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PAC'd 12 | Nate Gatter Interview | Soccer Recap · PAC'd 12

• PAC'd 12: Yeah. Welcome back to another episode of the Pac Twelve. I'm your host, Almanage Jordan, my two favorite co-hosts of the world, Brad Bierman and Kane Bessett. How are we doing today, y'all? The date is August eight seventeenth. It's a bud day. How we feel today, y'all? Feeling pretty good, man. We got a massive interview that we haven't done yet. We're about to start in about fifteen minutes here. ⁓ but I'm really excited, man. the season's already started. Soccer, volleyball. Got to watch ⁓ on YouTube the other day, so it's been great. Most excited I've been for a Monday in a minute, so let's get it going. God, let's just get right into it. We talked about volleyball last time. The other sport Brett just mentioned that is in full swing regular season is soccer. Primarily women's soccer will be covering that since every single other schools in the Pac 12 have a women's soccer program. And we've had some interesting storylines in just the first two match weeks, guys. The big one coming out recently was that in the first game of the season for Gonzaga University, there was a person true freshman. Who lit up the scoreboard? Amanda Severin, four goals and one assist in their opening game against South Florida. What a statement to the rest of the conference. ⁓ that's ridiculous right there. As a true freshman, too, coming in there, getting your first reps, four goals and an assist. I mean, ⁓ watch out for the Zags, I guess. I I don't know how good South Florida is, but that's a very good start for them. And it seems like all these other schools are getting pretty good starts as well. Yeah, it doesn't seem like it's like a tune up game by any means, right? So like that's pretty That's a pretty real deal, getting four goals. And also she added a couple assists, right? So amazing. For a true freshman, incredible. I'm just gonna go down. I'm gonna start from since we only got a couple match weeks, I'm gonna just read out the scores. To open up the season, Oregon State took on the South Carolina Game Cox in Columbia. They lost two nil. Utah State also went to Lawrence to take on the Jayhawks in Kansas. They also lost two nil. Texas State went to their heated rivals in San Antonio. The U T S A Roadrunners. That was a two two draw and then University of Idaho go Vandals. They ran rampant in Pullman, Washington against the Washington State Cougars. They beat them 3-0. Then Colorado State University took on their rivals. The Buffs of Colorado. They lost 2-1. Boise State got the first duff for the Pac-12 on opening week. They took down Season 3-0 pretty handedly. And San Diego State took down UC San Diego 2-0. Fresno State lost to UC Davis 2-0. We just talked about Gonzaga Beating up on South Florida five to one. So not the best way to open up soccer for the Pac twelve, but to be fair, a lot of these schools, pretty good programs, out of conference schedules, pretty good opponents here. That's kind of what the you know, before the regular season and conference play starts, right? So this part of the regular season on conference is kind of just a tune up, you know, ⁓ gotta fill some holes, fill the team out, stuff like that. ⁓ but there are some pretty interesting scores in there and some teams that did surprise. So It's the fun point in the year where you kinda get to watch your team kind of mold, you know, at the beginning. Like you're just watching all these pieces come together and by the end it's just gonna be you know, you're gonna have your answers. So it's pretty cool. And you even get a chance to overreact a little. So a little big that's a little fun. And we just definitely even though a lot of these games were blossoms, like we said, still gelling. The game that does stand out, the only draw here, Texas State versus U T S A not to be a homer, but that was an interesting game to watch. It's a great game. It's a great game and it was a Pretty physical game. These teams had 24 fouls combined, 12 each. So a fifty-fifty football down the line. Exactly literally. And it was getting chippy, but it was such a good game. This is a Texas State team who is trying to like it's hard. You win the Sun Belt, then you just immediately gotta forget everything about that conference. You're in the new conference, and it's like But some things stay the same. You always hate UTSA. Always hate UTSA and UTSA is getting for them. So is the rest of the Pac 12. We're gonna move on to second match week day since we have got that. Most of the games were played yesterday, but Washington State got their chance at South Florida and they knock them off on Saturday, four to one. They get their first three points of the season. Then on Sunday, the action Lipscomb taking down the Oregon State Beavers 2-0 in Nashville. Fresno State gets Molly Wap by St. Mary's 4-0. Then Gonzaga unable to score goals here against Oregon, 3-0 loss for them. Colorado State Gets their first win of the season, taking on the University of Denver 1-0. Boise State picking up their second win of the season, undefeated so far, and another great win against Weaver State 4-1. Speaking of 4-1, Texas State did the same thing to UTRGV last night in their home opener. And Michigan and Utah State, another 2-2 draw in Logan, Utah. So now two game weeks down. And a little bit of teams kind of pulling ahead. You see, with Boise State, they're the only ones who have two wins. But Texas State also on being with a win and a draw. Yeah. Boise State, Texas State, Utah State. I mean, that's three hundred monster right there going for the Pac Twelve Championship. I think favorites in women's soccer. ⁓ some pretty big wins there. And Boise, of course, are just off to a hot start in another sport. Hey, Pac twelve listeners. You can find these episodes on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music or wherever you stream podcasts. Now back to the episode. We get to look forward to some midweek madness in a little bit right here. Starting off with Texas State, they will stay home and they will host the Texas AM Aggies. That game will be at five thirty. And then also another great matchup, San Diego State will host the University of Washington. That was a team that went deep in the ⁓ women's tournament last year in soccer. So those should be really two good games to be on the lookout for. Do you guys think ⁓ maybe we we start crowning like a Pac twelve player of the week like In any sport, just like an overall player of the week. ⁓ yeah, and I think that one's kinda settled for soccer, right? That's what I'm saying, right? Well, just overall in any sport. ⁓ you get a four goal performance with a couple of assists and you're you're doing pretty good. So I think Yeah, sure. If we want to on the spot, it is still in the time frame about a week ago. Amanda Severin, four goals, one assist, and her opening debut in the regular season. ⁓ honorable mention, I would like to say Victoria Mesa last night for Texas State had two had a brace, two goals. She could have had way more And she was playing a great performance, the El Salvador Native. But we see some great performances come out of women's soccer. I love women's soccer so much. It's a good score. It's great. It's great, man. That time of year. Congrats to Amanda. She's ⁓ the name, now the first ever Brett Packed 12 player of the week. How about that? Yes, sir. Clap it up. If you missed an episode, you want to see our graphics, or you just want to see behind the scenes clips, make sure to follow our Instagram. That is P A C D 12 Pod. on Instagram. But that will take care of it momentarily for soccer. If you're unaware for at least women's soccer and volleyball at the moment, every single game there will be streamed on YouTube free of charge. And that's just the greatest thing in the world. It's been great. Yeah. So we were