Latest / Say Who, Say Pod / Say Who, Say Pod, Ep. 213

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Say Who, Say Pod, Ep. 213 · Say Who, Say Pod

0:02
SPEAKER_01: Pod.
0:11
SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to another episode of Say Who Say Pod.
0:15
SPEAKER_01: That's not Danny O'Neill, and he's not wearing a sports coat.
0:18
SPEAKER_01: That's my buddy Tyson Alger,
0:21
SPEAKER_01: covers the Oregon Ducks for Lookout Eugene Springfield,
0:24
SPEAKER_01: and also his own website, the I-5 Corridor.
0:28
SPEAKER_01: I'm Christian Caple.
0:30
SPEAKER_01: Sorry we missed you last week.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: I was sick.
0:33
SPEAKER_01: I'm still sick, but we're playing hurt.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: We're playing through it this week.
0:37
SPEAKER_01: Sounds like Tyson is as well.
0:38
SPEAKER_01: Sounds like just about the whole world is dealing with some kind of something,
0:43
SPEAKER_01: including maybe the teams we cover, huh?
0:47
SPEAKER_02: This is just the part of the season, Christian, where you got to put your head down.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: Everybody's dealing with a little bit of something.
0:52
SPEAKER_02: But, yeah,
0:53
SPEAKER_02: this is what separates the great pods from just the pods is the ones that are able
0:58
SPEAKER_02: to keep fighting.
0:59
SPEAKER_02: That's true.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: It's been bad football, though, man.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's not helping.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: It's been rough.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: I was not able to attend.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: This has never happened due to illness, at least.
1:09
SPEAKER_01: I was not able to attend Washington's 41-24 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes on Friday,
1:17
SPEAKER_01: their third consecutive loss.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: They are 0-3 to begin conference play for the first time since 2008,
1:26
SPEAKER_01: which is a season that Husky fans don't love thinking about.
1:31
SPEAKER_01: Danny's out of the country.
1:34
SPEAKER_01: On a trip.
1:35
SPEAKER_01: And so I thought, how can we still get an episode off here?
1:39
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to miss two in a row.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: Need to talk about this football team a little bit.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: And I realized we haven't done, you know, at onmontlake.com.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: We had a little back and forth series going called the Home and Home
1:53
SPEAKER_01: where we discussed the state of both Washington and Oregon's programs.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: I realize Washington and Oregon don't play each other for another six weeks or
2:01
SPEAKER_01: so here,
2:02
SPEAKER_01: but I I figure both programs,
2:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to say they're in the same place,
2:07
SPEAKER_01: but the vibes are a little bit similar.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: And I figured that might be a good entry point as they each prepare for
2:15
SPEAKER_01: the second half of their season coming up here.
2:18
SPEAKER_01: And neither team really feeling very good at all about how the first half is gone.
2:23
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's crazy that you can kind of like sit here and poo-poo the potential end
2:29
SPEAKER_02: of season Oregon-Washington matchup.
2:32
SPEAKER_02: But I mean,
2:32
SPEAKER_02: Christian,
2:32
SPEAKER_02: like we've covered some pretty big ones of these in the last decade or so
2:36
SPEAKER_02: with some really big things on the line.
2:38
SPEAKER_02: And we might have bowl eligibility coming down to it for this one.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no kidding.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: It really is amazing for Washington how quickly,
2:51
SPEAKER_01: and I'm going to say it was even before they lost a game,
2:55
SPEAKER_01: how quickly the expectations went from, hey,
2:58
SPEAKER_01: this should be like a nine-win team,
3:00
SPEAKER_01: and maybe if everything really lines up right, they could compete for 10.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: Have like an outside shot at being a playoff type team.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: They were ranked 17th in the preseason.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: The trajectory was pointing up at least.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: They had their quarterback back.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: People thought the O-line was going to be a strength.
3:16
SPEAKER_01: People thought the defense was going to be pretty good.
3:20
SPEAKER_01: And, you know,
3:21
SPEAKER_01: really just through non-conference play,
3:23
SPEAKER_01: and you could even say like they're just their first two non-conference games,
3:28
SPEAKER_01: prompted an immediate reset of that,
3:30
SPEAKER_01: where it was like, oh, geez, this,
3:32
SPEAKER_01: you know,
3:32
SPEAKER_01: looking at the Big Ten schedule,
3:34
SPEAKER_01: like, it's It was this much of a struggle to win the Apple Cup.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: It was this much of a struggle to beat Utah State.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: Is this team even going to win six games?
3:41
SPEAKER_01: And nothing that they did against Minnesota,
3:44
SPEAKER_01: USC, and certainly Iowa, which was the most discouraging performance yet for them.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: I would say that believing like Iowa is a pretty good team
3:53
SPEAKER_01: and you know they're ranked in the top 20 and
3:55
SPEAKER_01: with their remaining schedule there's people talking you know potential playoff
3:58
SPEAKER_01: candidates see for them too but to be just wholly non-competitive in that game
4:03
SPEAKER_01: and really after And to just really not even show up for that game.
4:31
SPEAKER_02: Let me get the temperature of the Washington room here
4:34
SPEAKER_02: because I can't imagine it helps everybody's feeling of how the season's going
4:42
SPEAKER_02: when you saw Dylan Raiola carve up USC two weeks ago.
4:49
SPEAKER_02: Washington then loses to USC.
4:51
SPEAKER_02: And then you see what Dylan Riala just did on Saturday against UCLA,
4:55
SPEAKER_02: which was the worst quarterbacking performance I've ever seen at Oregon.
5:01
SPEAKER_02: And that includes the Braxton Burmeister year when Justin Herbert was hurt.
5:06
SPEAKER_02: It includes...
5:09
SPEAKER_02: You know, the whole, what are we going to do after Marcus Mariota leaves?
5:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah,
5:14
SPEAKER_02: that was one of the most shocking things that I think I've seen covering the Ducks
5:18
SPEAKER_02: in 13 years.
5:20
SPEAKER_02: I know Oregon has a couple more wins in the bank than maybe Washington does right now.
5:24
SPEAKER_02: So maybe it's not quite as like dire bottoming out.
5:28
SPEAKER_02: But this was the number two team in the preseason, right?
5:31
SPEAKER_02: Like you guys, you had your star quarterback coming back.
5:33
SPEAKER_02: They thought the offensive line was going to be fine.
5:36
SPEAKER_02: There were people coming into the season asking the coaches whether Jordan Davidson
5:40
SPEAKER_02: and Deer Hill Jr.
5:41
SPEAKER_02: were Oregon's best running back tandem since the Michael James and Kenyon Barner.
5:46
SPEAKER_02: And they can barely rush over 100 yards per game this season.
5:48
SPEAKER_02: So it's...
5:51
SPEAKER_02: Maybe the Ducks had higher expectations,
5:53
SPEAKER_02: but here we are going into week six of the season or whatever it is.
5:56
SPEAKER_02: Because when we started this home-and-home series,
5:59
SPEAKER_02: if I remember correctly, that was kind of the peak, right?
6:03
SPEAKER_02: We had talked about the history of this rivalry, but then with...
6:07
SPEAKER_02: I think we started it first under Cristobal and then continued under Lanning,
6:10
SPEAKER_02: and there were matchups between these two teams that decided Pac-12 championships,
6:15
SPEAKER_02: that decided playoff seeding, and now...
6:19
SPEAKER_02: That wasn't that long ago, Christian.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: It's just kind of how the sport works these days, I guess.
6:26
SPEAKER_02: I don't envision this thing going fully 2016 Oregon season
6:31
SPEAKER_02: where they went 4-8 two years after playing in the national championship game,
6:36
SPEAKER_02: but the Ducks have played five games so far and they've played okay in one of them,
6:40
SPEAKER_02: which is just crazy considering who they had coming back and
6:43
SPEAKER_02: the expectations this year.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: Well, expectations are always high at Chuck Olson, Kia,
6:49
SPEAKER_01: and Shoreline,
6:50
SPEAKER_01: as they should be,
6:51
SPEAKER_01: and they never disappoint with a locally owned and operated since 1964,
6:56
SPEAKER_01: family owned and operated by a family of University of Washington graduates,
7:01
SPEAKER_01: with a friendly,
7:02
SPEAKER_01: low-pressure sales staff and a competitively priced selection of vehicles.
7:05
SPEAKER_01: We hope you'll make Chuck Olson, Kia, and Shoreline your next vehicle buying destination.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: When you do, talk to our friend Henry Olson.
7:12
SPEAKER_01: And when you talk to Henry, tell him that Say Who Say Pod sent you.
7:15
SPEAKER_01: This episode of Say Who Say Pod also brought to you by our friends at Husky Mobile.
7:18
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7:21
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7:24
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7:29
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7:33
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7:38
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7:41
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7:44
SPEAKER_01: The USC litmus test is interesting.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: Because Oregon plays awful in a loss at Oklahoma State.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: A shocking performance that, as Dan Lanning said, wasn't as close as the score indicated.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: But then they bounce back with a win at USC by a couple touchdowns
8:04
SPEAKER_01: in what is perceived as a really bad loss,
8:07
SPEAKER_01: a really blown opportunity for USC and for Lincoln Riley.
8:11
SPEAKER_01: It turns really ugly with the targeting hit on Dante Moore, and it ends up...
