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TABLE TALK: The Coming 2024 College Football Season · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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Hey there, everybody, it's Jeff. I wanted to let you know that
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we recorded this Table Talk Interview podcast on Friday, June twenty first, twenty
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twenty four. By the time you hear this, some things may have changed
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here or there, but we hope you enjoy the show. Welcome to Table
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Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly
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sports podcast show in the world, eleven years strong, and we got a
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great discussion coming your way. I cannot wait to talk to our guests this
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week. Man. College football, it's right around the corner. Yes,
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the season will be here before we know it. I know there's a lot
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of excitement with a lot of college football fans that EA Sports is putting out
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College f for Fall twenty five. That video game is gonna be out sooner
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rather than later. I don't know if I'll be getting it, but a
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lot of excitement with regard to the coming college football season. An expanded playoff,
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my gosh, I can't wait for that. And we got a great
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discussion here about that about college football. Some storylines as we're heading into this
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coming season, let's get right to it. It is great to have back
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on the podcast to get into this upcoming college football season with us. You
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can find him on the Twitter slash x at Joe Dalyone. He is a
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college football analyst and NFL football analyst as well. You can hear his words
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and a great podcast at the Raffino and Joe Show and also the First Team
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podcast as well. We've got the one and only and I have to say
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the man, the myth, and the legend, Joe da Leone. How
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you doing, buddy, I'm doing pretty good. It's been an interesting week
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to say the least. You appreciate you having me on to talk some ball,
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and yeah, for sure that we're gonna talk a little bit about the
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McDonald's situation that have in this past saturd Yes, we got to get into
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that first because I follow you on Twitter, have been for some time,
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and in a menu came up from you that you would tweet it out like
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this weird like McDonald's menu, and I'm like, what the heck is Joe
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doing here? And I'd start diving into it a little bit more. I'm
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following it. Hundreds of thousands of people are following it, and so to
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pull the curtain back, folks, Joe had come in last place in his
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fantasy football league last year, and the punishment for coming in last place was
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he'd be in McDonald's McDonald's for twenty four hours, but he was given a
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menu and an opportunity to eat his time away from that twenty four hours.
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And since then, buddy, you've gotten some really awesome national attention for this.
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You've been on decent amount of national shows over the course of the past
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week. And I just I loved the menu going through it. For example,
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you could you could have shaved off forty five five minutes by eating a
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big Mac thirty minutes, if you ate an egg McMuffin twenty five minutes,
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if you had some apples, which I thought was pretty pretty interesting because like
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five minutes, five minutes, Oh it was five minutes. I thought it
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was twenty five minutes. For so okay, it's only five Oh good lord,
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good lord. So I ate twenty three of them. Oh my gosh,
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you were able to walk out of that McDonald's after what eight hours?
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I think, right, yes, So the I mean, I'm a very
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competitive person. This was in a situation that I was going to jump into
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and say, oh, I just sit and hang out. My buddy who
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had done this before, it took him fourteen hours. He is not as
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big of an eater as I am. I've done food to eating competitions before.
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I'm a very big runner, so I'm always trying to push myself and
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see like, what's the what's the upper limit within reason without causing any damage,
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of course, But yeah, I wanted to see how quickly I could
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get out of there. I thought that eight was very realistic. All the
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people who were commenting were saying, I'll be out of there before lunchtime.
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Well, I don't think it's that simple to say seven thousand calories later,
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though I was. I was out of there in eight hours. Oh my
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gosh. You were able to take a run after that get some of those
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calories. I I did it before though. That was actually the big strategy
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here for anyone who does want to try doing this, go exercise before,
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because as many calories of a buffer that you can create, the better.
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So that was my whole well strategy there was. I went for a thirteen
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mile run in the morning because I was planning on it, and let me
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get my metabolism rolling in knock out as many as possible. Did you think
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you were going to get the national attention you got from it? I mean
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you were talking to Lindsay Rhads and everything. Yeah, it was awesome.
