Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / 1-2-26 - Shehan Jeyarajah - CBS college football insider - Morga Scalley new coaching staff, who is the national Champion, Whitt to Michi...

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1-2-26 - Shehan Jeyarajah - CBS college football insider - Morga Scalley new coaching staff, who is the national Champion, Whitt to Michi... · The Sean O'Connell Show

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  Speaker 1: Show one ka Ll North Salt Lake, ESPN seven hundred
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and ninety two to one af AM. Download the ESPN
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  Speaker 1: seven hundred app for free. Today you're listening to The
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch Hunting Studio of ESPN
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  Speaker 1: seven hundred and ninety two to one af AM.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Welcome down number three on the Sean O'Connell Show on
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: a Friday. The airing of Grievances comes in twenty five minutes.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: I have a feeling that you're gonna be fielding lots
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: of phone calls Martin about grievances with a certain former
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: head coach of this university. But we'll see eight seven
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  Speaker 2: seven three five three zero seven hundred. If you want
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: to text your calls at Real OC Sports, we will
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: field your grievances and you can unburden yourself. For the
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  Speaker 2: first time in twenty twenty six, we welcome Sehanji Raja
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  Speaker 2: National College Football over at CBS Sports.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: Shahan, welcome to the show again and Happy New.
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: Year, Happy New Year, Thanks for having me.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Are you a resolutions or yearly goals type of guy?
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what.
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  Speaker 4: My year doesn't end until January nineteenth, in the National Championship.
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  Speaker 4: So as soon as it hits January twenty and then
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  Speaker 4: I'll start to think about what I want to do
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  Speaker 4: next to you.
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  Speaker 3: That's perfect, absolutely all right.
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  Speaker 5: So, look, a lot has happened in these last ten
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  Speaker 5: days or so with Utah football, and obviously that's where
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: we butter our bread. So that's where I'll start with you.
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  Speaker 5: Kyle Whittingham is the head coach of Michigan and he
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  Speaker 5: has taken Jason Beck, Jim Harding, Lewis Powell, mikeah Simon,
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  Speaker 5: his brother Freddie Whittingham. He has done what every coach
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  Speaker 5: does and kind of like rated the coffers of his
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  Speaker 5: current university to take to the next place. People are
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  Speaker 5: pretty upset about it, but I think looking at the
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  Speaker 5: future for Utah football, Morgan scal he's the right guy.
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  Speaker 5: Were you in any way shocked to see Kyle Whittingham
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  Speaker 5: not only take the Michigan job, but to handle it
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  Speaker 5: the way he's handled it so far.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's interesting, right, Like, I think that
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  Speaker 4: obviously part of the reason for the transition planned it
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  Speaker 4: was to set things up for Morgan Scali to be
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  Speaker 4: in a good position, right, And I think that with
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  Speaker 4: the changes that he's made with the coaches that he's bringing,
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  Speaker 4: I mean, that's no longer the case, right, Like all
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: of a sudden, I think that Morgan Sky is going
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: to be stepping into essentially a full program rebuild, which
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  Speaker 4: is certainly not what I think Utah hoped whenever they
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  Speaker 4: named him the head coach in waiting. I think they
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  Speaker 4: hope that it would be more of an Urban Meyer
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  Speaker 4: to Kyle Whittingham's sort of handoff. But you know, I
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  Speaker 4: think that at the same time, I mean, look, if you,
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  Speaker 4: let's put it this way, if Morgan Scalley was an
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  Speaker 4: outside higher, I still think it would be a very
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  Speaker 4: good and correct outside higher, right, And it's going to
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  Speaker 4: end up being a little bit more like that.
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  Speaker 1: Now.