8:17
SPEAKER_01: You know, kind of feeling like this emotional flashpoint for Oregon a little bit.
8:23
SPEAKER_01: That's the context with which Washington travels to USC to play a game
8:28
SPEAKER_01: that I think SC wound up favored by about nine or so.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: Washington's coming off of a loss to Minnesota at home that looked a little better
8:36
SPEAKER_01: the next week when Minnesota beat Michigan,
8:38
SPEAKER_01: but now does not look as good now that Minnesota's been blown out by Purdue,
8:41
SPEAKER_01: who Washington plays this week.
8:44
SPEAKER_01: And they lose that game to SC.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: I don't think you came out of that loss feeling better about USC,
8:53
SPEAKER_01: feeling better about the Trojans, right?
8:55
SPEAKER_01: I mean,
8:57
SPEAKER_01: they barely managed to beat a Washington team at home that is going to struggle
9:00
SPEAKER_01: to win a conference game this year.
9:02
SPEAKER_01: But then as Oregon clearly doesn't have its problems fixed off of a bye play
9:08
SPEAKER_01: in UCLA, SC just kind of trucks along, goes into State College, beats Penn State.
9:13
SPEAKER_01: No big deal, right?
9:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: And they're 6-1.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: And so it's kind of funny.
9:19
SPEAKER_01: Like, you keep waiting for the other shoe to drop for USC, right?
9:22
SPEAKER_01: Like, the Oregon game sort of told us, like, okay,
9:26
SPEAKER_01: this is with this tough schedule that they have and,
9:30
SPEAKER_01: you know,
9:31
SPEAKER_01: this being a make or break year for Lincoln Riley, that sort of, you know...
9:35
SPEAKER_01: Losing by two scores a home to this Oregon team felt like a sort of a beginning of
9:41
SPEAKER_01: the end type of loss.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, two games since then, they've found a way to win.
9:45
SPEAKER_01: So I, you kind of still waiting for the other shoe to drop on USC.
9:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
9:50
SPEAKER_02: Out of those two programs,
9:51
SPEAKER_02: I did not expect Oregon to be the one to completely like fall flat on its face.
9:56
SPEAKER_02: Like the next game.
9:58
SPEAKER_02: Granted, I know USC had Washington the week afterwards, but yeah.
10:04
SPEAKER_02: Man, that USC game, I think, was so crucial in this because you...
10:11
SPEAKER_02: I think it was so crucial to set up the disappointment that came this week because
10:16
SPEAKER_02: after that Oklahoma State game,
10:19
SPEAKER_02: that was as devastating and as shocking as a loss to a program's psyche
10:24
SPEAKER_02: and their mentality as I've been around in quite some time.
10:29
SPEAKER_02: As you said, they got their butts kicked in that game, 39-31.
10:33
SPEAKER_02: Oregon was just completely beaten on both sides of the ball.
10:37
SPEAKER_02: And it was this real like, OK, maybe Oklahoma State's better than we all thought.
10:41
SPEAKER_02: But this was a Ducks team that was preseason number two.
10:44
SPEAKER_02: Like, is there is is there any bit of that team left in there?
10:48
SPEAKER_02: And I think the USC game just kind of gave Oregon fans a little bit
10:52
SPEAKER_02: of like false hope for another couple of weeks,
10:55
SPEAKER_02: because I think as we've seen, like,
10:57
SPEAKER_02: yeah, USC keeps winning some games, but like they're not a great football team.
11:01
SPEAKER_02: And I think the most devastating thing to come out of
11:04
SPEAKER_02: that was how good Raiola looked in that second half,
11:07
SPEAKER_02: like filling in for Dante Moore.
11:09
SPEAKER_02: I was at that game.
11:10
SPEAKER_02: I was one of the many people that were writing like,
11:12
SPEAKER_02: hey, this is Oregon's plan working out perfectly, right?
11:17
SPEAKER_02: You know,
11:17
SPEAKER_02: you brought in Raiola for 2027,
11:19
SPEAKER_02: but kind of the perk of bringing in a guy that had 21 career starts before coming
11:23
SPEAKER_02: in here is if you are a national championship contending team,
11:26
SPEAKER_02: if you lose your star quarterback,
11:28
SPEAKER_02: you have a really great break in case of an emergency quarterback there.
11:32
SPEAKER_02: And they had to break that thing.
11:33
SPEAKER_02: They had to bring him out.
11:34
SPEAKER_02: Ryla looked good.
11:36
SPEAKER_02: And one game later, now everyone's looking at 2027, like, what's Oregon going to do next year?
11:41
SPEAKER_02: Like, this UCLA loss wasn't just like a loss that screwed their season this season.
11:46
SPEAKER_02: I mean, and they'll still go like,
11:47
SPEAKER_02: well, we have two losses and two lost teams have made the playoffs.
11:50
SPEAKER_02: And if we run the table, blah, blah, like, that's not going to happen.
11:54
SPEAKER_02: And now you have your complete Progression plan,
11:58
SPEAKER_02: like up in the air too,
11:59
SPEAKER_02: because unless Ryle comes out next week and can suddenly complete 45% of his passes,
12:06
SPEAKER_02: like I don't think there's any way you can confidently bring him back next year
12:11
SPEAKER_02: and say like, this is the guy.
12:13
SPEAKER_02: And for as...
12:15
SPEAKER_02: For as many issues as the Ducks have had in developing quarterbacks,
12:20
SPEAKER_02: like since Marcus Mariota left,
12:21
SPEAKER_02: like they've only had one or two seasons where they didn't have a quarterback.
12:24
SPEAKER_02: Like they've always kind of had their progression plan,
12:27
SPEAKER_02: whether it was like Vernon Adams,
12:28
SPEAKER_02: and then they got lucky with Justin Herbert coming in.
12:31
SPEAKER_02: And, you know,
12:32
SPEAKER_02: Tyler Shuck,
12:32
SPEAKER_02: Anthony Brown might not be getting buildings named after them here,
12:36
SPEAKER_02: but Anthony Brown did go in and beat Ohio State at the horseshoe in 2021.
12:39
SPEAKER_02: Like, And then you get Bo Nix and Dylan Gabriel and a year of Dante Moore.
12:45
SPEAKER_02: And now you're at a point, too, where, like,
12:48
SPEAKER_02: Lanning won't even fully commit to whether or not Moore will come back this year.
12:53
SPEAKER_02: You know,
12:54
SPEAKER_02: he said,
12:54
SPEAKER_02: like, he's been practicing and he's going to have the opportunity to come back.
12:58
SPEAKER_02: But when asked, like, point blank, like, will we see Dante Morgan this year?
13:01
SPEAKER_02: He said, I'm not going to answer questions for him.
13:03
SPEAKER_02: And we haven't been able to talk to Dante since then, too.
13:06
SPEAKER_02: So it's.
13:10
SPEAKER_02: For a program that felt like that outside of those Washington games
13:13
SPEAKER_02: in those first couple years that it had kind of like nonstop trajectory
13:17
SPEAKER_02: under Dan Lanning,
13:17
SPEAKER_02: like this is the first time where everyone's kind of like taking a step back
13:20
SPEAKER_02: and been like, oh, I'm not sure where this thing's heading right now.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: The quarterback situation is similarly interesting at Washington.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: And we talk about like the way I put it this year,
13:34
SPEAKER_01: it's similar to kind of how I would describe Washington's 2021 season at the time
13:40
SPEAKER_01: and certainly in hindsight, which is the vibes are off.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of that centers around DeMond Williams Jr. and quarterback play.
13:50
SPEAKER_01: And he is, it sounds like, likely out this week with a rib injury.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: Jed Fish described him as day-to-day,
13:57
SPEAKER_01: but also said Monday that he's not under the impression he's going to play.
14:01
SPEAKER_01: It sounds like they are Moving forward,
14:04
SPEAKER_01: planning on Elijah Brown,
14:05
SPEAKER_01: their backup quarterback, to make his first start for them.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: He started the last three games of the season at Stanford last year.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: He came in in the second half of the Iowa game and looked pretty good.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: I think completed 28 of 39.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: For 251 yards, he threw three touchdown passes.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: I think the best thing that could be said was that he played on time.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: He played on schedule.
14:29
SPEAKER_01: He looked pretty comfortable.
14:31
SPEAKER_01: He looked pretty calm.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: He's not a runner.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: He's not someone.
14:35
SPEAKER_01: He's not someone who is going to do much outside the pocket.
14:37
SPEAKER_01: He's not someone who's going to scramble for a bunch of yards.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: But his ability to get the ball out,
14:44
SPEAKER_01: to identify first read,
14:45
SPEAKER_01: second read, third read, move through his progression, give his receivers a chance.
14:50
SPEAKER_01: It did seem to energize the offense a little bit.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm not willing to go all the way to, hey, look, problem solved.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: Clearly Elijah Brown is their best quarterback,
14:59
SPEAKER_01: and now the offense is going to be fixed because he's playing, right?
15:02
SPEAKER_01: And he comes in at a 27-3 game.
15:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a little bit of a different situation than preparing to be the starter
15:10
SPEAKER_01: and your opponent preparing all week for you to be the starter also.
