Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / Scott Dochterman talks NFL Draft, Big Ten Football & Hawkeyes, Dane Mizutani on the Vikings firing their GM & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports

Transcript

Scott Dochterman talks NFL Draft, Big Ten Football & Hawkeyes, Dane Mizutani on the Vikings firing their GM & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports · The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon

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  All right, our number 2 Miller and Condon, it's the Iowa Sports
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  Radio Network flagship from Des Moines sports station.
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  One O 6.3 KXO Trent and I take you one till 2 Scott Doctorman
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  momentarily, then Dane Mazatani on.
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  The Vikings are coming up real quick.
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  The NFL just announced that they're going to have 7
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  international games this coming year.
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  Rio de Janeiro where they've been, Munich, where they've
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  been, 3 in London, one in Madrid.
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  The newcomer to the slate is Melbourne, Australia.
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  OK, it is 6:00 in the morning. 6 AMI think Tuesday, right, baby?
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  I think I'm, I think it's, I think yes, I think it's Tuesday.
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  I'll take your word for it. So how are they going to, I
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  mean, timing wise, this would have to be a Sunday night
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  special. This would have to be Sunday
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  Night Football. Yeah, absolutely.
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  I don't think there's any doubt about.
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  It to to make it fit. So this tells you that that
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  Melbourne's going to have, they're not going to get the
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  Browns and The Jets. You would hope not, right?
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  If you're going to put a Sunday night game, it's got to be at
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  minimum a marquee team. Do you put somebody, though that
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  probably is not going to be very good, still is going to rate
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  like the Cowboys? Do you do something like?
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  That oh, that's a good call. Where all right, the game not
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  might not be very. Good.
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  Yeah, a brand. But put a brand out there, yeah,
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  Make them travel. Let's not screw up a good team.
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  Yeah. Sorry, Cowboy fans.
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  Send the Chiefs. Oh, look at you send them.
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  Well, they definitely rate. Yes, they do.
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  We know that. Yeah, they're they're going to
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  certainly have plenty of eyeballs on them next season.
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  And they fit on Sunday night. I mean, they're, they do a lot
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  of prime timers. Anyways, I found that one.
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  Do you like them? No.
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  I don't I. Don't love them?
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  I miss plenty of them there and also ran.
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  You got to set your fantasy line up and you get up and set your
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  fantasy line up and I might get a bet on this game.
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  What am I going to do? Am I going to do it Saturday
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  night? Do I wait till Sunday more?
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  It just it creates a lot of inconveniences.
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  It's not awful by any means. It's more football.
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  I don't want to complain about that.
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  However, they're not. They're normally not the best of
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  games. No, not at all.
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  Not at all. Yeah, they're they're some
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  clunkers. Yes.
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  And they send some of the crappy games across the pond and they
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  work. But eventually we're going to
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  get to the point where every team will have an international
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  game. They've been saying that for
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  years. I think we're heading in that
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  direction. I don't think there's.
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  Any doubt now? The hope is that that will
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  happen when they get to the point where it's going to be.
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  An additional games on. Schedule 18 game schedule, maybe
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  even extra bye week in there, which I think would be a huge
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  necessity. How many teams were just running
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  on fumes at the end of the year and offensive lines banged up
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  and just how ugly it got? Yeah, I think that's something
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  that needs to happen. Absolutely.
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  All right, we'll get Scott Dockerman here coming up.
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  He writes for the Athletic. Look forward to catching up with
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  Doc, a variety of topics with Doc.
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  He actually went through the exercise of ranking the 85 Big
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  10 top ten are the top 85 Big 10 games coming up this year, which
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  well got to fill column inches, right.
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  So we'll get to Doc, we'll talk about that with him, etcetera.
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  I look forward to doing so if he's also back on the on the NFL
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  combine this year. So he's doing some mock drafts
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  already as he's turned the calendar from the real NFL
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  season into mock draft season and soon will be April and then
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  it'll be May and we will have our schedule for the upcoming
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  season in front of us. Because as we know, when it
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  comes to the NFL, it truly never stops.
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  When's free agencies like the 11th of March, I think combines
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  though, two weeks preceding that.
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  All right, Scott Dockerman momentarily look forward to
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  catching up with Doc on those topics.
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  I think he was tuning in to watch Iowa last night.
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  Watch. I will pick his brain on what he
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  saw. Trent and I both saw Fulgaris
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  taking some major steps forward in his development.
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  All right, let's get to our buddy Scott Dockerman.
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  He writes for The Athletic and he joins us.
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  Doc, Trent and Ken, thanks for coming on.
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  How are you, Scott? I'm great.
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  How's it going today? Good.
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  Good, good, good, good. The mock draft that you that you
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  and one of your colleagues put up, how difficult to do with
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  this time of year prior to the combine, etcetera, etcetera,
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  prior to knowing what teams will try to address with their free
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  agency that hits sometime in March.
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  Is it, is it more difficult or you try to factor that stuff in
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  or how do you go about doing what you're doing at the
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  Athletic? It it's probably, it's certainly
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  more difficult for me than Nick who that's one of his full time,
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  that's pretty much his full time gig is doing the draft.
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  He could do that in his sleep. And I kind of, you know, go from
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  college football season into mock draft season.
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  And, and so it's so it gets to be a little bit challenging, but
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  I think what you try to do is you, you try to align and, and
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  this is an earlier process then as you said.
