Latest / The Mike Blitz Show / Recruiters Are Out, Tacticians Are In: Is Talent No Longer Enough? | Punt or Go For It, Week 7

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Recruiters Are Out, Tacticians Are In: Is Talent No Longer Enough? | Punt or Go For It, Week 7 · The Mike Blitz Show

0:01
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the Mike Blitz Podcast.
0:03
SPEAKER_02: This is week seven punt or go for it.
0:06
SPEAKER_02: Mike thinks the group of six already has its biggest winner.
0:09
SPEAKER_02: He thinks Indiana, defending national champions, sitting 6-0 is the least impressive team in the top 10.
0:15
SPEAKER_02: And he says Ohio State's about to walk in the door and destroy them.
0:19
SPEAKER_02: He's got a theory about tacticians, it girls recruiters.
0:21
SPEAKER_02: Some of these I'm going for.
0:23
SPEAKER_02: Some of them I'm gonna punt on.
0:25
SPEAKER_02: All this and more.
0:26
SPEAKER_02: Join us, blitzers.
0:27
SPEAKER_02: This is Punter Go for week seven.
0:34
SPEAKER_01: Gentlemen, welcome to the Mike Blitz.
0:37
SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Mike Wade.
0:38
SPEAKER_01: My co-host over there, Mark Franzen and Darren Steadman.
0:42
SPEAKER_01: Good to be back.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: We are getting closer to week seven action, closer to our trip to Blacksburg.
0:49
SPEAKER_01: So glad to be talking college football with you guys this evening.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: Always fun.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: Always fun.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: Good stuff.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you something.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you something here.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: So it has been summer has lasted way too long.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: We are in October 13th right now, uh, day of recording, and it is like 80 degrees outside.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: It's nonsense.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: I've been waiting for that cool, crisp uh morning like frost on the grass.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: Haven't gotten it yet, but we're gonna get it this weekend.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get a little uh we're gonna go on going to Blacksburg.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: Um very chilly, um, day and nighttime, down near the freezing temperatures in the 30s, gonna be glorious.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: And today I did something, one of my favorite October, fall is here, spooky season, Halloween, Halloween is here, traditions.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, went to Total Wine, got a shopping cart, and got a six pack of pumpkin beer, got another six pack of some more pumpkin beer, got another six-pack of some brown beer, and some maple, this and that, and some uh autumn spice, this and that.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: And I just got my autumn beers by the sixes and the fours, and I just loaded up the shopping cart, and I do it, and it's gonna be a wonderful, glorious October and November ahead.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's gonna last me through the through the orange season, which goes from now until uh Thanksgiving day, of course, until we turn into red and green season.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, so you know, I'm looking forward, looking forward to the chilly temperatures to match the the actual month of October that we're in the middle of.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh but that's a that's a fun October tradition.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: So I'm ready.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: You can mark me down for about two pumpkin beers a year.
2:34
SPEAKER_01: One with you.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not the big pumpkin beer guy.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: One with you maybe this weekend, and then another sometime around Thanksgiving, then I'm all set.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: I'll see you in 2027.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: But I am excited for those two pumpkin beers.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: I say the same thing about Christmas stouts every year, too.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: I'll go get a bottle of GBS and I'll say, damn, this and I'll drink it on you know the Christmas Eve or whatever.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: And I'll say, damn, this is good.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: This is so delicious.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to have another one until next Christmas.
3:01
SPEAKER_01: See you later.
3:02
SPEAKER_01: Goodbye.
3:02
SPEAKER_01: And I'll pack it up with my uh Christmas lights and reindeer and then bring it back out in 2027.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: Mark, are you gonna tell him or me?
3:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh go right ahead.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: So we were talking before you showed up to the to the room, Michael, okay earlier.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: And Mark Mark admitted, I said something about the pumpkin beers.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: Mark admitted, you know what?
3:21
SPEAKER_00: When you go over to the Wade House um in February, in like February or March, and Mark's like, hey, you know, you guys got any beer?
3:30
SPEAKER_00: You gotta get a beer for me to borrow?
3:32
SPEAKER_00: And there is all usually a pumpkin beer.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: There's a pumpkin beer in your beer fridge in like February or March that never got drunk, and Mark's like, hey, what about the beer fridge?
3:43
SPEAKER_00: Can I check out the beer beer?
3:44
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you go and buy like three for or three or four for Anna, and she has one or two and she's done, and then it's like, well, you guys can't let it get old.
3:51
SPEAKER_02: I'll take it.
3:52
SPEAKER_02: I have to have it.
3:53
SPEAKER_02: I mean, yeah, St.
3:54
SPEAKER_02: Patrick's Day pumpkin beer at your house is wonderful.
3:57
SPEAKER_01: Ann and I are massive phonies.
