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

0:00
Hey there, it's Jeff. We wanted to let you know that we recorded
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this podcast episode on Monday, October sixteenth, twenty twenty three, so by
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the time you hear this, some things may have changed here there, but
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we hope you enjoy the show. All right, folks, 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. That's right over ten and a half years
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strong. We had a great discussion coming your way. The college football season
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is just about halfway done. It's been a really interesting year thus far for
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a lot of different college football programs, and specifically here at the PSD podcast
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show. You know, due to the fact that Eric graduated from Penn State.
0:57
I graduated from Penn State. Lend into Penn State for a little bit.
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He graduated from another college. But anyway, we are Penn State fans
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here and one of my good friends Mike Raymond from Fox Sports Radio with the
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Lehigh Valley's gonna join us in just a bit to get into this college football
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season. We're gonna kind of get into the Big Ten. We're gonna get
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into Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, as well, and it's gonna
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be a great discussion. So why don't we just get to that discussion right
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now? And it's great to have back on the podcast again. I mentioned
1:26
in the intro who we were bringing on, but he's with us to get
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into this college football season, coming to us from Fox Sports Radio the Lehigh
1:34
Valley. He's our good friend, Mike Raymond. How you doing, Mike,
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Oh well, pleasant Monday morning here this morning, and I know we're
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ready to talk to a lot of great college football. This is where the
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rubber really meets the road for college football. You know, it's prime time
1:49
as we get into mid October. So I'm excited to get into it with
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you and talk a little bit about the good teams and the ones that maybe
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aren't so good as what I thought they would be back in September. Absolutely,
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and you know, as mentioned, we're basically halfway through this season.
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We're seeing some real interesting storylines, and specifically in the Big Ten. I
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mean it's this year. Big Ten is certainly a powerhouse conference with Penn State,
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Ohio State, and Michigan all in the top seven at this point,
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and you know, it's kind of how I thought it might actually look at
2:22
this particular point in the season, Mike, you know, even a few
2:24
weeks ago. So I'm wondering which of these teams is most vulnerable when we
2:30
are looking at this Big Ten in terms of Penn State, Ohio State,
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and Michigan, which of these teams is most vulnerable and which two might we
2:38
actually see in the College Football playoff come January. Well, vulnerable is a
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key word when we're asking this question, because when you talk about vulnerability,
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I think there are two teams you can mention in this and there's one unknown,
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Okay right now, I think the one unknown is Michigan. I know
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that they are very good, and they're beating up on all the teams that
2:59
they should be beating up on. They should be beating up on them.
3:02
Yes, absolutely, exactly, exactly so in their were well coached team.
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I know they were missing Jim Harball for the start of the season, but
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it really didn't matter. You knew they were going to beat those teams on
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their September schedule, and of course they have to wait until later in the
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Big Ten season until they're seeing some of the powerhouses that you're mentioning, like
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Ohio State and Penn State. So we'll see when it comes to Michigan.
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But I have full confidence by that point Jim Harball has his team humming and
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hopefully injury doesn't detract. Well, actually I do hope injury detractor. I
3:32
don't want to be that guy. Don't want to hurt. I don't want
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I don't want to wish injury on anyone. But of course you get tired
3:40
of losing to a certain team so much so anyway, you know, as
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a Penn State fan, we look at this and we think, you know,
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typically Penn State's that team, right, Penn State's that team that we
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think that has been one of those teams. Well, they haven't proven it
3:54
with any longevity. Yeah, they've beaten Ohio State and one game I think
4:00
since twenty twelve. You know, we go back to twenty twelve. I
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think it was only the twenty sixteen blockfield goal for a touchdown. That's the
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only time they've beaten Ohio State. They've beaten Michigan, believe it or not,
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a little bit more than you remember. But it's always that conversation of
4:14
whether or not Penn State can be to both Ohio State and Michigan. And
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that's really what prevents them from playing in a big title, big head title
4:19
game and then obviously getting on into the college football playoffs. Now, when
4:23
we talk about vulnerability Ohio State, that is going to be a little tricky
4:28
for them this year. Challenge a little bit by Maryland put them away in
4:31
the second half like they should close one with Notre Dame ultimately winning at the
4:34
last second. But vulnerability with their health down the stretch. We know both
4:40
Abuka and Harrison Junior from the wide receiver spot have been beat up this season.