j we were talking about it how ⁓ how easy it is to get to these games now compared to like when we were watching it on ESPN plus. So not only having to go to the app, scroll all the way down to women's soccer, scroll like thirty times till I finally find the Texas State ⁓ like stream only for it to be like unavailable for whatever reason. But now on YouTube it's so easy. I just searched Pac twelve and there it was right there. The very first search was all the live broadcasts that they got going on and the first team I saw was Texas State UTRG V. It was a beautiful site. So easy to get to and it's free. What do you think about it, Caden? A as someone who's worked on both of the first two Texas State broadcasts running the camera, ⁓ it's interesting and it's new. For the last two years I've been doing ESP and plus stuff, so graphics wise and Just kind of the cadence of the way we tell the stories is a little bit different. ⁓ the fact that there's a live chat now that's different. We've seen Texas State's play by play guy, Brant Freeman, when he once he figured out there was a live chat, he went into the chat and texted mid game in the chat while he was calling play by play, interacting with fans. So that's an opportunity for every single school to have. That's really cool. The fans get to talk back and forth. Did he did he kind of come up with an idea there? Did he break through there? Are commentators now going to be part of the chat? Possibly. Possible when I was when I was in Alaska all summer that was like fifty percent of our broadcast was talking to parents in the chat. That's so cool. It was really cool and I enjoyed it and I think it's even cool to bring that into like legit college athletics and I think Brent is onto something there. We told him there was a live chat and he literally wasted no time and hopped in and just started saying, Hey, ask questions. What do you want to know? That's ⁓ what would you like me to talk about? I've seen a lot of fans be happy about it. Of course, you know, on the Tech State side I'm gonna know a little bit more working on those. ⁓ But I will say the volleyball scorebug is not that beautiful. Soccer one I'm okay with. ⁓ you probably won't see a lot of stats popping up mid-game off of the scorebug and stuff like that because it is very weird and you have to manually ⁓ put those stats in and then pop them as opposed to how it was on ESPN plus they were data linked and you could automatically do it. So you're maybe losing a bit of a stat element in those broadcasts. ⁓ the graphics You know, y you have to build ⁓ just like you had to do for any other broadcast. They don't look as cool, but they are pretty simple and clean. So I don't hate ⁓ and then the only other thing from, you know, just a broadcast perspective, the open, ⁓ they're all gonna be the same for the Pac twelve ones. They they're pretty long. The open is pretty long. it's it's nothing crazy, but it is really cool to see all those teams together and see Pac twelve next to all their names and there is no ads. I was about to say there is no ads. No ads. That was a big thing I noticed whenever I was tapped into the volleyball stream. I was using my friend's YouTube premium, so just in case if there was ads, but once I saw like that ticker said no ads, I'm like, this is the greatest thing ever. Yeah, exactly. I think it's gonna be cool and everyone's gonna enjoy it. We'll see what happens when it comes to like baseball and softball and stuff like that and not every basketball game is gonna be ⁓ televised like you might think. So I wonder what happens to some of those, especially like non conference play early. Yeah, you're right. ⁓ we'll see football still going on in full swing. It it seems well received though thus far and I don't think you can really complain about something that's free. You're probably gonna get a free broadcast, ⁓ you know, just quality. But ⁓ I've seen people praising Texas State's broadcast and I was pretty surprised to see that 'cause in the past there's been a lot of hate and pretty much all they did was change the scorebug and some of the graphics and People like it now. So I think people were probably just excited about the Pac twelve, but there's nothing wrong with that. And I just gotta say, shout out Brand Freeman, man. What a class act. What a professional to just immediately hear or to that live chat and just immediately just hop on that. You don't really see And embrace it too, you know. Exactly, man. Love that. It's a way to easily connect with like this new generation. That's like a new could be a new path for broadcasters. With if it's on YouTube, why not interact with your live chat? It would be boring if you just kinda just Talked about the same things over and over. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Especially like what Caden was saying, how you don't have like the stat element to it. You know, maybe this adds something different where it's like if you see a question in the chat like, hey, like how many goals has she scored on this many? You know what I'm saying? Like, and maybe it's kinda like there's people there who can like look that stuff up for and y you know what I'm saying? Just there there's a totally different element to it. There's some things that you got in, there's some things that you don't, but you have to take the good with the bad. You just reminded me it's like not It's not a YouTube thing, but something that could ha easily happen on YouTube. ⁓ whenever I was calling the Texas State soccer game yesterday, there was a friend of Ian's who was just listening to us and he was wondering has like w it was really oddly specific that he was wondering it, but I had the answer regardless. Yeah. He was saying how many like home openers have they like won in a row? Mm-hmm. And it was actually that since after yesterday they've won six home openers consecutively in a row. And the moment he asked that I'd said it. But like if you're in a YouTube chat and you're just wondering that ⁓ how many homeovers have they won in a row? And that's something that Brent Freeman might know at the top of his head anyway. You know, like he's just been doing it for that long and he's been with the school that long. So it's yeah, it's it's just cool. I I really like the the chat interaction feature. And then we do have volleyball on the horizon as well. The regular season is genuinely just a week away. We had the exhibition. We could talk about a little bit of that. I don't know if y'all watched the te how much of the Texas State exhibition y'all did watch. I watched all of it. Very little amount. I was there running the game camera, so the camera that was live ninety nine percent of the time, that was me, baby. Dang. ⁓ that was pretty sad though. They lost Tarleton State and got reverse swept. That was it was reverse swept. It was an exhibition, so it doesn't count in the grand scheme of things, but still not the best thing you want to see for now. Not at all. It is a new look team and all that stuff, but ⁓ I think I'm just ready for a conference play to be honest. I genuinely I cannot wait for the first time a Pac twelve team comes into San Marcus and vice versa for everybody else. I think that's Really where it's gonna get exciting for everyone. Thank you for listening to Pac Twelve. You can follow us on X at Pact Twelve Pod. That's P A C D twelve P O D. On X, you can find us posting all of our recent episodes and even more content right there on X. Again, that's P A C D twelve P O D on X. Well, y'all, today is a very special episode as we have a very special guest joining us today. You might have heard about NFL Prime Time, maybe on college Saturdays, maybe even in the jazz oddsable. Please welcome. USA Network's very own Nate Gatter. Welcome thank you for joining the show, Nate. Thanks for having me, guys. Appreciate it. Nate, to start off the show, man, we wanted to