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Say Who, Say Pod, Ep. 203 · Say Who, Say Pod

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_03: Pod.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome back to another episode of Say Who Say Pod.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_03: He's Danny O'Neill, not in a sports coat.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Christian Caple.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's mid-July.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_03: Can we call it the Ides of July?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is that allowed?
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: That feels about right.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: The Ides of July.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Beware the Ides of July.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_03: In 15 days,
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_03: Jed Fish and DeMond Williams Jr.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_03: and Landon Hatchett and Jacob Manu are going to Put on suits and talk to reporters
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: at the Hilton in Chicago, Big Ten Media Day.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'll be there.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_03: This is, uh, what earth?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: Second to last, third to last show where we're not going to be talking about football practice?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, before we get into the actual preparations,
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: the dry runs to get ready, we'll get to talk about practice.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk about practice.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about practice.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Not yet, though.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: How fired up are you for Saturday,
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: September 5th,
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: where you just get to watch a whole day of college football and don't have to worry
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: about watching your team,
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: knowing you get to wake up the next day
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_03: and watch your team play its first football game?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: This could be a bit of a unique opening weekend experience.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: It will.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I love September football.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think each month has its own sort of rhythm to it,
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: but September football is just the best because it's still warm and you're on
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: the shoulder of summer and it's just getting ramped up
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: and there's something unbelievably pleasant about September football.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have a favorite UW season opener?
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_03: It was occurring to me before they played Auburn in 2018,
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: I was like,
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'm going to do a story on this might be their biggest opener ever,
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_03: just in terms of like quality of opponent and expectations for the season
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: and everything.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: And I kind of did a look back at like the other candidates for that and was struck
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: that there haven't been a lot of season open,
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: like really big season opening games over the years.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like one of my favorite is the 93.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: And some of that's because it's the year that I enrolled.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: But 93, they played Stanford in the opener.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's the first game of Jim Lambright.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a great deal of anger toward Bill Walsh,
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: which for some very strange reason, I really enjoyed.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think he'd given a quote about and referred to Washington as a mercenary program.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so there was...
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: If I remember right,
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think he sent Lambright a case of wine after he was quoted saying that by way
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: of apology.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: But I remember how fired up people were for that 93 season opener.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: I remember,
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: it's kind of embarrassing now because it's an absurd,
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: but there were t-shirts being sold that said, no justice, no peace.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: People were so sour about the probation.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't buy one of the shirts.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember the Daily Sports editor at the time, Jay Maybory.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think he even wrote an editorial about how it was embarrassing to use
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: a civil rights slogan to complain getting in trouble
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: for illegally compensating football players.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: But I really enjoyed the theater of that Washington-Stanford game,
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: and Washington kicked the crap out of them, which was fantastic.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_03: You know who will never have to send a case of wine to anybody by means of apology?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_03: Danny.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: I got a pretty good idea.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Are they located in Shoreline?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: They are.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: They also happen to have been locally owned and operated since 1964
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_03: and are family owned and operated by a family of University of Washington graduates.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_03: We're talking, of course, about Chuck Olson Kia.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_03: In Shoreline with a friendly low-pressure sales staff and
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_03: a competitively priced selection of vehicles.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: We hope you will make Chuck Olson Kia in Shoreline your next vehicle buying destination.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: When you do, ask for our friend Henry Olson.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_03: And when you talk to Henry, tell him your favorites.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: Season opening UW football memory and tell them that Say Who Say Pod sent you.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: This episode of Say Who Say Pod is also brought to you by our friends at Husky Mobile.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: Husky Mobile is partnered directly with the University of Washington
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_03: to offer affordable phone plans for the Husky community with up
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: to 7% We'll see you next time.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks again to Husky Mobile for supporting today's show.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_03: This being July,
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: and this being kind of vacation season,
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: like Jed Fish talked about when he came on with us,
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_03: where it's the four-week weekend.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: We're in a window where coaches can actually get away and recruiting never ends.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: But there are no official visits happening.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: Most of Washington's 2027 class is wrapped up,
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: not fully wrapped up, of course, but the majority is done.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_03: And we're kind of just killing time between Washington.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: We're monitoring goings on in D.C.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_03: and is there going to be a Big Ten SEC breakaway and all these sort of things.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: There's always stuff running in the background.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_03: But we're sort of just, we're in clock management here.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: We're handing the ball off up the middle.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: We're using the whole play clock.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: We're just trying to get through these last couple weeks of July where there's not
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_03: a lot happening and we get to training camp.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: So in that spirit, I've got a gimmick for you.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_03: I've got some hypotheticals.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: Let's do it.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm all for it.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_03: I'm going to throw your way.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: I was thinking about this as I was walking the dog earlier because it was still in the 60s.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's supposed to be 85 here today.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'd like to get a walk in before it gets too warm outside.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: Hypothetical number one,
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_03: which player from the Chris Peterson era,
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_03: so the 2014 through 2019 seasons,
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: and we're going to say you can't use the players he recruited in 2020
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: who he never actually coached, like Romo Dunze and such.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_03: Which player from the Chris Peterson era would you add to the 2026 roster, if you could?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: Ooh.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: Ooh.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: God, that's a great question.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: Miles Gaskin's in there, isn't he?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_03: So...