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  And then when you get to combine season free agency and you can
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  kind of center on a few areas, but you, you try to the line up,
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  what are the direct needs for each team and then kind of cross
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  check it with what are the, the prospects in that range.
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  And then also you kind of top it off with, you know, what are
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  like in my case, I always look at like salary cap ramifications
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  and, and some other things too that are that figure into it.
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  But it's, it's more difficult now because we're still
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  nothing's really formed yet. The echo chamber hasn't quite
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  stabilized yet. So you know that that's kind of
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  where it came down for me. I want to ask you about a couple
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  of defensive lineman's and yes, that is not the shiniest object.
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  It's not quarterback in the draft, but two guys that were
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  just so impressive this year. We got to see a ton of Reuben
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  Bay and obviously with Miami's run through the playoffs and
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  what he was able to do with the constant double teams that he
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  was facing this year. And then David Bailey, who is as
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  disruptive as anybody. You're going to find me talk
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  about what money well spent by Texas Tech.
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  That was certainly the case with Bailey of this season.
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  Both of those guys, there's no such thing as can't misses, but
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  both those guys feel like they're going to be day one
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  impact type of players yet. Both top ten guys, but not even
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  top five type of guys. I guess.
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  What would be the knock against both Bain and Bailey?
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  I haven't developed that yet. OK, do early the process.
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  Right, yeah, I don't, I, I and that always.
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  Drove me crazy and it still does when the again, the the echo
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  chamber starts to tilt towards one thing and I I saw it this
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  weekend, frankly. And I mean there's a different
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  player, but with Jennings dunker that I saw a few of the draft
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  Nicks coming out saying, you know, well, you know, he's he's
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  not a first day pick. He's got stiffness and you know,
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  I'm like, are you kidding me? We're going to go with that
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  already. You know, it always irritates
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  me. I get on and gets on my nerves.
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  And then the worst case example for me was always Tristan works
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  because somebody called him UN athletic and I'm like, OK, you
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  forfeit your right to ever do this again.
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  I mean, if you're going to say that, then you have no right to
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  do this. But but I, I think with those
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  two, you know, they're going to go through the process.
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  Ruben Bain isn't necessarily really long per SE, you know,
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  but but I also look at like Aaron Donald kind of fit that
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  same area. So I, I think you take both of
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  them if they fit into what, how you scheme it the right way.
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  I mean, did you see David Bailey more as a stand up edge rusher
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  or traditional down lineman hand in the rubber filament?
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  I you know that that remains to be seen.
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  But and I'd like to get a really up close look at him in the
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  combine. Not that it will change in in
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  any way, shape or form my opinion of him.
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  It would just kind of sharpen my focus as to where I think he
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  would end up best because their proof is exactly the way they
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  played, which are two of the best players in America.
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  No doubt about it. Rodriguez and David Bailey,
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  pretty good 1-2 punch protects. That's money well spent in
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  Lubbock, no doubt about that. Just one more on this doc, and
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  you saw him, so I'll ask you about the presumptive #1 pick in
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  the draft in Fernando Mendoza. Is he going to be IA Sure thing,
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  no doubt about it. Starter day one type of player.
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  He's going to be, you know, like a Drake Mayer, like a Caleb
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  Williams. He's going to be a franchise
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  quarterback or where are you on Mendoza?
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  I think he is. I think he's going to start day
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  one. I mean, I would assume it's
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  going to be the Raiders. You know, they now they got
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  their coach Clint Kubiak and, and I, I would, I would say that
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  this is what you want to do is OK.
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  You got a brand new coach. He's an offensive minded coach
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  and you've got a quarterback and, and you know, he's
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  deceptively quick. He can, he can move.
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  And so if the Kubiak tree, which is, you know, kind of West Coast
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  dish and Shanahan like, and, and I think that's something that he
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  could probably do really well. I, I, I see him as being in the
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  right system with the right people around him.
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  I think he he can be a long term starter, you know, upper third
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  of the of the NFL. But as far as sure things go, I
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  don't think there is a such thing because I've seen some
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  good quarterbacks who were either wasted or it took them a
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  long time. I mean, you know, let's look at
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  like the class, I think it was of 18 where you had Josh Allen
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  has been, has played like a Hall of Famer.
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  I think he has one. Josh Rosen is an F.
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  And then Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield, it took him a long
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  time before they became quality starters.
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  I mean, Sam Darnold now is a very, very good quarterback.
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  But you know, so when quarterbacks get thrown in too
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  early, they, they don't mature quickly enough and next thing
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  you know that they get tossed out to the side and they get
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  people fired. And, and it's really unfair.
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  And I but I also think and, and it spills over a conversation I
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  just had is, you know, NIL could help dispel that a little bit or
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  delay it. Because you look at somebody
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  like Dante Moore, who probably would have been the number two
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  pick in the draft, He could have very easily wound up, you know,
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  striking out for his first couple of years and then get
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  thrown away. Whereas if he has one more year
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  of maturity at a place like Oregon, he might be a much
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  better candidate to for whoever drafts in one or two next year.
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  And that's always the challenge we need to deal with the NFL
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  draft is you want to let quarterbacks mature but but the
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  clock's ticking the first day they walk into.
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  The building, Yeah. Lamar Jackson, the last pick in
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  the first round of that draft you just alluded to.
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  Wild. Doc, last week you also pinned a
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  column over at the Athletic, ranking all 81 games in the Big
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  10 Conference coming up this season.
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  Now, normally this is an easy exercise.
