Latest / The Lunch Rush with Trent Condon / MLB talk with Matt Snyder, Scott Docthterman talks College Football & Trent's Picks presented by Circa Sports
Transcript
- 0:05I'm Millory Condon, welcome back our number 2, the Iowa Sports
- 0:09Radio Network. Trent Condon and Ken Miller with
- 0:11you until two at 2 off the bench.
- 0:14Sean Roberts, Lucas Strain take you until 5:00.
- 0:18Scott, Dr. Man coming up toward the bottom of the hour from the
- 0:21Athletic. Trent's Plays of the day.
- 0:23Circus sports sponsor. Those still to come about 10
- 0:25minutes or so before 2. Here's Matt Snyder and his
- 0:28weekly spot to talk MLB. Matt Trenton, Ken, watching
- 0:33Sunday Night Baseball last night when Ron Banford dropped it.
- 0:37Well, a couple of bombs, quite honestly, sounds like ESPN is
- 0:39not out of the running for the television rights as to where
- 0:43they're going to go. When that looked like it was
- 0:45headed for divorce, which is good to see.
- 0:47But then the realignment and the expansion, that really moved my
- 0:51needle, especially the realignment once expansion
- 0:54happens and it's too early to, you know, to kind of get excited
- 0:57as to what they may look like. But that never stopped us from
- 1:01doing just that. What did you think when you
- 1:02heard that? Were you surprised?
- 1:05Not not completely shocked. I mean, I'm surprised that he
- 1:10that as much as he did about it. He's normally a little closer to
- 1:14the vest with with big decisions like that.
- 1:17But my colleagues and I've been talking about for for the last
- 1:21several years that it's been the longest Major League Baseball
- 1:25has ever taken without expansion in a long, long, long time.
- 1:30I mean, it's the the Diamondbacks and the Rays,
- 1:34right? Because those Rockies Marlins,
- 1:35yeah, Diamondbacks and the Rays are the two newest team.
- 1:38And that that happened in the 90s.
- 1:40So it's been a long, long time and the the game's healthy
- 1:43enough right now. We we've known for a long time
- 1:45that the the Tampa Bay slash Tampa and whatever the A's are
- 1:50going to do stayed in situations, had to be resolved
- 1:52before they started talking about two new teams.
- 1:54But those are at least down the road a little bit.
- 1:57So yeah, and we kind of knew it was coming with that.
- 2:01You're going to have to realign because we've got 6 divisions of
- 2:04five and if you had two more teams, you're not going to have
- 2:07a number that works there. So you're going to need to go to
- 2:098 divisions of four somehow. I obviously am good with the
- 2:15realignment on the divisions. I see plans bouncing around that
- 2:20completely abandoned the American League and National
- 2:22League and that makes me want to throw a fit that is not OK with
- 2:25me on the tradition side. I I think there are ways to, for
- 2:30example, we're kind of in the Central, let's stick with
- 2:32National League Central. It's really easy to keep the
- 2:35Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals and Reds together and then just say
- 2:38we'll send the Pirates elsewhere.
- 2:40It's really, you can probably do that with every division.
- 2:44Sometimes it'll be too. But like you're, you're not
- 2:46going to get me on on board with the plan ever that will separate
- 2:50the cousin Cardinals or Dodgers and Giants or like Yankees and
- 2:54Red Sox. You're just not going to get me
- 2:55on board that. And you're also not going to get
- 2:57me on board with Yankees and Mets in the same division, Cubs
- 2:59and White Sox in the same division.
- 3:01You're not going to get me on board with those.
- 3:02You're just not. So you got to help me out here,
- 3:06because as I'm looking at this and I'm looking at proposals
- 3:09that are out there, why do we need the American League in the
- 3:12National League anymore? Help me out, Matt Snyder,
- 3:14because you're gonna have to sway me on this one.
- 3:17It sounds like you're ready to dig in your heels.
- 3:18Why do we still need the ALNNL? Because of the traditions, I
- 3:22mean, and and you know, they've realigned other sports a lot,
- 3:27for example, the NFL. And while some teams switch and
- 3:31you don't get used to it, like what we're used to the Brewers
- 3:33in the National League now we're used to the S of the American
- 3:35League. Now again, for me at least, and
- 3:39mileage will vary. And I'm not trying to suggest
- 3:41everybody has to agree with me. So I guess I'm not doing a great
- 3:44job. I'm trying to tell you, but for
- 3:46me, there is too much history with, for example, the Yankees
- 3:50in the American League, the Cardinals in the National
- 3:52League. There's just too much history
- 3:54there to all of a sudden abandoned that and have
- 3:56something like an Eastern Conference and a Western
- 3:58Conference. And, and frankly, that would
- 4:00make it seem like we're like copying the NBA or something
- 4:03like that. And one of the great things
- 4:05about baseball for so many years has been the American League and
- 4:08National League split. And I know the lines bored now
- 4:10because there's an early play, there's a universal DH, But for
- 4:14me, it's the history and the traditions and gosh, we lose so
- 4:18much of it and so many sports, college, college sports with
- 4:22the, the conferences getting all torn up and everything and
- 4:24expanding so big. Like I, I just, there's too much
- 4:28history and tradition for me with too many of the teams to to
- 4:32get to just get rid of the leagues all together.
- 4:35I can only think of one NFL team that that switched conferences.
- 4:39Seahawks, right? AFC West, the National League.
- 4:42I think that's. Yeah, and yeah.
- 4:45And in baseball, I know, like I said, we've done it with the
- 4:47Astros and the Brewers, and I feel like there's a lot of teams
- 4:49where you could get away with it.