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  Speaker 4: He still has advantages to try to keep certain players,
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  Speaker 4: a certain infrastructure intact. You know, a lot of internal
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  Speaker 4: operations I'm sure will still work the same way. But
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  Speaker 4: it's going to be interesting because obviously, like you like
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  Speaker 4: you refer to, I mean, they're going to have to
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  Speaker 4: go out and put together a new staff. And certainly
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  Speaker 4: when you talk about the programs in Utah YU and
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  Speaker 4: Utah like you know, there's a lot of overlap between
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  Speaker 4: how those two programs hire and who they tried to
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  Speaker 4: bring as coaches. And now, by the way, too, YU
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  Speaker 4: is going to be in a similar position with trying
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  Speaker 4: to hire a defensive coordinator. So the competition between those
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  Speaker 4: two schools for a relatively small pool of candidates, I
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  Speaker 4: think is going to be really interesting.
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  Speaker 5: So there's this rumor bill surrounding the offensive coordinator position
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  Speaker 5: at the University of Utah, and Morgan Scally has only
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  Speaker 5: spent every moment of his career at Utah. Right the network,
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  Speaker 5: I mean, he's a he's a social guy, he's a
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  Speaker 5: good networker and things like that, but it's it's an
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  Speaker 5: insular community out here, as you're already pointing out, And
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  Speaker 5: he hasn't worked with all that many different offensive minds names,
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  Speaker 5: et cetera. The list of names that there seem to
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  Speaker 5: be talking to at Utah includes people that he's never
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  Speaker 5: worked with before. He may have coached against some of
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  Speaker 5: these people, and it's just kind of it's a little
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  Speaker 5: bit outside the box. Because of that, does it affect
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  Speaker 5: you think at the end of the day, who Utah
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  Speaker 5: is able to get that Morgan Scally has only ever
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  Speaker 5: worked with whoever Kyle Whittingham had on his staff.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I do think it matters, right, I mean,
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  Speaker 4: I think that when you have familiarity, when you've worked
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  Speaker 4: with guys before, that gives you an advantage. And the
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  Speaker 4: fact that he hasn't done that, I think certainly is
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  Speaker 4: a factor. At the same time, I mean, look, obviously,
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  Speaker 4: when you talk about Jason Beck coming, yeah, you know,
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  Speaker 4: he spent time at BYUS quarterbacks coach and as a player,
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  Speaker 4: But like, I don't think that was the primary reason
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  Speaker 4: that they brought him here. They brought him here because
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  Speaker 4: he was a really good offensive coordinator and also, by
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  Speaker 4: the way, because he came with a quarterback as well.
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  Speaker 4: So I don't necessarily think that it means that, you know,
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  Speaker 4: one that he has to stick with what he knows,
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  Speaker 4: and two, I mean the reality is too is like,
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  Speaker 4: I mean, let's say that Jason Deck had never been
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  Speaker 4: in the state of Utah, Well, like, he still would
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  Speaker 4: have left income for a really good opportunity to coach
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  Speaker 4: at the University of Utah and contend for a Big
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  Speaker 4: twelve championship. I think that's the mindset that he needs
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  Speaker 4: to go into this with, is you know what, Like, yeah,
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  Speaker 4: maybe I don't know all these people. Maybe I haven't
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  Speaker 4: worked with all of these people, but you know, one,
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  Speaker 4: I've worked with people who have worked with other people
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  Speaker 4: and at least can get some endorsements. And two, this
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  Speaker 4: is a really good job. You know, we shouldn't limit
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  Speaker 4: ourselves to just what's familiar. We should go out there
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  Speaker 4: and try to find the best offensive coordinator that we
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  Speaker 4: can find in the markets.
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  Speaker 5: Who is the best offensive coordinator on the market right now?
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  Speaker 5: Because you know, there's there's the guys that we've heard
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  Speaker 5: their names, and there's guys that are going to be
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  Speaker 5: getting phone calls from the quote unquote bigger jobs. Is
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  Speaker 5: there anyone that you have seen or haven't seen associated
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  Speaker 5: with if you tell that you could see being a fit.