15:14
SPEAKER_01: But his play,
15:17
SPEAKER_01: combined with Daman Williams' play this year,
15:19
SPEAKER_01: combined with now Daman Williams Jr.'s injury situation,
15:22
SPEAKER_01: and we'll see what his health will allow, right?
15:25
SPEAKER_01: The first question is...
15:28
SPEAKER_01: At what point is he even going to be able to play?
15:30
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't sound like this week.
15:31
SPEAKER_01: Would it be after the bye?
15:33
SPEAKER_01: They have a bye after this weekend and they go and play at Nebraska.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: Is that a game he would return?
15:40
SPEAKER_01: Jed Fish was asked, would he play if healthy?
15:43
SPEAKER_01: And he kind of said,
15:44
SPEAKER_01: well, that's a hypothetical because I don't envision having to make that decision.
15:49
SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
15:49
SPEAKER_01: I think some of it depends on... Look,
15:52
SPEAKER_01: if Elijah Brown goes out and leads Washington to a win at Purdue,
15:55
SPEAKER_01: their first conference win,
15:56
SPEAKER_01: and plays really well,
15:57
SPEAKER_01: and the offense continues to just sort of look different with him at the helm,
16:02
SPEAKER_01: I think it'd be pretty hard to go back to the other guy.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: But even then...
16:07
SPEAKER_01: If you look at this season,
16:09
SPEAKER_01: which I think a lot of Husky fans do,
16:10
SPEAKER_01: obviously Washington internally can't afford to really operate this way,
16:13
SPEAKER_01: but if you look at this as sort of a lost season,
16:15
SPEAKER_01: which it's already to the point where they can't be the kind of team
16:19
SPEAKER_01: that people hoped they would be,
16:21
SPEAKER_01: not even at the high end of expectations,
16:25
SPEAKER_01: but they've already lost a couple games that you'd say,
16:28
SPEAKER_01: if this is going to be the kind of season people think it can be,
16:31
SPEAKER_01: these are must-wins.
16:35
SPEAKER_01: You then project out for 2027,
16:37
SPEAKER_01: kind of like you're talking about with, well, was the plan going to be Dylan Raiola?
16:41
SPEAKER_01: Was that a succession plan type of move, bringing him in as the backup?
16:46
SPEAKER_01: And is his performance this year telling you that you need to pivot?
16:49
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, DeMond Williams Jr. has two years of eligibility left.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: Everybody knows what happened in January with him trying to leave the team.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that that necessarily meant there was no chance he was going to be here in 2027.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: I think circumstances changed both for program and player,
17:04
SPEAKER_01: and that a lot of that was going to be dependent on how this year played out.
17:08
SPEAKER_01: But it's to the point where...
17:13
SPEAKER_01: With resources being what they are and with Washington being strapped from
17:17
SPEAKER_01: an NIL perspective and being certainly a bottom third team in the Big Ten,
17:23
SPEAKER_01: if we assume that the reporting from our former colleagues over at
17:27
SPEAKER_01: The Athletic is accurate, which I don't have reason to think that it isn't, are
17:34
SPEAKER_01: Are they going to be in position to invest heavily at quarterback the way
17:38
SPEAKER_01: that they did this year?
17:39
SPEAKER_01: Are they going to be in position to invest around 20% or maybe a little under 20%
17:44
SPEAKER_01: of their overall payroll at quarterback like they did with DeMond Williams Jr.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: making $4 million this year?
17:51
SPEAKER_01: And I think regardless of what happens with his injury or
17:56
SPEAKER_01: whether they start Elijah Brown or they don't the rest of the way, What's.
18:11
SPEAKER_02: What's the biggest sense of frustration for the Washington fan base?
18:15
SPEAKER_02: Is it the money thing that we're bottom third and projected NIL and it's hard
18:21
SPEAKER_02: to compete with these teams that are spent?
18:24
SPEAKER_02: I think Oregon's number on that list was 50 million for this year's roster.
18:29
SPEAKER_02: Is that the frustration?
18:31
SPEAKER_02: For Oregon, it's almost the opposite, right?
18:33
SPEAKER_02: It's every year since these NIL valuations have been coming out,
18:36
SPEAKER_02: the Ducks are always towards the top, right?
18:38
SPEAKER_02: It's Oregon, Ohio State, it's the SEC teams.
18:43
SPEAKER_02: And I think the larger frustration from Oregon is, okay,
18:47
SPEAKER_02: we're getting these players and we've been doing everything right,
18:51
SPEAKER_02: quote unquote,
18:51
SPEAKER_02: for the last 25 years or so as Oregon's made their progression up from being
18:56
SPEAKER_02: an average team to one of these teams that's consistently in the discussion.
19:01
SPEAKER_02: But you can have all that progress and then in the snap of the fingers
19:04
SPEAKER_02: a school like Indiana can decide that it wants to get in and compete and play
19:08
SPEAKER_02: and leapfrog.
19:12
SPEAKER_02: UCLA, man,
19:13
SPEAKER_02: like last week,
19:14
SPEAKER_02: like that team's undefeated and UCLA's been a bad football program for
19:18
SPEAKER_02: a very long time, Christian.
19:19
SPEAKER_02: We've both been doing this a long time.
19:21
SPEAKER_02: How many good UCLA teams have you seen?
19:23
SPEAKER_02: Maybe two, three?
19:25
SPEAKER_02: Like it's... Jim Ward days were okay.
19:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they were okay, but that was quite some time ago now at this point.
19:35
SPEAKER_02: Oregon's frustration is like, why aren't we getting our money's worth?
19:38
SPEAKER_02: And I feel like Washington's more is why don't we have the money?
19:42
SPEAKER_02: And it's kind of created this...
19:48
SPEAKER_02: It's...
19:49
SPEAKER_02: Two and a half years into this whole Big Ten thing,
19:51
SPEAKER_02: it's just crazy that Oregon's down, Washington's down.
19:55
SPEAKER_02: I think we both think USC's gonna be down,
19:58
SPEAKER_02: and somehow it's like UCLA,
20:00
SPEAKER_02: the one team that's kind of been the laughingstock
20:02
SPEAKER_02: of this whole Big Ten transfer is suddenly the one formidable one.
20:06
SPEAKER_02: How does any of this make sense?
20:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's... UCLA hit it out of the park with Bob Chesney, man.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: What a hire that was.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: And...
20:17
SPEAKER_01: Usually,
20:17
SPEAKER_01: if we're going to have the NIL and resources discussion,
20:20
SPEAKER_01: you would assume that that's what makes that job forever and ever not as desirable.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: They don't have the campus support.
20:28
SPEAKER_01: They don't have the alignment with Washington,
20:30
SPEAKER_01: they'd call it upper campus,
20:32
SPEAKER_01: with central campus, with the president, chancellor's office, whatever it might be.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: But I get the sense they're more invested than they've ever been.
20:42
SPEAKER_01: I know they're paying the calimony,
20:44
SPEAKER_01: but they are at least getting the full share along with USC of
20:48
SPEAKER_01: the media rights contract.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: I think their NIL spending,
20:52
SPEAKER_01: it's not top half of a Big Ten,
20:54
SPEAKER_01: but it is a little bit more than I think where Washington's at.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: And they're also just really well coached.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: Obviously,
21:04
SPEAKER_01: Chesney was able to bring some guys with him in the portal
21:08
SPEAKER_01: and made some other portal additions outside of that that There are going well
21:12
SPEAKER_01: for them.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, I do think like,
21:16
SPEAKER_01: obviously the way Washington has started has raised a lot of questions
21:21
SPEAKER_01: about Jed Fish's future.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: And what do you do if this thing,
21:26
SPEAKER_01: you know,
21:26
SPEAKER_01: really goes in the tank,
21:28
SPEAKER_01: if they improve and they get better throughout the year and they find a way to six
21:31
SPEAKER_01: and six, like, is that enough?
21:33
SPEAKER_01: Do you, you know, do you feel like you can make a change financially?
21:38
SPEAKER_01: It would be very expensive.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of questions that go along with that.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: But before you even come to evaluate, like, is Jed Fish the right guy?
21:47
SPEAKER_01: And are they going to have the kind of season that tells you he should continue with
21:52
SPEAKER_01: a fourth year as your head coach?
21:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there are some systemic considerations that are going to be major hurdles
22:00
SPEAKER_01: for whoever the head coach is.
22:03
SPEAKER_01: So I think that that discussion is twofold.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: Like, I think Washington fans are well aware of that and are...
22:11
SPEAKER_01: I would hope would not be under the impression that just firing the coach is going
22:14
SPEAKER_01: to solve all of those problems.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: Like firing the coach and then turning around and handing the next head coach
22:22
SPEAKER_01: a roster budget that ranks,
22:25
SPEAKER_01: depending on who you believe,
22:26
SPEAKER_01: 13th or 15th or somewhere in there in the Big Ten and saying,
22:31
SPEAKER_01: okay, now you make it work.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: Maybe not a recipe for success.
22:36
SPEAKER_01: I think there are some things financially that need to be addressed
22:39
SPEAKER_01: that probably need to improve there.
22:40
SPEAKER_01: And you've got the Protect College Sports Act.
22:42
SPEAKER_01: And is the compensation cap going to raise?
22:47
SPEAKER_01: And are athletic departments going to be able to spend more
22:49
SPEAKER_01: of their own money paying players,
22:51
SPEAKER_01: which I think that world would benefit Washington more than the current one.