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They're luckily you know, I had interacted with Lindsay Roads and Fabiano when I
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was a producer, I believe, so already some familiarity there. And yeah,
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a lot of the people who did book me ended up being folks that
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I had appeared on their shows before, which made it super easy. A
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few people that I hadn't spoken to that did have me on. But no,
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I didn't think it was going to get this big. I'm a content
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creator, I'm a host. I was just thinking, of it's June.
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This would be something really dumb and fun that fits my tone on social media
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of you know, just guys having a good time getting close touch to fantasy
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football. And I thought that at least would get like a few thousand likes,
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because I've had a couple tweets that have garnered that much attention. I
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did not think it would turn into something where not only did it explode in
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the impression sphere, but everybody was following along with all the videos I was
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posting throughout the day. It really was cool that everybody kind of pushed everything
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away and really rallied behind something with such positivity. That to me is what's
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the biggest accomplishment, because I've gone not viral to this scale, but have
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gotten a lot of attention to where for like a day, I've said something
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on my college shows where certain fan bases have pissed at me, and the
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whole day my mentions are just notification, notification, notification, and some people
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are chiming in to defend me, some are chiming into to admonish me and
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really attack me. But it was one of the instances I think in my
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career that I'm going to be able to say everyone was just so happy and
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positive and having a great time, And it makes me really happy that I
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was able to accomplish that that everyone for a day didn't really have sports to
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watch, right, and they found something to do, you know, for
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the day following along with me, I think a lot of folks that hear
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content, watch content, they want some sort of uniqueness to that, and
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that's what this entire situation was. You have twenty four hours in a McDonald's.
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You can eat your way out of it. As soon as possible,
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very unique situation. I think that's what people want in terms of their content.
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It's interesting, you know, we're mentioning this or I'm talking about this
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in this regard because on our upcoming podcast we're going to be talking about the
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changing sports media landscape. But I think people want uniqueness, I really do,
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and I think you were able to provide that to them. Joe,
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Yeah, absolutely. I also think the other part that I spoke to a
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lot of people after this that were texting me that, you know, what
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they were helping me understand and analyze the success of it is that I tried
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to be as genuine as possible. You know, I didn't try to jump
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into it and be over the top or play a different character that's not me.
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But it required a little bit of self deprecation and required a little bit
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of just kind of peeling back the curtain and letting people see what I was
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doing that day. And genuine, authentic content is what makes barstool so popular.
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It's what makes Pat McAfee so popular. Folks like that. Stephen A.
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Smith's another great example, like he's authentic twenty four hours out of the
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day, even though people don't think that that might be the case. Mad
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Dog another good example. Anyone who's super authentic and I think knows how to
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communicate with an audience in an effective manner is going to be able to create
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attention. And it just makes me happy that I was able to find success
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doing it. Well, Buddy, I give you all the credit in the
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world for doing it. Congratulations with it. But I'd love to get into
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this upcoming college football season with you here, because you are an expert with
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regard to college football content. You've got a great pulse on what is happening
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within different cont and with different teams. And first and foremost, I wanted
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to get into the upcoming college football season as it pertains to the expanded playoff
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that's going to be including twelve teams. So just to let folks know,
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if it's not on your radar yet, the number one ranked team through the
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number four ranked team, they're going to get a buye in the first round
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after the regular season is done. And I gotta say, Joe, I
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am really looking forward to what this playoff structure will mean to college football.