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  Speaker 5: Given what Morgan Scalley has said about who he'd like
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  Speaker 5: to have, he wants to throw the ball around a
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  Speaker 5: little bit. Thinks that you got to modernize and lean
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  Speaker 5: on the passing game. Is there anyone that they should
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  Speaker 5: be looking at, maybe that they're not, at least publicly.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I don't know
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  Speaker 4: that there's an obvious candidate right like, I mean I
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  Speaker 4: think that you know, I love the process, that they
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: went through last time, going through and saying, look, you know,
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  Speaker 4: we have you know, we look at the Mountain West
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  Speaker 4: and we really like what this offensive at New Mexico
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  Speaker 4: is doing. And by the way, New Mexico is a
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  Speaker 4: really good offense right now, although their head coach is
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  Speaker 4: more involved in that in Jason Eck. Not to be
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  Speaker 4: confused of course with Jason Beck, but you know, I
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  Speaker 4: think that that's sort of the direction that you look
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  Speaker 4: right like you look and say, hey, you know, the
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  Speaker 4: top offense in college football this year was Nortex. Obviously
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  Speaker 4: a lot of that staffs going to Oklahoma State, but
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  Speaker 4: is there anybody that would make sense to be part
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  Speaker 4: of this staff? You know, do you you look at
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  Speaker 4: a Texas State similar top five country in offense. But
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  Speaker 4: you know, I don't know that there are individual names
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  Speaker 4: necessarily that jump out to me. I mean, you know,
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  Speaker 4: I think that a lot of them, certainly from the
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  Speaker 4: Group of five levels especially, have been pulled. So you
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  Speaker 4: might need to go a little bit more unorthodox, whether
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  Speaker 4: that is you know, from the NFL, whether that is
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  Speaker 4: people who maybe have only been secondary play callers. But
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  Speaker 4: I mean, again, I think that USAW is a really
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  Speaker 4: good job and I think that philosophy is probably the
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  Speaker 4: bigger thing to keep an eye on more than anything else.
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  Speaker 5: Shahan Jay Roger my guest here on the Sean O'Connell
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: Schill talk at all things college football, including the situation
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  Speaker 5: Utah is in. They went with all of this distraction,
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  Speaker 5: they went out on the field against Nebraska in the
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  Speaker 5: Vegas Bowl and they smashed the Huskers and got Morgan
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  Speaker 5: Scalley his first win as a head coach. And then
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  Speaker 5: immediately the focus turned towards all right, well, what about
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: the transfer portal. What's going to happen with these coaching changes?
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  Speaker 5: How many guys are going to try to follow to Michigan?
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  Speaker 5: Where are other people going to end up? And we're
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  Speaker 5: starting to get answers on that today as the transfer
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  Speaker 5: portal is officially open. How do you think we should
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  Speaker 5: or what do you think we should anticipate in terms
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  Speaker 5: of roster turnover because there has been a coaching turnover.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think that there's going to be
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  Speaker 4: a number of players who go in the transfer portal,
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  Speaker 4: including top contributors. Right, But one it's worth always remembering
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  Speaker 4: that doesn't mean that they have to leave. Some players
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  Speaker 4: might just want to see what's out there, what kind
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: of offers they get, see what the market is for themselves.
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  Speaker 4: And Utah is not a poor program. They're going to
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  Speaker 4: be able to pay to keep a lot of these
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  Speaker 4: players around. The other thing too, though, is that again,
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  Speaker 4: you know, this is also one of those spots where
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  Speaker 4: you know, we're potentially having a you know, an offensive coordinator.
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  Speaker 4: When that hire is made with ties to players and
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  Speaker 4: who can bring some players along, could be significant, So
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  Speaker 4: you know, I mean, the irony of this moment is
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: that obviously, like I mean, Kyle Whittingham goes to Michigan
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: and he's expected to bring a number of coaches with him,
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  Speaker 4: He's expected being a number of players with him, But
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  Speaker 4: the same will be true for whoever kind of comes
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  Speaker 4: along as an assistant coach as well to Utah. So,
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  Speaker 4: I mean, the funny thing about this moment, right, is
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  Speaker 4: that we had basically a whole month where players could
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: only announce that they were leaving and none could commit. Well,
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  Speaker 4: I think that there are going to be a number
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: of players going through their processes and I expect answers
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: in the next couple of days.
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: I think the number this morning was something that is
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: over three thousand players in the transfer portal, and you know,
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: there's a lot of folks that have a hard time
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: looking at that and feeling like we're in a good.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: Spot with college football.