ask you a little icebreaker. ⁓ this is kind of your intro into the Pac Twelve World as well. ⁓ what did you think of the Pat McAfee album and what song made you tear up? I ⁓ have not listened to the Pat McAfee album, nor do I think I probably will be. ⁓ I I don't think I'm not ⁓ necessarily the kind of guy who has his finger on the musical pulse to begin with. And so I think I I'll stick to basics in that regard. ⁓ i if you catch me listening to AI assisted music any time in the next, I don't know, a hundred and thirty seven years, that's gonna be probably AI has replaced me as a human being and my soul has been departed from this earth. So I there's no risk of me listening to that. When you get the opportunity, we're gonna talk about you ⁓ first, Nate, ⁓ kind of intro you. ⁓ so when you get the chance to like call these like unique sports like arena football, you know, we were I was looking at some of your highlights last night with the arena football league. How do you get your mind right to have, you know how do you get your mind right, sorry, to know almost everything about a sport like that? And not only that, in a short amount of time have to know a lot about these players. Like how do you get your mind right to prepare for something like that? When it's something like indoor football, it's hard. because there's a bunch of sort of background information that when you and I are watching college football, we just know. And you don't necessarily know if you didn't grow up watching a sport. I mean, I had never watched indoor football on a reliable basis before this year. ⁓ and so that can be hard, right? It's the difference between learning a language in your high school or college class. and then going and trying to speak it in that country at the pace that they speak it with the idioms that they use or the non literal language that they use and you're not necessarily fully fluent. ⁓ so I I think that's always daunting because you just anytime you're doing a game, this is j equally true will be equally true doing Pac 12 football, it makes no difference what it is. I never want to be caught in a situation where a fan Who has grown up with that conference or that school or that rivalry or whatever it might be is immediately aware of something and I don't know it because I'm parachuting in. Because now I've lost a lot of credibility. Right? People sort of assume when they turn on the game that I have some kind of encyclopedic sports knowledge and I just know everything that's ever happened. And that is not true at all, right? I have to learn all of those things. I have to do that homework. If we're talking about Ohio State and Michigan, like am I aware of the general scope of the rivalry and the general trends? Sure. Do I know every play that happened in the you know, whatever famous game in the eighties? I wasn't alive for that. Like, no, I don't know know every single play. ⁓ so it's ⁓ it's incumbent upon me to be aware of those things. To give you an e an example or a hypothetical, I guess, let's say I'm gonna use an example of a game we don't have on our schedule, because I don't want it to seem like I'm like Trying to in any way talk about something real. So let's say we were playing a Texas State UTSA game, which we don't have this year. I wish we did. But let's say that we we had that. And imagine for me that two years ago, ⁓ Texas State had beaten UTSA on a on a halfback pass, you know, on fourth and goal, halfback pass that fools the entire defense, and you have a guy wide open touchdown, right? Now imagine there's a touchdown scored between Texas State and UTSA on a halfback pass. If I don't reference that play from two years ago, it's obvious that I don't know that it happened. Right? Because any person who watched that game and cares about these programs and now is watching this game would be aware that that happened and would immediately say it. And so it's a it's the sort of omission that is not just an omission. It makes it obvious that there's a gap in knowledge. ⁓ so this is a long-winded answer to your question, but it it's by obsessively consuming as much information as I possibly can and then over time learning how to take that huge amount of information and distill it down into things that are likely to actually matter. ⁓ which is a little bit easier when it comes to this, right? Because if you're a college football fan, you do know generally the positioning of the Pac Twelve and what the last couple of years have looked like and what it looked like before that, sort of how the Pac twelve fell and how it has risen again. And where it's situated in college football, where it wants to go, where it would rather not go, and what are the things that are gonna decide which path it goes down from here. Those are all things that if you're an attentive college football fan, you sort of already know. And so we're just building on that rather than coming into a sport that I've never ever covered and having to figure out what the lay of the land is. Right, right. And and Nate, because Sol kind of mentioned it too, you've broadcasted at different levels and even different sports. So within different levels of football. You broadcast at different conferences. What makes you excited about this year and this year of the Pac Twelve? I think first of all, we have a great collection of of schools and fan bases ⁓ that are hungry to play football at a higher level than what they have. ⁓ and this is going to be a platform and a brand that allows them to do that. secondly, I think there is just a lot of alignment. And that's a little bit of a sort of buzzword in college athletics, but in this sense, I'm using it to mean a conference and administrators teamed up with universities and their administrators, both athletically and academically, and then players and coaches and fan bases and donors who are all pushing in the same direction. And that doesn't happen all the time in college sports now. Secondly, or thirdly, I think. There is a thirst nationally for conferences that make sense. You have to view this in relative terms to first of all what counts as geographically making sense in 2026 in college sports. And second of all, the fact that just West Coast schools compared to the Midwest and the East Coast are just spread further apart. With those two caveats, this is a conference that makes a lot of geographical sense, that generally feels right. Texas State is a little bit of an outlier in that they have not been in were not in a conference last year with any of these schools. But everybody else was in a conference with at least one other member of the Pac Twelve last year, whether it was the Pac Twelve or another league. And they have all, again with the exception of Texas State, seen a lot of each other in a lot of sports, whether it was in conference or out of conference. So I think it just makes sense. And we could get into a much longer conversation of why I think Those things are important. One is for fans, it's about travel distances and time zones and those sorts of things. The other is because I think even if you're not a fan of one of these schools, even if you're not a West Coast person, you want to feel like when you turn on a conference, you're getting some kind of identity that is different than others. I I compare it to the way that every NFL team now is building some variation of the exact same stadium. When I turn on a Buffalo Bills game in twenty twenty six, is it gonna feel like Buffalo, or is it just gonna feel like an NFL game and the NFL stadium happens to be in Buffalo? Those are not the same thing to me. ⁓ I think you are at risk of the Big Twelve and the ACC ⁓ all sort of feeling the same. To a lesser extent the Big Ten as well, sort of feeling the same. I think one of the reasons the SEC has the cultural pull that it does right now. Part of it is athletic excellence, surely, but the Big