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_03: I was thinking Miles Gaskin and John Ross were the two that came immediately to mind.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Couldn't go wrong with either one of them.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think given the overall,
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: the way I feel about Jed Fish and his passing offense, I think I'd go Gaskin.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think having a running back like Gaskin on this team would take what could be
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: a good situation.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: I don't feel that there's necessarily deficiency there, but there's a lot of unknown.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And put in one of the most consistent producers that Washington's ever had in school history.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think Gaskin's my answer.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's probably where I would go to.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_03: A guy who's, you know, Miles Gaskill was good at a lot of things.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_03: If we're ranking his traits, you're probably putting vision slash feel number one.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_03: A guy who excelled at that.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_03: At an elite level in Jed Fish's wide zone running scheme,
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_03: I think would kind of be a match made in heaven.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_03: He could also,
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: probably an underutilized receiver out of the backfield throughout his career,
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_03: I think would really take this offense to the next level.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: Boy, it's hard to turn down Vita Vea.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what I was just going to say.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Vita Vea, but I would even go hard to turn down Buda Baker.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_03: So where are you seeing the largest gap in value above replacement, essentially?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: Is Buda Baker better enough than their safeties?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_03: Is Vita Vea better enough than their interior defensive linemen
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: to justify taking either one of those guys over, Myles Gaskin or John Ross?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Vita potentially, probably not Buda.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a compliment to Alex McLaughlin.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: How good I think he is as a centerfield safety.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: But Vita, Vita's a rare bird.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: It might be the only time he's ever compared to a bird.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Vita is a rare kind of player,
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: a guy at that size that can play with the motor that he played with,
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: that can be a run-stuffing defensive tackle but still disrupt the way he does.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: You just don't see many defensive tackles that are as disruptive.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he could have come out after a sophomore year and he's probably a first-round pick.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: You're also,
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_03: you're cycling through,
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_03: like, Sidney Jones, Kevin King, Byron Murphy would be one I would consider.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_03: You know,
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_03: Taylor Rapp was a great player, but, like,
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_03: if you're not going to take Buda, you're not going to take any other safety, right?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_03: Elijah Molden, Miles Bryant.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, Elijah Molden was pretty elite playing nickel.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: But I think you really like what you've got in Rashawn Clark coming back.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_03: So maybe the value above replacement doesn't work out there.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: You know, not Chris Peterson era, not really known for its dominant edge rushers.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Joe Mathis for like five games before he got hurt.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: You got Kakaha though, right?
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: You do?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, that's right.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Is he a Chris Peterson player, though?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because he didn't get recruited by Chris, right?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_03: He counts.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, he played the 2014 season.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_03: So, you're right.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_03: Haole Kikaha should be considered.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe that's someone we're overlooking a little bit.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sticking with Gaskin.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: The importance of a bell cow running back, you can't over... That is a valuable, valuable trait.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: I go with Gaskin.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Final answer.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: There's a world where you might see five games of Quade Carr and think,
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not saying Quade Carr is going to prove in five games that he's as good
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: as Myles Gaskin,
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: but you might see him in five games be good enough where you're like,
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_03: oh, I didn't realize how good Quade Carr was.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_03: Nobody's really Myles Gaskin,
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: but he's good enough that I actually think they could use more help at receiver.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_03: I actually think someone who can stretch the field like John Ross is more valuable.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_03: Shaq Thompson had one of the all-time great seasons by UW linebacker,
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_03: really by UW player ever in 2014 in Chris Peterson's first season.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_03: But if you could make this hypothetical move,
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_03: the football roster construction genie comes down and lets you do this,
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know that you burn it on someone who's going to play linebacker
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_03: on this 2026 team.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: If I was going to rebut my argument about Myles Gaskin,
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: the example would be,
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: look at the NFL,
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: and running backs,
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: not to say that they're replaceable,
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: but it is easier at running back than any other position to get a guy...
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: That you don't expect to be a star or you think might be a significant step down
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: who comes in and is every bit as good.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that has to do with the how much running backs success depends on other components.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's helped by a passing game and it requires a dominant offensive line.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: So if you get someone like Myles Gaskin, yeah,
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: like you get the best college running back that that I think Washington,
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: the best guy over that period, the best runner was Myles Gaskin.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: But the second best runner over that period,
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: put in that same situation,
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: you wouldn't have as much of a gap, perhaps, as you think.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Or Quaid Carr could be absolutely a thriving running back and make you feel like,
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: boy,
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: it would be nice to have John Ross' speed because he could take the top off
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: of defenses.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: Hypothetical number two.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: Which player from the 2023 roster would you add to the 2026 roster if you could?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: Romo Dunze.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Romo Dunze.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because the idea of what you could do with...
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, am I basing that on how highly I think of Rome as a player?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: That I think Rome's the best football player that's been at Washington in the past 20 years.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not taking...
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Wide receiver is an extreme value, but I'm not taking into account the gap.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: So if it wasn't going to be him...
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: If you put Trice in there, because you did have some pass rushers on that team.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_03: Some of it depends on what your expectation for DeMond Williams is this season, right?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, some of it depends on what you expect Cody Green, too.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're talking about a tackle.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a first-round draft pick at tackle.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: You put a first-round draft picket tackle
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: next to John Mills.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: What does that look like?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's the right answer, is Fautonu.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Even if that means Cody Green plays somewhere else.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: The right answer is Troy Fautonu.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_03: So you think Fautonu over...
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_03: Because, I mean,
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_03: the expectation,
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure, is that Cody Green's going to be a first-round tackle, too.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: He is a true freshman.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_03: With Fautana,
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_03: you're obviously talking about someone who's a mere couple months away from being
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: a first-round pick.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: Known quantity.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you're still going to have Cody Green on the field.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_03: Dunze does slot right into one of the very few positions on this team
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_03: that is still unsettled,
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_03: that you don't know who your starter is going into training camp.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_03: That's hard to turn down.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: You have him and Roebuck playing together?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: It is funny that I have not mentioned Michael Penix.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_03: So that's what I was getting at with DeMond.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, are you expecting DeMond Williams to be at a level this year
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: where you wouldn't take what most consider the greatest quarterback
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: in school history over him?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_03: Or would you feel like you can get better value at a different position?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_03: There's the idea too,
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_03: and this is like,
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: I say this only because I think this is something that as
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_03: a football observing community,
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_03: we underrate how valuable really, really good receivers are to your quarterback.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_03: An elite quarterback cannot make a receiver core.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: You have to surround that guy with really good players.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_03: And if you surround him with really good players,
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_03: they're going to allow him to be the best version of himself.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: Michael Penix Jr. was surrounded with the best receiver core in school history.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_03: And you could, you know, it was a symbiotic relationship, right?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_03: Romo Dunze and Jalen Polk and Jalen McMillan,
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_03: and I'd add Jack Westover and Devin Culp to that,
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_03: Giles Jackson at times, Jeremy Bernard at times, Denzel Boston just a little bit.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_03: They were able to thrive and be the best version of themselves and feature the way
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_03: that they did because they had a quarterback who could put the ball on a dime in
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: a You know, throw it through the hole at the carnival, right?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_03: Put it exactly where it needed to be with the exact right pace,
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_03: exactly positioned away from the defender.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_03: But Michael Penix Jr.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_03: could make a lot of the throws he made because he had elite receivers who were going
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_03: to win contested catches.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_03: And It worked because both sides were elite,
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: but you take the great receiver talent away from Michael Penix and does he have
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_03: the season he had in 2022 and 2023?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_03: He's no less of a quarterback, he's no less talented, but the production probably isn't there.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_03: Give Daman Williams Jr. Romo Dunze and Jalen McMillan and Jalen Polk.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_03: Or even just, you know, you give him Denzel Boston last year with two of those guys or whatever.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_03: It's going to help, right?