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Quite frankly, I'm really excited about It's been waiting for years to see this
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come to fruition. I wonder how though this may change and alter the dynamics
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possibly of the regular season. Been thinking about that a little bit. Do
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you see how the expanded playoff structure could bring a new dimension to the regular
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college football season, you know, as we know it. What are your
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thoughts? I think in two different ways. It's definitely going to change the
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importance of games. In one I love and the reason why I've been one
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of the biggest advocates for the playoff is I love that now that month of
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November, a lot of teams games are going to be really important. Yeah,
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there's gonna be a lot of pressure, there's gonna be a lot of
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storylines that are gonna be able to build up. It feels like in the
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past, and this is possibly some might perceive as a bit selfish for wanting
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these changes, but in the past, it feels like in November it really
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narrows down to eight, maybe ten teams. Last year was probably the widest
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scope of teams that we've ever had, and you can realistically talk about probably
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the full top twenty five at least being in the conversation of some teams in
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the back end having some sort of way to wiggle their way in. I
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think the ability to have increasingly building tension is what is going to make the
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sport more exciting in that final month, and the other part that's gonna change.
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I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see more teams in that second half
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of the season in games that they're winning in blowouts or against weak opponents.
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Yeah, if they don't ease up on playing their starters more aggressively, Yeah,
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get more freshmen on the field, because you want to appease the young
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kids that you're paying these nil deals too to stick around and not enter the
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transfer portal. But also at the same time, to keep your starting quarterback
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healthy, to avoid injury running backs, great, your offensive line, defensive
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line. I think that is something that's going to be very, very prevalent.
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I think those are great points for sure. It's just gonna be interesting
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to watch this changing dynamic too. College football consistently, you know, having
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some changing dynamics, but it's what keeps the industry very interesting. So let's
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dive into some college football storylines that you know many of us have been following
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throughout the course of this offseason. Here, and I wanted to get into
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one program and that's USC, and probably now because they're part of the Big
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Ten and I love following the Big Ten as a as a Penn State grad.
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I've been keeping track of what's happening around the conference, and amazingly enough,
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they just lost from my understanding, two five star recruits and back to
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back days this past week. I mean, what's happening here with the USC
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and the defections here, Joe? Is this a coincidence or is there something
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going on behind the scenes with regard to USC. Well, the one thing
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that's really important to add into this, I think a lot of people were
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definitely hitting the panic button justifiably. A lot of people were hitting the panic
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button for Lincoln that he loses out on two defensive recruits. Yeah, it's
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bad because he's had such issues at recruiting defensively and you would have thought that
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Danton Lynn would help with that. There's plenty of time for them to recover,
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So I'm not hitting the panic button completely, but he still has to
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recover. He still has to find bodies on the defensive line in order to
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bolster that unit that has been such a weakness for them just defensively in general,
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it's been such a weakness. I think Danton Lynn will certainly raise the
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floor though as they get better on a year to year span, I will
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say, what's more important to bring up Both these kids are from the state
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of Georgia, and I know that they have held interest from Georgia, and
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they have been interested at certain points before their commitments in going to Georgia.
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I look at it more as Kirby Smart saying, all right, you want
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to try and steal kids from our region where we keep kids home. Yeah,
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That to me is where he is trying to make a point of nobody
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better come in our area. Nobody better come in the state of Georgia,
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right, trying to steal kids, especially five stars and especially defensive lineman,
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defensive tackles, edge rushers. So I think it's more of a message being
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sent by Kirby Smart to affirm that they are the kings of recruiting in the
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Southeast. It's very interesting notion, for sure. And what's also interesting is
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I'm looking toward this college football season and I don't think it's not a huge,
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huge storyline, but something I'm following because you know, I've always been
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interested for some reason. I don't know why on what happens with Boston College
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and they have a new head coach and that head coach being Bill O'Brien,
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And you know, I've always rooted for Bill O'Brien, you know, whether
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he was with the Houston Texans, you know, even when he was on
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the Patriots, I wanted to see do a good job. And it's because
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of how he handled the Penn State head coach situation from many years ago during
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his short tenure there. He's going into a situation in Boston College where he'll
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likely be able to turn things around, but it may be a slow process.