Ten is also athletically excellent. And depending on the sport, the Big Twelve or the ACC are often similarly good. Why does the SEC have this stranglehold? It's because they, compared to the other three, feel much more culturally homogeneous. They are they make sense, right? They there is a southeastern identity to that conference still. Not to say that Texas AM didn't push it a little west, that Missouri didn't push it a little bit north. But there's still a southeastern identity that is cohesive in that league. And I think when people watch it, even if it's someone living in North Carolina who's turning on a Pac Twelve game late at night, they want to feel like they're watching something that has an identity. And the Pac twelve is going to have that. I I think that's true of a lot of our cultural it's a part of the reason the Premier League has become such a popular TV product in the United States. It feels very British. You feel like you're you're getting this little bit of foreign culture. It's like you're watching a sport, but you're also watching like a travel show or a food network show or whatever. You're s you're getting culture in it at the same time because it feels authentic to a particular place. And the Pac-Twelve has that sense of place now and I think is gonna do a lot to protect that. That's part of the reason they've kept it small. They have the ability and the interest in adding, but only if it makes sense. And that means financially, it also means geographically, that those two things have to both be considered. So To me, there is a huge amount of upside potential in this Pac Twelve, and it's been managed very, very smartly at a time when a lot of college administrators at all levels have incentive to kind of get out of over their skis a little bit and take big risks. ⁓ the Pac Twelve has been under control even through a tumultuous period. ⁓ well I was glad that you were able to bring us that inside nate. Talking about the Pac twelve. We see all these different names. Of course USA network that you're a part of. We also see names like C B S and then CW also trying to get in the name of the Pac twelve. But what can we expect f sp specifically from the USA network? How do they compete with like how ESPN has like the SEC or I guess the CBS has like the big Ted now? What can we expect from the USA network to really sh show the Pac twelve aspect and really provide a unique perspective compared to these other networks? I think a couple of things. Number one, USA has twenty two Pac twelve football games more than any other network. seventeen of them are gonna kick either at six Eastern Three Pacific or nine thirty Eastern six thirty Pacific. So there's a real effort to standardize those things. There are a couple of times where either because one week we have a triple header or because there's golf or Premier League or US or ⁓ you know WMBA or whatever there might be that USA also has or we have to adjust a little bit. But generally speaking you're gonna be able to have those consistent times. So I I think we want this to be the Pac twelve home. So one thing is that there's a lot of Pac twelve football, right? More than any other network. The other thing is there's not any other conference. And so one of the things I think frustrates fans Especially if you're a fan of any conference outside of the SEC or the Big Ten. But even if you root for those conferences but your school is not one of their marquee three or four brands, you feel like I'm watching my game, and then we get to halftime, and I'm looking for some analysis of the first half I just watched. I'm looking for some predictions or insight about the second half I'm going to watch. And instead, I get 15 minutes of guys talking about teams that are not my team, conferences that might not even be my conference. And what that means for the playoff race or the Heisman race or whatever. Now we expect Pac-12 teams and Pac-Twelve players to be involved in playoff and Heisman conversations and we will happily have those conversations. But if what we're calling is a ⁓ six and two Washington state against a four and four Oregon State. You are not going to get a halftime full of what does this mean for Alabama and Ohio State and USC. You're going to get a halftime full of what does this mean for the Pac-12? What are these two programs doing and what is else is happening in the conference? We are not using this as a vehicle to sell you games from other conferences or force you to watch other things or shove information down your throat that you don't want. We are going to be a Pac-12 network. That is what it's going to be. We that's the only football that we have, is Pac-12. It is going to be wall-to-wall. Now, My are there gonna be some highlights at halftime of here's something else going on around the country? Potentially, yes. But the discussion is not going to suddenly morph into being all about other schools and conferences. So if you're looking for a network that is gonna live and breathe the Pac Twelve the way that you do, we got no other air to breathe. This is our air, right? And so and w and that's what we're gonna live on. And and we're gonna be as deep in that as all of you are. That's the goal, and ⁓ and be able to bring those things to you. So I I think it's It the dedication to the Pac twelve is evident in the volume that we're doing, but also in the lack of volume of anything else. This is Pac twelve and Pac twelve only. And you and your team, you recently got to you, Ryan Leaf, Lauren Green, you guys recently got to take like a little mini road trip here. ⁓ four teams in four days. Colorado State. You're here in San Marcus for a little bit. I think you were in Pullman and Boise State. So like all those are unique in their own way, right? But what was ⁓ your favorite thing about each spot? I'll start Well, I'll tell you what, I'll go in the order that we went. So we started at Colorado State. I think what's striking about them is the professionalism that's that's come in the door, unsurprisingly, with Jim Moore Junior taking over. I think there are a lot of questions around that team. ⁓ they have like seventy new players, ⁓ and like almost twenty of ⁓ came with Mora from UConn. They have question ⁓ quarterback controversy, at least a two way quarterback competition going on. They have probably some talent gaps to overcome this year relative to some of the top teams in the league. But we only have to look back to Yukon last year for the blueprint for more at least keeping Colorado State in games and giving them a chance to win in the fourth quarter, which is doing the little things well, paying attention to detail. They Yukon last year had a very good turnover margin and they committed very few penalties. If you do those two things, you're gonna put yourself in a position to at least put your best foot forward and have an opportunity. Now, if they're facing teams that are at the very top of the conference, do I think they're likely to be in it in the fourth quarter? Maybe not. But if they can be successful against the teams that are projected toward the bottom of the conference and stay in it against the middle of the pack in the conference into the fourth quarter, could they find their way to, you know, making a run at a bowl game toward down the stretch in the season? I think possibly, and that would be a big win for them. ⁓ and you know, Jim Moore has had a lot of success turning programs and teams around quickly. That was true at UConn, true at UCLA, true even with the Atlanta Falcons, that he had big jumps in win totals from the year before he got there to the first year he was there. So I think it's just the professionalism and and the attention to detail that he's emphasizing ⁓ all throughout practice at all for everybody. We saw it even with the equipment staff. Like he is on everybody to do things the exact right way. Texas State