- 4:51If you look at the expansion teams, like if the Rays or the
- 4:53Marlins or the Diamondbacks or the Rockies, which leagues, I
- 4:56don't know if anybody would freak out about that.
- 4:58But I'm just like, if you go to the original teams and you think
- 5:03about like if the Giants and Dodgers were all of a sudden not
- 5:06National League teams or the Red Sox were not an American League
- 5:08team, I just, I'm not OK with that.
- 5:11What do you like for expansion candidates?
- 5:13What cities? We've heard a lot about Portland
- 5:18over the years, and I think I would like to see every year
- 5:22whenever somebody does like the teams that travel the most
- 5:24miles, the Mariners just get hammered on travel.
- 5:27It'd be nice to give the Mariners a competitor sitting
- 5:31right there. So I'm big on Portland.
- 5:34I've seen Salt Lake City, That makes sense.
- 5:36I've seen Nashville that that one's interesting because I feel
- 5:40like Nashville is one of those that's really, really growing
- 5:43and the appetite for professional sports is going
- 5:45there. But I also feel like it's like
- 5:48half Cardinals, half Brave country.
- 5:50And sometimes it's hard to to dig into those fan bases.
- 5:54For example, I live in the Indianapolis area and I can tell
- 5:57you while we have the Pacers and Colts and do a pretty good job
- 6:00supporting them for being a relatively small market, we
- 6:03cannot talk about Major League Baseball here because there are
- 6:05far too many die hard Cubs fans. And then you also have die hard
- 6:09Reds fans. You have some Cardinals, you
- 6:11have some white. It sucks.
- 6:12I don't know if you could ever get the city fully behind
- 6:16A-Team. It would take decades because
- 6:19there's just too many die hard Cubs fans here.
- 6:21So at Nashville, I wonder because I feel like there's just
- 6:25so much Braves and Cardinals there.
- 6:29You know, you hear the Charlotte area again.
- 6:32It feels like Braves country, but I don't know.
- 6:34It's I know it's it's good at supporting professional sports
- 6:39teams, at least has been recently.
- 6:40I know they lost the Hornets originally.
- 6:43Those are a few, just a few bouncing around in there.
- 6:45No Montreal. The thing is they already it
- 6:51already didn't work but it's been so long ago.
- 6:55If they actually built a stadium and I'm not that well versed on
- 6:58the layout but I guess downtown. Downtown, Yeah, was far away
- 7:03from downtown and now they would build 1 downtown.
- 7:07I'd be open to it. But I feel like, you know, there
- 7:10will always be cities that give a presentation, right?
- 7:13I feel like they would have to blow their presentation away and
- 7:15be exponentially better than everybody else.
- 7:17Let's go to Owen Casey or so. Were you surprised that Craig
- 7:20Council did not play? I get the Friday thing after,
- 7:23you know, no sleep, getting to Toronto and then not playing him
- 7:27on front. That was on Thursday and then
- 7:28not playing him on Friday. But I'm shocked that he sat his
- 7:31with his butt glued to the bench for that remainder of time.
- 7:36What about Owen in case were you shot with counsel?
- 7:39I'm surprised at how it went down.
- 7:42You know, like you promote him and then you play him once and
- 7:44he struck the ball well all day. I mean, he had good cuts.
- 7:48He hit the ball hard. I'm surprised you don't try to
- 7:50keep him in there. I understand when he says like,
- 7:54we're going to play the best players.
- 7:55And while Kyle Tucker and Saya Suzuki and before this weekend,
- 8:00peak Armstrong had been really, really scuffling and going
- 8:02through it, it would be really, really insane to believe that
- 8:09Casey is a better player than all three right now.
- 8:11And he has to play while the other guys that and you're
- 8:14trying to get Tucker going. If you have matchups where you
- 8:16think he has a chance to bounce back, I think you have to leave
- 8:19him in there. I, I, I'm surprised with how it
- 8:22went down. But in terms of the specific
- 8:24decision making, I guess I'm saying I don't really blame
- 8:26council, especially like when Tucker went 2 for four on
- 8:29Saturday. Of course you have to run him
- 8:31back out there Sunday and hope he gets a couple more hits.
- 8:33And then mentally he thinks, OK, now I'm going right.
- 8:36Pete looked good all weekend. I, I understand, I understand
- 8:41why he did it in the individual games.
- 8:43I'm just surprised that you're going to promote a guy and then
- 8:45he gets good cuts and then you just don't play him.
- 8:47The Bluebirds are out for Kyle Tucker you mentioned.
- 8:50Yeah. He he's had a few moments, but
- 8:53they're so few and far between. Do you have the belief that this
- 8:56is something where a couple weeks off can even help or is it
- 9:00just at this point now as the division depending on what
- 9:03happens these next four days very well could be lost that
- 9:07even 2 weeks off is not going to be enough to kind of cure of
- 9:10what ails. Where are you with Kyle Tucker
- 9:12overall? My colleague Mike XD said did a
- 9:15really good deep dive on Tucker today and and it was
- 9:18illuminating here. First of all, when the finger
- 9:21injury, it was like the first, it was June 1st, I believe it
- 9:25was. If you went to it, it splits and
- 9:27looked his best month was June. And if the finger injury
- 9:30happened June 1st and his best, best month was June, I don't
- 9:33know how we're blaming the finger injury for falling apart
- 9:36after June. I just don't.