22:55
SPEAKER_01: And they want to follow the rules.
22:56
SPEAKER_01: And Washington fans have been around and around on this.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: But...
23:03
SPEAKER_01: The second part of that is they lost to Minnesota and Iowa at home.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: Minnesota and Iowa,
23:11
SPEAKER_01: if they spend more than Washington,
23:12
SPEAKER_01: and according to The Athletic,
23:14
SPEAKER_01: Iowa doesn't, and I don't think Minnesota does either.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: Row, row.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: But if either they're spending a little bit less or if they're spending more,
23:23
SPEAKER_01: they're barely spending more, right?
23:25
SPEAKER_01: And so you're talking about two programs that they're,
23:29
SPEAKER_01: first of all,
23:30
SPEAKER_01: I do think at Washington especially,
23:33
SPEAKER_01: like people get tired of the money excuse, right?
23:39
SPEAKER_01: I think it's one thing when you compare Oregon's roster to Washington's roster,
23:43
SPEAKER_01: Ohio State's roster to Washington's roster,
23:45
SPEAKER_01: maybe now Indiana's roster to Washington's roster and say, well,
23:48
SPEAKER_01: like, geez, if they've got double or more than double, that's going to be really.
23:54
SPEAKER_02: I don't think Minnesota's got double.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: No.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: So then it becomes like, okay,
23:59
SPEAKER_01: so should they just not be expected to compete with anybody who's spending even
24:03
SPEAKER_01: a dollar more than they are?
24:04
SPEAKER_01: Like, is it really just about money in that way?
24:07
SPEAKER_01: Like, surely you can be competitive with Iowa, right?
24:11
SPEAKER_01: In year three of a program.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: And so that's led to like,
24:14
SPEAKER_01: you know,
24:14
SPEAKER_01: Jet Fish's comments about Well, look, those are fourth and fifth year seniors.
24:18
SPEAKER_01: We're playing all these first and second year players.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: Give us two or three more offseason and be able to retain these guys.
24:24
SPEAKER_01: And then it'll look a little bit more similar physically.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: And yeah,
24:28
SPEAKER_01: when you look out and you see Bob Chesney with UCLA undefeated and winning
24:32
SPEAKER_01: at Autzen Stadium in his first year and everybody knows what Indiana has done and,
24:37
SPEAKER_01: you know, maybe those are outlier situations.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: But I do think there is a lot of frustration around,
24:43
SPEAKER_01: even folks who understand the financial realities of like,
24:47
SPEAKER_01: But why does that mean you can't be competitive at home against Iowa in year three?
24:53
SPEAKER_02: The thing that I think is just most striking is if you look at the 14 playoff era,
24:59
SPEAKER_02: there were two Pac-12 teams that I think we would both agree that the degree
25:06
SPEAKER_02: of difficulty to make the playoffs or to win a national championship
25:08
SPEAKER_02: that time was substantially harder than it is now.
25:10
SPEAKER_02: You kind of had the haves.
25:11
SPEAKER_02: You had the haves.
25:26
SPEAKER_02: The old Blue Bloods,
25:27
SPEAKER_02: the Ohio States,
25:27
SPEAKER_02: the Alabamas,
25:28
SPEAKER_02: the Georgias,
25:29
SPEAKER_02: and all those,
25:30
SPEAKER_02: and Oregon and Washington were kind of the two teams that figured out to somehow
25:35
SPEAKER_02: at least get a foot in the door in a system that was built completely against them.
25:41
SPEAKER_02: When everything opened up,
25:42
SPEAKER_02: I think there was a lot of people,
25:44
SPEAKER_02: at least on the Oregon side,
25:45
SPEAKER_02: that was just like, this is going to be great for us, right?
25:49
SPEAKER_02: Phil Knight's going to spend his money.
25:51
SPEAKER_02: The Ducks have always been pretty good at taking advantage of a new system or
25:55
SPEAKER_02: a new wrinkle or something else that they can use to put their thumb on the scale.
26:01
SPEAKER_02: And to have both of these teams now...
26:08
SPEAKER_02: Again, it's just crazy that like an Indiana can leapfrog or in the midst of
26:12
SPEAKER_02: a regular season,
26:13
SPEAKER_02: like a Minnesota can be better than Washington, Iowa can be better than Washington.
26:17
SPEAKER_02: It's just,
26:18
SPEAKER_02: and I know it's different ends of the spectrum in terms of the conversation
26:21
SPEAKER_02: because Oregon's thing has largely been, we don't have the money excuse.
26:26
SPEAKER_02: Like we're one of the top three, four or five NIL rosters in the country.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: And I think the reason why no alarms had really been sounded until this year is
26:37
SPEAKER_02: if you look at the first four years of Dan Lanning,
26:41
SPEAKER_02: maybe outside of the two Washington games in 24,
26:45
SPEAKER_02: or sorry, in 23, the Ducks never lost to anybody that they shouldn't have lost to.
26:57
SPEAKER_02: The vast majority of the time,
26:58
SPEAKER_02: Oregon's beating teams that they're favored against,
27:01
SPEAKER_02: that they have more talent at it.
27:05
SPEAKER_02: And then it wasn't until the very end of the year when you face like an Ohio State
27:09
SPEAKER_02: in the Rose Bowl, when Ohio State has that team that you get destroyed.
27:15
SPEAKER_02: And so I think there was like a little bit of like, okay, like everything's going right.
27:18
SPEAKER_02: It's just that last game that they need to figure out.
27:22
SPEAKER_02: And then it happens with Indiana.
27:23
SPEAKER_02: And I don't think anybody's going to argue that Oregon was a better team
27:25
SPEAKER_02: than Indiana last year,
27:27
SPEAKER_02: but then you get, you get to this year and you're, You've got all the money.
27:30
SPEAKER_02: You've got the players coming back.
27:31
SPEAKER_02: You have the hype returning.
27:33
SPEAKER_02: And then it's the Oklahoma State game.
27:36
SPEAKER_02: And then it's this UCLA game.
27:39
SPEAKER_02: And I think this is where, like,
27:43
SPEAKER_02: Even in the bad end-of-season losses the last two or three years and
27:48
SPEAKER_02: the Washington losses,
27:49
SPEAKER_02: which were very early in Dan Lanning's tenure,
27:50
SPEAKER_02: there was always kind of like,
27:52
SPEAKER_02: not an excuse,
27:53
SPEAKER_02: but like a built-in, like,
27:54
SPEAKER_02: you know,
27:55
SPEAKER_02: he's young,
27:56
SPEAKER_02: they're getting going in their process,
27:57
SPEAKER_02: like, those are really good teams, they'll get there.
28:00
SPEAKER_02: And this is the first year where it feels like progress has gone the other way.
28:06
SPEAKER_02: And it's been a very long time since Oregon's had a coach that the fan base has,
28:09
SPEAKER_02: like, believed in.
28:11
SPEAKER_02: That's done that because everybody else has left before the opportunity for it
28:15
SPEAKER_02: to take a step back.
28:16
SPEAKER_02: Chris Ball was out after four years.
28:19
SPEAKER_02: Taggart got out after nine months.
28:21
SPEAKER_02: Chip Kelly got out after four years.
28:24
SPEAKER_02: Lanning's the longest tenured coach Oregon's had since Mike Belotti,
28:27
SPEAKER_02: which is crazy to think already.
28:29
SPEAKER_02: And He hadn't really faced any of that adversity mid-season.
28:34
SPEAKER_02: The embarrassments always came at the very end of the year.
28:37
SPEAKER_02: And so then you have the full off-season where Oregon's pretty good at winning
28:41
SPEAKER_02: the off-season, Christian.
28:42
SPEAKER_02: You have your transfer portal and signing day and all the videos you can make and all that.
28:50
SPEAKER_02: But yeah,
28:52
SPEAKER_02: it's a fascinating time right now in Eugene just because we've never seen them have
28:56
SPEAKER_02: to...
28:57
SPEAKER_02: Figure it out on the fly,
28:59
SPEAKER_02: which I think does come with added challenges when you have like
29:01
SPEAKER_02: a $50 million roster.
29:03
SPEAKER_02: There's players talking about not getting the ball enough.
29:06
SPEAKER_02: Legitimate concerns about like, do you play Dante Moore the rest of the way?
29:10
SPEAKER_02: Is he going to play the rest of the way?
29:11
SPEAKER_02: Would he just shut it down?
29:13
SPEAKER_02: Can you shut down Dylan Raiolo with whatever NIL deal you have going?
29:17
SPEAKER_02: I guess it's just it's so complicated when when you are a half of college football
29:24
SPEAKER_02: and it's not going well.
29:25
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, that's kind of been the fascinating thing about this year in Eugene.
29:30
SPEAKER_01: Our Oregon fans in the,
29:33
SPEAKER_01: there are no excuses now mindset,
29:36
SPEAKER_01: like because of what they've spent on the roster and because of the resources
29:39
SPEAKER_01: that they've devoted to football for years now.
29:42
SPEAKER_01: And because it does seem like they have everything they need.
29:47
SPEAKER_01: They have recruited at the level they've recruited at.
29:50
SPEAKER_01: They add transfers at a really high level and everybody knows what they're spending
29:55
SPEAKER_01: on their roster.