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A slow process because the program they don't like to necessarily raise and spend
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too too much money in terms of their in terms of their football program from
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my understanding, So I'm wondering, how long do you think it's gonna take
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Bill O'Brien to really turn things around in Boston College? And do you think
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he's gonna have some success there? Yeah, I think it's important to talk
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about here with Boston College, they really do fit the demo of teams that
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are just not built to succeed. Yeah, in the modern version of college
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football because high academic standards. They don't exactly have a very rabid fan base
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that is going to rush to pay out of nil money. Anyone who's from
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that New England footprint knows they don't really care about college football, and most
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of them, if they are fans of teams, it's Notre Dame is a
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very very common one that they like up in that Boston, New England area.
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And also I feel like a lot of people from that area that stay
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in that area go to schools elsewhere, So it does end up impacting their
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ability to grow and develop the roster. I think at the very least,
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though, Bill O'Brien is the type of head coach that raises the floor.
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He's the type of coach that's going to keep them at a steady seven and
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five. Maybe there's an eight and four season. I don't see there ever
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being an ascension to how successful they were when they had Matt Ryan. I
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just don't think that that is going to be on the radar and the modern
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version of college football. But Bill O'Brien is just such a strong offensive mind
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and such a good leader of men. When he's been a head coach at
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the college level, and even for a period of time when he was the
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head coach at the Houston Texans. We forget how good they were for a
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span before he kind of let everything fall apart, right, I really do
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think that they will be much steadier for the long term future if they can
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find some success in recruiting that region. All right, Well, as we're
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moving along with our conversation here, Joe, just another couple of topics before
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I let you go. Dion Sanders has certainly put Colorado on the college football
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map as we know, I mean, such a great personality, such a
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great leader. It has been fun watching what that program has done where they
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have gone, at least from a public relations and marketing standpoint since he has
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been there. But I do wonder how far that program will go with him.
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Wanted to get your thoughts on Colorado, Dion Sanders, where he may
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end up going. What are your thoughts here? Yeah, I'm I'm a
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big wait and see guy on Colorado. I don't really almost you don't even
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want to have much of a prediction on them, because there is just such
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a wide range of outcomes this upcoming season and also beyond this upcoming season in
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terms of Deon Sanders stays at Colorado, we don't even know if he's going
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to stick around after his two sons move on to the NFL. But the
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reason why there's a wide range of outcomes is there's a world where should or
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Sanders try to hunter. These new offensive line pieces that they brought in,
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these new defensive line pieces that they brought in are enough for them to be
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a nine win team this year. I think that is certainly capably in their
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realm of possibility. But if the lack of cohesiveness of all of these guys
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at important position groups catches up to them, and if they deal with injuries,
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it's with all the amount of guys that they brought in, they also
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still lack I think some depth that they need to figure out. If they
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deal with injuries midway towards the season, there's a possibility they could be a
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five win team. So there is a large range of outcomes here. It's
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not very narrow on what they could do. Because of the way that this
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team has been structured and how much roster turnover they've had over the past season.
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It really is interesting to watch what a college coach can do for a
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program simply based on one not just his personality, but his dedication to the
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sport too. We've known him as a as a broadcaster and announcer for many,
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many years, and he has that ability and that personality to transcend the
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sport, I think, and it's gonna be interesting to see what Deon Sanders
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does. He does if he, you know, when his sons do graduate
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and they're not there anymore, if he does stay, what he decides to
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do after that. It's just amazing how certain personalities can help put college football
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programs on the map just based on who they are on their track record.
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I think it's a fascinating storyline. Yeah, it's certainly become a really fascinating
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thing to cover because I'm rooting for them to succeed. I'm absolutely rooting for
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them to work because it's just so different from everything that we've seen in the
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past in college athletics and especially college football, where there's all this attention.
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There are so many young stars on this team on and off the field.