4:44
Abuka's status for Saturday against Penn State still up in the air. Couple
4:47
with that with the running backs that they've had injury trade around. Henderson was
4:51
beat up going into last week's game that he was forced down and you had
4:55
Mayan Williams would roll out before the game even started. They were down to
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their third and fourth string guy on the depth chart for Ohio State. So
5:01
injuries could be a big conversation. And don't not to mention their number one
5:05
overall cornerback goes down. His status is really unknown into Ben del Burk.
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So there is a lot of injury concern when it comes to Ohio State and
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we're going to see how much that's really going to play a factor later this
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weekend. Absolutely, we're going to get to that Penn State and Ohio State
5:19
game in a little bit here. But you know, you and I are
5:23
both Penn State fans. You know, we've been following this Penn State football
5:28
program for so many years, both alums, and I just love the kind
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of quarterback that Drew Aller has been for this team this season, Mike,
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especially since he hasn't turned the ball over in his six starts here. But
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something that I do think is puzzling is how Penn State hasn't pushed the ball
5:45
down the field all that much. I read a stat recently and I was
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like, I was kind of taken aback by it that they've only completed twelve
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passes of twenty plus yards or more this season, which is ranked one hundred
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and nineteenth in the nation. And I found it kind of perplexing in a
6:00
way, you know, given how explosive Penn State's offense can be from year
6:05
to year. And in the end, I mean, look, it's not
6:09
a terrible problem to have, since they are ranked number seven overall in the
6:13
nation, but I'm wondering why do you think we're not seeing these really explosive
6:17
plays this season from this Penn State offense? You know, what are your
6:20
thoughts here? So part of it is me trying to convince myself that,
6:26
you know, James Franklin, I'm like yours, it's just haven't opened up
6:29
the playbook yet and they haven't needed to. They've beaten much like Michigan beat
6:32
all the team, beat all the teams that they needed to be on the
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way to their undefeated start. Penn State's doing the same thing and hasn't really
6:39
faced much adversity. Maybe against West Virginia to start the year before kind of
6:43
pulling away at the end, but they really haven't faced much adversity. So
6:46
I'm trying to convince myself it's just them not opening the playbook yet and they're
6:49
not trying to take those down the field shots at this point. Although after
6:54
this entire week leading up to the UMass game, you knew that first job
6:59
back on the first offensive play was they were looking deep and I had to
7:02
last on myself when I was lasting that. But listen, one thing that
7:05
I have seen, Pence they do offensively that that's a little bit better.
7:10
Is you know they're get they're not putting themselves in third and long situations.
7:14
They're converting third downs. They're holling onto the ball a little bit longer,
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and again the opponent has something to do with that. They're not facing like
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these huge, well pronounced defenses. But you know, holding the ball and
7:28
allowing your defense to get the proper rest and just moving the ball offensively methodically,
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we'll get you there. Hold onto the ball, and then what the
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other thing that I noticed is, yeah, they're not scoring a lot of
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points in the first half, but when they go into halftime, they are
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making the adjustments at on the offensive and the defensive side of the ball.
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They are making sure that what they see in the first half they go in
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and they make those adjustments and they come out a stronger team in the second
7:54
half. Now that's allowed them to really pull away and put these teams behind
7:57
them. I'm not going to I'm not going to put this problem any bigger
8:01
than it really needs to be until it needs to be right right now.
8:03
I don't care how you get the ball in the end zone. I don't
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care how you win games. It doesn't have to be with down the field
8:09
shots. I think Drew Aller is more than capable of going down of going
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down the field. We just haven't seen it yet. Yeah, I look
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to the games like Michigan, like Ohio State, those two teams we were
8:20
just talking about, and that it's that overall feeling year after year where this
8:26
Penn State team needs to have those explosive plays in order to beat these teams.
8:30
I don't necessarily know if that's the case this year. Again, you
8:33
talk about the methodical nature of how this offense has been, specifically on third
8:37
downs, and those third down conversions have been there this season, perhaps more
8:41
than it feels like at least I don't have the stats, but it feels
8:43
like more than it has been in previous years. So I think that's why
8:48
I wanted to just mention these big explosive plays because I feel like they're going
8:52
to need them to beat Ohio State and Michigan. But I don't know if
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that's true. It's just how I'm feeling initially. No, no, And
8:58
I get it, like it's not a dazzling offense to look at, but
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it doesn't matter how you win the game. It's all that matters is one
9:05
and O mentality and James Franklin preaches that year in and year year out,
9:07
the game, any game out, it doesn't matter how you get there.