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not saying Damond Williams Jr.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: instantly becomes Michael Penix Jr.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: Like there are certain skills that you either have or you don't.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_03: And I think we're going to,
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: we're going to kind of find out either way with Damond on a couple
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_03: of those things this year,
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: but like a huge component of it is the talent you have around you,
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_03: the guys you're throwing to.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: The best proof of everything you just said is what you see in the NFL now
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: of how teams prepare young quarterbacks or try to set them up for success,
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: which is in your quarterbacks,
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: if you have a rookie quarterback that you're trying to develop,
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: in his second or third year,
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: you go out and get him a top flight Real top shelf moneymaker receiver.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's what turned the corner with Josh Allen and Buffalo once they got Stephon Diggs.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: That worked so well that Houston tried to do that with Stroud by bringing Diggs in.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: You saw it with Jalen Hurts and A.J.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: Brown.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: The making a move to go and get your quarterback atop...
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: The Tua Tonga-Vailoa.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't end up working out long term for Miami.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: But when they went and got Tyreek Hill, that vaulted Tua up.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: And for a year, you had Miami looking like a team that had a franchise type quarterback.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of that is because of what you just said,
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: which is that having receivers who are able to not just win one-on-one matchups
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: but make defenses adjust to them,
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: it's the best thing you can do for your young quarterback.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Even better than getting him improved protection because giving him someone open
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: to throw to, giving him a target, it just makes such a huge difference.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to stick with Fautanu.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: I do have some reservations because Penix was special.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, really, truly special.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think DeMond has some traits that are different.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: His ability to scramble, enter, is a different factor.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: I do think he has the ability.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: So even if it wasn't Fautano,
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think the next guy would be Romo Dunze because it makes such a huge difference
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: for your quarterback to have guys like that to throw to.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's sort of a similar thing as what we talked about with Quaid Carr, right?
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_03: You might watch a few games and go, whoa, Jordan Clay is legit.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_03: Christian Moss is way better than people realized coming out of the transfer portal
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_03: from Kennesaw State.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_03: Husky fans really have not seen Rashid Williams play much football yet.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_03: He's in his fourth year and he's technically a returning starter,
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_03: but he only got to play basically like a game and two snaps last year,
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_03: a game and a snap, whatever it was.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: He might prove in the first few games that like,
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: oh, yeah, like there's a reason coaches have been excited about this guy.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_03: And you sort of know what Desmond Roebuck is,
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_03: yet are very much expecting him to take the next step
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_03: and probably be their top target this year in the slot.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_03: And you might feel totally different about,
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_03: and I'm not saying like you should be down
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_03: on their receiver talent right now either.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_03: I think it could end up being a pretty deep room.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_03: But in terms of like proven experience, there's just not a lot there.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_03: It's a little bit more of an unknown.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: So, I, you know,
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like they are,
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_03: the belief in their O-line is enough that I don't know that I would use the pick on
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: an O-lineman.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: I'm probably deciding between Penix and Odunze.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_03: But,
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_03: You know, DeJuan Williams Jr. gives you some things that Michael Penix didn't also.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, he does.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: With the running ability.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_03: Although Penix might disagree and say, I was perfectly capable of running.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_03: You know, go look at my 40 time at my pro day.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_03: I just didn't, right?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_03: There's a reason for that.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_03: It was a different offense too, but...
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny because going through my head,
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: what I thought of like, God,
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: are you really going to take the,
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: not pick the Heisman runner up, not pick him to add to the team?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: And the play that just jumps out in my mind is that throw to Taj Davis.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: Hole shot?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: Just...
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: That throw was absurd.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: It's just stupid.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: That might be the—that is one of the craziest throws I've ever seen from
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: a quarterback at any level,
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: of just the physics of it and wondering and even watching it back,
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: like, how the hell did he get it there at that rate?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: It was a frickin' laser.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: I did a story,
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: I think the next week with him,
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_03: where I pulled up clips of— What in my novice opinion were his 10 best throws or 10
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_03: of his best throws that year.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_03: Remember, this is still 2022.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_03: And just asking him like, hey, what's, you know, what was this play?
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_03: What'd you see here?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_03: Why'd you throw it that way?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_03: What'd you see in the defense?
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_03: On that throw to Taj Davis against Oregon that you could see the nickel,
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_03: Bennett Williams, I believe, start to backpedal.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, watch him take his first step is back, and he's not.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_03: That told me I was going to have that split second of window that I needed to get it there.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_03: He's like,
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_03: if he made a great play on it,
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_03: he'd probably break it up, but I knew he wasn't going to intercept it.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_03: I think I said at the time...
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_03: When it left his hand, I thought that's an interception.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: I thought Bennett Williams was going to be in position to make a play on it.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_03: But if you watch it back and see kind of what the,
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_03: the reaction speed that would have been necessary for him to,
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_03: like he was in the vicinity,
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_03: but to actually like translate that to making a play on it,
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: like that, that initial backpedal told him I can, I can make that throw.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: So now the, now the inverse.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_03: Which player from the 2026 roster would you add to the
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: 2023 roster if you could?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_02: You can't pick a receiver because...
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_02: 2023 was so stacked.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: In some ways, it's who helps them beat Michigan.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean,
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: that is,
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: which I would want to say is interior would be sort of stoutness on the defense.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: Is it Manu?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: Potentially.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_03: I think Manu over Tuputala.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_03: Is an upgrade.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_03: Edifu on Ulofosio was a Butkus finalist.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Ulofosio was a great linebacker.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_03: Braylon Trice in ZTF for your starting edge rushers.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: You've got Thule on the interior and kind of a drop-off from there.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: What if I could get Thule healthy for the whole year?