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  Actually, number one, it's the game, it's Ohio State and
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  Michigan, and then you figure out the remaining 80 games
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  after. They're not the case this
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  season. You got the Buckeyes and the
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  Hoosiers at #1. Yeah, that one is that one.
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  You know, it's weird because I started thinking about this
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  whole concept back in December and at first I was like, wow,
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  maybe it's, and I think this was even before the championship
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  came. And I'm like, maybe it's Oregon,
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  Ohio State. That's a that's a pretty good
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  game. But but no, it's certainly, you
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  know, one versus 2. Indiana won the national title.
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  Ohio State won the national title last year.
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  I mean, this is this is pretty easy.
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  And, and it's strange because as you said, now I'll say this,
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  that Ohio State, Michigan will still get the number one ratings
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  of any game that we'll ever that we'll see all year.
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  But the biggest game is, is definitely on October 17th.
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  And then, and then again, I, this is the deep and robust of a
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  Big 10 schedules I've ever seen. When you have Oregon, Ohio
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  State, you have Ohio State and USC.
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  Those were like the two teams that when USC joined before even
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  Washington, Oregon, I've, those are like the flagships of those
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  two conferences. And I thought, man, that's,
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  that's saying something. And then you got, you know, and
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  then and the Big 10, the last three national champions all
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  will play each other this year in like a round Robin, you know,
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  'cause you have Indiana and Michigan, they're #6 and then
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  there's some really fun ones, interesting ones like
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  Northwestern and Michigan State, you know, Pat Fitzgerald Bowl.
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  MMM, I, I really like that. I, I think one of Iowa's biggest
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  is at Illinois in the penultimate week, you know,
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  'cause I think both those programs are, you know,
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  obviously Iowa's been strong for a long time, but Illinois is
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  kind of taking that step forward under Brett Bielema And, and,
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  you know, that's kind of a, as recruiting rivalries go, I think
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  that's probably Iowa's strongest rival in that regard.
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  So I think that's that's, that's a sneaky really big one.
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  And then there's a slug out there.
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  The Pat Fitzgerald you alluded to, too bad it's not at
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  Northwestern, but there will be games there.
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  Ryan Field, Doc, is it's going to be ready by all accounts.
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  Will you try and get there to see it?
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  Will you try to see Northwestern at home for that reason, to see
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  the new stadium? I'd love to I, I did a tour of
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  it because I went to Wrigley for the Northwestern Michigan game.
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  But the day before with Pat Ryan, the the Northwestern's
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  owner, I did a tour of the new state and it is unbelievable.
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  I mean, it's small as compared by, I mean it's 35,000.
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  But but the seats are so close to the field and, and he was
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  showing me graphics of this is exactly how close it is.
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  And it's closer than the seats to in the United Center in the
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  Inuit Dome. I mean basketball arenas, it's
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  closer. I mean, so it feels like you're
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  right on top of the action, but it's not really nosebleedy.
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  And then you have like the end end zone has the students,
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  there's like 2000 seats for dedicated for the students
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  there. And, and the opposing team has
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  to walk through like a tunnel through the, the, where the
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  students line up. I mean, it's, it's going to be
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  really neat and, and it's got like a, you know, paneling over
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  the top, the canopies that cover every seat.
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  So it, it goes from being the absolute worst stadium in the
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  Big 10, bar none, to being the nicest stadium, football stadium
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  maybe in the country. Wow.
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  Now, there are a thought exercise you guys had at The
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  Athletic, really like that you pick your national champion
• 14:22
  Heisman winner for next season. This was the question, though,
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  that I thought was the most intriguing and certainly got my
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  wheels of my brain moving just a little bit.
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  Name three teams that missed the playoff in 2025 but will make
• 14:35
  the playoff in 2026. Now, Notre Dame's the easy
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  answer and that was the runaway favorite.
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  Doctor Jiavs, Anybody off the board, anybody a little bit
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  deeper than Notre Dame, Texas, The two favorites coming out of
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  this group. You know, I, I'm trying to
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  remember who I picked out of, out of nowhere.
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  I, I, you know, that's a good question.
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  I, I would say you start to look around like, you know, would
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  somebody like Tennessee jump up? You know that that's a good one.
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  I think in in the big. 12 Who's going to knock off Texas Tech?
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  Yeah. Yeah, who's going to knock off
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  Tech? I like Arizona.
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  I think that was the one I maybe I put because of the feedback or
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  whatever. And, and, and I I think that
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  that's probably another one. Everybody thought of Notre Dame
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  because they were straight on the border and bring back car at
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  quarterback. They're they're a good team.
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  And then, you know, arch it at Texas.
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  I'm not so sure that Texas wasn't the second or third best
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  team in that league by the end of the year and probably would
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  have performed better than the rest of the league for sure.
• 15:41
  So you know that that's going to be easy.
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  And then I don't know, you know, what would be an interesting
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  turn around? I mean, with some, you know,
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  could you see a Belichick, you know, all sudden take North
• 15:52
  Carolina at some level? I mean, normally I'd laugh that
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  off. But after watching Indiana with
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  the national title, I don't laugh off such thing.
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  I think. I think I have Penn State as
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  well. And I know that might be a sore
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  spot, but they, you know, he brought a great nucleus of
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  players. I mean, those players are
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  definitely good enough to compete in any league.
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  The ones that went with him to Happy Valley, they have a lot of
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  talent there already. I mean, even though they were
• 16:21
  seven and six, five of those losses were by 1 score or less.
