly, but we tried to provide some insights, some information, and some laughs along the way, and we'll be back.
59:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know, maybe next week.
59:44
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll see about that, but for now, thanks for listening, and let's talk to you all later.