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: If I could get Thule new legs.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_03: Well, then they still would have been 14-0 going into the Michigan game.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: I'm thinking Alex McLaughlin.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_03: I think they're banged up at safety all year in 23.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: And they'd gotten healthy by that year, too.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: I also, their defense did not perform poorly in that game.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: No, it didn't.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: They just got gashed early.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: They got gashed on the first two drives and then really clamped down after that.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_03: Michigan was stuck on 17 for quite a while in that game.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_03: The defense gave them a chance to stick around.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, it is McLaughlin.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's a football player.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like a guy who comes in and it's not his size, his speed.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's the way he plays football.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: That dude's a tackle machine.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like his ability to anticipate and finish plays.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's a good call.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think Alex McLaughlin's the right call.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_03: I think there's a world where you're saying one
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_03: of these corners you would have liked to have paired with Jabbar Muhammad.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_03: He had a great year.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_03: But then, like,
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_03: are you going to take Elijah Jackson off the field against Adonai Mitchell on
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_03: the last play of the Sugar Bowl?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_03: He didn't have the best season, but...
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: But that play, such a big-time play.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think Alex McLaughlin's the right answer.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_03: Another potential runner-up, Hunter Green.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know that You felt like punting was an issue for them.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_03: But I think Hunter Green is like a legitimate potential NFL guy.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_03: And so in a game where you're kind of slogging it out and the offense is sort
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_03: of stuck in neutral,
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_03: a big leg to really flip things and win field position can make a difference.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: I do think I go with McLaughlin.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: I love the way he plays.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: He's such a solid tackler.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: I love the way he tackles.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_03: And again, they won every game before then, so they got through it.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_03: But man, there were some games where...
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_03: Because of the injuries and the safety was dicey at times.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_03: They lost Asa Turner for most of the season.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: Cam Fabiculanan was banged up here and there.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: They had, you know, did have Mikella Steen.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_03: Fabiculanan had a really good,
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: I think the national championship game was one of his better games.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I mean, that sort of clean up center field playmaker they could have used.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_03: Hypothetical number four.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_03: Which player from the 2026 roster would you add to the 2016 roster
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: if you could?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_02: Ooh.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's DeMond.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think so?
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I say that with a lot of respect to Jake Browning because Browning had a great year.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, yeah, it's DeMond.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you're going to beat Alabama in the Peach Bowl,
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: if you're going to beat Alabama in the Peach Bowl,
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: it was going to take a quarterback really being able to turn that defense
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: on its ear.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I only think that comes with DeMond.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, it's DeMond.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: He just, he would have, I mean, DeMond's ceiling this year is pretty freaking high.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Jake Browning played about as well as he possibly could that year.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: And he had a great year.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's something that happens to his arm late in the year.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: I still wonder about that.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like if he was, how healthy he was.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: But for them to beat Alabama,
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: which is kind of what you're talking about,
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: what they lost a home game to USC and then lost to Alabama.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's a quarterback being able to be a difference maker.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's DeMond.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Who would you put?
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_03: Well, but see,
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_03: I don't necessarily disagree about from a matchup perspective with Alabama,
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_03: but you're talking about replacing him for every game they played.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_03: So all those games they won,
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_03: like we're saying that DeMond would give them enough to win every single one
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_03: of those games?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_03: Mm-hmm.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, with that defense and with John Ross, yeah, I take that.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_03: Fair, fair.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_03: So I...
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_03: They obviously had a very good offensive line,
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: although you saw the difference in size and physicality against Alabama.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_03: I'm thinking John Mills.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: Mills, yep.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: I can see that.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_03: You had Trey Adams at his best and healthiest at that point in his career.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_03: You had a healthy and skilled Caleb McGarry at tackle.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Jake Eldrenkamp was really good.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: Of all time.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe you're a little more equipped with a bigger alignment.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_03: I'm thinking too, you know, had an awesome one-two punch with John Ross and Dante Pettis.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: If you add a Desmond Roebuck to that.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_03: Just another weapon in the slot.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_03: And now your offense is maybe a little bit more diverse.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_03: Can't say that.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_03: There were like a ton of weaknesses on that 2016 defense,
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_03: although they still did lack after Joe Mathis went down like that elite pass rusher.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Saul Mwuching did some good
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_02: things at times.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe a Jacob Lane.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, man.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: You give DeMond Williams his skill set.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: I see a lot of big plays out of that.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: You throw in a guy who is that quick and able to run with everything else they had.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I thought Jake had a great year.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think DeMond's a different level of talent.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_03: Hypothetical number five, which player from the 1991 roster are you adding to 2026?
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, Steve Entman?
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_02: That's got to be the only
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_03: answer, right?
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's the only answer.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_03: I ask that half tongue-in-cheek.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I don't... Because that's a pretty
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: easy one.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: Is there any team where Steve Entman wouldn't be the pick?
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's a good question.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_03: Certainly, that's the answer for 2023.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_03: Do you feel like he gives you the most value on the 2016 roster with what they had
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_03: on the interior?
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_03: Like in either of the games they lost,
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_03: did you feel like that's the position they need to upgrade the most where that's
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_03: where a difference could be made?
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: No, but I think the idea of, oh my God, what would you do if he was there too?
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you're talking about three really good interior D linemen
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_03: who all wound up being all conference guys and played in the NFL and
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_03: a College Football Hall of Famer who is widely considered like one of
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_03: the 25 best players of the decade he played in across all of college football.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_03: A Heisman, a literal Heisman, a defensive lineman who was a Heisman finalist.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_03: And I do think like someone like me who didn't watch him,
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_03: wasn't old enough to have watched him,
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_03: probably underrates like just how much better than everybody else he was.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was just, and it was the way, it was how.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because you see speed rushers.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: And speed rushers,
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: there is,
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: having a beautiful edge pass rusher is, I mean,
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: it is one of the biggest advantages that you can get in football is having a guy
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: that can come off the edge.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: But it really, I think the only player that I've seen impact a game like Entman is Aaron Donald.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then Entman, I don't know what their weights were.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Entman struck me as bigger.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: But it was that same sort of like, oh man,
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: like how are you even going to, even as an interior lineman, you can't block him.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: And just so much more powerful.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't think there's any situation,
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: even with a stacked defense,
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: where you wouldn't see like,
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: yeah, throw him in there too and they might score negative points.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_03: Defense hung in there against Alabama.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_03: They sure did.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_03: That's not the reason they lost that game.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: It would have been one of the biggest surprises to me.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: I will never for the life of me understand how Bo Scarborough was not a better pro running back.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: God, he was a monster.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: I don't get it.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't get it at all.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe it's as simple as, hey,
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: he was beat up by the time he got through with Alabama, and that certainly happened.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: But I remember what that dude looked like in that game and my feeling of,
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: like, good luck anybody trying to tackle him going forward.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: So I was going to say,
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_03: maybe Steve Entman stops him on that third and nine where they're backed up
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_03: at their two-yard line or whatever,
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_03: and that's kind of Washington's chance to get a three and out and get back in it.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_03: But someone asked me, I want to say, was this my last mailbag ever?