was Striking because I think the excitement level inside the university is as high or higher there than it is anywhere else. Because frankly, and I don't mean this in a bad way, there's been plenty of success there since GJ Kinney got into San Marcus. This is a bigger step up for Texas State in terms of competition and in terms of exposure than it is for any of the other schools. Right. Yeah. They've been in the Pac-12, Washington State and Oregon State have. And the other five schools have all been playing each other already. Now they're leveling up in terms of resources and expectations, there's no doubt. So it's not just a lateral move for them, but they know each other and that level of competition. They're comfortable with that. For Texas State, I mean we're talking about a a program that's had a lot of home conference games on ESPN Plus, right? Like now they're gonna host an FCS team on national television this year. They're gonna have every game, or certainly every home game, on linear national television. That's a big change. Again, institutional alignment. I don't know if anybody has it better than Texas State. From president's office to AD's office to head coach's office through the staff, through the organization, and all the way down to the players. I and not to mention the donors, because that's a huge part of this conversation with any school. Right. Yeah, yeah. No, there's that that's everybody, right? And I feel like Texas State look, ⁓ is the stadium a little smaller than some of the others in the league? Are there things of that way that you see that you're like, okay, this is they're they're moving from the Sunbelt to the back 12? Definitely. But there is such strong alignment that and there is such hunger to be successful that I have a very, very hard time thinking that Texas State, first of all, can't compete in the league right away and can't put put themselves in a position to be at the at the top of the league in the near future. I think they're gonna be they're gonna catch a lot of people off guard nationally just because you know they haven't been an FB. Even that long in absolute terms. And so I think there's going to be a learning curve for the casual fan who maybe hasn't even heard of Texas State and is going to be hearing about them this year and going forward. Washington State and Boise State, you can kind of put together because they, relative to those two, they're feeling like this is our level, right? I mean, Washington State has been at the Pac-12 level and competing nationally with that national kind of brand for a long time, even though they're in this really small town, kind of in the middle of no And Boise State Even though they haven't been in the Pac 12, the vibe there is sort of like we're Boise State, like we have a national brand on our own. We could be an independent and we could we could maintain a national brand if we really had to. Like people know us. And that's fair. Like they were excited, don't get me wrong, they're excited to be in the Pac-12. But it would always be followed by we don't consider this to be like we're getting to the big time. We've been the big time, right? Like we we have a brand that stands on its own. ⁓ so that that's cool, right? They have A little bit of a swagger, which I think is gonna make them a great team to have a target on their back this first year. Like, look, if you whether you go by S P Plus or media polls or whatever, Boise State is the pretty clear in a way favorite in this league. And by SP Plus, they're a bigger favorite in this conference than any other team is in any other FPS league. They are the biggest favorite to win their conference in the country. And so they should have a little swagger, and they're gonna have a target on their back. And I think having a swagger makes them fun to shoot at, right? ⁓ I I think that. There's a good chance that for Washington State and Oregon State, who might have a ⁓ understandably a bit of a hard time hating each other since they were sort of in the trenches together these last couple years, they kind of got a band of brothers thing going on. Why not hate Boise State, right? Like that seems pretty easy. Who are they coming into your conference and saying that they're the team to beat right away? ⁓ so I I think it's fun that they've got a little swagger. And again, this is me just saying they were confident. It's not like they were putting down anybody, they didn't say anything disrespectful, nothing like that. They were j they just are confident in. themselves and feel like this is well, it's a great new opportunity for them in the pack. It's not anything that they're unprepared to handle. ⁓ Washington State is the biggest wild card to me in terms of how the fan base is gonna is gonna be this first year, right? Because they've been feeling it the last few years. They had they're kind of going through those stages of grief. They were really hurt, understandably, by the way that they got left behind. Stung for a while, and I think they kind of retreated into that pain for a little bit and that despair. And then understandably, for the last couple years, they're kind of like, we don't have a conference championship to play for. Like, we're kind of trying to cobble together this independent schedule. Where are we going? And now they've got direction again. Is it the Pac-12 they were in before? Obviously not. Does that mean they can't be really excited about it? Does that mean even that they might not have a better chan path to the college football playoff now than they had before? I don't know that for a fact. I certainly think there is a path for them and any other team who wants to be at the top of the Pac-12 to get to the college football playoff. So my hope is that in Pullman the attitude now is, okay, we got through it. It's time to be a leader in this league. Right? It's not time th the the licking the wounds and the and the feeling angry and whatever, those are all valid feelings. But that time has come and gone. It's time to move forward and channel that into something productive, which is leading this league. And I think if everybody's if they get that alignment in Pullman and throughout the state, they are gonna be a force to be reckoned with really, really, really quickly. Because they have a great coaching staff, they have really good resources, and they have a brand that deserves to be awakened for what it is. ⁓ so ⁓ we'll see. ⁓ they're the biggest in so many ways on the field. Off the field, to me, they are the biggest question mark kind of lurking there in the middle of the league, and nobody really knows what to do with them for this year. if everything goes right for them, I could see them challenging for a conference title, and I can tell you that was the message we got from them. We don't care what anybody is saying, we consider ourselves the favorites to win the league, because like this is our league. if everything doesn't go well, I could see them not having the butts in the seats that you'd like to see, right? Hopefully, it's more toward the former than the latter. ⁓ and I want to go back just for a second specifically on USA Network. ⁓ you kind of talked a bit maybe about what the studio show is gonna look like and what's gonna be talked about. Talk about from your perspective what the conversations and the preparations have been like inside the USA Network, getting ready to broadcast this brand new conference, because there's things that go from you know building graphics packages and all this different stuff and making a a really stamping a look on to how you're gonna broadcast these games. Talk about how that has come to fruition and how y'all are getting ready to go. Okay, I'm gonna tell you guys a little bit of a secret. All right. ⁓ I can't I can't tell you all the details. I'm obviously not intimately involved in building the graphics and those and the