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James Franklin FIRED By Penn State · Others Receiving Votes

0:04
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, everybody, welcome to the show, others receiving votes.
0:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Pat Forty, joined as always by Gene Woodgetowski and Brian Fisher.
0:12
[SPEAKER_01]: We're coming to you on Tuesday instead of the usual Thursday because stuff has happened a lot of wild stuff, obviously the the shocking, but not surprising, I guess, news.
0:26
[SPEAKER_01]: It Penn State going to dominate the show today, what Penn State did.
0:32
[SPEAKER_01]: what it should do next, what James Franklin should do, what Florida should do, what Kurt Signetti should do, Matt rule who knows.
0:39
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll cover a lot of permutations and possibilities there.
0:43
[SPEAKER_01]: We will certainly get to the big games this week and there are several of them, some really interesting games there that I think will further shape the playoff situation.
0:57
[SPEAKER_01]: So we will cover those.
0:59
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll do our picks as usual.
1:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, we had a good week.
1:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody is 500 or better now.
1:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I'm not saying don't use our betting advice, but we actually almost know what we're talking about.
1:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Slightly scary.
1:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to have amidst some midseason awards, too.
1:15
[SPEAKER_01]: We're at that point in the proceedings.
1:17
[SPEAKER_01]: We're actually halfway through the season.
1:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we'll do that as well and then I got a story for y'all at the end.
1:24
[SPEAKER_01]: But guys obviously we want to start with with Penn State there.
1:29
[SPEAKER_01]: If you go back to the last weekend of September, they're going into overtime against Oregon.
1:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Brian, you're there.
1:40
[SPEAKER_01]: They make one play two plays.
1:42
[SPEAKER_01]: They not only win the game, they're probably number one in the country.
1:51
[SPEAKER_01]: what the hell happened.
1:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Gene, what was your reaction as all of this was unfolding?
1:57
[SPEAKER_02]: Shock.
1:58
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you said it might not be surprising.
2:01
[SPEAKER_02]: It was surprising to me.
2:02
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, not the idea that he got fired.
2:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Certainly, when you lose to UCLA and you lose north-western and you can't win the big game again at Oregon.
2:16
[SPEAKER_02]: something's going to happen, but still the actual news of it was like, I think I texted you right after like, wow.
2:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
2:26
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, so it wasn't disbelief that it happened.
2:31
[SPEAKER_02]: It was just weird to actually see it happen.
2:35
[SPEAKER_02]: If that makes any sense at all, I think I
2:41
[SPEAKER_02]: These schools can find the money whenever they need to find the money, even if it's $49 million to pay out, pay off James Franklin to go away, you know, the fiscal year 2024 for Penn State, they had an operating revenue of 200.
2:57
[SPEAKER_02]: $21 million almost not bad made almost $6 million in profit last year.
3:03
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean these are corporations and so they can find the money when they want to the other thing that struck me guys was I think James Frank knew he was cut I think he knew he was out and and the only reason I say that is if you go back Did you see what he did after the Northwestern was
3:24
[SPEAKER_02]: He stayed on the field.
3:26
[SPEAKER_02]: He kind of stared out into the stands and he had done that before.
3:29
[SPEAKER_02]: But it struck me as if he were soaking it in as if he knew this was gonna be the last time he was ahead coach a Penn State on that field.
3:39
[SPEAKER_02]: And then he waited for each player to come off the field and he hugged them.
3:44
[SPEAKER_02]: I just don't think that was an accident.
3:47
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think finally the other thing that approved is that you can get pink slipped anytime now.
3:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Coaches are vulnerable from day one.
3:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And James Franklin is evidence one of it.
4:01
[SPEAKER_02]: I think they couldn't really live with the big game James failures.
4:06
[SPEAKER_02]: And ultimately, the little game James failures, the UCLAs and the Northwesterns, were just the absolute final straw.
4:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And this was usually the game that James Franklin wouldn't lose, you know, he would usually win those games where he had more talent where he would, you know, have the better team and that's what was kind of surprising about the way this season's spiral.
4:29
[SPEAKER_00]: It was not necessarily that, all right, you come close to Oregon, okay, you could understand maybe there's a let down right after that, but it's it's just the compiling factor that I think,
4:39
[SPEAKER_00]: certainly lead Penn State to make this decision.
4:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And you're right, you know, I mean like after the games, you know, the look of James Franklin had, you know, it kind of got progressively almost a narrow of despair a little bit from that Penn State loss.
4:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he was comforting those players.
4:57
[SPEAKER_00]: He kind of understood, all right.
4:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I know the narrative.
4:59
[SPEAKER_00]: He spoke to that after the game, but he understood things were different.
5:03
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think after that Northwestern game, and I mean, you know, to have, you know, go out and say, all right, drew all or, you know, usually somebody that didn't speak on injuries to say, all right, he's out for the season and kind of do it so matter of factly.
5:14
[SPEAKER_00]: like you could almost tell there is almost some resignation, you know, in his voice.
5:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And you mentioned the fiscal numbers, I think that's why everybody kind of expected something to happen at some point, but I think it was the timing that kind of everybody's by surprise.
5:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And unless you were there at Penn State, you know, I think there was some expectation that there would be some movement this year, especially after that Northwestern game and look.
5:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Pat Kraft has to understand, you know, he is his $44 million in ticket sales for football games.
5:41
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got $30 plus million in donations every single year they're at Penn State.
5:46
[SPEAKER_00]: He needs to make sure that those figures do not get cut in half.
5:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is at least an opportunity to get that fan base, rallying around this team and rallying around at least the idea of hope.
5:56
[SPEAKER_00]: that there is hope at the end of the tunnel because there wasn't any, if they catch James Franklin around.
6:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there was kind of a, probably an annex expectation that this could have been toxic, you know, the rest of the season if he kept him around.
6:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And so at least, you know, that they kind of live up to the old Florida staying that Jeremy Foley had that, you know, what must be done eventually must be done now and that they may have made the move on Sunday.
6:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, it was 100% trending.
6:24
[SPEAKER_01]: that way, but it still is pretty wild to see a guy with a 70% winning percentage at Penn State.
6:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, five.
6:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, only three guys in all of the tower four have have a better record than him right now the last four years.
6:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
6:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, five top ten finishes six seasons of 10 plus wins.
6:44
[SPEAKER_01]: He won 13 games last year.
6:46
[SPEAKER_01]: He was in the national semi finals.
6:49
[SPEAKER_01]: If Drew Aller doesn't throw a back foot pass there, at least in overtime against Notre Dame and May win.
6:55
[SPEAKER_01]: They were winning that game.
6:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it was ten nothing late in the first half, Steve and Joey comes off the bench, leads a field gold drive and kind of flips the whole game around for Notre Dame.
7:05
[SPEAKER_01]: It's that close.
7:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Like these are the margins between playing for an national title and getting fired six games into the next season, that's the amazing thing about this sport.
7:19
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm as big a critic probably as anybody of coaches, you know, being overpaid and an imperious and, and that's a control freaks and that sort of thing.
7:28
[SPEAKER_01]: But it does give you a little, it gives me at least a little bit of sympathy for their situations of man, you signed up for a brutal profession.
7:38
[SPEAKER_01]: You're getting paid like a sultan and you're getting paid to go away, but you're living and dying.
7:44
[SPEAKER_01]: in a zero sum industry, somebody's got to lose and the way team you can lose is just can be by the most razor thin margins.
7:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just curious, you guys, we are your thoughts on where the profession is from a coaching standpoint.
8:01
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're watching this, Steve Sarkesian talked about this a little bit, you know, I'm like, hey, I mean, this shows that it can basically happen to anyone out there.
8:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's what the money is for, right?
8:14
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I mean, that's part of it, you know, and I feel really bad for a lot of those staffers, you know, around Penn State that, you know, a lot of those guys have been there, you know, 10 plus years, you know, with James Franklin, who some of them came over from, you know, with Vandy, you know, and I think that to me is the thing that doesn't get talked about in one of these coaching transitions is that, hey, this impacts hundreds of people.
8:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and I think that's the difficult thing for a lot of people at Penn State is not just how swift this happened, but you know, suddenly it, you know, it's it's mid-October and now you're going to have to worry about All right, what happens at the end of the year, you know, where do we go from here and I would imagine that with a new head coach, you know, that that is coming in there after so long, you know, I think that just the staleness
8:59
[SPEAKER_00]: that things happen there at Penn State.
9:01
[SPEAKER_00]: James Feringol should have left several years ago.
9:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's, anytime you get into a job this long, things get sale.
9:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think we kind of saw that towards the end here.
9:12
[SPEAKER_00]: They had the success.
9:14
[SPEAKER_00]: They went from seven wins to double digits the last couple of years.
9:18
[SPEAKER_00]: But sometimes things can still be stale.
9:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's kind of what,
9:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Ultimately, why this mood was made now, you know, it's we've got a clean house.
9:26
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got to change things up because it's not working.
9:29
[SPEAKER_00]: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
9:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think Penn State finally realized that.
9:36
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, Brian, you make a good point.
9:37
[SPEAKER_02]: There is a trickle down effect here of a very human element when coaches get fired and of course.
9:45
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, families are affected, lives are affected, but that's cooked into this profession.
9:50
[SPEAKER_02]: And anybody who gets into it knows that that's a possibility, but I think at times, Franklin has been his own worst enemy.
9:58
[SPEAKER_02]: And when he lost the game at UCLA, what did he mention?
10:02
[SPEAKER_02]: We had some injuries.
10:03
[SPEAKER_02]: And we had to deal with the travel across country.
10:06
[SPEAKER_02]: And that sort of stuff drives me nuts.
10:09
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think it probably drove some Penn State fans nuts.
10:12
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, they didn't go there by covered
10:14
[SPEAKER_02]: you know, they took a plane.
10:15
[SPEAKER_02]: And when Indiana flew out to Eugene Oregon and one there, you didn't hear anything about travel, you know, that's just part of it.
