Latest / The Jake Wimberly Podcast / Phil Steele Talks everything college football: Part 1

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Phil Steele Talks everything college football: Part 1 · The Jake Wimberly Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Thursday edition of the Afternoon Drive.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: It is hour number three, brought to you by our
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: friends at Capitolgrarilla and Jackson. Fifty to fifty I fifty
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  Speaker 2: five North Sweet f Get in and enjoy michelob alter
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: A bud Lighter Budweiser. Drink it responsibly courtesy of Southern Beverage.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Have an appetizer meal. Eighteen TVs to get the games
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: you want, also pool tables and more as you can
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  Speaker 2: find them on Facebook dot com, Forward Slash, Capitalgrilla Jackson
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: also Capitogrilla Jackson dot com. Phil Still on your radio,
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: and if you hear Phil Still on your radio, you
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  Speaker 2: know it's time for college football. Make sure to find
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: him on x at phiel Still for two. Also Phil
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Steele that's st E E l E dot com, Get
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  Speaker 2: the magazine and more. Phil always great to visit with
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  Speaker 2: you one because I love to visit with you. We've
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: been doing this for about five to six years now,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: and then two. I do know that it's time to
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  Speaker 2: play some football when.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: You're on our radio.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I appreciate you having me on Jake and that
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  Speaker 3: place that bar you mentioned With eighteen TVs, I only
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  Speaker 3: have twelve in front of me here at work, so
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  Speaker 3: we to go there.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, we will definitely do that. We get you down
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  Speaker 1: here to Mississippi. All right.
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  Speaker 2: Before we get into some specifics on teams and such,
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  Speaker 2: tell everybody about the magazine, those that may not be
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: familiar with it, and of course where they can get it.
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  Speaker 3: I appreciate that, Jake. Yet, the magazine's three hundred and
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  Speaker 3: sixty pages. It's really like getting one hundred and thirty
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: six media guys rolled into one. There's everything you need
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  Speaker 3: to know about the team, last seven years, stats, last
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  Speaker 3: ten years, angles on the team, the last five years, records,
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  Speaker 3: all the players from last year, complete write ups, four
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  Speaker 3: deep in pretty much on every position. It's all in there. Now.
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  Speaker 3: The magazine's only two places, Barnes and Noble and Books
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  Speaker 3: a Million are the only two brick and mortar stores.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: That's Barnes and Noble Books a Million. Or if you
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: go to Phil Steel dot com and get the magazine,
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: I'm going to charge your shipping charge. It could costs
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: of ship things. However, we give you the digital magazine
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  Speaker 3: absolutely free. And the digital magazine's actually updated all the
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  Speaker 3: way through September. So Barnes and Noble Books a million
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  Speaker 3: or Phil Steel dot com.
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  Speaker 1: Bill is start in the state of Mississippi.
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  Speaker 2: We'll start in Oxford with Lane Kiffin and get your
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  Speaker 2: thoughts on ole Miss this year. As you know, I
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  Speaker 2: tell everybody, hey, step back and smell the roses. If
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  Speaker 2: you're an a misfan, this is a pretty darn good run.
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  Speaker 2: Lane Kiffin has all Miss going right now. Three out
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  Speaker 2: the last four years double digit wins, didn't make the
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  Speaker 2: College Football Playoff last year. We know about the hiccup
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  Speaker 2: games against Kentucky, LSU, and Florida, but Lane Kiffin has
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  Speaker 2: shown he can work the portal as good as anybody.
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  Speaker 2: How do you feel about Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss
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  Speaker 2: this season?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely the portal king. And you know, you look
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  Speaker 3: at what they lost from last year's squad. Do you
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  Speaker 3: lose a veteran quarterback that was a number one draft pick,
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  Speaker 3: you lose the top two rusher, the top rusher from
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  Speaker 3: last year. He basically lose almost the entire offensive line
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  Speaker 3: from last season, and the defense was outstanding, and they
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  Speaker 3: only have one starter back on the defensive side of
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  Speaker 3: the ball. So big time questions. But as you mentioned,
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  Speaker 3: Lane Kiffin king of the portal, and I like the
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  Speaker 3: replacements he's got, like a quarterback Austin Simmons. I think
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  Speaker 3: Austin Simmons can step in. He doesn't have the experience
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  Speaker 3: at Jackson Dart, but this guy's got a lot of upside.