- 9:38So I, I don't know if he just would need to clear his head,
- 9:41but certainly two weeks seems excessive to me because then you
- 9:44might have to go on a minor league rehab assignment to get
- 9:46your feedback going. A couple of days what would make
- 9:49some sense I I also am not totally averse to letting him
- 9:54play through it and assuming that he's too good of a player
- 9:57he's still in his prime age. He's going to get get it back
- 10:00somehow even though it's been six weeks I mean, it's been
- 10:04terrible, terrible six weeks, probably the longest stretch of
- 10:07his career where he's been this bad.
- 10:09But there have been other 30 game stretches where he was
- 10:11about this bad as as my colleague Mike pointed out in
- 10:15his article today and he always broke out of it.
- 10:17So that's one of the many reasons why I totally, I
- 10:20understand council sticking with him yesterday, for example, is
- 10:23he got the two ground ball hits on Saturday, but it's mentally
- 10:26that kicks something loose in there and he thinks, OK, now I'm
- 10:29back. You got to keep him in the
- 10:30lineup. He's too talented and if you go
- 10:33back to when the Cubs were one of the best offenses of
- 10:36baseball, the main reasons were because Tucker Suzuki and PCA
- 10:40hitting well. And you've just got to believe
- 10:43that they're all going to break out of it at some point.
- 10:45And it's probably if they do, it's all going to line up and
- 10:48they're all going to get hot again at the same time.
- 10:51So I think I would just keep running them out there.
- 10:54I don't think I would. I would shut them down or
- 10:56anything. Who are the real LA Dodgers?
- 11:00The team that got swept by the Angels of the Sweet, The team
- 11:02that swept the Padres? I mean, I, I, I don't know what
- 11:06to make of it. Is is the guy's got a whole
- 11:08bunch of Dodgers futures. I was glad to see them beating
- 11:12the Padres, but I'm not so sure I'm buying into it.
- 11:14What, what, What did we learn this weekend about those two NL
- 11:18West leaders? I think the Padres got little
- 11:21brother again, didn't they? It was just anytime they get too
- 11:24hot, the Dodgers just knock them back down.
- 11:26If you they no, no, no, no, you don't, you're not good enough
- 11:29for this. The Dodgers are definitely
- 11:31better. They're definitely going to win
- 11:33the division. We'll see come playoffs which
- 11:37team shows up because they've been before that Padres series.
- 11:40They've been really stuffling since the start of July.
- 11:44Really. There was something like 12 and
- 11:4521 in their previous 33 before getting before sweeping the
- 11:50Padres there. And for a lot of the early part
- 11:53of the season, it was, well, they're just so they're just so
- 11:55banged up. They're just so injured.
- 11:57They are pretty. Healthy like they got Max Muncie
- 12:00back, they got Blake Snell back, they got Taylor Glass now back.
- 12:03Clayton Kershaw is totally sign. Shohei Otani on the bound is
- 12:06working his way up. You would have thought this is
- 12:08when they went into Terminator mode and they built that eight
- 12:11game lead and then they just went to it all away.
- 12:14It still feels possible, right? It feels like they could play
- 12:18the rest of the season the way that the Brewers have been since
- 12:21early July, is it? And they could just flip a
- 12:23switch and be that good. And then if that's the case, I
- 12:26would say maybe they got bored with the regular season.
- 12:30Like if you're so much better than everybody else, it it can
- 12:33happen. No, no doubt.
- 12:34I think it was Friday when you mentioned Clayton Kershaw.
- 12:36I want to go back there because just I can't tell you how many
- 12:39times in the last couple of years of just this guy's washed.
- 12:41This guy's washed. But man, he was so good on
- 12:44Friday night. Looks like he's like he's not,
- 12:46he's not the the Kershaw that just dominated the league.
- 12:49But boy, oh boy, the the Dodgers are going to need him for the
- 12:52stretch running into the playoffs.
- 12:54And you know when you watch him, he's still got it.
- 12:58Yeah, it's funny how much slower he throws now.
- 13:01He's one of the softest tossers in the league.
- 13:03It's like Rich Hill up there accepted better.
- 13:06He just. Yeah, he just has so much know
- 13:09how as a pitcher. And.
- 13:10And that was one of the things that when he was prime Kershaw,
- 13:14when he was an absolute machine, it was that he was always
- 13:18cerebral. He knew how to set guys up, how
- 13:21to carve them up. He was so good on the mental
- 13:23side, but his physical tools were that great, too.
- 13:26And it was a combination of that that made him just an absolute
- 13:28monster. Well, we're seeing the mental
- 13:31part of it now and he still has enough to get it up there 899091
- 13:35But it's mostly just because he has that know how.
- 13:39And as long as he's feeling good, he's going to be able to
- 13:41to give you outings like that. I don't know about consistently
- 13:45the rest of the season. I still don't trust.
- 13:47It's hard to trust. Like he's definitely not going
- 13:50to get hurt the rest of the year or in the playoffs.
- 13:51You can't really trust that. But as long as he's healthy,
- 13:56it's not surprising to see him go up there.
- 13:58Throw up zeros for five. 6th inning.
- 14:00The Royals did what they're supposed to over the weekend.
- 14:02You beat up the crappy White Sox.
- 14:03That's what you're supposed to do.
- 14:05I looked at this, though. We know all season long it's
- 14:07been an offensive issue. A lot of guys starting to heat
- 14:10up. Over the last 30 days, the
- 14:12Royals have scored the fifth most runs in Major League
- 14:15Baseball. I mean, unthinkable, right?
- 14:17But that's what they are right now.