10:25
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I think the idea that Franklin had this, what we thought was some, you know, possible generational quarterback in Drew Aller, and he never really quite developed.
10:35
[SPEAKER_02]: And so that's on the head coach and then when a head coach starts saying I take full responsibility, that's on me.
10:43
[SPEAKER_02]: And we kept on hearing that after the losses from James Frank and well, who else's responsibility is it?
10:50
[SPEAKER_02]: You're the head coach of course is your responsibility.
10:53
[SPEAKER_02]: So I do think it was probably time for Franklin to rotate and his season ends like Drew
11:05
[SPEAKER_02]: with a thud, and it is.
11:09
[SPEAKER_02]: It can be, you know, I remember, and maybe Pat, you do too.
11:12
[SPEAKER_02]: I remember the days when at Notre Dame, you got five years, the proof that they're not as a head coach if you could do this.
11:21
[SPEAKER_02]: And then one day at Arkansas, they fired their head coach, and then one day, they fired Tyrone Williamham at Notre Dame before the five years.
11:31
[SPEAKER_02]: And so we are at a point now where
11:34
[SPEAKER_02]: you're not producing your God.
11:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, five became four became three became better be careful after two.
11:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of places.
11:45
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the way the sport is trended, but no, they did not travel out there by covered wagon.
11:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Gene, I think when you were first starting on the beat, you did travel.
11:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's funny.
11:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's good.
11:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, they
11:57
[SPEAKER_01]: the big eight covered wagon riders tour.
12:02
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we're talking about back then.
12:06
[SPEAKER_01]: No, that I mean, your points are all very good.
12:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Look, it's a big boy profession and everybody knows what's at stake and James Franklin stopped producing at the level they aspired to be at Penn State.
12:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's interesting.
12:24
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you could make a list.
12:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought about this.
12:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I wrote about this a little bit in the 40-hour dash of like 15 programs that realistically traditionally have been able to expect to win a national title or play for wannabe in the mix.
12:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And some are more realistic than others.
12:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, Alabama and Ohio State, highly realistic.
12:46
[SPEAKER_01]: But Penn State hasn't won a championship
12:54
[SPEAKER_01]: at 19 schools of one championship since the last time they did.
12:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Notre Dame, 1988, the last time they won one.
13:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Texas A&M should, it's been 1939 for them.
13:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
13:08
[SPEAKER_01]: So there are some places where that's the aspiration, but getting there, there's some sort of roadblock.
13:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what Penn State has been dealing with for quite a long time now.
13:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'm just going to throw this out there and I'll start with you is Penn State a national championship caliber job should the fans be expecting to win national championships?
13:35
[SPEAKER_01]: How good a job is it?
13:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's a pretty good job, you know, I think you could debate where it falls if you're you're going to say all right top 10 top 15 I think it's somewhere along those lines.
13:47
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I mean they were capable of winning a national title this year There there was a certain magazine that maybe you've put them their preseason number one team So we'll get to there.
13:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I've got a sword here ready to fall on going ahead.
13:59
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll have them a couple later.
14:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, so I mean I they are capable
14:03
[SPEAKER_00]: of assembling the talent, capable of winning the national talent.
14:05
[SPEAKER_00]: They are capable of winning the big tin on a more consistent basis than they have.
14:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think there is the, so, you know, the fabled alignment, I think they have that right now in terms of the president in terms of all the boosters in terms of certainly pat craft pulling in one direction, you know, and I think that is key nowadays more than ever in this world of denial and
14:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Raising funds and you know, you've got the stadium got a hundred and plus thousand fans that show up every day You really have the attention of a talent producing area.
14:33
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it it ticks off all the boxes You know, it just can you get over the hump and you know, sometimes it's it's been a mental block when they've played you know a high-of-state
14:41
[SPEAKER_00]: They've had issues certainly with Michigan over the years, you know, that they really haven't been able to kind of get out of their own way.
14:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And some of that has been on James Franklin, some of that has been on the administration prior to him.
14:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think, you know, we kind of saw that with the contract that he got led to this by out.
14:56
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think they are capable.
14:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that, you know, they are one of the few programs that you could say.
15:02
[SPEAKER_00]: When you're talking about winning multiple rounds of the college 12 playoff, they are capable of assembling that team.
15:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that's going to make this job pretty attractive.
15:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, they're going to pay well, you're going to have whatever you want in terms of your staff budget.
15:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, they went out and paid Jim Knowles, you know, three plus million dollars is one of the highest paid coordinators in the country.
15:19
[SPEAKER_00]: So they are a capable program.
15:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, whether those that all that alignment and all that like we said with Texas A&M.
15:26
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, how many times have they had all the the ingredients capable of winning a national talent and have it.
15:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a difficult business.
15:34
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a difficult job.
15:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And at the end of the day, it can say it's a good job.
15:38
[SPEAKER_00]: But you know, actually getting over the hump, that that's always been the challenge.
15:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's a challenge for a lot of programs that they consider themselves peers with.
15:46
[SPEAKER_02]: How many big 10 championships the James Frank been when
15:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
15:53
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think when you, when you look at the Big Ten, you always start with the Ohio State in Michigan, and then I think there's a little bit of a gap, and then I think there's Penn State.
16:04
[SPEAKER_02]: And so, but Penn State did survive, what very well could have been a program killing scandal.
16:13
[SPEAKER_02]: And, and they, and it took a while.
16:17
[SPEAKER_02]: And it took a lot of work guys like Bill O'Brien and later James Franklin to sort of put the pieces back together is it a great job
16:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it is.
16:28
[SPEAKER_02]: I think most coaches would tell you that that's a place where they can win a national championship.
16:33
[SPEAKER_02]: They have the resources.
16:35
[SPEAKER_02]: They have the fan support.
16:36
[SPEAKER_02]: They have the recruiting base.
16:38
[SPEAKER_02]: They're in the right conference to do it.
16:42
[SPEAKER_02]: There are a lot of advantages that go on at Penn State.
16:47
[SPEAKER_02]: And then if you listen to Pat Kraft yesterday or so what would
16:55
[SPEAKER_02]: What did you say?
16:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Our goal is to win national championships.
16:59
[SPEAKER_02]: So if that's your goal, then you have to think in those terms when you start looking at who's going to be your next coach.
17:06
[SPEAKER_02]: So they are certainly thinking that way.
17:09
[SPEAKER_02]: They're not thinking, it would be just thrilled to win a big 10 championship.
17:14
[SPEAKER_02]: They want to win a national championship and I think they have the tools to do it.
17:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
17:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I think so too.
17:20
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not direct correlation, but generally speaking, if you can fill a 100,000 seat stadium, you definitely have the fan backing, and that means you have the monetary backing, because you've got boosts that are going to pay, and you have big 10 revenue, and you are sitting in an area with a lot of players, in the state of Pennsylvania, and in the neighboring states,
17:47
[SPEAKER_01]: None of those things should be problems.
17:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And to your point, Brian, they did line everything up.
17:54
[SPEAKER_01]: that Franklin wanted for this year.
17:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's a, he's a, I need, I need, I need kind of guy.
18:00
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not the easiest guy to have as a, if you're the AD, because he asks for a lot.
18:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And he got a lot this year.
18:06
[SPEAKER_01]: He got a $3 million defense coordinator.
18:09
[SPEAKER_01]: He got some other staff changes.
18:11
[SPEAKER_01]: He got some portal successes that were supposed to help the passing aim and didn't really.
18:16
[SPEAKER_01]: They got a lot of veteran players to stay for another year.
18:20
[SPEAKER_01]: partly by paying them via an aisle, drew out of the two running backs, singleton Allen defensive guys, so it was all there, and I think that's where the frustration ultimately landed in this was okay.
18:35
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we have watched Michigan go all in and win an national title.
18:39
[SPEAKER_01]: We've watched Ohio State go all in and win an national title.
18:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's go all in and do it ourselves and they went all in and they busted out.
18:48
[SPEAKER_01]: And the problem was not just obviously losing the Oregon game, which I said before the game, whoever loses is not out of this thing.
18:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And they weren't, but it broke them because I think they've lost so many of those type of games.
18:59
[SPEAKER_01]: And then yes, that's where the failure of leadership comes in.
19:04
[SPEAKER_02]: whether it's it's the coaches and it's the locker room of like we got to get this back together and we got to go beat UCLA and then they didn't and then it's just a shame spiral from that standpoint and yeah go ahead James that I've had I'm just going to say and they also watched Indiana of all programs put it together two years in a row yeah and they have to be going way what's going on here how how how is Indiana in this guy
19:33
[SPEAKER_02]: doing what we thought we're going to do.
19:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no doubt, Ed.
19:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Look, that's part of the zero sum game of this, is when you're at one of those places and you're watching some other program and you're late that doesn't have near what you have succeed, you're like, wait a minute.
19:49
[SPEAKER_01]: That's something, what are we doing wrong here?
19:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll get to Kirk's a good idea in a minute.
19:55
[SPEAKER_01]: because he's going to factor into this perhaps as well.
19:58
[SPEAKER_01]: But the last thing I wanted to touch on regarding this season and really this dynamic across the country that we've seen, and this is like speaking of covered wagons, your wagon is rolling down the road.
20:13
[SPEAKER_01]: The wheel starts to wobble.
20:17
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, a lot of places you pull over and you tighten the lug nuts or whatever and you keep going, I don't know their lug nuts on covered wagons, but whatever you do to tighten a wooden wheel.
20:27
[SPEAKER_01]: But anyway, what we're seeing is the wheels come off immediately, like.
20:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Oklahoma State just disaster.
20:37
[SPEAKER_01]: UCLA loses three-in-a-row hopeless.
20:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Virginia Tech three-in-a-row hopeless Arkansas three-in-a-row fire the coach and then the Penn State thinks the most dramatic of all but I'm here's my theory and I want you to tell me whether I'm full of it or whether there might be something to it that as you are constructing teams for the now for this year you're putting
21:05
[SPEAKER_01]: in a lot of cases, players from various places who didn't go to school together from for three years or four years and weren't nervous, homesick freshmen together who bonded in a way and stuck around for four years together.
21:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And you're bought in completely.
21:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And you lose one game, it's like, no, I mean, we're still like, we are, you hear it all the time, I wear brothers.
21:27
[SPEAKER_01]: We're brothers, are you really, or are you not?
21:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think there's some a transactional nature
21:35
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I came here to win the national championship.
21:37
[SPEAKER_01]: We lost that game.
21:37
[SPEAKER_01]: We're out.
21:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I might be checking out too.
21:40
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you guys think?
21:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Gene of it, am I completely ridiculous here?
21:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Is there something merit to it?
21:45
[SPEAKER_02]: No, there's there's a lot of merit to it.
21:48
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean college football has become a transactional sport now more than ever.
21:53
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean you have look look at when Franklin or when Penn State struggled.
22:09
[SPEAKER_02]: uh... during the season now the red shirt uh... you have players who will opt out of the balls you have players entering the portal you have players going to wherever the next the best and i l deal is it's entirely transaction the same thing goes true with coaches too they leave sure
22:28
[SPEAKER_02]: So, to your point, I think it's easier for all to fall apart than it's ever been, but on the flip side, I also think it's easier to have instant success if all the pieces fit together.
22:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Then you can sort of do it Indiana or Texas Tech is doing.
22:54
[SPEAKER_02]: We've seen the examples of it.
22:56
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think it can fall apart faster than ever.
22:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I also think that it can work faster than ever, too.
23:02
[SPEAKER_02]: That's a great point, Brian.
23:05
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also a good example, you know, the team that they lost to in UCLA in terms of.
23:10
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, not always can it completely crater now.
23:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I think with the Penn State team, obviously they're their expectations of the season or are far different and like you said, Pat, I mean, that's probably why if you're guys, all right, maybe after that you see a lay loss, all right, you maybe you are, hey, I'm getting on the phone with my agent.
23:27
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, look around.
23:28
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that that's the same thing.
23:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Those assistant coaches are going to be doing.
23:30
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they're going to spend five, 10, 15 minutes every day calling their buddies.
23:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, what, what's that?
23:35
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you think might be out there?
23:39
[SPEAKER_00]: change in focus inside the football building from going all in one direction always thinking about that Saturday game Always thinking about what's the task at hand.
23:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that shifts a little bit and I think in the transactional era You know, I think you are more prone to say you know start wondering a little bit start start considering things
23:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And that, to me, is probably the biggest difference nowadays, and we see this in the NFL, too.
24:02
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, when a coach gets fired and a team, you know, maybe they had aspirations of doing something in the playoffs, and they don't even make the playoffs, guys, you know, instead of going for that extra yard, you know, maybe they're hitting the turf a little bit earlier than they would be.
24:16
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and you see, I think that's going to come down to college as well.
24:19
[SPEAKER_00]: guys are going to be more protective of themselves because they know there's money to be made.
24:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think there were probably a factor of that that you're going to see in college full nowadays with at least the high value teams.
24:29
[SPEAKER_00]: They're they're going to crater.
24:31
[SPEAKER_00]: But maybe some of those other teams like UCLA maybe they kind of rally around the new coach that they listen to that new message that's being broadcast throughout that building.
24:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they get in and say, hey, this action opportunity for me.
24:41
[SPEAKER_00]: to where I can't show my show what I can do on the football field under a new regime and maybe that actually makes me more attractive when I do go in the portal and I'm thinking about things that way.
24:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think, you know, you can kind of go both ways when we do have one of these situations like with Penn State and like with what we saw with UCLA.
24:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, a lot of business decisions perhaps being made or just even even without it being conscious of just like, you know what, I just I don't know all these guys that well, I came here for one year or two years, you know what, I'm just I'm going to do my homework or so probably not that probably not doing the homework, but anyhow, um, no and it's
25:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Clark Lee, who's having some great success at a place that doesn't has a saying, transformational, not transactional relationships.
25:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's hard to do in the current climate.
25:32
[SPEAKER_01]: If you can pull it off, you probably stand in better chance to succeed.
25:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, as far as Penn State's next transaction, where should they turn?
25:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And where will they end up?
25:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are my two questions for you.
25:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Who should they target to be the next coach?
25:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And who do they get?
25:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Brian Fisher, your thoughts.
26:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you can find the a full list of candidates for Penn State on SI.com.
26:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I was going to get the plug in, but you know, I think there's some hope, you know, if your Penn State is going to be a bit of a market situation, you know, with what happened at Georgia in terms of you find the right guy, you make that elevation.
26:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think for even James Franklin, I would add, maybe he could be kind of an Andy Reed situation in terms of leaving the state of Pennsylvania and he can go find success out there.
26:21
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you are Penn State and you are looking for
26:24
[SPEAKER_00]: a coach.
26:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's a pretty short list to be honest.
26:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you're starting with Matt Rule.
26:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, there's some significant connections.
26:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the relationship between him and Pat Kraft, that is a real thing.
26:35
[SPEAKER_00]: They are, I don't want to say they're like brothers, but they have a really, really good relationship, work together at a temple, you know, that they kind of understand each other.
26:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Matt is a, can say to LUM, kind of beloved in that area, I would be surprised if it's not Matt Rule.
26:49
[SPEAKER_00]: But,
26:50
[SPEAKER_00]: you know what money talks maybe he says in Nebraska I think there are a lot of factors to consider I would obviously throw out Kurt Signetti he's he's going to be the hot name he's from from it's bird and I think he could probably go go a number of different ways to where he could go with his next move but I think that's going to be a name that is certainly going to be hot in terms of all right we have a championship program let's get over the hump and I think he's going to have to weigh a lot of factors and then I would start with Matt Campbell as well you know I think if you're
27:17
[SPEAKER_00]: what he's done to really be one of the best coaches in all of Iowa State history is to win the games that he has with less or talent.
27:25
[SPEAKER_00]: You do wonder if what what would he do with the keys to a program like Penn State.
27:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's probably where the search lands and I think it's going to be one of those three guys.
27:38
[SPEAKER_02]: Jill, he says he wants to a national championship.
27:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Pat Craft made that very clear yesterday.
27:45
[SPEAKER_02]: Who gives you the best chance to win a national championship?
27:49
[SPEAKER_02]: First of all, if you're an AD, who is good at what he does or she does, you already have a list in the top drug or your desk ready to go.
28:00
[SPEAKER_02]: So he already knows who he wants to go after.
28:04
[SPEAKER_02]: But if I'm Pat Craft,
28:06
[SPEAKER_02]: The first call I'm making, I'm calling Nick Saven.
28:10
[SPEAKER_02]: And I know he's, I know he's gonna be 74 at the end of the month.
28:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I know I've probably got no chance of him saying yes, but does he give me a better chance of winning the national championship than Matt Campbell?
28:25
[SPEAKER_02]: I would argue yes.
28:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll take three years of Nick Saven and take my chances.
28:30
[SPEAKER_02]: But if Saven says no, the next guy I'm calling is Dan Landing.
28:36
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't care if I knew I knew Matt Rull when he was at Temple and I loved him then, you know, this isn't the same thing.
28:45
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I don't want to hear about he is Penn State ties.
28:48
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, Bob Stoops had no ties to Oklahoma.
28:51
[SPEAKER_02]: He did great.
28:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Scott Frost had a lot of ties to Nebraska.
28:55
[SPEAKER_02]: How that turned out?
28:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, he's saving that no ties to Alabama.
28:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Urban Meyer had no ties to Florida.
29:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Kirby Smart had ties to Georgia, and that's worked out great, but I can find you for everyone that does have ties, there are a lot of success stories of guys who come from other programs and who just, who do just fine.
29:15
[SPEAKER_02]: So I shoot for the moon on this one.
29:19
[SPEAKER_02]: But if that fails, where do I think they'll end up?
29:24
[SPEAKER_02]: I think they'll end up with either a mat rule or manny deas.
29:29
[SPEAKER_02]: And Mike Porman has been covering Penn State for a long time throughout a really interesting name to me, a Danton Lynn, who's a defensive coordinator at USC, who I think has some support within that Penn State community, who could just be one of those kind of outside names, long shot names, that maybe works his way into the discussion.
29:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that way, well, that's, and that's fascinating that we would ever get to a point where a coach would say I'm staying at Indiana as opposed to going to Penn State.
30:03
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think it's possible for a lot of the reasons we discussed on this podcast and previous ones if you want to listen to earlier episodes about almost any job can be a good job if you have.
30:16
[SPEAKER_01]: the right amount of booster money and alignment.
30:20
[SPEAKER_01]: So to speak from the administration, and you want to go for it and football.
30:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what we've seen with Indiana, which kept staffers from going to other places this past off season with Texas Tech, which we're just going to go out and portal with everybody.
30:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's a different equation for sure.
30:39
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a different,
30:40
[SPEAKER_01]: era in terms of deciding what is what is the best place to try to chase a championship.
30:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Because Indiana is in the chase right now.
30:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's a top three team as of the midpoint of this season.
30:53
[SPEAKER_01]: So they're doing it here and now.
30:57
[SPEAKER_01]: It's interesting.
30:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I look.
30:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, call Saban for sure.
31:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I would not expect him to say yes.
31:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Call landing for sure.
31:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think he's leaving.
31:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Probably not.
31:08
[SPEAKER_01]: But I talked to a couple of eight, eighties this week.
31:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And the general feeling out there is like the number of coaches that you really think could win a national championship is very small.
31:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And you're hiring at a place like Penn State that wants to win a
31:28
[SPEAKER_01]: That boy it it's pretty thin out there and I did put together a bit of a list in in in in in the dash there's three current active coaches that have won championships.
31:40
[SPEAKER_01]: That's it Kirby site smarts one to Devil Swenys one two and Ryan day is one one, but I think looks like he's going to win more maybe even this year.