presentation myself. I have seen a little bit of it. ⁓ What I can tell you is this, it's gonna be all new stuff built for this package, for the Pac twelve on USA network. ⁓ and it's gonna look really, really good. it's gonna look better than anything that any of these schools have had in the last few years, maybe than they've had at any point, ⁓ on their packages. th y you will be satisfied. What I would tell you is that all of those conversations, whether it has to do with presentation, whether it has to do with content, whether it has to do with familiarizing ourselves with the schools and the coaches and the players and what have you, they are all about serving the Pac-12 fan the very, very best that we can. And I know that sounds like a simplified answer, but not every conversation happens that way. there is a great deal of intentionality with With USA, with Pac-12 Enterprises, with our crews, about making this the very, very best it can be. And they are giving us the resources it takes to make that happen. and we intend to make it happen. So I I I can only give you so many details, but I think you will be very pleased. As a fan, and I imagine any fan listening, they're happy to hear that because that's what we're waiting for, especially from the Texas State point of view. We're looking to feel like we belong and then be treated to something that we've never had before. Yeah. I mean and that's like, look, Texas State, I think they're gonna get that from us more than anywhere. And now I know that that we that Texas State has more games I think on CW than they have on USA and CW I'm sure will do a great job too. ⁓ But you know, we're gonna be there, my crew will be there twice in non conference. We're gonna have North Texas and ⁓ and Incarnate Word. And and I just think that week four game in particular, I know look, it's the only game we have that has an FCS team in it, compared to like Wyoming, Colorado State, and Memphis, Boise State, and then North Texas, Texas State, that our crew will have the first three weeks. You're like, ⁓ okay, Incarnate Word and and Texas State, week before conference play, everybody's just kinda like looking ahead to the Pac twelve and getting it rolling. And look, is there gonna be a look ahead element? Potentially in the second half of that game if the score gets stretched out? Yeah, obviously. Might there be some discussion of other things going around in the league if that game gets stretched out? Obviously, yes. But I think for Texas State fans, it's gonna be, holy cow, we're playing an FCS team and we're on national linear television and we're gonna get, you know, the A crew for a game against Incarnate Word. Again, taking nothing away from them, because I recognize that they've been a very good FCS program. Obviously, we've got the you know narrative tie-ins with with GJ and everything. So like I am I am not diminishing that game whatsoever. But that's the kind of game that is the definition of ESPN plus. the last few years for for Texas State and really throughout Texas State's history and this is a chance for Us and the Pac 12 and Texas State to all support each other, right? Like it's great for us to have these great ambitious programs on our air. And the more money Texas State spends and the better they get, the better it is for us. But at the same time, like the exposure and the quality of coverage that we can and intend to provide bolsters those programs on that mission. So staying on USA a little bit, you're talking about your partner Ryan Lee. If he's gonna be in the booth with you every Saturday, obviously a very interesting brain on him. He's a guy who's played in NFL was very successful in college at Washington State. Has he kind of gotten in your head at all though about any of these guys or teams that like maybe nobody's talking about that maybe he he he notices and he's kinda passed along to you? I can tell you, and I'm sure he and I will continue talking about this more going into week one. He has consistently been confident that Colorado State is gonna be better than people are giving them credit for. ⁓ and I haven't seen a lot of people saying that. So, you know, take his word for it, I guess. ⁓ you know, he knows a lot of football. And I I can tell you this, when we were at Texas State practice, he watched Brad Jackson throw one ball. So well, first of all, we walked out and we said, Which one's him? 'Cause I mean it can't be We're like, kinda it kind of looks like number eight's the starter, but that can't be right. He's like five foot ten. Like there's no way that's him. And and then he throws one ball, and Ryan was like, okay. Well, yeah, that's him. ⁓ and that was it. Like he was like he was completely sold on one ball, which to funny enough, then when we're talking to GJ after practice, that's basically what he said. Right? He's like, We had the his kid was under recruited, we're like, all right, let's get him out to our camp. We watch him throw one pass, we're like, that's that's our Guy, we're offering him. ⁓ so it shows you that guys who know ball, like it doesn't take that long to say, okay, that guy's a little bit different. ⁓ and to be fair to Brad, I mean, you know, he's taller. We we went to Boise State later in the trip, and Maddox Madsen is shorter than than Brad is. So, you know, I mean, and then it is an era era of football where like we're not stressing about that quite as much. Not to say it's still not nice to have a little height in your quarterback. ⁓ but there are plenty of guys who have been successful at the college level and even at the NFL level who are not six foot three or the six foot seven that Ryan is, right. ⁓ So yeah, I would say from a generally I've heard him feel like Colorado State is gonna be more competitive maybe than they're they're being given credit for. ⁓ Brad Jackson, he's really excited about, and we're gonna get to see him a couple times early in the year. Beyond that, I mean I think you know he's he is a Washington State guy, so I I think he there's a part of him that says like this Wazoo team can be better than middle of the pack, and certainly that's the sentiment in Pullman. the last thing I will say though. Is when we were at Boise, Maddox Madsen, a little bit short, ain't nothing small about any of the rest of those guys. That team is huge. I mean, unbelievably huge. ⁓ like they look the part of a top twenty five like college football playoff contending kind of team. ⁓ up front. Obviously they have the the Riley Gaines one two running back punch. They have Harry Stewart, who's a transfer from Kansas, who's gonna be like probably their number three tailback. That dude has Saquon legs. Like it's unbelievable legs. ⁓ and he's b he's gonna be their number three tailback most likely. So I I it just They are very, very big. And I think they're deep and they're gonna be a lot to handle for any team in this league. I don't think it's beyond doable, especially because you have some teams that have stylistic identities, right? Texas State is a great example of this where they're gonna kind of do their own thing that's gonna be difficult for a team like Boise or anybody to simulate in practice. ⁓ and so in a game like that, if you've got a high powered offense the way that Texas State does, you go plus two or three in the turnover margin, you can beat anybody, right? I mean, i if you you score that many points and you create a couple extra possessions, you you're in it, if not favored, against any team in the league. ⁓ but Boise, I think, is going to be physically and over the length of sixty minutes, a difficult team to handle just because of their size and depth. And you've talked to us right now about what Ryan's really excited for and of course we've shared on the podcast what we're excited for to see on the season. But I really just want to ask you specifically, of course, you're professional and you're great at what