- 14:19They're above 500. Still quite a bit of work to do
- 14:22to get back into the playoff mix and and chasing, obviously the
- 14:25Yankees. Can you buy it, though, that the
- 14:27Royals have a final push here over the last six weeks?
- 14:31I could, yeah. Four games out of a playoff spot
- 14:34right now, the Yankees haven't exactly been reliable now that
- 14:38it won five or six last week. So maybe the things are feeling
- 14:41good again. Again, Mariners, Not I, I, I
- 14:45like the Mariners. I think they'll win the West,
- 14:47but they're not exactly reliable.
- 14:48The Astros, I don't think we can feel like they're reliable.
- 14:50The Red Sox, they're not reliable.
- 14:52It feels like there's a decent chance, and I don't know which
- 14:55one, but there's a decent chance one of those four would have a
- 14:59backslide and then the Royals would have a chance to run them
- 15:02down. I know the Guardians are in
- 15:03between them, but it's only 1/2 game and I I don't.
- 15:05I think the Guardians, they were playing too well and their
- 15:07regression started last week. Hey, I don't think I'm going to
- 15:11be catching my Royals win the AL Central ticket or anything like
- 15:14that, but I they have a chance to sneak into the playoffs here.
- 15:20It's going to be very, very interesting that the offense was
- 15:23a big problem earlier in the year, especially at home.
- 15:26They couldn't score runs at home to save their lives, but now all
- 15:29of a sudden they're hitting. So hey, we'll see.
- 15:32What's going to happen Wrigley Field 5 game series is is there
- 15:35anything to this? I mean, obviously the Cubs are
- 15:38going to have to win all 5. This this was appointment TV and
- 15:41on everybody's calendar for weeks.
- 15:43But yeah, I. Mean it was just two weeks ago.
- 15:46It was like, OK, they've still got that five game series there.
- 15:49I'm inclined. I think one of the two teams is
- 15:51going to win three out of five. I can, the emotional fan of me
- 15:56says. The Cubs are going to lose 4 out
- 15:58of 5, or even all 5. The analyst in me says the
- 16:02Brewers have been playing far too good for far too long, and
- 16:06maybe the regression started yesterday.
- 16:08The Cubs have not been hitting for 6-7 weeks, and the offense
- 16:12is too good to keep scuffling like that.
- 16:13So if both things evened out at the same time, the Cubs could
- 16:16get them four out of five. If that's the case, the division
- 16:20gets down to five games. Maybe that's workable for six
- 16:23weeks. I'm inclined to say the division
- 16:26is over and the Cubs need to just not get their teeth kicked
- 16:29in because then they might be vulnerable in the wild card.
- 16:32It wasn't a gut punch. It was a little bit lower on
- 16:35Wednesday when I saw the news that the Minnesota Twins and the
- 16:39Poland family will not be selling.
- 16:42I've said my piece. I I've got on my tirades.
- 16:45My blood pressure is hopefully back to normal here five days
- 16:48later. Just take me in from your
- 16:50perspective, obviously as a national writer and and seeing
- 16:53the news that came down. It's weird that this has been
- 16:56happening. Like the learners did the same
- 16:58thing with the Nationals, said hey, we're probably going to
- 17:01sell and pulled it back already. Marino did the same thing with
- 17:03the Angels. Hey, I'm going to sell and
- 17:04pulled it back. You the most obvious things are
- 17:09you wonder are they not getting the big enough offer, which I
- 17:12would be shocked on the angels by the way that he didn't get it
- 17:14monster offer or did they change their mind because they're
- 17:18making too much money And if they're making too much money,
- 17:21why aren't they spending more of it on payroll and trying to have
- 17:24a better product on the field? I don't know man, but I I will
- 17:28say Trent, right when I saw the news, you're the first person I
- 17:31thought of and I felt for you. So sorry about that.
- 17:34But man, they used to be the richest ownership group in
- 17:38baseball. Like I think we talked about
- 17:40this back in the early 2000s or something like that.
- 17:44I wish they were better. Maybe since they changed their
- 17:47mind and they want to hold on to the club, they'll do a better
- 17:49job in terms of the stewardship of owning the club.
- 17:53I'm not confident, but I guess I'm trying to.
- 17:58Yeah, yeah. Good stuff.
- 17:59Matt Snyder. Love this segment.
- 18:01Tell you that everyone day, but it's true.
- 18:03We'll talk to you next week. Thank you for doing this.
- 18:05You can follow Matt on X at Matt Snyder, CBS at Matt Snyder, CBS,
- 18:10where he covers MLB. Thank you, Matt.
- 18:13Have a good week, brother. Appreciate it.
- 18:15Take care guys. Good to talk to you, Matt
- 18:16Snyder, CBSSports.com is we talk MLB.
- 18:20All right, Scott Doctorman is coming up next.
- 18:22Talk to Doc covers college football, covers the Hawks.
- 18:26I'm going to pick his brain on the did we talk about in the
- 18:28first segment, the playoffs? We didn't.
- 18:30It got it is getting killed killed.
- 18:33I don't get it. Did you see the note that people
- 18:36that the Big 10 obviously didn't want this to come out, that this
- 18:39is very much in the preliminary stages?
- 18:41This is not something where you know, they got went.
- 18:43Back. I wish it was set in stone.
- 18:44I love it. I, I do too.
- 18:46And again, I know this part of me is very selfish as we talked
- 18:49about with what the Big 10 wants to do with the 16 team playoff
- 18:53and the ability, but for everybody from mid range to
- 18:56lower range teams, this is realistic.
- 18:59This is good for the ACC, the Big 12 and everybody outside of
- 19:03the blue bloods in the SEC, in the Big 10.