3:58
SPEAKER_01: We both say we like pumpkin beers, then we'll go.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: So we'll go buy a six-pack of pumpkin and the you know, the Hardywood farmhouse or whatever, and I'll have my one.
4:06
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, okay, I'm all set.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: Anna will have her one.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: She's like, okay, I'll go back to Seltzer's or Wine or Margarita's or whatever.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: And she's all set.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: The other 10 just sit there and we wait for Mark to drink them.
4:16
SPEAKER_01: And he and he and he's and he spends most of Q1 the following year, just kind of chipping away them as we're watching college basketball or NHL, whatever the hell we're watching in February, bemoaning that we're not bemoaning that we're not watching college football anymore.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: The pumpkin beer takes the edge off, makes us bring us back to the college football season that we messed with.
4:33
SPEAKER_02: If pumpkin beer was year-round, I wouldn't buy it or drink it probably ever.
4:36
SPEAKER_02: But the fact that it comes out that one time of year, I really want it.
4:40
SPEAKER_02: Um, and then you know, I try to I try not to drink too many of them uh in one sitting, but like if I can sparse them out, oh I love it, dude.
4:47
SPEAKER_02: And then Stout Season, you are, you are we did we did a Hardywood gingerbread variant tasting.
4:54
SPEAKER_02: And I don't think I got any of them right.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: It was a it was a uh very, very uh foggy evening.
4:59
SPEAKER_01: Well the problem is, yeah, they're all like the next day.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: They're all like 11%.
5:03
SPEAKER_01: So after like one and a half of one of them, you're like, I don't know what I'm drinking anymore.
5:06
SPEAKER_01: It's not you know, everything tastes good.
5:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the notes of of uh hickory and whatever bourbon barrel, I've I don't they're no longer to dull out.
5:17
SPEAKER_01: They start to dull out, just kind of kind of drifts into the middle of nowhere.
5:21
SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe I'll buy a pumpkin beer at the bar on Friday night when we're at when we're at Beamers eating burgers for dinner.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure I'm assuming it's where we're gonna go.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: Maybe a draft pumpkin beer to kick off the fall weekend is what we call it something.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: Good idea.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: I'll buy you one.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: I'll buy you one.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: There it is.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: Happy too.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: There it is.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: Love that round round of pumpkins.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: Round of pumpkins for the crew.
5:44
SPEAKER_01: Screw the hookies.
5:44
SPEAKER_01: All right, good stuff.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: Let's go ahead and jump into some.
5:47
SPEAKER_01: That was good, man.
5:47
SPEAKER_01: We haven't had a good beer conversation this podcast in a while.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: This says this podcast started out almost as a beer podcast, and Mark's background is in beer podcasting.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: So this is very much uh all in our wheelhouses, Darren being a very successful uh brewer, homebrew himself.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: So all of us uh passionate beer drinkers.
6:04
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, let's talk about some college football.
6:06
SPEAKER_01: That's why you're here.
6:06
SPEAKER_01: Tonight's segment is called the punt or go for it segment.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: You guys know the drill, but I'll quickly review them.
6:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give you guys we only have four tonight, four takes, four hot takes, four bold proclamations.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna try and talk you into them.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: And if you if I'm talking into them, you guys are head coaches with the headsets on, you're making the call.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: I'm your quarterback saying, Come on, coach, give me the ball.
6:24
SPEAKER_01: Let's we can get we can move the change, we can do it.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: If you like the if you like the opinion, if you think the right analysis, you're going to go for it, you are accepting.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: If you're saying nope, too risky, we are pinned in our we are pinned too far deep.
6:37
SPEAKER_01: No, our defense is playing as pitching a shutout.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: We're just gonna put the ball on defense.
6:41
SPEAKER_01: You are rejecting the opinion.
6:43
SPEAKER_01: You don't like it, think it's no good, think it's wrong.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: You are punting.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: Go for it.
6:47
SPEAKER_01: I love it, I'm in, punt, I'm out.
6:49
SPEAKER_01: That's those are the rules.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna kind of work through these four, just kind of all over different categories of college football.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: I'll give you a chance to kind of uh break down some hot takes here, uh, week seven and beyond.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: With that said, let's go ahead and jump right into the first one.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: The G6.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: The G6, folks, it's Boise.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: It was Boise, it is Boise, and it will be Boise forever.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: They are your G6 obviously playoff team, they're the best team in the G6, they're going to win the Pac-12.
7:20
SPEAKER_01: It was fun to pretend about North Dakota.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: It was North Dakota Skate, excuse me.
7:25
SPEAKER_01: I obviously there is still hope for some Memphis and JMU, but Boise is on a full speed crash course for that playoff spot, and they might even get in a game where they could even keep it close to potentially win.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: They are the best team in the G6.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: I don't see anybody that's even come close to them, really, when it comes down to it.
7:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh, they are going to get the playoff spot.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: Hunt or go for it.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: Boise states is the playoff team, it's theirs to lose, and really they're not gonna.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: What do you got?
7:55
SPEAKER_02: Aaron.
7:57
SPEAKER_00: Um Boise, what what have they done?
8:02
SPEAKER_00: I want to I wanna see what Boise Dunn has done for me lately.
8:06
SPEAKER_02: All right, you mean to go down the schedule for you?
8:09
SPEAKER_02: Please.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: I do, yeah.
8:10
SPEAKER_02: All right, all right.
8:10
SPEAKER_02: They opened the season, losing to Oregon, 34-27 in the game.
8:15
SPEAKER_02: They very well could have won.
8:16
SPEAKER_02: They went to Memphis and won 38-20.
8:19
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry, Memphis came to town.
8:20
SPEAKER_02: Then South Dakota came to town and they won 38-24.
8:24
SPEAKER_02: They went to Western Michigan and won 32-7.
8:28
SPEAKER_02: Um, the first week of October, they beat Utah State 37-18.
8:32
SPEAKER_02: This past weekend at Fresno State, they won 38-31.
8:36
SPEAKER_02: They are 5-1 in the season, 2-0 in conference.
8:40
SPEAKER_02: And I was gonna say they do have Oregon State coming up soon.
8:44
SPEAKER_02: In uh in Boise, though.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that Oregon State game.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: That's that's looking that's looking like the big one where it was it was Fresno, but I think now it's gonna be Oregon State.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that Oregon loss is getting a little worse.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: Um I don't know, I don't know.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: That's not a huge factor.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: Beating Memphis was a huge factor.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Memphis is getting better.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: The Memphis win is huge.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: Um so contenders, JMU, you know, they're gonna they're gonna maybe go undefeated.
9:21
SPEAKER_00: And so that's the only that's the only hurdle here.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be looking at the end of the season at a one loss, one Oregon loss Boise team, or undefeated JMU in the Sunbelt, and it's gonna be Boise.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: I think that I think the the cards will go to Boise State.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: They are the class.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, they beat Memphis, they beat Fresno.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: If they beat Oregon State, I think your your take is on, and I'm gonna go for it.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: Uh Boise is your class of the G6.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: It was close there for a second.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: If you're saying it wasn't close, I don't know about that.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, but there's some closeness, there's some closeness in there, but I will take them.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh I will take them to to be the representative.
10:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh Mike, take me back in the past.
10:08
SPEAKER_02: Or what were the rules made?
10:09
SPEAKER_02: There was one, it was the Big 12 or the Pac-12 was doing some type of open-ended last game of the year.
10:15
SPEAKER_01: I was just gonna say that, yeah.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: So they have the flex scheduling.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: Um I I don't know all the rules specifically.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: Um I but I think but I my understanding is was is is they've already scheduled the home teams and the away teams, but they can tweak those a little bit in the pack if they want to set up um their two best teams to vault them into the playoffs theoretically.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: So they have they have a placeholder for that last week games, but there's obviously there's there's eight teams, there's four games.
10:45
SPEAKER_01: All of them are switchable, so they have an agreement in place that if they need to move them, they could.
10:50
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if they can massage it to a point where Oregon State plays Boise, but what if Oregon and Boise State play each other in that second to last week and it's like a two-point overtime game?
10:59
SPEAKER_01: You're telling me we can have a rematch of that game the following week, maybe like in the other person's stadium or something.
11:05
SPEAKER_01: Like, again, I don't know all the specifics, but I do know there is some wiggle room in the in the in the Big 12, excuse me, Pac-12.
11:12
SPEAKER_01: So that that might be something.
11:14
SPEAKER_01: There might be something there, especially if Oregon State continues on this absolutely meteoric rise.
11:19
SPEAKER_01: Oregon State, you know, for for all their only losses are Houston and Texas Tech, two competitors, two teams that might be as good as Oregon.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: And you know, those are those are really good losses by Oregon State standards as well.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: So keep an eye on that space.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: I am I'm interested in Jesse Legree, Braden Atkinson, and what they're doing up in core Vallas for sure.
11:40
SPEAKER_01: So Mark, are you punting or going for it on that one?
11:44
SPEAKER_02: I I think I'm actually gonna punt on that one.
11:48
SPEAKER_02: Uh I think JMU or New Mexico, I know North Dakota State with their loss is probably mathematically eliminated.
11:54
SPEAKER_02: A one-loss team from the Mountain West won't make it.
11:57
SPEAKER_02: And I know New Mexico has a loss, but I think their loss was like to a big school, not and no offense to the size of um of UNLV, but I think it was a like a top 20 school beat New Mexico.