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_03: Well, the last story I ever published at The Athletic was a mailbag and it was like
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_03: the topic was just something stupid.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: I think it was, I think it was this one.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_03: Someone asked if you could clone any player on the current UW roster.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_03: And this is, they just finished the 2022 season going into 2023.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_03: If you could clone any player on the roster to have him play every position.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_03: So you're going to have 11 of, you know, Joe Smith, 11 of Jane Doe.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_03: What player do you think would give you the best chance to win a game against
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_03: an average college football team?
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_03: And I went with Troy Fautanu.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_03: Because I'm like, well, you basically have to choose a lineman.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_03: You basically have to choose an offensive or defensive lineman.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you don't, you're just going to get outmuscled up front.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be very hard for you to do anything.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_03: You won't be able to do anything.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_03: Like you'll get completely dominated defensively and
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_03: the opponent will just be living in your backfield offensively.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_03: So you have to pick a lineman.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_03: Now, you could pick a defensive lineman.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_03: Because are we talking about like,
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_03: so you get to clone this guy and then you get like a whole winter with him and
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_03: then spring practice with all 11 of him and then,
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_03: you know, a summer and then training camp.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_03: Like you get to,
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_03: you get to like train each individual 11 guys to,
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_03: to gain all the skills that they need to gain at every, you know.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_03: Then we're getting a little far into the rabbit hole there.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_03: But I'm like, okay, it needs to be a lineman.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_03: It needs to be somebody athletic enough to at least attempt to cover an opposing receiver.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_03: So I basically thought it through.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, it's got to be your most athletic lineman, essentially.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: Nick Harris would not be the worst pick.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_03: Nick Harris would be a good,
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_03: that's a good, so I was thinking historically, I'm probably going with Vita Vea.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, man, that's, yeah, I think you're right.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: His feet are so good.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_03: Because you think, okay,
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_03: anybody who plays offensive or defensive line sticking him out on an island trying
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_03: to defend a college receiver is going to be rough.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_03: But if we can send five Vitaveas to the quarterback on every play.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he doesn't have to match up for long.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like I dare you, you know.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I saw Vita Veya drop into coverage last season,
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: and I remember it specifically because he might have even deflected a pass because
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: then he did the seatbelt dance.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_03: To let him know he was
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: buckling him
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_03: down.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_03: Who from this roster then is the answer?
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_03: Because the question at the time was off of the current roster.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'd said Vautana because he was playing
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: for him at the time.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_02: Coleman, Brusa, or Cody Green.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: Coleman, Brusa, or Cody Green.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I say that simply because when you have a guy on the edge, they tend to have better feet.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's the reason John Mills isn't the pick for me.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think you get a little more lateral quickness with either of those two guys,
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: but I think it's one of the two true freshmen.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_03: Giving yourself the size you need to hold up in the trenches,
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_03: those are definitely their two biggest athletic freaks.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_03: So that's probably a good answer.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: When you were saying this,
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: I was trying to think of from when I was in college,
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: and the name that came to me was Bob Sapp.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: Sap's been somewhat, Sap is one of the true characters of UW football.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it's,
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: in some ways,
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: it's too bad that he wasn't on a really good Washington team
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: because he would have become a cult hero.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: He was a lunatic.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: Came there as a defensive lineman, moved to offensive line.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: During one fight, he was fighting a guy named, I think it was Turk Wendell.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, Turk Wendell's a pitcher.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: Jamie, Jamie Wendell.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: And he pulled the guy's face mask off his helmet and
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: then Bob Sapp pulled his own face mask off his helmet to make it equal
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: and wrenched his neck while he was doing it afterwards.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: Bob went on and did like ultimate fighting.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: But the idea of having 11 Bob Saps on the field,
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: because the other thing about Bob is Bob was just a very quirky personality.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: The different Bobs arguing about who would play what spot,
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: like that would be really entertaining.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like you would have,
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: you would have the,
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: it would be the, it would be a sitcom if you had 11 Bob Saps on the field.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_03: I like how often you make sure Bob Sapp ends up on this show.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_03: I think it is appropriate.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_03: Because you can't, like...
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_03: I would have loved to have covered Bob Sapp.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: There was a KJR one morning.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: They were interviewing him.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I think he had a show.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: And somebody else had to go wake Bob up.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: And they were talking to Bob about... Damon Heard was the quarterback at that point.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: And they were talking to Bob about the relationship a quarterback has to have
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: with his offensive line.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: And Bob just kind of...
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: He goes...
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like we're taking slow walks around Montlake together.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: It was a very funny and amusing response.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_03: Mark Bruner told that story about him ripping his face mask off his helmet.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_03: I sat in on some of their player development,
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_03: like career development programming earlier this year,
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_03: and Mark Bruner was one of the panelists,
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_03: and they had everybody,
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: I think,
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: like share a memory or whatever from their time playing,
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_03: and that was the story he told about Bob Sapp.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: There were legitimately crazy fights in the 90s because Lambright was not
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: against having having guys like there was a certain level of brawling was accepted.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Bob also that was Lambright would have him run my run the mile.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: They would have to have an annual, all linemen would have to have an annual conditioning test.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think he demanded that they finish it in less than six minutes and Bob could never do it.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: And he would just come undone the last lap.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like you just see his arms flailing all over the place.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then Lambright would talk.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually kind of pathetic, the mental block he has.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then Bob would say like, I ran the hundred meter finals in high school.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a sprinter.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_03: Well, if we're going to clone Bob Sapp,
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_03: the Bob Sapp clones that play corner are going to have to beat that six minutes in
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_03: the mile.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just saying.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, man, it's going to be all at the line.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's going to be a big emphasis on jamming at the line.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_03: Hell yeah.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_03: If there's one guy I know who loves to brawl, it's IP McFarland.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: He's got a question for us this week.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to ask us all to reach into our wallets and think real long and hard
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: about what we can do for Washington.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's not true.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: But it does relate to money.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: Here's our weekly conversation with IP McFarlane.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_01: Good morning, guys.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm recording again because the first time I recorded,
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_01: I said I didn't have a question for you this week.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's the middle of July.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_01: What could possibly happen?