• 16:24
  And so I, I can see pen and with that, with their schedule and
• 16:29
  one most advantageous in the Big 10, I mean, I can see them going
• 16:32
  nine and three, but not much worse than that.
• 16:35
  They have a chance to really, you know, they have a chance to
• 16:38
  get in the playoffs. Did you have a chance last night
• 16:41
  to watch Iowa Hoop Stock? I did.
• 16:44
  I watched both games actually. Your thoughts Let's start with
• 16:46
  the ladies who played first, then your thoughts.
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  They look like that. They are not on they they're you
• 16:54
  kind of wondered when they got into the top ten and they were
• 16:56
  undefeated and nine and O in the big 10 and OK, is this team a
• 16:59
  contender legitimately for final four or are they you know, in
• 17:05
  that next year? And I think that at least based
• 17:07
  on what I saw there in the next year, that they were USC they
• 17:11
  didn't play very well and UCLA they're completely outclassed by
• 17:15
  a much better team. And I think you've seen that
• 17:17
  with both the UCLA game and the UConn games, that these were
• 17:21
  just two teams that were clearly better than Iowa.
• 17:24
  They're in another stratosphere. I still think they're a good
• 17:27
  team. But but it was just like every
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  single time they went up the court, you're wondering, OK,
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  there's no ease on offense that the defense is really beating
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  them and they just can't figure out how to to get baskets.
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  Now, early on in the second-half, they were able to
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  to get the ball inside, but then they gave it up just as quickly.
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  As far as the men go, I thought it was a solid effort.
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  I mean it, it's a long road trip.
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  I think Oregon's got some players, although plenty of, you
• 17:56
  know, Biddle being out is really approved for them because he's a
• 18:00
  really good player. But you know, the one thing I
• 18:03
  was impressed with for the most part was, you know, it was
• 18:07
  consistently like a nine point lead.
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  But every time that that Oregon put itself in position to where
• 18:13
  maybe they're going to make a run or, you know, that Iowa kept
• 18:17
  extending it. And so that's tough on the road,
• 18:20
  even against the team that that has struggled.
• 18:22
  And I thought the fact that they're able to push it to 15
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  consistently. And then of course, Bennett
• 18:27
  search had played a tremendous game.
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  He's he's definitely one of the best 15 players in the country.
• 18:32
  And and I think that was that that really told me that, OK,
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  they if they can do the same thing at Washington and and win
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  and keep pushing the the the game forward.
• 18:43
  I I think this is going to be a team that's it's not only an
• 18:46
  NCAA tournament team, but I think they're a tough team, a
• 18:49
  tough out and have an opportunity to maybe go
• 18:52
  somewhere that Iowa hasn't been since IQK.
• 18:56
  Wouldn't that be something do? It you're number one, Oh my God,
• 18:59
  got the point guard certainly to do it.
• 19:00
  And then it starts and maybe you would bring some of those fans
• 19:04
  back into the buildings before next season.
• 19:06
  Hey Doc, one final thing for me off your beat, but over in Iowa
• 19:10
  City Friday night, the Iowa wrestling team goes down again
• 19:13
  to Minnesota and 9th ranked Minnesota team.
• 19:15
  This isn't losing to Penn State or even Ohio State.
• 19:18
  You had the long win streak against Iowa State go down.
• 19:21
  What are you hearing? What are the, I mean, the
• 19:22
  grumblings that we see online from obviously the fan base
• 19:25
  that's there, but that's social media.
• 19:27
  It's going to be grumbling all over the place.
• 19:29
  What are you hearing in Iowa City?
• 19:30
  And could Beth Getz have a big decision in front of her when we
• 19:33
  get to March? I'll start by saying I don't
• 19:36
  really hear anything because I just don't I I'm not that
• 19:39
  plugged into that because I'm I'm writing about my college
• 19:43
  football now and stuff in the draft.
• 19:45
  But I will say that it it's it's gone from being just one of
• 19:49
  those where every couple every couple of years, you know,
• 19:52
  you're kind of concerned, Hey, you know, it's Iowa shouldn't be
• 19:55
  worse than second or third in the country.
• 19:57
  And but now when you're getting routinely beat by teams that.
• 20:03
  Owned for two decades, you know, Minnesota and Iowa State or you
• 20:06
  know two teams. When you lose the rules to them,
• 20:08
  when you lose decisively and handily to not only to Penn
• 20:11
  State and to Ohio State, then there's really gotta be some
• 20:15
  antennas up because this is not a program that you can just oh,
• 20:19
  shucks, it's just a bad year. We'll we'll get it through it
• 20:22
  more. Granted, I would expect to to
• 20:24
  win national titles. And if it doesn't, then it needs
• 20:28
  to re evaluate why it didn't win a national title, not why it
• 20:30
  lost all these other duels. And and and again, I didn't
• 20:35
  watch the duel. I but you know, losing the
• 20:39
  border belt and that's that's one of the coolest, by the way,
• 20:41
  travelling companies that there is.
• 20:43
  I love it, but losing it, you know, I, I do think that there
• 20:48
  needs to be some real strong consideration to what may happen
• 20:51
  next. I mean, Tom Brands has been a
• 20:54
  tremendous coach for a long, long time at Iowa and, and won
• 20:58
  national titles. But the distance between Iowa
• 21:02
  and Penn State has grown and not been retracted.
• 21:05
  Especially since you've built a 30 million, $35 million
• 21:09
  wrestling only facility. This is an elite wrestling
• 21:14
  institution and it needs to be at or near the top every single
• 21:18
  year. And if you're falling farther
• 21:19
  and farther behind, you've got to re evaluate.