12:12
SPEAKER_02: I can see New Mexico or JMU leapfrogging Boise State here, especially with this possible Pac-12 conference game at the end, uh, where they they go and and don't happen to win pack one.
12:22
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna punt on this one.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: Jason X only loss is New Mexico Lobos was at Oklahoma, 14 to 6 in a game that was winnable, if I remember that correctly.
12:29
SPEAKER_02: And Oklahoma was in the top 10 at the time.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think that I think that game was like seven to six in like late in the fourth.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: Like I think, I think if I remember correctly, New Mexico had a shot at pulling it off.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: So my point, yes, I think and probably in the eyes of the voters, they run the table.
12:45
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how good their odds are, but they are far from dead.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: They're definitely not dead.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, I still like Boise.
12:52
SPEAKER_01: I think they're I think the best team, but I but I'm now realizing there are more, they're more than one good team.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: I think I just think they're the best.
12:59
SPEAKER_02: I don't think Liberty is very good, but Liberty's five and one also.
13:02
SPEAKER_02: Um there's a lot of good one-loss teams in the G6 right now, but that's true.
13:06
SPEAKER_01: But the Nakusa is so bad.
13:08
SPEAKER_01: Like the best team, the best team of the CUSA, I think the as the SP Plus is like in the 80s.
13:12
SPEAKER_01: Like they're they're all in the upper hundreds, you know, the the CUSA and Mac.
13:18
SPEAKER_02: Liberty is at 50 in uh the SP.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: My bad.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: My bad.
13:22
SPEAKER_02: Uh okay.
13:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, then it's a long track to the next one.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: Well, let's move it up.
13:28
SPEAKER_01: All right, if you're listening to podcasts right now, I want you to do something.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: Go pull up your top 10, your AP top 10, pause this podcast and pull up your top 10.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: Have it look at your screen while we're talking so we can kind of talk about the uh AP top 10.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: Go ahead and hit pause now.
13:43
SPEAKER_02: Got it, got it right here.
13:45
SPEAKER_02: All right, I've got it, memorized.
13:46
SPEAKER_02: Should we just read it off real quick for those in their cards?
13:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, let's do it real quick.
13:49
SPEAKER_01: Georgia, Notre Dame, Miami, Ohio State, Indiana, Alabama, Texas, BYU, Ole Miss, and Texas Tech is your AP top 10 right now.
13:57
SPEAKER_01: One of those teams sticks out to me tremendously.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I got Indiana is the most unimpressive team in the top 10 by far.
14:07
SPEAKER_01: They are barely beating Northwestern.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh, they are just getting past Nebraska.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: The red flags are going up.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: Their non-cons have been a joke.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: They have they do not have Aiden Fisher on that defense.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: They do not have D'Angelo Pons.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: They do not have Mendoza.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: They are not who we thought they were.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: The pass rush isn't nearly as good.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh, they still have great receivers, quarterback is nearly as good.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, defense is not nearly as good.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: I think they're going to get smoked.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: They're going to get exposed.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: They are, for my money, the most unimpressive team in the top 10.
14:38
SPEAKER_01: And I don't even think it's close.
14:40
SPEAKER_01: Punt or go for it.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: Indiana is the most unimpressive team in the AP top 10 right now.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to punt on that um because I think they have some peers in that description.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: I think they can wear that name, that name tag that you gave them, but I think the Big 12 teams can do the same thing.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: I think BYU and Texas Tech have not had their moment to prove themselves.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm a huge BYU supporter.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: I can't wait for the weekend for them to have that opportunity to show up against Notre Dame.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: But they have beaten Arizona.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: That's great.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: That's all that BYU has really done.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: They beat Iowa State by only 14, TCU by seven.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, BYU hasn't quite proven themselves.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: As you know, they're they're in the same category as the Indiana that you are describing.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: Now, expectations were monumentally higher for X for Indiana.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: And so for Indiana to be a peer of BYU and Texas Tech is kind of um a poo-poo on Indiana, like you're saying.
16:31
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Texas Tech, same thing.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: They haven't had their moment to absolutely define themselves as a top 10 team.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna punt on your take because Indiana doesn't stand alone as one of those unimpressive teams in this list.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: That's a group of three.
16:47
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
16:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm gonna punt on it for a different reason because while I do think Texas Tech and Utah haven't proved anything, I think the most unimpressive team in the top ten is Texas.
16:57
SPEAKER_02: They shouldn't have beat Ohio State.
16:59
SPEAKER_02: They just lost to Oklahoma.
17:01
SPEAKER_02: While their defense is good, they just don't look, they haven't impressed me in any way.
17:06
SPEAKER_02: I like you even say they have Ferraris all over the place, and they should be winning by a lot more than they are.
17:12
SPEAKER_02: That's the unimpressive team.
17:13
SPEAKER_02: Now, Indiana came out, they lost, or they beat a good Nebraska team, a good Northwestern team.