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then Pat Chun, thank you.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_01: Dropped a beautiful nugget from the content gods.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: He told John Canzano that college football had become a billionaire's playground.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: My question is, was that a complaint about Oregon, Texas Tech and those kinds of programs?
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_01: Or was that the most passive aggressive sales pitch that has ever been made?
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: I've been in sales since I was 12.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you have to soft sell.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you just have to convince the counterparty that it was their idea to do this.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then there are situations where you're up against it and have got to go make a sale.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_01: And are the athletic director with
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: certainly the most billionaires accessible
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_01: by boat in college football and probably the most billionaires accessible via very,
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_01: very short drive.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_01: I guess Stanford would top it,
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_01: but we're not going to count them as major college football at this stage.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: What are we doing?
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we'd love a billionaire sponsor,
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: but somebody's got to go ask them to be the sugar daddy
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_01: because I don't think anybody's stepping up to do it.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying Washington's above it.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not taking this Michigan sort of stance where We pretend like we're
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_01: above certain things because Washington's done some greasy stuff in its history.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously Michigan has as well, but it seems very un-Washington.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: Washington billionaires tend to be a little bit more private.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: Washington billionaires tend to not necessarily be associated with the UW,
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_01: except in a pure academic sense.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: And the University of Washington seems to think that the Don James era is still
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: the model to follow.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: Is somebody going to make this big ask?
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: Or am I going to have to?
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because billionaires,
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: if you're out there listening,
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: and I know most billionaires have made their billions by listening
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: to college football podcasts.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_01: Give me a call.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm easy to find.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: Happy to talk you through what it's going to take.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: To make UW a national champion.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: Wish you guys a good week.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: Go Dawgs.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: I do think that it's more the latter than an actual complaint.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't... Washington...
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't heard a large amount of bellyaching about, hey, we're...
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's not fair that these other programs have benefactors like they do.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's more of applying...
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't even say it's subtle,
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_00: but it's applying pressure to if Washington fans want the program to operate at
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: the level they believe it should, that there needs to be more money donated.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I've taken from most of the statements that have come.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, definitely from Jed Fish, but from Pat Chun as well.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think it stopped being subtle a long time ago.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I listened to that interview with John Canzano.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's so funny like actually listening to the source material for some
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_03: of these things that end up going viral before they go viral and hearing it
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_03: and it's like proper context and then seeing, uh,
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_03: seeing it end up on graphics and the way people talk about it after it's,
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_03: it's just, it's fascinating how the machine kind of kicks into gear.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_03: I thought nothing of it, frankly.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_03: I think it was just an obvious statement for any AD to make of a school
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_03: that does not have a billionaire benefactor.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_03: I think Washington would love to have one, like probably most every school does.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think Washington is the kind of culture Institutionally,
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_03: where they're going to hand the keys over to a single benefactor to have free reign
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_03: over everything they're doing the way that Cody Campbell has at Texas Tech now.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_03: I would add that I think Mark Cuban has always been philanthropic
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_03: with Indiana University, but it wasn't until...
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_03: Very recently that he got super involved in NIL in a big way, right?
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like I think he kind of needed to see it and maybe see an institutional investment
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_03: to know that like, hey, this money is not just going into a void.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_03: It's going into a well-run operation that is going to put it to good use.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_03: And boy,
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_03: it sure is fun to sit in a box at the national championship game
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_03: and watch my alma mater win it.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Steve Ballmer is the name that gets thrown
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_03: out all the time, right?
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, he's been around-ish.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_03: He was at a practice, a spring practice their first year.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I think there's obviously like a relationship between him and the school,
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_03: but he owns the Clippers, you know?
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like, he owns a franchise already.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_00: Going back to what you said about Mark Cuban in Indiana,
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_00: I remain convinced that that is,
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_00: if you're looking for how do you get a big money benefactor behind you at
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: the University of Washington, my answer is make the college football playoffs.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like that, this year.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: Make the college football playoffs and see what happens then.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think everybody tends to assume that it's the money leads to the contention.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that can happen.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like it looks like that's the route that Texas Tech is.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_00: They were in the playoffs last year.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: They've spent a lot of money on players.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oregon,
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_00: what they've achieved and the level that they now punch at is due to a lot of
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_00: the investments that Phil Knight has made.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: But generally it tends to be the white knight leading the team with his pocketbook.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: That is not how most programs are funded.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, who is LSU's biggest donor?
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_00: Does anybody even really know?
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not a, it's not That every worthwhile school has one big bucks guy behind them.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_00: And B, it's not that sometimes it's the success that helps fuel the contributions.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_00: Those things, it's not necessarily the success follows after you get the money.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think that's very well said.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_03: And no more true anywhere but the Pacific Northwest.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_03: I think that is a very Pacific Northwest attitude when it comes to sports.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_03: You got to kind of see that, hey, this is going in the right direction first.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's really no different than...
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_03: I'll say, I'll say small scale NIL spending relative to like what a billionaire can do.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_03: Large scale in the context of human beings having money because we're talking
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_03: about multiple millions of dollars.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_03: But it's not a lot different than Washington's NIL operation,
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_03: say, in the winter, you know, late part of 2022, early part of 2023.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_03: And hey, this was a fun year.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_03: First year under Kalen DeBoer.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_03: Boy, they sure were better than anybody thought they were going to be.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_03: And, well, looks like they got a lot of, like, NFL players on this team.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_03: And they all have eligibility left.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_03: And kind of seems like they all want to be here another year.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_03: But if we don't raise a bunch of money to pay them,
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_03: to keep them, there are several other schools that will pay them a lot.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_03: So we need to, like, give,
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_03: or not even transfer, but, like,
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_03: Raise enough money to pay these guys for them to justify not turning pro this year,
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_03: right?