you do, so it's your job to know as much as you can about what you're covering. But Is there something specific that you like a coach, player, even a matchup, they just can't wait to see whenever their season starts for college football? This is low hanging fruit. but Memphis Boise in week two, I think is is just a massive, massive game for Boise State, for Memphis, for the Pac twelve, for the American, for really all of, you know, group of six football. ⁓ If I were to extrapolate that, I would say our first three weeks. Look, we're all really excited about Pac-12 play. And compared to some of the other marquee TV partners of this league, we paid very close attention and gave a lot of placed a lot of importance on securing as many top conference games as we could. I think we are gonna have the best game of the week more often than not once we get into conference play, and that was intentional. With that said, because of the fact that this is a new league that is trying to position itself as firmly the number five football conference in the country and I think has a good chance to do that. It has to be proven on the field, and that's gonna happen more so in non-conference than in conference. If you want credit for beating the crap out of each other in conference play, you have to prove that your median team and your top team is better than the median teams and the top teams in the peer leagues or the leagues that wanna be your peers, whether you consider them your peers or not. Right? So the Mountain West wants to be considered a peer of the Pac-12. We have Wyoming and Colorado State in week one. That's very significant. If Colorado State wins that game, a team that's coming off a two-win season and is projected by most to be in the bottom two or three in the New Look Pac-12, that makes a little bit of a statement about the relative strength of the two leagues. Go ahead to week two. You're seeing may two of the very, very best teams in the country outside of the Power Four conferences and a chance and the the American certainly wants to consider itself a peer of the Pac-12, if not make the argument that they're ahead ahead of the Pac-12 and their champion should be the favorite for that last playoff spot and not the Pac-12s. Obviously I know this year you don't technically have to be a conference champion, but I struggle to see any Path to a playoff spot, to that playoff spot without winning your conference in the G6. So that's a monumental game for both programs and for the conference, especially if we assume, and I'm not taking it for granted, but they are huge underdogs, that Boise loses to Oregon in week one. Well, you start 0-2 in the Pac-12, in the American, in almost any league in America, it's going to be a long road to the playoff from 0-2, right? So I think that's going to be a ⁓ ma a monster game and then North Texas Texas State is sort of a a similar version to week two in that maybe you're going from the, you know, preseason favorites in the league down to like teams that are picked in the upper half of the league, but you're still getting sort of schools in a similar spot in peer conferences. Well, this is a chance for the Pac twelve to show that it's it's ahead of those conferences, right? If if the Pac twelve were to go three and ⁓ in those games, that's a major statement on Where how does the Pac twelve compare to sure the Mountain West, but especially the American, and how does that sh shape the conversation when we get into November and it's time to to decide who's going to a playoff, right? And and throughout that the season when we're deciding how our rankings shaking out and how much credibility do we give. Like, look, I understand this is this is no I'm not making predictions, I'm not favoring one team over another. But from a from a Pac twelve standpoint, nobody is rooting harder for the Pac twelve than their other schools in non conference. Right? If you're imagine you're Boise and you beat Memphis, and you know, let's say lose to Oregon, beat Memphis, and now you're thinking, all right, well, my goal is to get to 11 and 1, 12 and 1, and make the playoff. Well, Texas State better beat North Texas, right? Because if we beat Texas State, we want it to be wow. Can you believe how tough the Pac-12 is that Texas State beat North Texas and Boise still beat them? That's a pretty impressive win. Whereas if Texas State gets crushed by North Texas, now there's almost nothing. Boise could do to them that gets them any credit. Whereas losing to them could really hurt their season. And I'm just using Texas State as a random example because we have them week three. That's true of any other school, right? Nobody's rooting harder for Wazoo in their out-of-conference big games in September because they've got a gauntlet to start the season than the other teams in the league. Because whether they beat Wazoo and now it's a feather than their cap, or they lose to Wazoo and now it doesn't hurt them as much, regardless, the stronger they are out of conference, the better that game is for them. ⁓ Win or lose when it comes to Pac-12 play. So to me, the narratives are going to be mostly set in September for how those look this year. And there's no way around it. Look, it builds pressure on the league. I get it. But like there is no way around the fact that non-conference play in these first two or three seasons is going to dictate how this league is seen for a while. It's just how it is. It is a massive opportunity. If the Pac Twelve has a great September this year, it goes a very, very long way to making it very clear that the Pac Twelve is the number five football conference in the country, and anybody else is just playing for number six and the Pac-Twelve has established itself there. And and that's the job, really. Like that's the in the macro sense, that is the job the Pac Twelve football programs have for the foreseeable future, and a lot of that work. Although I think conference play is going to be probably More fun and we're gonna get a have a ton of ⁓ enjoyment that we take out of that. The work of where is the Pac-12 position, I mean that that has to that's happening in non-conference and it's happening in the postseason in bowl games and playoff bids. That's just how it is. The last thing that I have, you went to Pullman, you saw some wazoo practice, we know Ryan Lee's a big fan. We're curious as to who's the starter, right? We've been very high on Caden Pinick out of UC Davis. I'm curious if you got to see him throw it. what you and maybe even Ryan thought of him out there. Yeah, they were mixing in everybody, ⁓ at practice, including in their live periods. ⁓ they were mixing up even who was taking the first snaps with the ones in any in any given period in practice. I think at a minimum it's still a legitimate two horse race, ⁓ between Caden Pinnick and Owen Eshelman. ⁓ I think that Pinnock has a lot of upside. ⁓ Eshelman has been there, which, you know, how much does that matter if a new coaching staff is coming in and you know, you're getting a new system? I don't really know. ⁓ we talked to both of them after practice. ⁓ I I thought they were they were both came off very mature and like they were ready to to lead a team. their interactions with each other were really cool. I mean it it's clear that the that's a that's sort of an iron sharp sharpens iron competition rather than a like negativity breeding competition. ⁓ and Ryan would be the first one to tell you that although everybody says that, it's not always true, right? That's a the quarterback's one of those positions where only one guy can play. ⁓ and and so that's not always a s a super fun room to be in around this time of year because everybody knows only one guy can play and there's a decent chance that he's the only one who's gonna play the whole season. ⁓ so it's It's high stakes coming to practice every day. but I I I thought they said