- 19:05This is what you want. This is an attainable goal for
- 19:07now. Everybody.
- 19:09We talked about the Iowa perspective.
- 19:11Being in your top six of an 18 team league, that's doable.
- 19:14Doable. But if you're Rutgers, your
- 19:17chance, your only chance of being in the playoff is probably
- 19:20to go like 6 and three, right? And have a couple of breaks.
- 19:23And the right wins. And the right wins and you can
- 19:25get there. Same thing for Cal and Stanford
- 19:28and on and on and on. This is the new reality.
- 19:32And for so many programs, I'm just surprised that we haven't
- 19:35seen these middle and these lower tier teams kind of work
- 19:39together because this is something that everybody
- 19:41actually has a shot at. You've got that aspect of it and
- 19:45I and I see where you're coming from.
- 19:46You know where I look, I come from, I'm a college football
- 19:48fan. I see championship Saturday
- 19:50having 12 games and then we're down to a 12 team playoff, which
- 19:54is exactly where we were last year.
- 19:56I do not get the pushback. I truly don't.
- 19:59I think people don't really dive deep into what it would look
- 20:03like. Conference championship games
- 20:04are meaningless. Meaningless in the SEC and the
- 20:07Big 10. They don't matter one iota.
- 20:11And in a 16 team structure, which we will get to, they won't
- 20:15matter at all. So what do we do to make this
- 20:18work? Basically, you can masquerade a
- 20:2024 or even 2018 playoff with championship Saturday.
- 20:24It just has a different look to it.
- 20:26And if it leads to cross divisional as opposed to Iowa,
- 20:31Indiana, as opposed to an Iowa State, Oklahoma State to get
- 20:35into a playoff instead, that becomes Iowa against Ole Miss.
- 20:39Iowa State, South Carolina. Then we're having a different
- 20:43conversation, I think, for everybody.
- 20:45And I don't think it kills the minor Bulls because it's still
- 20:48enough time. And the Bulls, like them or not,
- 20:51they're powerful. ESPN wants programming.
- 20:55I don't think it kills them. I don't understand the Yanks.
- 20:58Dr. Manex Miller and Condon, Iowa Sports Radio Network.
- 21:08Just past 130 on a Monday Miller and cond in Iowa sports radio
- 21:12network wherever listening in the state of Iowa.
- 21:14Grateful that you are trust you'll keep it right here as off
- 21:18the bench coming up to until 5 Sean Roberts and Lucas strain.
- 21:22Let's talk to our friend Scott document.
- 21:24He covers college football etcetera for the big for the
- 21:28athletic and he joins us doctor Trenton Ken, good to speak with
- 21:32you, Doc had a caller off air asked me to ask you and I said
- 21:36to him, it's very timely because you reposted your piece on the
- 21:40television properties and how these games are selected earlier
- 21:43today. His question for you was the
- 21:46Penn State Iowa game and the likelihood of it being a night
- 21:51game. And as he pointed out, NBC has
- 21:53already claimed USC, Notre Dame and Penn State Iowa seemingly
- 21:58has a bigger name, cash or cachet behind it, The Big 10
- 22:02network. What's the likelihood of Penn
- 22:04State Iowa being under the lights?
- 22:07Or where could you see this doc? Well, it's not going to kick off
- 22:11in prime time. I mean, it's just not.
- 22:14It would both teams would have to really fall apart for it to
- 22:17get to that level. You know, now there are some
- 22:20pretty interesting games going on that day when you have Ohio
- 22:25State, Wisconsin, but I think Wisconsin's going to be
- 22:27floundering at that point. Washington and Michigan and just
- 22:31got some cache and I'm in Penn State and Iowa.
- 22:33And I think, you know, Penn State and Iowa is going to be at
- 22:36minimum out of those three, the second best game, if not #1 so
- 22:40that to me, me looks like it's more of ACBS or Fox game than it
- 22:44is a than it is an NBC prime time game.
- 22:48So I mean, for the now, what is interesting when those two teams
- 22:52play is they have finished up under the light every time since
- 22:566:00 to four, since 2004 games every time either mid afternoon
- 23:01or you know, or evening. So it'd be a real change if they
- 23:05go to Fox. But you know, if Penn State's
- 23:08undefeated and they're coming to Iowa City, I I'd say out of that
- 23:12list that that has a really good shot of being the big noon
- 23:15kickoff. Doc, let's take it a step
- 23:17further. The other monster matchup coming
- 23:19in, in the top 10 preseason team when Oregon comes in because you
- 23:23can say it both ways. You want to see Iowa under the
- 23:25lights and how many November upsets they pulled in that
- 23:28scenario. However, an 11 AM Central
- 23:31kickoff means 9:00 AM body clock for the Ducks.
- 23:34What do you think Kirk Ference's preference would be?
- 23:36He always wants 11:00, right? Well, I'm sure he wants, you
- 23:40know, get up and at an early hour and and play and then go
- 23:43home and do whatever. But that one, yeah, that one to
- 23:48me is more most likely a big noon.
- 23:50And and that's again now Indiana plays Penn State that day.
- 23:55That's got some, you know, kind of some cache.
- 23:57But I think and and you never know with Nebraska and UCLA if
- 24:00Nebraska is rolling or something, you know, so things
- 24:03can change. That's why they have the 12 day
- 24:05window. But speaking here from August
- 24:0818th, I would say Oregon at Iowa is OR Indiana, Penn State is Big
- 24:15Noon. And then I'm not sure which
- 24:17network has a number two choice, You know, so if Penn State and
- 24:21Indiana are both top ten top 15 teams and maybe Oregon's decent
- 24:26and Iowa's OK, then yeah, I could see it end up in prime
- 24:29time. But it it's really about which
- 24:32which network has the number one Twitter week and I just don't
- 24:35know at this point. Yeah, November 8th at NBCS got
- 24:37Navy at Notre Dame at 6:30, So I'm not sure if that.