29:56
SPEAKER_01: At least we think we do.
29:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, Has that added to the frustration over the way that they've played?
30:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
30:03
SPEAKER_02: And especially with, like, Oregon was a good football team last year.
30:06
SPEAKER_02: Dante Moore was a great quarterback last year.
30:09
SPEAKER_02: They had all those guys come.
30:10
SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't think Oregon fans are so brainwashed into thinking that,
30:17
SPEAKER_02: like, teams can't have a bad season.
30:19
SPEAKER_02: You know, an Alabama...
30:23
SPEAKER_02: Might have a seven and five year sandwiched in between all the other good years that they have.
30:27
SPEAKER_02: But I think that the issue at Oregon is it kind of harkens back to like Oregon was
30:33
SPEAKER_02: the team that almost figured it out in the old era.
30:36
SPEAKER_02: This is the new era where they should have been sitting in the driver's seat with
30:39
SPEAKER_02: the money that they have available.
30:41
SPEAKER_02: Other teams have passed them up.
30:42
SPEAKER_02: They've gotten close.
30:44
SPEAKER_02: They said, you know what, let's run this back in 2026 with the 2025 roster.
30:48
SPEAKER_02: You have a preseason Heisman candidate.
30:50
SPEAKER_02: You have...
30:53
SPEAKER_02: The entire defensive line coming back.
30:55
SPEAKER_02: You have all these things.
30:56
SPEAKER_02: I think the shock is not that you might have a down season here or there.
31:01
SPEAKER_02: It's you have the down season with this year's continuity.
31:04
SPEAKER_02: And there are personnel issues that were like, Oregon's offensive line isn't good this year.
31:11
SPEAKER_02: And that was the one thing that they're like, you know what?
31:14
SPEAKER_02: We've been able to develop in-house.
31:15
SPEAKER_02: We can go with our guys.
31:17
SPEAKER_02: We're not going to go to the portal this year.
31:18
SPEAKER_02: And that has not worked.
31:20
SPEAKER_02: And maybe that just...
31:22
SPEAKER_02: Steamrolls, everything else that comes after that.
31:25
SPEAKER_02: But I think ultimately it's you have largely the same roster.
31:28
SPEAKER_02: The biggest change you had was instead of going out of house to hire
31:31
SPEAKER_02: the two coordinators, Lanning went in-house and promoted.
31:35
SPEAKER_02: And so I think there's just like a lot of overall confusion because it's just like,
31:38
SPEAKER_02: wait a minute, we've seen these guys be good.
31:40
SPEAKER_02: We've seen these guys be national semifinals good.
31:45
SPEAKER_02: What's happened?
31:47
SPEAKER_02: You can date it back to the final game of last,
31:49
SPEAKER_02: you know,
31:50
SPEAKER_02: Indiana,
31:50
SPEAKER_02: fantastic team, but it's like Dante Moore picks first play, pick six of the game.
31:54
SPEAKER_02: Like basically since that first play of the Indiana game and
31:57
SPEAKER_02: the championship last year, it's been bad football for Oregon since.
32:00
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's kind of the why, like, why is it happening?
32:06
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's the toughest thing to come around with because up until three
32:11
SPEAKER_02: or four weeks ago, um,
32:14
SPEAKER_02: Dan Lanning's treading in waters, like Chip Kelly-type waters at Oregon.
32:19
SPEAKER_02: Coming into this year, he had a better overall winning percentage than Chip Kelly.
32:22
SPEAKER_02: And those Chip Kelly-ers were pretty good, Christian.
32:24
SPEAKER_02: Like, they won a lot of football games.
32:28
SPEAKER_02: He didn't win the big one.
32:29
SPEAKER_02: And that's kind of, like,
32:30
SPEAKER_02: everyone's like, boy,
32:31
SPEAKER_02: if Dan can pull one of these off,
32:32
SPEAKER_02: you know, they're going to start building the statue doing this.
32:35
SPEAKER_02: And then you just kind of realize that, like...
32:37
SPEAKER_02: Stuff can happen quickly in college football.
32:40
SPEAKER_02: And I think it's going to be fascinating to see how something so big,
32:45
SPEAKER_02: like Oregon, can shift or recorrect.
32:49
SPEAKER_02: Because, yeah,
32:52
SPEAKER_02: it's just been,
32:53
SPEAKER_02: I mean, record aside, it's just kind of been a dismal year in Eugene.
32:58
SPEAKER_02: It's not happy.
33:00
SPEAKER_02: Coaches are angry.
33:02
SPEAKER_02: Players are angry.
33:06
SPEAKER_02: Apparently, it's the media's fault for everything, but we know that.
33:11
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, no, it's just been...
33:17
SPEAKER_02: When something so big blows up,
33:19
SPEAKER_02: I'm always just kind of curious to see what the scatter is going to end up being.
33:22
SPEAKER_02: Because if you look back at 2016,
33:26
SPEAKER_02: Mark Helfrich got fired two years after coaching in the national championship game.
33:30
SPEAKER_02: And I think they're...
33:33
SPEAKER_02: Oregon plays Nebraska this week.
33:35
SPEAKER_02: Ten years ago, they played Nebraska in Nebraska.
33:37
SPEAKER_02: They lost that game by three points in a game where they failed at six two-point inversions.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: All the two-point tries.
33:44
SPEAKER_02: I still make the argument to this day,
33:46
SPEAKER_02: if they attempt extra points that entire game,
33:50
SPEAKER_02: Mark Helfrich is the coach the next year.
33:52
SPEAKER_02: That was a game that broke the aura of the program,
33:57
SPEAKER_02: broke the invincibility, and then it snowballed from there.
34:00
SPEAKER_02: And My worry after the Oklahoma State game was like,
34:03
SPEAKER_02: okay, this Oregon team still looks pretty talented.
34:07
SPEAKER_02: It's been a rough week since that loss in terms of it seems like everyone's overreacting.
34:11
SPEAKER_02: It seems like people are getting tight.
34:12
SPEAKER_02: It seems like blame is getting shifted around.
34:15
SPEAKER_02: One more loss could really send that down the slope.
34:18
SPEAKER_02: And that's what I'm worried about with that UCLA game because that's another game where...
34:24
SPEAKER_02: One or two plays win it,
34:25
SPEAKER_02: but ultimately the Ducks,
34:27
SPEAKER_02: preseason number two team,
34:28
SPEAKER_02: are playing at home against UCLA and they need 18 points to win the game
34:34
SPEAKER_02: and they can't get it.
34:35
SPEAKER_02: And I think ultimately that's the biggest affront
34:39
SPEAKER_02: to what this Oregon program is right now is you needed 18 points at home
34:42
SPEAKER_02: against UCLA and you couldn't get them.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of what I thought about Washington at USC.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: They lost that game 25-21.
34:52
SPEAKER_01: USC scored one of its touchdowns on a fumble return for a touchdown.
34:58
SPEAKER_01: And so then you're getting into like, man,
35:00
SPEAKER_01: so Washington's defense only allowed 19 points on the road against a USC team
35:06
SPEAKER_01: that like,
35:06
SPEAKER_01: say what you will about
35:10
SPEAKER_01: They have
35:14
SPEAKER_01: a legit quarterback and a legit receiving core,
35:19
SPEAKER_01: a couple of really good running backs, a veteran O-line.
35:22
SPEAKER_01: So to go to the Coliseum and only allow 19 points to USC's offense,
35:25
SPEAKER_01: that is a game you have to win.
35:27
SPEAKER_01: That is a game you have to find a way to win,
35:28
SPEAKER_01: especially with as porous as we know USC's defense to be.
35:33
SPEAKER_01: But I...
35:36
SPEAKER_01: I think about the discourse and how toxic everything already is
35:41
SPEAKER_01: and how upset people already are.
35:44
SPEAKER_01: And then think like the season is only halfway over.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: Like things really haven't gotten really bad yet.
35:51
SPEAKER_01: They play at Purdue this week.
35:53
SPEAKER_01: Purdue lost 19 consecutive Big Ten games.
35:57
SPEAKER_01: And now all of a sudden they've won two in a row.
36:00
SPEAKER_01: They won at Illinois,
36:02
SPEAKER_01: and they smacked Minnesota,
36:04
SPEAKER_01: a team that came to Husky Stadium and pushed the Huskies around.
36:08
SPEAKER_01: It wound up being a three-point game,
36:10
SPEAKER_01: but I think folks who watched that game would say,
36:12
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Minnesota really controlled the action on both sides of the ball.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: And so...
36:19
SPEAKER_01: What if you go to Purdue and lose?
36:21
SPEAKER_01: What if you lose, you know, ugly?
36:23
SPEAKER_01: You're starting your backup quarterback,
36:25
SPEAKER_01: which I think there's some optimism that that could mean better things for
36:28
SPEAKER_01: the offense.
36:29
SPEAKER_01: It could just as easily mean worse things against a Purdue team playing at home
36:34
SPEAKER_01: that has got to be suddenly, I mean, feeling really good about itself.
36:39
SPEAKER_01: Now you're three and four and you've lost...
36:42
SPEAKER_01: Two of your three,
36:43
SPEAKER_01: what anybody preseason would have said were two of your three most winnable games
36:47
SPEAKER_01: at Purdue and at home against Minnesota.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: And again, you could think that and still believe Minnesota was going to be a bowl team.