17:20
SPEAKER_02: Um, they didn't run them out of the building, but then again, I also think as a national champ, they now have a target on them, and these teams are going to be coming for them.
17:29
SPEAKER_02: So um, most unimpressive, I'm going Texas.
17:32
SPEAKER_02: Punt on this one, Mike.
17:34
SPEAKER_01: That's fair.
17:35
SPEAKER_01: Okay, moving on.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: Pun to go for it.
17:37
SPEAKER_01: Number three.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: No conference has more than one serious title contender that can win it all.
17:43
SPEAKER_01: We talked previously about the Big 12 being being absolute cinema and how all the great games, all the great teams, anyone's grace.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: I still believe that.
17:50
SPEAKER_01: What I don't believe is that any of them can win the national championship.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: In the ACC, we've already talked about it.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: It's Miami, the Hoover Dam, and then everybody else.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: Georgia has just reaffirmed itself and told everybody again, we are it.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: We are him, we are the class.
18:06
SPEAKER_01: They went to Tuscaloosa, very impressive win.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: Punch Alabama in the mouth.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: They are the class of college football.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: They are the gold standard like they have never been, like they've all like they were years ago.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: I'll put it this way more directly.
18:19
SPEAKER_01: If you give me Notre Dame, Miami, Indiana, and Ohio State, you can have the field.
18:24
SPEAKER_01: I've got the national championship winner.
18:27
SPEAKER_01: Hunt or go for it.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: No conference has more than one serious title contender that can win it all.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: Say those teams a game.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: You said Notre Dame and let's make it Georgia, Georgia, Miami, and Ohio State.
18:42
SPEAKER_01: You give me those four, you can have the other 134 teams.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: The national champion is coming from one of those.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: And none of those conferences have more than one of them.
18:52
SPEAKER_01: I got one per I got four teams that can win it all at this point.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: That's what I see.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: Well, I know we've talked a lot about how college football is flat, and that's great.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: I really do think the difference between number seven, number 27 is smaller than it hasn't been.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: But I'm seeing four teams that cut above that have the rosters, the coaching, the execution, the experience that can and will ultimately be the national championship winner.
19:14
SPEAKER_01: And it's one of those four teams.
19:16
SPEAKER_01: What do you got?
19:20
SPEAKER_02: Go for it.
19:21
SPEAKER_02: I I I hate to tell you that I think you're right, but I think you're right here.
19:24
SPEAKER_02: I think those teams can come out and win on a bad day.
19:28
SPEAKER_02: They can come out, maybe get in their way a couple penalties early, um, but still be able to overcome that and beat one of these other teams.
19:36
SPEAKER_02: I think the other teams that we're looking at in there, I, you know, a Texas, a BYU, Ole Miss, Texas Tech, if they were to get in their own way and come out and not be in their like elite game, um, I don't think they stand a chance against those four.
19:48
SPEAKER_02: So I hate to say that you're right, but I do believe.
19:51
SPEAKER_02: So let's go for it.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: Nurse.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to I'm gonna pause for a second and say there's there's one problem child.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: There's one problem child in this in this take, which is the Alabama Crimson Tide.
20:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I knew you would.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: They they are a team that should be on this list, and so you didn't include a Big 12 team.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of funny.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I get it.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: I love the Big 12.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: I just don't think anyone can win the win the national championship.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: I love the Big 12.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: I just don't think anybody in the Big 12 is capable of winning the national championship in 2026.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: No disrespect.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: There's two, there's kind of two conversations here.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: One is if you if you're actually talking about playing a future bet about the national championship, I would 100% take the field.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: But that aside, um, for conversational purposes here in mid-October, I see exactly what you're saying.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: That those are the classes of the of the FBS, of the 140 teams or whatever of the FBS.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: You do honestly have four, but I gotta say that there is a fifth.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: The Alabama Crimson Tide have what it takes um to to take it all the way.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: So this is a close call.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have to call a timeout.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: Burn one of my timeouts mid-game.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: Is you know, it's like uh calling a measurement.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna fake get get one of my defensive linemen to fake an injury so I can think about this a little bit more, but I'm gonna have to punt because right there with the Georgia Bulldogs, I will put Alabama and they are and maybe a notch above Notre Dame, honestly.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: The second best team in the SEC is still better than Notre Dame at this point in mid-October.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna punt for that reason.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: A good game to watch.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: When they go to Provo for the uh or wherever I think I think Provo, I think is where the BYU plays.
21:49
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna find out a lot about if they go up there and just dump them and they win by 20, then I think we're gonna kind of know.
21:55
SPEAKER_01: But uh, you're right, they are a little bit of an unproven quantity at this point.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think I mean Alabama could have won that game.