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I would love for them to be an eight win team this year and go
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and win a bowl game. I think that that is ridiculous success and them
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accomplishing eight wins and winning a bowl game, I think goes against both sides
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of those that are looking at this Colorado situation where the Colorado haters are saying,
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oh, if they go win eight games, that's under expectations and that's
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not living up to the hype that Dion's created, which is bs that is
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ridiculous in two years, with how bad this team was before he took it
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over, how good he could have turned it into if they win eight games,
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And then the inverse of that, those that support Deon Sanders and that
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support Colorado right now might say, stop doubting us. We're going to reach
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the college football playoffs. So it's weird trying to be level headed about what
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they can do because not only is there a wide range of spectrum of what
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they could accomplish, but there's also a ridiculously wide range of aggressiveness from the
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haters and also the supporters of Colorado. Absolutely absolutely Again, folks, we're
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talking to Joe da Leone from the Raffino and Joe Show, and you can
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also hear him over at the First Team podcast as well, where they get
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into some NFL draft and college football talk as well. Buddy, one last
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topic, for you before I let you go here. Now that Michigan is
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now that they no longer have Jim Harbaugh, he's not leading the team anymore,
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I do wonder what happens to this Michigan program, and inevitably the Eastern
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Division of the Big Ten. My beloved Penn State has the hardest time with
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Michigan and Ohio State this past year. I've said to many friends. I
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tweeted it out saying, you know what, if Penn State just won two
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games in a season and those two games were against Michigan and Ohio State,
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I would be happy with that Penn State football season. I just wonder what's
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gonna happen with Michigan and where they're gonna go. How does their coaching change
19:44
alter the dynamics? Do you think of what we're going to be seeing this
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year in the Big Ten and even the Eastern Division of the Big Ten.
19:49
Yeah, I'm a really big fan of Sharon More. I will say it's
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a bit unexpected and also a little concerning that a national championship winning team is
19:59
not being more a if in the recruiting world. Typically we'll see some runoff
20:03
that when a team at least reaches the national Championship that they're going to have
20:07
a lot more success in recruiting, and like TCU is a really good example
20:11
of how much attention they were able to garner from recruits, and Sandy Dykes
20:15
was able to pick up some really big time players that were not usually on
20:19
the radar for TCU. But Michigan hasn't exactly done that. They're pretty far
20:23
down in the twenty twenty five recruiting rankings, which is a bit weird.
20:27
I do give them the benefit of the doubt, and I think that they
20:30
are going to get into a rhythm as they've been slowly picking up some bigger
20:34
and bigger name commitments. But I really like Sharon Moore. I was saying
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before Horrbod, before any of the rumors that he was going to jump to
20:42
the NFL, I had been saying that any big time opening should consider Sharon
20:48
more for whoever they're going to hire. I would have thought that he would
20:52
have done great at a mid level, maybe even some of the higher level
20:56
P five jobs, and he ends up sticking around at MISS probably knew that
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he was going to be that next up because he didn't take any any interviews
21:04
or really take any attention, But I pay attention to how Michigan was so
21:08
physical upfront, and he had a background being an offensive line coach, and
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I look at how great they were offensively, and how uniquely built they were,
21:17
and how consistently they played and succeeded to their play style of running the
21:22
football and then building the passing game off of that. All of that to
21:26
me signals that he is a brilliant, brilliant mind in this game. Twenty
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twenty four might be a bit of a step backward, which is hard to
21:37
recover from a national championship after you just lost your starting quarterback and whole offensive
21:41
line and ye multiple defensive players. But I do think that nine wins is
21:45
certainly accomplishable for Michigan, and then it's just going to grow from there.
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All right, Very good again, folks. Joe dalleone, he's probably not
21:52
going to be heading to a McDonald's anytime soon. I wouldn't imagine you'd be
21:56
going to McDonald's anytime soon. No, no, no more. Check out
22:02
everything he's doing again over on Twitter slash x at Joe Daleone, My friend,
22:06
it was great talking to you. Thank you so much for taking the
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time, your flexibility with regard to the timing of doing this interview, and
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I'd love to talk to you down the road, my friend. Of course,
22:15
thanks for having me that's going to do it for us here on Table
22:18
Talk this week. Please share our podcast with your friends and family members who
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Take care and well, catch you next time.