• 21:21
  Is it the coaching? Is it is it the head coach?
• 21:24
  Is it the assistance? Is it recruiting?
• 21:27
  You know they they there's a lot of people paying a lot of money
• 21:29
  for in the portal to bring in elite talent OR supposedly.
• 21:33
  So I think that that, you know, in this this if this could be a
• 21:39
  much more difficult situation for Beth Getz certainly than
• 21:41
  Fran McCaffrey one was because that one it just kind of
• 21:45
  everybody, you know, felt. Yeah, absolutely, Scott.
• 21:48
  Document doc What are you working on this week?
• 21:51
  Yeah, I'm working on stuff on the bowls right now because now
• 21:54
  that the CFP had finally been finalized that, you know, now
• 21:58
  it's time for the bowls to kind of figure out what's next for
• 22:01
  them. And and so I'm talking to a
• 22:03
  couple of people there and then I'm also doing some kind of
• 22:06
  draft evaluation of of how NIL is impacting day three picks.
• 22:13
  So yeah, it's it never ends. Love it.
• 22:17
  Lucky for you. Keep those paychecks rolling in.
• 22:19
  We're grateful for that as we read you every single time that
• 22:22
  you post. Good stuff, Scott Document.
• 22:23
  Thank you, bud. Appreciate it.
• 22:25
  Alright, thanks. For having me appreciate Scott
• 22:27
  document. As we check in on a variety of
• 22:29
  topics with Doc, I'll check in with a keyword.
• 22:33
  You can head to kxno.com. The keyword this hour is check.
• 22:37
  Check at kxno.com. Check kxno.com.
• 22:40
  Your chance to win $1000. Well, let's head to the Twin
• 22:43
  Cities when we come back. What's going on with the
• 22:46
  Vikings? Was there a power struggle?
• 22:48
  We'll get into those topics with Dame Mazzatani.
• 22:50
  When we come back, it's Miller and Conda talking sports with
• 22:53
  you, a Des Moines sports station.
• 22:54
  One O 6.3 KX&O. I'm Hillary Condon.
• 23:02
  Welcome back, Iowa Sports Radio Network just passed 1:30.
• 23:05
  We're with you until 2O clock off the bench at that time.
• 23:08
  Lucas Strange, Sean Roberts take you until 5 O clock.
• 23:11
  Let's head to the Twin Cities. Dane Mazatani covers the
• 23:14
  Minnesota Vikings for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press,
• 23:17
  twincities.com. Dane Trenton, Ken, thanks for
• 23:19
  giving us a few minutes on this. Old Quesi, Adolpha Mensa being
• 23:23
  jettisoned, I guess the timeline may be what caught a lot of
• 23:26
  people off guard. Not necessarily that he didn't
• 23:29
  deserve to lose his gig, but, you know, he's at the Senior
• 23:33
  Bowl apparently last week going through that exercise and.
• 23:37
  And on Friday, he loses his gig timing wise, usually happens
• 23:40
  earlier than it did to Quesi. Yeah, I think you nailed it.
• 23:44
  I don't think people were necessarily surprised to find
• 23:48
  out that Quasi had been fired. I think the timing was
• 23:51
  definitely the most surprising part.
• 23:54
  When you go back and you just kind of rewind the tape or you
• 23:56
  look at his tenure from a bird's eye view, there were a lot of
• 24:00
  missteps along the way. But I think once you get to week
• 24:05
  18, he he survives the first week, you know, not making the
• 24:09
  playoffs. Like you said, he, he goes down
• 24:11
  to the Senior Bowl in, in Mobile, AL and you're just kind
• 24:15
  of assuming he's going to get another year.
• 24:16
  He just signed the contract extension in May 2025.
• 24:20
  So there were enough signs pointing to, OK, maybe this
• 24:24
  season didn't go according to plan, but he's going to get
• 24:27
  another year to kind of try to fix this.
• 24:29
  I mean, then obviously Friday happens.
• 24:31
  So I I was taken aback by the timing of it, but like I said,
• 24:35
  like when you really zoom out, you could make a pretty good
• 24:38
  case that it was justified when you look.
• 24:41
  At the way this kind of plays out in this fashion, does it
• 24:45
  strike you as a power struggle? Are we going to see some major
• 24:49
  changes happening for an office and just the direction of
• 24:52
  organizationally, the way they're set?
• 24:54
  What do you dig into the details of this one?
• 24:56
  What were you able to come up with?
• 24:58
  Yeah, I. Mean, I think we talked to Mark
• 25:00
  Wills on Friday via Zoom. So I think the structure of the
• 25:05
  front office or the personnel making personnel decisions and
• 25:08
  the coaching staff making coaching staff decisions, I
• 25:11
  think that's going to stay whenever they hire their
• 25:15
  permanent replacement. Rob Burzynski will handle
• 25:18
  personnel decisions in the interim through the draft.
• 25:21
  He's a guy who's been with the Vikings since 1999.
• 25:25
  He knows the lay of the land. Be very well respected could
• 25:28
  even be a candidate to be the the permanent general manager
• 25:31
  once they open up that search. But I think what you're getting
• 25:34
  at is like in the next regime, will Kevin O'Connell have
• 25:39
  decision making power? I don't think it will be as as
• 25:43
  blatantly blunt as that or as as spelled out as that.