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: Or Michael Penick's not going somewhere else to play quarterback.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, staving off poachers, right?
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_03: Giving Romo Dunze a reason, hey, like I,
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_03: from a draft stock perspective,
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_03: I'd really like to play another year and become a first rounder, but,
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_03: you know, I,
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not saying NIL was like the only factor for him, but if,
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_03: if you're presented with zero dollars to return to college,
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_03: you probably,
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_03: even if you're not gonna be first round pick,
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_03: probably still makes sense to turn pro, right?
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_03: We've seen that all over,
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_03: you know, guys, guys probably been, been several guys stay in college longer.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_03: The point being Washington's
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_03: I'll say most prominent donors, most likely to donate to athletic department causes.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_03: We're not exactly thrilled to be giving to NIL in the early going.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm sure that there's some fatigue there that way, even still.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_03: And maybe some who gave to keep a player like Michael Penix,
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_03: to keep a player like Thule, whoever it might have been.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_03: Still didn't really love the idea of writing a check directly to an athlete,
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_03: but they did it because they saw that's what it's going to take to win.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_03: They, more importantly, though,
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_03: saw a vision laid out by a first-year head coach,
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_03: Who showed with the roster he had that, hey,
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_03: this is what this staff and this program and this group of players are capable of
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_03: in year one.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_03: Wouldn't you love to see what it could be in year two?
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think you have people come around once they see a little bit of that.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe, you know, maybe it'll be the same case with a billionaire down the line, though.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not holding my...
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_03: Even if you have billions of dollars and breaking off $20 million,
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_03: $30 million a year to help a college football team be good is literally nothing.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_03: You won't even feel it.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_03: You'd never even notice it leave your bank account.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_03: Even someone who can...
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_03: Write the check without feeling it is not going to just part with that kind
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_03: of money just because, right?
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_03: They got to be like a big fan and care a lot personally about that team being really good.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_03: Like Cody Campbell played at Texas Tech.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_03: You know?
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_03: Phil Knight went to the University of Oregon.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oregon is essentially tied to his company in a very, very deep and fundamental way.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's like I've had people ask about, you know, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos is one that is funny.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_03: Bill Gates is interesting because the Gates name is all over UW's campus.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_03: Of course,
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_03: there's perhaps some complications with that particular billionaire
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_03: at this particular moment in time.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_00: Could we convince Bill Gates this could be his carbon offset?
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to actually that one guy,
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_00: if we want to overshadow any sort of insinuations,
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_00: what you need to do is become the University of Washington Huskies bankroll.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_03: The thing like setting all that aside,
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_03: if you're convinced that you can use your billions
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_03: to like solve world health problems.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_03: Or whatever.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_03: And someone comes to you and is like, no,
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_03: you should use some amount of this money to help the University
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_03: of Washington be good at football.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_03: And you just have no interest in that.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_03: It sounds really dumb.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like if you don't care about sports,
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_03: someone trying to convince you to spend even money that you have that you could burn
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_03: in a pile tomorrow and not notice on making a college sports team good,
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_03: it sounds like you might as well have landed from a different planet the way
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_03: that they'll look at you.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_00: When I hear it in my head, I hear it in Homer Simpson's voice.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, sure, you could go promote world peace.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_00: But where's that going to get you in the 12-team playoff?
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_00: I want satisfaction now.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's probably how.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_00: We need to get more simple-minded about things.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_00: I could be in charge of that premise.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's just taking them out to Husky Stadium and show them what a really good time it is.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, wouldn't this be awesome?
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_03: We'll put you and Ian in charge of the billionaire wooing committee.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_00: Ian has already informed me that I'm the worst salesman in the world.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_00: I've already gotten an earful from Ian about how terrible I am at any sort of promotion.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_00: Ian wants no part of me when it comes to the lobbying efforts.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_00: I did want to go before we wrap up.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_00: Did you find the best Washington season opener?
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_00: When you were looking at the game against Auburn, was there one that jumped out to you?
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember?
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just going to look it up.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was trying to think, and I ended up, as we were going, I ended up looking at it.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_00: In 1994, their first three games were at USC versus Ohio State, and that was the game they won.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_00: Joey Galloway, I believe, was ineligible for that game.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think Dan Wilkinson played in it, though it's possible that was just the year before.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then their third game was at Miami,
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_00: the game where they ended the Hurricanes' Orange Bowl winning streak.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's a strong start to a season.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_03: So the ones I identified,
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_03: and I think I kind of concluded that
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_03: that Auburn game probably was their best opener ever in terms of quality of opponent
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_03: and a season that started with expectations and everything.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_03: 1996 against Arizona State.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's right, Arizona State was really well regarded.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_03: They lost by three in a game that basically wound up deciding
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_02: the Pac-10 title.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_03: ASU went 11-0, lost to Ohio State by three in the Rose Bowl.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_03: Washington went to the Holiday Bowl and lost to Colorado,
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_03: but they were 9-2 in the regular season.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_03: So they win that game.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_03: They tie ASU for the Pac-10 title and obviously win the tiebreaker with
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_03: the head-to-head and go to the Rose Bowl.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_03: And that was after they tied with USC and lost a tiebreaker for the Pac-10 title in 95.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_03: 1998, another game against Arizona State.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's Arizona State.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_02: Memorable for Reggie Davis.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_00: In the desert.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_00: Lost his mind on the sidelines after that.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_03: Fourth and 17.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_03: Brock Hewer to Reggie Davis for what ends up being a game-winning touchdown
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_03: with 28 seconds left, 63 yards.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_03: That season did not go so well.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_03: They wound up finishing 6-6 and Jim Lambrey got fired.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_03: Washington's 23-18 win over Michigan in 2001 was the season opener,
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_03: the first ever game for Reggie Williams.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_00: Was that the game with a couple block kicks?
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think there were.