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And actually I'd much rather than hold onto the ball and give the offense on
9:13
the other side less opportunities. They can move the ball down the field,
9:18
whether it either for the running or passing game. However you need to do
9:20
it, and they've shown they can move to a couple different ways, whether
9:22
it's aler throwing or running the ball. We're seeing him run the ball this
9:26
season. It's just had we haven't seen what we saw in the Rose Bowl,
9:28
like Nick Singleton running like an eight yr pat right hard run. So
9:33
that's why we're like kind of scratching our heads, which hasn't been a problem
9:35
yet. Hopefully it doesn't become one. Absolutely well. Brings us to this
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upcoming Penn State and Ohio State game, and I again, I do think
9:45
we're going to kind of need to perhaps see some big explosive plays coming from
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Penn State's offense if they're going to really compete and win against this Ohio State
9:52
team in their house. I mean, this is in Columbus. We know
9:56
how those games usually go. They're not too too pretty, but Ken State
9:58
actually beat Ohio State here, Mike, And what is it going to take
10:01
for them to do this in such a hostile atmosphere on the road. Do
10:05
you think it can be done? I'm going to disagree with you, Jeff.
10:09
I think I think Penn State can win this game against Ohio State without
10:13
the explosive plays. In fact, I hope they don't. I hope they
10:16
don't. I don't not that I hope they don't. But think about all
10:20
the times that Penn State has had explosive plays against Ohio State, the kickoff
10:24
return with Saquon Barkley to start to start, and we've had we've seen this
10:31
offense be able to have those explosive plays. What we haven't seen James Franklin
10:37
led Penn State football team do is closed it out in the fourth quarter against
10:39
Ohio State in that same game in Columbus of years back again, I think
10:45
it was twenty eighteen or nineteen where they could have beaten this team. They
10:50
were up fourteen points going into the fourth quarter and they lost by one on
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the road. Do you think to yourself, we haven't seen a ball control
10:58
Penn State style offense. Go in there and do what they need to do
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and play keep away with this Ohio State team. Don't get me wrong,
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it's going to be a hostile environment there and one of the biggest games in
11:07
college football. But I think they can do exactly what they've been doing,
11:11
and let your offense take what the defense is giving you, be efficient on
11:15
third down, don't turn the ball over in key situation, and let that
11:18
amazing defense lead the way because we've one thing is for sure, Mandy d
11:24
As his team, his players that he has on defense, they are ready
11:28
to do whatever is possible to keep this team in the game. And I
11:31
had heard a statistics that I think some of the defensive snapcounts are so low
11:35
because they've been able to go to the bench so much that it's like they
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played one less game entirely too, So you're not getting the same amount of
11:43
wear and tear on these key players, and that has been key to the
11:46
ten state success. So let the defense hould you up. And then we
11:50
saw special teams show up against U. Mass There are other ways to get
11:52
the job done. Let it be a complete team game, and I think
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Penn State can win this game. I think Penn State can in this game
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as well, folks, it is going to be fun to watch for sure
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this Saturday. And Mike, as we're moving along here sticking with the Big
12:07
Ten, it's really interesting to see where other teams have gone this season,
12:11
and specifically I wanted to talk about the Wisconsin football program and where they have
12:16
been going this year. They lost to Iowa this weekend halfway through the season.
12:22
They just don't seem to have any answers offensively for the kind of game
12:26
plan they want to implement, even though they have a ton of talent on
12:30
the offensive side of the ball. I mean, it really does seem to
12:31
be coaching that really is an issue in Wisconsin here. So what are your
12:37
thoughts about where the Wisconsin football program is going this season and just in the
12:41
future in general. Well, the nice thing that Wisconsin has going for them
12:46
is they play in the Big Ten West. Yes, so it doesn't take
12:48
a lot to get to your season goal of getting the Big Ten title game.