• 25:46
  I still think whoever is the next permanent general manager
• 25:49
  of the Vikings will have that personnel decision or personnel
• 25:53
  decision making power. But they will work in concert
• 25:57
  with Kevin O'Connell for sure. And I think as you see more
• 26:01
  reports and and things materialize over the last 48
• 26:04
  hours, 72 hours, you do start to kind of see into maybe there was
• 26:10
  a disconnect with how Clay if you'd Offerman so worked with
• 26:13
  Kevin O'Connell and and vice versa.
• 26:15
  So I think a change was probably necessary given how how things
• 26:19
  had slowly but surely started to unravel and a road in Minnesota.
• 26:24
  But I don't foresee necessarily a long term structural change
• 26:28
  with with how the Vikings do business in the football
• 26:31
  operations department do. You believe the rumor that's
• 26:34
  being floated out there that on the day of the draft is right up
• 26:39
  until, you know, hours before the draft that the Vikings
• 26:42
  thought that they had a deal worked out for Drake May Drake
• 26:45
  May thought he was going to be a Viking.
• 26:47
  And then all of a sudden, for whatever reason, it fell
• 26:50
  through. Do you believe that?
• 26:51
  And do you know, was it was it O'Connell who pushed for that
• 26:55
  and Quesi pulled the rug out or, or is it even, is it even true
• 26:59
  to begin with? Yeah, I mean, I've.
• 27:01
  Heard enough murmurings and obviously we've seen reports
• 27:05
  surface about the Vikings interest in Drake May dating
• 27:09
  back to the 2024 draft. I know they were interested.
• 27:13
  I know Kevin O'Connell really, really liked him coming out.
• 27:16
  I don't know if there was necessarily this handshake
• 27:20
  agreement that's being kind of projected out right now at this
• 27:24
  time. And I don't know who would
• 27:27
  necessarily said no at the end of the day.
• 27:31
  But I guess what I will say is if you read into the reports and
• 27:37
  I listen to the people that I am close with on the inside, like
• 27:44
  there was, I think a walk away price for the Vikings.
• 27:47
  But I don't know if the Vikings offered five for some picks, if
• 27:51
  the Patriots would have even said yes.
• 27:53
  Because I think when you are tied to a guy or invest in an in
• 27:58
  a guy in the way the Patriots clearly were with Drake May, I
• 28:01
  don't know if there's a, an amount of first round picks that
• 28:05
  you would even be willing to say yes to.
• 28:07
  So I, I think there are threads of truth to yes, the Vikings are
• 28:12
  interested in Drake May. Yes, maybe they thought they
• 28:14
  were going to pull off a deal to get Drake May, But I don't know
• 28:19
  if it's, I think it might be oversimplifying it just to say,
• 28:22
  OK, Clacy wasn't willing to give up the extra whatever asset it
• 28:26
  would have required to, to consummate the deal.
• 28:29
  I think the Patriots were really invested in Drake May too.
• 28:32
  And if if that's the case, then I don't know if there was a deal
• 28:36
  to be made there. Just maybe interest, heavy
• 28:39
  interest on the Viking side. And and here we are.
• 28:42
  Super Bowl Drake May has the Patriots back there.
• 28:46
  I'm sure a lot of fans across the NFL who love to hate the
• 28:49
  Patriots are pretty upset about that.
• 28:51
  But I think they're probably feeling pretty good about but
• 28:53
  saying no to whatever was floated their way.
• 28:56
  Rob Brzezinski will. Take over in the de facto, if
• 28:59
  you will, GM here through the draft at least and we'll see
• 29:01
  what general manager kind of looks like going forward.
• 29:04
  The thing about Questi we knew very analytical doesn't have the
• 29:07
  same kind of football background.
• 29:09
  Would you anticipate when we Fast forward to April, this is
• 29:11
  going to be probably a lot of football dudes that are going to
• 29:14
  be drafted here, not a whole lot of well, you know, these numbers
• 29:17
  indicate he could be good. They're going to be drafting
• 29:19
  football players. Yeah, I think that that's
• 29:22
  probably true just in terms of how they handle the short term
• 29:25
  with with the 2026 NFL draft coming up.
• 29:28
  I also think it's true with how they the Wilts being how they
• 29:33
  make the hire whoever is running this team next.
• 29:36
  I think they they took a big home run swing with with Quasi
• 29:40
  and Oppenman. So being an unconventional,
• 29:42
  out-of-the-box higher commodities trader on Wall
• 29:45
  Street who kind of rose up the ranks rapidly.
• 29:48
  And in football, never having played or or really been around
• 29:53
  the sport, I think they thought his way of doing things maybe
• 29:58
  kind of going against the grain might kind of help in getting
• 30:02
  over that hump. And I guess what we've seen now
• 30:04
  is whether it's confirmation bias or just looking at the
• 30:10
  facts at hand is that big swing did not work out.
• 30:13
  So I would anticipate, I mean, you see it across sports.
• 30:16
  If you have a hard nosed coach, you often followed up by hiring
• 30:21
  a player's coach. I think it applies the same with
• 30:24
  general managers now. Like if you have an analytics,
• 30:27
  analytically driven guy, well, you probably go back the other
• 30:31
  way and hire a real quote UN quote football guy.
• 30:33
  So I think the Vikings will probably end up on that side
• 30:37
  once they make the hire. But yeah, I think you're right.