36:53
SPEAKER_01: It's not an easy schedule.
36:56
SPEAKER_01: Now you're three and four and you got a bye coming home before you go to Nebraska.
37:01
SPEAKER_01: And like, who are you going to beat?
37:04
SPEAKER_01: Who are you going to beat if you can't win this game at Purdue?
37:07
SPEAKER_01: They play at Michigan State on November 14th.
37:10
SPEAKER_01: I feel pretty confident right now saying Purdue's a better team than Michigan State.
37:14
SPEAKER_01: But outside of that,
37:15
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that anybody at Penn State right now is feeling great about coming
37:21
SPEAKER_01: to Seattle and definitely winning that game with the way that they've played.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: Talk about bad vibes and everything.
37:27
SPEAKER_01: I don't think anybody around Penn State is Nobody in Michigan's happy right now.
37:31
SPEAKER_01: Washington doesn't play Michigan,
37:33
SPEAKER_01: but you look at who is winless or who's that bottom half of the standings in
37:38
SPEAKER_01: the Big Ten,
37:39
SPEAKER_01: and there are a couple teams there that certainly feel like they should be better
37:43
SPEAKER_01: than they are.
37:45
SPEAKER_01: So that's, that's kind of what I have my eye on.
37:47
SPEAKER_01: Like we can sit here and talk about,
37:49
SPEAKER_01: you know,
37:50
SPEAKER_01: from a very sort of clear-eyed objective way on a Wednesday afternoon,
37:54
SPEAKER_01: like what's right for Washington and what are the realities when it comes
37:58
SPEAKER_01: to like considering making a change down the road.
38:00
SPEAKER_01: But that's what them sitting here three and three,
38:03
SPEAKER_01: you know, how, how, how bad is this going to get?
38:06
SPEAKER_01: And I, that's what I wonder for Oregon, like Where's the threshold for, and is there one?
38:13
SPEAKER_01: My assumption is that there's nothing they could do this year to have us waking up
38:18
SPEAKER_01: in December and talking about Oregon initiating a coaching change,
38:22
SPEAKER_01: which seems like the most no-duh statement ever.
38:25
SPEAKER_01: Are you kidding me?
38:26
SPEAKER_01: How would Oregon possibly in one year be in position to be talking about firing Dan Lanning?
38:33
SPEAKER_01: But just the way that...
38:35
SPEAKER_01: Discourse around college football works now.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: People go there so fast.
38:40
SPEAKER_01: And I think the more money involved and the more resources a program is perceived
38:45
SPEAKER_01: to have, the less tolerance folks are going to have for any excuses.
38:53
SPEAKER_02: Well, in Oregon, you have all of that, and then you have the Phil Knight X Factor program.
39:00
SPEAKER_02: On top of it as well.
39:01
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you saw the video from Saturday,
39:03
SPEAKER_02: but Phil was at the game and Phil doesn't come to all the games anymore.
39:06
SPEAKER_02: Like that's kind of the,
39:09
SPEAKER_02: the not so secret secret is Phil is every bit of his 87, 88 years old right now.
39:15
SPEAKER_02: He didn't travel to a lot of the games last year like he has in the past.
39:18
SPEAKER_02: Like he uses a cane, like he looks frail.
39:23
SPEAKER_02: And he came to the game last week and obviously like this is,
39:29
SPEAKER_02: This is like his last checkmark, right?
39:31
SPEAKER_02: You know, he's made his billion dollars.
39:34
SPEAKER_02: He turned a company into a pretty big company.
39:37
SPEAKER_02: Oregon football is like the one thing that he hasn't been able to get.
39:41
SPEAKER_02: And this was supposed to be the apex.
39:45
SPEAKER_02: Like they had no real excuses going into this year.
39:48
SPEAKER_02: Like they were well aware of the health and the age of their largest benefactor.
39:52
SPEAKER_02: Like the only way that I could see Somehow there being some coaching discussion
39:58
SPEAKER_02: if this thing just like really goes off the rails and Phil just goes like,
40:04
SPEAKER_02: this isn't the last coach that I want to see.
40:07
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
40:08
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's an insane conversation because as we just outlined,
40:11
SPEAKER_02: like Dan Lanning has won like 75% of his games at Oregon.
40:15
SPEAKER_02: He's in his fifth year as a head coach and he's been to the playoffs twice.
40:18
SPEAKER_02: And one of those years was a semifinals.
40:20
SPEAKER_02: He had a perfect regular season.
40:23
SPEAKER_02: He's still a young coach.
40:24
SPEAKER_02: I think he's still a pretty good coach.
40:26
SPEAKER_02: It's just a matter of if the guy who has been the biggest contributor towards
40:32
SPEAKER_02: that $50 million NIL check,
40:39
SPEAKER_02: if suddenly he in his last years decides that Dan Lanning isn't going to be
40:45
SPEAKER_02: the guy that's going to beat Kirk Signetti,
40:48
SPEAKER_02: I could see things getting irrational when you have a billionaire who is getting...
40:53
SPEAKER_02: Desperate.
40:54
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying Phil's getting desperate, but I'm just saying that.
40:56
SPEAKER_02: That's kind of like the one thing that kind of hangs in the air at Oregon just
41:00
SPEAKER_02: because there's an expectation at UO over the last five or six years
41:06
SPEAKER_02: that they're going to win a national championship.
41:08
SPEAKER_02: It was funny because even in the Cristobal years and even the times before that,
41:12
SPEAKER_02: it kind of felt like Oregon was still playing a little bit with house money.
41:15
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of like, oh,
41:16
SPEAKER_02: we've somehow figured this out and national championship would be awesome
41:19
SPEAKER_02: and it would validate The whole, we do things differently here.
41:25
SPEAKER_02: But now that let's just like, okay, like you're pulling players from all over the country.
41:31
SPEAKER_02: You're able to replace your Heisman finalist quarterback
41:33
SPEAKER_02: with another Heisman finalist quarterback out of the transfer.
41:36
SPEAKER_02: Like there's not a whole lot of excuses anymore.
41:38
SPEAKER_02: And if I was the guy footing the bill for that,
41:42
SPEAKER_02: I would probably have some moments where I'm irrational.
41:47
SPEAKER_01: The one thing with Lanning, That,
41:50
SPEAKER_01: this is,
41:50
SPEAKER_01: what's so interesting at Washington,
41:52
SPEAKER_01: and this has been a thread to pull,
41:54
SPEAKER_01: you know,
41:54
SPEAKER_01: that folks have kind of harped on since Jed Fish got there,
41:56
SPEAKER_01: which is just the general idea of,
41:58
SPEAKER_01: of the head coach as the offensive play caller, right?
42:01
SPEAKER_01: And there are a lot of people who have not liked that since the beginning,
42:04
SPEAKER_01: and have kind of made the point that, like, this,
42:08
SPEAKER_01: the way that their offense has performed this year would get
42:11
SPEAKER_01: the offensive coordinator fired if there were an offensive coordinator.
42:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
42:16
SPEAKER_01: But it's the head coach.
42:17
SPEAKER_01: And then you can get into like, well,
42:18
SPEAKER_01: but like,
42:19
SPEAKER_01: is that a symptom of what they don't have talent-wise,
42:23
SPEAKER_01: a symptom of just where they're at in the build,
42:27
SPEAKER_01: the progression of trying to build this roster from high school
42:30
SPEAKER_01: and maybe they just were not as far along,
42:34
SPEAKER_01: you know,
42:34
SPEAKER_01: mature-wise,
42:35
SPEAKER_01: development-wise, maturity-wise, development-wise as some of us thought they were.
42:40
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, the defense was horrible against Iowa.
42:44
SPEAKER_01: They were last seen, you know, Playing by far their worst game under Ryan Walters.
42:49
SPEAKER_01: But I do think Ryan Walters generally gets still pretty high grades from Washington folks.
42:54
SPEAKER_01: And so you're talking about a year where
43:00
SPEAKER_01: there's not going to be a change at coordinator.
43:02
SPEAKER_01: One, because there isn't an offensive coordinator.
43:04
SPEAKER_01: And two, because the defensive coordinator is...
43:07
SPEAKER_01: Right.
43:07
SPEAKER_01: Right.
43:21
SPEAKER_01: But at Oregon,
43:23
SPEAKER_01: Dan Lanning at least has the benefit of being able to say at season's end,
43:30
SPEAKER_01: we shouldn't have made internal promotions as a coordinator.
43:33
SPEAKER_01: We're going to go out and spend huge money to get the very best offensive coordinator.
43:39
SPEAKER_01: Is that more along the lines of what you're expecting once this season's over?
43:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think so.
43:47
SPEAKER_02: And now I'll give Chris Hampton some credit.
43:51
SPEAKER_02: Oregon's defense played a pretty good game against UCLA on Saturday.
43:55
SPEAKER_02: That was one of the few bright spots,
43:57
SPEAKER_02: if you will,
43:58
SPEAKER_02: especially with the field position that the offense was leaving them with.
44:02
SPEAKER_02: I mean, even if you want to go back to the Oklahoma State game,
44:05
SPEAKER_02: yes, they allowed 38, 39 points in that one, but...