- 24:40Factor is OK. Yeah, that, that absolutely.
- 24:43Does we would. Absolutely.
- 24:44I mean, yeah, 'cause then, then there nobody's going to go in
- 24:47prime time. I mean, you know, and then so
- 24:49that now, now maybe FS1 or something might, but Oregon,
- 24:52Iowa is going to be one of the two best games of the day in the
- 24:57Big 10 at this point. You know, something could
- 24:59change, but at this point, it's two of the most marketable
- 25:02games, let's put it that way. Doc, what are Trent and I
- 25:04missing? And we we defer to you because
- 25:07you're much smarter than these things.
- 25:08And Trent and I are when they when the word, I guess leaked
- 25:11the big 10 plan or or drawing board, if you will, 24 to 28.
- 25:16I just see an expansion of championships Saturday and then
- 25:19we get down to 12 is which we are.
- 25:21I don't think it kills the minor bowl games.
- 25:24There's still room for seven and six, six and six in Memphis at
- 25:27the Liberty Bowl. And ESPN needs programming.
- 25:30I guess I don't understand why there's so much angst.
- 25:34Is it strictly because of the the guaranteed spots that we're
- 25:38getting pushback on the surface? I love the idea of expansing, of
- 25:42expanding Championship weekend, because championship games, for
- 25:45the most part, conference championship games in early
- 25:48December, aren't, aren't, I'm not say, useless, but they're
- 25:51not worth what they were meant to be, I don't think.
- 25:55Man, that's that's some good. Points.
- 25:57I think right now, I think there's a general angst and
- 26:01fatigue about anything the Big 10 proposes.
- 26:04The. Different sizable because,
- 26:07because there's been so much panning on their plan of the
- 26:10auto bids that now it's like, are you kidding me?
- 26:13You're going to expand it now to 2428 and, and, and I think
- 26:17that's part of the issue right now is that the big 10's kind of
- 26:21going out alone and and 28 just sounds to me so much different
- 26:25than than 24. I think 24 could have some
- 26:28backing, but, but remember we're only barely a year removed from
- 26:324:00 and then so we're really making some quick changes here
- 26:36from 4:00 to to 12 to probably 16 to 28, you know, so I can see
- 26:42the resistance in this and it's probably not in the Big 10's
- 26:47best interest to push for it right now.
- 26:49Maybe in six years, maybe in 10 years, you kind of see how the
- 26:5216 team field lines up, but. It also is.
- 26:56Is kind of a bait and switch and I I think it's the wrong time
- 27:00for it now all things being considered.
- 27:03This is this was more of a preliminary discussion among the
- 27:0780s and Petiti and and not something that they're just like
- 27:12hammering out there that this is what we're going to throw on the
- 27:15table. And and so I think they're
- 27:17pretty miffed that it got out because they weren't really
- 27:20planning on formalizing it. They haven't even talked to the
- 27:23other conferences. So I think you know, it's got a
- 27:26long way to go. I just don't see it getting off
- 27:28the ground at this stage. Now in five to six years, if
- 27:31we're all on the right side of the grass is Hayden Frywood,
- 27:35then maybe we'll see something change out of.
- 27:37You know, Doc, one thing that I brought up with all these
- 27:39different proposals is I guess the surprise that the mid tier
- 27:44program, solid programs, the Wisconsin's, the Iowa's, the,
- 27:48you know, old misses and Missouri's from the SEC.
- 27:50And then the lower tier programs.
- 27:52Why they don't band together because all these programs
- 27:55outside of the Blue Bloods expansion you would think would
- 27:58help their product. Is there any shot in this
- 28:00iteration that Rutgers is ever going to make a playoff that
- 28:03Mississippi State can? I mean, we can go on and on.
- 28:07The chances of making a 12 team playoff are difficult, but
- 28:09there's something attainable for everybody in this kind of model.
- 28:12Why haven't we seen that the mid and and lower tier programs kind
- 28:15of band together and say, let's expand this thing even further?
- 28:20There has been to an extent with the reason why I mean every
- 28:24single Big 10 program is behind Tony Petit, no exception.
- 28:28They all believe in Petiti, which is why that they like the
- 28:32the guarantees going into the 16 teams, which is 4.
- 28:36Now that's that's difficult. That's for a Rutgers, that may
- 28:41be a real challenge, but I would say before last year and it
- 28:44would have been a real challenge for Indiana too and Illinois
- 28:47potentially and and, and those schools.
- 28:49So I think they're all in it together when it comes to this.
- 28:53Now, as far as expanding way beyond 16, that's that's
- 28:57something you, you're fundamentally changing the
- 28:59sport. Like, you know, that that will,
- 29:02if not completely end, you know, bowl games, it will radically
- 29:07change them. I don't, you know, the G5 may
- 29:09have them at some point, but but I think that that really changes
- 29:14the system. And I'm not sure everybody's
- 29:16ready for that yet. But I know at the big 10 level
- 29:19and, and the SEC feels the same way at its level as everybody's
- 29:22kind of rallying behind their leadership.