31:53
[SPEAKER_01]: But then after that, so who are you looking at?
31:56
[SPEAKER_01]: You named one of them landing who I think can win a national championship.
32:01
[SPEAKER_01]: But as he leaving Oregon, he has been remarkably strong and consistent in saying, I'm happy here.
32:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And he should be 39, but they've given him everything.
32:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think there's a real buy-in between he and Phil Knight that really helps.
32:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Kaylin DeBore can win a national championship.
32:22
[SPEAKER_01]: didn't have a great year last year, but Alabama is looking like a playoff team this year looking like a championship contender.
32:29
[SPEAKER_01]: They went to the championship game when he was at Washington.
32:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Marcus Freeman can win a national championship unless he decides to go to the NFL.
32:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I am completely sold on him.
32:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the next tier of guys, it's like Mario,
32:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And even like, crystal ball and sarcasm, I'm not sure, but they would be, I think, in my list of people that I think of a national championship, but the other guy that I look, I'm going to say it and this may be prisoner of the moment, but I don't think so, Kurt Signetti, I think, can win a national championship.
33:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's that good.
33:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you go back and look at,
33:10
[SPEAKER_01]: his work before Indiana.
33:12
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not a two-year flash in the pan.
33:15
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a guy who's one everywhere.
33:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Division two, FCS took James Madison up to the FBS level and was kicking people's butts there.
33:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And then took his James Madison players to Indiana and his 17 and two.
33:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I really would be my guy I would target.
33:36
[SPEAKER_01]: if our Penn State.
33:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you know I agree with you?
33:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd see it's nice if if Matt rules your friend and Matt rules a good coach.
33:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Does Matt rule going to win an actual championship?
33:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Never had a top 10 season.
33:46
[SPEAKER_01]: He had won.
33:47
[SPEAKER_01]: He was finished, tapped out at number 12 with Baylor in 2019.
33:53
[SPEAKER_01]: They went 11 and 3.
33:55
[SPEAKER_01]: At Nebraska so far, he's been, all right, he's been improvement from Scott Frost.
34:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe this year's team turns out to be,
34:03
[SPEAKER_01]: really good but you know they're five and one right now with a they had a very an advantageous early schedule.
34:10
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see if they can continue at their one losses to Michigan.
34:14
[SPEAKER_01]: But I would put Signetti over rule on my wish list and try like heck to get him.
34:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know whether they can.
34:22
[SPEAKER_01]: He's from Pittsburgh, you know, did how much to regional ties really matter to your point?
34:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, who knows.
34:28
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's where I would start, and I would hope that's where you end.
34:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And if Matt rule is the consolation prize, I'd hope he could do better than James Franklin, but I wouldn't be sure.
34:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, in fairer unfair,
34:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's apples, zucchini, as far as situations in a way when you compare it to James Franklin.
34:48
[SPEAKER_02]: But Matt Rool also has had difficulties winning games against top 25 teams, sure.
34:55
[SPEAKER_02]: And so if you're a Penn State fan, and I'm sure some of them are saying, wait, what are we doing?
35:00
[SPEAKER_02]: We're going to bring in a guy who had the same problem that James Franklin did.
35:04
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a bit of an unfair comparison, but it's certainly out there.
35:08
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm with you on Signetti.
35:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, he's,
35:11
[SPEAKER_02]: I, you know, he's 64 years old.
35:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Who cares?
35:15
[SPEAKER_02]: He's 64 years old.
35:16
[SPEAKER_02]: He's crushing it.
35:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
35:18
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you 65 and he's still winning games, who cares?
35:21
[SPEAKER_02]: He's a great coach.
35:23
[SPEAKER_02]: And, and I'm like, yeah, if you can't get a save in our landing, of course, I'm, I'm just,
35:29
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm shooting for the highest possible guy that I can think of in this case.
35:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Sure, but Signetti would be a hell of a hire if he decides to leave Indiana.
35:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Indiana has poured a lot of money into that program, but it isn't Penn State.
35:44
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's just the reality of it.
35:47
[SPEAKER_02]: But he has a great situation there.
35:50
[SPEAKER_02]: They hired him if there's a loyalty factor and it's a coin flip.
35:55
[SPEAKER_02]: I think Indiana might win the coin flip.
35:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
35:58
[SPEAKER_00]: We talk about going to a lot of these places whether it be Penn State, whether it be Florida's definitely been tossed out if when that opens in terms of that job, but I think NFL teams should be beating down the door to hire Kurt Signetti.
36:12
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we talk about guys moving from college to the pros.
36:14
[SPEAKER_00]: We've seen certainly the success that Jim Harbaugh has had initially there in Los Angeles.
36:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Kurt's a netty, especially with a pretty active NFL coaching cycle that could be coming up.
36:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, his hometown Steelers, that could be a job that opens up.
36:27
[SPEAKER_00]: If they have a big slide, the Ravens.
36:30
[SPEAKER_00]: another team that's been unable to get over that hump.
36:33
[SPEAKER_00]: You think he would like working with Lamar Jackson, you know, at the next level, a team that has a Super Bowl caliber roster, maybe the bills, you know, we saw them on Monday night, lose another one, you know, to Atlanta, maybe that's in a situation where they make a move, you know, I mean that the bangles are out there, you know, you don't think he could win a Super Bowl with with Joe Burrow out there, like,
36:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I look at the NFL landscape and I say here's a guy who is a serial winner and he instills a belief in that building I think maybe that's the threat if you're in the end you're you're worried more about about an NFL team saying hey Kurt not only we're gonna pay you, but we're gonna have a championship color roster that all you got to do is guide it And you know football is football at the end of the day and I think being as involved as he is there at Indiana in terms of who's on that roster?
37:18
[SPEAKER_00]: In terms of what all those every job in that building is doing, like, he is extremely hands-on.
37:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's a good coach at every single level.
37:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Why would he not work out with an NFL team?
37:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think that to me might be the greater threat for Indiana is not Penn State.
37:33
[SPEAKER_00]: But maybe one of those premier jobs opening up in the NFL saying, hey,
37:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there's there's not a whole lot of, you know, hot, young offense coordinate candidates that we want to go with.
37:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go with a guy who is 64.
37:43
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what, Bill Bellachek won a Super Bowl at 64.
37:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Andy Reed won a Super Bowl at 64.
37:48
[SPEAKER_00]: He Carol got higher this last cycle at 70 plus years old.
37:51
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, it's not crazy to think that maybe the NFL is where Kurt Siknetty goes next.
37:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
37:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it's, we're halfway through the season and it's already an intriguing coaching care cell.
38:03
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to get more so.
38:05
[SPEAKER_01]: But we are halfway through the season and this is kind of to me as like when you hit forth a July and the summer, you know, you're You get into the summer you think it's gonna last forever and all of a sudden you look up as forth a July is like, oh no, oh no, we're already on the downside.
38:19
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how I feel when football hits the mid points like it's too soon.
38:23
[SPEAKER_01]: But here we are and so we will do what the media does at this point to hand out some midseason awards because why wait till the end.
38:32
[SPEAKER_01]: or you can just do it again at the end.
38:34
[SPEAKER_01]: So we've got a few awards to bestow here.
38:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Gene, I'm gonna start with you.
38:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Who is your halfway high-spent trophy winner?
38:46
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I, I, I dribble this, I got like seven names here, and if you chose any of them, I wouldn't have a problem with whoever you picked, but I'm going to go with Ty Simpson with Alabama right now, and, you know, Mendoza from Indiana was, you know, right there with them, I just think the, the, the difference that Simpson has made with that team, and just how quickly he's
39:15
[SPEAKER_02]: He has made Alabama, I think, a national championship contender, and completion percentage numbers there.
39:24
[SPEAKER_02]: He's been the constant to me after the loss of the Florida State, and so he's my guy right now.
39:34
[SPEAKER_02]: But if you said I want Mendoza, I would be fine with that, too.
39:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I throw out Ruben Bain from Miami, and we talk about, I know defensive guys and get new loves, you know, they don't get their love quite as they should, but he has been an incredible difference maker for us, it's in the country, and I think, you know, to overperformed to catch your eye like he does in every single game, that the place that he makes, I mean defensive ends,
40:01
[SPEAKER_00]: are not capable, you know, you saw him in that new game, go from defensive and rush in the pass or all the way out by the sideline to get an interception and run it back like a running back.
40:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he makes the incredible plays.
40:11
[SPEAKER_00]: He forces pressures consistently.
40:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You talk about one being being the best defensive player in the country right now.
40:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I would have said easily.
40:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, it's it's Caleb down.
40:19
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to go to Caleb down and he has been awesome on on the best defense in the country at Ohio State, but I go with Ruby main right now.
40:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it is close.
40:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this is probably going to be one of the more wide open highs and races that I can remember in these last couple of years.
40:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you could go a number of different directions.
40:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it can kind of vary in terms of what part of the country you're at and what what what the gains your are focused on.
40:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think it's going to be a fascinating race to get to New York as one of those finalists.
40:44
[SPEAKER_01]: It would be an old school heisman race where if we actually have like heavy regional biases involved which is possible I agree I think this is a it's it's very open at this point which it should be I'm glad for me it came down to men does are Simpson.
41:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I've seen Simpson twice in person.
41:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I've seen him both twice in person.
41:03
[SPEAKER_01]: They're both excellent.
41:04
[SPEAKER_01]: But Simpson has been dazzling.
41:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think he's more overall just to probably a little more town to the Mendosa.
41:11
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm going with Mendosa just based on impact on his team.
41:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Because Indiana is, I think, markedly better than last year.
41:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And probably in a lot of areas, but I think most dramatically at quarterback Curtis Rork was good last year, files by every measure.
41:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Mendoza gives him a completely different element.
41:33
[SPEAKER_01]: He's much quicker decision-making.
41:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he sees the field better, incredibly accurate and strong arm, and he's got some moxie to him.