22:03
SPEAKER_01: And this, if they had won that, they you know, I don't want to ding Alabama butt so much for losing to Georgia at home in a back and forth game.
22:11
SPEAKER_01: There was some crazy officiating, that PI call that didn't that didn't happen at the very end, could have had an outcome on the game.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: So you're making a good if I was going to do a fifth team, it would be them for sure.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: And they are appropriately number six.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: Indiana is Indiana is the only team not in my four getting a first place vote, which we're gonna find out how wrong that is when Ohio State uh smokes them here on Saturday.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: So no, I can see it.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: I will just a fun fact is interesting.
22:38
SPEAKER_01: If if you Would uh laid a preseason bet if you were saying that the Vegas was giving you odds on seven teams, the four that we have, plus Texas, um India, Texas, Indiana, and Oregon.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: If you had those seven teams, uh, they were saying the national championship or the field, it was even money.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: It was you get those seven, those seven.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you get that for minus one ten on most shops, or the field for minus one ten.
23:07
SPEAKER_01: So it was about even money.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: So all I'm saying, so all I'm saying is that odds have really been cut down to four.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, Alabama would be the biggest challenger to that.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: So no, I don't hate it.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: I don't hate Alba.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: Albama's been the fly in my ointment for 20 years.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: Why would they stop now?
23:24
SPEAKER_01: I just that's that's very on brand from the from my friends in Tuscaloosa.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: So sure.
23:28
SPEAKER_01: Lifelong LSU fan over here, struggling on the the cost of the wake of the Alabama crypto tile.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm so used to it.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and what a and what a weekend.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you are you are so right at this point to to exclude the Indiana Hoosiers, but we're gonna find out, you know, they might just they might just do what Alabama just did and almost win the game by three points and have every right to be a peer hand in hand beside USC, uh Ohio State.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: I mean um and so we'll get we're gonna find out about them, um it which is awesome here in mid-October.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: Uh what a you know, it's a pre it is a pre-playoff preview game right here in front of our eyes on Saturday.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
24:12
SPEAKER_01: I mean DN's a three and a half point dog at home.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: That's a winnable game.
24:15
SPEAKER_01: That's a winnable game, is a winnable game, is a winnable game for sure.
24:18
SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's gonna happen, but it's a winnable game.
24:21
SPEAKER_01: All right.
24:22
SPEAKER_01: Last punter go for evening.
24:23
SPEAKER_01: This one is kind of this is so listen, I've been workshopping this for months actually.
24:28
SPEAKER_01: This has been an opinion that I've been forming.
24:30
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna kind of talk through it.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna see where it goes for it.
24:33
SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about this new phase of college football that we are in now.
24:38
SPEAKER_01: So, those of you mostly know, the last 20, 30, 40 years of college football have been dominated by one real force in college football recruiting, talent retention.
24:49
SPEAKER_01: The transfer portal didn't really exist.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: Nil was non-existent.
24:53
SPEAKER_01: There was, of course, some some below the below the radar stuff happening, but generally speaking, that wasn't it.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: What that meant was most of the rosters of the that are winning national championships were stacked with first, second, third, fourth team superstars.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: What's happened in the I in the NIL era and the portal era, that talent has flattened out tremendously.
25:12
SPEAKER_01: Lots of schools have money that can pay their players, lots of schools want to pay their players, they have starters.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: It's virtually impossible to build the depths of the mid-2010s Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State squads that we were so Georgia teams that we're so used to.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: Now there's lots of rosters that have competitive rosters.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: What we're seeing now is a shift from the recruiters of yesteryear that dominated football to the tacticians and the developers of College of Comfortable that it is now, which is similar to what you're seeing in the NFL game.
25:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh Ryan Day, incredible offensive mind, Kiffin offense, Signetti, uh, really great offensive minds.
25:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh Kirby, Corey Heatherman at uh Miami, Brett Venables at Oklahoma.
25:53
SPEAKER_01: These guys are elite at one side of the ball.
25:57
SPEAKER_01: I think we're going to see the next era of this is what this is the punt, or go for it.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I'm saying: in the next 10 to 15 to 20 years of college football, the college football teams that win the national championship are going to be a head coach that is absolutely dominant and a brilliant tactician at one side of the ball, somebody that brings incredible defense, future offenses that just gives people fits, a scheme on offense or defense that can do something truly special.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: That's where this game is headed.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: That's where much of the NFL already is, and we're going to see that change in college football.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: Punter, go for it.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: The future of college football is not about recruiters, it's about tact tacticians.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: What do you got?
26:42
SPEAKER_00: So I'll start by saying the opposite.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: We are seeing the opposite is true to prove your point.
26:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, in Oregon, and so Oregon promoted a offensive coach to their offensive coordinator position.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: How's that working out?