- 29:24And, and I think, but they got to figure out what to do next
- 29:28without and, and right now they're, they're kind of a ways
- 29:31off on that. Doc, I want to ask you this and
- 29:34I'm, I'm guessing that, you know, because you've got most of
- 29:36Iowa's schedule not maybe committed to memory, but you
- 29:38know, is there, is there a game maybe that's sneaking up on some
- 29:43Hawkeye fans that, you know, that maybe it's the Rutgers game
- 29:48or maybe it's the Michigan State game on Senior Day that, that
- 29:52they're Hawkeye fans. Well, that's an easy one.
- 29:55Is there a team that is there? Is there a game that maybe is
- 29:58getting slept on a little bit as to as far as I was difficulty of
- 30:02of advancing. Not saying that they can't win,
- 30:04but but but but don't overlook this one type of game.
- 30:08There's a lot of them. I mean, this is a challenging
- 30:11schedule, no question. And I, I, I guess you'd start,
- 30:15you know, Rutgers. I, I mean, I can make a case for
- 30:17any of the games that to be a little too, you know, a little
- 30:20more challenging than you think. I mean, Rutgers is a physical
- 30:23team and it's, it's got some veterans and I think it can be
- 30:26very competitive, you know, on that game.
- 30:29But I also think if Iowa plays at a high level, it wins.
- 30:32We all know the difficulties associated with Oregon and
- 30:35Indiana and Penn State. I would say, you know, going to
- 30:39to Camp Randall, you know, a team that is really what the the
- 30:43target on Iowa in the offseason and how it prepares and that
- 30:47that's going to be more challenging.
- 30:48But if you're to ask me one game that I think is getting a little
- 30:51overlooked that is going to be could has the potential to be
- 30:55much more difficult than people expect.
- 30:56That's USD on the road, you know, playing.
- 30:59I mean, when you look at what USC did last year and and you
- 31:04know what they were, they won seven games, including their
- 31:06bowl. But but you know, some of these
- 31:08games, I mean, they, they only lost in overtime by three points
- 31:11to Penn State. They lost at the very end of the
- 31:13game to Michigan by three points.
- 31:16You know, the Notre Dame, they had two picks, sixes in the
- 31:19fourth quarter and lost by two touchdowns.
- 31:21You know, they, they, you know, lost by, you know, 5 at
- 31:24Washington. I I mean, they had a pretty
- 31:28inconsistent season, but they were right there.
- 31:30And we know the talent level that USC has.
- 31:32And if they figure out quarterback, this could be a
- 31:35very dangerous team. It may be a team that's on the
- 31:37cusp of the playoffs. So I think going to the Memorial
- 31:40Coliseum, we know Iowa traditionally has struggled in
- 31:44that part of the country when it goes on the road and it will be
- 31:46an earlier game. It won't be a night game.
- 31:48But I I think that's and it's their homecoming.
- 31:51So I think that's something that you've really got to be
- 31:53cognizant of. Not to give everybody anxiety
- 31:56here in the middle of August when you got other games coming
- 31:59out, but that's one to watch for.
- 32:01Julian saying gets the starting nod for Ohio State.
- 32:04This one went deeper, I think than some people anticipated
- 32:07with Lincoln kind Holtz the kid from South Dakota pushing him
- 32:10there. What are your expectations for
- 32:12saying here and and how close do you think or, or how long of a
- 32:15leash maybe is he going to have as the starter with the
- 32:17Buckeyes? A significantly long 1.
- 32:21You know, they they went through this competition in true
- 32:24fashion. They were not going to give him
- 32:27the job, even though he was the odds on favorite and and kind
- 32:30Holtz really performed well and and I think it was impressive
- 32:34that he battled it the way he did.
- 32:35And I think he still got a pretty good future, you know,
- 32:39somewhere else probably next year to be a player for a few
- 32:43years at another school. He's he's a really good quality,
- 32:46you know, quarterback and but you know, Julian fan won this
- 32:49job. He was, you know, five star.
- 32:52The expectations for him are to do exactly what other Ohio State
- 32:54quarterbacks, you know, have had to go through and that is win
- 32:57the national title and beat Michigan.
- 32:59If you don't do either one of those, then then you're second
- 33:02tier. So I think no pressure and and
- 33:07plus you're playing the number one team in the country when in
- 33:09your first career start. So I think he's got a lot on his
- 33:13plate, but he's very, very talented.
- 33:15He's going, you know, he's going to be it wouldn't surprise me at
- 33:19all at the end of the year, if you go wow, he's first team all
- 33:21big 10 because he's he's just that talented.
- 33:23What he got coming up this week, Doc at The Athletic.
- 33:27A ton and one couple of stories we we me and Sam Khan kind of
- 33:32worked on related to money over a 20 year period and the
- 33:36escalation of costs and and athletic budgets.
- 33:40Bowl projections are slated to come out later this week.
- 33:42I just finished those up so that it should give some pretty good
- 33:46fun stuff there. Seth Emerson and I wrote an SEC
- 33:50Big 10 Challenge Part 2 and what if the teams played and where
- 33:53they would play on neutral sites and working on a couple.
- 33:57I oh, Farmageddon. I wrote my version of
- 33:59Farmageddon. So we will have a reporter
- 34:02there, Chris Camroni. So anyway, it's yeah, we're in
- 34:06the season mode now, so there's a lot coming down from my end.
- 34:10Good stuff. Scott Dockerman, appreciate it.
- 34:12As always, talk with you next week.
- 34:13Thank you, Doc. Have a great week.
- 34:15Yeah, you too. Thanks guys.
- 34:16Yeah, thank you, Scott Dockerman for The Athletic.
- 34:18As we check in on CFB, take your time out, trends, plays of the
- 34:21day. They're next.