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  Speaker 3: He's six foot four, two hundred and ten pounds and
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  Speaker 3: might be more talented than Jackson Dard. He's got the arm, talent,
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  Speaker 3: the release. He's incredibly intelligent. He knows the system inside
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  Speaker 3: and out. Being there, that's a big plus. You know.
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  Speaker 3: You look at the running back corps, They've got a
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  Speaker 3: lot of depth there. I think they go five deep
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  Speaker 3: at running back. How quickly the transfer portal players come
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  Speaker 3: out this year will be a key. Another thing is
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  Speaker 3: can ole Miss take care of business at home? They've
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  Speaker 3: been doing a great job of that. In fact, you
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  Speaker 3: look over the last four years, they've only lost three
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  Speaker 3: home games and a lot of the tougher games at home.
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  Speaker 3: You look at South Carolina, Florida, LSU all at home.
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  Speaker 3: If they take care of business against those teams, I
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  Speaker 3: would only have him an underdog in two games this year.
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  Speaker 3: That would be at Georgia and at Oklahoma. So despite
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  Speaker 3: the massive losses that Ole Miss has I think They're
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  Speaker 3: a team that can be right back up there again
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  Speaker 3: and frankly probably should have been in the playoff last year.
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  Speaker 2: Biel still on your radio, make sure to get the
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  Speaker 2: magazine again. We'll tell you again how to do that.
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  Speaker 2: Excuse me follow him on X and of course check
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  Speaker 2: out the website. A right, Missippi State Jeff Levy year
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  Speaker 2: two and this team last year defensively was just futrid.
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  Speaker 1: There's no other way to put that.
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  Speaker 2: They have brought in a lot of guys through the
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  Speaker 2: portal as well, Blake shaping his back healthy by all accounts,
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  Speaker 2: What do you expect and what defines success for Levy?
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  Speaker 1: In your two right?
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  Speaker 3: If they get to a bowl game, I would definitely
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  Speaker 3: define that as success, especially playing the second toughest schedule
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  Speaker 3: in the country. You know, this is a team that
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  Speaker 3: in the non conference slate has to play Arizona State,
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  Speaker 3: the defending a Big twelve champ that made the playoff
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  Speaker 3: last year. And then you look at that SEC slate
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  Speaker 3: home games against Tennessee, Texas, Georgia, and Old miss There'll
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  Speaker 3: be an underdog in all four of those games, which
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  Speaker 3: means they have to win the road games. Well, they're
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  Speaker 3: a and M Florida, Arkansas, Missouri. They will probably once
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  Speaker 3: again be an underdog in all eight SEC games this year.
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  Speaker 3: Now that doesn't mean they can't get there to a bowl.
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  Speaker 3: I think if they opened up three and zero or
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  Speaker 3: or I should say in the non conference late, they
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  Speaker 3: would have an opportunity because they played some of the
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  Speaker 3: big boys tough last year. Remember the Georgia game. I
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  Speaker 3: thought they played them pretty good. Texas, they played them tough.
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  Speaker 3: So they had some good games against the big boys
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  Speaker 3: last year and should show improvement. And almost every second
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  Speaker 3: year coach I ever talked to talks about the effect
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  Speaker 3: it's night and day from the previous new tea from
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  Speaker 3: the previous squad. They now have the systems implemented. Players
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  Speaker 3: know the systems, they know the players, and that's a
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  Speaker 3: big plus. I think the biggest thing with Mississippi State
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  Speaker 3: last year, you circle that Toledo game. Toledo out played
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  Speaker 3: them at the Lion of Scrimmage. Toledo was bigger than
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  Speaker 3: them at the Lion of Scrimmage. And one of the
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  Speaker 3: emphasis this year was they get much bigger on the
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  Speaker 3: defensive line, and they are much bigger. They got twelve
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  Speaker 3: to fourteen bodies in there. They're a lot bigger, a
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  Speaker 3: lot stronger, and that's going to help them hold up.
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  Speaker 3: I think this year it's probably their oldest group on
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  Speaker 3: the team, with ten seniors seven juniors. I think that
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  Speaker 3: defensive line is going to be the key to the
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  Speaker 3: re surgents this year.
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  Speaker 2: Let's step across into the state of Alabama and talk
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  Speaker 2: Alabama first and we'll talk Auburn. When you look at
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  Speaker 2: Kaylyn de Boor brings in Ryan Grubb, an offensive coordinator
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  Speaker 2: that worked with him at Washington, he knows very well.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, Alabama was not bad last year, and you
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  Speaker 2: know a lot of times we act like Alabama was
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  Speaker 2: a four win team. They were just a step off.