• 30:39
  When you look at just how they handle the draft, it might be
• 30:44
  different players and maybe we would have seen if it's quite
• 30:46
  seen off of men. So still running the draft
• 30:48
  board, I spent a lot of. Time down round so I got one
• 30:51
  more for you from the weekend was did you have a?
• 30:54
  Tinfoil hat on when you're reading all this.
• 30:56
  I think the. Guy who posted it might have but
• 30:58
  or gal I don't know who was so I want to talk about the Raiders
• 31:01
  and is the JJ McCarthy to the Raiders last year that that that
• 31:06
  that apparently O'Connell was all in on on O'Connell on on JJ
• 31:09
  going to the Raiders Donald staying him being the
• 31:13
  quarterback was was that ever murmured about prior to the
• 31:18
  season or is that another one of those rabbit hole rumors I.
• 31:22
  Had never heard that. That was the first I had ever
• 31:25
  seen that when that tweet went viral.
• 31:28
  It certainly went viral that day.
• 31:31
  And I look, I'm not going to downgrade other people's
• 31:35
  reporting. If that guy says he has sources,
• 31:39
  maybe he does. But I will say I'm around this
• 31:41
  team probably more than that guy.
• 31:43
  And I've never heard anything of to to to the the effect of,
• 31:49
  yeah, they had a deal with with the Raiders, worked out and then
• 31:52
  quasi pulled the rug out from under it.
• 31:54
  I also don't love the clear scapegoating, I guess that's
• 31:58
  what I'll call it going on. Like, I know there is probably
• 32:04
  something to be said about Kevin O'Connell probably vocalizing.
• 32:07
  I don't think JJ McCarthy is ready, but I don't know if he
• 32:10
  knew that until June, until July when training camp rolled
• 32:15
  around. I think, I mean, if you look
• 32:16
  back at just the way this whole thing unraveled, like the
• 32:20
  decision on Sam Darnell has to be made in February, March
• 32:23
  before free agency. And JJ McCarthy was barely
• 32:26
  throwing at that point. So like, if Sam Darnold or if
• 32:30
  Kevin O'Connell really wanted Sam Darnold and still on the
• 32:32
  table and said we need this guy back, I just, I would venture to
• 32:36
  guess that he's back. So I don't, I don't love the
• 32:38
  idea of, well, Casey wanted to move on from Sam Darnold and
• 32:43
  Kevin O'Connell wanted to keep him.
• 32:46
  They've worked in, in lockstep over the course of their, their,
• 32:50
  their tenure together. So I just, it doesn't pass the
• 32:54
  smell test for me when, when, when you say one guy wanted to
• 32:57
  move on and one guy wanted to keep him.
• 32:59
  And I think if if Kevin O'Connell deeply wanted Sam
• 33:03
  Darnold here, he would still be here.
• 33:06
  One final thing for. Me and another organization of
• 33:09
  the Twin Cities going to be looking for new front office
• 33:12
  staff. That's a Minnesota Twins after
• 33:14
  President Derek Falvey. A mutually parting of ways is
• 33:17
  what it says. Think he probably told the poll
• 33:19
  ads to go kick it. But that's just my theory out
• 33:22
  there. The direction of this
• 33:23
  organization looks awful. In fact, the poll ads so bad
• 33:26
  they're getting rid of their own Joe no longer the face.
• 33:28
  Now it's Tom that's taken back over as the face of the
• 33:31
  organization. What a mess with the Twins.
• 33:34
  Yeah, just a. Disaster.
• 33:35
  I think we've talked about it in the past.
• 33:37
  Like, I was at the playoff game against the Toronto Blue Jays
• 33:41
  when they finally snapped the streak and they win a playoff
• 33:44
  game, They win a playoff series. You see grown men crying in the
• 33:48
  stands. Target Field is rocking, and
• 33:51
  we're four years removed from that.
• 33:53
  And they might be the most dysfunctional organization in
• 33:56
  the entire MLB right now. Yeah.
• 33:59
  I mean, it's hard to feel good about where things are headed.
• 34:03
  You want to talk about timing being weird?
• 34:05
  I mean, look, the Vikings firing clay seat off events a day after
• 34:09
  the Senior Bowl, that was weird timing.
• 34:11
  But the president of baseball operation stepping down like 2
• 34:16
  weeks before, before spring training rolls around, that is
• 34:19
  extremely weird timing. And that speaks I think heavily
• 34:22
  to the dysfunction that is the Minnesota Twins right now.
• 34:26
  Then you have, you know, like you said, go pull that stepping
• 34:29
  down, Tom, pull that stepping in Tom poll that promising to
• 34:33
  regain the trust of fans. But then a couple of weeks later
• 34:36
  talking about like, let's stop talking so much about payroll,
• 34:39
  like it's just a disaster over there.
• 34:41
  And I really don't think it gets better until until the poll that
• 34:43
  sell. Who knows if that'll ever
• 34:46
  happen. So it's you feel bad.
• 34:49
  I will say if you want, if you're a die hard Twins fan who
• 34:53
  just wants any seed playing inkling of hope winning cares a
• 34:57
  lot. So if they start out like 12 and
• 35:00
  five, like people will start to care.
• 35:02
  But if they start out five and 12, I promise you Target Field
• 35:05
  will be empty this year. Good stuff.
• 35:07
  Who wins? The game Sunday, we'll let you
• 35:08
  go on that. Who wins Super Bowl?
• 35:11
  I think this, I think the Seahawks do it.
• 35:13
  I think Sam Darnold does it. I think a year after leaving the
• 35:16
  Vikings, Sam Darnold is on that stage hosting the Lombardi
• 35:19
  Trophy. Just think they're better.