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_03: Amari Lowe blocked field goal,
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_03: Rock Alexander returned for a touchdown,
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_03: and then Amari Lowe with a pick six on Michigan.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_00: Those were, I think that was pretty much back to back.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was a block kick and then on the ensuing possession.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that happened in like a five minute span.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was crazy.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Michigan was lining up to kick a field goal up 12-6.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_03: The field goal would have put them up 15-6.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_03: Would have been a two-score game.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_03: Michigan was basically controlling the game.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_03: There were like nine minutes left.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_03: It wouldn't have ended it, but would have really put Washington up against it.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_03: And instead,
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_03: they blocked the kick,
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_03: returned it for a touchdown,
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_03: go ahead, and then get a pick six, and boom, boom, they're up 20-12.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_03: So, that was,
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_03: in retrospect, like,
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_03: because they lost the Auburn game,
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_03: I think you'd probably say that was their best opener ever.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_03: Although, the win at ASU, also quite memorable.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_03: The very next year,
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_03: they open at Michigan, a game that they should have won, that did not go their way.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_03: The too many men on the penalty,
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_03: too many men on the field penalty moves Michigan's game-winning field goal try up,
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_03: and...
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_03: Philip Brabs,
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_03: who had,
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_03: I think, missed a couple in that game, of course, nails the 44-yarder to win it.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_03: I included in this story that Dave Softy Mahler,
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_03: who was there that day,
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_03: I quoted him saying, quote,
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_03: I was so pissed,
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_03: I went out after the game and ripped a big chunk of grass out of the field
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_03: where he made the kick and took it home with me.
• 1:00:03
  LAUGHTER LAUGHTER
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_03: Huskies went seven and six that year.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_00: How do you pack?
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_00: How do you pack a hunk of grass?
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's insane.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_03: You just cram it in there.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_03: There's always, listen, your suitcase and the dishwasher.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_03: There's always, there's always room.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_03: You can always find room.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_03: For one more thing, there's always room.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_03: Those are like,
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_03: those are the The more notable ones from the modern era,
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_03: folks who recall the 1962 season opener against No.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_03: 7 Purdue that ended in a 7-7 tie might say that was a pretty big one.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_03: They lost to Mississippi State.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_03: 27-18 to begin the 1977 season,
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_03: though Mississippi State wound up having to forfeit this win because they had played
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_03: that season with an ineligible player.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_03: Don't know if it was a receiver or not.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_03: 1986, so this one maybe should be higher on the list.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_03: And this isn't necessarily a ranking, but just kind of going through the years here.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_03: They beat Ohio State, number 10 Ohio State, 40-7.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_03: Chris Carter led.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_03: Ohio State Buckeyes.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_03: Ohio State was ranked 10th, Washington was ranked 17th.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_03: 2003, they opened at Ohio State,
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_03: Keith Gilbertson's first game as Washington's head coach,
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_03: Reggie Williams Jr. year, and Buckeyes took it to him.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_03: 28-9.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_03: The Huskies were ranked 17th.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_03: Ohio State had won a national championship the year before.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_03: At 2013 on here,
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_03: you know,
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_03: the first game in the renovated Husky Stadium, it was a top 20 Boise State team.
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_03: Washington dominated them 38-6.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_03: That was, of course, Chris Peterson's final season at Boise State before he came to Washington.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_03: And that's really kind of the pantheon.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't You know, you'd throw Montana 2021 on there just for the significance of it.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, you wouldn't.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't.
• 1:02:13
  SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't throw it on there for the.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_00: Nope.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_00: Nope.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_00: That will be not not acknowledged as anything other than the biggest kick in the nads list.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_03: Would you go back in time and change that result, though?
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_03: Would you rather they won that game?
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, man.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 1:02:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that you're going to get widespread agreement on that.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_00: That it would took that level of humiliation to get Jimmy Lake out of there after one year?
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like it wasn't the only thing.
• 1:02:42
  SPEAKER_03: After that second season?
• 1:02:43
  SPEAKER_03: The vibes, like if they win that game, what, they lose 13-7?
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_03: If they win 14-13 or whatever, people are still not happy, but at least it's a win.
• 1:02:51
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like you lost to Montana.
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_03: Their record's a little bit different.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's just that game...
• 1:02:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's a decent point.
• 1:03:00
  SPEAKER_00: However,
• 1:03:01
  SPEAKER_00: where it falls apart is that he was going to keep his job even with that
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_00: until he smacked the player in the helmet.
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_00: It took more than just that to get him canned.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_03: But every single one of us in every living moment is the sum of all of our experiences.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's true.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe if he doesn't have...
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_03: If the sum of Jimmy Lake's experiences going into the Oregon game does not include
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_03: a loss to Montana and instead includes a close season opening win over Montana,
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_03: maybe that whole situation plays out differently.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_00: Butterfly Fleck, man.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's so abjectly humiliating.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_00: For a long, long time...
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_00: Washington was one of the only schools that did not schedule and play lower division opponents.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then that went away with Sark.
• 1:03:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then not only is that a lower division opponent, but they won at Washington.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like that.
• 1:03:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard for me to think like it was in the overall long term best interest
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_00: to suffer that abject humiliation.
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_00: But it probably was.
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_02: My curse.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's our show.
• 1:04:15
  SPEAKER_02: That was kind of fun.
• 1:04:16
  SPEAKER_02: It was very fun.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_03: I enjoyed the hypotheticals.
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'm always torn on like...
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_03: None of this has anything to do with the upcoming season.
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_00: But then I don't know.
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_00: No, I like it.
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_00: I like it because it makes me think about teams that I've enjoyed,
• 1:04:29
  SPEAKER_00: and it makes me think about what I expect from the upcoming season.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_00: I really enjoy that.
• 1:04:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of times, I hate lists.
• 1:04:36
  SPEAKER_00: I hate top 10 quarterbacks.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_00: I hate top 100 players in the NFL.
• 1:04:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I enjoyed the Time Machine Challenge.
• 1:04:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a sucker for lists, I must admit.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_03: I like to sit up here on my capital J journalism throne,
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_03: but give me an opportunity to put together a list and I'm first in line.
• 1:04:57
  SPEAKER_00: I am generally,
• 1:04:59
  SPEAKER_00: takes five seconds for me to start going into a rant
• 1:05:02
  SPEAKER_00: about how this is one degree removed from the nerds who sit there and debate
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_00: whether Superman would beat Batman in a fight.
• 1:05:10
  SPEAKER_00: It is a fictional scenario that will never freaking happen.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_03: I think you could argue it's not even one degree separated.
• 1:05:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's basically the same thing.
• 1:05:20
  SPEAKER_03: We'll talk to you next week.
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_02: Peace.