44:09
SPEAKER_02: Part of the 31 points Oregon did was a pick sit,
44:12
SPEAKER_02: you know,
44:12
SPEAKER_02: like they had a pick sit,
44:13
SPEAKER_02: like the defense has largely played better than the offense.
44:16
SPEAKER_02: I think the person under the largest fire right now is Drew Marringer,
44:19
SPEAKER_02: the offensive coordinator who got promoted from tight ends coach last year.
44:25
SPEAKER_02: And it's one of those things where when he gets hired,
44:28
SPEAKER_02: there's a lot of talk of continuity about how he has learned a lot about landing
44:33
SPEAKER_02: and You know,
44:34
SPEAKER_02: how he's been able to pull from all these different stops along his way.
44:37
SPEAKER_02: But then when you start doing bad,
44:39
SPEAKER_02: you know,
44:39
SPEAKER_02: you start to really look at the,
44:41
SPEAKER_02: okay, well, he was an offensive coordinator for one year in the Big Ten before.
44:45
SPEAKER_02: And it was one of the worst offenses in the country.
44:50
SPEAKER_02: You know, he had one year as like a 28-year-old as the OC of Rutgers, and it did not go well.
44:56
SPEAKER_02: And so now there's a lot of like, how could you hire that guy?
44:59
SPEAKER_02: Like, what were you expecting?
45:00
SPEAKER_02: So I, Drew Marringer is really under the gun.
45:02
SPEAKER_02: And I, I think there are things that are definitely partially his fault.
45:08
SPEAKER_02: I don't think he's been able to adapt to what Oregon has available,
45:15
SPEAKER_02: especially along the offensive line.
45:18
SPEAKER_02: Essentially, you have two quarterbacks.
45:19
SPEAKER_02: You don't,
45:20
SPEAKER_02: between Dante Moore and Dylan Ryla,
45:21
SPEAKER_02: neither of them I mean,
45:23
SPEAKER_02: if you want to look at like one of the most frustrating aspects of that UCLA game,
45:25
SPEAKER_02: it's the Ducks are finally getting a couple dry or
45:46
SPEAKER_02: Couple sequences together and then they finally get into UCLA territory
45:50
SPEAKER_02: and they go full wildcat and they lose a fumble on the option.
45:55
SPEAKER_02: And it's like, okay,
45:56
SPEAKER_02: like you finally got a little bit of momentum and
45:59
SPEAKER_02: then you're throwing out two running backs to basically run the offense and you lose
46:02
SPEAKER_02: a fumble.
46:03
SPEAKER_02: And there's just...
46:06
SPEAKER_02: It looks too complicated for what they're able to do at the moment.
46:09
SPEAKER_02: And I think what could be the...
46:13
SPEAKER_02: If he can survive,
46:15
SPEAKER_02: because I think Marringer is at the point where if they have a dud on Saturday
46:20
SPEAKER_02: against Nebraska at 8 p.m.,
46:23
SPEAKER_02: if anybody's still watched that game, that would probably be the first shoe to drop.
46:28
SPEAKER_02: But then I'm also just thinking,
46:30
SPEAKER_02: so they got this Nebraska game, and Nebraska's looking pretty decent, right?
46:34
SPEAKER_02: They played Indiana up until the fourth quarter, the end of the game last week.
46:39
SPEAKER_02: Then they go to Illinois,
46:41
SPEAKER_02: and I think Oregon should still at this point beat Illinois,
46:44
SPEAKER_02: but who knows what it looks like if you're on a two-game losing streak
46:48
SPEAKER_02: and you're playing on the road.
46:50
SPEAKER_02: And then they get Northwestern at home on Halloween.
46:53
SPEAKER_02: And I don't know if you've watched any Northwestern this year,
46:56
SPEAKER_02: Christian, but they have a pretty good offense run by some guy named Chip Kelly.
47:06
SPEAKER_02: Oregon fans might be familiar with him,
47:08
SPEAKER_02: but Northwestern did the thing where they went,
47:10
SPEAKER_02: hey, We could really use a shot in the arm for this program.
47:14
SPEAKER_02: Let's go outside and get creative and bring this guy in.
47:18
SPEAKER_02: And you've seen what it's done to a team.
47:22
SPEAKER_02: Right now,
47:22
SPEAKER_02: if I had to pick that game,
47:24
SPEAKER_02: I'm taking Northwestern in it just because I've seen Northwestern be successful
47:27
SPEAKER_02: at what it wants to do.
47:29
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what Oregon wants to do.
47:30
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
47:31
SPEAKER_02: If things are going well, I really still don't know what Oregon's identity is.
47:35
SPEAKER_02: We haven't seen the running game get going except for against Portland State.
47:39
SPEAKER_02: I don't think that should count.
47:42
SPEAKER_02: Dante Moore, yeah, he's hurt right now.
47:44
SPEAKER_02: And if he comes back, maybe he can save the season.
47:46
SPEAKER_02: But when has Dante Moore looked like Dante Moore this year?
47:48
SPEAKER_02: And I know he's been injured, but he wasn't great.
47:52
SPEAKER_02: The Ducks barely beat Boise State.
47:54
SPEAKER_02: They lose to Oklahoma State.
47:56
SPEAKER_02: They have the Portland State game, which doesn't count.
47:58
SPEAKER_02: And then USC, I mean...
48:00
SPEAKER_02: Yes, Dante had them driving, but Oregon was losing when he left the game.
48:04
SPEAKER_02: And like,
48:05
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to put anything on like Dante getting injured and any of that
48:08
SPEAKER_02: or Ryola coming in to save it from what Dante was doing.
48:11
SPEAKER_02: But like this,
48:12
SPEAKER_02: at no point has Oregon looked like it has the preseason Heisman,
48:17
SPEAKER_02: a preseason Heisman candidate at quarterback this year.
48:20
SPEAKER_02: So it's just,
48:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean,
48:25
SPEAKER_02: Halloween Chip Kelly,
48:27
SPEAKER_02: if Oregon fans are going to get upset,
48:29
SPEAKER_02: that's going to be the one if it goes as it's been going.
48:33
SPEAKER_02: Triple option, Chip.
48:36
SPEAKER_02: Did you watch their game against
48:37
SPEAKER_01: Penn State?
48:38
SPEAKER_01: I missed it.
48:39
SPEAKER_01: I just saw some of the highlights afterwards.
48:41
SPEAKER_01: It was incredible.
48:44
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it seemed like every other play is a 13-yard run.
48:49
SPEAKER_01: And they're running classic like Veer and Wing Tee and it was beautiful.
48:56
SPEAKER_02: Just beautiful football.
48:58
SPEAKER_02: Which I love that because the Wing Tee is what my high school in Palmer,
49:01
SPEAKER_02: Alaska ran because like our tallest guy was maybe 5'11
49:05
SPEAKER_02: and our heaviest guy was maybe 220 pounds.
49:07
SPEAKER_02: That's what Mark Morris ran when I was there.
49:10
SPEAKER_02: I didn't play.
49:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
49:14
SPEAKER_02: Fun season, Christian.
49:16
SPEAKER_02: The one thing that I will say is coming into the year,
49:19
SPEAKER_02: me and Justin,
49:22
SPEAKER_02: my co-host for the Traffic Report,
49:23
SPEAKER_02: we were just talking about how there's never been a time in college football
49:27
SPEAKER_02: where trying to predict the season is more useless than possible.
49:31
SPEAKER_02: Because I don't think in...
49:34
SPEAKER_02: 2018 or 2020 beforehand,
49:36
SPEAKER_02: you could see a team like UCLA just snap its fingers and go start out 6-0
49:41
SPEAKER_02: after how they've been or, you know, see Indiana do what it does.
49:44
SPEAKER_02: And so next year when you're going through the schedule and this is a post
49:48
SPEAKER_02: that we all do, right?
49:49
SPEAKER_02: Like in the spring or in the late part of the year when you get
49:53
SPEAKER_02: the next year's schedule and you kind of rank like the most interesting games or
49:56
SPEAKER_02: the toughest games or whatever, like good luck.
49:59
SPEAKER_02: Good luck.
49:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
49:59
SPEAKER_02: Because it's impossible these days.
50:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean,
50:02
SPEAKER_01: I remember when the Big Ten announced like the next five years schedules
50:07
SPEAKER_01: for everybody right at the start of,
50:11
SPEAKER_01: you know,
50:11
SPEAKER_01: right after Washington and Oregon and USC and UCLA joined and they redid all
50:16
SPEAKER_01: the schedules and here's who everybody plays for the next five seasons.
50:18
SPEAKER_01: I mean, a lot of Husky fans circled this year.
50:22
SPEAKER_01: And it's funny to look back at the logic now,
50:27
SPEAKER_01: which at the time was fairly sound,
50:30
SPEAKER_01: which was like, okay, well,
50:31
SPEAKER_01: road games at Purdue and Michigan State,
50:33
SPEAKER_01: you kind of feel like that's going to be manageable.
50:36
SPEAKER_01: Home game against Minnesota.
50:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
50:57
SPEAKER_01: You know Iowa is a good program capable of winning seven, eight,
51:01
SPEAKER_01: nine games,
51:03
SPEAKER_01: but that team's going to come to Husky Stadium and score enough to beat
51:07
SPEAKER_01: a Washington team that at the time was coming off
51:10
SPEAKER_01: a national championship appearance.