12:52
So I trust Lukefickel on his staff in his first year there to get
12:58
things done. You know, you're going to have growing pains in the matter
13:01
when you have a new head coach. Couple that with their starting quarterback in
13:05
Tanner Mordecai going down this past weekend in the second quarter. You know,
13:07
you already had surgery on this broken hand. Not sure if he'll be out
13:11
the whole year or not, but that's obviously a concern moving forward. But
13:16
the loss of Iowa does stink. Now they can lose the control of their
13:18
own destiny. The hardest team they have left on their schedule, though,
13:22
Jeff is Ohio State, and then they get the Indianas of the world on
13:24
the opposite end of from the east, and four teams from the West that
13:28
they can easily beat. They still have that outside chance depending on what Iowa
13:33
does down the stretch for the Big Ten title game. You know, they
13:35
set themselves up for a nine to three potential season here, and you're one
13:39
of Luke fickle. I think most fans would take that. I know it's
13:41
not what they're I can't even say that's not what they're used to because I've
13:45
seen this program grow through some ups and downs recently. Oh yeah, I
13:48
think that they're in a good spot. I think it's going to take a
13:50
little bit of time to get everything the way it's supposed to be. But
13:54
I know we're going to talk about some other programs around the country, and
13:58
I think it might be a little easier to get things in line the way
14:01
they know and love to do in Wisconsin. So I don't think their season
14:03
is over by any stretch of the imagination. We'll see what they can do
14:07
bouncing back This week again, folks, we're talking to Mike Raymond from Fox
14:11
Sports Radio of the Lehigh Valley. You can catch him on Twitter. He's
14:16
a great great follow at Mike Raymond LV. Give him a follow on the
14:20
Twitter dot com. Are you on threads, buddy? Are you there?
14:24
I'm on threads. I'm not willing to build an audience on threads. I
14:26
think in the same thing too, But it's like, I just want to
14:30
move away from Twitter. I mean, if there's anything on Twitter has shown
14:33
us recently, especially with what's going on in the world, you can't get
14:35
your news from there anymore. I'm getting emotional about it. Well, it's
14:39
you also have to make sure you know who you're following. Sure you know
14:43
who you're following. Absolutely, that's the diligent part of it. Absolutely.
14:46
All right, Well, let's get into some other college football programs here,
14:50
Mike, and one in particular, seems that folks have kind of put the
14:56
brakes on the Colorado football program to an extent, especially after they lost this
15:00
week in a double overtime in a shocking manner to Stanford. So, as
15:05
we know, they're one of the biggest athletic stories in the country and have
15:09
been up until you know, just like a few weeks ago, and now
15:13
they're kind of just coming down to earth a bit. It's not that,
15:16
oh my god, Colorado is going to dominate the college football scene. But
15:20
it's a great story. It's a great story of a coach believing in their
15:24
players. It's a great story of a community coming together, a football college
15:31
football program and community coming together. So I'm wondering, like, what are
15:33
your thoughts on what we've seen from Colorado and you know, what this program
15:39
can actually be in the future. I don't think we would have heard anything
15:43
about Colorado football on Saturday Night Live three and sixty five days ago. Yes,
15:50
Verre, sixty five days ago, Colorado football was an afterthought. Yep.
15:52
So Deon Sanders has done exactly what he was brought in there to do.
15:56
He has made this program relevant again. He has made it a national
15:58
headline. He has celebrities showing up on campus. He has ni L deals
16:03
for his players, he has his son in the conversation. We'll say yes
16:11
for the Heisman race. So you know, here's the thing. The biggest
16:15
thing that Colorado has shown us is collegiate rebuilds don't have to take forever.
16:21
With the transfer portal and ni L, it's easy for coaches to assemble the
16:25
roster that they want, the types of players they want to use in their
16:27
schemes, and then NIL allows the coaching staff to incentivize bringing them to campus.
16:33
And that's exactly what Deion Sanders has done. You know, it's for
16:37
traditional collegiate football fans like you and I, Jeff. I know it's hard
16:41
to digest in our system. That's just not what we grew up with.
16:45
That's not what made us fall in love with this game. But it is
16:48
the way of the future. And the more I resist it, the farther
16:51
behind the eight ball I become. It really is, it's until we have
16:56
some kind of governing but and this is a separate this is a separate conversation.
16:59
Until we have some kind of governing body willing to put themselves in the
17:03
front of this and say that these are going to be the rules. We're
17:07
going to have this type of scenario. And I understand part of it to
17:11
protect the players. They should be allowed to transfer, if it's if a
17:14
coach leaves or if you know they have graduated, or whatever it is.
17:18
They should have allowed me allowed to have their rights. But it's kind of
17:22
the wild West, and I just want to see some kind of governing bodies
17:26
step up to put some kind of parameters in place right that we're all following
17:30
the same rules. But I'll tell you that right now. Well I was
17:34
gonna say it. I'm glad you did, because it's definitely not gonna be
17:37
them. No, it's not going to be them. We've seen time and
17:41
time again how the NC double A just does not make good rules. Okay,
17:45
I'm going to make it simple for folks out there. They do not
17:49
make good rules for college football programs at all, or college athletic programs in
17:55
general. The snail's pace at which the NC double A moves just in terms
18:00
of whether it's rule implementations or changing with the times, is what we're talking
18:06
about here, Mike, and how how that translates to various college athletic programs.