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  Speaker 2: You know, lost some games, some close games. That Oklahoma
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  Speaker 2: game really stung. What do you expect now with this team?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, really good receiver group quarterback. You know Kayln
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  Speaker 2: de Boer talked about that at a six and Me
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  Speaker 2: todays this week, said it would be a three man race.
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  Speaker 1: How good can Alabama.
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  Speaker 3: Be as good as their quarterback is this year? Because
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  Speaker 3: when you look at Bama at all those positions, the
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  Speaker 3: running backs every eight, number seven in the country wide,
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  Speaker 3: receivers number four in the country, offensive line number nine,
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  Speaker 3: defensive line number six, linebackers number ten, DB's number two.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, they've got so many NFL draft picks on
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  Speaker 3: that defensive line that's ridiculous. This is a loaded team.
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  Speaker 3: Ty Simpson is not chop Livery's not some scruby one
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  Speaker 3: that's taken over the job. He was the number three
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  Speaker 3: rated wide or number three rated quarterback comeing out of
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  Speaker 3: high school. He's six two two ten, He's very accurate,
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  Speaker 3: throws a very catchuple ball, and he's just had limited
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  Speaker 3: snaps with the surrounding talent he's had. If he has
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  Speaker 3: a big year, I think Alabama's got a shot. I
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  Speaker 3: do think they will make the playoff this year. And
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  Speaker 3: when you look at the schedule, I only have an
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  Speaker 3: underdog in one game that's at Georgia. I have him
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  Speaker 3: favored in all the rest of their games. To me,
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  Speaker 3: this looks like an eleven win team, and they, like Mississippi,
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  Speaker 3: just missed the playoff last year. I think they definitely
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  Speaker 3: get to the playoff this year, and if they do,
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  Speaker 3: they can make some noise and by that point of
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  Speaker 3: the season, no matter who wins the quarterback job, and
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  Speaker 3: I do think it'll be Simpson, but who no matter
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  Speaker 3: who wins the quarterback job, will be a veteran by
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  Speaker 3: the time they enter the playoff, and that's a big
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  Speaker 3: plus as well.
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  Speaker 2: You go down on the planes at Auburn, to say
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  Speaker 2: that this is a pivotal year for Hugh Freees is
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  Speaker 2: somewhat of an understatement. It's kind of the point where
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  Speaker 2: his fan base is criticizing his golf game now, which
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  Speaker 2: is kind of crazy of the summer. But he brings
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  Speaker 2: in Jackson Arnold from Oklahoma, who had some problems there
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  Speaker 2: last year.
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  Speaker 1: We know about that.
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  Speaker 2: We'll talk Oklahoma in a bit, but they brought in
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  Speaker 2: a lot of guys off the transfer portal. And we
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  Speaker 2: know this about Auburn. Auburn is that one team it
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  Speaker 2: seems like that spans decades. They're either really good or
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  Speaker 2: they're really bad. And they've gone on what five straight
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  Speaker 2: years without a winning season. Can Hufreeze turned this thing
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  Speaker 2: around this year and can he land at a spot
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  Speaker 2: where he's there next year?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: Five straight losing seasons, that's the first time that's happened
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  Speaker 3: since nineteen fifty. That's a long time. And you know,
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  Speaker 3: last year, Jake I said that Auburn was one of
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  Speaker 3: the most improved teams in the country, and if you
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  Speaker 3: look at them on paper, they went from minus forty
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  Speaker 3: five yards per game in SEC play all the way
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  Speaker 3: up to plus sixty two yards per game and SEC
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  Speaker 3: play last year. That was a much improved team, But
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  Speaker 3: turnovers did them in low back and look on the season,
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  Speaker 3: turnovers were the main culprit minus nine in that category.
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  Speaker 3: They lost some close games. You know the Oklahoma game,
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  Speaker 3: the interception return for a touchdown in that one. You
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  Speaker 3: go back to the cow game, all the interceptions in that.
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  Speaker 3: Missouri was a blown lead in the fourth quarter. The
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  Speaker 3: Alabama game, they ass shot even excuse me, Vanderbilt game
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  Speaker 3: to as shot even Alabama. They played close, at least
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  Speaker 3: for the first half and into the second half. When
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  Speaker 3: you look at Auburn this year, Jackson Arnold's a guy
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  Speaker 3: that last year did not have a supporting cast. Oklahoma
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  Speaker 3: had zero returning starters on the offensive line. Oklahoma was
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  Speaker 3: down their top five receivers. I think Jackson Arnold's got
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  Speaker 3: a much better supporting cast here. You look at the
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  Speaker 3: receiving corps, I think it's one of the best in
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  Speaker 3: the country. Remember they brought in the freeze four last year,
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  Speaker 3: and now they bring in Eric Singleton from Georgia Tech.