26:58
SPEAKER_00: Not great.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so you know, and that's true for a couple teams, they have an internally promoted tight ends coach who's, you know, offensive coordinator, that sort of thing.
27:11
SPEAKER_00: Not working out well.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: So uh and Buster Faulkner, where we keep saying over and over is doing great work, um, offensive coordinator.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: So these, yeah, these coordinators that are working in tandem.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: And are you saying head coach only, or are you saying coordinators tied to them, the way they work together?
27:29
SPEAKER_00: Because you got Signetti and his and his coordinators are all of a sudden like, who's that guy?
27:35
SPEAKER_01: Oh, the some of the best coordinators in the country that we didn't know about work through is like I just think it's the Delta in a way that it hasn't been in previous years when it's really been about, as they say, the Jimmies and Joes, not the X's and O's.
27:53
SPEAKER_01: Now it's about the X's and O's because everybody has enough Jimmies and Joes spread across the top.
27:58
SPEAKER_01: So that's really so.
28:00
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's not just but like I look at guys like Dabo, Dabo, or and Sabin for that matter.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: Saban was a defensive-minded guy, but he was really known for being a process-oriented, very disciplined, obviously got gobs and gobs and gods of talent to Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge.
28:15
SPEAKER_01: He's a very good recruiter at Baton Rouge in his time there as well, and that translated to a lot of victories.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure that he I only one, he couldn't retain the talent the way he did.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: The question is, could he get the coordinators that he needs to uh maximize the guys?
28:29
SPEAKER_01: This is something where Dabo has fallen absolutely flat.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: Tony Elliott went to UVA, great off great offensive mind, Brent Venables with Oklahoma, as we've seen, Oregon with a situation like that.
28:39
SPEAKER_01: And I think we're seeing more of that.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: Now, obviously, there are exceptions to this.
28:42
SPEAKER_01: I would and I uh Dave Aranda, great defensive coach, has not really worked out at Baylor, although he's kind of turned around.
28:48
SPEAKER_01: Josh Heipel has been kind of hit or miss.
28:51
SPEAKER_01: Um, whereas uh some of the manager more manager types, if you will, uh you know, the jury's still out on Kyle Winningham.
28:59
SPEAKER_01: I'm warning about Matt Campbell.
29:01
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure if he's he's gonna work out.
29:03
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, there are holes in this theory for sure.
29:07
SPEAKER_01: It is something that I'm trying to work through, but it's just something that I think I'm seeing.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: In fact, if you're listening to this right now and you've a bit you can more eloquently, more succinctly say it, please tell me.
29:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to get there.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: But I just we are seeing a shift in college football.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: It's I spent so much time and energy reading about recruiting, and it doesn't matter anymore.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: The question is, who has the coach that can get those guys, can scheme those guys open, can get the blocking schemes get downhill fast?
29:33
SPEAKER_00: Like that is where this sport is going.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: And to your point, what they did against the best teams in the country in the playoffs and ran the table undefeated last year was incredible.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: With with guys that I thought were overmatched for Indiana, um, you know, showing up huge on defense and you know, just blowing through the playoffs.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna go for it.
30:05
SPEAKER_00: I like your take.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh and Signetti as the example, I think.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: I think him as a as a former uh wide receivers coach and what he did with his with Mendoza and the back shoulder throws and how they how they come, you know, they were automatic from the five-yard line, two-point conversions.
30:25
SPEAKER_00: They just they just knew how to move the ball um at all points of the field.
30:31
SPEAKER_00: They they needed three yards, they got four all season long, and it was amazing.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: And I think that was Signeti's genius at play.
30:38
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna go for it.
30:41
SPEAKER_02: Sitting here trying to shoot holes in it and trying to understand how the NIL money changes the recruiting aspect of it, because and I like I think maybe you'd mentioned sometime before, there's there's not gonna be a day again where you have uh uh Tua Tungo Vialoa, uh Mac Jones, uh, and Jalen Hurts, or I forgot who the three quarterbacks were all about that, but they were stacked.
31:04
SPEAKER_02: Those three quarterbacks would be going to three different schools because they'd all have the opportunity to play a situation that they wouldn't have had because they were recruited to play for Alabama, for Nick Saban, and to wait their turn.
31:16
SPEAKER_02: So now, with the opportunity for people to play often, you need to have coaches that are stronger.
31:21
SPEAKER_02: And the elite coaches will take because they can get elite talent now that they were those all like stockpiled at Georgia, Alabama, Clemson at the time.
31:31
SPEAKER_02: That's what you're saying.
31:32
SPEAKER_02: So a coach, an elite on one side of the other coach can get the talent as long as they partner with somebody else elite on the other side, like a Lincoln Riley and a Gary Patterson type of thing, where you bring the strength where I'm weak.
31:48
SPEAKER_02: Is that where we're going, or is it more of a quarterback coach thing?