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: Of course, it doesn't mean everyone's going to land in
• 9:40
  Speaker 5: a new place, and some people just end up back
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: at their same school, and not everyone is high profile
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: in that regard. But you know, we've been discussing this
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: for several years now. This is a different window, so
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: they're trying to fix the transfer portal situation. By reducing
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: this to a singular window. The numbers are continue to increase,
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: and it's it's open free agency. So I don't understand
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: why if you're a starter, you don't just put your
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: name in to see what happens. But are we getting
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: closer to a fix or a solution or a workable
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: future with the transfer portal given this new window?
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think that this is still so
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: much the wild west of it. All right. We kind
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: of got the first version of rules coming through with
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: the House case, but frankly, they've never been challenged when
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: it comes to you know, when it comes to in
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: the legal system, we haven't had sort of going over
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: the capt be challenged. That's going to be the next step.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: It's going to happen at some point. Eventually, I think
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: we're going to reach a point where we have more
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: legitimate collective bargaining, where we have more legitimate contracts, whether
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: that comes from again like I've referred to collective bargaining,
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: or whether it comes through legislation. So, you know, I
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: think that all these things are going to slowly get
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: more resolved. But like, this is the gold rush right now,
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: this is the moment where everybody has some amount of
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: money available. There's not a whole lot of rules available.
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: There's no protection for players, there's no protections for programs.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that long term that's going to change.
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: The question is is that a one to two years
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: long term or is that a five to ten years
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: long term?
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: All Right, the College Football Playoff has been fun to watch.
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: We're down to the final four. The SEC, which is
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: you know, it just means more. I don't think has
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: had their best showing necessarily from a result standpoints. If
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: you asked them, uh, is that going to further shift
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: or start to shift the influence and the power structure
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: in college football? If if the SEC doesn't produce a
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: national champion this year.
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: Well, this is what's interesting, right, is that you know,
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: I'll go back a couple of years to when you know,
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: Texas was a member of the Big twelve, and the
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: way that Texas, which is a very rich and powerful brand,
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: responded to not winning was they essentially took their ball
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: and went home. Right, they said, we're leaving, We're joining
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: the SEC, and that's going to help us because we
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: haven't won enough. Well, I think that that's where this
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: starts to get kind of interesting with the SEC. You know,
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: let's say, for example, that Ole Miss does not beat Miami. Well,
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: that would be three straight years of the SEC not
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: being in a national championship game, which I mean is
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: a crazy thing to think about. Well, I mean again, like,
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: I think that you can't really deny that the Big
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: Ten has risen up and arguably surpassed at least the
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: top of the SEC and at least when it comes
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: to compete for national championship. So you know, the question becomes,
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  Speaker 4: how does that change the nature of things? Because the
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: SEC still has the biggest brand in college football as
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: a conference, it's got many of the biggest brands in
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: college football within it. So I'm curious that long term, like,
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: does this turn into something where they try to adjust
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: the playoffs to skew it more in their favor. Obviously
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: we've heard about them trying to push to make it
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: a sixteen team playoff with eleven auto bid because they
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: feel like that would advantage that. Well, do they try
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: to create a scenario where they're even more advantage?
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: So, I think that it's going to be interesting to
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: see these counterweights because the SEC and the Big Ten
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: are certainly the two biggest stakeholders, and they're at odds
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: with each other over many topics. But then also, you know,
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: again you have the television networks, you have the media companies.
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: I'm curious long term how those dynamics kind of stack
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: up against each other long term in a world where
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: the SEC is no longer the most dominant conference in football?
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: Can anybody beat Indiana?
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: Crazy question? Right? So, I don't know that anybody had
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: ever anybody thought that that was the question that would
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: be possible. And I'll tell you what, out of the
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: four final teams remaining, Indiana was the only one that
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: I got right on my initial bracket. But the way
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: that they played Alabama this past week was just unbelievable,
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: and by the way, Ohio State before as well. They
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: look like a perfect football team right now. They have
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: no weaknesses. Their quarterback Fernanda Mendoza is playing at an
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: unbelievable level. They're beating teams up in the trenches. I mean,
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: like again, they are playing perfect football right now. And
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: when I look at everybody else, I don't see a
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: team that's as complete as Indiana.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: I think that Organ is also playing at an incredibly
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: high level. I think that they're a faster team than Indiana,
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: but Indiana was able to match up with them really
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: well when they went on the road to Eugene. So
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: I think that Indiana is the team to beat right now,
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: and certainly I think that that organ has a chance
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: to do it. But I don't know if Miami or
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: ole Miss does.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: What would it mean for college football?