18:11
I just it's amazing to me that the NCAA is still able to function
18:15
the way that they do. They don't function well though, and that's why
18:18
he is and Fox and Apple TV. That's why they go to the conferences
18:22
because they know they can get stopped on there, and that's why there's no
18:26
uniformity across the entire sport. Yep, yep, which which of course just
18:30
drives me out of baddy. But same here, same here. I still
18:33
I still love the sport. I'm still watching every Saturday absolutely well. To
18:37
close us out here, Mike, I want to talk about one particular college
18:41
football team that I was really looking forward to seeing what they were going to
18:44
do this season, and I think a lot of us too, thought that
18:48
Texas A and M would really become a powerhouse at some point in time here
18:52
with Jimbo Fisher at the helm. But you know, the last two games
18:56
kind of just displayed that this team has difficulty winning the style of football that
19:02
Jimbo Fisher has sworn by for the years he's been there. And then they
19:06
seem poised for that consistent, you know, eight and four type of season
19:11
record, and I think they have the talent to beat teams like Alabama certainly
19:15
Tennessee as well, but they couldn't do it this year. So are you
19:18
also kind of down on maybe Jimbo Fisher the Texas A and M football program
19:23
and where Jimbo Fisher might actually be able to take this Texas A and M
19:26
football program in the future. It was an interesting hire for A and M.
19:32
And you know, he certainly got his bag. As the kids said,
19:36
he got his money. He was able to get a record contract there
19:38
with an M. They have to pay him. You know, those boosters
19:41
are very passionate about making sure A and M is one of the most relevant,
19:44
relevant college football teams out there. And you know, back to back
19:47
losses to Alabama and Tennessee. Those are SEC opponents, They're tough SEC opponents.
19:52
But the Aggi's sitting in four and three on the season, two and
19:53
two in SEC play, oh and eight on the road against top twenty five
19:56
opponents that might incredible and h eight straight defeats on the road overall, So
20:02
that's got to be explained in some way. I don't know if help is
20:06
on the way. I know last year he had the number one overall recruiting
20:07
class in college football, so maybe help is there, maybe he can have
20:11
some talent on the staff to develop some of those players. But wow,
20:15
it's it's very interesting, and he's still owed a lot of money I think
20:18
seventy six million dollars if they wanted to buy if they want to buy him
20:22
out after this year, that's a lot of money, even for boosters in
20:26
Texas. So I don't really know what to say. I've watched a couple
20:30
I can't say I've sat down and watched the start to finish text and text
20:33
A and M game this season, but I have seen pieces look uninspired a
20:37
little bit on all ye would it's a long it's a long time ago that
20:41
Jimbo Fisher won that national title, and I, you know, I don't
20:45
know if he I don't know if he's the guy to to make incorrect the
20:49
mistakes that are happening down there. And I don't know who the next person
20:52
they would bring in because I'm sure that contract is going to certainly hamper their
20:56
ability to bring in another coach on, you know, while they're having to
21:03
pay him. So I think you have to ride it out at least within
21:04
near future until that buyout comes down just a little bit. Absolutely. I'm
21:08
not sure that style of ball is really fit in Texas, A and m
21:11
here at this point. So again, folks, Mike Raymond from Fox Sports
21:15
Radio of the Lehigh Valley at Mike Raymond LV on Twitter, Mike Buddy,
21:19
it was great talking to you as always. Thanks so much for jumping on.
21:23
Come back and talk to us more in the future. Well let's get
21:26
into some Penn State talk more down the road, my friend. I'm all
21:29
about it, you know, Jeff, have a great rest of the day
21:32
and week. It really has been an interesting college football season here in twenty
21:36
twenty three, and I'm just waiting for the day that my beloved Penn State
21:41
Nitney Lyons football program is going to be able to overtake Michigan, They're going
21:45
to be able to overtake Ohio State University. I am waiting with baited breath.
21:51
I hope that is. I hope one of those things happens this weekend
21:55
as we watch Penn State and Ohio State going at it. So it's uh
22:00
again a fun and interesting college football season. I have really been enjoying watching
22:04
a lot of these prospects and just a lot of these programs and what they've
22:07
been giving to us. We talked about Colorado, talked about Texas, A
22:11
and M, and again the Big Ten really a powerhouse conference. It's been
22:17
fun. I'm gonna keep enjoying it, and we hope that you have been
22:19
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22:45
there. All right, folks, got more great content coming to you later
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this week. Take care, we'll catch you next time.