41:43
[SPEAKER_01]: He will run the ball in key situations, and when he threw the pick six and
41:54
[SPEAKER_01]: now in the end is going to get beat he's like now let's go back out on the field and I'll drive us right down there and score the go ahead touchdown.
42:01
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm going to say Fernando Mendoza for me for now for the halfway heisman.
42:10
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, because we're the negative media, uh, we need a halfway flop.
42:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Who is your halfway flop Brian Fisher?
42:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think it's easy to go with Penn State.
42:20
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that that's the easy choice.
42:23
[SPEAKER_00]: That's where we're going to go.
42:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they fired their coach and in mid-October.
42:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that's what we kind of go with.
42:28
[SPEAKER_00]: But I would add out there that as much talk is there's going to be about flopping around Penn State.
42:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I got to bring up Climson as well.
42:36
[SPEAKER_00]: What they've done these last couple of weeks.
42:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, losing to Syracuse now, losing to Georgia Tech the way they did.
42:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this was a roster and a program that Davos
42:47
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, contending for a national title, this was the year it all aligned in terms of all those veteran guys coming back to school playing well, but but they have it, you know, you talk about those first round picks along the defensive line, where's the impact that they've had, you know, cake club Nick has not been a sharp, you know, he looks more like freshman cave club Nick than anything right now.
43:06
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, the wide receiving core is not produced, you know, the defense that you thought, all right, they bring in Tom Allen, they're going to be much better.
43:12
[SPEAKER_00]: They allow these third-down conversions that it just makes you scratch your head.
43:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a close, you know, tie, I guess you will, or maybe a close second place for Clemson to compare to Penn State, but those are the two where I instantly go to in terms of flops.
43:27
[SPEAKER_02]: You mentioned Georgia Tech.
43:29
[SPEAKER_02]: We've forgot to mention Haynes King, and I think that you
43:35
[SPEAKER_02]: grit, um, love watching that kid too.
43:38
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I mean, I think Penn State retired as a trophy, you know, as flop of a half season.
43:44
[SPEAKER_02]: But if I had to pick a runner up, I think it's North Carolina.
43:49
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that's a program where you have to put yellow police tape around the building right now.
43:55
[SPEAKER_02]: And just say, this is really, really bad.
44:00
[SPEAKER_02]: And the autopsy isn't pretty right now.
44:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I know Bill Bellich, I came out yesterday and said,
44:08
[SPEAKER_02]: All the rumors all the talk of him leaving are categorically false.
44:13
[SPEAKER_02]: He's not going anywhere.
44:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, I'll take him at his word, but I'll believe it when I see it.
44:21
[SPEAKER_02]: If this thing continues to show no progress, then I think the calculus changes and anything is possible.
44:29
[SPEAKER_02]: But for pure buildup, entering the season to return on investment, North Carolina doesn't have a peer.
44:40
[SPEAKER_02]: It's been a complete implosion.
44:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm going with the heels as well because they are unbelievably bad.
44:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, terrible.
44:51
[SPEAKER_01]: They have beaten two nobody's and been killed by every good team that they've played.
44:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is Bill Belechek.
44:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Much more was expected.
45:01
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't need to amplify further on everything you said.
45:05
[SPEAKER_01]: The yellow tape is all over the facility there.
45:12
[SPEAKER_01]: class have full, uh, Gino, who's your halfway surprise?
45:17
[SPEAKER_02]: I wrote down UCLA's resurgence quarterback struggles, but I'm going to go with the fact that Billy Napier is still employed at the University of Florida.
45:28
[SPEAKER_02]: That is a bit of a shocker to me.
45:31
[SPEAKER_02]: At some point Florida simply just has to make up its mind.
45:35
[SPEAKER_02]: This, you know, well, they won this week, but they lost this week, but we're going to
45:42
[SPEAKER_02]: say something, do something, you know, the this idea of that you can just keep on floating the week to week just doesn't work.
45:52
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not fair to anybody, including Napier by the way.
45:56
[SPEAKER_02]: So to me, that's not just a surprise as a shocker that he survived this long, especially given the climate that we're in as far as coaching changes are concerned.
46:09
[SPEAKER_00]: that's a good one.
46:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, in terms of halfway surprise, I almost want to say Kent State, not being the worst FBS team in the country.
46:16
[SPEAKER_00]: After that one out there, after a bludgeoning UMass this past week in San Diego State, another interesting case out west in terms of surprising there under another Kent State head coach in Sean Lewis.
46:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that looks like that team, UNLV as well from some surprises in the mountain west, a big game against Boise this week.
46:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I go to the SEC though, Texas A&M and Old Miss, you know, I mean, who, you know, kind of expected all right, maybe this is a step back from where they were a year ago, just a little bit of roster transition, yes, there were some pieces in place, but to be both top five teams at this point in the season.
46:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's a little bit of a surprise.
46:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, yet last year was supposed to be the year for the Rebels, right?
46:54
[SPEAKER_00]: That was the year that they had Jackson Dart.
46:55
[SPEAKER_00]: They had all the talent in the world, but
46:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Guess what Lane Kiffin come around with a division to backup quarterback that everybody likes pronouncing Trinidad Chamberless's name.
47:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that to me is one of the bigger surprises.
47:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Not only that those teams are are in contingent for the playoff, but that they are maybe the best two teams in the SEC right now.
47:14
[SPEAKER_00]: As we see here at the halfway point, no offense to Alabama.
47:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I haven't almost written down on my list here, but the one I'm going to go with is Cincinnati.
47:25
[SPEAKER_01]: talk about coaches, a lot of people thought we would be fired by now.
47:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Scott Saturn.
47:29
[SPEAKER_01]: He came into this year, like fortunate to still have the job and they just, you know, the buzzers were circling, couldn't wait for him to lose two and a row and he'd be out.
47:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And it lost two and a row, only lost one and the only game they lost.
47:43
[SPEAKER_01]: which was in Kansas City by three points to Nebraska, when Brendan Sorsby, who's actually played really well, through a late interception that killed off a potential game winning rally.
47:55
[SPEAKER_01]: But that game was supposed to be played at Cincinnati.
47:58
[SPEAKER_01]: And if the administration didn't sell it out from under the barricades, it was first going to go to Lucas oil.
48:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And in the end, it was then all of a sudden, it ends up, it's a virtual Nebraska home game.
48:08
[SPEAKER_01]: You play that at home.
48:10
[SPEAKER_01]: You win the game.
48:10
[SPEAKER_01]: You're sitting there undefeated right now.
48:13
[SPEAKER_01]: So I could Scott said I feel a lot of credit for you know to use the coaching cliche blocking out the noise and just doing it this year and they've been good now, you know, they've got some.
48:27
[SPEAKER_01]: hard game still to come.
48:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And that, but the big 12 is just so fluid.
48:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Why can't Cincinnati go from near the bottom to near the top and possibly contend for the, for the big 12 championships.
48:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's, it's a fascinating story.
48:40
[SPEAKER_01]: What's going on there.
48:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And they do, they love their football up there.
48:44
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a great stadium if you've ever been.
48:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And, and I, a very dedicated fan basis, not the biggest fan base, but, but they get behind the team.
48:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm happy to see them have
48:55
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
48:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying to think who I'm starting with here.
48:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Brian with you, coach of the year, coach of the half year.
49:01
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you got?
49:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Coach of the half year.
49:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
49:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go with Matt Patricia as the assistant coach of the half year.
49:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I did not see this coming.
49:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I was very skeptical of certainly talking with some folks around Detroit.
49:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw him certainly crash in burn.
49:16
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he.
49:16
[SPEAKER_00]: was offensive corner there for the Patriots for a little bit in terms of when things went wrong and real South there for Bill Bellachek, but he has positioned that Ohio State defense, that is the reason why they are capable of going back to back, which is not something you kind of thought coming into the area.
49:32
[SPEAKER_00]: You thought, all right, well, they lose the double-digit draft picks here after year after year.
49:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And you thought, all right, maybe this is one of those rebuilding years with the freshman quarterback.
49:41
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, just there's a lot of new pieces and a lot of new faces across that roster, but Matt Patricia has done an excellent job.
49:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I also give a shout out to Tony Elliott at Virginia.
49:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Five and one ranked, got the big home win against Florida State.
49:54
[SPEAKER_00]: They're probably going to be bowl eligible after beating Wazoo this weekend.
49:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And they've gone from frustrating to watch fair a lot of their fans to to very fun to watch during their games.
50:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not crazy to think that with that schedule in the ACC, that they go
50:12
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, 40, I know you're going to do.
50:14
[SPEAKER_02]: You're going to pick one of your two guys that you said could win national championships.
50:18
[SPEAKER_02]: It's either going to be Katelyn D'Bore or Signetti.
50:21
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm going to let you have that moment.
50:23
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to go ahead and pick the coach of the one third of the half season.
50:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And that would be UCLA's Tim Skipper.
50:33
[SPEAKER_02]: There you go.
50:34
[SPEAKER_02]: What he has done is a football miracle.
50:39
[SPEAKER_02]: It really is if you think about it.
50:42
[SPEAKER_02]: To win the games that they've won, to do it under those circumstances, to do it with the utter joy that they're doing it with.
50:52
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, they hadn't let a game during their first four games of the season, and now they've done what they've done, and it's amazing and it's fun and it's.
51:05
[SPEAKER_02]: It's kind of one of the cool things about college football when an interim coach can come in there with an interim offensive coordinator and just somehow pull off these upsets.
51:18
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm gonna go with Tim Skipper.
51:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I like it, and I will say that I have heard and it resonates that people turn this into a jeery new hazel thing and he's done great.
51:29
[SPEAKER_01]: The two games have been the coordinator.
51:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's a great story.
51:33
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know, I think it that became the easy hook because his dad's on TV and his dad's famous and and dad went play to UCLA and he played at UCLA and it was this very cool family story.
51:45
[SPEAKER_01]: But Tim Skipper is the guy actually in charge.
51:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
51:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, give him a little credit too.
51:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it has been fantastic.
51:53
[SPEAKER_01]: But no, Gene, I will not go in with Kayland aboard.
51:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going with it, whoever else you thought I was going to get.
51:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Ignitty.
52:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, now look, Sig's got enough praise on this podcast.
52:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what you got on day.
52:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Ron Fisher can have the coordinator.
52:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm taking the head coach who had to replace both coordinators in his starting quarterback and 18 other guys who got drafted, maybe not quite that many, but a lot.
52:21
[SPEAKER_01]: They're really good.
52:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And they threw Julian Saiyan in there as they completely untested freshmen.
52:26
[SPEAKER_01]: He's playing great.
52:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think I touted him at the beginning of the year freshman running back Bo Jackson.
52:33
[SPEAKER_01]: is playing great.
52:35
[SPEAKER_01]: The defense is completely lights out.
52:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And I did go to their practice in August and thought, oh my god, this offense is in trouble.
52:44
[SPEAKER_01]: But not just the defenses that good and now the offense has been fine.
52:48
[SPEAKER_01]: So I am super impressed with what Ryan Day has done in what really was a major rebuild.
52:54
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm going with him.
52:56
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, team of the half year, genome who you got.
53:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, then if you took Ryan Day, I see you're going to take Ohio State as your team at the half year.
53:05
[SPEAKER_02]: I will go ahead and choose the obvious Indiana, I just think they've been, they've been the story of the half season.
53:14
[SPEAKER_02]: There are a lot of other nice candidates, USF, Miami, Texas Tech, Ohio State, but I'll go with the obvious choice I'll take Indiana.
53:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Ohio State is is the team of the has season in terms of obviously being number one looking like they're going to repeat, but I would go for this one and not to to overlook Indiana, but but I think it's takes a sec, you know, the way that they've played with all the pressure they had coming into this season, I mean, how many stories were done on that roster and what they caught you know cost and how many times do you hear the name Cody Campbell about their booster and he's on ads on TV.
53:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Texas Tech was was to me, you know, in terms of the actual, you know, performance, meaning expectations, they went out and did it.
53:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And not only do they look like the class of the big 12 at this point, but they look like one of those teams that can get one of those top four spots and get a buy into the playoff.
54:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we can really see, you know, can this experiment work down out there in love?
54:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that that to me,
54:06
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not only a storyline worth falling in the second half of the season, but it was impressive to see what they have happened in the first half of the season.
54:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they're the team that with the greatest margin of victory in all their games this year.
54:18
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Texas Tech to me was the team of the half season.
54:20
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, not both excellent choices.
54:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And Ohio State's got enough love here.
54:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm going with the you, Miami, who I think should be number one.
54:32
[SPEAKER_01]: It's close.
54:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there are three teams that have separated to it agree as of now.
54:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Miami, Ohio State and Indiana.
54:39
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm super impressed with what the canes have done.
54:43
[SPEAKER_01]: They've put together some portal hits and they have some homegrown,
54:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Recruits who have done well, Ruben Bane was a crystal ball recruit from Miami, Malachi Tony freshman recruit from Miami And they've been really good
54:59
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, a big win over Notre Dame to start off, and then they've just piled on from there.
55:04
[SPEAKER_01]: They won the Florida State Championship.
55:06
[SPEAKER_01]: They blew out USF, they easily beat Florida.
55:09
[SPEAKER_01]: They easily beat Florida State.
55:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So they're getting it done right now.
55:14
[SPEAKER_01]: We have to see if they can continue to stay out of their own way.
55:18
[SPEAKER_01]: That has historically been an issue, but Boyle Boyd is the schedule set up well.
55:23
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's a big game Friday night, which we will get to here in a minute.
55:31
[SPEAKER_01]: dumbest thing you've seen this year there's been a lot there's always a lot of dumb things happening in college football this is part and parcel of the allure i guess of it is that there's just there's all kinds of ridiculous ideas and premises uh and things going on so uh Brian what is your dumb idea of the half year
55:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Anything out of Tony Petidie's mouth.
55:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Can we go with that?
55:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
55:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Between you.
55:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the playoff expansion and digging your heels in.
56:01
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the reason why we're not going to have a 16 team playoff next year.
56:03
[SPEAKER_00]: It's because of Tony's Petidie's digging his heels in on all these automatic qualifiers.
56:07
[SPEAKER_00]: The SFC's shot down in about 24 hours down in Destin.
56:10
[SPEAKER_00]: You got the private capital thing that has popped up these last couple of weeks as well in terms of the investment into the big tin, just like, and even just a week ago, a big tin media days.
56:22
[SPEAKER_00]: He's talking about tournament expansion.
56:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, we should make sure that the Cinderella gets kicked through the curb in the play in games.
56:29
[SPEAKER_00]: This is every idea that he's had these last couple of months has riled up fans and not in a good way.
56:41
[SPEAKER_02]: We just killed me there.
56:42
[SPEAKER_02]: It's exactly what I was going to say.
56:44
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'll pivot.
56:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously, you in 40, not taking chunk in fat bear week was a huge, huge mistake by you guys.
56:55
[SPEAKER_02]: I could also nominate the person who said that arch-maning was a classic flop, heading into the Texas game.
57:03
[SPEAKER_02]: But I guess I'll go with another semi-predictable one.
57:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm included in it, who had Texas and Penn State playing in the national championship.
57:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, Texas still has a chance of reaching the national championship and it's going to be a tough road, but obviously Penn State will not be there.
57:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So to all the pre-season people who fell in love with the long horns and the knitley lions, well, there you go.
57:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I was one of those who fell in love with the Netanylines.
57:37
[SPEAKER_01]: That's my dumb play of the week was it.
57:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I was the driving force behind Penn State being pick number one by Sports Illustrated.
57:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So thank you.
57:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
57:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
57:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I can throw the hex on all of them.
57:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody.
57:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And I certainly appeared who have done so with the Netanylines.
57:54
[SPEAKER_01]: That was a risky pick.
57:56
[SPEAKER_01]: But I didn't think it would go this bad this fast.
57:58
[SPEAKER_01]: That they'd be three and three in firing the coach.
58:04
[SPEAKER_01]: five and one and ranked seventh or something, but no, no, it's a complete free fall.
58:09
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm owning that one.
58:11
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, winners and state dinners, guys, our picks, we got to get to those.
58:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And like I said at the beginning, we're actually were competent right now, which is slightly slightly shocking, but here we are.
58:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Overall records, Gene 21 and 16, and that does include the chunk pick.
58:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Congratulations.
58:32
[SPEAKER_01]: There's your extra half game there up.
58:34
[SPEAKER_01]: You're up one and a half games on Brian at 19 and 17.
58:38
[SPEAKER_01]: And I have rallied to 500, 18 and 18.
58:42
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's see if we got a boy going.
58:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
58:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you very much for and won this last week.
58:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Read my picks for our betting column thing that we do.
58:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I do with Ian McMillan.
58:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I've 12 and three the last three weeks.
58:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh my gosh.
58:56
[SPEAKER_01]: come on.
58:57
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, now we are not picking Ole Miss and George even though it's a great game because I've been trying to where possible have at least one game from each of the powerful conferences because we're trying to be inclusive here and get listenership from all over.
59:13
[SPEAKER_01]: So that game's not in here but it's very interesting and I want to see if George it can
59:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Georgia has has played last season over this season so far.
59:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Lose to Alabama last year, lose to Alabama this year, beat Tennessee last year, beat Tennessee this year.
59:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Last year, they were a horrible and lost in Oxford, the Mississippi.
59:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Are they going to do it again?
59:34
[SPEAKER_01]: If so, they're going to get on to play off thin ice.
59:37
[SPEAKER_01]: But we're not picking that game.
59:39
[SPEAKER_01]: We're starting Friday night, ACC game.
59:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Louisville with one loss at my amy my amy is giving thirteen and a half Let's start a Brian let's start with you where are you going on this game?
59:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I am extremely worried about the back door in this game because, you know, what is my immediate?
59:58
[SPEAKER_00]: They start out fast and they let Notre Dame back in in the second half.
1:00:03
[SPEAKER_00]: That Florida State back in in the second half and both these teams come out for by we know how Jeff Brom is in terms of dialing up crazy plays and coming up with some unique beaters that that can get you a touchdown very quickly.
1:00:14
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of speed on that Louisville team in particular, a lot of speed that's from South Florida that knows this is going to be a big game.
1:00:21
[SPEAKER_00]: This line started out at seven and a half.
1:00:23
[SPEAKER_00]: It's gone up to 13 and a half.
1:00:24
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to follow the money a little bit and reluctantly go with the canes because I think when you do speed up with that defensive line in particular when you speed up Miller Moss, he tends to make mistakes.
1:00:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Miami can take those back to the house.
1:00:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think they do end up covering that 13 and a half.
1:00:40
[SPEAKER_02]: These have been pretty high scoring games in recent history, and Brian you mentioned they've both had two weeks to prepare, Louisville's only losses to Virginia, I believe, and they did beat a pretty good pit team.
1:00:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think if it's a high scoring game, I think Louisville can stay within the number.
1:00:58
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll take Louisville and I'll take the 13 and a half points.
1:01:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm with you there.
1:01:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think Jeff Rom, dangerous underdog coach has pulled off a lot of upsets going back with time at Purdue and also at Louisville, thumped Clemson on the road last year as an underdog.
1:01:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure they win this game, but I think they keep it within the number.
1:01:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I think this is a seven to ten point game probably.
1:01:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Your fears about
1:01:30
[SPEAKER_01]: they do have some weapons and if you can get the ball to the weapons watch out for them in open space so i think there's going to be an entertaining game and louisville keeps it within thirteen and a half uh... right u.s.c.
1:01:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Notre Dame and all i have thoughts on this one matter fact forget you guys i'm leading on this one no had
1:01:51
[SPEAKER_01]: The other name is home.