- 34:22Miller and Condon, Iowa Sports Radio Network That's right,
- 34:27there's Monday Night Football. I figured they'd.
- 34:30Get the juices about that Cincinnati and who Washington
- 34:34Wash Washington For those of you in the state of.
- 34:37Iowa Mr. Monday Night is ready. No, no, no.
- 34:39Why? You can tune up.
- 34:40Yeah, yeah, OK. It's.
- 34:43Preseason. Preseason.
- 34:46Mr. Monday Night loves the commanders, do you?
- 34:49What's the number? 3 1/2 Now here's the reason
- 34:51here. They're giving laying okay.
- 34:54So it comes down to laying with Cincinnati, sorry, Cincinnati.
- 35:00It comes down to backup quarterbacks.
- 35:01Both starters are going to play. We're going to see Borough
- 35:03tonight. We're going to see Daniels.
- 35:04That means I'll be watching tonight, but also Mr. Monday
- 35:08Night. He likes to dig a little deeper.
- 35:10He sees that we'll get to see Jake Browning competent, maybe
- 35:13even a tick higher. And Desmond Ritter is their
- 35:16third quarterback. That's pretty good.
- 35:18After we get to see Jane Daniels do his thing, it's Marcus
- 35:22Mariota. Normally he's not going to play.
- 35:25So it comes down to Josh Johnson, who's on what is 18th
- 35:29NFL team been around forever and Sam Hartman.
- 35:32I've seen Sam Hartman, good hair, got a good quarterback,
- 35:35good hair, though, good care, great head of hair.
- 35:39Get away it. Give me the Bengals minus the
- 35:41three in the hook. Mr. Monday night's going to
- 35:43preseason it up here. And then 2IN baseball.
- 35:46I'm going to lay the -1 O3 with your Blue Jays and Kevin Gossman
- 35:50against Paul Skeens tonight in Pittsburgh and I'll wrap it up
- 35:54with a + 130. This is a fate of Jack Flaherty.
- 35:57We will grab the plus money with the Astros tonight plus 1/30.
- 36:01All right, the Cubs and the Brewers are underway game one of
- 36:03their doubleheader today. There's no score.
- 36:05The Brewers batting top of the third.
- 36:07Kate Horton has three strikeouts thus far of his seven outs.
- 36:12He's going to make it. I think Trent, he's.
- 36:14Pretty good at the Oklahoma kid, huh?
- 36:16Unbelievable. Good stuff.
- 36:18All right, so Monday Night Football tonight, a little
- 36:20baseball action tonight. You know, I guess I didn't
- 36:24realize that the Royals aren't creeping close.
- 36:26Yes. I mean, there's a math they're
- 36:29not out of. It they're not out of it and
- 36:30they keep hitting the ball like they have, they're going to be
- 36:33right there because they're staffed.
- 36:34The rotation, the bull tent bullpen is all very good.
- 36:37It's not better than good throughout the course of this
- 36:39year. Let's hope we get that.
- 36:42It would be good to have the Royals in the mix and and just
- 36:45fighting the Yankees. How cool that be down the.
- 36:47Stretch. The big bad Yankees against the
- 36:49Kansas City Royals. Love.
- 36:50To see it. And then maybe Bobby Witt can
- 36:52come back and. No, he's such a good player.
- 36:55He is such a good player. What's the price of admission?
- 36:57Yep. Hopefully Elliot Cleff will join
- 36:59us tomorrow. He covers Iowa.
- 37:01We'll talk to Elliot at some point.
- 37:04We'll we're going to head to get Brent Bloom from Ireland.
- 37:07I believe Brent's going to come on Thursday.
- 37:08We'll get Heather, who's there on Friday to kick off the show,
- 37:12get a little taste of it live vicariously through those two
- 37:15people. You got a little melancholy over
- 37:17there. You're kind of wish you know
- 37:18what it is. FOMO.
- 37:19It's not the game. It's really not.
- 37:21Yes, because we know you'd leave, right?
- 37:23Yeah. Go watch it in your hotel room.
- 37:26It's the bars. Yes, it's the old.
- 37:29It's the old buildings, the old bars.
- 37:31It's the the landscapes. That's the water.
- 37:34It's the mountains. It's it's the country.
- 37:37I would love to see it. Are you?
- 37:39Do you have Irish heritage? I believe so.
- 37:41Either Irish or. Scottish, Yeah.
- 37:43Yeah, I was never into that. Never had to.
- 37:46Do this. Yeah, my dad had it on the wall
- 37:48and he tried. I I mean he did nothing for me.
- 37:51Rolled back to the your eyes rolled back to the back of your
- 37:53head. Right.
- 37:55Good stuff. All right off the bench is
- 37:58coming up next. Are you playing in that?
- 38:02A beck for another year. The old man, what they call that
- 38:04thing the video game link. The video game link.
- 38:06Yes, the old man is going to give it a go.
- 38:08You are. The old guy in this thing.
- 38:09Of course, really made a run last.
- 38:12Year 40s and you're considered the old dude.
- 38:14I'm the old dude by decades. The young man's game, you.
- 38:18Know is changing. That's good.
- 38:20Yes, it is good. All right, and hopefully I get a
- 38:22chance to whoop Sean's ass again this year.
- 38:24Did you last year just dominated?
- 38:26He's terrible at a boy. They're next.
- 38:28We're Miller and Condon Trenton, I talk sports with you Monday
- 38:31through Friday, noon to two. Thanks for being with us on the
- 38:34Iowa Sports Radio Network.