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  Speaker 3: They got my number twelve rated offensive line defensively that
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  Speaker 3: looks solid throughout. There's no doubt the talents there, and
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  Speaker 3: as mentioned, they were much better than their five and
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  Speaker 3: seven record last year. Now they do have to play
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  Speaker 3: Oklahoma on the road, Baylor on the road, A and
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  Speaker 3: M on the road, Arkansas on the road. Those are
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  Speaker 3: all tough tests. Alabama at home, Georgia at home, so
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  Speaker 3: it could be an underdog in as many as seven games.
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  Speaker 3: But I think they've got a great shot. I like
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  Speaker 3: the overall talent on this team. I think they have
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  Speaker 3: a top twenty offense, the top twenty defense, so they
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  Speaker 3: should be able to make a ball bill.
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  Speaker 2: Still on your radio, excuse me, Thursday edition of the program, Phil,
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  Speaker 2: one more question for we take a break.
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  Speaker 1: We'll get you one more segment. We do appreciate you.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Let's go Florida and South Carolina.
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  Speaker 2: The reason I say it like that is because two
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  Speaker 2: coaches and Shane Beemer and Billy Napier that you know
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Billy Napier is a little bit more of a hot
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: water here recently, but expecting big things out of both programs.
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  Speaker 2: DJ Lagway and Lenora Sellers, two quarterbacks that a lot
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  Speaker 2: of people have on their radars for the preseason type stuff.
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  Speaker 2: How good can these quarterbacks be? I don't know that
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  Speaker 2: we know for sure. And now Leanor Sellers we have
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  Speaker 2: a little bit bigger sample size, and how good can
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  Speaker 2: these two clubs be?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, for Florida, I think it comes down to the
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  Speaker 3: health of DJ Lagway. If he stays healthy all year,
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  Speaker 3: lookout for these guys. They're number ten in my Power Poll,
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  Speaker 3: which means the tenth most talented team in the country. Yes,
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  Speaker 3: they play a brutal schedule, but I think when you
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: look at the overall talent, I like the way they
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: played down the stretch last year. Their defensive front could
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: be dominant. The offensive lines a veteran group. I think
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  Speaker 3: the receiving core is the best they've had since Napier
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  Speaker 3: got there. And it's a slow build. There was a
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  Speaker 3: knock on Dan Mullen about the recruiting he was doing.
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  Speaker 3: Napier had to bring in a whole bunch of recruits.
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  Speaker 3: Now he's in his fourth year, so he's got his
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: recruits brought in some pretty good classes. I think it's
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  Speaker 3: a talented Florida team. They just play a really tough schedule,
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  Speaker 3: so topping last year's eight wins is going to be tough.
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  Speaker 3: But I think he did a great job getting eight
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  Speaker 3: wins last year and when South Carolina loved Leonora's Sellers.
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  Speaker 3: In fact, I had South Carolina last year picked much
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: higher than everybody else. They were on my most Improved list.
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  Speaker 3: They're one of my favorite teams for over five and
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  Speaker 3: a half wins and they almost made the playoff last
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  Speaker 3: year disappointing Bowl game brought. I thought Lenora's Sellers got
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: better as the season went on, and then you look
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: at them last year. Though defensively they were absolutely dominant.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: They have one of the best defensive front sevens in
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  Speaker 3: college football. They've got only one starter back off that
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  Speaker 3: front seven and Dylan Stewart at defensive end. That's my
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  Speaker 3: biggest question mark. Also the question mark with South Carolina
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: is the schedule. I mean open up with Virginia Tech
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: and then playing at Missouri at LSU, home to Oklahoma,
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: home to Alabama at Ole, miss at Texas A and M,
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  Speaker 3: and home to Clemson. They're gonna have to win some
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: of those big home games to improve on last year's
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: nine win total.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: Make sure to get him on x at Phil stile
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: O four two. Get the website, of course, you can
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: go there phil steele dot com. We'll tell you how
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: to get the book. When we come back, we've got
• 12:37
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• 12:38
  Speaker 2: Maristar Casino. Back in a moment.