• 35:21
  I think the game against the Rams earlier in the regular
• 35:25
  season was big for Sam Darnold. Kind of the moment where
• 35:28
  everybody started to believe he could get over that hump.
• 35:31
  He won that game in overtime. He's parlayed that into just
• 35:34
  pretty spectacular play the rest of the way.
• 35:37
  I know they haven't always leaned on him.
• 35:38
  I know that's been a, you know, a case against him as well.
• 35:41
  He has a great talented roster around him.
• 35:44
  He doesn't need to do too much. Go watch that NFC championship
• 35:47
  game. He did everything and more to
• 35:49
  drive winning for the Seahawks. They're they're they're a
• 35:52
  spectacular offense, probably even better defense.
• 35:54
  Just think they're a better team and I think they beat the
• 35:56
  Patriots. Thanks for doing this.
• 35:58
  As always, Dane appreciate it. No problem.
• 36:00
  Guys, Yep. Thank you, Dame.
• 36:01
  Rosatani St. Paul, Pioneer Press,
• 36:03
  twincities.com. All right, we'll come back,
• 36:05
  finish up the hour at the program actually, Miller and
• 36:07
  Condon on the Iowa Sports Radio Network.
• 36:09
  Corey Condon, welcome back. Iowa Sports Radio Network with
• 36:14
  you here for another, well, few minutes.
• 36:16
  Trends plays of the day are coming up next over the weekend,
• 36:21
  Valley wise in the valley, you and I won.
• 36:23
  Drake just couldn't stand. Prosperity went down again.
• 36:26
  God forbid, right? God forbid.
• 36:29
  They had a chance to maybe establish themselves to where
• 36:31
  the upper echelon of that conference, but it was not to be
• 36:35
  two middling teams. I think they are right.
• 36:37
  I think that's fair to say. 2 middling teams get hot, who
• 36:41
  knows, You know what could happen once they get to the loot
• 36:44
  'cause I don't think, well, I'll put it this way to you.
• 36:46
  Do you think that there's a dominant team that, I mean,
• 36:49
  Belmont's good, Belmont's good, yeah.
• 36:51
  But they're so reliant on just offense that you wonder doesn't
• 36:56
  arch madness you're after, you're just feeling like a grind
• 36:58
  fest by the time you get there and teams built like that.
• 37:02
  I don't have a whole lot of confidence in a squad that way.
• 37:05
  So if that's the fake case, then yeah, maybe it's a little bit
• 37:08
  more wide open. I mean, if you and I or Drake is
• 37:11
  in the 4-5 game, gets a semi final against the Belmont, give
• 37:15
  him a puncher. Hell yeah, take your.
• 37:17
  Chances, right? All right, let's take your
• 37:18
  chances on your betting here tonight.
• 37:20
  What What have you got? What's is there a mark?
• 37:22
  Well, yeah, the Big 12 is the marquee game tonight.
• 37:25
  I want you also. Tonight, if you're not watching
• 37:27
  hockey, well, The Jets are playing.
• 37:28
  What time? 7:30 OK at six.
• 37:31
  OK, get an eye on Carolina. I think you're going to be
• 37:34
  impressed. They've they've opened my eyes
• 37:36
  recently. I like the way that they're
• 37:38
  playing. Certainly have seen Wilson, his
• 37:40
  GAIL Wilson's always a nice player.
• 37:42
  Feels like he's maybe gone up a step.
• 37:45
  So just get your eyeballs on him against Syracuse.
• 37:47
  I mean, it's a simple for Syracuse.
• 37:49
  If they're not hitting threes, there's no shot in this one.
• 37:51
  I don't give him much of a shot anyway.
• 37:52
  But 11 1/2 the number not playing the game.
• 37:55
  I am going to play Texas Tech though and it's coupled with
• 37:57
  four and a half. I like the number.
• 37:58
  I like the bounce back factor after lost to use the home.
• 38:01
  At home like. That one very difficult place to
• 38:04
  play, coupled with I don't know about Peterson, just don't game
• 38:07
  to game. Minute to minute.
• 38:09
  True, he didn't play in the second-half.
• 38:10
  It's because his Asian was. Behind the bench and thought he
• 38:12
  was cramping and you thought he wasn't going.
• 38:15
  To play at all well. I'm kind of right, somewhat,
• 38:18
  yes. It's weird.
• 38:20
  This is the. Presumptive #1 pick in the
• 38:22
  draft, right or. Yeah, maybe booze.
• 38:24
  Maybe. Yeah, in the pretty good class.
• 38:27
  Boy, I'll say my. God, it really, truly is.
• 38:30
  We started talking about this freshman class in October, and
• 38:33
  we're pretty football crazed at that point, right?
• 38:36
  Good stuff. All right, well, hopefully the
• 38:37
  schedule ratchets up tomorrow with a little Big 10 or Big 12
• 38:41
  hoopage. We got Drake Belmont.
• 38:43
  Speaking of that, tomorrow I thought it was.
• 38:45
  Wednesday. Is it tomorrow?
• 38:46
  Tomorrow. Oh, good, good.
• 38:48
  That's going to do it for us off the bench.
• 38:51
  Coming up next, Lucas Strange, Sean Roberts, they take you
• 38:55
  until 5:00. Miller and Conda talk sports
• 38:58
  with you Monday through Friday from noon until 2 on the Iowa
• 39:01
  Sports Radio Network.