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's trite to say what would it mean
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: for Indiana because they already won a Heisman Trophy and
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: for them to win a national chamampionship, it seems like
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: everyone's head might explode. But what would it mean for
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: college football if now suddenly, like in the last two years,
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: this true bona fide national power has emerged from effectively nowhere.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's fascinating, right, and you know, look, I think
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: that there's a couple aspects to this, right. One is
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: I think that you know, people, I think have underestimated
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: how much of that roster he brought with him from
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: James Madison, Right, Like, most of the best players on
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: that team were players that Kurt Signetti recruited and developed
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: over multiple years. So we can call this a two
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: year rebuild, but it's really like a five year process
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: when it comes to you know, Elijah Surat and di'angelo
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: Ponds and the Kal Kamara and all those players. The
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: other thing, too, though, is that I actually think that
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: one piece of this that's really getting underrated is like
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: I think that one of the reasons that programs like
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: Indiana and some of the ones in the Big Ten
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: have really thrived is that I think that they're willing
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: to have patience right now, They're willing to let their
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: rosters grow, They're willing to develop over multiple years. There
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: isn't this sort of urgency in over urgency. I would
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: argue that there is in the SEC. Right in the SEC,
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: It's like if you're a freshman and you don't play,
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: you transfer. If you're coach is in good right away
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: you fire him. There's such a constant churn because of
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: the pressures, and I think that people are going to
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: take all the wrong lessons from Kurt Signetti in Indiana.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: They're going to say, well, I want to be in
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: the playoff in year one, and if you don't do that,
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: then you're not the guy. Well again, I think that
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: that's missing a lot of the point of how he
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: got to this point.
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: What do you expect Kyle Whittingham to do with Michigan football.
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: It's a five year contract. Whether he stays the full
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: five years to be determined. But how quickly can somebody
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: like Kyle Whittingham get Michigan turned around?
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: Well, I mean, I think there's a couple of TEA
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: says right. One is this is already a pretty good roster,
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: not a great roster, but a pretty good roster. I
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: expected to become an even better roster potentially, you know,
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: with a combination of transfers and also, by the way,
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: maybe some players coming from Utah as well, And so
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: I think that one they'll have a chance to be
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: pretty good in year one, Hike Sech this to be
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: probably at most of three to four year experiment. But
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: I took this three to four years to be pretty good,
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: and you know, they already brought in a borderline top
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: ten recruiting class that they've managed to mostly hold on to.
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: I think that they're going to have a really good time,
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: you know, with the combination of his experience, his development,
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: his culture setting, and also the staff that they're bringing along.
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: I mean, if you told, if you told somebody in
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: the city of Utah this year that you got to
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: have both offensive coordinator Jason Beck and defensive coordinator j
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: Hill in the state of Utah this year, it's probably
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: been feeling pretty good about that, and Michigan's going to
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: kind of have that version I guess you could say
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: of a Utah coaching all starts. So you know, it's
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: certainly I think going to be an interesting experiment, especially again,
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: I mean, how does it impact recruiting that you know
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: that this guy's not there for you know, five to
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: ten years like that, I think that that's going to
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: be a legitimate question. But at the same time, like
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: if you get three or four really good years out
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: of it, I mean, that's probably worth it. In the end.
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: I pay more attention to Big Twelve football than I
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: do to any other conference football for obvious reasons. But
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: it seems like there's a just disproportionate amount of starting
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: quarterbacks from the Big Twelve conference jumping into the transfer portal.
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: Is that a commentary on the Big twelve status in
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: the landscape of college football? Is it just a weird
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: quirk of this year? Am I reading too much into this?