all the right things, ⁓ the you know, the way that they we had ⁓ in there at the same time, ⁓ for a stretch of of our conversation and they were great with each other. ⁓ if you were asking me to bet on one I would say I think Pinnock just because of the upside. ⁓ but I I do think that even within the program it's uncertain. I don't I don't think this is the kind of thing where they they know it's one guy or the other and they're they're hiding their the ball for the next couple of weeks. Now, two weeks from now they might have decided and still hide the ball for a few more days. That wouldn't shock me. ⁓ but a as of when we were there, I felt like the competition at least between Pinnock and Eshelmann was still real. Sounds good. Well, I got one more question, Nate, before we before we wrap up. just real quick on on behalf of the two gentlemen sitting next to me, Caden and Solo, ⁓ both aspiring play by play broadcasters as as yourself, you know, and obviously you don't start off working for the Pac Twelve on USA network, right? There's a lot of grind, there's a lot of work that you gotta do and maybe a lot of stuff that you don't wanna do. And I'm sure like in that long period of time for you to get here, that you know, doubt started creeping in, right? Like, man, is this like is this really gonna be my career? Is am I gonna be able to live my dream? How did you get through Like those dark times and like what made you push through and persevere? Yeah, I think first of all, you just keep working, right? I mean, nobody cares. Just work harder. and and that was definitely part of it. ⁓ when I was in college and just out of college doing, you know, minor league baseball and you know, riding the bus and and making like fifteen hundred bucks a month or whatever it was. but p to be honest with you, like I didn't always keep the faith, right? Like not in that I was sort of giving up on myself and and what I thought I was capable of doing, but in that, you know, I was when c COVID happened, and obviously that was not easy for anybody, but you know, sports completely shut down for a while. and then even after that, you know, if you were a freelance guy, it didn't really look too good even as games started to trickle back in. So coming out of COVID, you know, I was turning twenty-five years old. I was making very little money. I had a girlfriend who I saw a real future with, who is now my wife, and I wasn't thinking that she was probably looking to marry a twenty thousand dollar a year minor league baseball announcer. and so I went to law school. which for me was a way to I mean, first of all, I was interested in the law school stuff. I didn't just like do it to do it. ⁓ but part of it was as opposed to getting a full time job, it gave me three years of having enough flexibility that I could still keep doing games and kinda keep my foot in there and just see what happened and keep myself in the game a little bit longer. ⁓ and in the end I got some really big breaks during like the tail end of my second year of law school. ⁓ and then primarily doing national radio. I kind of did both law school and broadcasting during my third year. And then I spent the last year doing broadcasting and practicing law. ⁓ and so this will be my first year getting to be a full time broadcaster living above the poverty line without having another job or being a full time student at the same time. ⁓ so this was a big deal. And th I say that not to pat myself on the back, but in fact to do the opposite, which is to say that I just turned thirty years old in May and it took until now For me to feel like I could walk away from whatever I needed to have as my safety net. ⁓ And even then, who knows? I mean, maybe, maybe in two years they say, thanks, Nate, you're out of here, and I'm, you know, back to back to practicing law. Who knows? ⁓ But these things take a lot of time and they take a lot of effort and they take ability. But even if you do have all of those things and do all of those things, they still take a tremendous amount of good fortune. And I think how. Having had the ride that I've had, although maybe I would have preferred certainly at the time I would have preferred to get some dream job when I was twenty four and never have to grind for it in my life. What I'm grateful for is that I think it taught me how to handle success when you get it, but also how to handle failure when it befalls you or someone else. Because in my experience, there are many, many people who are qualified to do this job at at least a relatively high level, if not at the very top level. And a lot of what separates them from the people who make it and the people who don't is just timing and fortune. And so I take it as a lesson for me and for anybody else to not pat yourself on the back too hard when you succeed and not beat yourself up too much when you fail. Because Both of those things are at least in part, and in some circumstances almost entirely, outside of your control. You know, a and that's not to say you shouldn't do everything that you can, right? I I Branch Ricky has this quote luck is the residue of design. And I sort of live by that, in that it's unreasonable for me to complain about not getting lucky if I haven't done everything that I can to put myself in position to get the luck, and then if I get the luck to be successful with it, because as much as it sucks to be the guy who never gets lucky and never gets the thing, it sucks way worse to be the guy who does get lucky and gets the thing and then sucks at it and gets fired, right? Because like then everybody's kind of like, ⁓ well what we wasted some luck on that guy. ⁓ you know so it you you'd much rather grind to deserve the luck and then to make sure that when you get it, you cash in on that opportunity and you're a credit to everybody who's given you the opportunity and who's pushed you forward along the way and lifted you up. ⁓ And so I I'm grateful now in a i look, it's a little bit of a cliche, but I am grateful for a lot of the things along the way. because I think they put me in a better position to first of all appreciate everything that I have, but second of all, make the most of the opportunity because look, make one no mistake, whether it's me, Ryan, Lauren, any of the people at USA, we all look at this as a monstrous opportunity for ourselves, for the network. For the Pac twelve, for the member schools, for the van bases, everybody. I think this is a collection of people at all levels and from all angles who want to see this thing succeed. And when you have that and you have the resources to make it happen, I I just think it's hard to fail. So hopefully everybody being in the same boat, rowing in the same direction altogether will be enough because we all want to see this happen. Yes, thank you so much for those kind and beautiful words. They really mean a lot to us, Mr. Gatter. Well, I think we got all the questions we got. If you have any final words, just you can say them right now if you want to. Well, we we appreciate you guys. ⁓ thanks a lot for having me. And ⁓ hopefully ⁓ everybody can be with us in September fifth and ⁓ you know, start what we hope is a season long celebration of Pac 12 football. Nate, we're happy to have you, man. You you don't have to thank us, brother. ⁓ we appreciate your time, man. Thank you so much. We're excited to watch you ⁓ this fall every Saturday, and we're excited to get you in Sam. Marcus, man. We gotta get you on the river. Yeah, yeah. We'll see you guys in ⁓ what about a month, I think. I'll be landing in San Marcus. Excited, man. Very excited to see you, brother. If you're a listener of the show, please make sure you watch on the USA Network these Saturdays. Nate Gatter, Ryan Leaf. They're gonna be there at the 18. It's gonna be a great season, man. Thank you so much for coming out and speaking to us, man. Appreciate it, man. Have a good one.