1:01:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Notre Dame is giving nine and a half.
1:01:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And if this is the last time these two play in Notre Dame Stadium, I'm going to ride it.
1:02:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I will have had it.
1:02:02
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the last game under contract at Notre Dame.
1:02:06
[SPEAKER_01]: There's one more next year in Los Angeles.
1:02:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And then there is no contract.
1:02:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is USC's doing.
1:02:15
[SPEAKER_01]: This is what USC has been because G is we took the money to go to the big 10 and we've got to make all these trips to play in the Midwest.
1:02:23
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't want to do that anymore.
1:02:25
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't want to go especially in the middle of the season when this game has been played since 1961.
1:02:31
[SPEAKER_01]: at Notre Dame in October when we're already going to Ann Arbor and Piscata Way and Iowa City and State College and whatever.
1:02:40
[SPEAKER_01]: That's your problem.
1:02:42
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you want to live with ruining this wonderful tradition, probably my favorite rivalry game of all time,
1:02:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Go for it.
1:02:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, this could end up getting moved to earlier in the season.
1:02:54
[SPEAKER_01]: September, first game of the year, I don't want to see them that if it has to be September fine, but if you're playing in Arlington or Las Vegas or Mexico City, screw you, that's garbage.
1:03:08
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a great rivalry that you should be played in great iconic stadiums, LA Colosseum, Notre Dame Stadium.
1:03:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to see you playing in Las Vegas.
1:03:20
[SPEAKER_01]: So USC, figure it out.
1:03:24
[SPEAKER_01]: That's my thoughts there.
1:03:25
[SPEAKER_01]: As for the game, I don't know.
1:03:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm taking Notre Dame and Leigh in the points.
1:03:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Notre Dame's playing really well and look out.
1:03:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't let the Irish into the playoff because they could be dangerous if they get there.
1:03:38
[SPEAKER_02]: Telling Riley.
1:03:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Go ahead, Bryan.
1:03:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I echo what Pat said there on the rivalry.
1:03:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this is not only one of the classics, but you look forward to this.
1:03:49
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're USC fan, you know, kind of getting that chili air out there in the Midwest and this time of year, you look forward to going to South Bend.
1:03:56
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a classic.
1:03:58
[SPEAKER_00]: When those helmets are coming out of the colors, it just pops in this game.
1:04:02
[SPEAKER_00]: But Lincoln Riley is 24 and five in the state of California.
1:04:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Lincoln Riley and road games outside the state of California, seven and 10.
1:04:10
[SPEAKER_00]: They're injured at running back.
1:04:12
[SPEAKER_00]: They have issues, you know.
1:04:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, interpret the offensive line.
1:04:17
[SPEAKER_00]: They've got some guys out.
1:04:19
[SPEAKER_00]: But...
1:04:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they can make some place.
1:04:22
[SPEAKER_00]: You saw Texas A&M put up a lot of points on this Cyrus defense.
1:04:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that caught them by surprise a little bit.
1:04:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
1:04:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't like doing going with USC, but nine and a half, a lot to cover in this game.
1:04:32
[SPEAKER_00]: They are going to be fired up for this one because they know what it means.
1:04:34
[SPEAKER_00]: After beating Michigan, that that was probably the best win of Lincoln, Riley's tenure there at USC.
1:04:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they follow up.
1:04:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if they win, but I think at least cover that nine and a half.
1:04:45
[SPEAKER_02]: Pat, don't hold back on this thing.
1:04:47
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, what's the word on the street?
1:04:48
[SPEAKER_02]: How do you really feel about the rivalry?
1:04:51
[SPEAKER_02]: It would be a shame.
1:04:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's a great uniform game, by the way.
1:04:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Great uniform.
1:04:56
[SPEAKER_02]: USC and Notre and South Bend do not get along.
1:05:00
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was jotting down the Trojans of Lost six to the last seven games versus Notre Dame and haven't won at Notre Dame Stadium since 2011.
1:05:09
[SPEAKER_02]: But Notre Dame also has some issues, injury issues,
1:05:15
[SPEAKER_02]: and I had seen eight and a half points.
1:05:18
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm thrilled that it's nine and a half points.
1:05:20
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll take those nine and a half points and I'll take USC.
1:05:24
[SPEAKER_01]: One other thing on this is they had to Brian touched on it.
1:05:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Like if the two things that were great about this, like if you were from sunny SoCal and all of a sudden your team is going out and you're getting that little bite of autumn.
1:05:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's very cool, but then the flip side, too,
1:05:39
[SPEAKER_01]: It's Thanksgiving weekend, and it's getting dark at like 5, 5, 30, and you flipping your TV and it's sunny in Los Angeles and they're playing that game on that beautiful grass and it's like, oh man, that is the greatest thing.
1:05:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't play the game indoors in Las Vegas.
1:05:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Good God.
1:05:59
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, another great rivalry game third weekend in October.
1:06:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Tennessee, Alabama.
1:06:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Smokey the Hound, whatever they call the elephant in Alabama, this is a great great SEC rivalry, which has been protected and maintained at least for the next four years, 20, 26 through 29 when they go to the nine game schedule.
1:06:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope they keep playing forever.
1:06:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Bama is at home.
1:06:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Bama is giving eight and a half.
1:06:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Geno, how excited is the campus there for this?
1:06:32
[SPEAKER_01]: How deep is the feelings when it comes to Bama?
1:06:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Are they the most hated team for Tennessee and who you pick it?
1:06:39
[SPEAKER_02]: a lot of questions are that.
1:06:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
1:06:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, Bama is Tennessee's traditional rivalry, and I think there's a lot of respect at Tennessee for Alabama.
1:06:52
[SPEAKER_02]: No team that they would rather beat than Alabama, but there's
1:07:01
[SPEAKER_02]: in Tuscaloosa since 2003, I wrote that down.
1:07:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Bama crushes them on the road.
1:07:07
[SPEAKER_02]: The last seven games have been won by Bama by almost 25 points.
1:07:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Each time at Tuscaloosa, now that was what's saving.
1:07:15
[SPEAKER_02]: This was with the boars.
1:07:17
[SPEAKER_02]: I understand the difference.
1:07:19
[SPEAKER_02]: And this will be the fourth tough game in a row for Bama, Georgia, Vanity, Mizzou, and now a traditional rival like Tennessee,
1:07:28
[SPEAKER_02]: I think Bam is kind of found whatever they found and they look awfully good and as much as Tennessee's when I'm a model, I think Bam wins the game and I also think that they cover.
1:07:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm right there with you.
1:07:43
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you look at that Tennessee defensively, particularly that was the strength last year, but it, you know, they made Georgia look like they were at airy team at times in that game in Nailin.
1:07:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was at home with that environment.
1:07:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Alabama is able to pick them apart.
1:07:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm very curious to see how well Albin can run the ball a little bit in this one to provide a little bit more balance.
1:08:03
[SPEAKER_00]: But Ty Simpson, I mean, he is, he's one of those guys that you're penciling in on your ballot at the high minute at this
1:08:11
[SPEAKER_00]: So give me the tide to cover, especially at home at that eight.
1:08:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to go the other way and just say Tennessee covers at least.
1:08:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not disputing any of your reasoning.
1:08:21
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think cumulative effect of four straight ranked opponents.
1:08:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe catches up with Alabama a little bit here.
1:08:29
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a tough run.
1:08:30
[SPEAKER_01]: and you know, don't discount Vanderbilt and Missouri just because they're not traditional powers.
1:08:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Those were those were big-time games.
1:08:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think a fourth one here where Tennessee may become a little fresher and certainly highly motivated.
1:08:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they at least keep it close.
1:08:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not picking them to win, but I think they keep it close.
1:08:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Would you say it was eight and a half?
1:08:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Eight and a half.
1:08:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
1:08:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
1:08:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
1:08:54
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the spreads.
1:08:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Vegas is devilish.
1:08:56
[SPEAKER_01]: They're demonic.
1:08:57
[SPEAKER_01]: They know what they're doing.
1:08:59
[SPEAKER_01]: They make these difficult for a reason.
1:09:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we usually end up on the wrong side of them.
1:09:04
[SPEAKER_01]: One more rivalry game and another great one.
1:09:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Holy war.
1:09:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Utah at BYU.
1:09:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Two schools that have
1:09:14
[SPEAKER_01]: geography and common and some of the things but but a lot they don't have in common and the differences there make this really fascinating and also great depth of feeling from my my experiences out there.
1:09:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Brian, you live in the state.
1:09:29
[SPEAKER_01]: You are around this rivalry year round.
1:09:33
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you got here?
1:09:34
[SPEAKER_01]: You talk giving three and a half at undefeated BYU.
1:09:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's funny.
1:09:40
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a commercial that the two school presidents have put together that they're airing locally in the state about rivalry, right.
1:09:47
[SPEAKER_00]: But this thing is heated.
1:09:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would argue no rivalry involves more crossover in terms of coaching, in terms of players and families than the whole it were.
1:09:58
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a lot of hate.
1:09:59
[SPEAKER_00]: and a lot of distrust and a lot of animosity between the two sides, but there's also a lot of familiarity.
1:10:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that's what produces some great moments in this game.
1:10:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's going to be a fun fascinating and fantastic atmosphere down there in Provo.
1:10:14
[SPEAKER_00]: But give me huge order cover the three and a half.
1:10:16
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they're the better team.
1:10:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Bearbock might kind of look like more of a freshman quarterback in this one.
1:10:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they can make him enough one-dimensional.
1:10:25
[SPEAKER_00]: in the running game to where you can say all right we can take advantage of that and I think Kyle wedding him he came back to school to coach again in games like this.
1:10:34
[SPEAKER_00]: He would like nothing more than to walk away a winner with a win over BYU this season.
1:10:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they cover the three and half and I think it went convincingly.
1:10:43
[SPEAKER_02]: amazing they're getting you you toss giving three and a half against an undefeated team at BYU mail so that tells you something you type I believe is lost last two games to be why you but BYU needs double over time
1:11:01
[SPEAKER_02]: to be Arizona.