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: But uh, you know Levitt and Beckt and Soresby's the
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: number one player in the portal and Hoover and maybe
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: Dan Pierre.
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: Is that a Big Twelve problem?
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: So I think the answer is no. I mean yes,
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: to start, the Big Twelve has had way more players
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: jump in. I think that it's a combination of things though.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: Right one is certainly you have, you know, coaching turnover
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: in the conference that that certainly plays a role. All
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: these guys, though, were players that were sought after last
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: year as well in the transfer portal though, and all
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: decided to stay with their Big Twelve teams. I think
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: that with quarterbacks especially, I mean, yeah, obviously the money matters.
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: I mean, you know, there's there's rumor right now that
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: that Brendan soars these campus asking for five million dollars,
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: which would obviously be the highest paid quarterback in the
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: history of college football to this point. But like, you know,
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: I think that money tends to be a little secondary
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: and existential place is a bigger part of it. And
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: if you look through individually, right, like Sam Levitt had
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: an injury plague season and a disappointing second act at
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: Arizona State. Josh Hoover, I think at CCU kind of
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: accomplished everything that he thought he could accomplished at TCU,
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: And I think that teas you probably agreed with him,
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: you know, I think that you know, with Soresby, obviously
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: he has the breakout season for Cincinnati, but Cincinnati only
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: finished at seven and five. So, like, I think that
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: a lot of these this movement on an individual basis,
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: Like the individual stuff makes sense, and there was just
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: a collection of them because of coaching turnover, because of
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: some of the teams that had disappointing seasons that it
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: just happened to work out this way. So I don't
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: necessarily think it's a huge long term worry, and I
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: think it's just a lot more about the quality of
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: quarterback that were on the Big Twelve this year, even
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: on teams that ended up disappointing.
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: Is there any serious concern that Old Miss might lose
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: more coaches before the semi final was played to LSU
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: because they they have to follow.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: Lane Kiffen to their new job.
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, there's definitely concern about that. I think that there
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: wasn't a whole lot of thought that that's LSU's coaches.
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: The new coaches would still be coaching at Ole Miss
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: on January tecond I didn't don't think that they thought
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: that they were going to win the game against Georgia.
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: And they just keep on finding a way. And you know,
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: so we've heard that there's been reporting down in Louisiana
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: that all seven coaches who are set to go to
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: LSU were in the building at LSU this morning, right, so, like,
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: and this is one week before they play a playoff
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: game with a chance to go play for a national
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: championship like this is this is unprecedented, right, And so
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: I do think that there is going to be some concern.
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: I think that the pressure and the backlash will be
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: so great that I think that ultimately they at least
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: the vast majority will be allowed to coach at Ole
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: Miss through the National Championship if they make it. But
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, this is a real push and pull
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: that they're having to deal with and live with right now.
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: And obviously you know they've managed to find a way
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: through this through the first Cup weeks. But like, I mean,
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: it is such an unenviable position to be and to
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: be one of these players with a chance to do
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: something that hasn't been done at Ole Miss in a
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: very long time, and to kind of be screwed over
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: like this.
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: Could you give me an official prediction on who wins
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: the National Championship?
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, after watching the games in the past two days, Like,
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: I don't know how you could go with anybody but
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: Indiana right now. I think that they are rolling right now.
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: I mentioned it like, this is a perfect football team
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: right now. I don't know how you could possibly improve
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: it at this point. They are well coached, they have
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: great players, great team culture, really good in both trenches.
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: Got a quarterback who I mean again, it's it's probably
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: one of the most sort of as a player Loki
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: has in trophy winners that we've had in a while.
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: But he just makes plays in the biggest moments. I
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: just look at these matchups of the final four. I
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: think that they are the team to beads.
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: I think I agree with you. Shahan again, Happy New
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: Year too. You always appreciate your contributions to the show.
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: Well chat after the game.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: Okay, it sounds good. Thanks so much for having.
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: Me, Shahanja Rajah, National college football insider over at CBS Sports.
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: One of the best in the business. And Indiana does
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: look pretty dang unbeatable right now. And Kurt Signetti is
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: just like, it's funny because it's like he's got this
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: sour face all the time, looks like he's mad, there's.