31:52
SPEAKER_01: There are gray areas, obviously, in the spectrum, but I just think I just think it's a must.
31:56
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you obviously need to be good on both sides of the ball, have talent on both sides of the ball, all those things.
32:01
SPEAKER_01: But I think the what I think we're talking about when we're trying to project the next 15 national championship winning college coaches, I think there is going to be an emphasis on people who are spectacular at on one side of the ball.
32:14
SPEAKER_01: Will Stein might be that guy someday.
32:17
SPEAKER_01: Buster Faulkner might be that guy someday.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: Lane Kiffin, here's hoping, and hopefully that guy is that guy here pretty soon.
32:23
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Lane Kiffin, for all of his craziness, is one of the elite offensive minds in college football.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: Even his haters don't really deny that.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: You know, so if he can get so that's I mean, it's a big reason why LSU is so optimistic, because we always got really good talent and we usually have a pretty good defense.
32:38
SPEAKER_01: So if Lane Kiffen can bring his offense and they could be forging the way for LSU, that's why LSU fans are optimistic about where these Tigers should go.
32:47
SPEAKER_01: And that's why I think Oklahoma was so optimistic about their coach, because Brent Venables is an elite defense coordinator.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: If you have Brent, you're going to have a great defense.
32:56
SPEAKER_01: They just don't have Jeff Levy this time.
32:57
SPEAKER_01: Jeff Levy's in Mississippi State now.
32:58
SPEAKER_01: Mississippi State, another good example.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: What if Mississippi State?
33:01
SPEAKER_01: What if Mississippi State had an elite?
33:03
SPEAKER_01: What if, you know, what if what if Levy had uh like Zach Arnett, he's a good guy, but and what if they had an elite defense?
33:08
SPEAKER_01: We're talking about Mississippi State crashing the party and being a top 10 team.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: Here's another here's another argument to back up my theory.
33:15
SPEAKER_01: Dan Mullen, he's on his way back.
33:17
SPEAKER_01: He was a terrible recruiter, but he coaches his pants off Mississippi State and Florida.
33:22
SPEAKER_01: And anybody who's honest will tell you he was very good play caller.
33:26
SPEAKER_01: He was very good at maximizing quarterbacks and getting these guys to play.
33:29
SPEAKER_01: He just couldn't get that much talent.
33:30
SPEAKER_01: He hated going to living rooms, hated doing that whole thing.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: Don't be surprised at all if Dan Mullen gets another job and it's a good one and he does well because he was a good developer back then, but now it's a hell of a lot more important.
33:46
SPEAKER_02: I think you sold me on it.
33:48
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna go for it.
33:48
SPEAKER_02: This is uh that's a it's a good take.
33:50
SPEAKER_02: I was trying to shoot holes in it this whole time, and no, I think you're spot on.
33:54
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna go for that one.
33:56
SPEAKER_01: Well, we have a decade to uh dissect it.
33:59
SPEAKER_01: So obviously, if it goes sideways, we'll see.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: But I think we're gonna see more of that.
34:02
SPEAKER_01: That will be judged next week.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: That's right, yeah.
34:06
SPEAKER_01: It's not a first half cover that we have to know right away.
34:08
SPEAKER_01: We'll have a little bit more time to chew on it.
34:10
SPEAKER_01: Dude, um uh ladies and gentlemen, that was punt or go for it.
34:15
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for listening, folks.
34:16
SPEAKER_01: If you have uh if you want to punt, or if you hate this take, you want to punt, if you want to go for it, if you want to poke holes in my tactician versus recruiter speech, any of those things, we would love to hear about.
34:25
SPEAKER_01: Make sure you comment below, subscribe, uh, get in the Discord.
34:28
SPEAKER_01: We'd love to engage with you guys and talk more about it.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: These are just fun, comfortable conversations.
34:33
SPEAKER_01: We love happing.
34:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I'm so excited you guys are with us, folks.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: Anything else, Mark?
34:37
SPEAKER_01: There, anything else for the goody order before we uh head on up out of here?
34:42
SPEAKER_01: No, sir.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: Come to Blacksburg this weekend.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: Give me a call if you're there.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: Yes, if you're tailgating in Blacksburg, Virginia, you want us to come hang out, drop us a line.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: We'll be sure to swing by.
34:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you will not be hearing it today.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: It's Tuesday, so you won't hear us from again until at least Sunday.
34:56
SPEAKER_01: So everybody enjoy the rest of your week.
34:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh, good luck to all your squads.
35:01
SPEAKER_01: We will see you on the other side of week seven.
35:03
SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about more scores, what happened.
35:05
SPEAKER_01: Look forward to week eight.
35:06
SPEAKER_01: As always, we're the Camario.
35:08
SPEAKER_01: Be safe, be smooth, and as always, have a great night.