1:11:02
[SPEAKER_02]: So is that a danger sign or were they sort of looking ahead to the U-Tog game?
1:11:08
[SPEAKER_02]: I think it's a danger sign.
1:11:10
[SPEAKER_02]: I think U-Tog's been playing pretty well lately and I'll take U-Tog and I'll also give the three in the hook on this one.
1:11:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm with you guys here just I think the youths are I think they're very good team They did not play well against Texas tech.
1:11:24
[SPEAKER_01]: But Texas tech is excellent There we go.
1:11:27
[SPEAKER_01]: It's then they have taken care of the court.
1:11:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It's been pretty close So it was a much closer game that final score indicated.
1:11:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
1:11:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they I mean they struggled offensively I know when that game but it
1:11:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I think BYU is overachieving to be undefeated to this point, as you said, they've lived dangerously, obviously, barely getting out of Tucson with the victory.
1:11:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I like their moxie, I like what they're doing, but I am rolling with the youths and giving the three and a half.
1:11:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, lock of the week, who has won?
1:12:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's hear Brian's obscure choice of the week is usual.
1:12:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Brian's going out.
1:12:08
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I almost like feel pressured when I'm going scroll into the lines and I say, all right, what's, what's, what's going to raise an eyebrow for, for, you know, more when, when it, when it, when I go off the to obscure.
1:12:18
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to go Southern Miss.
1:12:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, my Charles, that's another former Penn State assistant.
1:12:24
[SPEAKER_00]: The guy who's going to be in the mix for a lot of jobs.
1:12:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Only, you know, they're, they're minus four at Louisiana.
1:12:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, minus four goes.
1:12:32
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's the game.
1:12:36
[SPEAKER_02]: That's, well, that's the game I was thinking of, too.
1:12:39
[SPEAKER_02]: It's easy to do that.
1:12:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Sure.
1:12:41
[SPEAKER_02]: We landed on it.
1:12:44
[SPEAKER_02]: What do you guys, I could be a lot of credit, man.
1:12:46
[SPEAKER_02]: It's amazing.
1:12:46
[SPEAKER_02]: You finally sings.
1:12:48
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to, you just mentioned, Texas Tech.
1:12:52
[SPEAKER_02]: I have them at 10 and a half against Arizona State.
1:12:55
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know what number you have.
1:12:57
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to give the 10 and a half.
1:12:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Texas Tech is one of three teams that is yet to lose a game against the spread.
1:13:07
[SPEAKER_02]: Geez, um, that will be here all day.
1:13:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
1:13:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's not Memphis and Ohio State or other two.
1:13:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Interesting, uh, as we record this, there are questions about the starting quarterbacks for both of these teams, but I'll still roll with Texas Tech.
1:13:25
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll give the 10 and a half.
1:13:28
[SPEAKER_02]: I really believe in the red raiders.
1:13:31
[SPEAKER_02]: I think they're really, really good team.
1:13:34
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think Arizona State is like right at the edge of which way the season can go for them.
1:13:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, injuries have really hurt them.
1:13:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And if Jeff Sims plays quarterback again, that's not good for them.
1:13:47
[SPEAKER_01]: But can he dealing am good coach at home?
1:13:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd give him a chance to at least cover, but I'm not picking up a game.
1:13:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, I am going with South Carolina as a home dog, getting five and a half against Oklahoma, uh, sooner's coming off a red river, maybe a little hang over there, Shane Beamer, one of those underdog upset kings and Oklahoma, I thought, got a little bit exposed by Texas in terms of, uh, offense, they, they're not running the ball.
1:14:21
[SPEAKER_01]: great and if a material isn't carrying them and doing everything, I don't think that that great on that side of the ball.
1:14:29
[SPEAKER_01]: And defensively, they've only created two turnovers this year, which the defense has been good, but sometimes you've got to take it away.
1:14:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm going to take South Carolina and get five and a half there.
1:14:41
[SPEAKER_01]: One other story for you guys, and then we'll get out of here and let the the listeners ship move on with their lives.
1:14:46
[SPEAKER_01]: But we had to get to this,
1:14:50
[SPEAKER_01]: We had a police chase, fellas, in Parma Heights, Ohio.
1:14:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Very dramatic.
1:14:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody loves a good police chase, right?
1:14:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Here's what happened.
1:15:01
[SPEAKER_01]: This is from the A, the AP, some excellent writing from the AP.
1:15:05
[SPEAKER_01]: The subject of an Ohio police pursuit took off down the road, a flash of orange in the darkness, but officers eventually caught up and grabbed the escapee a runaway inflatable pumpkin.
1:15:19
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they got those yard inflatable things these days.
1:15:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody likes those.
1:15:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't like them.
1:15:23
[SPEAKER_01]: But some people do that like it, the wind blew it down the street.
1:15:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was actually a runaway pumpkin was rolling down the street in Parma Heights, Ohio.
1:15:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And the cops had to go chase it down.
1:15:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And then apprehended that a hard time because it's giant.
1:15:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And what do you do with it?
1:15:41
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's not really easy to grab a hold of.
1:15:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So pumpkin,
1:15:46
[SPEAKER_01]: darned your god away, they did finally get it and they actually got it into the police car impressive.
1:15:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Now my question for you all, what I want to reaction to, the greatest trick hobby lobby ever played on America is thinking that you need 9 million decorations for your house for every season and every quote unquote holiday.
1:16:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And you have to start putting them out like
1:16:14
[SPEAKER_01]: is too early for you to put out any Halloween decoration.
1:16:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Gene.
1:16:20
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't even know if we put candy out anymore.
1:16:22
[SPEAKER_02]: We're like the couple that turns off the front porch light and closes the drapes and light.
1:16:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Don't bother watching Netflix for God's sakes.
1:16:32
[SPEAKER_02]: Eightful, eightful, I know, it's, I'm sorry, kids.
1:16:37
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, go get your Milky Way someplace else.
1:16:42
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, my wife's, she does all the decorating.
1:16:44
[SPEAKER_02]: We went to the mall here in Knoxville,
1:16:48
[SPEAKER_02]: You're, I don't know, like the last week of September.
1:16:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Be it Christmas stuff.
1:16:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh yeah.
1:16:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh yeah.
1:16:54
[SPEAKER_02]: My head exploded.
1:16:56
[SPEAKER_02]: I just can't believe it.
1:16:58
[SPEAKER_02]: You know what?
1:16:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Put the Halloween stuff up like two days ahead of time.
1:17:02
[SPEAKER_02]: That's all you need.
1:17:03
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not a national holiday, nothing's already.
1:17:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And honestly, the Parmo High thing is strong, but nothing's ever going to beat the Barbie.
1:17:15
[SPEAKER_02]: uh... battery operated uh... chase that you told us about in Canada earlier and now that that's that's that's that's the winner of the half season there but we'll keep trying okay
1:17:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Brian, well, Jin, you bring up a good point.
1:17:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing, you know, maybe this might, my B.K.
1:17:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Rants is where we didn't play the audio, but I hate seeing Halloween stuff up in August.
1:17:38
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, even September is like pushing it.
1:17:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's at loaves.
1:17:42
[SPEAKER_00]: It's at Costco.
1:17:43
[SPEAKER_00]: It's at any store you want to go to.
1:17:44
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, we got to have some sort of holiday display.
1:17:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go with Halloween.
1:17:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Like,
1:17:49
[SPEAKER_00]: It frustrates me to know end.
1:17:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I just have it have this role reaction to it.
1:17:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say probably a week out.
1:17:55
[SPEAKER_00]: You're fine in terms of putting out the Halloween decorations.
1:17:59
[SPEAKER_00]: It's nice.
1:17:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I have like those, I've put up those lights that you can change colors, so it's pretty easy to where you can just sit.
1:18:04
[SPEAKER_00]: It's orange.
1:18:05
[SPEAKER_00]: That's that's good enough for me and set out a bowl of candy and go out with the kids, but like it is frustrating to me whenever I walk into a store.
1:18:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not that
1:18:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And you have those Halloween decorations out or you have Christmas decorations out right now and I've definitely seen that around recently like that to me is like what what are we doing here that that I I can't get over that all of a creep is a societal menace it's it's bad I don't like it and
1:18:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I was watching last night, you know, I had the two Monday night football games and the baseball game on.
1:18:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't remember, you know, in the multi-view, I don't know which, but one of them had a Christmas decoration commercial.
1:18:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, please.
1:18:45
[SPEAKER_01]: You can't do that to me.
1:18:46
[SPEAKER_01]: You cannot do that to me on October 13th at that time.
1:18:49
[SPEAKER_01]: So I will, I'll get a pumpkin like the week of Halloween and I'll carve it the day of.
1:18:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And if my wife remembers to get the skeleton out and put it on the front door fine, but if not, we're just going with the pumpkin.
1:19:03
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's as far as we go, and it's going to be pretty last minute, Charlie.
1:19:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, and Pat, one last thing to these kids, you know, you want me to give you candy, then actually dress up as something.
1:19:16
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm so tired of like the 14-year-old kid, and I open up the door,
1:19:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, no, that doesn't do it, dude.
1:19:29
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, Snickers for you.
1:19:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you got to put it in a little effort, right?
1:19:33
[SPEAKER_02]: A little effort from after the end.
1:19:35
[SPEAKER_01]: It was pat 40 if you wanted.
1:19:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah.
1:19:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Then you get a big mirror.
1:19:38
[SPEAKER_01]: You get doors shut in your face that I would not be a good play.
1:19:42
[SPEAKER_01]: So.
1:19:42
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, that's our show for this week.
1:19:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you as always for listening.
1:19:46
[SPEAKER_01]: We came to you early because we thought the news necessary to necessitate it.
1:19:51
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll be back again next week, most likely in our regular time and place.
1:19:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So have a good week and enjoy the games.
1:19:58
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll talk to you all later.