51:12
SPEAKER_01: And then,
51:13
SPEAKER_01: you know,
51:14
SPEAKER_01: I think folks would looked at Penn State coming to Seattle this year and thought,
51:17
SPEAKER_01: okay, well, look,
51:18
SPEAKER_01: you know,
51:18
SPEAKER_01: they're going to be, that's the, the Drew Aller era is going to be behind them.
51:22
SPEAKER_01: And like, they're going to be sort of on a new cycle there with, with James Franklin.
51:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh, that, that seems like a good year to bring Penn State to Seattle.
51:32
SPEAKER_01: And then any, oh, Indiana's a gimme, right?
51:35
SPEAKER_01: Indiana at home.
51:36
SPEAKER_01: That's, you know, check that off.
51:37
SPEAKER_01: That's a win.
51:38
SPEAKER_01: You're not going to lose at home to Indiana.
51:40
SPEAKER_01: Certainly.
51:40
SPEAKER_01: No, nobody knew anything about.
51:42
SPEAKER_02: No way.
51:42
SPEAKER_01: The basketball school?
51:45
SPEAKER_01: And so, and they played,
51:47
SPEAKER_01: they played at Indiana in 2024 too,
51:49
SPEAKER_01: which, you know, again, you rank that schedule at the time.
51:52
SPEAKER_01: And like that felt certainly like one of the more manageable games
51:55
SPEAKER_01: before anybody knew that,
51:57
SPEAKER_01: oh no, they're actually trying now and they're going to be like really good forever.
52:01
SPEAKER_02: Dude, dude,
52:02
SPEAKER_02: or like Oregon was somewhat disappointed at the start of the,
52:06
SPEAKER_02: I'm saying Oregon as a large entity here,
52:08
SPEAKER_02: but like, The Ducks didn't get to play the Beavers this year.
52:12
SPEAKER_02: And it's just like, oh, shoot, that's a win.
52:16
SPEAKER_02: That's a win that Oregon doesn't get, right?
52:19
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if those two teams played next week.
52:21
SPEAKER_02: I might take Oregon State in that one.
52:23
SPEAKER_02: Like there's certainly the more like if you were to take like
52:26
SPEAKER_02: which fan base is happier right now,
52:27
SPEAKER_02: it's Oregon State by a landslide,
52:30
SPEAKER_02: which is insane for me to think about because it's.
52:33
SPEAKER_02: Here you are two and a half years into the Big Ten thing where Oregon won
52:36
SPEAKER_02: the Big Ten title its first year.
52:38
SPEAKER_02: It made the semifinals last year.
52:39
SPEAKER_02: Oregon State's been left for dead.
52:42
SPEAKER_02: And now Oregon State, like, yeah, yeah, it's,
52:49
SPEAKER_02: are Washington fans happy with the Big Ten?
52:53
SPEAKER_02: Or do you think there's any, like, Would you guys see?
52:56
SPEAKER_02: Because I'm wondering this right now, too.
52:58
SPEAKER_02: Like in the Pac-12,
53:00
SPEAKER_02: you don't have the prestige of rubbing shoulders with the Ohio States and Michigans
53:04
SPEAKER_02: and Indianas now, apparently.
53:08
SPEAKER_02: But you can at least still have a season where it's like.
53:14
SPEAKER_02: It's I don't know, it's just.
53:18
SPEAKER_02: I guess it's kind of like trying to grade the fan program or the level
53:23
SPEAKER_02: of satisfaction within a program of maybe vintage Boise State versus a team like
53:30
SPEAKER_02: a...
53:32
SPEAKER_02: I was going to say a team that perennially kept getting close but didn't win it.
53:35
SPEAKER_02: I guess that would be the Ducks.
53:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think the Big Ten was always a necessary evil.
53:45
SPEAKER_01: I don't think anybody at Washington would want to be in such a precarious place for
53:51
SPEAKER_01: the future outside the Big Ten.
53:56
SPEAKER_01: The Big Ten and the SEC set the agenda for college athletics that I don't think you would...
54:04
SPEAKER_01: If you had the choice,
54:05
SPEAKER_01: I don't think you'd want to roll the dice not being in one of those two leagues
54:08
SPEAKER_01: if you got a chance to be.
54:09
SPEAKER_01: But like...
54:12
SPEAKER_01: Are they having a good time?
54:14
SPEAKER_02: It sure doesn't seem like it.
54:18
SPEAKER_01: I think,
54:18
SPEAKER_01: do people look forward to seeing Husky Stadium on a 12.30 p.m.
54:24
SPEAKER_01: Saturday kickoff against Ohio State last year?
54:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's really cool.
54:28
SPEAKER_01: Did they enjoy bringing Michigan to town in 2024 and...
54:34
SPEAKER_01: You know, again,
54:35
SPEAKER_01: having a Chamber of Commerce day for the stadium and storming the field
54:39
SPEAKER_01: after beating it, you know, and just an okay Michigan team.
54:42
SPEAKER_01: But Michigan comes to town, right?
54:45
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's cool.
54:46
SPEAKER_01: That's fun.
54:46
SPEAKER_01: Having an opportunity to go see a game at Penn State.
54:50
SPEAKER_01: Like, I think people enjoy that part of it.
54:54
SPEAKER_01: But I don't think Husky fans don't embrace, like,
54:59
SPEAKER_01: Minnesota and Iowa coming to town the way that, you know, there's such familiarity.
55:03
SPEAKER_01: Like, Cal's at Husky Stadium.
55:06
SPEAKER_01: Stanford's at Husky Stadium.
55:07
SPEAKER_01: ASU's coming to town.
55:08
SPEAKER_01: Arizona's coming to town.
55:09
SPEAKER_01: And you know all those teams and you know the
55:12
SPEAKER_02: tradition.
55:13
SPEAKER_02: There's a feel to those teams.
55:15
SPEAKER_01: They do.
55:16
SPEAKER_01: They all have their own vibe and they all have their own history.
55:19
SPEAKER_01: It's going to be a weird game.
55:20
SPEAKER_01: It's not going to go the way you expect it to go.
55:22
SPEAKER_01: Oh, here comes Stanford with its weird band and its tree.
55:24
SPEAKER_01: Why are those weird games excused when they were in the Pac-12,
55:26
SPEAKER_01: but then when you're in the Big Ten, it's just like...
55:47
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that they were excused.
55:48
SPEAKER_01: It was just so, there was such a familiarity to it that it was just like, oh, here you go again.
55:54
SPEAKER_01: Cal, Cal again.
55:55
SPEAKER_02: Like, this is my drunken uncle.
56:01
SPEAKER_02: Well, man,
56:04
SPEAKER_02: here's what happens when you lose games.
56:06
SPEAKER_02: You get an 8 p.m. kickoff.
56:08
SPEAKER_02: The Ducks play Nebraska on Saturday at 8 p.m. That's crazy.
56:13
SPEAKER_02: I can't imagine it's going to write well on TV.
56:17
SPEAKER_02: I'm fascinated to see what Autzen stated and looks like for that game.
56:21
SPEAKER_02: You know,
56:22
SPEAKER_02: if the Ducks are 5-0,
56:25
SPEAKER_02: Oregon fans would definitely tough their way through that one and it'd probably be
56:28
SPEAKER_02: a sellout.
56:29
SPEAKER_02: It's not going to be.
56:30
SPEAKER_02: I'm very intrigued to see what...
56:33
SPEAKER_02: Okay, over-under, Christian.
56:35
SPEAKER_02: What time do interviews finish up?
56:39
SPEAKER_02: 8 p.m. kick.
56:40
SPEAKER_02: Oregon takes a long time as it is.
56:45
SPEAKER_02: I think you're looking past midnight there.
56:50
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
56:51
SPEAKER_02: We're way past midnight.
56:53
SPEAKER_02: Do they take that long to get out there?
56:56
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
56:56
SPEAKER_01: Oh, see, Washington wants to be done.
57:00
SPEAKER_01: It is expedient.
57:03
SPEAKER_02: It's like too fast.
57:05
SPEAKER_02: Oregon will take an hour,
57:08
SPEAKER_02: and then they'll come in and say, hey, we need to be quick because we got to go.
57:12
SPEAKER_02: At Oklahoma State,
57:13
SPEAKER_02: which was a perfectly normal kickoff game,
57:16
SPEAKER_02: and there was other things in terms of player availability in that postgame
57:20
SPEAKER_02: that I'm not going to get into today,
57:23
SPEAKER_02: water under the bridge, but they used the, like, we got a plane to catch.
57:29
SPEAKER_02: It's your plane.
57:31
SPEAKER_02: It's chartered.
57:33
SPEAKER_02: They're not going to leave without Dante, you know, anyways.
57:36
SPEAKER_02: And you're going back in time.
57:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
57:40
SPEAKER_01: Well, hey, man, thanks for stopping in and helping me get a show done this week.
57:45
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
57:47
SPEAKER_01: Enjoy the rest of this godforsaken season, and we will talk to you next week.
57:52
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, man.
57:53
SPEAKER_02: A lot of football left.
57:54
SPEAKER_02: A lot of football left.
57:55
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if that's a good thing, but there's a
57:56
SPEAKER_00: lot of football left.
57:58
SPEAKER_01: It is a fact.
57:59
SPEAKER_00: We'll see you.