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: Nothing for him to be mad about.
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: And then they put a microphone in front of his
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: face and you realize he's not mad at all. He's
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: actually really pleased with the way that his team is
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: playing and the way things are shaken out, as he
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: should be because they are rolling.
• 23:44
  Speaker 6: Baby, Hey, he they're just I would have I would
• 23:48
  Speaker 6: have never thought in my life, Sean, in my entire life,
• 23:52
  Speaker 6: Indiana compeamed for a national championship.
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: No, would have never been any money on that in football.
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: No, in basketball, Like in basketball where they traditionally have
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: been a power, but have not been kind of on
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: that level as of late. We'd be like, Okay, I
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: could see them get back there in basketball, I mean literally, people,
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: and most of you know this already.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: When he took the job, they.
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: Were the all time losingest program in college football history.
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: And see that tells you something like, obviously, all these
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: coaches talk about the transfer portal and how they have
• 24:23
  Speaker 6: to recruit re recruiting their own roster. Other programs are
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: destroyed by the NIO, but other programs find a way
• 24:31
  Speaker 6: to rise from the grave and become something out of nothing.
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: And by the way it Seahan pointed this out, and
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: it's something that we all need to just get over,
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: but we have a hard time doing it. He might
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: win a national championship with a team that's got like
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: twenty former JM.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: You dukes on it. Yeah, And.
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: The recruiting services, like I've said, they do a much
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: better job than they ever did before, and they continue
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: to get better and they continue to be more accurate
• 24:59
  Speaker 5: and things like that.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: But man, like you did you.
• 25:06
  Speaker 6: Watch a sixty minute in a story on it about
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: Indiana football was like two weeks ago.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: If you didn't catch it.
• 25:13
  Speaker 6: They've spent sixty million dollars, not six million dollars, sixty
• 25:18
  Speaker 6: million dollars on Indiana football.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: Where in Indiana football.
• 25:22
  Speaker 6: Indiana University got that money to begin with, but they said, no,
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: we're not gonna spend it on basketball. We're not gonna
• 25:27
  Speaker 6: spend it on stuff we need around the school though
• 25:29
  Speaker 6: they do need that, They're gonna spend it on football
• 25:32
  Speaker 6: to become relevant again.
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: Well, you know how crazy it is to be a
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: coach who's coached at Indiana and you're just like before
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: you were making three million dollars a year, four million
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: dollars a year, and then you see after Signetti has
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: the years and again he's earned it, but after he has,
• 25:47
  Speaker 5: then the school is just like, we have eleven million
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: dollars to pay the football coach. You'd be like, wait, what, yeah,
• 25:53
  Speaker 5: what where were those resources when I was there?
• 25:55
  Speaker 6: Eleven million dollars for the Indianapolis Coulte coach or the
• 26:00
  Speaker 6: Indiana Patriots head coach, but eleven million dollars for Indiana football.
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: Honestly, if you are a fan of other teams in
• 26:08
  Speaker 5: the Big Ten and people here are gonna start following
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: Michigan football more closely, whether out of hate or spite
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: or because they want to see Kyle Winningham and his
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: assistance be successful, You're probably just praying that Kurt Signetti
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: gets an NFL job sooner than later, because you're like,
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: he hasn't done in the way that everyone else has
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: done it. No, but he's done it so quickly. In Indiana,
• 26:32
  Speaker 5: even if they don't win a national championship this year,
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: the fact that they were ever ranked number one, which
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: they are right now in the country is banana sandwich.
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: It's absolutely insane.
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: They exceeded every expectation already so far in two years.
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: All Right, we got to take a break here. We'll
• 26:46
  Speaker 5: come back with the airing of grievances eight seven seven
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: three five three zero seven hundred, and I'll sprinkle in
• 26:53
  Speaker 5: some transfer portals with local interests, some names that have
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: jumped into the transfer portal today in case you missed them.
• 26:59
  Speaker 5: It's the shan O Donnald Show on ESPN seven hundred
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: and ninety two ONEFM.